Keenan Newton

Thoughts on "Search as a Service"

keenew — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 07:24:00 GMT

The buzzword on Software as a Service has been around for quite some time. It has spawned many other "**** as a Service" (i.e. Database as a Service, Email as a Service, etc...) Some popular, some not so much. So I would like to bring up a "**** as a Service" called Search as a Service. The idea here goes beyond a Search API. Search as a Service in my mind differs from Software as a Service. If I were to truly use the Software as a Service model and apply it to search. i would have a search API for my application to interface with and the search engine would be able to index my data. There lies the problem for most organizations out there. Most CIO's would not be thrilled with allowing an outside source to index their internal network. So as of today, it probably would not be common place to see the SaaS model applied to Search.

So then what could Search as a Service be? Well, it may contain an architecture that would allow any user interface to communicate with any search engine. Effectively allowing any search application to pick and choice which search engine it utilizes. It would also be able to send an application specific set of query-data that is translated into a search engine specific query langauge. Finally, the output from the search engine would be translated into a common format that the application can understand. This allows a single application to use any search engine and expect the results in a format it understands. Search as a Service could also support federation between heterogenous search engines.

Implementation of such a service would probably involve of an intermediary set of components that could be leveraged directly or exposed via some sort of web service. This service could support multiple search engines as well as multiple applications. A given application could send its query data as well as specify which search engine(s) to service it's request to this service where it would translate the query data into the search engine's query language. Then the service would return the search results back to the application in a format that the application understands. This format could be XML, JSON or whatever works best for the application.

So why not OpenSearch? Well while OpenSearch addresses some issues such as returned format, if use the RSS or ATOM resultset. It does not currently solve the issue have handling search engine query languages. For simple searches this typically is not an issue, but if you want to use an advanced search interface. Having to handle multiple search engine query languages can be a pain.

In my personal experience, every search UX implementation I have worked with has required too much custom design and development with little to no re-usable code produced. I think this concept could significantly reduce the amount of customization and increase the amount of re-usable components.

How Do I.... WebPart

keenew — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:13:00 GMT

So I had a need to create a How Do I... drop down. This dropdown would be used to provide quick help for common tasks on a sharepoint site. Well it would be very easy to use the "I need to" web part. it allows for a custom list to be used to create a task list. One problem though, it navigates directly to the page as opposed to opening a new window and the client really wants it to open in a new window. So what does one do, well after searching on the web. I found a few articles that demonstrated how the portal.js file could be modified the only issue with that is, if the file gets updated say via a service pack..... there go my changes. The only way i could think of handling this was creating my own webpart... but this did not sit well with me as it felt like i was re-inventing the whell. So I had another thought.

There is this fun webpart called the Content Editor Web Part aka CEWP. it allows for rich text or direct editing of the html source. With the direct editing of the html source I could then simply write in my own script.... to open the page....One problem though, the I Need To webpart specifies the javascript function via an anchor href attribute. I some how needed to modify this property. Well back to CEWP. i can change the href property of the anchor tag to point to my javascript file as the page loads. And voila, I can now override the default of the I Need To webpart to open a new window as opposed to navigate to directly to the page.

The moral of the story here is CEWP can be your friend. Using it can allow you to create client side customizations that aren't readily available without having to do some scary modifications to sharepoint!

Caching Expiration Policy Application Block

keenew — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 17:42:00 GMT

OK so while writing my book, I somewhat wished i had an easy way of defining the expiration "policies" via configuration while creating my samples for the Caching Application Block for Enterprise Library. This drove me to creating the the Caching Expiration Policy Application Block. Its an application block that will support the Caching Application Block. its sole purpose is for you to define Cache Expiration Item via configuration. It allows you to define multiple expiration items for a policy and define the attributes of each expiration item via configuration. It supports all of the caching expiration items that come with the Caching Application Block. I will soon (probably this week) be adding it to the Enterprise Contrib project on the CodePlex website www.codeplex.com. It contains runtime configuration only so you have to define everything manually in a configuration file, but I intend on adding design-time configuration components as well so that it may be configured via the Enterprise Library Configuration Console/Editor.

Making It Happen

keenew — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 20:45:00 GMT

If anyone gets anything out of what I have been preaching about Enterprise Library, is that it is Extensible. If it does not have a feature that comes out of the box; look at the source code, look on codeplex.com, find other online and offline sources <plug type="Shameless">such as my book</plug>. I sometimes see a developer raising concerns because the Logging Application Block does not write the text to a log file in a certain way. If thats the case, use the existing TextFormatter and trace listeners to make the output the way you want it. The source is there, so why not use it?

Book Source Code

keenew — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:11:00 GMT

Sorry for the delay it should be up on the Apress website later today.

Finally

keenew — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 07:00:00 GMT

Monday Nov. 26th my book will finally be out. I(ts been a long and difficult process but I hope that you all enjoy it. I got a billion people to thank but two people I have to thank are Jason Hoekstra and Timothy Murphy. Without these guys I would have never pulled this off. Now I will admit I was reading a few things over and I did find a few gotchas with the source, not sure how they sneaked in since the source code i have works, but I obviously goofed later (thats what errata is for, right?) Make sure you download the source code from Apress's website, because it provides all of the necessary components and functional tests. I did not include Unit Tests, but if there is high enough demand for them I will update the source later. (I'll make sure to update my blog as well, so check back here for any updates) Also please don't hesitate to give me "constructive" feedback, this is my first book, so i don't expect to have done everything perfectly. But I do aim to please, so ask/comment away.... Just be nice about it :)

Final date for the book

keenew — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 18:33:00 GMT

Well ladies and gentleman, There is a final date for release of my book titled "The Definitive Guide To Microsoft Enterprise Library", which is November 26th, 2007. It is in the final stages of production (printing). This book has been one of the greatest challenges of my life, but I am glad to have done it. If there are any questions or comments on the book, please don't hesitiate to leave a comment. I will also be adding addition posts on areas the book my not cover such as EntLib .Next.

Book Status

keenew — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 18:13:00 GMT

So many of you have been wondering what is going on with the Enterprise Library book I am working. Well the original intention was to just include version 2.0 of Enterprise Library. However with Enterprise Library 3.0 being worked on, it has been decided to include version 3.0 as well. This way you get double bang for your buck. The book should be out arounf the 3rd quarter of 07

It's here - IE7

keenew — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 15:03:00 GMT

Thats right the next version of Internet Explorer has been released into the wild.

Download it at : http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/default.mspx

Happy surfing

Time to get busy

keenew — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 02:50:00 GMT

So I have just gotten back from this big conference in Seattle that is hosted for the Microsoft field personal called TechReady. Its somewhat like a TechEd, but its internally focused. I have to say that it was an awesome experience. I got a fire hose full of knowledge... maybe not fire hose more like Niagara Falls. Yeah thats more accurate.

My book is going well, I will be ofiicially done with my first drafts after this week. YEAHHHHH!!!!! And I am half done on my second drafts.

So thats it for this month.

Enterprise Library 3.0

keenew — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 08:13:00 GMT

Yes you heard right. There will be a new version fo Enterprise Library coming out. Version 3.0, my guess is it will coincide with the .NET Framework 3.0. Currently Tom Hollander is looking for feedback about what developers like, and dislike about the the 1.1 and 2.0 versions of Enterprise Library as well as what they would like to see in the 3.0 version. Check out Tom's post for more details

Taking the Red Eye

keenew — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 08:03:00 GMT

Well I am sitting at SeaTac (Seattle Tacoma Airport), waiting to board my plane back to Chicago. The last 10 days have been interesting as I have ha da firehose of training workshops, and overall I have to say they have been pretty useful. So anyways back to the waiting. This will be my first attempt at a Red Eye flight, so I purchased a pair of SkullCandy Noise Canceling Headphones. I figure 16db of noise cancellation is good. I bought a magazine that will put me to sleep, and if that does not work. I bought the goold ole' trusty Tylenol PM. Tomorrow, as soon as I get home I got to complete the my Pondless waterfall in my front yard. (Yes I will have a waterfall in my front yard). I also plan on finishing another chapter of my EL book by weeks end.

Logging Application Block and Remoting

keenew — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 00:04:00 GMT

I was helping a colleague today with an interesting problem involving the use of the Logging Application Block and .NET Remoting. If you have tried this you may see an exception called "System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException" with an inner exception of "Specified cast is invalid". The quick work around is to open upthe configuration console and disable Tracing on the server that is hosting the remoting object. In the Logging AB, there is a call to "System.Diagnostics.Trace.CorrelationManager. LogicalOperationStack". I been told this makes a call to the CallContext beyond that I am not 100% sure what happens. Chances are though it is writing something to the CallContext that does not serialize well.

So in short, disable Tracing for the Logging AB on the server hosting the remoting object to get it to work.

If anyone has any comments or ideas on this please, by all means share.

First Week Done

keenew — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 22:29:00 GMT

Well my first week at Microsoft has been completed, and I have to say it has been busy. Next week should be just as busy as I continue to go through the new hire process. The week of June 12th I will actually be in Redmond for a course called MS 101.

On another note, I think I know what my 13th chapter is going to be about. I am going to attempt to create a Domain Engine Application Block. Essentially it will be a business rule engine hat determines which business rules would be applied to a business entity based on the entities type. I have to admit the Composite UI Application Block has inspired this.

My Journey Begins

keenew — Wed, 31 May 2006 06:10:00 GMT

Today was my first day at Microsoft. I have joined the Microsoft Consulting Group under the financial services vertical as a senior consultant. I have to say on my first day I am very impressed, and I look forward to the challenges and rewards of being a Microsoft employee.

My background has mostly been in the financial arena. Whether it has been banking, capital markets, or insurance so i believe this is going to be a good fit for me.From a development community standpoint, I plan on keeping my involvement with local user groups, and I intend on finishing my book on Enterprise Library with Apress. While this book has beena challenge to complete, I am sure the reward of having it done will make it worth while.

Well that is it for now, until we meet again.