This sounds just like what was needed, especially the weighting on titles and KB articles (now that there are many more developer aimed KB articles than there used to be).

Sara,

the new search appears to be working a lot better than the previous version. if i find a problem concerning the result set, i'll leave a message here.. :)

concerning features for the next round... i'd like to see a feature where a spelling error or a correct but different spelling would still return results.

for example: 'userdata behavior' and 'userdata behaviour' should return the same results.

oh, and could you please stop showing those 'we are conducting a survey' messageboxes? i understand you're just trying to get some feedback there, but is it really necessary to keep showing these time and time again? why not put the darn thing on the msdn frontpage for some time...

WM_MY0.02$
thomas woelfer

Try typing in IHTMLDocument2

It returns the specific methods on IHTMLDocument2. It should return the IHTMLDocument2 Overview page first, and then the specific methods. (In fact it isn't even on the first 3 pages when I did it.)

Does this version let me type in an error message that I received and get the relivent articles yet?

Those we are conducting a survey boxes resulted in the mess it was until this version... I'd suggest they do more harm than good, so I would get rid of them too :)

thanks for the input so far - keep it coming! good catch on ihtmldocument2 - we'll get on that and see if there's something we can do.

i hear you on the perf and the survey boxes - i can't promise anything right away, but it's good data to have.

-Sara

Sara,

i think the IHTMLDocument2 stuff that James mentioned is true for a lot of other cases. for example, try 'jscript reference' or 'javascript reference'. (the _is_ a jscript reference overview page on msdn.)

it does return details and other stuff, but not the actual reference overview - at least not on the first page; didn't look any further...

so: first and all, this is the same as the IHTML.. stuff: the most important page is not part of the result set that is delivered on the first page.

and secondly, a search on jscript definitely should include the term 'javascript' and vice versa.

WM_MY0.02$
thomas woelfer

I think the search is better, but I still get results that have nothing to do with the topic. For example, do a search on WSE 2 and check out some of the latter results. Nothing to do with WSE. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it), I'm always going to compare MSDN search with Google. If you can't beat Google or come close to Google, there is no need for me to use it. For me the test was to conduct the search from msdn.microsoft.com and then form google using the following WSE 2.0 site:msdn.microsoft.com. This search text limits the google search to Microsoft and yes, it gave better results than the msdn.microsoft.com direct search… this is not right ?

Hi Sara,

I was referred to this blog after posting an email on Chris Sells' WinTechOT mailing list. Here is a classic example of where the MSDN search is just not working as it should.

Search MSDN for:

COM Addin Template for Project 2003

Top three results -

MSDN Online Chats: Future Directions for Visual C# Lesson 1: Visio COM Add-in Creation in Visual Basic .NET Frequently Asked Questions About Visual Studio .NET Automation


What I guess I was supposed to search for was:

COM Add-in Template for Project 2003

Top three results -

832726 - "Error 62. The corresponding string was not found in [strings]"
error message when you add the Microsoft Project 2002 Create a COM Add-in for Microsoft Office Project 2003 Lesson 1: Visio COM Add-in Creation in Visual Basic .NET

One problem that we identified is that the download page titled "COM Add-in Template for Microsoft Office Project 2003" is on microsoft.com not MSDN so that partially explains the problem. But you still need that hyphen to get any valid result.

I had a very similar problem in the past
looking for a Visual Studio Add-in for Windows CE.Net.