The Search Form

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## The Search Form

A number of variables can be set on search forms to determine which search will be used, what fields in the database it will search, and what search behavior will be.

Here is a simple search form:

      <FORM ACTION="[area search]" METHOD=POST>
      <INPUT TYPE="text" SIZE="30" NAME="mv_searchspec">
      <INPUT TYPE="submit" VALUE="Search">
      </FORM>

When the ``Search'' submit button is pressed (or < ENTER> is pressed) MiniVend will search the `products.txt` file for the string entered into the text field mv_searchspec, and return the product code pertaining to that line.

The same search for a fixed string, say ``shirt'', could be performed with the use of a hot link, using the special scan URL:

      [page search="se=shirt"]See our shirt collection![/page]

The default is to search every field on the line. If you only wished to match on the string shirt in the product database field ``description'', you could modify the search:

      <INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="mv_search_field" VALUE="description">

In the hot-linked URL search:

      [page search="
                    se=shirt
                    sf=category
                "]See our shirt collection![/page]

If you want to let the user decide on the search parameters, you can use checkboxes or radiobox fields to set the fields:

        Search by author
           <INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="mv_search_field" VALUE="author">
        Search by title
            <INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="mv_search_field" VALUE="title">

Fields can be stacked -- if more than one is checked, all checked fields will be searched.

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