How to display results from either searchbox OR from Checkbox - php

Question

We have a searchbox shown below where users can enter a value, say 1234 ABC street, click Search and the results get displayed.
<!--form1 -->
<div id="inputBG">
<form id="searchForm" class="search_field" method="get" action="">
<input name="searchBox" id="searchBox" value="3440 Mark Drive" />
<button type="button" onclick="searchMap()"><img src="Viewer/images/search.png" alt="Search" /></button>
</form>
</div>
This works great.
If, however, users wish to display more than one type of results, the user clicks on an icon called Advanced Search. When this happens, a form with only checkbox shown below opens up in a new window.
<!--Form2 --->
<div id="featuresDiv">
<form id="featuresForm">
<br/>
<input type="checkbox" name="srcoptions" onClick="checkAll(this.form,this)" checked>Check/Uncheck All<br>
<label><input type="checkbox" name="featType" checked value="Addresses">Addresses</label><br/>
<label><input type="checkbox" name="featType" checked value="Voter Precincts">Voter Precincts</label><br/>
<label><input type="checkbox" name="featType" checked value="Voter Precincts (Pending)">Voter Precincts (Pending)</label><br/>
<label><input type="checkbox" name="featType" checked value="Voting Polls">Voting Polls</label><br/>
<label><input type="checkbox" name="featType" checked value="Voting Polls (Pending)">Voting Polls (Pending)</label><br/>
<label><input type="checkbox" name="featType" checked value="Zip Codes">Zip Codes</label><br/>
<label><input type="checkbox" name="featType" checked value="Zoning Petitions">Zoning Petitions</label><br/>
<button type="button" onclick="searchMap()"><img src="MapViewer/images/magnifying_glass.png" alt="Search" /></button>
</form>
</div>
Users have the option of checking all boxes or just a couple of boxes.
When the user clicks on Search, the results of those checked boxes are supposed to be displayed.
In situations where checkbox option is used, and more than one boxes are checked, the searchbox becomes irrelevant in the search.
I have tried several things and nothing seems to work so far.
When I use the checkboxes option and check more than one options, I get custom message that "Your search returned no results"
Here is the Javascript we have attempted which is supposed to show when the search is from searchbox (form1) or checkbox (form2).
Then we have php that is supposed to grab all search values (searchbox or checkbox) in to comma-separated values.
This has been driving us nuts for over 3 days now.
It is noteworthy to point out that the searchbox has a default value of 3440 Mark Street.
I am really stumped.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
// Construct query
**$features = $_GET["featType"];**
$tsql = "SELECT * FROM globes AS TBL
WHERE KEY_TBL.RANK > 0
ORDER BY ListOrder, Name, TBL.RANK DESC";

Answer 1

Some more information about what happens in doGlobalSearch and how the data is processed in PHP would be helpful. Offhand I'd guess there's some discrepancy in how the data sent to PHP is formatted and how it is expected to be formatted. Taking a total stab in the dark, have you tried just doing featureList = features.join()? Are you sure the individual values need to be quoted?
Just a suggestion, but here's how I would do it:
Combine the two forms into one.
Default all checkboxes to unchecked (or disable them) while the advanced search div is hidden.
Check (or enable) them when the advanced search div is shown.
Add [] to the end of each checkbox name so that the (checked) values are passed to PHP as an array when the form is submitted.
This way PHP would directly receive the searchData and featTypes (if any) together and you wouldn't have to parse the featTypes back out from a string in PHP. Then all you would need to do with javascript is submit the form and process the response. Again, this is without knowing what's going on in the backend or what control you have over it.