# August - Site Feature Highlight - SEARCH Function!



## phreebsd

This month's Site Feature, though it's common to all forums, is the SEARCH function.
Every forum has the ability to search posts but I think it is often underused because of incorrect usage or it's just plain overlooked.
Hopefully this article will help some of you use the forum more efficiently or get an answer to something when noone is actively on the site.
(Note - this isn't saying you guys DON'T use search.. You all are great! )
On to the article!

*Searching The Forum *
_Overview_
The vbulletin search function uses an index. Indexes in SQL (the backend to the forum) are an efficient way to find things. Imagine an index like a phone book. There's a primary listing of names and a number associated with the name. That index is setup by City then lastname in asc order. Depending on the sort order and how the search is initiated the index is the best way to find things be it clustedred on non-clustered indexes. As you post, new keywords are added to the index. 


This is the Search dropdown menu. You will find it on EVERY page of the forum. It's located on what is called the NAVBAR. Looking at it, we can do several things - search the forum, search the tags (more on this later!), search the forum using Google Site Search, search the downloads we have or search the gallery area. Each search option, except site search has an advanced search.

Just Enter some keywords to search for and hit enter or click go!









*Searching the Forum - Advanced Search*

This is the advanced search screen. From here we can limit or enhance our search. You can search through whole posts, titles only or limit posts/thread by a particular user.




























Limited by particular user..









In every one of the returned search results you will find I said "Swamp Series". Also not that when you use search, the keywords are highlighted by the highlight function at the end of the URL "&highlight=swamp+series"
That causes the post you go to to have the keywords highlighted










Search words highlighted











*Searching Tags*
Within the search you can search using the Tag Cloud. Any threads on the forum can be "tagged" by users. This means applying a tag that is meaningful and easier to remember for you. Perhaps if a particular thread reminds you of "french fries" you can tag it with those key words and search the tag cloud for "French fries" will bring that particular thread up.​ 






 
Here's the Tag Cloud. You can either search it or click on the tags directly.​ 






 


*Google Site Search*
I got bored a few days ago and coded this one. This will pass search terms off to Google and limit the returned results to ones that only pertain to our forum. 
Just type in the keywords and hit go!










A new page will open up with the search results.









I am trying to make this a bit better by having the results displayed on a forum page. That way you won't have to leave the site.


*Searching Downloads*
You also have the ability to search the downloads we have. This is the Manuals And Maps area.​ 
Just Enter the search terms






 

And results are provided






 

*Searching the Gallery*
Searching the user gallery is easy! Enter the Search terms






 
and search results are at your finger tips..


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## Polaris425

Awesome!! :rockn:


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## IBBruin

Good info!


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