DotNetNuke Tutorials and Articles

DNN Business Directory

If you want your visitors to search by a state, in the XMod module action menu you can go to Configure XMod Module >> Data Settings >> User search Options and add cboState as one of the search fields.

You can also configure the sort options on the Display Settings tab to include cboState. When the user selects State, the list is organized into listings by State.

You need to understand that the Search and the Sort Filter options can work independently of each other.

Another method is to have a dashboard link page that lists the states with links that pass the cboState value to the listing page.

An example would be:

http://dnnprofessor.com/DNNDirectory.aspx?state=MN

To accomplish this you need to configure the Filter Using URL Parameter which is located in Configure Xmod Module >> data Settings >> Filtering

You can set four values for the cboState field:

Filter
Use Value
Exact Match
Parameter Name

In our link example above, if you use 'Use Value" Xmod will be looking for the state abbreviation (example: MN)

If this is unchecked it will look for the state name (example: Minnesota)

The parameter name would be state.

When you build a link to the listing page, XMod will recognize the state parameter in these settings and return the proper result set.

Use Value Checked: ?state=MN or Use Value Unchecked: ?state=Minnesota

Reference Links:

Business Directory Dashboard Navigation Using XMod Filtering

How Do I Add a Linked Category Dashboard to XMod?

How To Use the FatGeorge Tag Cloud Control

Configuring XMod Modules - Search

Configuring XMod Modules - Filtering

You can also look at the Advanced Search form that is included with Business Directory.
This form is designed to filter by State (and other values) and will only return values if a listing exists for that state

Configure Advanced Search

Here is the Advanced Search in action.

I would also recommend that you upgrade to the new version patch for Xmod.

XMod 5.5.4 Released

Enjoy,
Buck