Advanced Serach

Hi, I thought I could use the dataassist search wizard to help me build a search option using one form field to search 3 different columns in a mysql db.

I have a form already to go pointing at a results page. (set to post) I also have a recordset on the results page with nothing more than SELECT * from.....

I was expecting the search wizard to help me but it does not seem to work and or I am doing something stupid. Perhaps I am missing something.

I do find the user guides provided very poor. Sorry. I know its not cool to be negative, but they are very light on the ground.

Is there a guide for the search wizard? Worth pointing out, I have not touched the main dataaasist wizard. I could be wrong in thinking the search wizard can be used without having to use main wizard.

Many thanks for your help

Jon

don't worry about being negative, its only via constructive criticism that the people at Webassist can improve things.

personally, i find dataassist to be really useful for what i would call straightforward stuff, but for more complex sql tasks, i tend to do the basic stuff in dataassist, then hand code as necessary.

This may not be good general advice, it's just an approach i tend to take.

as to your problem, are you looking to query 3 fields from a single table or from several tables ?

can you give an indication of your table(s) structure and what you want to achieve, as this can help me

If you click on this page:

dataassist/

and click on the Solution Recipes tab, there is a section that talks a little more about using DataAssist Search.

But to answer your question, you don't need to use the DataAssist Wizard to use the Search Wizard.

If you already have a form and a record set, then you can just launch the DataAssist Search Wizard, and on step 2 you will select your search page and the form and on step 3 you can the different search criteria.


If you have any further questions, please post back.

Thanks for the replies guys. I hand coded the sql in the end. I will look at the solution given above. One of my reasons for buying web assist plugins is to speed up my production and so improve on the profit margins.

I know this will happen in time. The learning curve may be a bit steeper than I had thought. Given the complexity of what some of the plugins are doing this is understandable. I need to set aside time to learn the wizards etc. The volume of work makes this a tad hard...

I would however like to see user guides with more depth to them. I find the quick starts are ok but for example, the checkout wizard in ecart does need seem to be very well documented or perhaps I am just not looking in right place.

Thanks again.

Jon

I think you will find that our extension are very helpful and should speed up the process of development, in addition, most of the extension will save you time in testing, but our server behaviors will do additional checking and prevent certain things that are helpful for your site.

I would just recommend that you run the wizard on a test page to get a feeling for it and then use it on your site.

in regard to eCart 5, i think the wizard is well presented and the documentation (clicking the help button) should cover any confusions about any of the settings. You can also look at the support page with eCart to look over some tutorials and if you have any question, please let me know and we will try to assist you.