Using Federated Search

Federated Search enables users to use the familiar Windows Explorer interface to search content located on repositories such as Windows SharePoint sites, intranet sites, and other types of remote data sources, including sites on the Internet. The goal of Federated Search is to allow users to work with files stored on these repositories as easily as they can work with files on their local computers' file systems.

Note Federated Search in Windows 7 does not interleave results from multiple sources. You must search each source separately.

How Federated Search Works

Federated Search uses search connectors, which are XML files that store information on how to connect to a remote data source. Search connectors are installed using OpenSearch Description (OSDX) files, which are XML files that have the .osdx file extension. When opened, these files create a .searchConnector-ms file in the %UserProfile%\Searches folder on the computer and a shortcut to this file in the Favorites area of the navigation pane of Windows Explorer. For example, the XML for a search connector named MSDN.OSDX that enables searching of content on http://social.msdn.microsoft.com looks like this.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<OpenSearchDescription xmlns="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearch/1.1/">
  <ShortName>MSDN</ShortName>
  <Description>Search MSDN. Powered by live.com</Description>
  <Language></Language>
  <Url type="text/html" template="http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Search
/en-US/?Query={searchTerms}"/>
  <Url type="application/rss+xml" template="http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Search
/Feed.aspx?locale=en-US&Query={searchTerms}&format=RSS&StartIndex=
{startIndex}"/>
</OpenSearchDescription>

Double-clicking this search connector to open it displays the dialog box.

Clicking Add in this dialog box installs the MSDN search connector (MSDN.searchConnector-ms) in the Favorites area of the navigation pane of Windows Explorer to allow the easy searching of content on MSDN.