Change how search results appear in the Search Core Results Web Part (SharePoint Server 2010)

 

Applies to: SharePoint Server 2010

The Search Core Results Web Part displays the relevant results of a search query. It is located on the search results page and contains properties that control how search results are displayed. By default, the search results page is located at http://<ServerName>/results.aspx. The Search Core Results Web Part must appear on the results.aspx page in order for all other Web Parts on the page to work. When users type a query, the Search Core Results Web Part shows the first 10 relevant results on the first page. The words used in the query are highlighted in bold in the results. You can edit the properties of the Search Core Results Web Part to change the number of results that appear and how results are displayed on the page.

Change how search results are displayed in the Search Core Results Web Part

The core search results include a link to the content containing the keyword, a snippet (that is, a partial description) of the relevant content, and, depending on the type of content, information about its author, the date it was created, and its size. Below the snippet is the complete URL of the document or site.

If you allow duplicate results and duplicate items that are found in the index to be displayed, a View duplicates link appears in the result. When the item is displayed in a Web browser, the View in Browser link appears below the snippet.

To edit the properties of the Search Core Results Web Part

  1. Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the Designers group.

  2. On the search results page, click the Site Actions menu, and then click Edit Page. The search results page opens in Edit mode.

  3. In the Search Core Results Web Part, click the arrow, and then on the menu, click Edit Web Part.

The following table lists what actions to perform to change how the Search Core Results Web Part displays search results.

To do this Perform these actions

Set the location that provides the results from user or fixed queries

Under Location Properties, on the Location menu, specify the location that you want to provide search results in the Web Part. The default is Local Search Results. Other options provided with SharePoint Server 2010 include, Local People Search Results, Internet Search Results, Internet Search Suggestions, and Local Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint Search Results.

After you specify this value, you can type a description to clarify the selected location.

Set the search results scope

Under Location Properties, in the Scope box, type a valid scope for the search results. This is a value that you would have previously configured and is used for queries when the URL does not contain the ‘s’ parameter. The setting of this property affects all Search Core Results Web Parts that have the same Cross Web Part Query ID. When multiple Search Core Results Web Parts have the same "user query" ID, only the first Web Part can be edited to change this property. All of the other Search Core Result Web Parts that share the same ID are affected by the change.

Sort results by most relevant

Under Display Properties, in the Default Results Sorting list, select Relevance. This is the default.

Tip

To give users a drop-down menu that shows both the Relevance and Modified Date options, use the Search Action Links Web Part.

Sort results by most current document

Under Display Properties, in the Default Results Sorting list, select Modified Date. By default, results are sorted by relevance.

Tip

To give users a drop-down menu that shows both the Relevance and Modified Date options, use the Search Action Links Web Part.

Change the number of results that appear on a page

Under Display Properties, in the Results Per Page box, type the number of results that you want to appear on a page before pagination is required. The maximum is 50 results. The default is 10 results. Increasing this number affects how quickly the user interface renders.

Change the number of characters in the summary description

Under Display Properties, check the Limit Characters in Summary box, and then type a number from 1 to 10,000 in the Characters in Summary box. The default is 185 characters.

Change the number of characters of the URL in search results

By default, 90 characters are displayed before the URL is truncated. In Display Properties, when you check the box to Limit Characters in URL, and enter a value other than 90 in the Characters in URL box, there is no change to the user interface.

Permit the use of custom XSL

To change the way search results are displayed by using XSL, under Display Properties, clear the Use Location Visualization check box. This enables the XSL Editor button and lets you edit the fetched properties and the XSL. By default, the fetched properties are pulled from the location. The following list shows the default metadata properties:

  •   <Column Name="WorkId"/>

  •   <Column Name="Rank"/>

  •   <Column Name="Title"/>

  •   <Column Name="Author"/>

  •   <Column Name="Size"/>

  •   <Column Name="Path"/>

  •   <Column Name="Description"/>

  •   <Column Name="Write"/>

  •   <Column Name="SiteName"/>

  •   <Column Name="CollapsingStatus"/>

  •   <Column Name="HitHighlightedSummary"/>

  •   <Column Name="HitHighlightedProperties"/>

  •   <Column Name="ContentClass"/>

  •   <Column Name="IsDocument"/>

  •   <Column Name="PictureThumbnailURL"/>

  •   <Column Name="PopularSocialTags"/>

  •   <Column Name="PictureWidth"/>

  •   <Column Name="PictureHeight"/>

  •   <Column Name="DatePictureTaken"/>

  •   <Column Name="ServerRedirectedURL"/>

For more information about how to modify the XSL transformation (XSLT) to show custom properties on the search results page, see How to: Change the Properties Returned in the Core Search Results (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=207851).

Note

The Parameters Editor button is not used in this Web Part.

Set the query language

Under Results Query Options, in the Query Language list, select the language that will be applied during queries. This is the language that is used during a query on language-specific properties (such as date and time). It is not the language that is used to display results.

Tip

To change the language in which results are displayed, click Preferences next to the search box, and then select a language for results.

Pass user-generated data to other Web Parts

Under Results Query Options, in the Cross-Web Part query ID list, select a query ID that you want to use to pass data between the Search Core Results Web Part and other Web Parts that are on the search results page. By default, the query ID is User query, which means that data generated by users’ queries is passed to all other Web Parts that have User query configured as the value of the Cross-Web Part query ID property. You must change this value if you configure a fixed keyword query.

Remove or include duplicate or near-duplicate search results

Under Results Query Options, select or clear the check box for Remove Duplicate Results. By default, the check box is selected.

Include inflectional variants of query terms

Stemming expands a user’s query terms to include inflectional variants of the query terms. Inflectional variants are suffixes that do not change the meaning of a term. For example, if stemming is enabled for English (by default, it is not), and a user conducts a query for the word "search," the results would include the words "search," "searches," “searching," and "searched." Under Results Query Options, select or clear the check box for Enable Search Term Stemming. By default, the check box is cleared.

Return results for stop words

Stop words, also known as noise words, are words such as “and,” “a,” “is,” “the,” and so on. You can add or delete stop words for any language by editing the stop-word file for that language. Stop words are ignored at index and query time. By default, a query for a stop word returns no results. To change this setting, under Results Query Options, clear the box for Ignore Noise Words.

Set up a fixed keyword query

A fixed keyword query can be used to return results for a particular keyword or property value. It is used together with the Cross-Web Part Query ID setting. Under Results Query Options, in the Append Text to Query box, type the keyword or property name and value for the search. The maximum number of characters is 1,000.

Note

If you configure a fixed keyword query, you must change the default Cross-Web Part Query ID setting in the Results Query Options node of this Web Part from the default setting of User Query to another query ID on the list, such as Query 2. If you do not change this value, the filter in the Fixed Keyword Query setting is not added to the search query.

Add a More Results link

A fixed query displays only a specified number of results. Users who want to view more results must select this link. To link to a Web address to display more results for the query, under Results Query Options, expand More Results Link Options, and then select the Show More Results Link box. The maximum number of characters is 1,000.In the More Results Link Text Label box, type the text that you want to appear as a link for users to click when they want to view more results. If you leave this box blank but specify a URL, More results… is displayed. The maximum number of characters is 300.

Configure the common properties of a Web Part

Web Parts share a common set of properties that control their appearance, layout, and advanced characteristics. You change Web Part properties in the tool pane.

Note

The common Web Part properties that you see in the tool pane may differ from what is documented in this section for the following reasons:

  • To see the Advanced section in the tool pane, you must have at least Designer permission.

  • For a specific Web Part, a Web Part developer may have chosen not to display one or more of these common properties or may have chosen to create and display additional properties that are not listed below in the Appearance, Layout, and Advanced sections of the tool pane.

  • Some permission and property settings may disable or hide Web Part properties.

For more information about permission levels, see User permissions and permission levels (SharePoint Server 2010).

Appearance

Property Description

Title

Specifies the title of the Web Part that appears in the Web Part title bar.

Height

Specifies the height of the Web Part.

Width

Specifies the width of the Web Part.

Chrome State

Specifies whether the entire Web Part appears on the page when a user opens the page. By default, the chrome state is set to Normal and the entire Web Part appears. Only the title bar appears when the state is set to Minimized.

Chrome Type

Specifies whether the title bar and border of the Web Part frame are displayed.

Layout

Property Description

Hidden

Specifies whether the Web Part is visible when a user opens the page. If the check box is selected, the Web Part is visible only when you are designing the page and has the suffix (Hidden) appended to the title.You can hide a Web Part if you want to use it to provide data to another Web Part through a Web Part connection, but you do not want to display the Web Part.

Direction

Specifies the direction of the text in the Web Part content. For example, Arabic is a right-to-left language; English and most other European languages are left-to-right languages. This setting may not be available for all types of Web Parts.

Zone

Specifies the zone on the page where the Web Part is located. Note    Zones on the page are not listed in the list box when you do not have permission to modify the zone.

Zone Index

Specifies the position of the Web Part in a zone when the zone contains more than one Web Part. To specify the order, type a positive integer in the text box. If the Web Parts in the zone are ordered from top to bottom, a value of 1 means that the Web Part appears at the top of the zone. If the Web Parts in the zone are ordered from left to right, a value of 1 means that the Web Part appears on the left of the zone. For example, when you add a Web Part to an empty zone that is ordered from top to bottom, the Zone Index is 0. When you add a second Web Part to the bottom of the zone, its Zone Index is 1. To move the second Web Part to the top of the zone, type 0, and then type 1 for the first Web Part.

Note

Each Web Part in the zone must have a unique Zone Index value. Therefore, changing the Zone Index value for the current Web Part can also change the Zone Index value for other Web Parts in the zone.

Advanced

Property Description

Allow Minimize

Specifies whether the Web Part can be minimized.

Allow Close

Specifies whether the Web Part can be removed from the page.

Allow Hide

Specifies whether the Web Part can be hidden.

Allow Zone Change

Specifies whether the Web Part can be moved to a different zone.

Allow Connections

Specifies whether the Web Part can participate in connections with other Web Parts.

Allow Editing in Personal View

Specifies whether the Web Part properties can be modified in a personal view.

Export Mode

Specifies the level of data that is permitted to be exported for this Web Part. Depending on your configuration, this setting may not be available.

Title URL

Specifies the URL of a file containing additional information about the Web Part. The file is displayed in a separate browser window when you click the Web Part title.

Description

Specifies the ScreenTip that appears when you rest the mouse pointer on the Web Part title or Web Part icon. The value of this property is used when you search for Web Parts by using the Search command on the Find Web Parts menu of the tool pane.

Help URL

Specifies the location of a file containing Help information about the Web Part. The Help information is displayed in a separate browser window when you click the Help command on the Web Part menu.

Help Mode

Specifies how a browser will display Help content for a Web Part.Select one of the following:Modal Opens a separate browser window, if the browser has this capability. A user must close the window before returning to the Web page.Modeless Opens a separate browser window, if the browser has this capability. A user does not have to close the window before returning to the Web page. This is the default value.Navigate Opens the Web page in the current browser window.

Note

Even though custom Microsoft ASP.NET Web Parts support this property, default SharePoint Help topics open only in a separate browser window.

Catalog Icon Image URL

Specifies the location of a file containing an image to be used as the Web Part icon in the Web Part List. The image size must be 16 by 16 pixels.

Title Icon Image URL

Specifies the location of a file containing an image to be used in the Web Part title bar. The image size must be 16 by 16 pixels.

Import Error Message

Specifies a message that appears if there is a problem importing the Web Part.

See Also

Other Resources

Customizing Search Results