continued support for "Search widget for events"

[Tiffany Fabricius]

Hello,

I need continued support for “Search widget for events”.

Here was my original question:
Hello,

I need to know if there exists a widget that searches for events within a certain zipcode. Sort of like the search bar above the events on the “events list”, only as a standalone widget that I can place on other parts of my website. So that when I search for a zipcode on this widget, it will open up the list page with the events that match my search. If possible, I’d like this to just be a downloadable widget/plugin instead of a piece of code, but if that is the only option, that is fine too.

-Thank you!

Now, as a solution, I think a combination of your “events calendar pro” and “filter bar” products, might give me the results I need to accomplish searching by zipcode. After trying out other free plugins, it seems that no other plugin is capable of searching events for a particular zipcode and returning results. Before I go ahead and purchase these products, please let me know if I am wrong in assuming this is my solution (as I was not recommended this course of action, I thought there might be a good reason?).

Also, I have another question about the search bar on events calendar bar (that is capable of searching by zip) and combining that with the filter bar. Would I be capable of placing these search bars/filterbars on any page of my site? For clarification, I am referring to search bars on your demo page (the two grey boxes at top of page): http://wpshindig.com/

Please let me know if this is a good solution to my problem! I think it might be, but I want to confirm with your team before moving forward!

-Thanks!

[Andras]

Hello Tiffany,

Thanks for using our plugins and welcome to the forums!

You got a great question there. Let me help you out with this.

Searching for ZIP code can be done with the regular search bar that comes with Events Calendar PRO.

If you want more filtering options, then Filter Bar is a good complement to that. However a specific filter for ZIP doesn’t exist out of the box.

While the filter for ZIP code is not available, the good news is that it can be created with a bit of development. And I was curious enough to quickly do that. I tested it on my local install and the ZIP filtering works.

It is not a separate plugin (at the moment) but a code snippet that you will need to paste into your theme’s functions.php file. Here it is:

https://gist.github.com/andrasguseo/40762c8df39665fe1f621eb627c31c1e

Note, this will help you filter through the ZIP codes that are in your database / assigned to your venues. If you would like to filter for a ZIP that is not there, that will likely not work.

As for placing the Filter Bar on other pages, at the moment that is not a supported function, I’m sorry. It might be possible with some custom development.

Hope this helps, let me know.

Cheers,
Andras

[Tiffany Fabricius]

Hello András,

Thank you so much! This is very helpful and I really appreciate the code snippet. I think this is going to do exactly what I need it to do. Before I move forward with buying these products, I need to know if

1) The events calendar pro and the filter bar will work in conjunction with my Community Events current product. I would need all of these working for my site at the same time. Is this possible to do? Would I be able to replace the current search bar (that searches by date) with the events calendar pro search bar? (That searches by zip) but still use community events?

2) If I only bought Events Calendar Pro, how does the search bar work for zip? What is the distance allowed in the search? For example, if I search 90022, what results would it bring up? How does it process the searches and what results does it bring up? How close does the event need to be before bringing up a result (just with the events calendar pro search bar).

3) What extras am I getting with the filter bar? In essence, I am looking at using community events, events calendar pro, and filter bar, all working at the same time. So what would come with the filter bar (besides searching by distance)? What would come with the events calendar pro? Would I still be able to use these with my current community events?

Thank you so much for the code snippet. I am excited we are finding a solution to my problem.

-Thanks!

• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Tiffany Fabricius.

[Andras]

Hi Tiffany, I’m stoked to hear you are excited! I know how it feels to being close to a solution and launching an awesome website.

I’m happy to answer your questions.

The events calendar pro and the filter bar will work in conjunction with my Community Events current product.

Yes, they work together in harmony. 🙂

Would I be able to replace the current search bar (that searches by date) with the events calendar pro search bar? (That searches by zip) but still use community events?

Yes, and please allow me to clarify some things here, so you have the right expectations.

Even with Events Calendar PRO you will have the same search bar at the top, and you will get an extra “Location” field there so you can search for locations (including ZIP codes).

It is possible to disable this search bar with plugin setting. Then what remains is a date field and the view selector. (screenshot)

It is also possible to totally remove the whole bar. For that you can follow the instructions in this thread.

Filter Bar is different from the search bar on the top.

If I only bought Events Calendar Pro, how does the search bar work for zip? What is the distance allowed in the search? For example, if I search 90022, what results would it bring up?

As mentioned, you will get the “Location” field where you can search for ZIP. How the search is exactly done is a bit of a mystery, as that field uses the Google Maps API and we simply don’t know it’s inner workings. It works well most of the time.

How far and wide it shows the results depend on a plugin setting. (“Set the distance that the location search covers (find events within X distance units of location search input).”) Usually it takes some trial-and-error testing to find what is the right value for you, but it’s fairly simple and easy.

If you have correctly filled out Venue location data (worth checking on maps.google.com), then the venue / event will show up in the search based on your above setting.

What extras am I getting with the filter bar?

You get a bunch of built in filters and if you have Events Calendar PRO, then you can set filters based on the Additional Fields.

Here’s a screenshot of the settings for the Filter Bar.

 

I hope this answers all your questions. If I left out something, please let me know, and I’d be happy to give you further answers.

Cheers,
Andras

[Support Droid]

Hey there! This thread has been pretty quiet for the last three weeks, so we’re going to go ahead and close it to avoid confusion with other topics. If you’re still looking for help with this, please do open a new thread, reference this one and we’d be more than happy to continue the conversation over there.

Thanks so much!
The Events Calendar Support Team

[Author]

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