[Plugin: Media Library Assistant] no search function ?

This is a great idea, and it’s on my short list for implementation in an upcoming release. As you know, the current WordPress Media Library screen has a search capability. Does it do what you want? I’ve looked at the source code and I don’t think the current capability searches the “caption” field, for example.

If you have any other specific ideas, let me know. Stay tuned for a search capability in the next release or so. Thanks for using the plugin!

I believe WP’s library searches only in the name (but I could be wrong). Moreover, the only batch operation allowed is to delete the media.

If your plugin allows for more precise, controlled searches (name, description, slug, size, dimensions, date, whatever…), and then batch operations (like add / edit / remove tags our categories, change the post they’re linked to, edit the description, the date), that would make it the king of library plugins, that should be incorporated into WordPress. ??

I just did a quick experiment with the WP Library search. It does a case-insensitive “SQL LIKE” search of one or more keywords (joined by AND) of the Title and Description fields (but not caption or ALT text). Each keyword in the search phrase is matched independently, so the order of search words does not have to match the order in the text. For example, searching on “friend” and “best” will match “Best Friend”. If you put quotes around a search phrase then word order is required for a match (and spaces between words must match as well). You can also match on partial words, e.g., “rien” will match “friend”.

I’d like to add a Search capability with all of the features I just described, but with the ability to search other fields like ALT text, caption and the file URL. ANy other fields?

The MLA plugin’s existing “bulk edit” feature lets you add, remove or replace terms in any of the taxonomies you have chosen to support. It also lets you change the Author and the Parent ID. These features would be available to bulk edits after a search.

Let me know if there’s anything else I should consider as I work on this feature. Thanks again for your comments and encouragement.

By the way, I have based this plugin on ideas I wished I could find in the WordPress Core. I’d be happy to see any or all of them added to Core!

Thanks David, I’m eagerly waiting for this functionality to be implemented! ??

(It could be useful if we could search the author of a media)

Thanks for the encouragement and the suggestion for an Author search.

I’m working on a Search Media box with the ability to search in the title, caption, name/slug, description and alt text fields. you can select which of the fields to include in the search and select “AND” or “OR” as the connector between the search terms.

For the Author search, I plan to make each entry in the Author column of the listing a link which will filter the list when you click the link. That’s the way category and tag entries work now. Would that satisfy your needs?

that would be cool indeed ??

I’ve just released version 0.60, with the search function we’ve been discussing and the “searchable” Author column. Let me know what you think.

I made a search for “logos” without the quotes, all checkboxes ticked, “or” selected. Although the built-in media library search returns a lot of hits, none are returned.

Not more luck with “logos*”

I am willing to bet that this problem is related to your [mla_gallery] issue. There’s some other software that is changing the database query and forcing a “post_parent” match. I will keep looking for that issue and report back.

Adding the “*” will have no effect. The search function automatically adds the SQL Like wildcard, “%”, before and after each search word you enter.

Well, I lost my bet. I cannot reproduce this problem with or without Role Scoper. Something else is causing your problem.

Are all of your searches failing, or is there something special about this one? Have you tried searching with the defaults, i.e., just title and description checked, connected by “and”?

There is (should be) no difference between the “or” and “and” connectors for a single-word search.

Yes, all searches are failing, and yes I tried with many combinations of options, includung the default ones. ??

And about your laste sentence : it just made me understand the logic operator is not for the checkboxes nect to them (*where* I search: title, description etc), but for the words in the textbox. If that’s right, maybe this should be more obvious, by maybe moving the radio buttons on the same line as the textbox.

I just instelled MLA on another site of mine, which also has Role Scoper. I can confirm that on this site, the search works fine ! *scratches head*

And finally… deactivating and reactivating MLA fixed the bug. Hooray !

I have a suggestion : would it be possible to display the “attachment size” column, sort it, and maybe filter it ?

What a relief. Since you were also having trouble with BackWPup and with phpMyAdmin showing the mla_alt_text_view as “in use”, it’s possible that some problem with the View was also affecting the search. The deactivate/activate cycle would delete the View and re-install it.

In any event, I am happy this has been resolved.

Thank you for the suggestion to display attachment size. I will add that to my list for future development.