search not working

Tick -

Thank you for this information.
I was having search problems as well and this fixed my problem.

My hosting providing (Bluehost) also had these tables set to "utf8_bin" and I adjusted them to "utf8_general_ci" and it fixed my search problem.

Aside from the products_name, products_description, and customer tables are there any other tables that you would recommend adjusting?

Thanks again!
This post was a big help.

rubbercarp:

Tick -

Aside from the products_name, products_description, and customer tables are there any other tables that you would recommend adjusting?

Thanks again!
This post was a big help.

You're most welcome! I'm glad you found the post helpful. Honestly, I would recommend changing all of the tables. I know it's a lot of work, but I think it will come back to bite you if you don't. You never know when a modification to the cart or an add on will assume that database searches are case-insensitive (which is the default behavior for databases) and exhibit weird behavior. If you're anything like me, you'll spend hours troubleshooting it before you remember the collation setting.

If your store is brand new, you could also consider starting from scratch and manually installing. I'm not sure which would be more work.

You may also want to put in a support ticket with BlueHost support and ask them to modify their installer. When we were with them, I always found them very responsive and helpful. If they fix the installer fast enough, you could delete and re-install to get properly set up tables. (Again, assuming you're willing to start over.)

Good luck!

I am having problem with my search and was following this thread. Thanks so much for solving my problem, Tick :clap:. I am a newbie and not familiar with much programming but I was able to follow step by step. Now my search engine works. But there are sometimes that if I search or I use the search item starts with, the advance search will sometimes show no result.

My site- http://www.bruneipartyshop.com

I install my zen cart using simple script and is the latest 1.3.8 sp1 version. I did not touch the search file. Is it something that I still have to set?

sw09:

Now my search engine works. But there are sometimes that if I search or I use the search item starts with, the advance search will sometimes show no result.

I'm not sure what you mean by "search item starts with." What exactly are you doing? Can you provide an example?

When you say that it shows no result, does it return that no items matched or do you get a blank page?

Looks like your site is coming together nicely! If I can make a suggestion: after you get the search issue resolved, you may want to install Image Handler 2. It will greatly speed up your image load times.

:clap: Thank you for this thread, I have been struggling with this for days! I also am using bluehost as a provider. Note to others I had to change a different file to fix my search. under zen_products i had to make this change to products_model. this is what I was storing my item numbers under when I would add new products.

Tick,
Thanks for this thread. I was having issues with the customer email address being case sensitive and they kept creating new accounts at login. I did as you suggested and changed the collation structure from utf8_bin to utf8_general_ci. Hopefully the description of my problem will help others find this thread and utilize your wisdom as well.
Thanks
Craig

This fixed my problem too! Wow I wish I had found this sooner. Keep on rockin guys.

I am having a problem with the advance search function. The default on the dropdown menu under the Limit Category is not "All Categories". It defaults to one of my products. How can I change it to default to "All Categories"?

Also, does the search function search only products or products and categories?