use a fixed keyword set in search

[clemphoto]

My gallery application, http://clemsonphotos.org/coppermine (version 1.5 RC, guest access allowed), was developed using a fixed set of keywords available for each photograph.  When searching, it would be convenient to display a fixed set of keywords (a controlled vocabulary) that users could combine when searching.  Is this something that can reasonably be done by modifying code?  If so, how should I proceed?

Del

[Joachim Müller]

Please read the documentation before asking questions: Documentation → Configuration → General settings → Enable clickable keywords in search

[clemphoto]

I read the documentation, including enabling clickable keywords.  I have an existing set of keywords, already applied to the files before  uploading.  I do not want to be able to search for a single keyword (which is what clickable keywords does, among other things).  I want to display a set of keywords that are constructed not by extracting them from uploaded file keywords, but from a fixed, static list.  Users could then enter these keywords, in combinations and to combine with other text, in the search dialog.  Searching for a single keyword is not helpful with my application, as it will return too many hits.

[Αndré]

You can use this plugin hook to modify the search page.

[clemphoto]

Thanks, Andre.  I am very new to this software, and to php, so I will think long and hard before trying this approach.  At first glance, it looks like I could replace the search page with this, and that might turn out to be what I need.  But, simpler approaches first.

I do appreciate the pointer to where I might productively add code.  That is one of the challenges for me, knowing where I need to look.

Del

[Αndré]

You can do a string replace (str_replace) to include your stuff. In your case I would add some tags (e.g. a list), that appends the selected word to the search fields. That's very simple and all you needs is just some very basic skills in php and javascript.

[clemphoto]

I am having a little trouble understanding this.  Do you mean string replace to modify the set of search terms for a specific search, or string replace to replace segments of the search page as displayed to the user?

[Αndré]

Neither. The common way is to search for a specific string and add your content before/after that string. Of course you simply can add it to the start/end of the search form. That's your choice.

[clemphoto]

Can you direct me to a place where I could see an example of this approach?

Del

[Αndré]

Example of what? I don't know your skills. What exactly do you want to know?

[clemphoto]

An example of using string replace to add content to a page using the API hook for Search.  My skills are ahead of my knowledge in this kind of programming.  Quite a bit of experience, some with Perl, but very little with PHP.

Del

[Αndré]

Have a look at search.php. Everything in the variable $text can be accessed and modified with the plugin hook 'search_form'. Now it's your choice. Either you want to place your list somewhere in the search form box. Then you have to use str_replace. If you want to display that list at the place where the actual keywords are listed, your plugin code have to look like this:

Code Select Expand

<?php
$thisplugin->add_filter('search_form', 'custom_search_form');

function custom_search_form($text) {
  // here comes your html and js stuff
  $keyword_list = '<span onclick="foo">bar</span>';

  // then you append your list to the search form
  $text .= $keyword_list;

  return $text;
}
?>

[clemphoto]

Got it!  Thanks very much, Andre.