Drupal - Search box not working - custom theme template

Question

Hello,

I am using a customised version of search-theme-form.tpl When I use the search box, I do get transferred to the search page. But the search does not actually take place. The search box on the search results page does work though. This is my search-them-form.tpl.php file (demo :

<input type="text" name="search_theme_form_keys" id="edit-search-theme-form-keys" value="Search" title="Enter the terms you wish to search for" class="logininput" height="24px" onblur="restoreSearch(this)" onfocus="clearInput(this)" />
  <input type="submit" name="op" id="edit-submit" value="" class="form-submit" style="display: none;" />
  <input type="hidden" name="form_token" id="edit-search-theme-form-form-token" value="<?php print drupal_get_token('search_theme_form'); ?>" />
  <input type="hidden" name="form_id" id="edit-search-theme-form" value="search_theme_form" />

There is also a javascript file involved. I guess it's use is pretty clear from the code:

 function trim(str) {  
     return str.replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, '');  
 }  

 function clearInput(e) {  

        e.value="";                // clear default text when clicked  
    e.className="longininput_onfocus"; //change class

 }  

 function restoreSearch(e) {  
    if (trim(e.value) == '') {  
        {
   e.value="Search";             // reset default text onBlur 
         e.className="logininput";        //reset class
  } 
    }  
 }

What can be the problem and how can I fix it?

Answer 1

Apparently, you cannot directly modify the HTML in search-theme-form.tpl.php since thats not the right way to do it. So my adding the class and onFocus and onBlur attributes was the problem.

The correct way to do it is to modify the themes template.php file. Basically we will be using form_alter() to modify the form elements. Since using the HTML way is wrong. Take a look at the code below (taken from : here )

<?php
/**
* Override or insert PHPTemplate variables into the search_theme_form template.
*
* @param $vars
*   A sequential array of variables to pass to the theme template.
* @param $hook
*   The name of the theme function being called (not used in this case.)
*/
function yourthemename_preprocess_search_theme_form(&$vars, $hook) {
  // Note that in order to theme a search block you should rename this function
  // to yourthemename_preprocess_search_block_form and use
  // 'search_block_form' instead of 'search_theme_form' in the customizations
  // bellow.

  // Modify elements of the search form
  $vars['form']['search_theme_form']['#title'] = t('');

  // Set a default value for the search box
  $vars['form']['search_theme_form']['#value'] = t('Search this Site');

  // Add a custom class and placeholder text to the search box
  $vars['form']['search_theme_form']['#attributes'] = array('class' => 'NormalTextBox txtSearch', 
                                                              'onfocus' => "if (this.value == 'Search this Site') {this.value = '';}",
                                                              'onblur' => "if (this.value == '') {this.value = 'Search this Site';}");

  // Change the text on the submit button
  //$vars['form']['submit']['#value'] = t('Go');

  // Rebuild the rendered version (search form only, rest remains unchanged)
  unset($vars['form']['search_theme_form']['#printed']);
  $vars['search']['search_theme_form'] = drupal_render($vars['form']['search_theme_form']);

  $vars['form']['submit']['#type'] = 'image_button';
  $vars['form']['submit']['#src'] = path_to_theme() . '/images/search.jpg';

  // Rebuild the rendered version (submit button, rest remains unchanged)
  unset($vars['form']['submit']['#printed']);
  $vars['search']['submit'] = drupal_render($vars['form']['submit']);

  // Collect all form elements to make it easier to print the whole form.
  $vars['search_form'] = implode($vars['search']);
}
?>

In yourthemename_preprocess_search_theme_form - 'yourthemename' will obviously reflect the name of your custom theme. Basically the code is self-explanatory. what with the comments and all.

So, basically thats the way it works.