Customize search results by category - php

Question

I have different categories where the post displayed are characterized by different elements, for this reason when I use the search in wordpress the results are not shown very well.
For this reason I would like to change the appearance of the post shown in the search results based on its category.
Example:
My search.php template look like this:
<?php get_header(); ?>
<div id="content">
<div class="padder">
<?php do_action( 'bp_before_blog_search' ); ?>
<div class="page" id="blog-search" role="main">
<?php if (have_posts()) : ?>
<?php bp_dtheme_content_nav( 'nav-above' ); ?>
<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
<?php do_action( 'bp_before_blog_post' ); ?>
<div class="blog-post">
// Here is displayed the blog post style and features
</div><!--blog-post-->
<div class="clear"> </div>
<?php do_action( 'bp_after_blog_post' ); ?>
<?php endwhile; ?>
<?php bp_dtheme_content_nav( 'nav-below' ); ?>
<?php else : ?>
<h2 class="center"><?php _e( 'No posts found. Try a different search?', 'OneCommunity' ); ?></h2>
<?php endif; ?>
<div style="display:inline">
<center><?php wp_pagenavi(); ?></center>
</div>
</div>
<?php do_action( 'bp_after_blog_search' ); ?>
</div><!-- .padder -->
</div><!-- #content -->
<div id="sidebar">
<?php if (function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') && dynamic_sidebar('sidebar-blog')) : ?><?php endif; ?>
<?php if (function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') && dynamic_sidebar('sidebar-ad-blog')) : ?><?php endif; ?>
</div><!--sidebar ends-->
<?php get_footer(); ?>
I tried to achieve the result of displaying based on the post category a different "template" for the post but without success.
I asked the same question on wordpress.stackexchange.com but without success, and there I pointed out a non working solution, hope it can help you in developing the code I need.
https://wordpress.stackexchange.com/questions/141856/different-layout-on-search-page-depending-on-category-post
Thank you very much for any help you will give, and excuse me for my english.

Answer 1

If I understand your question correctly, you could simply use the post_class() function:
<div <?php post_class( 'blog-post' );?> >
// Here is displayed the blog post style and features
</div><!--blog-post-->
This will render like:
<div class="post-3654 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-buildings blog-post">
// Here is displayed the blog post style and features
</div><!--blog-post-->
for posts in the buildings category.
Then your CSS will take care of the rest:
.post.category-buildings {
border: 3px solid red;
}
But I think your setup/idea is only suitable for single category posts.
Ref: From the Codex:
The post_class may include one or more of the following values for the
class attribute, dependent upon the pageview.
.post-id
.post
.attachment
.sticky
.hentry (hAtom microformat pages)
.category-ID
.category-name
.tag-name
.format-name