Textpattern Search Strategies

In this article I’m going to show you how you can create a more user-friendly search template for Textpattern. The built-in search engine in Textpattern can offer you a lot of flexibility when you design a system for searching your website.

Visitors can land on your search page in a few ways, and for each situation, other data needs to be presented to your visitor.

1. The visitor lands on the search results page without entering a query:
   • Inform your visitor with a message that no search query was entered.
   • Display a search form so the visitor can perform a new search.
2. The visitor lands on the search results page but there are no results for the query:
   • Display a message that no results for the query were found.
   • Display a search form so the visitor can perform a new search.
3. The visitor lands on the search results page with a good query:
   • Display search results, maximum 10 per page.
   • If less than 10 results, do not show search results navigation
   • If more than 10 results: show search results navigation

Use a different section for search results

Create a new section called search or searchresults to display the results of your search query. Create a new page to use with this section only.

The structure of the search template

<txp:if_search>

<txp:if_search> is a conditional tag and should always be opened and closed. On the search page we are going to use this tag in combination with <txp:else /> to display search results or a message if no query was entered.

<txp:if_search>
    <!-- Show search results-->
<txp:else />
    <!-- Display message about missing query -->
</txp:if_search>

<txp:if_search_results>

<txp:if_search_results> is also a conditional tag. By using this tag in combination with <txp:else />, it will be possible to display search results or a message when no articles were found.

<txp:if_search>
    <txp:if_search_results min="1">
    <!-- display search results, maximum 10 -->
    <txp:else />
    <!-- no search results found, display search form -->
    </txp:if_search_results>
<txp:else />
    <!-- Display message about missing query -->
</txp:if_search>

You’ll also need to use <txp:if_search_results> to display the search results navigation when there are more than 10 results.

<txp:if_search_results min="11">
    <p><txp:older showalways="yes">Next Page</txp:older><br />
    <txp:newer showalways="yes">Previous Page</txp:newer></p>
</txp:if_search_results>

The full template

<txp:output_form form="header" />
<txp:if_search>
    <txp:article pgonly="1" />
    <txp:if_search_results min="1">
        <p><strong><txp:search_result_count text=" " /></strong>
        articles found for <strong><txp:search_term /></strong>.</p>
        <ol>
            <txp:article limit="10" form="search_results" pageby="10" />
        </ol>
    <txp:else />
        <p>No results found for <strong><txp:search_term /></strong>.</p>
        <txp:search_input button="Search" label="Search" section="searchresults" />
    </txp:if_search_results>
<txp:else />
    <p>You forgot to enter a keyword to search for.</p>
    <txp:search_input button="Search" label="Search" section="searchresults" />
</txp:if_search>
<txp:if_search_results min="11">
    <p><txp:older showalways="yes">Next Page</txp:older><br />
    <txp:newer showalways="yes">Previous Page</txp:newer></p>
</txp:if_search_results>
<txp:output_form form="footer" />