Indexing .desc files using a dynamic link

[Jo Ward]

Hi all,

Our site solution stores all it's pdfs under one directory, however, we use a script to link to the docs instead of a direct url. eg.www.example.com/doc_download.aspx?doc_id=202

The pdfs are indexed just fine, and all is well, except that we now want to include .desc files to add some extra metadata to the search.
The contents of the .desc files simply don't seem to be getting picked up.
I've tested using a direct document link and the contents of the .desc files are then picked up, so I don't think it's the formatting of the .desc file that's to blame...

Can anyone advise what I might be doing wrong? or is this just asking too much of the indexer?

Thanks for any help offered!

[Ray]

You'll want to use the "Use this offline folder for all plugin .desc files" option (under "Configure"->"Spider options"->"Advanced spider mode options").

Click on "Help" there for more information (or see chapter 2.2.3 in the Users Guide).

It was designed specifically for this situation.

Let us know if you have any problems!

[Jo Ward]

Thanks Ray,

Using a local file isn't a great option for us as we don't run the index job on the server itself. If this is the only method available though, I'll see what we do to have the CMS spit out local files for the index process.

Cheers,

Jo.

[Ray]

The .desc files don't have to be on the server itself, it just needs to be in a folder that is accessible by the computer running the Indexer. But I'm not familiar with what you're doing with your CMS so it's difficult to comment.

If you can modify the CMS, then technically, you can make it serve the .desc files as required instead of needing to generate local files.

In other words, change the "doc_download.aspx" page to handle that for every document such as:
www.example.com/doc_download.aspx?doc_id=202

There will be a .desc file request in the form of:
www.example.com/doc_download.aspx?doc_id=202.desc

It just needs to recognize the ".desc" doc_id request and serve the .desc file instead of the PDF file.

[Jo Ward]

Mmmm. Ok. Pretty sure I tried that, but I'll give it another bash. Thanks!