UsersWP - Advanced Search

Your directory search is decided field by field

You have a member directory with many profiles and the visitor can only type a name. What they want is to find someone by country, profession or age range, and for that they need filters, not a text box.

What can be searched in your directory depends on the fields you ask your members for: a custom field only reaches the search if you first tick it on the account form.

Advanced Search is a UsersWP extension that extends the regular search form with filters by custom fields. Each field has a checkbox to enable it as an advanced search filter, so it pays to think at the same time about what data you will ask your members for and which of it visitors can search by, before the profiles fill up.

Which filters you can offer

• Custom fields: each one can be enabled as a filter with its checkbox, without touching code.
• Standard fields, such as first name, last name or email: added from the advanced search form builder.
• Combined filters: the visitor can add several to narrow the search. One example is combining gender, two countries and an age range.
• Fields with several options: gender is the typical example, with options such as male, female, transgender or gender-neutral.

Fields used as examples include gender, country, age range, profession, relationship status, city of residence, a date and place of birth. Which ones you use depends on the kind of community you build.

The form appears only on the users listing page. By default it shows a simple search bar, and clicking the settings icon reveals the advanced fields.

A directory with country and profession filters

Suppose a community of professionals. In each member's account you create a country field and a profession field, and tick both to be included in the search form. Then you add them to the advanced search form and save.

On the users listing, the visitor opens the settings and combines both filters. This is one possible approach; adjust it to your own site.

Where it acts and what it needs

Advanced Search does not work on its own: it is an extension and needs the base UsersWP plugin installed and active. Its job is the search form on the users listing.

A filter can only search what profiles contain. If you decide a field will be a filter when members are already registered, they will need to have filled it in to appear in those results. That is why it pays to define the fields early and keep them easy to fill in.

Setting up the search form in four steps

1. Install and activate UsersWP and then the Advanced Search extension.
2. Go to UsersWP, Form Builder, Account. Expand each field you want as a filter and tick Include this field in the Search form. If you do not see the checkbox, click Show Advanced.
3. Open UsersWP, Form Builder, Advanced Search. Click the standard fields or the ones you ticked to move them to the right panel.
4. Save and open the users listing page. The form appears on its own.

Search for profiles and search for places

Advanced Search serves those who already use UsersWP as the base of their profiles and member listing. If what you want to filter is not people but listings in a directory of places built with GeoDirectory, there is GeoDirectory Advanced Search Filters.

Four questions about member filters

Can I filter by any profile field?

By custom fields, through the checkbox on each one, and by standard fields such as first name, last name or email, from the advanced search builder.

Can several filters be combined?

Yes. The visitor can add filters for a more precise search, for example gender, country and age range at once.

Where does the form appear?

On the users listing page, which shows a simple bar and reveals the advanced fields from the settings icon.

Do I need UsersWP?

Yes. Advanced Search is an extension and works on top of the base plugin.