This page deals with Frequently Asked Questions concerning the Advanced Search plugin for WordPress.

When I activate the plugin, I get an error like The used table type doesn’t support FULLTEXT indexes. What’s that?

You use the wrong table type, for example InnoDB. The FULLTEXT feature works only with MyISAM tables, which are the default in WordPress and MySQL, and usually should not be changed.

Does the plugin search custom fields and tags?

No. As for custom fields, this will probably never happen. Custom fields would be somewhat quirky to integrate in Advanced Search. (There are plugins that search custom fields, though.) As for tags, this feature is not implemented at the moment. But I will check if this is straightforward and possible without too much messing with the DB query. However, this is not a promise that it will ever happen.

I use the stable 2.0.x branch of WordPress. Can I use Advanced Search or Advanced Search Lite?

Yes. Please use Advanced Search 0.6 and Advanced Search Lite 0.1. They are fine for WP 2.0.x (on which zirona.com also runs).

I use WordPress 2.1.x or 2.2.x. Can I use Advanced Search or Advanced Search Lite?

WordPress 2.1.x or 2.2.x are obsolete. Please do yourself a favour and upgrade to the latest version of WP (2.3.1 while writing this), especially for reasons of security. However, if you have patched security issues yourself and insist on using 2.1.x or 2.2.x, you can use AS 0.6 or AS Lite 0.1.

I’m missing feature X. Will you implement it?

Maybe. Please leave a comment on the plugin’s page. But please search the other comments first, if the issue has already been discussed.

I found a bug. What should I do?

Please leave a comment on the plugin’s page. If you think it’s security relevant (and only then!), please send a mail.

Man, you are a great coder. Are you available for hire?

Sure, if you need a WordPress plugin, a WordPress theme (though no design jobs, only implementations), or any other WordPress or PHP related job. Please send a mail with specifications of your project. I’ll send you my thoughts and a quote, and we’ll see if we can work together.

Man, you are a lousy coder. Can I send you hate mail?

Sure, just send it. Will I care? Most likely not.

3 comments on “Advanced Search FAQ”

  1. Fabian on November 26, 2008 at 09:34 #

    First of all, let me thank you for a wonderful and very useful plugin!

    Now to my question/problem/idea (whatever you call it… )

    It’s been a long time that I’m searching for a solution to filter the content of a blog by TWO or more conditions (cats, date, authors, etc.) like for example delicious.com is able to do.
    For example: “Show me all postings from category X AND category Y within the date range from date A to date B”.
    I am aware that this is possible by manipulating the URL manually, but this is not very comfortable for readers. I would like to have a single site, where readers can filter that.

    This morning, it flashes my mind that this is exactly what “Advanced search” is doin’ – with the limitation that you HAVE to enter a search word.

    Any ideas how or if this could be solved with “Advanced search”?

  2. Alex Günsche on November 26, 2008 at 10:45 #

    Fabian, you should be able do this, but I think this will have impact on some ways WordPress behaves. But as this is very specific, I’m afraid you will have to find out yourself or hire someone to modify it for you.

  3. metron on March 5, 2009 at 16:39 #

    How advanced search do search for words of meta image descriptions? Like the Object description in the nextgen gallery shows. I mean IPTC and EXIF data?

    thx for help

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