A good search is a prevalent theme in all of the websites I implement. Google has set the bar high in terms of expectations for what search can do. The core search in DotNetNuke doesn’t come close. So as the phrase goes “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”

Previously, I have written about how you can use the core search in DNN to integrate with a Google Custom Search engine API. If you’re interested in this approach, check out my blog post on integrating DNN search with the Google Site Search. This approach is nice, but it also is a little clunky to setup and the results launch in a new window. My new favorite way to use Google in a DNN site is to utilize the AJAX search feature provided by Google.

Have you ever typed “site:www.patrickrenner.com” into Google? It allows you to simply search a single site using the indexing of Google. The AJAX search basically does the same thing. It takes the URL you wish to search and appends your search parameters on to the request to Google.

To make this happen in DNN, there are three things you’ll need to do.

1. Insert an input into your skin. This will act as the search input for your site. The values included in the input will be the values past to the search query.
2. Include an empty <div> in which you wish to place the results of your search.
3. Add the JavaScript to your skin which allows for the input, the results div, and Google to all cooperate.

Instead of spelling out the code, I’ve included a text file for you to download to reuse this code for your site. Download the example code here. Feel free to inspect my site as well to see the code in action.

This week has been exciting, aside from the lame mid-summer head cold I’m suffering, because of a few positive reviews of the book I wrote with Chris Hammond. The reviews have been right in line with the goals we had for the book – simple, focused, “Get Your Websites Up and Running.”

Joe Brinkman reviewed the book and reiterated our goals with one of the first topic sentences of his review. “This book is very clear in that it is targeted specifically at DotNetNuke Administrators and it does a very good job of staying focused on the topic.”

One of the common tests Chris and I used as we wrote our book was, “would your mom understand this?” Put aside all “your momma” jokes and don’t take it as an attack on moms or women. The biggest eye opener I had in working with DNN, and prompted me to want to write this book, was when I worked to overhaul my mom’s website – imagethreads.com. As I worked through her site, I realized how three-letter abbreviations, jargon, and technology I take for granted on a daily basis, can be significant barriers to doing something easy like maintaining a blog.

Will Strohl also gave our book some lip service this week and is putting our work to the test by encouraging his girlfriend to read DotNetNuke 5: A User’s Guide. I’m anxious to hear the outcome because if someone new to DNN can follow the book, I’ll consider it a success (just need sales to fall into line).

I don’t want to turn this blog post into preaching about what makes good customer service, but I do want to make a “shout out” to Josephotography. Joe, shot our wedding photos almost two years ago, but just yesterday we received a CD in the mail with a movie he put together with our photos. Sure, I may have laid down a guilt-trip when we saw him two weeks ago at our friend’s wedding, but his follow through still deserves recognition for great customer service. He didn’t owe us anything. We were already very happy and he had our vote of approval (and recommendations), but he still took the time to do something thoughtful for us.

This movie is a case study in modern-day archiving. A month ago I was in Minnesota sorting through my Grandma’s house as she prepares to move from her house. There was a treasure of sentimental items. Most of her artifacts are wrapped in tissue paper or bubble wrap. But what do you do with a flash movie of your wedding pictures? In the age of digital everything, we need to come up with new ways to store/archive sentimental items. I guess my bubble wrap and tissue paper is a blog which is primarily read by me.

[FLASH MOVIE TO BE INCORPORATED SOON]

It's no secret that DotNetNuke's core search leaves a lot to be desired. When implementing DNN sites or any site for that matter, search is typically a top requirement. To be perfectly honest, I have conveniently tried to leave off search functions from design comps or implementation plans because I dread the discussion that much (my conscience typically gets the better of me and we find a solution).

For more info on how the core search works check out this blog entry on DNN core search by Chris Hammond.

Well, I have found a solution that I'm pretty happy with and can confidently recommend as an implementation approach for DotNetNuke implementations - integrate a Google Site Search account with the core DNN skin object.

How is it done?

First, the core search token has a lesser known attribute UseWebForSite that allows you to integrate the core search token with your unique identifier with Google Site Search.

Setup Steps

1. Create a custom search engine with Google Site Search. With the Site Search created, go to the Advanced section of the Control Panel for your custom search and grab the unique identifier (in a section titled “Advanced presentation using the Custom Search Element”)
2. Add the search token to your skin and define UseWebForSite as “True” (see below). You can either do this through your HTML skin’s accompanying XML file or directly in the ASCX.
3. Modify the resource file for the core search. You can reference the file directly from the file system (\admin\Skins\App_LocalResources), but it is better to go in through the Language Editor as a site administrator and modifying the Search.ascx.resx for just your portal (in case you have multiple sites in your instance of DNN).
4. There is a field titled URL.Text. In this field, you can modify the existing URL to include the unique identifier for your custom search. The default uses the DNN project ID and should be something like: http://www.google.com/custom?hl=en&client=pub-9770992166002654&sitesearch=[DOMAIN]&q=[TEXT]

One thing to note is that I ran into some issues with the default URL in the resx file. So instead of modifying the existing URL, I went into my custom search engine home (with Google) and tested the search there. Then I took the URL created by Google and replace the search input with [TEXT]. This accomplishes the same result. Example: http://www.google.com/cse?cx=005560045880849113066:aqsy2ovgo00&ie=UTF-8&q=test&sa=Search and replaced q=test with q=[TEXT]

Other Notes

• The search launches the results in a separate window and some browsers will block this as a pop-up.
• The results can be styled using the Control Panel (Look & Feel) in Google Custom Search
• The results you get are the results Google indexes. So if you don’t like your Google results, you won’t like your Google Custom Search results.

I laughed, I cried, I seriously doubted myself. I'm still holding out against Twitter and seriously reconsidering Facebook.

I received a call today from Ken Burns, from the Offices of Commercial Investigation.

Apparently, I owe $1,311.97 to Century Restoration, but if I "make some soft of good faith effort" I can avoid "legal action that can adversely affect my credit."

Does this sound like a call you received? I think this is the first time I recognize openly a scam. I know I've been scammed before, and I have even been dubbed out of $20 by a guy saying he needed money for a tow truck to move his car, but this is the first time I legitimately encountered one of the scams you watch on Dateline or 20/20.

In looking at Commercial Investigation's website, I feel a little sick to my stomach because of how obvious they're going to take you for a ride. The sick part is that it probably works.

Remember the old warning from your parents "don't take candy from strangers?" Their site and this phone call reeks of stranger's candy. They collect card information if you're inclined to pay your "debts" or make "good faith efforts" promptly.

The most comical part is Commercial Investigation's letter the Better Business Bureau. In the letter there are a number of great lines, but here are some of my favorites.

It [the collections industry] is one of those overlooked and arcane topics, like Maritime Law—the Law of the Sea—a highly complex yet under-researched area warranting more careful analysis than most journalists have time for.

This is claiming the "article" by the BBB was journalistic in nature and out of touch because they are just writing editorials on how business should be done. Since they don't know the industry, their "article" is like a travel writer's article on a foreign country.

Another gem...

The reality of our economy is that the collections industry plays a necessary role. No one company should be held accountable for being in an industry overlooked by the media and by the disinterested public. Law firms have a bad reputation when they are regarded as “ambulance chasers” or tax lawyers or collection lawyers. They still have a job to do.

Scamming people is up there with protecting laws, justice and equality. The true injustice is the lack of passion people have for scamming old grandmas.

More information on these schmucks from the Better Business Bureau's Alerts.

Since there's not really much I can do to combat these jerks, I wanted to post to inform anyone else who may recieve a call from Ken or someone from Commercial Investigations. On the side, I wanted to say SCREW YOU to all the jerks out there willing to participate in scams like this.

I would lable myself a bit of a Microsoft Office nerd. I really like finding news ways to overcomplicate the way I use Outlook, Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.

Today, I found a post by the product managers for Outlook on how to incorporate a visual indication of when you'll be out of office in your auto out of office response.

This blog is often a rant, sometimes a reflection, and occasionally a way for me to remember cool things so I can search my own blog rather than redoing the searches I've done in the past.

I'm going to outline the process for including a mini calendar in out of office messages because I find myself overcomplicating the message I use each time I got out of the office. Should it be "returning on Monday, December 29th" or "I'll be out until the Friday, December 26th and assume they know I'll be back on Monday"

So here's what I'm going to do when I go out of the office for my trip to Cancun over New Years.

1. Act as though I'm sending my calendar in an email by right clicking on my calendar title and selecting "Send via Email..."
   
2. Select the date range for which I'll be out of the office. This way the dates will be highlighted in the HTML calendar created.
   
3. Copy the calendar created in the body of the email
4. Past this calendar into my out of office message

Well maybe not like me. I'm thinking mutt, more in terms of diversity in backgrounds. My parents went to the same high school and raised me in a neighboring city.

I am interested in the attention the seemingly unimportant comment Barrack Obama made when talking about the kind of dog his family was going to get.

“There are a number of breeds that are hypoallergenic, but on the other hand our preference is to get a shelter dog, but obviously, a lot of the shelter dogs are mutts like me,”

I love this comment for a couple of reasons. First, it is a lighthearted comment that belies an overarching social tension regarding race that ran throughout the elections. Without going into this in great detail. I felt there was a lot of race tension in the past election. But not the tension of two sides pulling apart. More like the static electricity in the air. It was electric, apparent, but not tangible and not easy to point out why it was felt.

The second side of this comment is the strength that comes with a mutt. As dogs go, mutts are more resilient, heartier, and less prone to genetic flaws. In politics, Obama was dubbed "Teflon." Did his diverse upbringing, both in race and experience, cultivate the Telfon shell?

Is the age of the pedigree dead? Does coming from a long line of Kennedys or Delanos really mean that much in our society? Does it really even help? Sure as a safety net being a Kennedy out weighs the bad, but look at the case of Caroline Kennedy. The pedigree of being a Kennedy opens doors, but the stigma of nepotism is going to close it right back in her face. She may assume a Senate seat on name recognition and family ties, but her merit will always be shroud in presumed entitlement. The first article I found in search results echos this perception

When it comes down to it, I guess I wouldn't pass on a Kennedy upbringing, but the original intent of my entry was more to celebrate diversity than to discuss political lineage. Going back to my discussion on the lowest common denominator, comfort in the known and familiar real is only comfortable. Reaching out, embracing diversity is really the path to becoming exceptional.