AJAX search posts and pages

Question

Im trying to make a plugin where i need to create an AJAX search. Im using the method described in http://www.garyc40.com/2010/03/5-tips-for-using-ajax-in-wordpress/ to perform the ajax calls. So far all good.

Problem is not sure how to retrieve the search results in my ajax function.

First attempt was using WP_Query like these:

$query= new WP_Query( array( 'post_type'=> 'any','post_status' => 'publish','posts_per_page' => '8','s' => wp_specialchars($string)) );

Problem here is as soon as i pass the string to "s" the query changes from post_type => 'any to post_type = 'post' which is no good for my purposes. If i dont pass the 's' everything works fine.

Then i also tried by creating my own query like this:

$pageposts = $wpdb->get_results($wpdb->prepare("
            SELECT wp_posts.* 
            FROM wp_posts
            WHERE 1=1 aND wp_posts.post_type IN  ('post', 'page', 'attachment')
            AND (wp_posts.post_status = 'publish') 
            AND (((wp_posts.post_title LIKE %s) OR (wp_posts.post_content LIKE %s)))
            ORDER BY wp_posts.post_date DESC LIMIT 0, 8
         ",array('%'.$string.'%')));
            $wpdb->show_errors();
            $wpdb->print_error();

But i just keep getting:

<div id='error'>
            <p class='wpdberror'><strong>WordPress database error:</strong> []<br />
            <code>SELECT option_value FROM wp_options WHERE option_name = &#039;aiosp_post_title_format&#039; LIMIT 1</code></p>
            </div>

There is any proper way to do what im trying? MY plugin consist on a simple form that should show ten titles => hiperlink for a given ajax search.

Thanks All for the help!

Answer 1

The error seams to come from another source, not your query. You don't use wp_options table. So maybe skipping

$wpdb->show_errors(); $wpdb->print_error();

would make things even work. But probably there is an error somewhere else.

To get an overview how to create AJAX search helper, you can check here: http://www.wpcodelab.com/archives/create-a-custom-ajax-search-for-wordpress