Searching with XMLHTTP and WebDAV

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Figure 10: XMLHTTP Search Architecture

The preceding figure illustrates how client applications, such as Active Server Pages (ASP) Web pages and Digital Dashboard Web Parts, can use the Microsoft ServerXMLHTTP COM component and World Wide Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) to search for items in the SharePoint Portal Server store. ServerXMLHTTP uses the HTTP protocol to transmit the WebDAV SEARCH requests. The request contains a SharePoint Portal Server SQL query that is encapsulated in XML. To send a request, you must create a stream object or a string containing the XML request data. This object can be created using the XML Document Object Model (DOM).

The SharePoint Portal Server response to the search request is in text/XML format that matches the DAV:PROPFIND response format.

For more information about the XML request format, see WebDAV Search Request Format.

For more information about the response format to successful requests, see WebDAV Search Request Format.

For more information about WebDAV errors, see Search Errors Format.

One of the advantages of using ServerXMLHTTP in conjunction with WebDAV is that you can bind directly to the XML response and control the size of the query result set. You can also use Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) style sheets to format query results.

Creating a Search Web Part

Search Query Path

Searching with ADO

SharePoint Portal Server Search SQL Syntax

Using Searchable Document Properties

See Also

Generate XML with the XML Document Object Model

Microsoft XML 3.0 SDK