Indexing web content

To search for web content, the content must first be indexed by the WebSphere Portal search engine. Once the content has been indexed, we can run searches using the search center or using a search component. If you search for documents in the WebSphere Portal search center, be aware that you see search results for published documents only. Unpublished pending changes in a project are not included in the results.

Create a content source for a site area

The WebSphere Portal search engine defines content sources that index the web content. All the child site areas and content items of the selected site area will be included in the index. Related content sources are grouped together in a search collection.

1. Go to Administration > Search Administration > Manage Search.

2. Select or create a new collection. The default search collection named WebContentCollection is provided by default.

3. Click New Content Source.

4. Select WCM site as the content source type.

5. Enter a name in the Content Source Name field.

6. Enter the following URL in the Collect documents linked from this URL field:

   For a stand-alone server:

   http://hostname:port_number/wps/seedlist/myserver?SeedlistId=library/sitearea1/childsitearea2
   &Source=com.ibm.workplace.wcm.plugins.seedlist.retriever.WCMRetrieverFactory&Action=GetDocuments
   

   You will need to replace hostname, port_number, library and site area with values appropriate for the site. If the library name or site area names contain spaces, you will need to replace the spaces with a "+" symbol. For example, the path library one/site area one would be instead be defined as library+one/site+area+one

   For a cluster:

   In this case you to use the host and port of the HTTP server:

   http://httpserver:port_number/wps/seedlist/myserver?SeedlistId=library/sitearea1/childsitearea2
   &Source=com.ibm.workplace.wcm.plugins.seedlist.retriever.WCMRetrieverFactory&Action=GetDocuments
   

   You will need to replace httpserver, port_number, library and site area with values appropriate for the site. If the library name or site area names contain spaces, you will need to replace the spaces with a "+" symbol. For example, the path library one/site area one would be instead be defined as library+one/site+area+one

   For a virtual portal configured to use the URL Context as its access point:

   http://httpserver:port_number/wps/seedlist/myserver/virtualPortalContext?SeedlistId=library/sitearea1/childsitearea2
   &Source=com.ibm.workplace.wcm.plugins.seedlist.retriever.WCMRetrieverFactory&Action=GetDocuments
   

   You will need to replace httpserver, port_number, virtualPortalContext, library and site area with values appropriate for the site. If the library name or site area names contain spaces, you will need to replace the spaces with a "+" symbol. For example, the path library one/site area one would be instead be defined as library+one/site+area+one

   For a virtual portal configured to use a different hostname as its access point:

   http://vphostname:port_number/wps/seedlist/myserver/?SeedlistId=library/sitearea1/childsitearea2
   &Source=com.ibm.workplace.wcm.plugins.seedlist.retriever.WCMRetrieverFactory&Action=GetDocuments
   

   You will need to replace vphostname, port_number, library and site area with values appropriate for the site. If the library name or site area names contain spaces, you will need to replace the spaces with a "+" symbol. For example, the path library one/site area one would be instead be defined as library+one/site+area+one

   The seedlist ID can be any of the following:

   • library

   • library/site area

   • library/site area/sub-site area/...

   • the JCRID of a site area

7. If the content to be indexed is secured, go to the Security tab and enter the user name and password of the user that will be used to access the secured site. You must then click Create on the search tab itself.

8. If the site uses remote actions, you will need to filter these out of the search index. Go to the Filter tab:

   1. Type a name in the Rule Name field

   2. Select Apply rule while Collecting documents

   3. Select the rule type of Exclude

   4. Select the rule basis of URL text

   5. Type *&wcmAuthoringAction=* in the URL text field

   6. Click Create in the Filter tab

9. Click Create.

If you have multiple parent site areas and want the searches to run across all site areas, we can create a content source for each of them in the same collection. If you don't want the searches to run across all parent site areas, create a separate collection for each parent site area or group of related parent site areas.

Search web content in a virtual portal

Search services and search collections are separate for individual virtual portals and are not shared between individual virtual portals. You set up an individual search service and separate search collections for each virtual portal. These collections can be used to crawl and search the same set of documents.

If we are using a website that is shared across virtual portals, then to search that website in a virtual portal environment :

1. Create a new search collection for the virtual portal. We can create a new content source by copying the URL from the original search collection.

2. Create a new search component, or copy an existing search component, and configure it to use the new virtual portal search collection created in step 1.

3. Create a new search form, using an HTML component, configured to use the search component created in step 2.

4. Create a new content item to display the HTML component created in step 3.

You must perform these steps for each virtual portal in your system.

Parent: Enable search for web content

Next topic: Configure Web Content Manager search options