How to create a search feature in Yii?

@filiberto 

To create a search feature in Yii, follow these steps:

1. Create a search form in your view file, with input fields for the search parameters you want to use. For example, if you want to search for users by their name, you might create a form with a single text input field for the name.
2. In your controller, create an action method for handling the search request. This method should instantiate a new model that represents the data you're searching for, and then call the model's search() method, passing in the search parameters submitted by the form.
3. In your model, implement the search() method. This method should use the criteria API to build an SQL query that filters records based on the provided search parameters. For example, if you're searching for users by name, your search() method might add a condition to the criteria object to match users whose name contains the search term.
4. Run the search query and return the results to the controller method. The controller should then pass the results to the view, which can render them in whatever format you choose (e.g. as a list of search results).
5. Add pagination to your search results if needed. Yii provides built-in functionality for this, which you can use in combination with the search() method to easily paginate the results of your search.

Overall, this process involves using Yii's MVC architecture to separate concerns and create a clean, maintainable search feature that can easily be extended and customized to suit your needs.