Debugging protocol handlers

Sanin

I checked out the post http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx PostID=141817&SiteID=1 for information on debugging filters and protocol handlers.

Is this still the recommended (i.e. best) approach for debugging PROTOCOL HANDLERS

I am not seeing the windowssearchfilter.exe on my machine (W2K3 server + WDS 3 installed). Which process hosts PH

Thanks.

Eric Wolz - MSFT

That thread is for the 2.6 WDS version. WDS 3.0 merged the windows XP 2.6 version with the Windows Vista versions. The new process name for hosting protocol handlers is now called searchprotocolhost.exe.

To debug the protocol host, the registry key has been changes from rssearch to WindowsSearch under the HKLM hive. This reg key will stop the protocol host from shutting down due to inactivity.

Sanin

Thanks Eric, i figured out by trial and error anyway (and some ProcessExplorer help).

The strange thing is that nothing inside my PH other than the "Init" method is called until I open "Modify" dialog in the WDS settings. That seems to trigger the indexing right away. Any other way to induce indexing

Brandon Paddock MSFT

I believe the Windows Search SDK samples include a sample for how to trigger reindexing of certain URLs.

My own PH registers its search scope when the DLL is registered, and I found that the registration process was a good way to trigger reindexing after building my PH.

Sanin

I will check out the trigger sample, but the weird thing is that I register the scope too at the point of DLL registration (as it's done in the RegPH sample). The scope shows up in the WDS properties but no indexing is done until I "mess around" with the Modify screen.

Thanks.

Alan Norbauer

Should

reg ADD "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\RsSearch\Gathering Manager" /v DebugFilters /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
instead be

reg ADD "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows Search\Gather" /v DebugFilters /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

Is that a correct translation to WDS 3

Thanks,

alan

Eric Wolz - MSFT

No, it's "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Search\Gathering Manager" /v DebugFilters /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

You should see that key value already there, but set to a zero value.

--Eric

Alan Norbauer

Ah, under HKLM, it is.

Thanks!