Searchable media archive

Thanks for your question; here are a couple of earlier topics along similar lines:

Front-End Search by Keyword

How to display PDF files

Both of these topics outline creating a standard WordPress page with a search form and an [mla_gallery] to display the results. My current version of this approach is this code:

<h3>The Search Form</h3>
<form id="mla-search-form" action="." method="post">
<input id="mla-search-box" name="search-string" type="text" value="" />
<input id="submit" name="submit" type="submit" value="GO" />
</form>

<h3>The Search String Gallery</h3>

[mla_gallery post_mime_type=all post_parent=all s="{+template:({+request:search-string+}|a-bad-term)+}" mla_nolink_text="No pages to show." posts_per_page=2 mla_output="paginate_links,prev_next" mla_link_href="{+page_url+}?search-string={+request:search-string+}"]

[mla_gallery post_mime_type=all post_parent=all s="{+template:({+request:search-string+}|a-bad-term)+}" mla_nolink_text="Enter a search value above to display gallery." posts_per_page=2]

You can use this approach without writing any PHP code or creating template files.

Depending on what you mean by “the parametric search“, this may satisfy you. It uses the standard WordPress “keyword search” parameter to search the Title and Description fields of your Media library items.

If you need to search additional fields, such as Caption or ALT Text, let me know. I haven’t exposed these additional fields for searching but I can work on it if you like.

If you need to search by taxonomy terms, that’s also a somewhat different task. I can give you some guidance with that if you are interested.

I will leave this topic unresolved until I hear back from you. Thanks for your interest in the plugin.

It has been a month since my last post. Since I have not heard anything further from you I assume you have found a solution to your needs.

I am marking this topic resolved, but please update it if you have any problems or further questions regarding a front-end search form for [mla_gallery] filtering.

I have completed development of an enhanced “Keyword(s) Search” and a new “Term Keyword(s) Search” capability for the [mla_gallery] shortcode. You can use either one to let users search by entering all of part of the Title for terms in your Att. Category and Att. Tag taxonomies.

You can find more information here:

Add searc box to Gallery