Overview

Kentico CMS search engine uses standard SQL queries to search for the given expression. It runs a separate query for each document type. You can find the search query for an appropriate document type in Site Manager -> Development -> Document types -> ... select document type ... -> edit the searchtree query.

The common fields (such as document name) are searched using the cms.root.searchdocuments query.

The uploaded files are searched using the cms.root.searchattachments query. If you want to search uploaded files, you need to configure the system as described in chapter Configuratin of full-text search in files. In this case, the files are searched using the Microsoft SQL Server Search Engine.

Web parts and controls

The search dialog can be easily integrated into the web site using the web parts in the Full-text search category (search dialog, search box, etc.) or using the CMSSearchDialog and CMSSearchResults server controls (in your ASP.NET code).

Excluding documents from search

You can exclude document types by setting the Exclude document types from search value in Site Manager -> Settings -> Web Site dialog. You need  to enter the code name, such as cms.article. You can enter multiple document types separated with a semicolon (;).

You can exclude web site sections from search by setting the Exclude documents from search in Site Manager -> Settings -> Web Site dialog. You need to enter the alias path of the section that should be excluded. A single document can be excluded using e.g. /news/news1, whole web site section can be excluded using e.g. /news/%. You can enter multiple values separated with a semicolon (;).

Modifying the search result format

If you only need do modify the search results format, you can do that by modifying the transformation searchresults in Site Manager -> Development -> Document Types -> edit Root -> Transformations.

Development of Custom Search Provider

If you need to integrate a custom search engine or make additional modifications to the search results returned by the standard search engine, you can develop your own search provider. You can find more details in chapter Custom Search Provider.