Leveraging SharePoint Portal Search within an MCMS Site

The Connector includes three controls that enhance your MCMS templates. Two of these controls are used to collect search query information and to display the results of the query after it has been submitted to the SPS:

• SearchInputControl: . The SearchInputControl displays an input form where a user can enter keywords to search for.

• SearchResultControl: . The SearchResultControl is responsible for taking the keywords and advanced properties submitted in the SearchInputControl, constructing the query, and calling the SPS Search service. The control then takes the response from the Search Service web service and displays the search results.

The third search control included in the Connector is:

• SearchMetaTagGenerator: . This control generates HTML META tag information for MCMS posting properties and custom properties. It is used in combination with an XML mapping file and a command-line utility to configure the SharePoint indexer. This allows users to implement a basic taxonomy for the search function.

The standard and custom properties for which META tags are generated are managed using an XML file called SearchPropertyCollection.xml and a console application called SearchPropertiesSetup.exe, which configures SharePoint Portal Server search using the advanced properties defined by the XML file.

The SearchPropertyCollection.xml file can be found in the following directory: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Content Management Server\Server\IIS_CMS\WssIntegration.

The SearchPropertiesSetup.exe utility program can be found in the following directory: C:\Program Files\MCMS Connector for SharePoint Technologies\WSS\Bin.

Note

If SharePoint Portal Server and MCMS reside on separate physical servers, the SearchPropertyCollection.xml file needs to exist on both servers. The SearchInputControl uses this XML file on the MCMS server and the SearchPropertiesSetup.exe utility uses the file on the SharePoint Portal Server.

Some configuration is necessary in order to use SPS as a search engine for your MCMS site. This involves creating a new content source, source group, and source scope within SPS. Fortunately Microsoft included another command-line utility program called SearchSetup.exe, which creates the new content source and site path rules within SPS for all top-level channels in your MCMS site.

The SearchSetup.exe utility program can be found in the following directory: C:\Program Files\MCMS Connector for SharePoint Technologies\WSS\Bin.

Refer to Chapter 5, Searching MCMS with SharePoint, for more information regarding MCMS and SharePoint Portal Server search integration.