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2/2/2012 9:06 AM
 
Alex Ritter
8th Level Poster


Joined: 2/2/2012
Posts: 278

Hello,

I was wondering if it is possible to "link together" the smith cart search and the DNN site search.

In essence, to have a single search bar that has both search databases tied together.

Is this possible?

 

Thanks - Alex
 
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2/3/2012 8:03 PM
 
No Ranking

Joined: 1/1/0001
Posts: 0

Hi Alex,

Currently there are 3 different ways to search for products in your store.

  1. The first being the DNN iSearchable interface so all your products are indexed and searchable using the regular DNN search facility.
  2. The product search within the BuyNow module itself.
  3. The last would be the Smith Search module which is a separate module in Smith Cart that can be placed in any pane on any page in your portal and allows the user to search and quickly locate products in your catalog.When the user enters/selects their search options and clicks “Search” the search module will query the category and product tables and the user will be redirected to the BuyNow module product listing page and the products will be filtered according to the search criteria entered in the search module. If a search returns no rows then the search module will display a message “No records found” and remain on the same page.

For options 2 and 3 above, Smith Cart also provides the ability to enter additional product search keys that are searchable from the product listing page search box. This is useful if you would like to have products searchable on words that do not show up in the product name, sku, summary or description or they can be used for product associations or common misspellings.

Thanks,
 
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2/4/2012 10:39 AM
 
Dwayne Baldwin
9th Level Poster


Joined: 12/18/2009
Posts: 174

The fundamental problem is the context and interpretation of the search. SmithCart does not handle DNN results, and vice versa.

 

The search domain of SmithCart is limited to products or limited to a selected category. With SmitCart, only a single search term is processed, either one word or an exact match of multiple words. DNN will search the entire site for with multiple search terms (default OR), and can use prefixes for Boolean logic (minus sign means NOT or exclude).

 

Consider these examples: Search text  (ui domain)  -> interpretation within domain

 

Shirt

(dropdown=All)

SC -> shirt in Products.All

DNN -> shirt in Content.All

 

Shirt

(drop down=PANTS)

SC -> shirt in Products.Pants (only)

DN -> Shirt in Content.All

 

Shirt

(selected category=PANTS)

SC-> shirt in Products.All

DNN -> shirt in Content.All

 

Dress Red

(All)

SC -> "dress red" in Products.All (will not find "dress red")

DNN -> "red OR dress" in Content.All (will find any dress or red)

 

Dress -Red

(All)

SC -> "dress -red" in Products.All (most likely no results)

DNN -> "dress NOT red" in Content.All (further reduce results)

 

+Dress +Red

SC -> "+red +dress" in Products.All (most likely no results)

DNN -> "dress AND red" in Content.All (further reduce results)

 

iSearchable and search relevance scores

http://www.dotnetnuke.com/Resources/B...

 

If anyone has some suggestions to help resolve this problem, I know I would be very interested.
 
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2/15/2012 5:25 AM
 
Alex Ritter
8th Level Poster


Joined: 2/2/2012
Posts: 278
Thanks for the information guys.

For my specific website purposes, I was hoping to have a search box that could turn up my "help" pages as well as product listings for people shopping at the online store. I also am implementing a user forum, and I wondered at the possibility of having a single search bar for all three purposes.

However, shopping cart functionality is my main priority, and if nothing else, I need the search box to always turn up product listings. Is there a skin token available for the smith cart search module? It would make implementing the search box in my skin much easier.

Thanks for your help.
alex
 
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