Poor Results Whilst Searching

[johns4y]

My online shop search facility is not performing correctly with simple searches returning a 0 result. I have found that products in the store that start with a letter can not be found, but products that start with a number can be found.
When I search for a product which appears in the 'suggestions' drop box under the search box that can't be found.
Example, search for jy0103 or JY0103 and it can't be found, search for 9109 and it finds it no problem.

I understand that the search facility is a plug-in? does it need to be updated? Did it come with the new Zen Cart release?

I would appreciate any help. Cheers, John.

URL: www.jaysmodelkits.com
ZC v.1.5.7b
Plu-Ins: Display Logs, Mod List
PHP v.7.3.25

[DrByte]

I understand that the search facility is a plug-in?

While Zen Cart itself has a built-in search facility that is not a plugin, it looks like your site has the InstantSearch plugin installed to enhance the user experience by providing real-time search results while the customer types. Perhaps that plugin needs updates?

Who installed that plugin for you?

[carlwhat]

My online shop search facility is not performing correctly with simple searches returning a 0 result. I have found that products in the store that start with a letter can not be found, but products that start with a number can be found.
When I search for a product which appears in the 'suggestions' drop box under the search box that can't be found.
Example, search for jy0103 or JY0103 and it can't be found, search for 9109 and it finds it no problem.
I understand that the search facility is a plug-in? does it need to be updated? Did it come with the new Zen Cart release?
I would appreciate any help. Cheers, John.

URL: www.jaysmodelkits.com
ZC v.1.5.7b
Plu-Ins: Display Logs, Mod List
PHP v.7.3.25

john,
we need to know all the plugins; you are using some sort of autofill plugin for searching... pretty sure that is not part of the base package... which one are you using?

first off, good job on the site.

second, keyword searching has been a pet peeve of mine. depending on where you are doing it, ie admin v storefront, can give different results. on your site, ZC keyword searching requires you know the beginning of whatever you are looking for, ie: '9109 - Hawker Hurricane Canopy' -> searching for 'hawker' or 'hurricane', this item does not come up. why some of your other ones do depends on the model or the description or the manufacturer or even perhaps the meta data.

in looking at the v157 code, it does not look like you are running the correct code. when i look at the code here:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ze...header_php.php

i am not seeing the result set that i would expect. is your file the same as the one above?

whether that is tied to your autocomplete search function, i can not say. but i'm guessing it is.

best.

ok, what he said above...

[johns4y]

Many thanks for the replies and positive feedback. I had the new version of ZC installed for me. I don't actually know what plug-ins have been installed other than those listed under Plug-In Manager. I do like the InstantSearch plug-in if it helps my customers find what they are looking for, but if it keeps throwing back zero results on basic searches then I may have to consider reverting back to the standard search facility.
I will check and compare the file you have linked to Carlwhat and get back to you. Bare in mind though I'm no expert on these things. Up until recently I have been winging it for the most part. Thankfully my website is now being managed by a third party very capably and I have them looking into the issue as well.
As for the Admin search, it has become very "picky" apparently and the problem seems mostly to do with caps sensitivity which is bit of a pain.
I've not had any issues like these in the older versions of ZC.
Best regards, John.

[DrByte]

Wait. In your first post you didn't mention anything about "Admin search". But now you're mixing it together. I'm confused.

[dbltoe]

Instant search has been removed. Both versions. Search is still wonky.

I feel the problem is elsewhere as mod list is going crazy. Entered a post in the mod list support.

[johns4y]

Sorry DrByte, I thought I had mentioned the Admin Search issue in my OP. Its a much smaller problem, more of a hindrance than anything else, just a bit frustrating that searches are now caps sensitive. The bigger issue is the online search facility.

Thank you dbltoe for looking into this issue for me. I had a customer online just a few minutes ago, they used Advanced Search which suggests that they couldn't find what they were looking for with the standard search. As we know basic searches like product numbers, which always used to work, now return zero results. They didn't stay online long and one has to wonder if they gave up due to not finding what they wanted when in fact the item may well be available. A potentially lost sale.
Talking of sales, I have that issue with the invoicing showing totals in US$ which is a problem for me when New Zealand customers want to pay via NZ Bank Transfer. The invoice they will receive will be in US$ not NZ$. The older version of ZC, in admin, used to show sub-total, shipping and total in NZ$ and I assumed this was because I set the default currency in admin to NZ$. This doesn't seem to be the case so I need to urgently sort this issue out as well.
Jeez, what a pain I am, sorry about that. Anyway, Happy New Year to you all. :0)

[davewest]

Sorry DrByte, I thought I had mentioned the Admin Search issue in my OP. Its a much smaller problem, more of a hindrance than anything else, just a bit frustrating that searches are now caps sensitive. The bigger issue is the online search facility.

Thank you dbltoe for looking into this issue for me. I had a customer online just a few minutes ago, they used Advanced Search which suggests that they couldn't find what they were looking for with the standard search. As we know basic searches like product numbers, which always used to work, now return zero results. They didn't stay online long and one has to wonder if they gave up due to not finding what they wanted when in fact the item may well be available. A potentially lost sale.

Instant search does not edit/affect any ZC files and I've not found any issues with it working on ZC157b, php7.4 or jQuery 3.5.1. It does do keyword search as long as the word is in the product somewhere with same spelling.

If it did have an issue, it should be more of a javascript conflict or error... but that would show in the console logs. When I try your search, its not polling out any guesses or words. Makes me think your database is having issues or the search sql is off somehow..

I have a heavy modified site where the search does extremely well at finding things, even by entering product numbers, keywords and close calls.. I still think it could do better which is why I'm still looking at improving the AI in instant search.

[DrByte]

Check what is the collation method set to on the fields of the tables being searched. The default in almost every site should be something that ends in _ci (for "case-insensitive).
If perchance the fields you're trying to search are set to something different then perhaps that's why your MiXeD-cAsE products/searches are not being found.

Either that or wherever you've put the text you think people are searching for isn't in the list of fields that are actually being searched.
eg: if you put JY0103 in the product "description" but not in the product "name", and people are only searching against the "name" it's not gonna be found.

[carlwhat]

Instant search does not edit/affect any ZC files and I've not found any issues with it working on ZC157b, php7.4 or jQuery 3.5.1. It does do keyword search as long as the word is in the product somewhere with same spelling.

If it did have an issue, it should be more of a javascript conflict or error... but that would show in the console logs. When I try your search, its not polling out any guesses or words. Makes me think your database is having issues or the search sql is off somehow..

I have a heavy modified site where the search does extremely well at finding things, even by entering product numbers, keywords and close calls.. I still think it could do better which is why I'm still looking at improving the AI in instant search.

i have been somewhat involved in search here in ZC. and specifically in keyword searches.

i have looked at various incarnations (yours and steves) of instant search, and love the idea. i have yet to implement it as my jquery foo is currently not that strong, and i was having display location issues with its results. i got caught up into other things, but i will look again, time permitting.

in looking at your site, advanced search results using keywords works as expected by me for a v157 site. instant search does not utilize the same sort of keyword searching; which to me can easily be improved.

here is where keyword searching is done on v157:

https://github.com/zencart/zencart/b....php#L318-L355

in v158, there is looking to be a standardized searching function. it is in this PR for v158:

https://github.com/zencart/zencart/pull/3940

this function (zen_build_keyword_where_clause) takes an array of column names and a string containing all keywords and builds the sql. i think it is a great addition (biased opinion).

this is, as of yet, unreleased code that comes with any and all of the associated disclaimers. (fyi, i run this code on live sites with no problems.)

in looking at @davewest site, you can search for 'quad az' and get results, however instant search comes up with nothing. food for thought...

best.