How to Integrate FrontPage 98 and Index Server

ID: q194391

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft FrontPage 98 for Windows

SUMMARY

This article explains how to completely integrate FrontPage 98 for Windows with Index Server.

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft Index Server is the content-indexing and searching solution for Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS). It automatically creates an index of all documents that are stored on your Web server to be called up later by visitors to your site.

The following is a description of the files that Index Server uses when executing a search.

HTML Files

An HTML file is used to accept input into a Search form on a Web page. This information is then submitted by the user and passed on to the query (.idq) file.

IDQ Files

A .idq file is used to process the query. The .idq file is a text file that tells Index Server which areas of the server to search and where to pass the results. This file must be created using the Structured Query Language (SQL).

HTX Files

A .htx file is used as the template for the results. This file formats the results into an HTML file and returns the information to the user via the browser.

When a Search form is placed into a page using FrontPage 98, and the page is subsequently published to an IIS computer with Index Server installed, FrontPage will use Index Server by default to run the search, rather than the Free WAIS search engine that comes with FrontPage.

FrontPage 98 creates the necessary .idq file named Search.htm0.idq and places it in the _vti_bin directory of the Web. It also creates the .htx file and places it in the _derived directory of the Web. The parameters of these files can be edited in the Search form properties in FrontPage Editor.

The following list of options are available for FrontPage 98 in the Search form properties. The list also includes a short description of what the options do in regards to the Index Server files and the search performed.

To access the properties of a Search form, click inside the form to select it, click FrontPage Component Properties from the Edit menu, and then click the Search Results tab to view the following options:

Scope of Search: The scope of the search is controlled by the Ciscope entry in the .idq file. The Ciscope entry points to a virtual directory on the Internet Information Server computer. The search will encompass the virtual directory and all subfolders.

Entire Web Site: If you choose this option, you will set the Ciscope option of the .idq file to "/" causing the entire contents of the IIS computer to be searched.

This FrontPage Web: This option sets the Ciscope to "/Subweb_name" causing the search to encompass that directory and any subdirectories. (If this is used in the <root Web>, the scope is set to "/" returning the same results as the Entire Web Site option).

Directory: This option can point to a virtual directory other than the location of the Web that it is a part of. The entry will appear as "Ciscope=/directory/."

Maximum Records Per Page: This option sets the "Cimaxrecordsperpage" entry in the .idq file. It controls how many hits are displayed on each page of the results.

Maximum Records Per Query: This option sets the "Cimaxrecordsinresultset" entry in the .idq file. It limits how many positive results are allowed before the search returns a page stating that the search has returned too many hits.

The remaining options on the Search Results tab are for the "Cicolumns" entry. This option is used to gather additional information about items that have been found in the search. This information can include the document author and the date modified. The following list describes what is added to the "Cicolumns" entry of the .idq file:

"Last time file was changed": Cicolumns = write

"Size in bytes": Cicolumns = size

"Score (Closeness of match)": Cicolumns = rank

"Author of Document": Cicolumns = docauthor

"Comments": Cicolumns = doccomments

"Document subject": Cicolumns = docsubject

"Hit count": Cicolumns = hitcount

If you have Index Server installed with IIS and want to use the free WAIS search engine used by FrontPage 98 instead of Index Server, you can do so by editing the Frontpg.ini file. By default, the Frontpg.ini file is located in the following directory:


   C:\Winnt\Frontpg.ini (for Windows NT)


   -or-


   C:\Windows\Frontpg.ini (for Windows 95 and Windows 98)

For instructions on using this method, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q181204 Using FrontPage Search Engine Instead of MS Index Server

For more information about editing the settings in the Frontpg.ini file, please refer to the FrontPage Server Extensions Resource Kit (SERK), which is included with the complete installation of FrontPage 98.

The FrontPage SERK can also be found online at the following Internet address:

http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/frontpage/wpp/serk

REFERENCES

For more information on how to use Index Server, please refer to the online documentation and examples that are included with the installation of Index Server.

Additional query words: Index Server


Keywords          : 
Version           : WINDOWS:
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: March 8, 1999