Developing a search field

[Rachelle]

I'm developing a webpage interface for the employees I work with that
will allow them to search the database for things. I have everything
else set up, but i'm having problems actually developing the search
script.... basically my select statement. Anyone with examples of how
to do this would be appreciated. Thanks!

[windandwaves]

Re: Developing a search field

Rachelle wrote:[color=blue]
> I'm developing a webpage interface for the employees I work with that
> will allow them to search the database for things. I have everything
> else set up, but i'm having problems actually developing the search
> script.... basically my select statement. Anyone with examples of how
> to do this would be appreciated. Thanks![/color]

we definitely need more information. What are the fields you are searching?
what are people searching for?

[Pedro Graca]

Re: Developing a search field

Rachelle wrote:[color=blue]
> I'm developing a webpage interface for the employees I work with that
> will allow them to search the database for things. I have everything
> else set up, but i'm having problems actually developing the search
> script.... basically my select statement. Anyone with examples of how
> to do this would be appreciated. Thanks![/color]

I use something a lot like this when searching for data in several
different database columns:

<?php
$sql = "select name, city, age from people where 1=1";
if (isset($_POST['has_name'])) $sql .= " and name='{$_POST['name']}'";
if (isset($_POST['has_city'])) $sql .= " and city='{$_POST['city']}'";
if (isset($_POST['has_age'])) $sql .= " and age='{$_POST['age']}'";
?>

If you want to search text within specific columns
try using Full-Text Search functions

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/fulltext-search.html

Maybe you'd like to post to comp.databases. mysql for a more
comprehensive answer (mine is [slightly] off topic here).

--
Mail to my "From:" address is readable by all at http://www.dodgeit.com/
== ** ## !! ------------------------------------------------ !! ## ** ==
TEXT-ONLY mail to the whole "Reply-To:" address ("My Name" <my@address>)
may bypass my spam filter. If it does, I may reply from another address!

[bobzimuta]

Re: Developing a search field

Also check out soundex() in mysql documentation.

In a query : SELECT first_name FROM people WHERE soundex( first_name )
= soundex( 'mark' )

will return something like the following
marcus
marko
.... (more)

Don't forget your 'like' queries as well...
SELECT first_name FROM people WHERE first_name LIKE 'mar%'

will return everything starting with 'mar'

You can also wrap strings for LIKE using '%string%' and '%string'

If you're interested in performance, text searching does take a bit of
computing power, so take that into consideration.