How to: Implement a Full-Text Search

Dec 28, 2022
3 minutes to read

This example shows you how to create full-text queries against plain character-based data in SQL Server tables. Full-text queries can include words and phrases, or multiple forms of a word or phrase.

What Is a Full-Text Search?

A full-text search allows fast and flexible indexing for keyword-based query of text data stored in a Microsoft SQL Server database. In contrast to the LIKE predicate, which only works on character patterns, full-text queries perform linguistic searches against this data, by operating on words and phrases based on rules of a particular language.

Implementing a Full-Text Search

To implement a full-text search, do the following.

Install the Full-Text Search sub-component of Microsoft SQL. For detailed information on how to create a Full-Text Search on a database, see Full-Text Search.
Create a custom function operator by implementing the ICustomFunctionOperatorFormattable interface.

Using a Full-Text Search (a simple search)

To use a custom function operator in criteria you should first register it via the CriteriaOperator.RegisterCustomFunction method.

C#
VB.NET

csharp

using DevExpress.Data.Filtering;

public class Program {
    //...
    public static void Main(string[] arguments) {
        CriteriaOperator.RegisterCustomFunction(new FullTextContainsFunction());
        //...
    }
}

using DevExpress.Data.Filtering;

Public Class Program
    '...
    Public Shared Sub Main(ByVal arguments() As String)
        CriteriaOperator.RegisterCustomFunction(New FullTextContainsFunction())
        '...
    End Sub
End Class

After registering the custom operator, you can use it in your criteria.

C#
VB.NET

csharp

private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {
    xpCollection1.Criteria = CriteriaOperator.Parse("FullTextContains(ProjectName, 'Business')");
}

Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
    xpCollection1.Criteria = CriteriaOperator.Parse("FullTextContains(ProjectName, 'Business')")
End Sub