Author: Martin Smallridge (WebSnail)
License: MIT
Cost: TBA
Version: 0.9.1 (revision ??)
Compatible: 5.0.6 (tested)
I've called this an "Add-Patch" because it is essentially an add-on search system that patches the existing search system rather than replacing it. It's also been patched/stuck on an Interspire Site without any of the "nice" trappings such as admin integration. It is not intended as a permanent solution because I just need it to work but it does work
.Components Used:
- jQuery 3.1
- jQuery Plugin: Thickbox
- Zend Framework (Lucene port)
- 85 cups of tea
- 2 nervous breakdowns + a lot of swearing
- A total rewrite
- a lot of luck!
The actual performance of the Hack revolves around use of the jQuery in conjunction with the Thickbox plugin to create an Ajax search results pop over window. This displays the results over the page and provides pagination...
This is all best demonstrated here and you use it by inputting a search term and then clicking the GO> button as normal.
Search functionality:
The search engine itself uses the Lucene module which was ported into PHP by the Zend Framework project. Like the (not ditched) Sphyder+ code it can handle a number of functions but primarily it is a spidering index system that spiders one or more sites to produce a search index. There are a number of complex features that are particularly useful but the main ones are:
- Weighting which allows you to tweak results displayed according to where they appear (title, description, etc..)
- Indexes the WHOLE site including your CMS content, FAQ/KB, etc... (not just your product line!)
- It's very easy to adapt as I've written the whole indexing and search code from scratch
- The Lucene module is a useful framework that's maintained.
- ...and the list goes on...
Many of the features Sphider+ had available were lost, including the ability to spider media files and more importantly (to me) it also lost the ability to index and include results from other sites. I'll be writing the latter functionality back in, over the next few weeks but the trade off was definitely worth it in return for losing the mess of Sphider code.
Availability:
I'll probably be releasing this as an "as is" mod' in a month or so, on a minimum contribution basis as well as on a "installed/supported" basis for anyone who wants it.
