Meet the improved Search Orders page

[Rutabaga]

Modular Merchant version 3.2.1 will introduce a completely redesigned and improved engine for searching orders based on feature requests and suggestions we've received from clients. We're excited to release this improvement to our clients. Following is a tutorial on using the new Search Orders engine.

The Search Orders page is located in your store's administration area at: [Navigation Menu > Orders > Search Orders].



The new search engine introduces some new options. Here's an overview of them:

A: Search Type
This menu has two options. First, you can choose to display "all orders", which will simply display a paginated list containing every order in your store records.

Tip: If you select this option and click the "down arrow" in the Order ID column, the page will list all orders with the newest orders first. This is an easy way to always see the most recent store orders.

The second option in this menu allows you to find orders that match one or more rules you specify. Selecting this option will reveal a subset of options, lettered C-F in the image above.

---

B: Results Per Page
Search Results are now paginated. This not only significantly speeds up the display of large searches, but allows you to jump to any order in your store records with just one click when the "all orders" option is selected.

---

C: Match All Rules or Any Rule
When searching by rules, use this option to specify whether the order must match all the rules you've created, or any of them. In the sample image above, only the orders that include the product "Shopping Cart Software Tutorials" purchased by customers in California are returned in the search results.

---

D: Date Range Toggle
This menu has two options: "all dates" and "in the date range". If the latter is selected, then a group of date menus will appear. (See figure "E" in the image above.) The options available in this menu allow you to chose whether or not to apply a date range restriction to every search you make.

---

E: Date Range Start and End Menus
When "in the date range" is selected from the previous menu, a group of date menus will be displayed.

Tip: Something we've noticed about date range searches is that some people put the start date first and end date second, while others reverse it. To accommodate this, the search tool has been made to be compatible with either approach; the date range may be set to either start-to-end or end-to-start date ranges.

---

F: Dynamically Add and Subtract Rules
Click the "+" button to add another rule to your search criteria. Create as many rules as you like. Click the "-" button to remove a search rule.

---

G: On-Screen Order Summary
You may have noticed that the "magnifying glass" icon, which displayed an on-screen summary of the order, is missing from the image above. Don't worry, that feature isn't gone, it's just been replaced by the "on-screen popup" icon to the right of the order ID number. Just click the icon to view a summary of the order on-screen.

Why did we replace the magnifying glass icon?
The new order summary system is one of the ajax-driven features of the administration area. Previously, all of the order summaries needed to be stored in memory when the page loaded, which increased load time. The new system retrieves the order summary at the time the icon is clicked. This improves the efficiency of the page, and also opens the opportunity to add much more information and interactivity to the on-screen summary. The summary can now contain any features a regular web page could!

This new approach will also allow us to add the on-screen summary to any page in the store's administration area that includes an Order ID number, such as the customer details page and home page of the administration area. This update adds on-screen order summaries to those pages as well.

---

Other new features not listed above include:
* Mousing over a table row in the search results will highlight that row.
* An order's checkbox can be selected by clicking anywhere on that order's table row, not just by clicking the checkbox itself.
* A copy of a selected order can be imported into the "Place an Order" tool, providing an easy way to place a new order with the same products for that customer.

The new order searching options will allow you to uncover razor-sharp demographics. We'll be adding more and more ajax-driven tools to the shopping cart software in upcoming weeks. In the meantime, enjoy the new Search Orders page!
_________________
Rutabaga
Keeper of the Development Schedule
Modular Merchant Shopping Cart Software.