[baronmunchowsen]

Hi - My Solution is as follows. Perhaps this will help others:

I created a template file in my skin (theme) directory and included it where I wanted it. The file contents are:

{capture name=menu}

<form name="llsearchform" action="search.php" method="post">

<input type="hidden" name="mode" value="search" />
<input type="hidden" name="posted_data[substring]" value="" />
<input type="hidden" id="including_any" name="posted_data[including]" value="any" />
<input type="hidden" id="posted_data_by_title" name="posted_data[by_title]" value="1" />
<input type="hidden" id="posted_data_by_shortdescr" name="posted_data[by_shortdescr]" value="1" />
<input type="hidden" id="posted_data_by_fulldescr" name="posted_data[by_fulldescr]" value="1" />

<div class="ll-form-item">
<p class="ll-form-label">Choose from: </p>
<select name="posted_data[categoryid]" style="width: 100%">
<option value="0" >All Categories</option>
<option value="0" >----------------</option>
{foreach from=$categories item=c}
<option value="{$c.categoryid}" >{$c.category}</option>
{/foreach}
</select>
</div>

<input type="hidden" id="category_main" name="posted_data[category_main]" value="1" />
<input type="hidden" id="category_extra" name="posted_data[category_extra]" value="1" />
<input type="hidden" id="search_in_subcategories" name="posted_data[search_in_subcategories]" value="1" />

<div class="ll-form-item">
<p class="ll-form-label">Price Range: </p>
from <input type="text" size="6" maxlength="15" name="posted_data[price_min]" value="0" />
to <input type="text" size="6" maxlength="15" name="posted_data[price_max]" value="100" />
</div>

<div class="ll-form-item right">
{include file="buttons/button.tpl" style="button" button_title='Search' href="javascript: document.llsearchform.submit();"}
</div>

</form>

{/capture}
{ include file="menu.tpl" menu_title='Gift Finder' menu_content=$smarty.capture.menu }

I adapted the advanced search and made some of the fields hidden to simplify it basically.