Dynamic Category Filtering

Link: https://support.brilliantdirectories.com/support/solutions/articles/12000065790-dynamic-category-filtering

Overview


By default, users can search for members by category, but they can only search within one category or subcategory at a time.


The Dynamic Category Filtering add-on allows users to search within multiple categories at once. This is ideal for websites that only have one main category with multiple sub-categories.


How To Get This Add-On
  1. Websites with the VIP Add-Ons Club automatically have this add-on available:
    Join The VIP Add-Ons Club
  2. Purchase Individually: Dynamic Category Filtering


Enabling the Add-On


Go to Toolbox » Sidebar Manager:


In the Sidebar Manager select which sidebar to add the dynamic category filtering to, in this example we will proceed with the "Member Search Result" sidebar as this is the recommended sidebar to use for this add-on:




Search for the following keywords depending on whether the users will use the search for Categories or Categories + Location:


"Dynamic Category"



"Dynamic Category Location"



Then click and drag over the widget add-on that will work best for the website:




Or select this widget inside the Post Settings for the "Listings":




Inside the Listing settings, click on the Search Results Design tab:




Inside the dropdown select from any of the Dynamic Category search module widgets:




Dynamic Category Filtering on the Site




1) Bootstrap Theme - Dynamic Category Filter - Top Level Category (+ Location) 


A checkbox will appear next to the Top Category:




2) Bootstrap Theme - Dynamic Category Filter - Top + Sub Level Category (+ Location) 


The Top Category (+) will need to be expanded -


The checkbox will appear next to the Sub Category:




3) Bootstrap Theme - Dynamic Category Filter - Top + Sub + Sub-Sub Level Category (+ Location) 


The Top Category (-) and the Sub Category (+) will need to be expanded -


The checkbox will appear next to the Sub-sub Category:



4) Bootstrap Theme - Dynamic Category Filter - Sub + Sub-sub Level Category (+ Location)


The Sub Category (+) will need to be expanded -


The checkbox will appear next to the Sub Category:


** This sidebar widget is recommend for sites that have the following workaround: Workaround: Members Selecting Multiple Top Level Categories **




**Important Note: Visiting the search results page for a specific Top Category on a site will only show the Sub and Sub-Sub categories related to that Top Category, same applies when visiting a Sub level category page, it will display the Sub-Sub level categories associated to the Sub. 




Additional Information:

» Sidebar Manager Folder



Broad or Strict Dynamic Category Filtering:


The Dynamic Category filtering can work in two modalities, one is the Broad Match and the other is a Strict Match. 


This is controlled with an advanced setting called Dynamic Category Filter - Broad Match, when this setting is turned ON the results will return members listed in ANY of the selected categories. Set to OFF to only return members listed in ALL of the selected categories.


Dynamic Category Filter - Broad Match




Dynamic Category Search Accordions Open


If this is set to ON, it will load all the accordions on the dynamic category sidebar modules open




Dynamic Category Filtering - Only Show Categories Which Belong To The Top Category


System Variable: dynamic_category_filter_show_categories_related



When clicking on dynamic filters checkboxes, keep the top or sub category context from the URL so the dynamic filters in sidebar only show categories related to the page the category filter widget is being displayed on.



What this setting does is that it will slim down the options available inside the sidebar search module to include only the corresponding Sub categories for each Top level category:



This takes effect when a Top level category is specified in the URL of the search results page.