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Search > Search Features > Expert Search

Use the Search > Search Features > Expert Search page to peform the following tasks:

• Configuring data sources for expert information
• Configuring expert search for a front end
• Disabling expert search for a front end
• Configuring People Search (Deprecated)

Expert search enables your users find experts in your organization by searching on keywords. For example, suppose a user needs to find an expert on network security. When the user searches on this term, a list of network security experts appears in a sidebar next to the search results. The list might include photos, names, and phone numbers. There might also be a more detailed list of experts on a separate page that is linked to the search results page.

Experts in your organization are identified by metadata that resides in a collection that contains only profile information. Data sources for this collection can include Microsoft SharePoint, LDAP, or any other profile content with metadata that can be crawled or fed into the search index. For more information on this topic, see "Configuring Data Sources for Expert Information."

You can determine the profile elements and their layout in both the sidebar and on a separate page when you configure expert search. Because expert search is configured by front end, you can create different configurations for that address the needs and levels of different end users. For more information on this topic, see "Configuring Expert Search for a Front End."

In the current search appliance release, People Search is deprecated.

Before Starting this Task

Before configuring expert search, ensure that you have created the front ends where you want to enable it. For more information about this topic, click Admin Console Help > Search > Search Features > Front Ends.

Configuring Data Sources for Expert Information

The search appliance gets profile properties for expert search from collections that only contain profile metadata. Before configuring expert search for a front end, add profile metadata to the index. You can add it through crawling documents or databases with metadata, using feeds, or by using connectors, such as the SharePoint or LDAP connectors.

To add metadata to the index with a connector, you can use either of the following pages:

• Content Sources > Connectors page
• Configure Data Sources tab on the Search > Search Features > Expert Search page

The Configure Data Sources tab displays the same information as the Content Sources > Connectors page, but enables your to add a connector without leaving the Search > Search Features > Expert Search page.

For information about connector configuration options, click Admin Console Help >Content Sources > Connectors > Add Connector. For information on completing the connector configuration form for a SharePoint connector, see "Configuring the Google Search Appliance Connector for SharePoint with Content Feeds." For information on completing the connector configuration form for an LDAP connector, see "Configuring the Google Search Appliance Connector for LDAP." Both documents are linked to the connector documentation landing page.

After populating the index with metadata, you can add a collection that only contains the profile metadata. For information about adding a collection, see "Configuring a Collection Containing Expert Data."

Configuring Expert Search for a Front End

To enable and configure expert search for a front end, use the Configure User Interface tab on the Search > Search Features > Expert Search page. This tab lists all the front ends that have been created for the search appliance.

To enable and configure expert search:

1. Click Search > Search Features > Expert Search.
2. On the Configure User Interface tab, click Configure on the line corresponding to the front end where you want to set up expert search.
3. Under Selected Front End, click Save.
4. Perform the following tasks:
   1. Configuring a collection containing expert data
   2. Selecting meta tags for the configuration
   3. Configuring expert layout

Configuring a Collection Containing Expert Data

The collection that you use for expert search should only contain profile data. You can create a collection with expert data by using the Index > Collections page or by using the following procedure.

To configure a collection:

1. Expand the Configure collection containing expert data options by clicking the arrow.
2. Select the collection that contains the metadata from the pull-down menu or Add a new collection.
   When you select Add a new collection, the search appliance navigates to the Index > Collections page. Use this page to create a new collection. When you are done, navigate back to the Search > Search Features > Expert Search page and select the new collection from the pull-down menu.
3. Click Save.

For information about creating a collection, click Admin Console Help > Index > Collections.

Selecting Meta Tags for the Configuration

After you have configured a collection containing expert data, you can select or add meta tags that should be queried for expert search. The pull-down menu under Select meta tags for querying expert data contains names of meta tag names that you add in the following procedure.

To select meta tags for the configuration:

1. Expand the Select meta tags for querying expert data options by clicking the arrow.
2. Select one or more meta tags from the pull-down menu or type a meta tag name in the box and choose Add the entered value.
   The meta tag names appear in the list but is not yet saved. If you reload this page without saving, the unsaved meta tags disappear.
3. Click Save.
   

To remove a meta tag, drag it to the trash icon.

Configuring Expert Layout

Configuring expert layout consists of selecting the display view for expert elements in search results and composing the layout for the selected view. The search appliance provides the following three views for displaying expert search results:

• Widget view
• Detailed view (simple)
• Detailed view (dynamic navigation)

You can either select the same front end for both widget view and detailed view or select a different one for each view. The following table lists the valid configurations that you can create for expert search.

A warning icon appears for a front end on this page when:

• Dynamic navigation is configured, but expert search is not configured.
• Dynamic navigation and expert search are configured, but the widget front end is not the same as the detailed front end.

Widget View

Widget view shows the expert search results in sidebar along with the main search results. If you also enable detailed view, the Detailed View link appears in widget view. Users can click this link to switch to the detailed mode (simple or dynamic navigation).

Take note that you can display either expert search widget view or dynamic result clusters in the sidebar, but not both. However, you can display both expert search widget view and dynamic result clusters if you select Top for dynamic result clusters. For more information about displaying dynamic result clusters, click Admin Console Help > Search > Search Features > Front Ends > Output Layout - Page Layout Helper.

To configure this mode, select Widget for view type, as described in "Composing a Layout."

Detailed View (Simple)

Detailed view (simple) is displayed when the user clicks on the Detailed View link in the widget view. This view shows the expert search results in the main results area, hiding all other search results elements. In general, you might want to display more fields in this view because of more real estate. You can give your users more power by enabling dynamic navigation for detailed view.

To configure this mode, select Detailed for view type, as described in "Composing a Layout."

Detailed View (Dynamic Navigation)

Detailed view (dynamic navigation) is displayed when the user clicks on the Detailed View link in the widget view. This is a more powerful version of detailed view (simple). If you enable dynamic navigation in detailed view, then the users see the defined filters in the sidebar along with the detailed results in the main results area. The filters help users to navigate through the results just like the normal dynamic navigation feature.

For this view, you can use an existing dynamic navigation configuration or create a new one. For example, you can select the existing attribute "CellPhone" to display experts' phone numbers as navigation options in the sidebar. For information about creating a dynamic navigation configuration and adding attributes, click Admin Console Help > Search > Search Features > Dynamic Navigation.

To configure this mode, select Detailed for view type and Enable Dynamic Navigation, as described in "Composing a Layout."

Expert Layout Elements

A layout for a view can include a photo, selected fields, hyperlinks, and dynamic navigation options. Also, you can enable detailed view to use a different front end than widget view. For example, you might want to use a different front end to implement a style that takes advantage of the greater space on the page. You can select any front end that has been created for the search appliance.

When you compose the layout for a selected view, you select from the options listed in the following table.

Composing a Layout

To compose a layout for a view:

1. Expand the Configure expert layout options by clicking the arrow.
2. Select the view type.
3. To add a photo, click + Photo.
   The Photo box appears.
4. Select and add options as described in the preceding table. Add the URL for the photo in the Value template option. For example, http://mycompany.com/{uid}/photo/{fn}.png.
5. Click OK.
6. To add a display field to an existing row, click +.
   The Add field box appears.
7. Select and add options as described in the preceding table.
8. Click OK.
9. For widget view, you can specify the following information:
   • Number of results per page
   • Header text
   • Detailed view link
   For detailed view, you can specify the following information:
   • Number of results per page
   • Front end to use for detailed mode
   • Enable dynamic navigation
     
10. Click Save.

To add a new row, click Add Row.

Editing Expert Layout

To edit an expert layout:

1. Under Configure expert layout, select the photo or a field.
2. Click Edit field.
   The Add field box appears.
3. Edit fields.
4. Click OK.
   To edit another field, repeat steps 1 to 4.
5. If required, edit view-specific information, such as Number of results per page.
6. Click Save.

Deleting Photos and Fields

To delete a photo or a field:

1. Under Configure expert layout, select the photo or a field.
2. Click Delete field.
3. Confirm the deletion.

Disabling Expert Search for a Front End

To disable expert search for a front end:

1. Click Search > Search Features > Expert Search.
2. On the Configure User Interface tab, click Disable on the line corresponding to the front end where you want to disable expert search results.

Configuring People Search (Deprecated)

Use the People Search tab to perform the following tasks:

• Configuring people search by using page options --Use this method for basic configuration
• Configuring people search by editing the XSLT stylesheet--Use this method for advanced configuration

After you configure people search, show the people search results sidebar element on the results page by enabling the sidebar element in a front end.

People search helps your users find people in your organization. When a user searches using a term, the search appliance searches any collection that you specify and displays people search profile information in a sidebar element next to ranked search results. People search results appear only on the first page of results.

People search profile information can include:

• Images--Such as photos of members of your organization
• Text--Such as a member's name, job title, manager, office location, and phone number
• Links--Both images and text can be linked to web pages

People search is based on the Google Search Appliance's OneBox Modules feature. When you save a people search configuration, the search appliance creates an internal OneBox module called gsa_peoplesearch_onebox. This module appears in the list of OneBox modules on the Content Sources > OneBox Modules page.

If you are using the default people search template, Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) 6.0 or 7.0 might cause display issues with people search results. To fix this problem, update to IE 8.0.

Before Starting this Task

Before configuring people search, you must complete the tasks listed in the following table.

About the LDAP Connector

Many organizations use LDAP for storing employee profile information. The Google Search Appliance provides an LDAP connector that enables you to add LDAP information to the search index. After you have added LDAP information in the index, you can easily configure a source collection that contains the LDAP profile information. For information about the LDAP connector, see the connector documentation, which is linked to the Google Search Appliance help center.

About Metadata Attributes and Profile Information

The profile information that appears in people search results is derived from metadata attributes found in the HTML of the documents in the search index, or metadata from databases, feeds, or connectors, including the LDAP connector. If the profile information for a single person is drawn from multiple sources, then this information must be merged into a single document before it is sent to the search appliance.

By using these metadata attributes, you can configure the attribute profile information that you want to appear in search results. For example, suppose your people database includes the following metadata attribute value pairs for each member of your organization:

<meta name="cn" content="Angela Ling"/>
<meta name="uid" content="aling"/>
<meta name="title" content="Technical Program Manager"/>
<meta name="location" content="303D"/>
<meta name="telephoneNumber" content="+1 (555) 876-1649"/>
<meta name="manager" content="felton"/>

By configuring people search using this metadata, you can enable the search appliance to return people search profiles such as:

People Search

Angela Ling(aling)
Technical Program Manager
Office location: 303D
Telephone number: +1 (555) 876-1649
Manager: Felton

A search that returns people search results can include terms that are indexed, but not displayed in the profiles. For example, a user might search on "skills," and get relevant people search results although skills are not displayed in the profiles.

Using Attribute Substitution Patterns

When you specify an attribute name by using the options on the People Search tab, use the following attribute substitution pattern:

{$attribute_name$}

For example, to specify the attribute name cn, which stands for common name, use the following substitution pattern:

{$cn$}

The search appliance uses substitution patterns such as this one to match attributes in the search index. All people search options that use this pattern are substituted with attribute values from the metadata in the source collection before they are displayed in people search profiles.

For example, suppose that you want names to appear in people search profiles and the meta tag for name is

<meta name="cn" content="Angela Ling"/>

To include names in people search profiles, you would specify the substitution pattern {$cn$} as a Display Value. For more details about using attribute substitution patterns, see the examples in Configuring People Search by Using Page Options.

Options for Configuring People Search

There are two different methods that you can use to configure people search profiles:

• For basic configuration, by using options listed on the People Search tab
• For advanced configuration, by using the XSLT stylesheet editor

Configuring People Search by Using Page Options

Configuring people search by using the options on the People Search tab enables you to make changes easily by choosing selections and entering information in boxes. Changes that you make by using page options are written to the underlying XSLT stylesheet.

The People Search tab provides the following options for customizing people search profiles:

• Source Collection
• Maximum Results
• Title
• Sidebar Height
• Image Source URL
• Image Link URL
• Image Height and Image Width
• Sort Fields
• Label, Display Value, and Link URL

The Example on the People Search tab displays a sample layout of a people search profile.

The following sections describe each of the options.

Source Collection

A people search source collection is a segment of the search index that contains profile information. The source collection must contain one document for each person.

The Source Collection menu lists all the collections that have been created for the search appliance. To choose a people search source collection, select a collection from the Source Collection pull-down menu.

You can create a people search source collection by using the Index > Collections page in the Admin Console. For information about creating a collection, click Admin Console Help > Index > Collections.

Because it is unlikely that you want the same content in both the people search profiles and the regular search results, exclude the content in the people search source collection from the search collection, which is the collection indicated by the site parameter in the search URL. For information about the site parameter, see "Search Protocol Reference," which is linked to the Google Search Appliance help center.

To exclude the content in the people search source collection from the search collection:

1. Click Index > Collections.
2. Click the Edit link next to the search collection.
3. Under Do Not Include Content Matching the Following Patterns, enter the URL patterns for the people search collection documents.
4. Click Save Collection Definition.

If a document is in both the people search source collection and the search collection, the matched document is displayed in search results, but not in people search profiles.

Maximum Results

You can specify the maximum number of people search profiles that appear in the sidebar element on the search results page.

The default maximum results value is 50. To specify a different number, enter it in the Maximum Results box. The range of valid values for maximum results is 1-500. Take note that more results might have an impact on search appliance performance.

Title

On the search results page, the people search results sidebar element can have a title.

The default title is "People." To specify a different title, enter a text string in the Title box.

Sidebar Height

The Sidebar Height controls the height of the panel that contains the people search profiles.

The default sidebar height is 170 pixels. To specify a different height for the sidebar element, enter the number of pixels in the Sidebar Height box. The range of valid values for sidebar height is 50-1000.

Image Source URL

People search can display an image with each profile.

To enable the search appliance to display images with people search profiles, enter the URL of the location of profile images in the Image Source URL box.

You can construct an image source URL that matches your organization's file structure by using attribute substitution patterns. For example, suppose that all your profile images are jpeg files located in a single directory named people_images, and that the format for the name of each jpeg file is equivalent to the user's ID (represented by the attribute uid), as shown in the following example:

people_images/uid.jpg

The URL pattern for this image source would be:

http://www.comp.com/people_images/{$uid$}.jpg

This URL pattern would cause the image associated with a user's ID (uid) to be substituted when the people search profile is displayed.

Image Link URL

You can turn a profile image into a link to a page by providing the link URL in the Image Link URL box.

For example, suppose that each member of your organization has a resume in the member_cv directory, and that the format for the name of each file contains the user's ID, as shown in the following example:

member_cv/resume_uid.html

The URL pattern for this image link would be:

http://www.comp.com/member_cv/resume_{$uid$}.html 

Image Height and Image Width

You can specify the height and width of the profile images by entering the number of pixels in the following boxes:

• Image Height--The specified height of the image in pixels. If only image height is specified, the image is scaled to the specified height. The range of valid values for image height is 0-500.
• Image Width--The specified width of the image in pixels. If only image width is specified, the image is scaled to the specified width. The range of valid values for image width is 0-500.

If both image height and image width are specified, the image is scaled to the largest possible size that does not exceed either the specified height or width. All image scaling preserves the original aspect ratio of the image.

If both image height and image width are left blank, the image is displayed in its original size. A value of 0 is equivalent to an empty field.

Sort Fields

By default, people search results are sorted by relevance. However, you can use the Sort Fields box to sort the results by one or more attributes. For example, to sort people search results by common name, enter the following substitution pattern:

{$cn$}

To sort people search results by more than one attribute, enter multiple substitution patterns. If the Sort Fields box contains multiple substitution patterns, results are sorted by attributes from left-to-right. For example, to sort first by name and then by job title, enter the following substitution patterns:

{$cn$}{$title$}

To use the default sorting, leave the Sort Fields box blank.

Label, Display Value, and Link URL

Textual information in people search profiles is created from values in the following options on the People Search tab:

• Label
• Display Value
• Link URL

You can create a maximum of 16 rows of label, display value, and link URLs in a people search configuration. All fields are optional, so you can leave a row blank for future use.

Label

Entries in the Label box control whether a label for the attribute value appears in the people search profiles. You can also control the formatting of the label. Valid entries in the Label box are text strings, attribute substitution patterns, XSL markup tags, and HTML markup tags.

In the following example, the entries in the Label box include one text string and HTML boldface formatting tags:

<b>Office location</b>

For this entry, the following label appears in a people search profile:

Office location: 303D

You can also control spacing and line breaks by entering valid HTML and XSL markup. For example, you can enter a space by entering the following XSL for a non-breaking space in the Label box:

<xsl:text disable-output-escaping="yes">&amp;nbsp;</xsl:text> 

You can also force a line break before an attribute value by entering the following markup:

<br />

Display Value

Entries in the Display Value box control the attribute values that appear in the people search profiles, as well as the formatting of the values. Valid entries in the Display Value box are attribute substitution patterns, XSL markup tags, and HTML markup tags.

In the following example, the Display Value box contains two attribute substitution patterns, as well as boldface formatting tags:

 <b>{$cn$} ({$uid$})</b>

In the people search profiles, the values of these attributes are substituted for the patterns and bolded:

Angela Ling (aling)

Link URL

An entry in the Link URL box turns a display value into a link.

For example, suppose the Display Value box contains the following attribute substitution patterns:

{$cn$} ({$uid$}) 

And the Link URL box contains a URL, such as:

http://comp.com/{$uid$}

In the people search profile, the information appears as a single link, as shown in the following example:

Angela Ling (aling)

Configuring People Search by Editing Page Options

For basic configuration, edit page options. To configure people search results:

1. Select a collection for people search from the Source Collection pull-down menu.
2. To change the number of profiles that appear in the people search sidebar, enter a number in the Maximum Results box.
3. To change the title of the people search results sidebar element, enter text in the Title box.
4. To change the size of the people search sidebar element, enter the number of pixels in the Sidebar Heightbox.
5. To specify a URL for profile images, enter it in the Image Source URL box.
6. To make the profile image a link, enter a URL in the Image Link URL box.
7. To change the scale of the profile image, enter the number of pixels in the Image Height and Image Width boxes.
8. To change the sort order of the people search results, enter one or more attribute substitution patterns in the Sort Fields box.
9. Specify a row of information in each people search profile:
   1. To specify a label for the display value, enter a text string in the Label box. To specify formatting of the label, enter HTML and/or XSL tags.
   2. To specify the content of a people search results row, enter one or more attribute substitution patterns in the Display Value box. To specify formatting of the attribute value, enter HTML and/or XSL tags.
   3. To make the display value a link, enter a URL in the Link URLbox.
10. To specify another row, go to step 7.
    You can specify a maximum of 16 rows.
11. Click Save.

Configuring People Search by Editing the XSLT Stylesheet

For advanced configuration, directly edit the people search XSLT stylesheet. If you have entered configuration information by using page options, the XSLT stylesheet includes this configuration information.

After you edit the people search XSLT stylesheet, you cannot make additional edits by using the page options. However, you can delete your stylesheet edits and switch to using page options by clicking Restore Default XSL.

For information about the XSL variables used in the XSLT stylesheet to control the people search configuration, see "Creating the Search Experience," which is linked to the Google Search Appliance help center.

The People Search tab provides the following options for working with the people search XSLT stylesheet:

• Editing the XSLT stylesheet
• Restoring the XSLT stylesheet
• Importing an XSLT stylesheet

It is helpful to see the XML returned by people search before you edit your XSLT. You can view the XML by removing the proxystylesheet parameter from a search query that gets people search results. The following example shows XML from a people search that uses results from a database.

<OBRES module_name="gsa_people-search_onebox">
   <provider>people</provider>
   <title>
        <urlText>people</urlText>
        <urlLink>search?q=test&amp;site=people&amp;proxystylesheet=default_frontend&amp;
        skip=o&amp;output=xml_no_dtd&amp;client=default_frontend&amp;access=p</urlLink>
   </title>
<MODULE_RESULT>
   <U>googledb://db.mycompany.com/db_feed/azE9NCwx</U>
   <Title><b>Angela Ling</b></Title>
   <Field name="person_id">1</Field>
   <Field name="name">Angela Ling</Field>
</MODULE_RESULT>
</OBRES> 

Editing the XSLT Stylesheet

The XSLT Stylesheet Editor appears on the  People Search tab after you click Edit XSL.

To edit the people search XSLT stylesheet:

1. Select a collection for people search from the Source Collection pull-down menu.
2. To change the number of results that appear in the people search sidebar element, enter a number in the Maximum Results box.
3. Click Edit XSL.
4. Enter any changes to the stylesheet.
5. When finished, click Save.

Restoring the XSLT Stylesheet

To restore the people search XSLT stylesheet to the state before it was edited, click Restore Default XSL.

Importing an XSLT Stylesheet

If you develop an XSLT stylesheet outside the search appliance, or have a back-up version of the XSLT stylesheet, you can import it to the Google Search Appliance.

To import an edited people search XSLT stylesheet:

1. Enter the filename of the edited people search XSLT stylesheet in the Import Stylesheet box, or browse for the file.
2. Click Import.
   
3. When finished, click Save.

Enabling the People Search Results Sidebar Element in a Front End

After configuring people search, you can show the people search sidebar element with search results in a specific front end.

To show the people search sidebar element in a front end:

1. Click Search > Search Features > Front Ends and click Edit for a particular front end.
2. In the Page Layout Helper box on the Output Format tab, select the Search Results section.
3. Under Sidebar Elements, click People Search results.
4. Click Save Page Layout Code.

If you check People Search results before you configure people search, the checkbox is silently unchecked when you click Save Page Layout Code.

Disabling and Re-enabling People Search

After you enable people search for a front end and create a people search configuration, you might want to disable it.

To disable people search:

1. Click Search > Search Features > Front Ends and click Edit for the front end where the people search configuration was enabled.
2. In the Page Layout Helper box on the Output Format tab, select the Search Results section.
3. Under Sidebar Elements, clear the People Search results checkbox and click Save Page Layout Code.
4. Click the OneBox Modules tab on the Search > Search Features > Front Ends page.
5. Select gsa_peoplesearch_onebox in the Selected Modules list, move it to the Available Modules list, and click Save Settings.

You can re-enable a disabled people search configuration by performing the following steps:

1. Click Search > Search Features > Front Ends and click Edit for the front end where you want to re-enable the people search configuration.
2. In the Page Layout Helper box on the Output Format tab, select the Search Results section.
3. Under Sidebar Elements, click the People Search results checkbox and click Save Page Layout Code.
   The onebox is automatically added to the frontend.

Viewing People Search Configuration Changes in a Browser

You can iteratively configure the people search feature so you can control the information and desired format of each displayed profile. During this process, you may want to view your saved changes in a browser window.

People Search Queries and Timeouts

There might be instances when people search results do not appear for a search query. This situation occurs when the people search query exceeds the response timeout, which is how long the search appliance should wait for a response. Reasons for a slow query response include too many people search results or a large volume of metadata in documents in the people search source collection.

The people search OneBox module, gsa_peoplesearch_onebox, observes the Response Timeout setting for all OneBox modules. The default value for the Response Timeout is 1000 milliseconds. The timeout value must be at least 1 millisecond. There is no upper limit on the timeout value.

The number of results that the search appliance attempts to serve is determined by the Maximum Results setting on the People Search tab.

To prevent the search appliance from timing out before serving people search results, you can make the following adjustments:

• Increasing the number of milliseconds for the Response Timeout by using the Content Sources > OneBox Modules page
• Decreasing the number of Maximum Results by using the People Search tab

For information about the Content Sources > OneBox Modules page, click Admin Console Help > Content Sources > OneBox Modules.

Feature Limitations

People search has the following limitations:

• The feature is deprecated.
• The search appliance does not collapse multiple profiles into one profile. That is, multiple profiles might be returned for one person.
• Ordering of profiles is based on search appliance ranking. Sorting on a specific metadata field is not supported.