Introduction

This Radius Search Application is a native Sobipro Application (plugin) and fully integrated with and installed within Sobipro. The Radius Search allows you to add a field into the native Sobipro search form to be able to add both centerpoint and radius distance criteria to the Sobipro search function. It works in conjunction with and is entirely integrated with that form. You can search just by radius distance or with any combination of native Sobipro search criteria.

Installation

Required

To use the Radius search application (plugin) you need :

• Sobipro installed (at least version 1.05)
• SP-Geo field plugin installed or Geocode Factory**
• Geocoded Sobipro entries (the entries must have latitude and longitude)

Note : the plugin is compatible with the Geocode Factory module and Geocode Factory search plugin.

      ** Geocode Factory installs the SP-Geo fields database table if the SP native field does not exist.

Installation

The Radius Search Application is a native Sobipro application. You need to install it through the Sobipro application manager. Follow this procedure :

• Go to your Sobipro backend
• Open the Application manager
• Install the Radius Search Application (confirm installation)
• Browse to the applicable Sobipro Section
• Under the applicable ‘Section Applications’ click on Radius Search to open the application’s control panel:
• Configure the Radius Search plugin as per specific needs.
• Follow the instruction to integrate the application output into the search form and the vCards templates.

Update

There is (at this time) no repository for this application. To update, please follow this procedure :

• Download the last version (under your profile page on myjoom.com)
• Go to your Sobipro backend
• Open the Application manager
• Install the new release over the currently installed version
• The Application is updated

Configuration

There is some options you need to configure :

• Order ID : please enter here your order number, this will register the plugin. Plugin will not function without this.
• Enable : this option will enable or disable the plugin in the search form.
• Radius field label : Allows admin to enter custom label for field
• Unit to use : Defines the unit to be used for the radius calculation. You can use kilometers (km), miles (mi) or nautical miles (nm).
• List of distances : Enter the list of distances you want to appear in the front-end search form in the drop-down box, separated by commas. Example : “10,20,50,100” (without the quotes) will display in the front-end a list of these 4 distances. If no valid entry is provided by the user in the search form, a default value is used witch corresponds to the first number in this list.
• Calculate Distance For VCards : enables the background calculation for determining distance from start point of search. Only needed if you display distance on vcards so it can be disabled to save resources if not needed.
• Order Results By Distance : Option to sort vcards by increasing distance when doing a search.
• Google Logo : options for displaying Google logo on search form. It is required by the Google terms of use so use at your own risk.
• Use “Locate Me” Button : enables the option on the search form to locate users based on their browser location. It can be off, text or an icon. Works with mobile devices as well. In either case this will require accepting the permission prompt in the browser to allow the page to access your location data.

Usage

Once the Radius Search Application is installed and configured, and the SOBI Pro templates modified, you can start your first search query based on the radius. For the following example we assume you have activated all options.

Step 1 - selecting the radius center

Go into your search form and you will see a new search field labeled what you named it in the configuration (or the default value). In the below sample it is 'Start Point' :

You can type any part an address into this field, and the plugin will try to find the address for you.

When you have entered enough of the address for Google to recognize your entry, you will see the correct suggestion in the list. Select it by clicking in the suggestion list. The coordinates of this location will be used as radius center.

If you want to use your current position, simply click the ‘Locate me’ button, and the plugin will geocode your address and write it into the input box. Now we have a center point, we can go to step 2.

Note : To use this feature you must accept the permission dialog in your browser.

Step 2 - selecting the radius

Select a radius distance you want to search within from the drop down box :

These distances come from the back-end parameters you entered above (eg: 10, 20, 50, 100)

Step 3 - selecting other Sobipro filters if desired

If you don’t choose any SOBI Pro filters the search will return ALL entries within that chosen radius.

Step 4 - Click search button!

Search results will reflect the the entries in the selected radius, from given center point that meet any Sobipro search criteria you entered.

Here is a sample search that finds all results within a 50 miles radius of Sun City, AZ.

And here the same search with a custom search on the keyword 'sam':