Title: Search across fields
Last modified: January 21, 2019

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# Search across fields

 *  Resolved [mrwassen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dwl003/)
 * (@dwl003)
 * [7 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/search-across-fields/)
 * Hi,
 * Great plugin. Since I needed search capabilities I purchased the meta fields 
   search add-on. However, it turned out to work a bit differently than expected.
 * I was hoping to be able to configure a single search bar that could search across
   multiple profile fields. For example, if I have 3 meta fields “Personal Interests”,“
   Hobbies” and “Services Offered” I need a single bar that returns matches on any
   of those 3 fields when a single search term is specified, e.g. “electronics”.
 * Is there any way this could be achieved with the 2 plugins? (including a not 
   too complex coding approach).
 * Thanks,
 * Dennis

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

 *  Thread Starter [mrwassen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dwl003/)
 * (@dwl003)
 * [7 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/search-across-fields/#post-11115362)
 * Hi Sarah,
 * I made a small modification to your plugin that allows me to achieve the “single
   term search” as I have dubbed it. The mod is a bit crude and does not pretend
   to fully integrate with all of the other DUD features, but I don’t think that
   would be too hard to do that if you wanted to make it available as part of the
   core functionality. In any case, here are the changes:
 * 1) Add a new optional input to the dud_build_directory_query() function in core.
   php as follows (last argument):
 * `function dud_build_directory_query(..., $single_term=NULL) {}`
 * 2) At the very end of the function right before the query syntax is returned,
   add this statement:
 *     ```
       if (isset($single_term)) {$user_sql = 'SELECT DISTINCT bp.user_id from wp_bp_xprofile_data bp INNER JOIN wp_users wp ON wp.id = bp.user_id WHERE bp.value LIKE "%' . $single_term . '%" ORDER BY wp.display_name';                
              } 
       return $user_sql;
       ```
   
 * 3) Add the following argument in DynamicUserDirectory() in the 2 instances where
   dud_build_directory_query() is called (lines 317 and 2033 in v. 1.8), also as
   last argument:
 * `$user_sql = dud_build_directory_query(..., $_GET['term']);`
 * Now on the page having the [DynamicUserDirectory] shortcode, e.g. [http://www.mydomain/member-directory](http://www.mydomain/member-directory)
   I can add an input field and button which calls the page with a URL argument 
   containing the search term, i.e.
 * `http://www.mydomain/member-directory?term=electronics`
 * The directory will then be displayed filtered for all BP (xprofile) fields containing
   the string “electronics”.
 * A final version of this should probably only search fields that are defined in
   the DUD settings + a few other refinements I am sure.
 * Please let me know your thoughts.
 * Thanks
 * Dennis
    -  This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by [mrwassen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dwl003/).
    -  This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by [mrwassen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dwl003/).
 *  Plugin Author [Sarah Giles](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sarah_dev/)
 * (@sarah_dev)
 * [7 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/search-across-fields/#post-11139771)
 * Hi Dennis,
 * Sorry to hear the meta fields search wasn’t quite what you were looking for. 
   The good news is that I am planning to send out an update to the add-on in the
   next month or two that will add the feature you are requesting.
 * However, I will be sending out a previously scheduled update to DUD and its add-
   ons first. You may want to wait on running those so they won’t override your 
   local changes.
 * Best Regards,
    Sarah
 *  Thread Starter [mrwassen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dwl003/)
 * (@dwl003)
 * [7 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/search-across-fields/#post-11139903)
 * That’s music to my ears – thanks! Just last night I was trying to work out the
   sorting by display name which was broken with my hack. Now I will just wait until
   that version comes out instead. (and not install any updates that come out in
   the meantime).
 * Thanks for your help!
 * Dennis
 *  Thread Starter [mrwassen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dwl003/)
 * (@dwl003)
 * [7 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/search-across-fields/#post-11141689)
 * One other feature suggestion that would be very helpful:
 * I made another mod which displays a clickable email icon next to each entry when
   listing out the directory. When clicked, the private message compose form comes
   up with the “To:” user id pre-populated (this is a standard BP URL for compose)
   for all users except the logged in user. The logged in user instead gets a link
   saying “Edit your profile”.
 * These are to me very useful, but rather than asking you to add something like
   this, would it be possible to introduce the concept of having a dud folder under
   the child theme folder similar to what buddypress as a plugin provides? This 
   way, an alternate version of the plugin files could be maintained here and not
   be impacted when the plugin itself is upgraded.
 * Thanks in advance for your consideration.
 * Dennis

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

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## Tags

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 * 4 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [mrwassen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dwl003/)
 * Last activity: [7 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/search-across-fields/#post-11141689)
 * Status: resolved