Querying the Index with the search-ms Protocol

The search-ms  application protocol is a convention for querying the Windows Search index. The protocol enables applications, like Windows Explorer, to query the index with parameter-value arguments, including property arguments, previously saved searches, Advanced Query Syntax (AQS), Natural Query Syntax (NQS), and language code identifiers (LCIDs) for both the indexer and the query itself.

This section is organized as follows:

Querying the Index Programmatically

Using SQL and AQS Approaches to Query the Index

Querying the Index with ISearchQueryHelper

Querying the Index with Windows Search SQL Syntax

Using Advanced Query Syntax Programmatically