Title: About search function
Last modified: August 21, 2016
---
# About search function
* Resolved [chathuranga](https://wordpress.org/support/users/chathuranga/)
* (@chathuranga)
* [12 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/about-search-function/)
* Hi,
* At first, thank you very much for your plugin. I’m testing this with a single
site and the “post name” permalink. I added this shortcode to a page [userlist
role=”author” number=”5″].
* When page is loaded it is working perfectly. But when I do a search it shows
all users relevant to the searched word without considering the **user role**.
* Let me know is there any possibility to filter search results according to the
user role? I mean; when I use [userlist role=”author” number=”5″] and do a search
with typing a name; I need to show only authors as the searched results, [userlist
role=”company” number=”5″] then company users only as the searched results.
* Thanks
* [http://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-user-listing/](http://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-user-listing/)
Viewing 12 replies - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)
* Plugin Author [HelgaTheViking](https://wordpress.org/support/users/helgatheviking/)
* (@helgatheviking)
* [12 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/about-search-function/#post-4432312)
* Are you using the most recent version, because I can’t reproduce this locally.
If so, can you send me some admin credentials so I can take a look?
* [http://www.kathyisawesome.com/contact](http://www.kathyisawesome.com/contact)
* [CK MacLeod](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ck-macleod/)
* (@ck-macleod)
* [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/about-search-function/#post-4432413)
* Hi – I also don’t find arguments used in the shortcode carrying over into the
search results, for instance the “exclude” and “orderby” variables. Was actually
wondering if it was even the intended functionality or had to be coded into a
custom search.
* Am using 1.52. Have tried it both straight “out of the box” and with my customized
templates. So, to be absolutely clear:
* `[userlist number="50" meta_key="last_name" orderby="meta_value" order="ASC"
exclude="5"]`
* produces an alphabetical list ordered by last name, author with User-ID #5 excluded,
but a user search produces a list of users (authors) apparently in order of search
relevance, user ID #5 included.
* Initial efforts to write a modified search at least capturing the exclusion variable
have not so far led to any luck.
* Plugin Author [HelgaTheViking](https://wordpress.org/support/users/helgatheviking/)
* (@helgatheviking)
* [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/about-search-function/#post-4432414)
* Can you try with a default theme and all other plugins disabled, because I still
cannot reproduce this. Basically, is something else filtering `pre_user_query`
and causing a conflict?
* I just tested your shortcode locally (just changing the exclude from 5 to 8),
and the query object created by the shortcode during a search shows that the
exclude and order parameters are both included and correctly formulated into
the `query_where` string.
* ```
object(WP_User_Query)[131]
public 'query_vars' => &
array (size=17)
'blog_id' => int 1
'role' => string '' (length=0)
'meta_key' => string 'last_name' (length=9)
'meta_value' => string '' (length=0)
'meta_compare' => string '' (length=0)
'include' =>
array (size=0)
empty
'exclude' =>
array (size=1)
0 => string '8' (length=1)
'search' => string '*student*' (length=9)
'search_columns' =>
array (size=0)
empty
'orderby' => string 'meta_value' (length=10)
'order' => string 'ASC' (length=3)
'offset' => int 0
'number' => int 50
'count_total' => boolean true
'fields' => string 'all' (length=3)
'who' => string '' (length=0)
'query_id' => string 'simple_user_listing' (length=19)
public 'results' => null
public 'total_users' => int 0
public 'query_fields' => string 'SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS wp_users.*' (length=30)
public 'query_from' => string 'FROM wp_users INNER JOIN wp_usermeta ON (wp_users.ID = wp_usermeta.user_id)' (length=75)
public 'query_where' => string 'WHERE 1=1 AND (user_login LIKE '%student%' OR user_nicename LIKE '%student%') AND (wp_usermeta.meta_key = 'last_name' ) AND wp_users.ID NOT IN (8)' (length=146)
public 'query_orderby' => string 'ORDER BY wp_usermeta.meta_value ASC' (length=35)
public 'query_limit' => string 'LIMIT 50' (length=8)
```
* `
* [CK MacLeod](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ck-macleod/)
* (@ck-macleod)
* [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/about-search-function/#post-4432415)
* Thanks for your reply, and for confirming that the shortcode terms are supposed
to carry over to the user search. I just started testing, and will report my
findings.
* Setting up the plug-in at a different site brought up something that confused
me months ago when I first started using this plug-in, which I’d set aside. I
don’t mean to waste your time, but I think the problem may turn out to be connected,
and might even lead to something useful for you and other users of your plug-
in
* The SUL search is initially set up to “Search authors by name.” So, if we add
SUL on a site with an author named “Miller,” and we search for “Miller,” we’ll
bring up the author or authors named “Miller,” with links to all posts by however
many Millers.
* To my understanding, this is how it’s supposed to work, and getting the search
to search for anything else ought to require creating a custom search function,
as in the “billing_city” example you use under your FAQs.
* Interestingly (and usefully!), for reasons unclear to me, and without my having
done anything (intentionally), on the site where I first installed the plug-in,
if I do a user search for “Miller,” it will bring up _all of the authors who
mention “Miller”_ in a custom field added via the membership plug-in S2Member
and stored in the usermeta table.
* I’ll add that I was delighted with this to me unexpected functionality, as I
thought it was something I was going to have to figure out how to add later on.
I also expect that I will need to understand exactly why it’s happening in order
to gain control over types of searches and outputs, since eventually I’d like
to able to give users a wider range of options for narrowing searches and/or
results.
* Here’s the page – it’s a site in “Beta,” but I hope for not much longer – where
the initial list DOES employ the shortcode parameters, but a search DOES NOT.
On the other hand, it DOES search the usermeta table and a specific field within
it without my ever having specifically “asked” for that functionality – you can
test using “Miller” or “Ashtanga,” for example:
* [The YIR – Listings](http://theyir.org/listings/#yirdirectory)
* You’ll see that in my customization I added a note on searching the entirety
of the user “profiles” at this site. I’ll just need to figure out how and why
to get the further control I want, and to avoid bad surprises (i.e., the day
that functionality just disappears).
* A suspicion is that there is some unexpected fraternization between your plug-
in and S2Member that produces the custom field, but it’s just a suspicion at
this point, and for various reasons somewhat laborious to test.
* Plugin Author [HelgaTheViking](https://wordpress.org/support/users/helgatheviking/)
* (@helgatheviking)
* [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/about-search-function/#post-4432416)
* S2Member is definitely filtering the user query.
* ```
add_action("pre_user_query", "c_ws_plugin__s2member_users_list::users_list_query");
```
* and the callback is
* ```
/**
* Modifies the search query.
*
* Affects searches performed in the list of Users.
*
* @package s2Member\Users_List
* @since 3.5
*
* @attaches-to WP_User_Query object, by reference.
* @return null After possibly modifying the " . $wpdb->users . ".ID)";
$query->query_from = " FROM " . $wpdb->users . ", " . $wpdb->usermeta . ""; // Include meta table also.
$query->query_where = " WHERE " . $wpdb->users . ".ID = " . $wpdb->usermeta . ".user_id"; // Join w/ meta table.
$query->query_where .= " AND (" . apply_filters ("ws_plugin__s2member_before_users_list_search_where_or_before", "", get_defined_vars ());
$query->query_where .= " (" . $wpdb->users . ".user_login LIKE '" . $s . "' OR " . $wpdb->users . ".user_nicename LIKE '" . $s . "' OR " . $wpdb->users . ".display_name LIKE '" . $s . "' OR " . $wpdb->users . ".user_email LIKE '" . $s . "' OR " . $wpdb->users . ".user_url LIKE '" . $s . "')";
$query->query_where .= " OR ((" . $wpdb->usermeta . ".meta_key = 'first_name' OR " . $wpdb->usermeta . ".meta_key = 'last_name') AND " . $wpdb->usermeta . ".meta_value LIKE '" . $s . "')";
$query->query_where .= " OR (" . $wpdb->usermeta . ".meta_key = '" . $wpdb->base_prefix . "s2member_subscr_id' AND " . $wpdb->usermeta . ".meta_value LIKE '" . $s . "')";
$query->query_where .= " OR (" . $wpdb->usermeta . ".meta_key = '" . $wpdb->base_prefix . "s2member_custom' AND " . $wpdb->usermeta . ".meta_value LIKE '" . $s . "')";
$query->query_where .= " OR (" . $wpdb->usermeta . ".meta_key = '" . $wpdb->base_prefix . "s2member_custom_fields' AND " . $wpdb->usermeta . ".meta_value LIKE '" . $s . "')";
if(apply_filters("ws_plugin__s2member_users_list_search_admin_notes", false, get_defined_vars())) // Off by default; this can get very slow on large sites.
$query->query_where .= " OR (" . $wpdb->usermeta . ".meta_key = '" . $wpdb->base_prefix . "s2member_notes' AND " . $wpdb->usermeta . ".meta_value LIKE '" . $s . "')";
$query->query_where .= apply_filters ("ws_plugin__s2member_before_users_list_search_where_or_after", "", get_defined_vars ()) . ")"; // Leaving room for additional searches here.
if(is_multisite()) // On a Multisite Network we need to make sure we're searching only users w/ capabilities on this blog.
$query->query_where .= " AND " . $wpdb->users . ".ID IN(SELECT DISTINCT(user_id) FROM " . $wpdb->usermeta . " WHERE meta_key = '" . $wpdb->prefix . "capabilities')";
$query->query_from = apply_filters ("ws_plugin__s2member_before_users_list_search_from", $query->query_from, get_defined_vars ());
$query->query_where = apply_filters ("ws_plugin__s2member_before_users_list_search_where", $query->query_where, get_defined_vars ());
}
foreach(array_keys(get_defined_vars())as$__v)$__refs[$__v]=&$$__v;
do_action ("ws_plugin__s2member_after_users_list_search", get_defined_vars ());
unset /* Unset defined __refs, __v. */ ($__refs, $__v);
return /* Return for uniformity. */;
}
```
* Now what exactly is happening, I couldn’t say, but they are clearly modifying
the query_where and query_from strings.
* [CK MacLeod](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ck-macleod/)
* (@ck-macleod)
* [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/about-search-function/#post-4432417)
* Very interesting, and thanks much. It probably would have taken me a day and
several clumps of hair to get to that code.
* S2Member takes over a lot of “user list” functionality in admin. I guess that
the way it’s written, including itself in, also affects our searches taking place
outside of admin for other purposes.
* I’ll see if simply adding a condition (via a temporary hack) disables it in civilian
areas while preserving it in admin, though, if that works, it would presumably
also disable the expanded functionality that I like, and may interfere with other
S2M functions. Even if it affects SUL searches only, I’m guessing a better solution
will still require either re-producing pieces of the S2M code or filtering it.
* Somewhere at the bottom of this all might be a really nice implementation of
a “not so simple user listing” for membership sites like the one I’m working
on. The end goal would be ability to search a database of thousands of members
in different ways and to tailor output, though other peculiarities of S2Member’s
design _might_ make that harder than it should be, and harder to transfer to
non-S2Member set-ups.
* Thanks, again. By the way in addition to using SUL, I’m also using your Nav Menu
Roles plug-in – very handy and well-designed!
* Plugin Author [HelgaTheViking](https://wordpress.org/support/users/helgatheviking/)
* (@helgatheviking)
* [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/about-search-function/#post-4432418)
* If you use a good text editor you can search through whole folders which is very
useful. I highly recommend Sublime Text 3.
* Anyway, without testing extensively, I *think* I can slightly move one of my
action hooks. This would then allow you to unhook the S2M filter from the SUL
shortcode and then add it back after the fact. I have a before loop and an after
loop hook already, just that the before loop hook occurs after the query which
is too late for this to work. Moving it up a line doesn’t make any difference.
* Please go into my main plugin file, simple-user-listing.php and find the following:
* ```
// before the user listing loop
do_action( 'simple_user_listing_before_loop', $query_id );
```
* Cut it and paste it just before
* ```
// the query itself
$sul_users = new WP_User_Query( $args );
```
* Then in your theme’s functions.php (or a site-specific plugin) add the following:
* ```
function kia_protect_sul_from_s2(){
remove_action('pre_user_query', 'c_ws_plugin__s2member_users_list::users_list_query');
}
add_action( 'simple_user_listing_before_loop', 'kia_protect_sul_from_s2' );
function kia_restore_s2(){
add_action('pre_user_query', 'c_ws_plugin__s2member_users_list::users_list_query');
}
add_action( 'simple_user_listing_after_loop', 'kia_restore_s2' );
```
* The S2 query mods should no longer apply to SUL shortcodes. Let me know if that
works for you and I will commit the update.
* [CK MacLeod](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ck-macleod/)
* (@ck-macleod)
* [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/about-search-function/#post-4432419)
* Works fine as far as restoring expected functionality – searching names only –
without disturbing other S2Member functions. However, as also expected, it does
interfere with the unexpected but desirable expanded functionality of searching
S2Member usermeta fields.
* Just as a further note possibly for your own purposes, if I remove the added
functions, but leave the change to simple-user-listing.php, there is no observable
effect: Everything is as before. So, as far as I can tell, there’s no harm in
moving the “do_action” to the new spot.
* This is a great start for me in terms of getting to the control I want – so big
further thanks! I’m going to leave things as they were for now, except for the
single change to simple-user-listing.php, but will next look into adding the
S2Member meta_key (“wp_s2member_custom_fields”) to the query args directly via
function. Will tackle it after lunch (I’m in California and we’re coming up on
High Noon).
* I’ll also look at Sublime Text 3 later on. Usually I search multiple files with
Notepad++, but, without your assistance/confirmation I wouldn’t have known for
sure that what I was looking for was even there or directly relevant (thus the
possible day long hair-pulling). I also wouldn’t have come up with a version
of your S2M protection code anytime soon or without extensive trial and error.
* Plugin Author [HelgaTheViking](https://wordpress.org/support/users/helgatheviking/)
* (@helgatheviking)
* [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/about-search-function/#post-4432420)
* That’s good. There should be no noticeable difference in moving my hook, so I
will push that out.
* I knew it would disable your unintended benefits, but you should be able to add
them back by borrowing bits from S2’s function. You can add another filter to`
pre_user_query` and you can specifically target the SUL query by checking if
the query has a query_id = simple_user_listing… or whatever value you pass as
the query_id in the shortcode (this way you don’t monkey with non-SUL user queries).
I put that in there for advanced hijinx!
* Good luck. and if you liked this plugin maybe you could leave a review:
[http://wordpress.org/support/view/plugin-reviews/simple-user-listing](http://wordpress.org/support/view/plugin-reviews/simple-user-listing)
* [CK MacLeod](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ck-macleod/)
* (@ck-macleod)
* [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/about-search-function/#post-4432421)
* Review done! Sorry it took me so long to get around to it.
* Bad news, but I have not yet begun to fight, is that my first two tries at getting
it to search the S2 meta_key “properly” failed.
* In addition to the S2protect functions, I tried to follow the FAQ “billing_city”
example, but substituting S2M’s “wp_s2member_custom_fields” for “billing_city”
in both the search-author.php and the meta_search functions (below).
* The other difference, and potential area for further research, first going back
to S2M’s code as above, is that “wp_s2member_custom_fields” is a serialized array,
meaning that the search term has to be found within the array’s content. I tried‘
IN’ instead of ‘=’ for the meta_compare value. So, the following does NOT work,
either for reasons having to do with meta_key searches that I don’t understand,
or because I made some error with the code that I missed. Could also be that
I don’t properly understand “whitelisting” of variables.
* ```
function kia_meta_search( $args ){
// this $_GET is the name field of the custom input in search-author.php, using wp_s2member_custom_fields meta_key
$search = ( isset($_GET['wp_s2member_custom_fields'])) ? sanitize_text_field($_GET['wp_s2member_custom_fields']) : false ;
if ( $search ){
$args['meta_key'] = 'wp_s2member_custom_fields';
$args['meta_value'] = $search;
//tried "in" since the meta_key contains a serialized array with a lot of info
$args['meta_compare'] = 'IN';
}
return $args;
}
add_filter('sul_user_query_args', 'kia_meta_search');
//whitelisting the S2Member variable
function kia_search_vars( $vars ){
$vars[] = 'wp_s2member_custom_fields';
return $vars;
}
add_filter('sul_user_allowed_search_vars', 'kia_search_vars');
```
* [CK MacLeod](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ck-macleod/)
* (@ck-macleod)
* [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/about-search-function/#post-4432422)
* note: The S2Member developers are themselves aware that using a serialized array
for their custom user fields was a questionable decision, and they have periodically
promised to re-do or look seriously into re-doing their own code. Initial research
on searching serialized arrays in databases indicates widespread reluctance to
deal with them at all. On the other hand, we know from the “unintended benefit”
that the array is indeed somewhat readily searchable, at least on this relatively
small scale. At least the S2M people figured it out.
* Anyway, I won’t take it amiss if you choose to bail out on this side-project
if this turns out to be the problem, and you don’t see some other obvious mistake
in my approach, but, if and when I manage to solve it, I’ll let you know.
* Plugin Author [HelgaTheViking](https://wordpress.org/support/users/helgatheviking/)
* (@helgatheviking)
* [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/about-search-function/#post-4432423)
* Keep in mind that my billing_zip example includes changing the input name of
the search box… which is important b/c later you are doing
* ```
$search = ( isset($_GET['wp_s2member_custom_fields'])) ? sanitize_text_field($_GET['wp_s2member_custom_fields']) : false ;
if ( $search ){
```
* If you aren’t changing the search, then you need to make sure the $_GET has the
right name (which is ‘as’ by default). So that code would be:
* ```
$search = ( isset($_GET['as'])) ? sanitize_text_field($_GET['as']) : false ;
if ( $search ){
```
* The “white-listing” is more important for people who want 2 search inputs.
* However, all that said, I would focus less on my code and more on trying to re-
implement the special `query_where` and `query_from` code S2 has implemented
in their plugin. That seems more the ticket to restoring their “unintended” consequences.
Viewing 12 replies - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)
The topic ‘About search function’ is closed to new replies.
* 
* [Simple User Listing](https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-user-listing/)
* [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-user-listing/#faq)
* [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/simple-user-listing/)
* [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/simple-user-listing/active/)
* [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/simple-user-listing/unresolved/)
* [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/simple-user-listing/reviews/)
* 12 replies
* 3 participants
* Last reply from: [HelgaTheViking](https://wordpress.org/support/users/helgatheviking/)
* Last activity: [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/about-search-function/#post-4432423)
* Status: resolved