So, we all know that MSFT acquired Norway-based FAST Search & Transfer (OSE:FAST) on April 25 this year, and that the aquisition would add their powerful Enterprise Search Platform (ESP) to its stable of high-end search offerings for customers. Since then, there’s been a lingering question of how long it would take to complete the integration of ESP into MOSS.
Wonder no more, there’s a collection of web parts to facilitate an early take on this integration over on CodePlex, as part of the Search Community Toolkit: FAST ESP Web Parts for SharePoint Server 2007
The package provides the following web parts:
- Search Box -- Web part that supports creation of a search box for query term submission
- Result List -- Web part that displays search results and supports sorting, pagination, and navigator-based filtering
- Navigators -- Web part for displaying dynamic navigators that profile search results across a set of pre-defined dimensions and allow users to refine the search through navigation clicks
- Breadcrumb -- Web part for displaying the search term(s) and list of navigators used to obtain the current result set
- Search Site Template – Template for linking together the various Web parts to build a complete search site in one step
As with all things on CodePlex, there is a certain amount of caveat emptor, however the source code is available and they do encourage improvements and suggestions for feature enhancements. As Martha would say, this is a good thing. FAST knows their stuff – if you’re working on any enterprise-scale MOSS deployments, eventually you’ll be working with FAST.
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