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19

answers:

1
Q: 

Combination of searches - standardized format?

While thinking about how to best combine search results from different resources on a site (e.g. blog software, forum software, pages etc.) it appeared to me that it would be pretty neat to have a standardized format (possibly XML) to return search results. This could consist of title, excerpt and more meta information like time, author etc...

Ever heard of such a thing or do I have to program it myself? ;)

Other ideas are, of course, welcome, too!

+1  A: 

Sounds to me like RSS-ish...

Standard RSS tags include: Title, Description, and Link. You can add others like Category, pubDate, GUID, Author and more.

This format can be used for sending search criteria, and for retrieving search results. Just handle the incoming XML, and form an XML document to send back.

Jonathan Sampson  2009-12-22 13:48:22
+1 lol, nice answer
ILMV  2009-12-22 13:49:46
Are there RSS feeds for *searching*?
Franz  2009-12-22 13:52:48
Franz, yes, you can submit search criteria in the form of an XML document. And you can return the results in the form of an RSS document.
Jonathan Sampson  2009-12-22 13:53:55
Oh, ok, I didn't realize that there were RSS feeds providing a search feature, too (wouldn't that happen via URL parameters?)...
Franz  2009-12-22 14:13:59
Franz, that would depend on you. If you use GET, then yes. If you use POST then no.
Jonathan Sampson  2009-12-22 14:40:16
Yeah, obviously... I was just making sure I understood you correctly. Thanks then ;)
Franz  2009-12-22 15:39:15
No problem, Franz. Keep up the good work!
Jonathan Sampson  2009-12-22 15:57:11

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