Why Hacking WordPress Search Isn't Some Big Scary Thing

1. Why Hacking WordPress Search Isn’t Some Big Scary Thing WordCamp SLC 2014 Chris Reynolds @jazzs3quence

2. Who’s this guy?

3. Who’s this guy? WordPress Developer

6. Who’s this guy? WordPress Developer Course Author

7. 3 misconceptions about search

8. 3 misconceptions about search 1.“I don’t know anything about search.”

9. 3 misconceptions about search 1.“I don’t know anything about search.” ?s=some%20query

11. 3 misconceptions about search 2.“WordPress search is hard.”

13. 3 misconceptions about search 3.“WordPress search sucks.”

14. 3 misconceptions about search 3.“WordPress search sucks.” Does what you ask it to.

15. 3 misconceptions about search 3.“WordPress search sucks.” Does what you ask it to. No weight given to titles vs. content.

16. 3 misconceptions about search 3.“WordPress search sucks.” Does what you ask it to. No weight given to titles vs. content. You can do a lot of cool stuff with search…

17. 3 misconceptions about search 3.“WordPress search sucks.” Does what you ask it to. No weight given to titles vs. content. You can do a lot of cool stuff with search… (if you know how)

18. What does WordPress search do? ?s=your%20search

19. What does WordPress search do? ?s=your%20search

20. What does WordPress search do? ?s=your%20search ( $wpdb->posts.post_title LIKE %s ) OR ( $wpdb->posts.post_content LIKE %s )

21. Let me tell you something about query strings and the WordPress Loop

22. Recognize this? ?p=123

23. What’s going on? ?p=123

24. What about this? ?cat=music

25. What’s going on? ?cat=music

26. Did you know you can combine these? ?post_type=article&cat=music

27. What’s going on? ?post_type=article& taxonomy=music&term=jazz

28. -?p=123

29. -?p=123 -?paged=2

30. -?p=123 -?paged=2 -?cat=music

31. -?p=123 -?paged=2 -?cat=music -?s=your%20search

32. $args = array( 'post_type' => 'music', 'paged' => $paged, 'orderby' => 'date', 'order' => 'DESC', 'post_status' => 'publish', 'ignore_sticky_posts' => 1 ); ! $my_query = new WP_Query( $args ); ! if ( $my_query->have_posts() ) : while ( $my_query->have_posts() ) : the_post();

33. $my_query = new WP_Query( 'post_type=music&post_stat us=publish&orderby=date&order=DESC&p aged=' . $paged . '&ignore_sticky_posts=1'); ! if ( $my_query->have_posts() ) : while ( $my_query->have_posts() ) : the_post();

34. domain.com/? post_type=music&post_status=publish& orderby=date&order=DESC&paged=2&igno re_sticky_posts=1

35. WordPress search isn’t hard

36. WordPress search isn’t hard You already know all this stuff

37. WordPress search isn’t hard You already know all this stuff You just may not know you know it

38. Ready to have your mind blown?

39. Ready to have your mind blown? You can add all these query args to search

40. ?s=your %20search&post_type=article&taxonomy=music &term=jazz

41. ?s=your %20search&post_type=article&taxonomy=music &term=jazz

42. How do I actually use this? Like, in a form?

43. <form role="search" method="get" class="search-form" action="' . get_home_url( '/' ) . '"> <label> <input type="search" class="search-field" placeholder="Search" value="" name="s" title="Search for:" /> </label> <input type="hidden" name="music" value="jazz" /> <input type="hidden" name="post_type" value="article" /> </form>

44. <form role="search" method="get" class="search-form" action="' . get_home_url( '/' ) . '"> <label> <input type="search" class="search-field" placeholder="Search" value="" name="s" title="Search for:" /> </label> <input type="hidden" name="music" value="jazz" /> <input type="hidden" name="post_type" value="article" /> </form>

45. Examples!

46. posts

47. users posts

48. users songs posts

49. users songs posts ?s=patrick&post_type%5B%5D=post&post_type%5B %5D=song&post_type%5B%5D=artist

50. <?php /** * If users exist, deal with displaying them first */ ! if ( curated_have_users() && curated_show_users() ) : ! // get the classes to display user results $classes = curated_get_grid_classes( $i, 4 ); ?> ! <div id="user-<?php echo sanitize_title( get_search_query() ); ?>" class="tile-wrap <?php echo esc_attr( $classes ); ?> "> ! <?php get_template_part( 'partials/search', 'user' ); ?> ! </div> ! <?php // increment $i $i++; endif; ?>

51. /** * set up an array of arguments to determine post2post relationships * this stuff gets set up too late to be used in pre_get_posts so I have to use query_posts. */ $search_term = curated_posts_like_title( get_search_query() ); $query_args = array( 'connected_type' => 'songs_to_artists', 'connected_items' => $search_term, 'connected_direction' => 'any', 'nopaging' => true, // make sure this post isn't a duplicate 'post__not_in' => $do_not_duplicate ); if ( curated_has_connected_posts( $search_term ) ) { // only run the query posts if we need it query_posts( $query_args ); // sometimes query_posts will break and return nothing even if something should be returned. If this happens, reset the query and move on if ( !have_posts() ) { wp_reset_query(); } } while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); $do_not_duplicate[] = $post->ID; // add this post to the duplicate array so we don't get duplicates

52. /** * Run the loop for the search to output the results. * If you want to overload this in a child theme then include a file * called content-search.php and that will be used instead. */ // don't display the other results if we are only looking at users if ( 'user' != curated_get_search_selected() && 'artist' != get_post_type() ) { if ( '' == $classes ) { // if classes haven't been set yet, setup the classes $classes = curated_get_grid_classes( $i, 4 ); } ?> <div id="<?php echo get_post_type(); ?>-<?php echo $post->ID; ?>" class="tile-wrap <?php echo get_post_type(); ?> <?php echo esc_attr( $classes ); ?>"> <?php get_template_part( 'partials/search', get_post_type() ); ?> </div> <?php } wp_reset_query(); $i++; // increment the counter again endwhile; curated_paging_nav(); else : get_template_part( 'content', 'none' );

53. /** * Run the loop for the search to output the results. * If you want to overload this in a child theme then include a file * called content-search.php and that will be used instead. */ // don't display the other results if we are only looking at users if ( 'user' != curated_get_search_selected() && 'artist' != get_post_type() ) { if ( '' == $classes ) { // if classes haven't been set yet, setup the classes $classes = curated_get_grid_classes( $i, 4 ); } ?> <div id="<?php echo get_post_type(); ?>-<?php echo $post->ID; ?>" class="tile-wrap <?php echo get_post_type(); ?> <?php echo esc_attr( $classes ); ?>"> <?php get_template_part( 'partials/search', get_post_type() ); ?> </div> <?php } wp_reset_query(); $i++; // increment the counter again endwhile; curated_paging_nav(); else : get_template_part( 'content', 'none' ); http://s3q.us/ wcslc2014-cs-search

54. only search within current taxonomy

55. function nps_get_taxonomy_search_form( $term = null, $taxonomy = null ) { ! if ( !$term ) { $term = get_term_by( 'slug', get_query_var( 'term' ), get_query_var( 'taxonomy' ) ); $term = $term->name; } ! if ( !$taxonomy ) $taxonomy = get_query_var( 'taxonomy' ); ! $form =' <form role="search" method="get" class="search-form" action="' . get_home_url( '/' ) . '"> <label> <input type="search" class="search-field" placeholder="Search" value="" name="s" title="Search for:" /> </label> <input type="hidden" name="' . $taxonomy . '" value="' . $term . '" /> </form> '; ! echo $form; }

56. function nps_get_taxonomy_search_form( $term = null, $taxonomy = null ) { ! if ( !$term ) { $term = get_term_by( 'slug', get_query_var( 'term' ), get_query_var( 'taxonomy' ) ); $term = $term->name; } ! if ( !$taxonomy ) $taxonomy = get_query_var( 'taxonomy' ); ! $form =' <form role="search" method="get" class="search-form" action="' . get_home_url( '/' ) . '"> <label> <input type="search" class="search-field" placeholder="Search" value="" name="s" title="Search for:" /> </label> <input type="hidden" name="' . $taxonomy . '" value="' . $term . '" /> </form> '; ! echo $form; } http://s3q.us/wcslc2014- nps-searchform

57. Where does that leave us?

58. Where does that leave us? “I don’t know anything about search.” You do now.

59. Where does that leave us? “I don’t know anything about search.” You do now. “WordPress search is hard.” Not any more so than normal queries.

60. Where does that leave us? “I don’t know anything about search.” You do now. “WordPress search is hard.” Not any more so than normal queries. “WordPress search sucks.” No, it doesn’t.

61. Questions?

62. Questions? Chris Reynolds @jazzs3quence

63. Questions? Chris Reynolds @jazzs3quence Pluralsight Courses — http://s3q.us/cr-ps

64. Questions? Chris Reynolds @jazzs3quence Pluralsight Courses — http://s3q.us/cr-ps These slides — http://s3q.us/wcslc2014

65. Questions? Chris Reynolds @jazzs3quence Pluralsight Courses — http://s3q.us/cr-ps These slides — http://s3q.us/wcslc2014 Search form gist — http://s3q.us/wcslc2014-nps-searchform

66. Questions? Chris Reynolds @jazzs3quence Pluralsight Courses — http://s3q.us/cr-ps These slides — http://s3q.us/wcslc2014 Search form gist — http://s3q.us/wcslc2014-nps-searchform Search page gist — http://s3q.us/wcslc2014-cs-search