Connection to Windows search?

BCat · February 2020

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 · February 2020

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 · February 2020

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 · March 2022

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 · March 2022

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 · March 2022

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!

Connection to Windows search?

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