*** Please note this documentation is out of date while we update this add on. The widget is unavailable, and the only option for displaying the filters is dropdowns. We’re working to bring back these prior features to the modern system, we appreciate your patience.

Enhance User Experience with Advanced Search Filters

Keep your users in one place while they sort through your inventory

By default, it’s possible to include Inventory Items in your website search results, but this comes with some inherent problems. It takes your users away from the main page and mixes in other website results, all while being somewhat unclear on what can or can’t be searched for. Enter the Advanced Search Filter add-on. This handy enhancement allows your users access to a customizable list of filters to make searching through your inventory quick and easy. You can either utilize the instructions below, or follow along with this video tutorial:

Installation

Purchase and Download the Advanced Search Filter add-on.
Install the add-on through your WordPress dashboard by navigating to the “Plugins” tab.
After browsing and uploading the ZIP file, activate the plugin.
Enter your license key on the settings page.

Customizing the Available Fields

Once the plugin is installed, you can configure the Search Filter by navigating to the Advanced Search menu item, where you will see a set of fields like the image below:

Any field that is checked will be available for your users to filter by. The fields will display in top-to-bottom order, and can be changed by dragging and dropping the fields.

By clicking the green folder icon on the right, you can open up another field to configure the options for each field specifically. Like the main fields, these will display in order, and the order can be changed by dragging and dropping fields. You can also add a “More Separator,” which will hide the option below the separator inside of a dropdown on the frontend. The following configuration will result in a display on the front end like the image below:

Please note that a label will not appear in the Search Filters on the front end if you do not have anything set. For example, if you are using AIM and create a custom field for the number of strings on a guitar, but don’t set that option within any items, then it will not show in the front end as a filter. If the field does not have a value, then it will not be added to the Search Filters.

Displaying the Search Filters

There are two options to display your Search Filters on the front end – either the Advanced Search Filter widget, or the new Advanced Search Filter shortcode. If you do not select at least one field for users to search by, the widget or shortcode will return an error that no fields are selected.

The Shortcode

The Advanced Search Filter can be inserted onto any page using the shortcode: [wpinventory_advanced_search]. This shortcode comes with several parameters you can customize to meet your needs:

title – The title shown at the top of the search filters on the front end. The default is an empty string.
more_text – The text for the More Separator dropdown. The default is “See More”.
less_text – The text for the Less Separator dropdown. The default is “See Less”.
search_button_text – The text for the filter button to initiate a search. The default is “Search”.
clear_search_text – The text for the button to clear the search criteria. The default is “Clear Search”.
form_redirect – Optionally link the search button to a new page. Any chosen filters will apply to the display shortcode and Advanced Search shortcode on the destination page. Default is an empty string.
display_as – A choice between filter options being displayed as checkboxes (with the value “checkboxes”) or dropdowns (with the value “dropdown”). Defaults to checkboxes.
disable_ajax – Toggle the option to update the available search filters dynamically when a user chooses an option with AJAX. Setting this to “1” turns on the option to disable ajax, but the default is 0 with the option to disable ajax turned off.
include_text_search – Toggle whether or not to allow a user to type in their own text search query. Defaults to 0, which is off. Enable by setting the value to “1”, “yes”, or “true”.

Here is an example of the shortcode using every available parameter:

[wpinventory_advanced_search title="Search the Inventory" more_text="Show More" less_text="Show Less" search_button_text="Go!" clear_search_text="Start Over" form_redirect="/custom-search-page/" display_as="dropdown" disable_ajax="0" include_text_search="true"]

The Widget

First, in your WordPress menu, navigate to Appearance > Widgets. Here, you can drop the WP Inventory Advanced Search widget into any widgetized area. The widget itself can also be configured to suit your needs:

Title – Optionally set a title for the Advanced Search Widget.
More Text – Allows you to change the text of the More Separator dropdown. Defaults to “See More.”
Less Text – Allows you to change the text of the button to close the More Separator dropdown. Defaults to “See Less.”
Search Button Text – Allows you to change the text of the filter button. Defaults to “Search.”
Clear Button Text – Allows you to change the text of the button to clear the chosen filters. Defaults to “Clear.”
Display Options as – Changes whether filter options are displayed as checkboxes or a dropdown field. Please note that the More Separator does not apply to the dropdown display option.
Disable AJAX – Toggle the option to update the available search filters dynamically when a user chooses an option with AJAX. Setting this to “1” turns on the option to disable ajax, but the default is 0 with the option to disable ajax turned off.
Hide Widget on pages that do not display WP Inventory – When enabled, this option will hide the Advanced Search widget on any page that does not have the WP Inventory display shortcode.
Include Text Search Input – When enabled, this option adds a freeform text field to the top of the Search Filters that allows your users to type in their own search queries.
Suppress CSS Styles – When enabled, this option disables the default CSS styles for the Advanced Search widget, allowing you to customize the widget with your own custom CSS.

Advanced Search Filter Settings

There is one setting you can use to configure the add-on, found on the Advanced Search tab in the WP Inventory settings page.

Minimum Role to Admin Advanced Search – Sets the minimum user role required to configure the Advanced Search Filter add-on.

REVIEWS ON WORDPRESS.ORG

Love It!

Great plugin! I love the ability to manage the display settings for the listing and the detail page.

Useful and Free, But a Paid License Gives You So Much More!

Typically ‘free’ plugins come in a few flavors useful or enough to get you to pay for what you really need. This plugin offers a unique solutions to a number of Inventory uses and displays for free, no fuss or muss about it.

However paying for a license opens up support for one year and allows addition of the addons if desired. Let me just say for the meager cost of $15 for a year of support the team is everything you would want from a development group and customer service team rolled into one.

Look forward to using this plugin for a long time to come.

Great Product – Fantastic Support!

What a great plugin, works very well and the support is fantastic.

Thank you for a good product, looking forward to anything else you guys may have up your sleeve.

Keep up the good work.

Excellent, Clean, Simple Inventory Management

The administrator features make this an excellent plugin for managing a list of items based on a variety of factors. The database and code are well structured, so you could easily modify it to your liking or use it right away as is. Many aspects of the plugin are also customizable as part of the plugin’s settings.

Excellent All Around!

The software and service is excellent. Can not thank them enough. Sometimes it is hard to find such dedication and professionalism. Highly recommend WP Inventory and the add-ons.

Great Product, Even Better Support!

Having used the application / plugin for more than 6 months, I cannot express enough my appreciation for WP Inventory. Easy to implement, intuitive for users, the application allows us to indicate our current and forthcoming inventory positions easily. We have chosen to show our inventory not by using numbers, but by using literals like “In stock” and “Arriving soon”.

A new application using WP inventory is being implemented for another part of our business and it will display actual units of inventory. It is nice to have one application that can handle two different styles of implementation.

What is most impressive is the reliability and the timeliness of support for this application. It is not hyperbole when I say that the support for this plug-in is the best of any WordPress plugin that we have used.

Great Product! Great support!

Great Plugin – Great Support!

This plugin is just the ticket for a small business (up to 5000 items) needing a comprehensive inventory system. I found it quite easy to install and just as easy to use. I ran into one problem, contacted their support center and had my problem rectified in a couple of hours. I’ve never been a fan of email support, but these guys are great! I couldn’t be happier with everything about my purchase!

Great Program and Customer Support!

This program is just what we needed to list our inventory with photos to our customers and the public – Very flexible as to what information you can show-and easy to use

Great Plugin!

After installing and configuring everything, I still needed some help with some issues in the way I was trying to use IM. The support team was very clear in their explanation, and everything was solved quite fast.

Great Product and Support!

I was looking for a product to display collection items on my site when someone suggest WP Inventory. It was exactly what I was looking for. The support is unmatched. They have helped me several times along the way. You will not be disappointed with WP Inventory.

Fantastic Plugin and Support!

I was recently looking for a solution to manage inventory for a client on their WordPress site. I searched and found the WP Inventory Manager plugin and after reading some reviews, decided to install it. The interface was well considered, and offered a tremendous amount of capability for the free version. Everything worked as stated in the promo, and I was very happy with the results. I wanted to expand the capabilities of the program, so I purchased the Import/Export add on. What a time saver!

I am new to developing, so had a few issues with some custom code, due to my inexperience. When I sent my questions and emails for assistance with the problem, I had an answer within the day that remedied my problem and also gave me a little more insight into some of the code in this great plugin.

I have since purchased the Advanced Inventory Manager and plan to add the Bulk Item Manager very soon.
Considering the price of these Add Ons and the fact that the initial WP Inventory Manager is free, it’s an incredible value, and has served my clients very well. I may have been able to develop a system in php with Dreamweaver, but it would have involved a tremendous amount of time and effort.. making WP Inventory Manager and its Add Ons, with its excellent support, one of the best purchases I have made in recent years!

Great Plugin with Superb Support!

Whilst the free version is great, it’s well worth the small amount it costs to purchase a licence. Support is superb and the plugin works just perfectly. The only choice if you are looking for pro inventory solution.

Excellent Tech Support!

Not only does this plugin work as advertised, but they also have excellent tech support. They answer emails quickly and were able to ask/solve my problems in a timely manner.

Highly recommended.

Great Plugin, Top Notch Support!

Can’t say enough good things about this plugin and its support. I had an issue that was quite unique to my situation and the support staff went above and beyond to make the plugin work for me. I would highly recommend this plugin if you are doing any sort of inventory management.

Excellent Inventory Plugin for WordPress

I used this plugin and eventually used the developers to do all my WordPress programming. They are responsive, competent and write clean code. I would recommend this plugin and the developers to anyone looking for WordPress work.

Good Support!

Very willing and helpful support.

Excellent Support!

The guys at wpinventory go out of their way to help solve any issues that might exist! One of the best supports I have had the pleasure to work with.

Simply Awesome!

The database functions are really worth seeing. You can see that there were experts here who understand their craft! Logical structure of the database, useful functions and an incredibly detailed guide with numerous videos, what more could you ask for? But the best part is the support! Responds to requests in the shortest possible time, has solutions and no standard texts ready and is on top of that friendly! Conclusion – best recommendation!

Amazing!

I cant believe how good this plug-in is! It was great when I first downloaded it and began using it. I ran into some small bumps down the road and the support team they have is beyond exceptional. Always a working answer to a problem, and always in a quick a timely manner. I would Give them more then 5 stars if I could! Keep up the great work guys!