Sorting a Post category using two variables

[Sasha Leland]

It has been over two weeks and I have received no response to my ticket. So I am submitting it again. It must have not been submitted properly – that is the only explanation for not receiving any technical support for so long.

I am simply trying to set up filter/sort functionality for a post category called Public Meetings. As you can see from the attached mockup, I would like two variables (which I have added as tags on each post) to control the filter: Meeting Type and Year. I have activated “Show tag selectors” (see attached screenshot) but I can’t get the checkboxes to show up. Nor can I figure out how to add the year pulldown.

The search bar also searches all posts – I would like it to only search through the Public Meeting posts.

This seems like very basic functionality for your plugin so I hope you can provide direction.

PS. I have provide temporary access to the website – see “Admin Username” in your Private Details.

[Ernest Marcinko]

Hi,

I’m very sorry, I’m not sure what’s wrong with your other ticket, I am not able to open it, and I didn’t even get a notification – something might have happened with the database, I will take care of that later.

For your issue, make sure to read this documentaion first. Basically you want to set the settings visiblity and layout to block here.

To restrict all results to a specific category, check this documentation, it should explain everything.

[Sasha Leland]

Hi Ernest,

Thanks for the response. I don’t know what happened with the first ticket but I am glad you are seeing this one.

With your help, I am closer. But I am still having problems. I am just trying to recreate this page (though I am adding a search box because I think that is a nice addition).

As you can see, I have most of the elements on the page but a couple issues:

1. I would like to remove the “Filter by Custom Types” selector. It doesn’t need to be there
2. Typing in the search field seems to trigger the year menu – I like the live search, but I would like it to trigger results in the “Public Meetings” category, not the Year tags.
3. Selecting the “Filter by Categories” checkboxes also seems to trigger the Year tags. I probably don’t want that to trigger any results – it should only work in concert with the year dropdown below, but only when the “Browse” button is pushed.
4. And finally, I have the result short code on added to the right column so that the results should show in the right and search functionality should stay persistent on the left. But when selecting results, it goes to a completely new page and the search functionality disappears.

Thank you for your help with these items.

[Ernest Marcinko]

Great!

1. To remove that, make sure nothing is selected here: https://i.imgur.com/8wZ4Zhu.png
2. 3. – Okay, if I understand correctly you don’t want to trigger the search when choosing the tags. In that case, make sure this option is turned off: https://i.imgur.com/8QTWaLc.png
4. I’m not sure if this was resolved in the meantime, but when I hit “browse”, I’m getting the results on the right side, which seems to be correct: https://i.imgur.com/QNzdhpw.png
Is the issue something else, or was it resolved?

[Sasha Leland]

Hi Ernest,

Thanks for everything – I am in much better shape now. The look and functionality are basically there. (Though now I still need to migrate/build 750 existing public meetings pages into the site!)

One remaining issue: when the search results come up on the right and the user clicks one of the results, they are “taken away” to that specific result page. This means the search functionality goes away unless the user navigates back. Is there a way to load the page content into the same area where the search results are?

In other words, is there a way to make the filter/sort functionality persistent so that it is always there when the user clicks on a search result? Or do I need to build the search functionality into every search result page?

[Ernest Marcinko]

I’m afraid yes, that is the only way. It’s similar to a regular google search or the built-in wordpress search, where each result is unique and leads to that unique result.

Usually the best way to keep the filter open is to direct the results to a new browser tab, that’s very effective, when the user closes the tab the filter is still open and active at the last position.

[Sasha Leland]

Ok, got it. Not perfect, but a decent solution nonetheless.

Apologies for all the follow ups, but I keep finding little quirks.

1. Is there a setting somewhere to increase the space around the horizontal line between individual search results? They just feel a little tight. Or does that need to be done with custom CSS?

2. When you arrive at the archive search page, right now the filter functionality is on the left and the search results area on the right is empty. Is there a way to add placeholder content that gets replaced with the search results so the user doesn’t just arrive at a blank page?

Thanks as always. -S

[Ernest Marcinko]

Sure!

1. This custom CSS will do it:

div.asp_r.asp_r_1.vertical .results .item::after {
    margin-top: 12px !important;
    margin-bottom: 12px !important;
    position: relative !important;
}

2. I think the best is to use the auto-populate feautre. It will display initial results 🙂

[Sasha Leland]

Perfect! Thank you for all the help. I should be all set [for now 😊]. -Sasha

[Ernest Marcinko]

You are very welcome Sasha 🙂

I will keep this topic open in case you have any further questions.

If you like the plugin and have not rated already, feel free to leave a rating on your codecanyon downloads page and on the wordpress plugin repository, it’s greatly appreciated.

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