MOSS 2007 People Search - Wildcard searching

mattjgilbert — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:04:22 GMT

MOSS doesn't offer this out the box and of course many people would like to have it. Here's a quick and dirty javascript change which will offer this functionality. You'll have to forgive any inelegance in my coding, I'm a bit rusty ;)

You need to edit the search.js file and add the following:

A trim function

function trim(s) { var l=0; var r=s.length -1; while(l < s.length && s.substr(l,1) == ' ') { l++; } while(r > l && s.substr(r,1) == ' ') { r-=1; } return s.substring(l, r+1); }

and then insert the following into the GoSearch function

return false; } else return; }

// start of added block var searchWords = trim(k); var testURL = '';

// the target url we need to test comes from different places depending on the source page try { testURL = document.forms[0].elements[DDId].value; } catch(e) { testURL = Url; }

var searchURL = testURL;

// only make changes if this is a people search if(searchURL.indexOf('peopleresults.aspx') != -1) { // if there is a value and it doesn't contain : (which is the case if named properties are already being searched) if((searchWords.indexOf(':') == -1) && searchWords != '') { // lastname only if(searchWords.indexOf('*') == 0) { k = 'lastname:' + trim(searchWords.replace(/\*/g, '')); } // do we have more than one value (there is a space break)? // if so, use the first value for the first name and the rest for the last name else { searchWords = searchWords.replace(/\*/g, ''); var wordBreak = searchWords.indexOf(' '); if(wordBreak != -1) { k = 'firstname:' + searchWords.substr(0, wordBreak) + " lastname:" + trim(searchWords.substr(wordBreak+1)); } else { k = 'firstname:' + searchWords; } } } }// end of added block

var sch = '?k=' + encodeURIComponent(k);

if(null != HdQId){

This should allow the following functionality:

1) To search on a first name, simply type the name or the start of it and run the search.

e.g. matt or ma

2) To search for a last name, put a * in front of your search text

e.g. *gilbert or *gil

3) To search full name enter both first and last names (again these can be partial names)

e.g. matt gilbert, or matt g or even m g

This all assumes you have not made any other changes to search or pages which will stop this working. It should work for out-the-box MOSS. You'll have to watch that any updates don't touch the search.js file of course as you might lose the changes.

We've implemented this and added those search tips (1-3 above) onto the peoplesearch page and our customer people directory page.

Thanks

mattjgilbert — Tue, 05 May 2009 16:55:49 GMT

Thanks to Solidsoft for running a great day at Microsoft last week. Topics covered were BizTalk, SharePoint and using them to build successful SOA and BPM solutions.

Being responsible for BizTalk and also having had SharePoint land on my plate recently, the day gave me some good ideas about where to take these platforms.