search single channel, filter by categories, title and custom field

Question

I want to search thru a channel's entries, they can filter by three different categories (that is fine in EE's advanced search form), as well as the entry title (another thing I can do with EE's advanced search form), but I also want to use one of the custom fields in that channel's field group to be filterable (which is not supported in EE's advanced search form.).

I noticed this add-on http://devot-ee.com/add-ons/search-fields that would allow me to filter by a custom field and entry title, but it looks like I'll have a problem filtering by multiple category groups.

To summarize, I need to search one channel, and search filters would be:

entry title custom field (just one specific field) category group (3 groups)

All filters (except the entry title field will be optional).

Before I go ahead and build a custom module to just search this specific channel (using those filters), I thought I'd see if anyone else dealt with this, thanks!

Answer 1

I've not tried it, but have you considered Reefine?

http://devot-ee.com/add-ons/reefine

Answer 2

Reefine is awesome. Used it a couple of times. However, I have found (And it is mentioned in the docs) that if you are using it on a ton of entries, it can be a little slow.

You may also be able to harness dynamic parameters. You can filter a lot down with that. Or even perhaps the search:field_name= Docs here and use segment variables to filer down.

Hope it helps.