Ruby on Rails: Advanced search

Question

I'm having trouble understanding the best way to make a advanced search form. I have had a good search on the internet, looking at some ways, but I can't get them to work, as most of the suggestions are outdated. I have asked a question already, but I think I was too specific and I wasn't able to fix my problem. I am wanting to search on different text boxes and drop down boxes with one search button.

EDIT2:

projects_controller:

def index
    @projects = Project.all

respond_to do |format|
      format.html # index.html.erb
      format.json { render :json => @projects }
    end
  end

def search
@project_search = Project.search(params[:search]).order(sort_column + ' ' + sort_direction).paginate(:per_page => 2, :page => params[:page])


end




  # GET /projects/1
  # GET /projects/1.json
  def show
    @project = Project.find(params[:id])

    respond_to do |format|
      format.html # show.html.erb
      format.json { render json: @project }
    end
  end

  # GET /projects/new
  # GET /projects/new.json
  def new
    @project = Project.new

    respond_to do |format|
      format.html # new.html.erb
      format.json { render json: @project }
    end
  end

  # GET /projects/1/edit
  def edit
    @project = Project.find(params[:id])
  end

  # POST /projects
  # POST /projects.json
  def create

    @project = Project.new(params[:project])


    @project.client = params[:new_client] unless params[:new_client].blank?
    @project.exception_pm = params[:new_exception_pm] unless params[:new_exception_pm].blank?
    @project.project_owner = params[:new_project_owner] unless params[:new_project_owner].blank?
    @project.role = params[:new_role] unless params[:new_role].blank?
    @project.industry = params[:new_industry] unless params[:new_industry].blank?
    @project.business_div = params[:new_business_div] unless params[:new_business_div].blank?

    respond_to do |format|
      if @project.save
        format.html { redirect_to @project, notice: 'Project was successfully created.' }
        format.json { render json: @project, status: :created, location: @project }
      else
        format.html { render action: "new" }
        format.json { render json: @project.errors, status: :unprocessable_entity }
      end
    end
  end

  # PUT /projects/1
  # PUT /projects/1.json
  def update
    @project = Project.find(params[:id])

    respond_to do |format|
      if @project.update_attributes(params[:project])
        format.html { redirect_to @project, notice: 'Project was successfully updated.' }
        format.json { head :no_content }
      else
        format.html { render action: "edit" }
        format.json { render json: @project.errors, status: :unprocessable_entity }
      end
    end
  end

  # DELETE /projects/1
  # DELETE /projects/1.json
  def destroy
    @project = Project.find(params[:id])
    @project.destroy

    respond_to do |format|
      format.html { redirect_to projects_url }
      format.json { head :no_content }
    end
  end




private

  helper_method :sort_column, :sort_direction
  def sort_column
    Project.column_names.include?(params[:sort]) ? params[:sort] : "project_name"
  end

  def sort_direction
    %w[asc desc].include?(params[:direction]) ? params[:direction] : "asc"
  end
end

Search View:

<h1>Search</h1>

<%= form_tag search_path, method: :get do %>
<%= hidden_field_tag :direction, params[:direction] %>
  <%= hidden_field_tag :sort, params[:sort] %>
  <%= text_field_tag :project_name, params[:project_name] %>
  <%= text_field_tag :client, params[:client] %>
  <%= submit_tag "Search", name: nil %>
<% end %>



<table class = "pretty">
<table border="1">
  <tr>
    <th><%= sortable "project_name", "Project name" %> </th>
    <th><%= sortable "client", "Client" %></th>
    <th>Exception pm</th>
    <th>Project owner</th>
    <th>Tech</th>
    <th>Role</th>
    <th>Industry</th>
    <th>Financials</th>
    <th>Business div</th>
    <th>Status</th>
    <th>Start date</th>
    <th>End date</th>
<% if false %>
    <th>Entry date</th>
    <th>Edited date</th>
    <th>Summary</th>
    <th>Lessons learned</tStackh>
    <th>Customer benifits</th>
    <th>Keywords</th>
    <!th></th>
    <!th></th>
    <!th></th>
<% end %>
  </tr>

<% @project_search.each do |t| %>
  <tr>
    <td><%= t.project_name %></td>
    <td><%= t.client %></td>
    <td><%= t.exception_pm %></td>
    <td><%= t.project_owner %></td>
    <td><%= t.tech %></td>
    <td><%= t.role %></td>
    <td><%= t.industry %></td>
    <td><%= t.financials %></td>
    <td><%= t.business_div %></td>
    <td><%= t.status %></td>
    <td><%= t.start_date %></td>
    <td><%= t.end_date %></td>
<% if false %>
    <td><%= t.entry_date %></td>
    <td><%= t.edited_date %></td>
    <td><%= t.summary %></td>
    <td><%= t.lessons_learned %></td>
    <td><%= t.customer_benifits %></td>
    <td><%= t.keywords %></td>
<% end %>
    <!td><%#= link_to 'Show', project %></td>
    <!td><%#= link_to 'Edit', edit_project_path(project) %></td>
    <!td><%#= link_to 'Destroy', project, method: :delete, data: { confirm: 'Are you sure?' } %></td>
  </tr>
<% end %>
</table>

<br />
<%= will_paginate (@project_search) %>


<%= button_to "Search Again?", search_path, :method => "get" %>

<%# end %>
<%= button_to "Home", projects_path, :method => "get" %>

Project.rb

class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
  attr_accessible :business_div, :client, :customer_benifits, :edited_date, :end_date, :entry_date, :exception_pm, :financials, :industry, :keywords, :lessons_learned, :project_name, :project_owner, :role, :start_date, :status, :summary, :tech

validates_presence_of :business_div, :client, :customer_benifits, :end_date, :exception_pm, :financials, :industry, :keywords, :lessons_learned, :project_name, :project_owner, :role, :start_date, :status, :summary, :tech



def self.search search_term
 return scoped unless search_term.present?
 where find(:all, :conditions => ['project_name OR client LIKE ?', "%#{search_term}%"])
end

end

Routes:

FinalApp::Application.routes.draw do
resources :projects
match "search" => "projects#search", :as => :search
root :to => 'projects#index'
end

As you can see, I'm still a fair bit away from having a finished application. I am trying to make a search form that will be able to search on the following fields: Project name, Client, ID, Industry, Role, Technology, Project Owner, Status, Start Date, End Date, and Keywords. The search form would have either text boxes or drop down menus depending on which field the user was searching for. I am wanting to chain each field and search on them all in one go. Before, I was only using project_name, and client as examples to make it easier for you to understand my code. Hopefully you can see now what I am trying to do.

Answer 1

You can create a new controller called search.

Your search form:

<%= form_tag search_index_path, method: :get do %>
  <%= text_field_tag :project, params[:project] %>
  <%= text_field_tag :client, params[:client] %>
  <%= submit_tag "Search", name: nil %>
<% end %>

incude in your routes.rb:

get "search/index"

your search controller:

def index
  #store all the projects that match the name searched
  @projects = Project.where("name LIKE ? ", "%#{params[:project]}%")  
  #store all the clients that match the name searched    
  @clients = Client.where("name LIKE ? ", "%#{params[:client]}%")
end

Now you can play with @projects and @clients in the index view.

Just be careful, because these variables might became nil if there is no match for the search.

EDIT - I am assuming you have two models Project and Client - if you cannot create a new controller you can create the search action in your current controller.

def search
  #store all the projects that match the name searched
  @projects = Project.where("name LIKE ? ", "%#{params[:project]}%")  
  #store all the clients that match the name searched    
  @clients = Client.where("name LIKE ? ", "%#{params[:client]}%")
end

And than you can use the @projects and @clients in the search view.

If you are trying to display the results in somewhere else (for example index view), you can just move the above to the correct action.

 def index
  ....
  #store all the projects that match the name searched
  @projects = Project.where("name LIKE ? ", "%#{params[:project]}%")  
  #store all the clients that match the name searched    
  @clients = Client.where("name LIKE ? ", "%#{params[:client]}%")
end

EDIT 2 - OK, you are trying to search by a combination of fields in the same model:

You and change your search method to add these two fields:

def self.search(search_project, search_client) 
  return scoped unless search_project.present? || search_client.present?
  where(['project_name LIKE ? AND client LIKE ?', "%#{search_project}%", "%#{search_client}%"])
end

But please note the || will return scope if your search_project OR search_client are not present, you can change for AND (&&) if you prefer.

Also, the AND will return only if both match, I mean the combination of search... You can also change it to OR if you want.

Having the search form:

Your search form:

<%= form_tag search_index_path, method: :get do %>
  <%= text_field_tag :project, params[:project] %>
  <%= text_field_tag :client, params[:client] %>
  <%= submit_tag "Search", name: nil %>
<% end %>

Then your controller must send the combination to the model:

@project_search = Project.search(params[:project], params[:client]).all

I think it will solve the problem...

Answer 2

I've been using MetaSearch in my application and found it quite convenient. If you've already considered it, what problems did you have?

There's also Ransack by the same author, it's a successor to MetaSearch.