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Windows 7 federated search and your web property

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Just a quick post for those of you who are developing either internet or intranet applications, to highlight how Windows 7 federated search can easily allow users to search your web property from within Windows Explorer on Windows 7.

Here’s how it works using Live Search with the MSDN Ireland blog:

Download the federated search connector file (MSDNIreland.osdx) attached to this post, double click then you’ll end up with:

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Select it then enter a search term. If you have the preview pane turned on you end up with the content in your explorer window.

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The .osdx file is pretty straightforward : all that’s needed  is a URL on the given site that can return results in RSS or ATOM format. For those of you using WCF to create services, creating an RSS/ATOM feed should be pretty easy.

There are plenty of examples of search connectors out there, for example here’s one for Flickr.

Those BizSpark startups out there who are building hosted services might find this a quick and easy way to bring their web presence to the desktop.

MSDNIreland.osdx

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