Rootfinder attributes and BCS search

ArticleDirectory

• How does business data catelog index data?
• Rootfinder attributes

When using the BDC (business data catalog) in SharePoint 2007, we can use our entities as SharePoint crawler objects and return data in the search results, which is relatively simple. You only need to implement the specificfinder and idenumerator methods in our entities. In SharePoint 2010 bcs (Business connectivity services), there are several ways to accomplish this goal:

-Finder, specificfinder, and rootfinder attributes

-Specificfinder and idenumerator

How does business data catelog index data?

As we have said, Sharepoint indexes use specificfinder and idenumerator methods to crawl BDC data. Among them, idenumerator is the first method to be executed, and its function is very simple. It is to return the value of the identifier of the data that SharePoint needs to crawl. If our entity has another field to represent the last modification time of the row data, you can also return this field in idenumerator and set the attribute _ bdclastmodifiedtimestamp. Used for incremental crawling.

Rootfinder attributes

When we work under business connectivity services in SharePoint 2010, the rootfinder attribute allows you to get an external content type that can be searched without implementing the idenumerator method. If you look at the creation method menu in SharePoint desinger 2010, you will find that there is no menu item for creating the idenumerator method at all.

 

However, when we create an external content type with SharePoint designer 2010, we can select this ECT to crawl the content source corresponding to the crawling, so that it can be displayed in the search results. If you export the BCS model from SharePoint designer 2010, you can see why. Step by step:

 

1. When you connect to your SharePoint site or click the external content type view in SharePoint designer 2010

2. Right-click an external content type and select export BDC model from the context menu"

 

3. Specify a name for the model and select a file storage location for saving.

Open the generated XML file, find the corresponding "read list" method, and locate the methodinstance element.

< Methodinstances >
< Methodinstance Type = "Finder" Returnparametername = "All product information" Default = "True" Name = "All product information" >
< Properties >
< Property Name = "Rootfinder" Type = "System. String" > </ Property >
< Property Name = "Useclientcachingforsearch" Type = "System. String" > </ Property >
</ Properties >
< Accesscontrollist >
.........
</ Accesscontrollist >
</ Methodinstance >
</ Methodinstances >

Note that the rootfinder attribute tag is added to this method. This means that the finder method will play the same role as idenumerator.

 

References

Rootfinder property-BCS search