All options Search API form

[C# version] [This is VB version]

findinsite-ms has a Search API web service - a programmer interface to the search engine that can be used over the internet.

The page contains a search form that lets you try out all the available search options provided by the Search API. The results are shown in a paged DataGrid in the same way as Example 2. The page also lets you try out the GetSubsets() and GetFieldnames() Search API methods - click on the "Get Subsets List" button - then the "Get Fields List" button.

Try out the search form - then see below for programming details.

Search form

Programmer instructions

The web form and script used in this example are standard ASP.NET Visual Basic, so a detailed explanation is not given. See Example 1 and Example 2 for details of the basic interactions. The following code block shows the new SearchButton_Click() handler.

Note that this example does NOT show how to request blocks of hits on demand when the DataGrid page index changes. To only request hit information when the page index changes, you will probably need to provide a custom class as the DataGrid DataSource.

Private Sub SearchButton_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
Try
    Dim from as Integer, hitto as Integer
    from = System.Int32.Parse(FromText.Text)
    hitto = System.Int32.Parse(ToText.Text)

    Dim fis As New fisClient.SearchService(SearchAPIURL.SelectedItem.Text)

    Dim hit_elems As fisClient.fisHitAttributes
    hit_elems = 0
    For Each item As ListItem in Search2Elements.Items
        If item.Selected Then
            If item.Value="All" Then
                hit_elems += fisClient.fisHitAttributes.All
            End If
            if item.Value="ResultNo" Then
                hit_elems += fisClient.fisHitAttributes.ResultNo
            End If
            if item.Value="Title" Then
                hit_elems += fisClient.fisHitAttributes.Title
            End If
            if item.Value="URL" Then
                hit_elems += fisClient.fisHitAttributes.URL
            End If
            If item.Value="HighlightURL" Then
                hit_elems += fisClient.fisHitAttributes.HighlightURL
            End If
            if item.Value="Abstract" Then
                hit_elems += fisClient.fisHitAttributes.Abstract
            End If
            if item.Value="Filename" Then
                hit_elems += fisClient.fisHitAttributes.Filename
            End If
            if item.Value="WordCount" Then
                hit_elems += fisClient.fisHitAttributes.WordCount
            End If
            if item.Value="Date" Then
                hit_elems += fisClient.fisHitAttributes.Date
            End If
            if item.Value="Indexed" Then
                hit_elems += fisClient.fisHitAttributes.Indexed
            End If
            if item.Value="Size" Then
                hit_elems += fisClient.fisHitAttributes.Size
            End If
            if item.Value="Snippet" Then
                hit_elems += fisClient.fisHitAttributes.Snippet
            End If
            if item.Value="PageWordCount" Then
                hit_elems += fisClient.fisHitAttributes.PageWordCount
            End If
        End If
    Next

    Dim req As New fisClient.fisSearchRequest(SearchText.Text)
    req.HitsFrom = from
    req.HitsTo = hitto
    req.HitElems = hit_elems
    If Subsets.Items.Count>0 Then
        req.Subsets = ""
        For Each subsetitem As ListItem in Subsets.Items
            If subsetitem.Selected Then
                req.Subsets += subsetitem.Text+","
            End If
        Next
    End If

    Dim SearchTitle As string
    SearchTitle = Title.Text
    Dim GotTitle As Boolean
    GotTitle = false
    If Not SearchTitle is Nothing Then
        SearchTitle = SearchTitle.Trim()
        If SearchTitle.Length>0 Then
            GotTitle = true
        End If
    End If
	
    Dim SearchDescription As String
    SearchDescription  = Description.Text
    Dim GotDescription As Boolean
    GotDescription = false
    If Not SearchDescription is Nothing Then
        SearchDescription = SearchDescription.Trim()
        If SearchDescription.Length>0 Then
            GotDescription = true
        End If
    End If
	
    If GotTitle Or GotDescription Then
        req.SearchFields = new ArrayList()
        If GotTitle Then
            req.SearchFields.Add(new fisClient.fisSearchField(Title.ID,SearchTitle))
        End If
        if GotDescription Then
            req.SearchFields.Add(new fisClient.fisSearchField(Description.ID,SearchDescription))
        End If
    End If

    Dim result As fisClient.fisSearchResult 
    HitDataGrid.CurrentPageIndex = 0
    result = fis.Search(req)
    ShowResults(result)
    Session("fisSearchResult") = result
Catch ex As Exception
    JustShowMessage(ex.Message)
End Try

End Sub