Searchify
=========

This is a Rails plugin which adds some search functionality to models. It also includes a javascript file and helper 
methods for building a dynamic search form.


Installation
------------

If you are running edge rails you can install the plugin straight from the repository:

  script/plugin install git://github.com/ryanb/searchify.git

Otherwise you can install it with this command:

  git clone --depth=1 git://github.com/ryanb/searchify.git vendor/plugins/searchify

To use the dynamic form you need to install a javascript file using this command:

  script/generate searchify_javascript


Requirements
------------

This plugin uses the "paginate" method to perform a search on the model, so you need to install the will_paginate 
plugin/gem.

Currently only MySQL is fully supported. It may work on other database engines, just not as well.


Instructions
------------

You can use the "searchify" method in your model class to enable it for searching. Pass the columns you want to search 
to this method.

  class Product < ActiveRecord::Base
    searchify :name, :description, :price, :created_at, :discontinued
  end

You can then use the "search" method to search all or some of these columns. Here are some examples.

  Product.search(:name => 'Puzzle', :description => '%forest%') # use percent sign for partial search
  Product.search(:all => 'blue puzzle') # searches for partial word "blue" and "puzzle" in all columns
  Product.search(:created_at_from => '2008-01-01', :created_at_to => '2008-02-01')
  Product.search(:price_operator => '<', :price => '40') # changes the comparison operator
  Product.search(:page => 5, :per_page => 20, :order => 'name') # pass other options besides conditions

The searchify also allows you to include associations in the search. For example:

  class Category < ActiveRecord::Base
    has_many :products
    searchify :name, :products => [:name, :description]
  end

To search the product columns you need to prefix them with "products_" like this:

  Category.search(:products_name => 'Big Ben') # finds all categories with a product called Big Ben
  Category.search(:all => 'puzzle') # product columns are included



The main benefit of this plugin is how easy it is to add a dynamic search. You can use the searchify_fields_for helper 
method to generate dynamic fields for searching. Like this:

  <% form_tag products_path, :method => 'get' do %>
    <%= searchify_fields_for Product %>
    <p><%= submit_tag 'Search', :name => nil, :onclick => 'return searchify_submit()' %></p>
  <% end %>

Make sure you have the prototype libraries included and it should allow you to dynamically add and remove fields. Pretty 
cool huh?


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Copyright (c) 2008 Ryan Bates, released under the MIT license