Add-On Overview

The add-on allows to filter and search resources based on Resource fields. The idea is to allow admins to utilize the power of custom fields to turn their resources into Directory, Classifieds, Shop or other types of content, for which filtering the data based on custom fields is vital.

The controls to filter the resources are added in Filters popup in Resources home page and categories



Resource Search page is also enhanced to show filter controls when the forum being searched currently has custom fields associated with it:



Each field can be configured separately to be shown in the filter list and/or in the search form:



Each category can be configured to show the values of custom fields in category/search views - as a prefix, under the title or a separate column:






Choice fields can be configured to be shown in the forms using Check boxes and Multiple-choice drop down (allow searching/filtering by multiple values) or Drop down selection/Radio buttons (allow searching/filtering only by single value).



Date fields and numeric fields are shown as interval inputs (from... to...) where both fields are optional, so it is possible to search any values higher/lower than the defined values or in some particular interval.

Color fields are also supported and color similarity algorithm is implemented. All items with visually similar colors are found and listed. An example search listing resources filtered by color similarity can be seen here The index of color similarity is configurable and can be set from product's options page:

Text fields are searched and indexed just like resource text itself. Full-text search is executed with fuzzy matching, meaning the phrase searched does not have to be in exactly the same order as in the query.

Resource list shows all active filters. Clicking each filter will remove the field and re-run the search with the remaining filters:



The product allows moving the filters from the default location in a popup to the sidebar or above resource list, configured per category or globally.



Xenforo Enhanced Search and Elastic Search support

The add-on has special support for Enhanced Search add-on with Elasticsearch back-end. Custom field information is indexed as separate content type in Elasticsearch. A high-performance algorithm is implemented to filter millions of records and show only the resources matching filter criteria. Custom fields are searched only once, and the result is cached for subsequent pages. Even though the product performs completely fine without Enhanced Search add-on, it is highly recommended to use this add-on and Elasticsearch on large databases.

Planned Features

Filtering resources based on tags and ordering the list based on custom field values are planned to be implemented.