Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

you have to run the sql install again for the cloud feature to work!

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

I am having trouble finding this code...Actually, my version is not finding related categories. Can I just plug this code into the tpl file?

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

Oh, and Bill is f*ckin awesome. Both the Smart Search and Buy Together mods have changed my site for the better. I am ecstatic with the product and support!

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

make sure you run the sql setup again that comes with the latest install package

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

I have CDSEO installed and did this little modification, but the search result links still show productid links instead of the CDSEO link...
Has anyone else gotten this to work correctly? And yes, I did run the DB rebuild thing after changing and uploading this file (and template cache cleaning)

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

WOW.... that's all I can say.... WOW! I have always hated the stock search function. This is hands-down the best and most helpful mod I have ever implemented. The speed knocked my socks off and the versatility is top notch. I think you may have thought of everything on this one. Thank you thank you thank you for SmartSearch!!!!!!

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

One of our customers has several products with 'rasp' in the title. The problem is xcart is bringing search results back with 'grasping' in the product title. The problem is 'grasping' is sometimes placed above 'rasp' in the results returned. Will this mod fix this?

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

Yes.

The default X-Cart search uses pattern matching and doesn't look at words. Basically if the combination of the letters 'rasp' is found anywhere it is a match (even if it is the middle of a word). The standard X-Cart search doesn't search by relevancy either, so the closest match is not at the top of the results.

The Smart Search uses a natural language search, sorting by relevance, and will NOT return 'grasping' if 'rasp' is search for. (Unless there are no matches for rasp, then a partial word match is used as a last resort).

Also, the products with the word 'rasp' in the title will be at the top of the results, followed by the products that include 'rasp' In the description and sorted by frequency (A product that has the word 'rasp' 5 times will be above a product that has the word 3 times.)

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

I have found this mod to be a huge !!! improvement over the stock x-cart search function, one question though ...

Should the feature comparison checkbox be available in the search results for products with a class assigned. I have integrated smart search with a copy of my products.tpl template and although the feature copmparison code is in the smart_search_products.tpl it does not display in the search ?

Something I've missed ?

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

Bill,

You mentioned there would be an update in the future to address a few items, including extra field search - any update?

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

The feature comparison doesn't currently work with the smart search. The X-Cart search would also query the database for the feature comparison code, but the smart search doesn't use the same method to search, so it is difficult to make them happily work together. I have been working on a fix, and will update this thread when I find a solution.



There is going to be a new add-on available separately for those who would like to add extra fields, extra product tables, news, and static page searches. This will be available sometime in September.

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

Seems like a very good addition for my store. We have had many complaints about the seach feature.

Can you search by categorie by manufacturer?

REgards.

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

Yes.

There are not any manufactures on the demo, but if your store has manufacturers there is an extra dropdown selection below the categories.

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

Bill just helped with an issue with this mod on our store. mysql by default has a minimum limit of 4 characters/word for fulltext search. we've changed this to min 2 to improve the accurancy!

"MySQL has a setting that only searches words with 4 or more letters. The
Smart Search has code to override this limit in PHP, but this does not work
on all hosts. To change your word limit in MySQL open your my.cnf file and
change (or add) this variable:

ft_min_word_len=2
"

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

Hi Bill - sorry to keep asking for updates, but I'm dying to get my hands on your mod and am holding off until the add-on is available - do you have a projected date yet?

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

The static pages, news, and extra fields add-on is finished. It is being tested now and should be available in a week or two.

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

I am having a small problem with this product...

I use the HTML Catalog (Yes I do use it). When I place a search term in the search box, while on an html catalog page, it simply takes me to home.php. From home.php, or any php page, it works fine. I love the search, but I need a solution for this problem for sure as it is annoying to me and I am sure it annoys my customers.

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

Nobody else has run into this problem?

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

Bill,

Any update on testing and the ETA for that add-on?

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

This shouldn't be a problem when creating the HTML catalog in your store root. However, if you use a subdirectory the HTML pages will not point to the correct location. To fix this you need to edit the skin1/modules/Smart_Search/smart_search_customer.tpl file.

Change this line:


To point to the full path to the _search.php file. Example:


Just remember you will need to edit this if you ever move your store files to a different directory.

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

It has been finished for a few weeks, I just haven't had a chance to get it up on the site. Hopefully this weekend. I will post here when it is up.

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

Looks interesting however, it's a shame we'll never use it. X-Cart's vanilla search engine nearly died dealing with our product/category load we ended up moving to Google CSE Business Edition.

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

Is the static page search add-on available now?

Does it/will it allow certain pages to be excluded from indexing?

Thanks,
Dan

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

Hi Bill,

Sounds like at least a couple of us are anxiously awaiting the add-on... any chance that installer will find its way onto your site soon?

Thanks,
Isaac

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

Always with an eye open for other search solutions I took a look at the CSE Business Edition engine that your using on your site, a first one for me, for example, your product here

http://www.hardwareandtools.com/invt/1826148

I ran a search query for "rail construction" (without quotes), I had 4 search results but none related to specific product "8Ft 3S-Design Flat Column 3S100 by Ll Building Products" which the description had these two words -just not together.

Then I tried a couple of typos "rai construction," and also "ornamental Iron" didn't return results either, simple typos can cost a sales.

Btw, I'm not promoting Smart Search, there is an excellent free search mod in the forum, besides you mentioned you had server load issues, just that I was curious to see Google's search solution and how it worked with x-cart and just posting my observations.

Is this Google's best solution for small business sites?

Sorry didn't mean to go off topic.

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

Just a FYI. The Smart Search is based on an entirely different search technology than the X-Cart search. The Smart Search would:

1. Automatically suggest the correct spelling.

2. Use a language based search that would rank results based on word density, and would not require the user to enter the exact phrase, or exact order of the words. And would also automatically assign a words 'weight' by its field placement. (If the word 'rail' was found in the title it would rank above a product where the word 'rail' was in the description.

3. Significantly reduce the load on a server while searching. The Smart Search is being used on sites with 80,000+ products and searches usually take less than a second. (Of course, this requires a server that is capable of handling 80,000 products to begin with).

And yes, a discussion of the Google based searches probably should be a new topic.

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

Hi Bill,

On these "Smart Search" and "Buy Together" modules, any revisions needed for the new X-cart 4.1.9 release? I assume that are the same as the previous 4.1.8 release but thought I should ask. :)

Thanks
-Tuan

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

Hi Bill is the new demo available soon? Im having to move ahead with a new site without this feature for now so Im not in any hurry anymore. Im still keen to see the new demo in the next couple of months for the new site however, plus the add-on for additional fields which you know Im very keen to exploit.

thanks

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

I'm very interested in this mod, but I'm using Product MetaTags Plus and plan on also using CDSEO, both of which use Extra Fields.

I've read this entire thread and see the developer planned on enabling this mod to search Extra Fields making said mod available "Hopefully this weekend". That was a month ago (October 19).

A couple of questions:

1. Can 'Product MetaTags Plus', 'CDSEO', and 'Smart Search' play together?

2. Does 'search extra fields' once and for all work in Smart Search?

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

I have had correspondance from Bill who said that the extra fields would be an add on to the Search Mod, so, an additional cost and install I would assume from this.

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

Yes, but he also said in this thread that he would be uploading said mod this weekend a month ago. So what's the status?

Also, is that extra mod necessary for Smart Search to work with CDSEO and MetaTags Plus?

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

HI inboxnews,

as you have also seen, Bill has just posted his demo up for the one page checkout which Im guessing was his priority, so maybe the Search is next on the agenda for demo'ing.

I wanted to add extra fields to each product spec and be able to search on these. so that was the context of my brief discussion via mail with Bill, not about CDSEO fields. Having said that, CDSEO fields are about defining the html wording for the page name yes? so, its not part of the page's content as such is it... but surely as part of an SEO plan, the page name you define in CDSEO is mirroring your keywords in your meta data which are in the product content and so surely are part of the search content too....

I have no experience with metadata plus.

Maybe Bill will let us know soon what's the lowdown rather than me speculating.

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

Yes and No. MetaTags Plus and CDSEO use extra fields for Title/Description and Keywords. CDSEO also performs the function you mentioned.

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

ok we will have to wait and see I guess

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

Question for those of you using this mod:

Did it require much configuration to get accurate search results?

I'm having some trouble with the results returned for my search phrases. In some cases they are far less helpful, or non-existent, where the default search function found the proper products. For example, we sell products that contain Pau D'Arco Bark. On the default search, searching for "pau d arco" will return all 8 products and nothing else. With Smart Search, searching for "pau d arco" will return 50 products or more, and sorted by relevancy products with "Pau D'Arco" in their names aren't even on the first few pages.

In another instance, searching for "Chai Tea" with the default search will return 12 products which contain the phrase chai tea. Using Smart Search, of the first 10 products only 6 of them contain both words while other items like teaspoons and mate chai outrank many of the items by relevancy that contained the actual phrase "chai tea".

Judging by all of the great reviews, and how helpful Bill has been answering questions here, including my own pre-sales questions, I'm hoping that it's just a matter of tweaking things a bit. If anyone could offer any insight based on their own experience or my examples I would greatly appreciate it.

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

Hello.

This sounds like a problem with the 4 letter MySQL word limit, which would cause the incorrect results for 'tea', and 'Pau'. You can edit this by changing (or adding) this to the etc/my.cnf file:


or

You may have to have your web host, or web manager do this for you. After this restart MySQL and rebuild the search database and your results will be accurate down to 2 or 3 letter words.

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/server-system-variables.html#option_mysqld_ft_min_word_len

--

Also, the Smart Search uses a natural language search. What this does is assign every word a value, and score this in relation to other words. Basically, rare words are scored higher than common words and product results are based on:

1. Word frequency.
2. Word placement (a word in the title is worth more than a word in the description).

So if you search for 'Chai Tea', the first results with be:

1. Products with both words in the title
2. Products with a single word in the title and both words in the description.
3. Products with both words in the description.
4. Products with a single word in the description.

And all based on word value and density. So if the word tea is used 10 times in a description this will rank above one that uses the work 8 times.

I hope all of this makes sense.

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

Sorry, I didn't realize I posted this. The add-on really has been technically complete for a while, but there has been a change in plans on the release due to the 4.1.9 release making a few big changes on the db structure.

To view an example, websitecm.com recently installed the Static page search on their website (page results are at the bottom).

http://www.websitecm.com/_search.php?page=1&q=improve+search

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

Thanks Bill - I appreciate the assistance... I just wish I could test it out.

Just an FYI for others on shared hosting:

Unfortunately, on shared ecommerce hosting through one of the better hosts around, I've been told that the above change will potentially impact the performance of the server too much, as well as require the other uses to re-index their databases, so it isn't a change that can be made. For anyone else on shared hosting that's thinking about purchasing this mod, you may want to consider how important short 2-3 letter words are within your products and ask your host in advance if they're willing to make this change to the server configuration.

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

Thanks for the update Bill.

Re: Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.
 

All,

The #1 biggest weakness (in my opinion) with X-Cart has been the search function. It is barely effective and a resource hog. I just added Smartsearch to my site today and it's a big difference! I guarantee that I get more good search results for customers and probably increased sales. I have 80,000 products and it seems to run fine. More testing to come, but all the cosmetic stuff is done and integrated into the site.

Recommend this product! #1 mod of the year in my book!

Metal-X