Hi Ernest,
Like you, I had some other priorities to take care of before replying here. I also wanted to set aside enough time to review everything.
Nice job on the new index table optimization. I updated the plugin and saw what you did. Considering that we will ultimately have an enormous database, we’re going to need optimizations such as this. I’m grateful that you’re refining the search like a true engineer! =)
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Filter to Use Parent (Linked) Page for Attachment Search Results Not Functioning with Index Table Method
Your fix worked. I have confirmed that the attachment parent links are now functioning again when using the index table for attachment searches. Thank you for this!
Intermittent Bug With Number of Search Result Columns (Cards)
I have noted this. I am not sure what might be the issue, but I will go through the pagination generator code before the next release, maybe I can find something that does not belong there.
I can now confirm this is a real issue, as it has persisted in both our production and development environments. The search result tiles (cards) just get smaller and smaller on repetitive searches. It’s a real annoying issue. Have you seen this yet on your end?
Featured Image Source Size Not Working in All Situations
This is a new issue I haven’t told you about until now. We’ve been working here on customizing all of our image sizes site-wide, generating specific sizes for specific locations. For ASP we are creating a 300x375px image.
I set the Featured Image Source Size to use this specific image, but it’s not working across the board. What I found is that it only seems to work for normal post search results. The attachment results are displaying the full image size, and tag results are strangely displaying the thumbnail (small) size. For tag results (we call them subcategories) we have created functionality for the search to display the image from the first post in the subcategory. This is working beautifully, but it is using the incorrect image size. The problem with the tag images may be on our end in our script, and I have brought it to the attention of our developers.
Attachment Search / Filter for Default Post-Format
NOTE: This solution will only work with the non-index table version! Before editing anything, make sure to have a back-up, just in case.
The best possible solution for this is that I add an option to the back-end, just like the one regarding the custom fields. That should resolve this once and for all.
It’s important that we can use the index table for our attachment results. I also don’t like the idea of modifying the plugin, as this is really a functional problem that should be solved within core.
I just want to make sure you understand the nature of this problem… (I think you do) 😉
If I turn off the “Show posts/CPM with empty (missing) taxonomy terms” feature than the attachment search will not function. However, if I turn on this feature it is causing the Default (Article) post-format to always appear in search results even when that format is excluded in the search settings.
Obviously I do not know the inner workings of the code, but what we need here is an integrated solution. These two features, using the attachment search, and filtering out the default post-format, should not be exclusive of one another. I’m confident that you will be able to find a proper solution to this problem.
Export/Import
While I designed this one with a lot of fallback, I only recommend using the export/import feature within the same site (and same plugin versions), as a sort-of archivation tool. It should be solid, as there are many consistency checks during the process. The export gets every single option of the search instance directly from the database, then encodes it. The import does the same, but inversed.
Possible point of failures can be for example mismatches in category IDs, missing taxonomy terms, custom fields between the export and import dates – but that is resolved during the search instance save process and on other actions as well, so the data consistency is checked on multiple occasions.
Thank you for this very detailed answer. I’m using the import/export feature to backup our instances. For syncing between the two environments (production and development) I am doing this work manually 99% of the time. This kind of thing isn’t limited to the search. I’m having to keep our two environments synced manually across the board, as I can’t simply export/import the entire database (for a mix of reasons). So I usually have the admins of both sites open side by side and make sure the settings match in both. I’ll avoid using the export/import for ASP unless absolutely necessary. But if I do need to use it, it’s good to know it should be dependable.
Common Words
When using the index table engine, then on the Advanced options panel, there is a common word filter. Basically it will not index any words entered into that textarea:
Please note, that making a change on the index table options panel will require generating a new index.
Thank you for pointing this feature out. I had actually looked at this feature earlier and didn’t connect it in my mind with this problem. I’ll have to carefully consider which words are entered here, since they would not be indexed at all. I think this will solve the problem though!
Date Filter Bug
Linking Attachment Search Results to Parent (Linked) Posts (Core Integration)
Customizable Header in Settings Screen Date Filters
I’m just listing these here so we don’t forget about them.
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Thanks as always Ernest!
~ Michael