Searching by reference number.

[Steve Zodiac]

Does anyone know how to make v7 search by product reference number like the old versions used to? The reference numbers are visible on the web site, but the search does not pick them up, am I missing a setting?
I did not really want to create a searchable custom property.

[Toby B]

Hi Steve,

I'm afraid this is a bug and it's the space that is causing the problem.

I'll keep you updated with the progress on the resolution of this issue.

[Steve Zodiac]

Hi Toby,

Many thanks.

[bjh555]

Latest...

Hi Toby

What is the latest on this? Has it been added to the Wish list to get it sorted?

I have a particularly irate client who has just worked out that when the site is launched in a few weeks, customers won't be able to search using the reference number. This is quite bad considering he has just had a catalogue printed in which all products are listed primarily by reference number, description is a minor part of it.

Eeeek. He's not happy.

Hope it can get sorted ASAP.

Cheers

Ben

[DaveT]

Would this work

Hello

You might know how you can use the /cgi-bin/ss000001.pl?PRODREF=(Product Code)&NOLOGIN=1 to move directly to a product?

Would that work for you as a search if you created your own form somewhere?

Just a thought, I don't know how that would be affected by the space bug.

Ta.

[bjh555]

Hi Dave

Thanks for the reply.

I see what you are getting at and I can see how it could work, but being a newish Actinic user, I wouldn't have a clue how to go about doing what you suggested.

Any chance you or someone else could give me a bit more detail.

Would be appreciated

Thanks

Ben.

[DaveT]

Quick Link

Hello

In Actinic, the script used for searching also accepts the code as a parameter and will look up that code and redirect you to the product page if it finds it.

An example would be:

http://www.yoursite.com/cgi-bin/ss00...2345&NOLOGIN=1 where 12345 is your code.

To use this as I suggest in a form of its own you could place the following html in a page, say near the quick search form but ensuring that this Lookup form is outside of any of the other <form> tags coded into the page, like those used for quicksearch and the add-to-cart routine.

If you copy this html into a test page you will see how it might work. Replace "yoursite.com" with your domain and "ss000001.pl" with your script number and extension if needed (eg, ss000002.cgi).

<form method="get" action="http://www.yoursite.com/cgi-bin/ss000001.pl">
<input type="text" name="PRODREF" value="" size="25" maxlength="255" />
<input type="hidden" name="NOLOGIN" value="1" />
<input type="submit" value="Look Up This Code" />
</form>

I did this at www.johnsons-seeds.com/az - select a letter and then see how each product points you to the actual product page.

Hope this helps.

[Toby B]

Thanks Dave,

That's very useful.

Ben:

Development are looking into this but it could take a while to resolve as the search algorithm in Perl is quite complex. Let me check with them to see if we can provide an approximate resolution date.

Does your client have a specific reason why they need a character space in the reference? Is it possible to remove it?

[bjh555]

F.A.O. Toby...

Hi Toby.

Apologies, I only just noticed this.

The products all work using a reference number like: PW-3000 PW-4000 PW 4333/S1 PW-4333/S2 and so on...

He has just had a catalogue printed to go alongside the online store, so a customer can simply come to the store and search for a specific product rather than having to search using the name of the product, which in some cases can be very long and complicated.

Thanks

Ben.