PHP MYSQL Boolean Full-text search

Question

I have found Boolean full-text search to be much helpful but for some reason, I have failed to figure out why I am not getting results from my query.

My query is as follows:

if(isset($_REQUEST['fname']) and $_REQUEST['fname']!=""){
    $condition  .=  ' AND MATCH (fname, lname, mname) AGAINST('.(+$_REQUEST['fname']).' IN BOOLEAN MODE) ' ;
}

Which is backed up by this function;

public function get($tableName,  $whereAnd  =   array(), $whereOr   =   array(), $whereLike =   array())
{
$cond   =   '';
$s=1;
$params =   array();
foreach($whereAnd as $key => $val)
{
    $cond   .=  " And ".$key." = :a".$s;
    $params['a'.$s] = $val;
    $s++;
}
foreach($whereOr as $key => $val)
{
    $cond   .=  " OR ".$key." = :a".$s;
    $params['a'.$s] = $val;
    $s++;
}
foreach($whereLike as $key => $val)
{
    $cond   .=  " OR ".$key." like '% :a".$s."%'";
    $params['a'.$s] = $val;
    $s++;
}
  $stmt = $this->pdo->prepare("SELECT  $tableName.* FROM $tableName WHERE 1 ".$cond);
    try {
        $stmt->execute($params);
        $res = $stmt->fetchAll();

        if (! $res || count($res) != 1) {
           return $res;
        }
        return $res;
    } catch (\PDOException $e) {
        throw new \RuntimeException("[".$e->getCode()."] : ". $e->getMessage());
    }
}

public function getAllRecords($tableName, $fields='*', $cond='', $orderBy='', $limit='')
{
    //echo "SELECT  $tableName.$fields FROM $tableName WHERE 1 ".$cond." ".$orderBy." ".$limit;
    //print "<br>SELECT $fields FROM $tableName WHERE 1 ".$cond." ".$orderBy." ".$limit;
    $stmt = $this->pdo->prepare("SELECT $fields FROM $tableName WHERE 1 ".$cond." ".$orderBy." ".$limit);
    //print "SELECT $fields FROM $tableName WHERE 1 ".$cond." ".$orderBy." " ;
    $stmt->execute();
    $rows = $stmt->fetchAll(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
    return $rows;
}

Then the search field:

<input type="text" name="fname" id="fname" class="form-control" value="" placeholder="Search By Name">

But when I search, I get no results, whether I search by fname alone or fname+lname .

Answer 1

Your problem is in this part of the expression:

(+$_REQUEST['fname'])

When you add the + in front of the value, PHP tries to convert it into a numeric value and (since it is presumably a word) gives a non-numeric value warning and returns 0. I think you meant to put the + into the overall expression ie

$condition .= " AND MATCH (fname, lname, mname) AGAINST('+{$_REQUEST['fname']}' IN BOOLEAN MODE) ";

A prepared statement would have helped you avoid these issues, writing

$condition .= " AND MATCH (fname, lname, mname) AGAINST(? IN BOOLEAN MODE) ";

and then binding the parameter to "+{$_REQUEST['fname']}" .