Allow Low Search Collections to have similar Filter Options as Low Reorder Sets
Hi Low,
I think it'd be really nice if Low Search Collections had similar Filter Options as Low Reorder Sets (Channels, statuses, Search Fields, categories, etc).
It feels a bit 'all or nothing' at the moment when adding a collection/channel that has 5,000 entries, when I only want 100 of those entries to appear in the collection/search results.
If more filtering of the collection can be done in the CMS, then it'd mean that there would be less work needed in the search results tag or search form, less stumbling blocks when trying to control the output of the searches (i.e. when and/or searches aren't possible) and the search indexes may be smaller.
Is this a feature that's likely to make it into Low Search in the future?
Thanks,
Stephen
Replies
Low 18 Mar 2014 08:25
It's a tricky thing, this.
A collection is meant for filtering by keyword only. If you add additional parameters to it (status, category, search:-fields), you're actually stepping in other filters' territory. Things can get confusing quickly.
Like, what do you do when you define multiple collections with conflicting parameters? And what do you do if you define the parameters in the results tag?
I do get that you might want to define channel-specific options, but again, that looks like combining AND and OR on a per-parameter basis.
I will give it some more thought, but as I see it now, this isn't something I'd want to add to LS.
Stephen 18 Mar 2014 11:05
Hi Low,
I don't think I understand your reservations about this. I think it's a great idea for Low Search for the same reason that it's a great idea for Low Reorder.
If a collection can be filtered more at the very beginning (so there shouldn't be any confusion as it will have been intentionally filtered to a certain set of entries within that collection, just like Low Reorder sets are), then it means you'll have to do less work with the filtering later, and might even run into less limitations later (as less filters may need to be addd to the collection to simply narrow down the results to the result set that you would want the collection to contain in the first place).
If multiple collections are used in a search form, then I don't see the issue if a parameter affects some collections, but not others (as the other collections were already filtered at the collection level). If that wasn't wanted, then a new collection without those filters could be created. At the moment, I don't create new collections that often for a channel, especially for large channels.
My example about adding a channel with 5,000 entries, only to have to use filters to narrow it down to 100 entries (and then, be restricted in the filters that can be used as they were used up by having to filter the collection later, to how it could have been filtered at the beginning), shows how efficient this could be.
Thanks,
Stephen
Low 18 Mar 2014 11:31
Yeah, I see your point. It's no small feat, tho. Will investigate.
Stephen 18 Mar 2014 11:34
Can't you just copy and paste the code from Low Reorder? ;-) (joking!)
Low 18 Mar 2014 14:08
So, if you define such a collection, and you submit the form without keywords, would you still expect the collection filters to be applied to the search results?
Stephen 18 Mar 2014 16:13
Yes, as the 'filtered collection/set' is the collection, once those filters have been applied.
So if someone wanted a channel/collection to appear without such filters, then they'd create a collection without any filters.
Again, it was working with Low Reorder sets that inspired me to make this feature request (so it's your idea really). :-)
Low 18 Mar 2014 16:20
OK.
I'll note and stress here that how Low Reorder filtering works is inherently different. You cannot combine different LR Sets in one tag; it's one list of entries. The principle is not transferable 1 to 1 to Low Search.
Stephen 18 Mar 2014 16:33
Okay, well I'll take your word for how it all works technically of course. My feature request was just made from the user's point of view.
Thanks,
Stephen