Through WP’s native search form you can use the following:
<input type="hidden" name="your_post_type" value="name of post_type" />.
Is it also possible to add a meta field to a search form to only search in a specific meta field ?
Of course I can manipulate the results with a filter or pre_get_posts but I like this better (if possible).
For those who are interested in using the WP search to search for a value in a meta field, see the code below. Ofcourse adding 1 line to a form needs less code and is thus a lot less error prone.
This is the search form. In my case I want to search for name only, so I added line 4 to uniquely identify this search form (so pre_get_posts won’t be applied to all search queries).
<form class="form form--search" action="" method="post">
<fieldset>
<div>
<input type="hidden" name="name_search" value="1" />
<input type="search" name="s" class="search__input" placeholder="Search for a name" />
<button type="submit" class="button button--submit">Submit</button>
</div>
</fieldset>
</form>
Then add this to functions.php:
function search_filter_for_name( $query ) {
if ( ! is_admin() && $query->is_main_query() && isset( $_POST['name_search'] ) && 1 == $_POST['name_search'] ) {
if ( $query->is_search ) {
// set search string to false, otherwise the search searches in the_content() for this phrase and I want a specific field only
$query->set( 's', false );
// set your desired post type(s)
$query->set( 'post_type', array( 'your_post_type' ) );
// set the meta query for your specific field
$query->set( 'meta_query', array(
'key' => 'field_name',
'value' => $query->query['s']
) );
}
}
}
add_action( 'pre_get_posts', 'search_filter_for_name' );
my initial question still stands
Hi @beee
I think your approach is the best method for this situation. You can also use the $_POST variable to get the field you want to search. So, you should be able to do it like this:
<input type="hidden" name="custom_field" value="field_name" />
And modify the query like this:
if( isset($_POST['custom_field']) ){
// set the meta query for your specific field
$query->set( 'meta_query', array(
'key' => $_POST['custom_field'],
'value' => $query->query['s']
) );
}
I hope this makes sense 🙂
Ah well, my code works so I’ll leave it as is…
Do you know if, what I describe in my OP, is actually possible ?
Hi @beee
I believe it’s not possible. But to be sure, I suggest you get in touch with WordPress community instead.
Thanks 🙂
Thanks for the confirmation… Didn’t think it was possible myself, but just checking…
I had to replace
$query->set( 'meta_query', array(
'key' => 'isbn',
'value' => $isbn
) );
with
$query->set( 'meta_query', array(
array(
'key' => 'isbn',
'value' => $isbn
)
)
);
That is, nesting the array into another array as in docs
@permanyer you are right, a meta query is an array of arrays…
guess I didn’t copy it but just rewrote it for this and didn’t take the extra array into account.
