CakePHP MySQL Search

Question

What is the “best” text search implementation for Cakephp using a MySQL database?

Answer 1

How I implemented message search:

Search Form Code:

<?php echo $form->create('Deal',array('action' => 'search')); echo $form->input('Deal.search'); echo $form->end('Search'); ?> 

In the controller, enter the following search function:

 function search() { if (!empty($this->data)) { $searchstr = $this->data['Post']['search']; $this->set('searchstring', $this->data['Post']['search']); $conditions = array( 'conditions' => array( 'or' => array( "Post.title LIKE" => "%$searchstr%", "Post.description LIKE" => "%$searchstr%" ) ) ); $this->set('posts', $this->Post->find('all', $conditions)); } } 

View Code:

 <?php foreach ($posts as $post): ?> <tr> <td><?php echo $post['Post']['id']; ?></td> <td> <?php echo $html->link($post['Post']['title'],'/posts/view/'.$post['Post']['id']);?> </td> <td><?php echo $post['Post']['created']; ?></td> </tr> <?php endforeach; ?> 

It may not be the best / elegant, but works well for simple queries.

Answer 2

Sphinx is one of the most powerful SQL text search engines - http://sphinxsearch.com/

CakePHP behavior is written in the bakery: http://bakery.cakephp.org/articles/view/sphinx-behavior

It should be noted that Sphinx has several components, and some should run as daemons on your computer (similar to running apache or mysql processes). You also need to “index” your database as often as possible to get fresh results. This can be a daunting task at first, but it is definitely worth the effort if you have many entries and large chunks of text to search for.

Answer 3

I have always sought to create a Search, SearchesController and view model, and then write my own script to search my database using

 $this->Search->query("SELECT * FROM table WHERE condition 1 AND condition 2"); 

I don’t know a single “better” search, but there may well be components and plugins that will do something similar for you. The best way to check out baked goods is http://bakery.cakephp.org/