There are many situations where you would
like to search documents other than .htm that are viewable in a browser,
for example; PDF, Word and PowerPoint files. While the current version of
the FrontLook site Search engine does not directly search these files, a
simple workaround can make it do just that. In this tip, a technique is
outlined to enable the search a PDF file and bring up the page in the
browser if it selected by the user. This tip assumes that you have already
setup the FrontLook Site Search Engine on your
web siteThe Basic Idea: the Proxy Search Page
Since the FrontLook Site Search Engine (SSE) can only search web pages, we
will convert the .pdf or .doc file to text and place the text on a "proxy"
web page. This proxy web page will be added to the appropriate Search
Areas. A redirect meta tag will be added to the proxy page as well so that
when the proxy page is selected, it will immediately take the browser to
the actual document.
In Action
When the user searches for a keyword, the proxy page is searched and
referenced in the results list. If the user clicks on the proxy page
result link, a proxy page redirect will bring up the actual document in a
browser.
Step 1: Prepare the Proxy Page
The technique illustrated on a FrontLook Java Effects .pdf file. First the
file is places on the web site in a known location and the searchable text
in the document must be extracted. This can be done in two ways:
We recommend that you get the text from the original
document if possible as it will be the most reliable.
Once you have the text, bring up a blank web page and
paste the text. Remove any formatting using the "Format->Remove
Formatting..." menu as it just slows down the search. You can also remove
any words you don't want to search engine to find or you can add meta tag
keywords related to the subject matter.
Now save the page onto the web giving is a name that
encapsulates the original document name. For example: the original
document is called "JFXProductFlyer.pdf" and therefore the proxy page will
be called "JFXProductFlyer.pdf.htm"
Step 2: Setup the Redirect to the
Original Document
There are two ways to setup the redirect; 1) using the Refresh Meta tag
and 2) use an ASP redirect script.
Meta Tag Redirect
To setup the redirect to the original document, right click on the page
and select the "Page Properties..." menu item. Then select the "Custom"
tab. Press the "System Variables (HTTP-EQUIV)" section's "Add..." button.
System Meta Variable Dialog
Now add the name and value text to the
System-Meta Variable Dialog as illustrated above and press the OK
button.
Where:
"0" is the number of seconds to wait
before proceeding to the URL.
"URL=JFXProductFlyer.pdf" is the URL of the original
document to be loaded in the browser. Replace the "JFXProductFlyer.pdf" with your
document URL. This URL can be a relative URL such as "docs/mypdf.pdf" or an
absolute URL such as "http://www.mydomain.com/docs/mypdf.pdf".
Here is what the meta tag looks like in the HTML view
in case you want to add it to your HTML (must be between the <head> and
</head> tags).
<meta http-equiv="Refresh"
content="0;URL=JFXProductFlyer.pdf">
Now view the proxy page in the browser to make sure the
redirect is working. The original document should come up in the browser
after a short delay. The problem with the meta tag redirect approach is
two fold; 1) to return to the search page, you have to press the back
button twice and 2) the page appears to flash as the redirect takes place.
Both of these side effects can be overcome using the Active Server Pages
(ASP) redirect statement discussed in the next section.
ASP Redirect
To get rid of the page flash and back button problem, you can rename the .htm
proxy page into an .asp page and add the Redirect statement to the page.
Note: your web site must be hosted on a Microsoft Server for ASP pages
to operate.
The redirect statement looks like this in HTML mode:
<%
Response.Redirect "JFXProductFlyer.pdf" %>
Where:
<% - starts the script
Response.Redirect - is the redirect command
"JFXProductFlyer.pdf" - is the URL of the original document to be
loaded in the browser. Replace the "JFXProductFlyer.pdf" with your
document URL. This URL can be a relative URL such as "docs/mypdf.pdf" or an
absolute URL such as "http://www.mydomain.com/docs/mypdf.pdf".
%> - ends the script
This statement must appear before any HTML statements,
usually the very first thing on the page. Note: this statement can only
been viewed and edited in HTML mode.
Step 3: Add the Proxy Page to the Search Areas
To add your proxy page to one or more search areas, bring your web up in
FrontPage and select the "Insert->FrontLook Site Search Engine->Edit
Search Areas..." menu item.
The Edit Search Areas window will appear.
Edit Search Areas window
Add the proxy page or pages to the desired search area or
areas.
And That's it!
Now you are ready to test the search, in fact you can try it here:
The same principle can be applied to other file formats
such as Word and Power Point files.
