[mv] [mv 3.12] Multi-level, multipage sorts tamed!

[Ed LaFrance <edlafrance@printexusa.com>]

******    message to minivend-users from Ed LaFrance <edlafrance@printexusa.com>     ******

Time to give something back to the list -

On our printing supplies site, is it easy to get search results of 100 or
more items, and the sorting or results was never quite right.  I had seen
messages in the list archives from others who had the same problems:

-  The [sort] tag only works on the contents of the current results page,
so groupings (like categories) repeat themselves from page to page when
using the [more-list];

-  Sorting by item code didn't seem to work one way or another;

-  mv_sort_field didn't seem to work like it was supposed to;

Lots of variations on these problems, no real comprehensive solutions that
I could find.

Here's what is working great for me:

In a search form:

<FORM METHOD="POST" ACTION="[process-search]">
<input type="hidden" name="mv_sort_field" value="category,0">
<input type="hidden" name="mv_sort_option" value="f,f">
<INPUT MAXLENGTH="30" NAME="mv_searchspec" SIZE="13" VALUE=""><BR>
<INPUT TYPE="submit" VALUE="Search">
</FORM>

Note that mv_sort_field's value is "category,0" - this is a two-level sort,
first by the category field of the products database, then by the code
field within each category.  value="category,code" does not work - it
returns a server error, even if you define it along with all your other
products field names using mv_field_names, so you have to specify code by
its column number in the database, which is normally 0.  mv_sort_option is
set to "f,f" - one "f" (ignore case) for each sort field.  The docs say
that I should be able to stack these form elements:

<input type="hidden" name="mv_sort_field" value="category">
<input type="hidden" name="mv_sort_field" value="0">
<input type="hidden" name="mv_sort_option" value="f">
<input type="hidden" name="mv_sort_option" value="f">

But I always got an error of some sort when I did!

One-click searches (a couple of different examples):

<A HREF="[area scan
	 di=category
	 tf=category,0
	 to=f,f
	 df=yes
	 dl=2000 Series Ink]">2000 Series Inks</A>

[page href=scan arg="
		    sp=browse1
		    ml=6
		    df=yes
		    tf=category,0
		    to=f,f
	            sf=category
                    se=Supplies
              "]Supplies[/page]


...where tf=mv_sort_field and to=mv_sort_option.

These work pretty much as you would expect.

A final note - if you are going to use mv_sort_field, remove the [sort] tag
from your target page (usually results.html); it will just mess things up.

The above methods work great, even with results which generate
[more-list]'s of 20 pages or more.  If you use [on-change] to group your
results, by category for example, sort by your group field first, and
everything will come out exactly as you want it, nice and tidy.

I hope these tips will be helpul to someone.  Never give up!

- Ed LaFrance



-
PRINTEX Marking Technologies
12113 Kirkham Rd.
Poway, CA  92064  U.S.A.
(858) 513-2418
(800) 982-1928
(858) 513-2419 fax
edlafrance@printexusa.com
http://www.printexusa.com


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