Wildcard?

Blindside87

Hi,

I am in the middle of trying to set up a website with a few products on it.

I have my products in an excel sheet and then uploading them.
If I type in the product exactly as it is in the excel sheet it finds it OK, but if I type it in with an extra space or no space etc. it won't find it.

I have heard there is a way around it so if you guys could help that would be much appreciated!

Thanks.

Liam Byrne

What server-side language are you using ? PHP ?

If so, there's a TRIM function that will kill extra spaces and you might also look into SOUNDEX

Blindside87

Thanks for the reply.

I am working on it with a partner. I think he makes the database into csv file and then is uploading it? Not sure then what language he is using ?

The problem is not just with spaces but also with "-" and one or two other strange characters.

Malice

A regular expression to strip out the offending characters would probably solve your issue but without more information on your setup I can't offer much more advice on the implementation.

Kidchameleon

How about putting all the products into a drop down list?

COYW

Where are you saving this data to OP and how are you reading it in? As others have said, there are any number of ways of solving this but more info would allow us to give you the best solution.

Malice

Kidchameleon wrote: »

How about putting all the products into a drop down list?

How is that going to help the problem as described?

Blindside87

Thanks for replies.

Ok let me give you guys a (poor) example.

Say my columns are like this:

A B C
Apple Bear Coconut

So if I search excel for apple/bear/coconut on their own it finds it OK.

If I search for "apple coconut" it will not find it because they are not beside each other but in diff columns. Hope this makes it easier to understand.

So my products are in different columns eg column A is the brand name, B is the product code. etc. and I need the search to find the same words on the same rows no matter where they are on that row.

Thanks.

Kidchameleon

Malice wrote: »

How is that going to help the problem as described?

Its pretty self explanatory.

komodosp

Are you trying to do this search in the Excel sheet? Or on some other application/database after you've uploaded the Excel sheet?

Malice

Kidchameleon wrote: »

Its pretty self explanatory.

If you say so but I think the fact that I have no idea what you mean would suggest that it's not.

Kidchameleon

Malice wrote: »

If you say so but I think the fact that I have no idea what you mean would suggest that it's not.

Could you stop being abusive please. The OP seems to understand me.

Malice

Kidchameleon wrote: »

Could you stop being abusive please. The OP seems to understand me.

The thread starter hasn't made any reference to anything you wrote so I fail to see how you can think that counts as them understanding you but then I've no idea how my question has managed to annoy you either. Do you seriously think me asking you to clarify your one sentence post is abusive?

Kidchameleon

Malice wrote: »

The thread starter hasn't made any reference to anything you wrote so I fail to see how you can think that counts as them understanding you but then I've no idea how my question has managed to annoy you either. Do you seriously think me asking you to clarify your one sentence post is abusive?

The post that I found abusive was clearly quoted and it wasn't the one you are referring to here ^^. I have no time for somebody on a high horse. I came here to help the OP.


OP pm me if my above suggestion wasn't clear.

Evil Phil

First of all requesting a pm in thread is against the rules. Please read the forum charter.

Second of all, stay on topic both of you.

Malice

Righto, Kidchameleon I'll just leave you in your own little world.

komodosp wrote: »

Are you trying to do this search in the Excel sheet? Or on some other application/database after you've uploaded the Excel sheet?

This is key. If we're going to recommend a solution we need to know for sure.

There is some information on pattern-matching in Excel here.

Blindside87

The web designer is uploading via csv. file I think?

The way he has it set up is, it searches as it would if you were in excel and pressed ctrl +f so the words have to be exactly spot on which is not ideal at all!

I want it so if I have words like:

appleorganebanana

and I type in orange banana it will find that line and it's results.

Thanks.

amen

are you saying that your developer is taking the csv and creating a html page based on the contents of the csv file?

any chance we can see this website?

Blindside87

I'm not sure but I think so?

To be honest i would not like to post up the website URL.

Would that not be the way to develop the site?

If you Pm me maybe I could send you the link.

Thanks

28064212

Blindside87 wrote: »

I'm not sure but I think so?

To be honest i would not like to post up the website URL.

Would that not be the way to develop the site?

If you Pm me maybe I could send you the link.

Thanks

How come you're not talking to your developer about this? You can't really provide the information needed to solve the problem if you don't know what the issue is in the first place

komodosp

Blindside87 wrote: »

I'm not sure but I think so?

To be honest i would not like to post up the website URL.

Would that not be the way to develop the site?

If you Pm me maybe I could send you the link.

Thanks

But we need that info to answer your question...

Evil Phil

Blindside87 wrote: »

I'm not sure but I think so?

To be honest i would not like to post up the website URL.

Would that not be the way to develop the site?

If you Pm me maybe I could send you the link.

Thanks

The rules do state that you cannot ask for PMs on this forum. Your website is already in the public domain and your offering to provide the URL to random strangers anyway.

Malice

I'd say Blindside87 is just confusing the website's URL and the scripts that deliver the functionality. If there is anything sensitive about the site or there is some other reason that they are unwilling to make the address public then I would echo what 28064212 wrote: Talk to the site developer about this.