JXtended Finder - Advanced Search for Joomla ComponentModulePlugin

Finder is an advanced search engine for Joomla! (a replacement for the built in Joomla! Search system). It can index and search a variety of content including Joomla articles, contacts, and web links, Magazine articles, authors, issues, and publications, Catalog items, Labels, and more. It's powerful search and filtering system gives users and administrators unprecedented accuracy and control. It's robust indexing technology provides the fastest and most scalable solution for searching Joomla powered websites.

Finder features:

* Full content indexing for faster and more accurate searching;
* Alternative search phrase suggestions when no results are found (did you mean 'joomla' when searching for 'jomla'?);
* Selectively hide content items from search results;
* Respectful of content publish and access control states;
* Intuitive and easy to use search phrase modifiers; Scalable design that easily handles thousands of content items.

Version 1.1.0 Stable was released on 8 May 2009 with many improvements including:

* Improved indexer interface with progress bar and more reliable exception handling.
* Improved system routing makes search result URLs more reliable.
* Improved search term highlighting in search results and on content click-through.
* Improved caching logic for better performance.

Integration with Joomla

* Added support for Web Links.
* Improved support for Articles and Contacts.
* Automatic updating of Joomla Articles.
* The ability to keep Article states in sync automatically or manage them manually.
* Fixed issues with search results not respecting article start/end publish dates.

Search Filters

* Filter search results based on a variety of options including section, category, label, publication, issue, date, type of content, etc.
* Configure which sections, categories, labels, etc. display in the advanced filter options.
* The ability to create predefined search filters.
* The ability to assign predefined filters to search modules or search views.
* Customizable Advanced Search options.
* Advanced Search support in the Finder module and component interfaces.
* The ability to hide/show the advanced search options and automatically expand/collapse the advanced options if shown.

Integration with JXtended extensions

* Improved Magazine Article, Author, Issue, and Publication support.
* Added support for JXtended Catalog.
* Added support for JXtended Labels.
* Search for labels.
* Filter searches by labels.
* Show content labels next to the item in search results.
* Automatic re-indexing of Labels when they are updated.

Finder search module

* Display advanced search options.
* Assign predefined search filters to a module.
* Configure whether a label or button should be displayed and where they should be displayed in mod_finder.

EventList support

* Search EventList events and venues.
* Search events based on date.

DOCman support

* Search PDF documents stored in DOC

Report

Editor's Note
  • This extension requires registration to download.
  • Paid Membership required
bynikosd666 on October 11, 2009
Just what I needed. Fast, reliable, does what it says. Easy to install and well documented. It can be easy customized and that is great. One of the best extensions in search field.
bygoyo on October 9, 2009
Very fast, and very reliable.
Best solution for larger portals.
This will now be part of any Joomla installation I make. It's simple and it works. Great documentation, possibility of PDF support and plug-ins.
byGnostic on July 20, 2009
This one extension transforms Joomla into a very powerful CMS. Joomla's built-in search lacks many features. With jxtended's Finder, we now have a robust, editable search tool. And since it was designed by core Joomla developers, it plays well with everything else in my site.
Seriously. This is an excellent extension and did everything I needed straight away. Easy to use.

Thanks!
This is exactly what I needed. This tool allows you to select sections/categories that can be searched and gives weight to the keyword. There are some very nice extra tools in the advanced search feature. Thumbs way up!
Yet another great tool from the JXtended team makes your Joomla site even more powerful and usable.

My site requires not only a powerful search engine, but one that can be customized in just about every way imaginable. Users can search specific sections, categories or even DOCman or other component content. While the built-in Joomla search searched your content on-the-fly, JX Finder indexes your site (like phpBB or other software) and this makes all the difference in the world when in comes to search speed for your site visitors (around 5000 matches in about a second!).

JX Finder also integrates with JX Labels, Eventlist, JX Magazine, and others. If you're looking for a simple and powerful search that's second to none, look no further than JX Finder.
A few slight problems keep this extension from getting an excellent rating. That said, answers come quickly from the support forum on the developer's website. All in all this outperforms the default Joomla search by miles! Nice work.