Developing Protocol Handlers for Windows Search
This section provides conceptual information necessary for the implementation, extension and testing of protocol handlers.
- Understanding Protocol Handlers
- Notifying the Index of Changes
- Adding Icons and Context Menus
- Code Sample: Shell Extensions for Protocol Handlers
- Installing and Registering Protocol Handlers
- Creating a Search Connector for a Protocol Handler
- Debugging Protocol Handlers
Additional Resources
For conceptual background on indexing, see the following topics:
- For an overview of the indexing process, see The Indexing Process.
- To extend Windows Search to index the contents and properties of new file formats and data stores, see Extending the Index.
- For overviews of the Catalog Manager and Catalog Search Manager (CSM), see Using the Catalog Manager and Using the Crawl Scope Manager.
For conceptual background on file types and handlers, see the following topics:
- To extend the Shell with file type handlers, see Creating Shell Extension Handlers.
- For conceptual information on filter handlers, see Developing Filter Handlers.
- For information about creating handlers, see Introduction to File Associations, Registering Shell Extensions, Creating Shell Extension Handlers, Context Menu, and Preview Handlers.
For background on related technologies and on implementing a data store, see the following topics:
- Windows Search protocol handlers use design specifications similar to SharePoint Server, and they can often be used interchangeably. For more information, see SharePoint Server Developer Center.
- In Windows 7 and later, SharePoint Search Server 2008 and MOSS 2007 SP2 also support federated search. For more information about federated search and Search Server 2008 deployment with Office SharePoint Server 2007, see Federated Search [Search Server 2008].
- To create a Shell data store, see Implementing the Basic Folder Object Interfaces.
For code samples, see the following portal pages:
- For Search code samples, see Windows Search Code Samples.
- For Shell code samples, see Shell SDK Samples.