Warning! The search modules referred to on this page are being phased out. If you want to add search modules/widgets to Jomres you are advised to install the Search Widget plugin ( Demo ). The Ajax search plugin mentioned at the bottom of this page will continue to be used.
Search modules/widgets are plugins that enable you to show search options that'll search through Jomres properties on pages other than the Jomres pages themselves.
Obtaining search modules
Search modules/widgets are obtained through the Jomres Plugin Manager, which can be viewed via the Administrator area's control panel for Jomres.
Configuring search options
When Jomres is installed on a Joomla server typically a menu option is added to allow site visitors to view the (Jomres) plugin. If the plugin has more than one property registered on it, and the user isn't doing something specific like going to the booking form, then a search for properties is triggered.
The number of properties returned on a page is governed by the ''Administrator area -> Jomres -> Site Configuration -> Search Options -> Property List limit''. A search can have more than that number of results, and if there are then if you scroll down more properties are added to the list if the Site Configuration > Search Options > "Use Live Scrolling/Infinate Scrolling in property list?" setting is set to Yes. If it is set to No, then guests will be able to view more pages.
If Jomres detects that a search hasn't been triggered through a search module then it will do a random search.
Jomres has four main search modules available to it, imaginatively titled jomsearch m1 through to m4. These are highly configurable search modules and are installed via the Plugin Manager.
When a search module is installed it is installed to, like most modules, the /modules folder. It will also create a sub folder mod_jomsearch_mN where N = the number of the module. Here is srch.html which is used to format the output of the module.
There are many configuration options but to summarise the modules offer you the ability to mix and match the search options you wish to utilise. You have the choice of offering them as drop downs or links. If you choose to then you are able to offer combined searches to your site visitor. If you select links then you're defining specific searches (for example, you would be offering a search on a specific room type).
Note. Another common error is to offer searching by property name as one of the drop down options. If you do this then searches will always return the property named in that drop down, regardless of the other options chosen in the search form.
Modifying search layout
The search modules each have their own unique template called mod_jomsearch_mN.html which is stored in /modules/mod_jomsearch_mN/mod_jomsearch_mN. You can edit this template to obtain the layout you require for your site. m1 is optimised for positioning in a horizontal "top" module position which spans the top of a page, whereas m2, m3 and m4 are more suited to side column positions. The module templates themselves include all likely options for the available search parameters but you are unlikely to use all of the options (eg, you might want just the availability and the property type options) so it's expected that you'll want to edit the srch.html to achieve the layout that's specific to that module's position in the overall Joomla template.
Ajax Search
You can also opt to use the Ajax Search plugin if you want results to be shown on the same page.