How to query Index Server data by using ASP in FrontPage 2003

This step-by-step article describes how to create a customized Index Server search page by using Active Server Pages (ASP) in Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003. Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements.

Step 1: Prepare to use the ASP features in Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003

Before you can use the ASP features in FrontPage, you must install the components that are listed in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

Step 2: Add a form page in FrontPage

To add a form page in FrontPage, follow these steps:

1. Start FrontPage, and then open your Web site.
2. On the File menu, click New, and then click Blank Page.
3. On the Insert menu, point to Form, and then click Textbox.
4. Double-click the text box on your Web page.
5. In the Text Box Properties dialog box, type QUERYTEXT in the Name box.
6. In the Initial value box, type <%=Request("QUERYTEXT")%>, and then click OK.
7. Click between the text box that you have added and the Submit button, point to Form on the Insert menu, and then click Drop-Down Box.
8. Double-click the drop-down box.
9. In the Drop Down Box Properties dialog box, type QUERYFIELD in the Name box.
10. Click Add, and then type DocAppName in the Choice box.
11. Click to clear the Specify Value check box, and then click OK.
12. Repeat steps 10 and 11 to add the following menu items:
    Characterization
    FileName
    DocAuthor
    DocTitle
13. Click OK to close the Drop Down Box Properties dialog box.
14. Right-click the Submit button, and then click Form Properties.
15. Click Send to other , and then click Options.
16. In the Action box, type <%=Request.ServerVariables("URL")%>, and then click OK two times.
17. On the File menu, click Save.
18. In the File name box, type IndexServerTest.asp, and then click Save.

Step 3: Add the sample ASP code to the page

Note You may receive an error message if you copy the examples directly from this article and then paste them into FrontPage. FrontPage may misinterpret the angle brackets (< and >). To work around this behavior, paste the script into a blank Notepad document, and then copy it from Notepad and paste it into FrontPage.

To add the sample ASP code to the page, follow these steps:

1. At the bottom of the right pane, click Code to switch to the HTML view.
2. Type or paste the following code before the opening HTML tag:

   <%
     ' Force variable declaration.
     Option Explicit
   
     ' Declare all our variables.
     Dim strQueryText
     Dim strQueryField
     Dim strSQL
     Dim strName
     Dim strValue
     Dim objRS
     Dim objField
   
     ' This is the list of Index Server variables that will appear.
     ' You can customize the list of fields. For more information,
     ' see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 318387.
     Const strDisplayFields = "Rank, DocAuthor, DocAppName, DocTitle, FileName, Create, Access, Characterization, VPath"
   
     ' This is the default Index Server catalog for all Web content.
     ' For information about how to customize this, see Microsoft 
     ' Knowledge Base article 318387.
   
     Const strDataSource = "WEB"
   
     ' Get the value of the user-submitted search query.
     strQueryText = Request("QUERYTEXT")
     ' Set a default value if the user has not submitted anything.
     If Len(strQueryText) = 0 Then strQueryText = "%%"
   
     ' Get the field that the user wants to query against.
     strQueryField = Request("QUERYFIELD")
     ' Set a default value if the user has not specified a field.
     If Len(strQueryField) = 0 Then strQueryField = "DocTitle"
   %>
   

3. Type or paste the following code after the closing </FORM> tag:

   <%
   ' Check if the user has entered a value in the form
   If strQueryText <> "%%" Then
   
     ' Build the SQL statement from the user-specified options.
     strSQL = "SELECT " & strDisplayFields & " FROM SCOPE() " & _
     	"WHERE ((" & strQueryField & " LIKE '%" & strQueryText & "%') AND " & _
     	"((VPath NOT LIKE '%/_vti%') AND (VPath NOT LIKE '%/_private%')))"
   
     ' Create a recordset object.
     Set objRS = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Recordset")
   
     ' Open the recordset by using the SQL string with the Index Server provider.
     objRS.Open strSQL,"PROVIDER=MSIDXS;DATA SOURCE=" & strDataSource
   
     ' Are there any records to show?
     If objRS.EOF Then
   
       ' Show a default message if nothing is found.
       Response.Write "No Documents were Found." & vbCrLf  
   
     ' Otherwise...
     Else
   
       ' Start a table.
       Response.Write "<table border=""1"">" & vbCrLf
   
       ' Start the row for the header section.
       Response.Write "<tr>" & vbCrLf
       ' Loop through the fields collection.
       For Each objField in objRS.Fields
         ' Get the field's name.
         strName  = objField.Name
         ' If the field has a name, escape it for HTML.
         If Len(strName)  > 0 Then strName = Server.HTMLEncode(strName)
         ' Output the field name as a table header.
         Response.Write "<th>" & strName & "</th>" & vbCrLf
       Next
       ' End the row for the header section.
       Response.Write "</tr>" & vbCrLf   
   
       ' Loop through all the records.
       While Not objRS.EOF
         ' Start a row in the data section.
         Response.Write "<tr>" & vbCrLf
         ' Loop through the fields collection.
         For Each objField in objRS.Fields
           ' Get the field's value.
           strValue = objField.Value
           ' Look for null values.
           If Len(strValue) > 0 Then
             ' If the value is not null, escape it for HTML.
             strValue = Server.HTMLEncode(strValue)
           Else
             ' Otherwise, make it a non-breaking space character.
             strValue = "&#xa0;"
           End If
         ' Output the field value as table data.
           Response.Write "<td>" & strValue & "</td>" & vbCrLf
         Next
         ' End a row in the data section.
         Response.Write "</tr>" & vbCrLf
         ' Move on to the next record.
         objRS.MoveNext
        Wend
        Response.Write "</table>" & vbCrLf
     End If
   
   Else
   ' User has not entered any value in search form
       Response.Write "Please enter a Search Term before submitting the form" & vbCrLf
   End if%>
   

4. On the File menu, click Save.

Step 4: Test the sample ASP page

1. Start FrontPage, and then open the IndexServerTest.asp page.
2. On the File menu, point to Preview in Browser, and then click the browser that you want to use.
3. In the text box, type your search criteria. In the list, click the field that you want to query.
4. Click Submit. Any results that match your query appear in a table on the page.

Step 5: Customize the sample ASP page

There are two customization options:

• Change the catalog
• Modify the Field list

Change the catalog

If multiple Index Server catalogs are defined on your Web server, you can specify that the sample page use a different catalog. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Start FrontPage, and then open the sample Web page that you created earlier in this article.
2. Click Code to switch to HTML view.
3. Locate the following line of code:

   Const strDataSource = "WEB"

4. Change the value of strDataSource to the name of your catalog, so that the line is similar to the following code: Const strDataSource = My_Custom_Catalog
5. On the File menu, click Save, and then close the file.

Modify the Field list

1. Start FrontPage, and then open the sample Web page that you created earlier in this article.
2. Click Code to switch to HTML view.
3. Locate the line of code that looks similar to the following code:

   Const strDisplayFields = "Rank, DocAuthor, DocAppName"
   					
   

4. Change the list of values. Separate each field name with a comma, so that the line is similar to the following:

   Const strDisplayFields = "Rank, DocAuthor, DocAppName, DocTitle"

5. On the File menu, click Save, and then close the file.

The following table lists the values that you can use for the strDisplayFields variable.

Troubleshooting

• If the Index Service is not running, you receive the following error message:
  Microsoft OLE DB Provider for Indexing Service error '80041820'
  Service is not running.
  /IndexServerTest.asp, line 44
  To resolve this problem, start the Index Service.
• If you specify a catalog that is not valid, you receive an error message that is similar to the following:
  Microsoft OLE DB Provider for Indexing Service error '8004181d'
  There is no catalog.
  /IndexServerTest.asp, line 44

To resolve this problem, check the value of the strDataSource variable. If it is correct, restart the Index Service.

For more information about how to work with the Microsoft Windows 2000 Indexing Service, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: