Connection to Windows search?

BCat

How do I configure LINQPad to connect to Windows Search so I can use LINQ, SQL, and AQS? The connection string would be: Provider=Search.CollatorDSO;Extended Properties=\"Application=Windows\"

JoeAlbahari

You could write a query like this:

using (var connection = new OleDbConnection ("Provider=Search.CollatorDSO;Extended Properties=\"Application=Windows\""))
{
    connection.Open();
    var cmd = connection.CreateCommand();
    cmd.CommandText = @"SELECT TOP 10 System.ItemPathDisplay, System.ItemUrl FROM SYSTEMINDEX WHERE System.ItemType = '.config'";
    cmd.ExecuteReader().Dump();   // LINQPad lets you Dump a DataReader
}

Be sure to add System.Data.OleDb to the Additional Namespace Imports property tab (Ctrl+Shift+M).

Also note that in LINQPad 6 you will need to add a reference to the NuGet package System.Data.OleDb.

BCat

Thank you for your help.
Since the Windows search index allows SQL syntax, can you make this a first class citizen in the next version of LINQPad, so we can enter Search queries into the SQL window? A separate AQS window would be even better!

unionp

Hi Joe, is this still the only way to do it or does LINQPad support it as a first class citizen yet? I experimented both with the default data context and the LINQ to DB (DataConnection) 3rd-party context and couldn't get it to work... thanks!

JoeAlbahari

There's no custom driver for this. You could make it easier to use by writing a query such as this:

void Main()
{
    // Test call:
    WinSearch (@"SELECT TOP 10 System.ItemPathDisplay, System.ItemUrl FROM SYSTEMINDEX WHERE System.ItemType = '.config'").Dump();
}

IEnumerable<IDataRecord> WinSearch (string query)
{
    var connection = new OleDbConnection ("Provider=Search.CollatorDSO;Extended Properties=\"Application=Windows\"");
    connection.Open();

    var cmd = connection.CreateCommand();
    cmd.CommandText = query;

    var result = cmd.ExecuteReader (CommandBehavior.CloseConnection).Cast<IDataRecord> ();

    return Finally (result, () => connection.Close ());

    static IEnumerable<T> Finally<T> (IEnumerable<T> input, Action onFinally)
    {
        try { foreach (var element in input) yield return element; }
        finally { onFinally (); }
    }
}

Save it to something like WinSearch.linq, then you can access the WinSearch method from any query with #load WinSearch. The advantage of doing this way is that the query can also connect to a database at the same time.

Here's a demo that gives an interactive experience:

#load "WinSearch"

var results = new DumpContainer();
var editor = new LINQPad.Controls.TextArea ("", 100, e => results.Content = Util.Try (() => WinSearch (e.Text))).Dump ("Query");
editor.Styles["font-family"] = "Consolas";

results.Dump ("Results");

unionp

Thanks Joe! As my workaround I just used Dapper as my ORM and it worked well enough, next best thing to native support, thanks for the code sample though, there's some cool stuff in there!