Implement Custom Search Plugin for Joomla - Joomla! Forum - community, help and support

i implement custom search plugin joomla 3.5.1. new joomla , still busy getting feet together.

i implemented plugin adds custom/extra fields (5 fields, free text inputs) article. followed tutorial on how right , far good. plugin saves extra/custom fields in #__user_profiles table per tutorial. save different table since learning, kept simple. plugin works , can capture fields , saves , data saved along article id being edited/created.

my next task create site/front-end "search" (or smart search) plugin. plugin must group 5 field's values , provide them user in front-end selects/dropdowns.

is there can give me lead on how can archive this. must implement search or smart search plugin? possible archive trying archive?

this search plugin appear on 1 page know can config correctly once i've plugin. once user searches, system must post selected options , search "#__user_profiles" matching profile_key vs profile_value , collect user_id (article_id) , these articles contents table , return list of articles front-end search results. can me right direction?

i tried tutorial of creating search plugin seem lost, don't know how dynamically provide selects/dropdowns info saved in #__user_profiles table.

please assist in anyway possible...

i go normal search plugin. if i'm not mistaken, data saved in json format in table. later versions of mysql have functions search json data. otherwise, have 3 options:

- can loop through data, parse json, , search value entered.
- can upgrade latest version of mysql.
- can use sphinx indexing json data , querying sphinx dataset matching entries.