Searching MCMS with SharePoint
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If you have a web site that uses Microsoft Content Management Server, you probably noticed that the CMS doesn't offer any search capabilities out of the box. But you're not stuck without search; this article explores your options. It is excerpted from chapter five of the book
Advanced Microsoft Content Management Server Development, written by Lim Mei Ying et al. (PACKT, 2005; ISBN: 1904811531).
For as long as content-centric websites have been around, the need for searching the content has been there. Many of the most successful dot-com businesses have been search sites such as Yahoo! and Google. Every few months a new search site opens its doors, many of which perform aggregate searches of multiple sites simultaneously. At the other end of the spectrum, many site owners require a search capability that returns only results for their specific site.
Microsoft Content Management Server (MCMS), while a very robust content management solution, does not offer any search capabilities out of the box. However, just because you have an MCMS website doesn't mean you are stuck without search capabilities.
MCMS Search Options There are quite a few ways to implement searching on an MCMS website, each with varying costs, implementation complexity, and limitations. As usual, each option has its advantages and disadvantages. Google (http://www.google.com) provides a Web Service API for you to submit queries against at no cost, but you are limited to 1,000 searches per day, and there are some licensing requirements regarding logo placement. Coveo (http://www.coveo.com) provides a free, no-expiration license for its Enterprise Search product, but it's limited to searching 5,000 documents (searching more than 5,000 requires a license to be purchased from Coveo). Mondosoft's (http://www.mondosoft.com) MondoSearch seamlessly integrates into MCMS and offers up a robust feature set, but it's not free.
Microsoft's enterprise portal solution, SharePoint Portal Server 2003 (SPS), contains a powerful and customizable search engine. The indexes SPS creates are accessible for searches by submitting a Microsoft SQL Full-Text query via a Web Service. If your organization has already implemented, or plans to deploy SPS, then you could leverage it as your MCMS search engine. Do be aware, however, that if your site is publicly accessible, this solution may not be as compelling, as a SharePoint External Connector license would be required. For this reason, the SharePoint search solution we look at is typically only a viable option for intranet-based MCMS sites.
In this chapter, we will leverage SPS's search to provide a robust search capability for our Tropical Green MCMS site. On the way, we'll configure SharePoint to index our Tropical Green site. We will also try out some free components you can use in your MCMS site to execute search queries against the SharePoint index.
Next: Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server Search >>
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 This article is excerpted from chapter five of the book Advanced Microsoft Content Management Server Development, written by Lim Mei Ying et al. (PACKT, 2005; ISBN: 1904811531). Check it out today at your favorite bookstore. Buy this book now.
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