Query a custom field's value from a custom post on the search template

Hi,

I have exhaustedly searched the forums and Google and somehow I am not finding a solution for what I am looking for as there are some variants of this out there, none of it has worked yet ??

I have a custom post type. In the custom post type I have loads of custom fields (more than 20).

I want to use query_posts to match the content in my posts with the custom_post_type and/or the meta_key and/or the meta_value on the search template. So basically I want to write a custom search that enables me to search through all the above.

To start with I am happy to just focus on getting the meta_value (or meta_key) part working.

If anyone can help or point me in the right direction I would be very thankful ??

Code I am trying to use at the moment:

<?php
query_posts('meta_key=person_nickname&meta_value=john');
?>

The code I am using to try and display the result:

<?php if ( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>
<?php the_content(); ?>
<?php endwhile; else: ?>
<p>No results found for <?php echo $s?>.</p>
<?php endif; ?>