Magento Page Layout Will Not Change on Advanced Search Results Page - magento

Question

I am trying to change the layout of the advanced search results page (www.website.com/catalogsearch/advanced/result/) from 2columns-right to 2columns-left.
I have tried changing the app/design/frontend/default/theme261/layout/catalogsearch.xml so all references to 2columns-right.phtml are now 2columns-left.phtml. I have also changed the app/design/frontend/base/default/layout/catalogsearch.xml just in case. (I have backup up the original file.)
Regular search results pages are 2columns-left. It is only the advanced search results page that are 2columns-right.
Here's my code for app/design/frontend/default/theme261/layout/catalogsearch.xml:
<layout version="0.1.0">
<default>
<reference name="root">
<action method="setTemplate"><template>page/2columns-left.phtml</template></action>
</reference>
<reference name="header">
<block type="core/template" name="top.search" as="topSearch" template="catalogsearch/form.mini.phtml"/>
</reference>
<reference name="footer_links">
<action method="addLink" translate="label title" module="catalogsearch" ifconfig="catalog/seo/search_terms">
<label>Search Terms</label>
<url helper="catalogsearch/getSearchTermUrl" />
<title>Search Terms</title>
</action>
<action method="addLink" translate="label title" module="catalogsearch">
<label>Advanced Search</label>
<url helper="catalogsearch/getAdvancedSearchUrl" />
<title>Advanced Search</title>
</action>
</reference>
<reference name="left">
<block type="sidebarsearch/advanced_sidebar" name="sidebarsearch_advanced_sidebar" template="sidebarsearch/advanced/sidebar.phtml" before="-"/>
</reference>
</default>
<catalogsearch_result_index translate="label">
<label>Quick Search Form</label>
<reference name="root">
<action method="setTemplate"><template>page/2columns-left.phtml</template></action>
</reference>
<!-- <reference name="left"> -->
<!-- <block type="catalogsearch/layer" name="catalogsearch.leftnav" after="currency" template="catalog/layer/view.phtml"/> -->
<!-- </reference> -->
<reference name="content">
<block type="catalogsearch/result" name="search.result" template="catalogsearch/result.phtml">
<block type="catalog/product_list" name="search_result_list" template="catalog/product/list.phtml">
<block type="catalog/product_list_toolbar" name="product_list_toolbar" template="catalog/product/list/toolbar.phtml">
<block type="page/html_pager" name="product_list_toolbar_pager"/>
</block>
<action method="addColumnCountLayoutDepend"><layout>empty</layout><count>6</count></action>
<action method="addColumnCountLayoutDepend"><layout>one_column</layout><count>5</count></action>
<action method="addColumnCountLayoutDepend"><layout>two_columns_left</layout><count>4</count></action>
<action method="addColumnCountLayoutDepend"><layout>two_columns_right</layout><count>4</count></action>
<action method="addColumnCountLayoutDepend"><layout>three_columns</layout><count>3</count></action>
<action method="setToolbarBlockName"><name>product_list_toolbar</name></action>
</block>
<action method="setListOrders"/>
<action method="setListModes"/>
<action method="setListCollection"/>
</block>
</reference>
<reference name="root">
<action method="setTemplate"><template>page/2columns-left.phtml</template></action>
</reference>
</catalogsearch_result_index>
<catalogsearch_advanced_index translate="label">
<label>Advanced Search Form</label>
<!-- Mage_Catalogsearch -->
<reference name="root">
<action method="setTemplate"><template>page/2columns-left.phtml</template></action>
</reference>
<reference name="head">
<action method="setTitle" translate="title" module="catalogsearch"><title>Advanced Search</title></action>
<action method="addItem"><type>js_css</type><name>calendar/calendar-win2k-1.css</name><params/><!--<if/><condition>can_load_calendar_js</condition>--></action>
<action method="addItem"><type>js</type><name>calendar/calendar.js</name><!--<params/><if/><condition>can_load_calendar_js</condition>--></action>
<action method="addItem"><type>js</type><name>calendar/calendar-setup.js</name><!--<params/><if/><condition>can_load_calendar_js</condition>--></action>
</reference>
<reference name="content">
<block type="catalogsearch/advanced_form" name="catalogsearch_advanced_form" template="catalogsearch/advanced/form.phtml"/>
<block type="core/html_calendar" name="html_calendar" as="html_calendar" template="page/js/calendar.phtml"/>
</reference>
</catalogsearch_advanced_index>
<!--
Advanced search results
-->
<catalogsearch_advanced_result translate="label">
<label>Advanced Search Result</label>
<!-- <update handle="page_two_columns_left" /> -->
<!-- Mage_Catalogsearch -->
<reference name="root">
<action method="setTemplate"><template>page/2columns-left.phtml</template></action>
</reference>
<reference name="content">
<block type="catalogsearch/advanced_result" name="catalogsearch_advanced_result" template="catalogsearch/advanced/result.phtml">
<block type="catalog/product_list" name="search_result_list" template="catalog/product/list.phtml">
<block type="catalog/product_list_toolbar" name="product_list_toolbar" template="catalog/product/list/toolbar.phtml">
<block type="page/html_pager" name="product_list_toolbar_pager"/>
</block>
<action method="addColumnCountLayoutDepend"><layout>empty</layout><count>6</count></action>
<action method="addColumnCountLayoutDepend"><layout>one_column</layout><count>5</count></action>
<action method="addColumnCountLayoutDepend"><layout>two_columns_left</layout><count>3</count></action>
<action method="addColumnCountLayoutDepend"><layout>two_columns_right</layout><count>3</count></action>
<action method="addColumnCountLayoutDepend"><layout>three_columns</layout><count>3</count></action>
<action method="setToolbarBlockName"><name>product_list_toolbar</name></action>
</block>
<action method="setListOrders"/>
<action method="setListModes"/>
<action method="setListCollection"/>
</block>
</reference>
</catalogsearch_advanced_result>
<catalogsearch_term_popular translate="label">
<label>Popular Search Terms</label>
<remove name="right"/>
<remove name="left"/>
<reference name="head">
<action method="setTitle" translate="title" module="catalogsearch"><title>Search Terms</title></action>
</reference>
<reference name="root">
<action method="setTemplate"><template>page/1column.phtml</template></action>
</reference>
<reference name="content">
<block type="catalogsearch/term" name="seo.searchterm" template="catalogsearch/term.phtml"/>
</reference>
</catalogsearch_term_popular>
</layout>
Thanks in advance for any help.

Answer 1

Make sure:
1) your theme theme261 is currently used on the shop (System / Configuration / Web / Design)
2) there is no overwrite for "catalogsearch_advanced_result" inside layout/ by any of your custom extensions (find all occurrences of "catalogsearch_result_index" inside app/design/frontend, they can be in "base" theme pool, outside your theme)
3) refresh your cache
If that doesn't help here's how ninjas do:
In this file app/code/core/Mage/CatalogSearch/controllers/AdvancedController.php add debug to the method resultAction: after string $this->renderLayout(); before the closing bracket } add following:
if($this->getRequest()->getParam('test')){
var_dump(Mage::app()->getLayout()->getXmlString());
die();
}
Visit advanced search page on your site with added request param test=1, i.e:
www.your.site.com/catalogsearch/advanced/result/?q=some-query&test=1
View this page in a "Source code" mode, because otherwise your browser is going to render that xml.
The idea of this method is to look for string "setTemplate". This way you will figure out the issues like if some layout update instruction is done outside of xml file etc.