Search Engine help

[Paul_Withers]

Hi, I have a script which searches the MySQL database. It outputs the result which is a business name, but I need the business name to be in a link so the user can click on it and go to another page to find out more information. However the business name is not included in the link, but the $value is.

 

Here is my script

<?php
include 'init.php';

// normal search
$result_tb = "";
if (!empty($_POST['SEARCH']) && !empty($_POST['search_value'])) {

   $e = $_POST['search_value'];

   $query = 'SELECT aquaticCenterName FROM reviews WHERE ' .
           "aquaticCenterName LIKE '%$e%' OR " .
           "town LIKE '%$e%' OR " .
           "county LIKE '%$e%' OR " .
           "country LIKE '%$e%' OR " .
           "rating LIKE '%$e%' ";

   $query_result = $con->query($query);

 $result_tb = '<div>';
   while ($rows = $query_result->fetch_assoc()) {
      foreach ($rows as $k => $v) {
         $result_tb .= '<a href="reviewResults.php?aquaticCenterName= . $v . ">' . $v . '</a><br>';
      }
   }
   $result_tb .='</div><hr>';

   $con->close();
}
?>
<?php
include 'includes/overall/header.php';
include 'includes/logo.php';
?>
      <form method="post" action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']; ?>">
         <table>
            <tr>
               <td>
                  <input type="text" name="search_value" size="30" maxlength="30"/>
               </td>
               <td>
                  <input type="submit" name="SEARCH" value="Search"/>
               </td>
            </tr>
         </table>
      </form>
      <?php echo $result_tb; ?>
<?php
include 'includes/overall/footer.php';

But when I click on the link, I get this in the address bar

 

reviewResults.php?aquaticCenterName=%20.%20$v%20.

 

How do I get this to read

 

eg, reviewResults.php?aquaticCenterName=PaulsAquaticCenter

 

Many Thanks

 

aquaman

 

 

 

[Paul_Withers]

I have tried changing it to

 

         $result_tb .= '<a href="reviewResults.php?aquaticCenterName='$v'">' . $v . '</a><br>';

 

but I get this error

 

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '$v' (T_VARIABLE) in /Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles/htdocs/reviews.php on line 23

 

How do I get the value of $v into the link?

[ginerjm]

while ($rows = $query_result->fetch_assoc()) 

{

   $v = $rows['aquaticCenterName'];

   $result_tb .= "<a href='reviewResults.php?aquaticCenterName=$v>$v</a><br>";

}

Edited September 29, 2014 by ginerjm

[Paul_Withers]

Hi and thanks for your reply. I made the change as suggested, but now when I search, I do not get any results.  Here is the code now

<?php
include 'init.php';

// normal search
$result_tb = "";
if (!empty($_POST['SEARCH']) && !empty($_POST['search_value'])) {

   $e = $_POST['search_value'];

   $query = 'SELECT aquaticCenterName FROM reviews WHERE ' .
           "aquaticCenterName LIKE '%$e%' OR " .
           "town LIKE '%$e%' OR " .
           "county LIKE '%$e%' OR " .
           "country LIKE '%$e%' OR " .
           "rating LIKE '%$e%' ";

   $query_result = $con->query($query);

 $result_tb = '<div>';
   while ($rows = $query_result->fetch_assoc()) 
{
   $v = $rows['aquaticCenterName'];
   $result_tb .= "<a href='reviewResults.php?aquaticCenterName=$v>$v</a><br>";
}
   }
   $result_tb .='</div><hr>';

   $con->close();

?>
<?php
include 'includes/overall/header.php';
include 'includes/logo.php';
?>
      <form method="post" action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']; ?>">
         <table>
            <tr>
               <td>
                  <input type="text" name="search_value" size="30" maxlength="30"/>
               </td>
               <td>
                  <input type="submit" name="SEARCH" value="Search"/>
               </td>
            </tr>
         </table>
      </form>
      <?php echo $result_tb; ?>
<?php
include 'includes/overall/footer.php';

[ginerjm]

1 - make sure you have php error checking on - see my signature

2 - echo out the complete query statement so you/we can see the actual query you have built.

[QuickOldCar]

$query = "SELECT aquaticCenterName FROM reviews WHERE aquaticCenterName LIKE '%".$e."%' OR town LIKE '%".$e."%' OR county LIKE '%".$e."%' OR country LIKE '%".$e."%' OR rating LIKE '%".$e."%'";

[mac_gyver]

the href='...' attribute in the link is missing the closing ', which is probably breaking the rest of the html on the page. use the following inside the loop - 

$u = $rows['aquaticCenterName'];
$v = urlencode($u); // since this is a text name, make it url encoded
$result_tb .= "<a href='reviewResults.php?aquaticCenterName=$v'>$u</a><br>";

i would use the id, not the name, as the value being put into the link - reviewResults.php?id=123

and you can simplify the multiple col LIKE '%$e%' OR ... term in the query to be - 

$query = "SELECT aquaticCenterName FROM reviews
WHERE CONCAT_WS(' ', aquaticCenterName, town, county, country, rating) LIKE '%$e%'";

[Paul_Withers]

Hi, thanks for your reply. Error checking is on and no errors are reported.

 

Here is the echoed query

 

SELECT aquaticCenterName FROM reviews WHERE aquaticCenterName LIKE '%Chelmsford%' OR town LIKE '%Chelmsford%' OR county LIKE '%Chelmsford%' OR country LIKE '%Chelmsford%' OR rating LIKE '%Chelmsford%'

 

And here is the echoed $v

 

Lissies Aquatics

 

This is the result of the query. I just cant get the value of $v to work in a link

[Paul_Withers]

Hi mac_gyver, thanks for your reply. That all works great, apart from when the resulting aquatic center contains a + in between the words

 

eg. http://localhost/reviewResults.php?aquaticCenterName=Lissies+Aquatics

 

But I wont be able to retrieve information from the database with the + being there. Is it possible to remove this?

 

 

Many Thanks

 

aquaman

[mac_gyver]

did you actually try? the + in the link is the encoded space (because space characters are not valid in links). the + will be automatically converted by php (it does a urldecode on $_GET data) to a space and using the value in a database query will work.
 
you could always do what i suggested, which will eliminate the problem of trying to pass a space in the link - 
 

i would use the id, not the name, as the value being put into the link - reviewResults.php?id=123

[Paul_Withers]

Hi mac_gyver, yes that did work, thank you

 

Now I have another search to search for items for sale. I have this working, with the $user_id being the result. But I don't want this to be displayed in the results, I would like the $aquaticCenterName to be displayed instead. ($user_id is going to be changed to id as it has nothing to do with the user).

 

Here is what I got so far

<?php
include 'init.php';

// normal search
$result_tb = "";
if (!empty($_POST['SEARCH']) && !empty($_POST['search_value'])) {

   $e = $_POST['search_value'];

  $query = "SELECT user_id FROM live_sales
WHERE CONCAT_WS(' ', user_id, listing_title, fishtype, speciesCommon, speciesScientific, town, county) LIKE '%$e%'";

   $query_result = $con->query($query);
 $result_tb = '<div><h2>Search Results:</h2>';
   while ($rows = $query_result->fetch_assoc()) {
      foreach ($rows as $k => $v) {
     $u = $rows['user_id'];
$v = urlencode($u); // since this is a text name, make it url encoded
$result_tb .= "<a href='searchResultslive.php?user_id=$v'>$u</a><br>";
      }
      
   }
   $result_tb .='</div>';

   $con->close();
}
?>
<?php
include 'includes/overall/header.php';
include 'includes/logo.php';
?>
<h1>Search Species for Sale</h1>
<p>Search for the aquatic species of your choice.</p>
<p> You can search for your item via species type, name, scientific name, town or county.</p>
      <form method="post" action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']; ?>">
         <table>
            <tr>
               <td>
                  <input type="text" name="search_value" size="40" maxlength="40" value="Search for species"/>
               </td>
               <td>
                  <input type="submit" name="SEARCH" value="Search"/>
               </td>
            </tr>
         </table>
      </form>
      <?php echo $result_tb; ?>
<?php
include 'includes/overall/footer.php';

So ideally the results would show the Aquatic Center Name, but the link would be results.php?user_id=2 ?

 

Many Thanks

 

aquaman

[Barand]

Then you will have to select the name as well as the id in your query

[Paul_Withers]

Hi Barand,

 

Have tried this

 $query = "SELECT user_id, listing_title FROM live_sales
WHERE CONCAT_WS(' ', user_id, listing_title, fishtype, speciesCommon, speciesScientific, town, county) LIKE '%$e%'";

But this results in the same result being repeated twice

[Barand]

Why do you loop through each field in each returned row? Lose the foreach()

 

while ($rows = $query_result->fetch_assoc()) {
    foreach ($rows as $k => $v) {
        $v = $rows['user_id'];

        $u = $rows['listing_title'];
        $v = urlencode($v); // since this is a text name, make it url encoded
        $result_tb .= "<a href='searchResultslive.php?user_id=$v'>$u</a><br>";
    } 

}

[Paul_Withers]

Hi Barand, thanks for your answer, it works great now.

[pspmarketingindia]

hi friends, is it possible to make a simple search engine in php by using our own database?

example:if user types "doctors in austrailia" then it need to show the result of doctor name, other details in austrailia.

if any code is available then share with us.

[Barand]

Don't hijack other peoples posts.