Create a Custom Search Form

Knowledge Base → Entries → Searching Entries → Create a Custom Search Form

Create a custom form to search, or filter, content within a View.

If you would like to create a custom search form, start by following the directions below.

If you have not done so already, create a form that stores all the entries that will be searched. This will be your Data Form.
If you have not done so already, create a View that is connected to the Data Form. This will be your Results View. The View will need to be set up to display 'All Entries' or 'Both(Dynamic)'.
Publish the Results View on a page using the following shortcode:
```
[display-frm-data id="x" filter="1"]
```
Replace 'x' with the ID of the Results View. Copy the URL of the page.
Create a new form, this will be your Search Form. Add as many fields as you would like to the form. Your Search Form will end up looking something like this:

If there are any Dynamic fields in your Data Form that you would like to search, add a Dynamic field to your Search Form with identical settings.
Go into the Search Form 'Settings'. In the 'On Submit' section, select 'Redirect to URL'. In the URL box, paste the URL of the page where the Results View is published.
Add a parameter to the end of the redirect URL for each field in your Search Form. These parameters will be used to pass the values entered in your search form to your Results View filters.
- Add the first parameter to the end of your redirect URL, it should look something like this:
```
?fname=[x]
```
- Replace 'fname' with any text. Stay away from names like 'post', 'p', 'date', 'year', 'month', and 'name' as they are commonly used by WordPress.
- Replace 'x' with the ID of the 'First Name' field in your Search Form.
- For any additional parameters, replace '?' with '&'. The first parameter will need to begin with a ?, each additional parameter will have to begin with an &.
The redirect URL should look something like this when you are done adding parameters:

Replace '25', '26', and '27' with the field IDs from your Search Form.
Go into your Search Form 'Settings' → 'Form Actions' and delete the 'Email Notification'.

It is also recommended to select 'Do not store entries submitted from this form' in your Search Form 'Settings' → 'General' under the 'On Submit' section.
Go into edit the Results View. Scroll down to the 'Advanced Settings' and add a filter for each field in your Search Form. If your search form contains a first name, last name, and a dropdown field, you will add three filters that look something like this:

Make sure 'fname', 'lname', and 'state' match the parameter names you added to the end of the redirect URL in Step 6.

There are a few different ways to publish your search form and results View. You may want the search form and results View on the same page or on different pages. If they're on the same page, you may want to hide the results until a search is performed.

If you would like the Search Form and the Results View to be published on the same page, follow the steps here:

Create your custom search form, if you have not done so already. Make sure your Results View is published on a page.
Go into the Results View 'Before Content'. Insert the Search Form in the 'Before Content'.
```
[formidable id="x" minimize="1"]
```
Replace 'x' with the ID of the Search Form.
While in the Results View, scroll down to the 'Advanced Settings'. Insert the Search Form in the 'No Entries Message' box.
```
[formidable id="x" minimize="1"]
```
Replace 'x' with the ID of the Search Form.
Click 'Update'. Now when the user visits the page where the Results View is published, the Search Form and the Results View will be displayed together.

If you would like to take the user to a separate search results page after they submit a search form, follow the instructions below.

Create your custom search form, if you have not done so already. Make sure your Results View is published on a page.
Publish your Search Form on a page using the following shortcode:
```
[formidable id="x"]
```
Replace 'x' with the ID of the Search Form.
Click 'Update'. Now when the user submits a search on the Search Form they will be redirected to a page where their search results are displayed.

Hide results view until search is performed

If you would like to prevent results from showing up before a search is performed, follow the steps below.

Add this code into your Code Snippets plugin or a child theme's functions.php file.
Create your custom search form, if you have not done so already. If you already have your custom search form created, please ensure it is not in the Before Content or After Content section of your View.
Go into your Search Form 'Settings', add this to the end of the redirect URL:
```
&show_view=yes
```
Your redirect URL should look something like this:
(Optional) If your Results View has any [detaillink] shortcodes, add '?show_view=yes' to the end of it. It should look something like this:
```
<a href="[detaillink]?show_view=yes">Link Name</a>
```
Lastly, publish your Search Form and the Results View on a page. Replace x with the Form ID, and y with the View ID.
```
[formidable id="x"]
[if_get_param name="show_view" type="equals" value="yes"][display-frm-data id="y" filter="1"][/if_get_param]
```
Make sure to save the page when you're done.
Now when the page is visited, no entries will be visible until a search has been submitted.

Additional Options

If you would like to use a Checkbox field in your Search Form, please add this code to the Code Snippets plugin or a child theme's functions.php file.

Search dates

If you include a date field in your search form, you may have inaccurate search results. If so, you will need to change the redirect URL a bit in your search form. If the date part of your form looks like this: mydate=[30], then you will change it to: mydate=[30 format='Y-m-d']. This will change the format of the date used for searching.
Advanced Search Redirect URL Date

If you want to include two date fields in your form in order to search a range of dates, you must add two filters in the 'Advanced Settings' section of your View. The two filters will look something like this:

Date field is greater than or equal to [get param="startdate"]
Date field is less than or equal to [get param="enddate"]

Remove blank fields from search URL

If you would like to remove search fields from the URL when they are not filled in, you may add if statements around each parameter, like this:

http://your-sites-url/search-form?[if 25]&fname=[25][/if 25][if 26]&lname=[26][/if 26][if 27]&date=[27 format='Y-m-d'][/if 27]

These field IDs are the IDs from the search form. The [if xx] [/if xx] are used to remove that part of the URL if the field is left blank in the search form.

Search all fields

If you would like to have a field in your Search Form that searches all the fields in your Results View, add a text field to your Search Form and put '?frm_search=[25]' at the end of your search form's redirect URL.

http://your-sites-url/search-form?frm_search=[25]

Replace 25 with the ID of the text field.

Remove duplicates from Dynamic fields

If you would like to use a Dynamic field in your search form which searches data from a non-Dynamic field, you may have duplicate values appear in the Dynamic field. You may use the frm_remove_duplicates function to remove duplicate values from the Dynamic field in your search form.

Victor Font's Search Tutorial

Insert a Search Bar

Hide results view until search is performed