customising-the-smart-search-results-page
This tutorial explains how to customise the search results page in Smart Search. To achieve this you use the Joomla layout override system. You need to be able to create new files and edit them on your web hosting site using FTP or other tools that are available to you (contact your web host if you need more information).
All file paths are relative to the directory in which Joomla is
installed. When looking at the files you need to create, it is assumed
that you will create the necessary folders if they don't already exist
in each case. The directory default_template refers to the template
that is set as the default for your site. Please replace this name with
the actual name of the template directory.
For more information on layout overrides, read the following pages:
The Search View (Default Layout)
The default layout search view is divided into three parts: the default layout, the form layout and the results layout.
The default layout (default.php)
This layout is very simple. It just defines the structure around which the search form and the search results are displayed.
To customise the default layout, find the file:
/components/com_finder/views/search/tmpl/default.php
Copy this to:
/templates/default_template/html/com_finder/search/default.php
Make any adjustments you need to structural elements that contain the
search form and the search results. This layout is also responsible for
loading the default CSS stylesheet for Smart Search which is located in
media/com_finder/css/finder.css, so you might want to alter that to
load own CSS rules for Smart Search.
The form layout (default_form.php)
This layout defines the code required for the search form to operate
correctly. The layout contains significant Mootools-based JavaScript
code that should not be altered unless you know what you are doing. The
view method getFields includes a number of hidden fields that are
required for reliable searching.
The search term is defined by the input field with the name of "q".
To customise the default layout, find the file:
/components/com_finder/views/search/tmpl/default_form.php
Copy this to:
/templates/default_template/html/com_finder/search/default_form.php
Make any adjustments you need to the form as required.
The results layout (default_results.php)
This layout produces the list of matching results for the search term.
To customise the default layout, find the file:
/components/com_finder/views/search/tmpl/default_results.php
Copy this to:
/templates/default_template/html/com_finder/search/default_results.php
This layout handles pagination and loads sub-layouts for each individual search result.
Customising results for a particular content type
Smart Search can be set up to load a different sub-layout for specific
content types. By default each individual search result is rendered
using the default_result.php layout. However, if present, for the
standard Joomla content types, the following layout files will be loaded
instead:
| Content type | Layout file |
| Article | default_article.php |
| Category | default_category.php |
| Contact | default_contact.php |
| News feed | default_newsfeed.php |
| Web link | default_weblink.php |
Custom content types may look for other layout files.
Developer note: The name of the layout file that will be used is defined
in the $layout property of the Smart Search plug-in for that content
type.