Could I define categories via domain names?

[SearchFranky]

Hallo,

I want to define categories, ohne for each domain. Do I have to use keywords for this or is there an option to distinguish categories via domain name or subdomain?

THX in advance.

Regards,
Frank

[David]

For each category there is a Match pattern. You can use this to have a category per domain.
e.g.
Domain 1 match pattern
http:/www.domain1.com/

Domain 2 match pattern
http:/www.domain2.com/

See also the users guide for more details about categories.

[SearchFranky]

For each category there is a Match pattern. You can use this to have a category per domain.

Okay, I see, thank you for this information.

Can you please give me another quick advice in this case: Now as I am indexing two sites, the search form gives an option to select the category. BUT I don't want to give my users such an option, because I don't want to allow cross-searchings over both sites. The searchpage (template) on each site should use only use their own category.

And if I use Zoom for another website, there will be another category and another template, which searches only in this category. How can I organize such structures of multiple domains with individual categories and search-templates most simpel?

Thank you in advance.

[David]

It sounds like you just want one search function per web site.

In this case there is no need to use categories, just create a new set of index files per site. (i.e. a new Zoom configuration file and new set of index files, one per site).

[SearchFranky]

It sounds like you just want one search function per web site.

Oh, never thougt about different configs. Can I have different templates too, because the design is different. How?

[Ray]

Yes, you can have different templates per config. Each configuration should write to a different output folder. And you can have a different template file in each folder.

[sbillingsley]

So, to extend this question. If we want to index multiple sites - so that one search page can search "all of sites", then we should use categories.

and if we have one site that should only show search results for itself (but is indexed with the rest of the sites), then it would have a template that only searches in one category?

[Ray]

So, to extend this question. If we want to index multiple sites - so that one search page can search "all of sites", then we should use categories.

Yup.

and if we have one site that should only show search results for itself (but is indexed with the rest of the sites), then it would have a template that only searches in one category?

Well, there's two possibilities.

The more practical and common scenario is to have a different configuration per site. Each configuration (saved as a ZCFG file) would output to a different folder (usually to a subfolder of your website, eg. "C:\MyWebsites\cars.com\search\"). Each would also have its own template to correspond to the look and feel of its corresponding site. This method means that each site needs to be indexed independently. Which makes sense really, because when one site is updated, you don't want to re-index for all the other sites as well.

The other, less common, and more difficult to setup scenario is to have a single set of index files, a single configuration, but using categories to filter out per domain. By default, users will be able to select the domain/category they wish to search in. But if you wish to preselect this for the user, you can do so by disabling the search form, create your own form which has "hidden" form elements that specify the category (without allowing the user to do so). Again, this is really quite unnecessary unless you need to offer the option to search across all the indexed sites at some point. Then, you would want this.

See the section entitled "Defining a search form for a categories enabled website" for the following FAQ for information on this second method:
Q. How do I put search forms on pages besides the search page? (Or define my own search form?)