Speaker : Scot Hillier

Search should be meant as a data access technology, using client-side code (CSOM) and REST. Windows 8 (for example), can therefore leverage the search of SharePoint.

REST and CSOM are connected to the Query Pipeline. Both Javascript and CSharp can be used to connect REST or CSOM, but Javascript and REST are the recommended way for remote applications. Search API is available under the /_api/search/query URI.

Managed Properties have other properties to describe what can be done with them. Keyword Query Language has been improved (SQL Query Language no longer exists). KQL allows to make quite interesting queries or even filters (by date). XRANK is a possibility to boost some content in the result, such as pushing some documents to the top of the search result. WORDS enables to make synonyms when searching.

Result Sources are similar to scopes (a subset of the index). It is built using a query-like language, enabling to filter by content type or metadata values. To build the Result Source, a query builder is available from the Site Settings page. It is then used by the Search Result web part.

Query Rules uses words to target some content only (i.e. “deck??? would return only powerpoint presentations). It applies on a given Result Source.

Result Types gives specific presentation to content based on their types. It is also linked to a Result Source and also associated to a template for the display. The template is defined using a URL. A template specifies the managed properties needed in order to use it. A template is basically a bit of html to generate for each item of the search result. Templates are stored in the Master Page and Page Layout gallery. From a template originally written in html, SharePoint generates the javascript file, which is used for the template.

Search settings can be exported or imported in a SearchConfiguration.xml file. But, does not contain master pages or web parts. This can be useful to move configuration from an environment to another. The options are directly available in the Site Settings page.

CSQP is not available in Office 365.