ccdog

Unless I am mistaken, the search function in 4.5 only searches Content items. What about a more robust search function that allows the admin to register 3rd party Components to be searchable. As it is currently, the 3rd party component must come with its own search capability, but that leaves room for non-standardization.

The way I see it working is as follows:

The admin would edit the search function throught the admin interface.
He/she could select a component to add to the search function.
The search function would request a db table name, and the desired fields to be searched.
Then, in the front end, the user would have the ability to search by content name, content title, component x, component y, etc., or just by all of the above.

Edited to add: I just realized that this is already on the roadmap for 5.0, so please disregard.

tonyskyday

There has been quite a bit of discussion about extending the search function to be more powerful. MMX suggested what I think was a good option of creating a search component that searches the whole database, but which is limited to checking character fields 100 charachters or longer (or something like that). Even though, as you mentioned, extended search capabilities are on the roadmap for 5.0, it would sure be nice to have that capability sooner.

-Tony

ccdog

Perhaps a 4.5/4.6 Component to handle this? Do you know anyone who would be interested in developing such a component?

mmx

Mambo 4.6 handles this by storing all content in the mos_content table. If content in included in mos_content, it will be searched. This effort is a stepping stone on the way to 5.0 and something that needed in happen in 4.6 in order to permit workflow management, permissions controls, and other features planned for future releases. Most components and many modules will have to be modified to support this new feature. Also note that this appears to be handled in a way that fully supports the multilanguage content capabilities of future releases.

In 4.5, only content items and web links are included in searches.

__________________
mmx