Adding OpenSearch for your CommunityServer Site

interscape — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 15:45:00 GMT

So last night, I had this really random idea to create an OpenSearch Provider for LonghornBlogs.com. That way I could search my site from IE7's search box. In the process, I discovered that my search is broken there, so I decided to create them for several of the main Microsoft community sites instead:

Maybe Telligent will create an OpenSearch directory for all the CS communities out there. We'll have to wait and see. Anyways, if you want to write your own, I'll show you how!

Writing Your Own Provider:

Here's what a CS 2.0 OpenSearch provider looks like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<OpenSearchDescription xmlns="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearch/1.1/">
<ShortName>Your Name Here</ShortName>
<Description>Your Description Here</Description>
<Url type="text/html" template="http://www.yoursitehere.com/search/SearchResults.aspx?q={searchTerms}&o=Relevance" />
</OpenSearchDescription>

When you form your URLs, make sure they are UrlEncoded first, or they'll throw an error.

Installing Your OpenSearch Provider:

You'll have to add a hyperlink to the provider on your website. Just use the following syntax for your link: <a href="#" onClick="window.external.AddSearchProvider("http://www.yoursitehere.com/yoursearchprovider.xml");">

That's it! It's really very simple. Of course, you can add a lot more information to your OpenSearch provider. Amazon's A9 has all the details.

E-mail Address Change

interscape — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 23:29:00 GMT

My HomentumRealty.com e-mail address no longer works. If anyone's trying to contact me, please use my InterscapeUSA.com e-mail address instead. Thanks guys!

Posting to weblogs.asp.net From Word 2007

interscape — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 19:04:00 GMT

Ever since Telligent updated weblogs.asp.net to CommunityServer 2.1, I’ve been anxious to try blogging from Word 2007. But the directions in the “Help” link in Word 2007 are incorrect. Fortunately, Chris Garrett already found the solution: the correct MetaBlog API URL is http://weblogs.asp.net/blogs/metablog.ashx. Woo hoo!

Robert McLaws: FunWithCoding.NET : General Software Development

Adding OpenSearch for your CommunityServer Site

E-mail Address Change

Posting to weblogs.asp.net From Word 2007