Question

i have a single textbox named Keywords.
User can enter multiple strings for search.
How this is possible in mvc3?
I am using nhibernate as ORM.
Can i create criteria for this?

Edited Scenario

I have partial view to search job based on following values:

• Keywords(multiple strings), Industry(cascading dropdown with functional area )//working well ,FunctionalArea//working well
  Loaction(multiple locations), Experience//working well

In Controller i am retrieving these values from form collection.
What datatype should i use for keywords and location (string or string[] )?

   public ActionResult SearchResult(FormCollection formCollection)
            {
    IList<Jobs> JobsSearchResultList = new List<Jobs>();
                //string[] keywords = null;            
                string location = null;
                int? industry = 0;
                int? functionaArea = 0;
                int? experience = 0;
                string keywords = null;

                if (formCollection["txtKeyword"] != "")
                {
                    keywords = formCollection["txtKeyword"];
                }
                //if (formCollection["txtKeyword"] != "")
                //{
                //    keywordAry = formCollection["txtKeyword"].Split(' ');
                //    foreach (string keyword in keywordAry)
                //    {
                //        string value = keyword;

                //    }                
                //}
......retrieving other values from formcollection
....

    //Now passing these values to Service method where i have criteria for job search
JobsSearchResultList = oEasyJobsService.GetJobsOnSearchExists(keywords,industry,functionaArea,location,experience);
        return View(JobsSearchResultList);
    }

In Services i have done like:

public IList<EASYJobs> GetJobsOnSearchExists(string keywords, int? industryId, int? functionalAreaId, string location, int? experience)
{
IList<JobLocation> locationlist = new List<JobLocation>();
IList<Jobs> JobsList = null;
var disjunction = Expression.Disjunction();
ICriteria query = session.CreateCriteria(typeof(Jobs), "EJobs");
if (keywords != null)
        {

        foreach (string keyword in keywords)
        {
        string pattern = String.Format("%{0}%", keyword);
        disjunction
       .Add(Restrictions.InsensitiveLike("Jobs.keywords", pattern,MatchMode.Anywhere))
       .Add(Restrictions.InsensitiveLike("YJobs.PostTitle",pattern,MatchMode.Anywhere));
        }
       query.Add(disjunction)
            .Add(Expression.Eq("EASYJobs.Industry.IndustryId", industryId))
            .Add(Expression.Eq("Jobs.FunctionalArea.FunctionalAreaId", functionalAreaId))
            .Add(Expression.Eq("Jobs.RequiredExperience", experience)));
       }
else
{..
}
JobsList = criteria.List<Jobs>();
}

Problems i am facing are:

1. In controller if i use string[],then Split(‘,’) does not split the string with specified separator.It passes string as it is to Service.

2.In services i am trying to replace string with %{0}% ,strings with spaces are replaced/concat() here with given delimeter.
But the problem here is It always return the whole job list means not giving the required output.
Pleas help …

Answer 1

Multiple keywords with special characters or extra spaces are replaced with single space with Regex expressions.
And then keywords are separated with Split(“”).
Its working as required….

if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(keywords))
                {
                    keywords = keywords.Trim();
                    keywords = System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex.Replace(keywords, @"[^0-9a-zA-Z\._\s]", " ");
                    keywords = System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex.Replace(keywords, @"[\s]+", " "); 

                    if (keywords.IndexOf(" ") > 0)
                    {
                        string[] arr = keywords.Split(" ".ToCharArray());
                        for (int i = 0; i < arr.Length; i++)
                        {
                            if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(arr[i]))
                            {
                                criteria.Add(Restrictions.Disjunction()
                                 .Add(Expression.Like("EASYJobs.keywords", arr[i], MatchMode.Anywhere)));
                            }
                        }
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        criteria.Add(Restrictions.Disjunction()                      
                             .Add(Expression.Like("EASYJobs.keywords", keywords, MatchMode.Anywhere)));
                    }

                }