How to create a custom protocol handler and content source for the protocol handler in SharePoint Portal Server 2003 (830037)

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Protocol Handlers

Protocol handlers are software components of the Filter Daemon that extend the capabilities of the Microsoft SharePoint PortalPS Search service and permits external content sources to be crawled. The protocol handler implements the protocol for accessing a content source in its native format. By doing so, the protocol handler exposes the content source so that it can be crawled by the Microsoft SharePoint PortalPS Search service. For more information about how to create a custom protocol handler and to view sample code that demonstrates how to create a custom protocol handler, see the "Scenarios", "Reference", and "Code Samples" sections of the Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2001 Software Development Kit (SDK). To obtain the Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2001 SDK, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Important When you use the SharePoint Portal Server 2001 SDK to create a custom protocol handler for SharePoint Portal Server 2003, note the following changes that apply to SharePoint Portal Server 2003:

• The name of the search service in SharePoint Portal Server 2003 is Microsoft SharePointPS Search.
  
  If you use the net start or net stop command to start or stop the service from the command-line, use net start SharePointPSSearch or net stop SharePointPSSearch (as appropriate to the action that you want to perform).
• Use the following location in the registry for the registration of protocol handlers in SharePoint Portal Server 2003:

  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SPSSearch\ProtocolHandlers

Content Sources

In SharePoint Portal Server 2001, you can create a content source for a custom protocol handler by using the Content Source Creation Wizard. The Content Source Creation Wizard is not available for SharePoint Portal Server 2003, and you cannot directly create a content source for a custom protocol handler. To create a content source for a custom protocol handler, use one of the following methods:

• Write stand-alone code to programmatically create the content source. Use the AddContentSource method on the Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.Admin.Search.SearchCatalog object to create your content source by using your custom protocol handler. The APIs that you require to do so are documented in the Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2003 SDK. To obtain the SharePoint Portal Server 2003 SDK, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=aa3e7fe5-daee-4d10-980f-789b827967b0&displaylang=en

• Customize the SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Add Content Source pages that you use to add a content source. This procedure involves bypassing the URL validity check when the content type of the content source that you want to add is specified as a file share. When you bypass the URL validity check, you can specify the URL that you want--for example, DCTM://. Note that when you use this method, you replace certain SharePoint Portal Server 2003 core files, and each time that you run Setup, SharePoint Portal Server reinstalls the original files. As a result, you must reapply your custom settings each time that you run Setup to upgrade, reinstall, or repair SharePoint Portal Server 2003.

For more information about SharePoint Portal Server, visit the following Microsoft Web site: