Restrict categories in Opencart search

Hello.

I have a hidden category that doesn't show up in the sidebar or search dropdown. However, the products in this category are still displayed when searching "all products".

Does anyone know a simple way to completely exclude a category from the search results (i.e. make it completely unsearchable)?

Thanks so much.

Why not use robots.txt?

Hmm. That would be for excluding results from actual web search engines, correct?

If so, that's not what I'm looking for. I'm referring to the Opencart search itself. The one on the storefront.

I guess I wasn't very clear with my question. Sorry!

So let me give a little more info here.

I have a hidden category called "discounts" that contains every one of my products. It doesn't show up on the sidebar or on the search dropdown. However, it is still recognized when I do a search under All Categories. Thus, the search results show TWO of every product when I do a search under All Categories (once for the product's true category, and once for the discount category).

I think this could be resolved by somehow excluding the "discounts" category from All Categories. I just don't know how to do that.

I have a mod that does this already if needed:
http://www.unbannable.com/ocstore/restricted_cats

You can choose categories to hide from certain customer groups. This includes the products that belong to the categories. It is hidden from ALL places (product lists, searches, specials, bestsellers, etc)

Thanks Q. Unfortunately I don't really have the funds for that, especially since it has more features than I really need.

Do you think there's a quick fix alternative to the mod you suggested? I recently purchased your category discount mod; that's why I'm trying to figure this out. Any chance you could help me out with coding a solution, since I am a paying customer and all?

I'm not sure what it would entail, so I apologize if it's too much to ask.

Qphoria wrote:I have a mod that does this already if needed:
http://www.unbannable.com/ocstore/restricted_cats

You can choose categories to hide from certain customer groups. This includes the products that belong to the categories. It is hidden from ALL places (product lists, searches, specials, bestsellers, etc)

Hi Qphoria! With this module, can you order the products you restricted? Because what I want it restricting them from the categories, search results etc. But when I type the product id, I want the product to be added to cart. Is that possible with your module?

developer wrote:

Qphoria wrote:I have a mod that does this already if needed:
http://www.unbannable.com/ocstore/restricted_cats

You can choose categories to hide from certain customer groups. This includes the products that belong to the categories. It is hidden from ALL places (product lists, searches, specials, bestsellers, etc)

Hi Qphoria! With this module, can you order the products you restricted? Because what I want it restricting them from the categories, search results etc. But when I type the product id, I want the product to be added to cart. Is that possible with your module?

Yes. Simply remove 2 lines from the included model file and it will still be protected in all ways except when directly linked