GetSimple tutorial on providing random search results for i18n search.

getsimple-tutorial-i18n-randomize-results.md

Ever wanted to have random items put into the search results pulled from I18N Search?

It's actually not that difficult. The technique hinges on the return_i18n_search_results function, specifically designed for doing custom results rendering.

We call the function with the desired paramters to get the results. To ensure a properly random selection, we'll set the maximum number of results to a high number (e.g. 999).

$search = return_i18n_search_results($tags, $words, 0, 999, $order, $lang);

Then we'll take the results themselves (which are saved as an array item with the key 'results') and shuffle them as many times as are desired.

shuffle($search['results']);

Finally, pull out the number of results desired from the shuffled list and loop through each result to output them as desired.

$search['results'] = array_slice($search['results'], 0, 5); // change 5 to whatever number you want
foreach ($search['results'] as $result) {
  // output  
}

Final Code

// total number of results
$total = 5;

// change parameters (except $max) to ones relevant to your search)
$search = return_i18n_search_results($tags=null, $words=null, $first=0, $max=999, $order=null, $lang=null);

// apply this function as many times as you want to throughly shuffle the results
shuffle($search['results']);

// now limit the results to the max number
$search['results'] = array_slice($search['results'], 0, $total);

// loop through each result and output as desired
foreach ($search['results'] as $result) {
  // output
}