[Ash Harris]

Hello, Steven.

First, let me tell you how impressed I am with your robust directory plugin. I love it.

I do have a couple of questions. I am working on a site for the Autism Society of Michigan, http://www.autism-mi.org. There is a tremendous need to allow them to search within multiple categories.

The directory is located here: http://autism.securetransactionhost.com/local-resources/directory/

I can see that your plugin either does, or at one time did, support the selection of multiple categories as search criteria, http://connections-pro.com/support/topic/geo-search-multiple-category-search-custom-fields/

So, I can’t seem to figure out how it works – or where the setting is that allows end-users to select more than 1 category.

The need is due to the fact that users tend to search the directory (on the current website) by county.

To use Connections, I determined the best workaround was to create a category called “County” and then to add all Michigan counties as children to County.

I welcome any feedback you may have.

Thanks in advance!

[Steven Zahm]

@ Ash

Try adding this to your shortcode: enable_category_multi_select=true so you have something like this:

[connections enable_category_multi_select=true]

Will that work?

If not, something more like what is used on https://sscit.org/ could be setup for you.

[Ash Harris]

Hey Steven. I like the way that works now – it’s very nice. If you visit the link you can see that I’ve added the multi-category search option.

The only other question is this: is there a way to search based on a zip code and get results within a 25 or 50 mile radius?

Thanks again!!

[Ash Harris]

Actually, Steven, I just realized I missed the zip/mile radius search that was included in the example you gave me at https://sscit.org/directory/

So, how do we go about adding/enabling that?
Is there a shortcode I can add?
And, does it matter which directory theme I am using?

Thank you so much!

[Steven Zahm]

@ Ash

The example on the sscit.org site is using a custom extension developed for them. This is something I can install and setup for you at a reason rate. It would require a two page setup though, just like example site. Basically you have the initial page where the search criteria is input and a results page. If you’re interested, let me know.

[Ash Harris]

Steven, I’m interested and I’m curious what the rate would be. If we make these adjustments, can we still safely apply plugin updates?

[Steven Zahm]

@ Ash

I just sent you an email with a quote. Let me know if you do not receive that email.

[Steven Zahm]

@ Ash

Of, I forgot to answer the other question… Yes, you will be able to apply updates to the core Connections plugin safely.

[Ash Harris]

Steven, for the moment, we’re going to hold off on the radius filter.

However, since we’ve populated the directory it seems like the behavior has changed.

The directory can be viewed here:
http://autism.securetransactionhost.com/local-resources/directory/

What we need is to be able to filter by multiple categories. That’s what I explained before, but perhaps I did not articulate sufficiently.

So, we have about 500 records in the database.

These records consist of special education agencies throughout the state of Michigan.

Each agency is tied to a county. The counties have each been added as categories.

There are many services offered by these agencies, and there is a category for each service.

So, we need to be able to enter ALLEGAN County SOCIAL SKILLS and display a list of items that meet BOTH of those criteria.

It seems that the category search is bringing up lists of all items tagged with ALLEGAN -AND- all items tagged with SOCIAL SKILLS.

So, each category added to the search should further refine the list rather than expand it.

Does this make sense?

When you first helped me with the plugin last month, it looked like it was behaving the way I needed it to. But now it seems to have changed.

If you’d like to have a closer look, I can email you a username and password.

Thank you very much!

[Steven Zahm]

@ Ash

re: When you first helped me with the plugin last month, it looked like it was behaving the way I needed it to. But now it seems to have changed.

No, this has not changed. When selecting multiple category from the drop down the results are that the entries must be in all selected categories. I tested this on your site and it works as expected.

That said, I see you are now using the category widget. This is not going to be compatible with multiple category search. For example if you click a category link in the widget, the multiple category search is no longer going to work correctly. I believe it is this that is causing you the trouble that you have described.

I’m going to assume you really want to have that category widget… here’s something I think that will work for you since you country categories are not ever likely to change or change very little. This will require a little work. Here’s what to do.

Go to the WordPress Menus admin page (under Appearance) and click the Create New Menu link. Give the Menu a new name and click the Create Menu button.

Click the Custom link menu item. In the URL box add:
http://autism.securetransactionhost.com/local-resources/directory/?cn-cat=23

In the Link text box add, Alger.

Click the Add to Menu button.

Do this for each county. The number at the end of the URL, that is the category ID which can be found on the Connections : Categories admin page. So, as you add counties, you would change the ID accordingly.

As a test, just do a few.

Save the menu and go to the Widgets admin page (under Appearance). There you will find a Custom Menu widget. Add that to the sidebar and select your new custom menu.

Now when you click those links you should be able to still perform a multiple category search and it should work.

Hope that helps, let me know!

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