BuddyDev

Brajesh Singh in 224 Comments

Update:- 20th July 2010: Just checked the file with bp-default and forund the bug as mentioned in the comments, the invisible sidebar issue. I have updated the tutorial and the attached file. Now it will have no issues like invisible sidebar. There was a wrong placement of div causing issue.
As I promised a few days ago, Creating a sitewide unified/single  search page  does not require advance knowledge. It can be done via themes. Nothing extra is required. Here I will go step by step to show you how can accomplish that.

Until otherwise mentioned all the functions should go to your theme's functions.php

Step1:  Remove the drop-down for members/groups  from the search from etc.

[sourcecode language="php"]

/*remove the component select drop down, we don't want them */

add_filter("bp_search_form_type_select", "bpmag_remove_search_dropdown" );
function bpmag_remove_search_dropdown($select_html){
return "";
}

[/sourcecode]

The above code will remove the drop down for members/groups etc which you see just after the search input box.

Step2: Stop the Redirect:-

Based on the search type selected, BuddyPress redirects you to different search pages like members?s= searchterm or groups?s=searchterm.

We just want to stop BuddyPress from doing so.

[sourcecode language="php"]

remove_action( 'init', 'bp_core_action_search_site', 5 );//force buddypress to not process the search/redirect

[/sourcecode]

Now since Buddypress will not handle the search for you, so we need to handle it ourself.

Step 3: Handle The Search

[sourcecode language="php"]

add_action( 'init', 'bp_buddydev_search', 10 );// custom handler for the search

function bp_buddydev_search(){
global $bp;
if ( $bp->current_component == BP_SEARCH_SLUG )//if this is search page
bp_core_load_template( apply_filters( 'bp_core_template_search_template', 'search-single' ) );//load the single searh template, It will load the page search-single.php from your theme
}

[/sourcecode]

So, what we do here, when ever the Search page is opened we are simply loading out advance search page template.

Step 4: Create a  search-single.php in your theme

In the content area(if you are using default theme, then inside the div "padder") put the following line

[sourcecode language="php"]

<?php do_action("advance-search");?>

[/sourcecode]

Step5:  Now we need to process the result and show it

So basically, we will check for the active component and just add their search result using the add_action, let us start with members.

[sourcecode language="php"]

/* The code here comes from my theme bpmag, so please bear with the extension bpmag_*/

//show the search results for member*/
function bpmag_show_member_search(){
?>
<div>
<h2><?php _e("Members Results","buddypress");?></h2>
<?php locate_template( array( 'members/members-loop.php' ), true ) ; ?>
<?php global $members_template;
if($members_template->total_member_count>1):?>
<a href="<?php echo bp_get_root_domain().'/'.BP_MEMBERS_SLUG.'/?s='.$_REQUEST['search-terms']?>" ><?php _e(sprintf("View all %d matched Members",$members_template->total_member_count),"buddypress");?></a>
<?php endif; ?>
</div>
<?php
}

//Hook Member results to search page
add_action("advance-search","bpmag_show_member_search",10); //the priority defines where in page this result will show up(the order of member search in other searchs)

[/sourcecode]

We have not checked for active component as member is a core component and will always  be active.

In the same fashion, we will add other search results too.

[sourcecode language="php"]

function bpmag_show_groups_search(){
?>
<div>
<h2><?php _e("Group Search","bpmag");?></h2>
<?php locate_template( array('groups/groups-loop.php' ), true ) ; ?>

<a href="<?php echo bp_get_root_domain().'/'.BP_GROUPS_SLUG.'/?s='.$_REQUEST['search-terms']?>" ><?php _e("View All matched Groups","bpmag");?></a>
</div>
<?php
//endif;
}

//Hook Groups results to search page
if(bp_is_active( 'groups' ))
add_action("advance-search","bpmag_show_groups_search",10);

/**
*
* Show blog posts in search
*/
function bpmag_show_site_blog_search(){
?>
<div>

<h2><?php _e("Blog Search","bpmag");?></h2>

<?php locate_template( array( 'search-loop.php' ), true ) ; ?>
<a href="<?php echo bp_get_root_domain().'/?s='.$_REQUEST['search-terms']?>" ><?php _e("View All matched Posts","bpmag");?></a>
</div>
<?php
}

//Hook Blog Post results to search page
add_action("advance-search","bpmag_show_site_blog_search",10);

//show forums search

function bpmag_show_forums_search(){
?>
<div>
<h2><?php _e("Forums Search","bpmag");?></h2>
<?php locate_template( array( 'forums/forums-loop.php' ), true ) ;  ?>
<a href="<?php echo bp_get_root_domain().'/'.BP_FORUMS_SLUG.'/?s='.$_REQUEST['search-terms']?>" ><?php _e("View All matched forum posts","bpmag");?></a>
</div>
<?php
}

//Hook Forums results to search page
if ( bp_is_active( 'forums' ) && bp_is_active( 'groups' ) && ( function_exists( 'bp_forums_is_installed_correctly' ) && !(int) bp_get_option( 'bp-disable-forum-directory' ) ) && bp_forums_is_installed_correctly() )
add_action("advance-search","bpmag_show_forums_search",20);

//show blogs search result

function bpmag_show_blogs_search(){

?>
<div>
<h2><?php _e("Blogs Search","bpmag");?></h2>
<?php locate_template( array( 'blogs/blogs-loop.php' ), true ) ; ?>
<a href="<?php echo bp_get_root_domain().'/'.BP_BLOGS_SLUG.'/?s='.$_REQUEST['search-terms']?>" ><?php _e("View All matched Blogs","bpmag");?></a>
</div>
<?php
}

//Hook Blogs results to search page if blogs comonent is active
if(bp_is_active( 'blogs' ))
add_action("advance-search","bpmag_show_blogs_search",10);

[/sourcecode]

So, we are almost done but not yet completely.

As you see above, we are calling the component-loop.php for each of the component. The blog search(not the blogs search) has no loop file, so we will create one for the blog search too. I call it search-loop.php(just a replication of the original search-page with some of the divs stripped, find it in the attached doc below)

Just use your themes template(just like groups-loop.php)  file and create a search-loop.php

Here is what you should put in the search-loop.php (put the search-loop.php in your theme).

[sourcecode language="php"]

<?php /* this search loop shows your blog posts in the unified search
you may modify it as you want, It is a copy from my theme

*/

?>
<?php do_action( 'bp_before_blog_search' ) ?>
<?php global $wp_query;
$wp_query->is_search=true;
$search_term=$_REQUEST['search-terms'];
if(empty($search_term))
$search_term=$_REQUEST['s'];
$wp_query->query("s=".$search_term);?>
<?php if ( have_posts() ) : ?>
<?php while(have_posts()):the_post(); global $post;?>
<?php do_action( 'bp_before_blog_post' ) ?>
<div> <!– Post goes here… –>
<div>
<h3><?php the_title();?></h3>
<div>
<?php the_excerpt();?>
</div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div>
<span><?php the_time('F j, Y') ?>  | <?php the_category(', ') ?> | <?php comments_popup_link( __( 'No Comments &#187;', 'bpmag' ), __( '1 Comment &#187;', 'bpmag' ), __( '% Comments &#187;', 'bpmag' ) ); ?></span>
<div><a href="<?php the_permalink();?>"><?php _e("Read more…","bpmag");?></a></div>
</div>

</div><!– Post ends here… –>
<?php do_action( 'bp_after_blog_post' ) ?>
<?php endwhile;?>
<?php if(!bpmag_is_advance_search()):?>
<div>
<?php if(function_exists("wp_pagenavi"))wp_pagenavi();else{ ?>
<div><?php next_posts_link( __( '&larr; Previous Entries', 'bpmag' ) ) ?></div>
<div><?php previous_posts_link( __( 'Next Entries &rarr;', 'bpmag' ) ) ?></div>
<?php }?>
</div>
<?php endif;?>
<?php else : ?>
<div>
<div>
<?php echo sprintf(__("We are sorry, but we could not find anything for the search term '%s'","bpmag"),$search_term);?>

<?php locate_template( array( 'searchform.php' ), true ) ?>
</div>
</div>

<?php endif; ?>
<?php do_action( 'bp_after_blog_search' ) ?>

[/sourcecode]

Last Step: Modify the ajax query string

And  Now, let us modify the query string, that's final step.

[sourcecode language="php"]

//modify the param using bp_ajax_querystring

add_action("advance-search","bpmag_show_search_results",1);//highest priority

/* we just need to filter the query and change search_term=The search text*/
function bpmag_show_search_results(){
//filter the ajaxquerystring
add_filter("bp_ajax_querystring","bpmag_global_search_qs",100,2);
}

//modify the query string with the search term
function bpmag_global_search_qs(){
return "search_terms=".$_REQUEST['search-terms'];
}

[/sourcecode]

Here is the search result page. Have a look

Go ahead and type something, check the result, modify your templates and do  not forget to let me know how it went with you 🙂