UmbSearch2

UmbSearch2 v1.3.1

UmbSearch2 is the successor of the well-known umbSearch package that was available for Umbraco v3. However this version is for Umbraco v4 ! It uses the Lucene search engine to find DOCUMENTS AND MEDIA items that satisfy a search query.
A search action can be performed with multiple search items. You can also use wildcards like ' * ' and ' ? '. The list with search results will highlight the search items you have been looking for.

What is in the package?

- After this package has been installed all the media items with the extensions .txt, .doc, .docx and .pdf will be added to an index used for searching as well as the document nodes in your website. After uploading a new document to your media section it will be added automatically to this index. You don’t have to do anything for this!
- There will be 2 macros installed, namely SearchBox and SearchResult. These will provide search ability to the visitors of your website. You don't have to put these macros on the same page. It is advisable to put the SearchBox on your master template and to use the SearchResult on a page that is dedicated to showing the results of a search action.
- You can easily edit the mark up of the search results by adding some style to the SearchResultTemplate.ascx. This file can be found in the folder /usercontrols/UmbSearch2.
- The result will be shown in a paged manner. Paging will only be added when the amount of result items is greater than the amount of result items that is allowed per page.
- UmbSearch2 implements Globalization. A language can be added through adding a 'UmbSearch2Resources.##.resx' file to the App_GlobalResources folder of the website.
- It's is optional to use a list with frequently misspelled words (see below for more details).
- It's possible to hide pages from the search results (see below for more details).

Problem solving:

- This package makes use of IFilter to read the content of text documents. If you don't get any search results you might have to install the necessary IFilters on your webserver. Don't be afraid, most servers do already have them! You can download these filters for free on http://www.IFilter.org. If you want to search in PDF files you need to install the PDF IFilter. If you want to search in MS Office documents you need to install the Microsoft Office 2007 Suite IFilter. So, the kind of filters you have installed determine the kind of files you can look for.
- If the search isn’t working properly you might have to recreate your index files. You can do this by navigating to /usercontrols/umbsearch2/reindexsite.aspx.
- if you can't navigate to '/usercontrols/umbsearch2/reindexsite.aspx', there were probably not sufficient writing rights during the installation of UmbSearch2. You will have to change the line <add key="umbracoReservedPaths" value="/umbraco/" /> to <add key="umbracoReservedPaths" value="/umbraco/,/usercontrols/umbsearch2/" /> in the web.config. Normally this will be done automatically during the installation.
- If the page 'reindexsite.aspx' isn't working properly, try first deleting the folder 'usercontrols\UmbSearch2\UmbSearch2IndexDontDelete'. I know this is a nasty workaround though it's the best I can offer at the moment.

Search Result Setup:

When you insert the macro SearchResult in either a template of a RichTextEditor you will have to set the following properties:

- Node from where to start searching: most likely this will be the root node of your website.
- Document Types that will be searched: only the document types that are selected will be used in the search. If none are selected your search will not work!
- Document properties that will be used in the search: only the properties that are selected will be used in the search. If none are selected your search will not work!
- Number of search result items per page
- Paging On Top (optional)
- Paging On Bottum (optional)
- Node that has a list with frequently misspelled words (optional): you need to make a separate page that will hold a list with misspelled words.

Who we are:

Axendo is the Dutch full-service agency for website quality and accessibility. We develop websites complying with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), provide speech technology solutions to facilitate reading and offer analytic tools to continuously monitor and improve your website. AXENDO is the prime Umbraco Certified Solutions Provider in the Netherlands. Our work is characterized by quality, transparency and innovation.

To visit our website go to http://www.axendo.nl.
To see our commercial packages for Umbraco go to http://www.axendo.nl/producten/umbraco-cms