Custom search with options to include other sources

Question

I'm wondering if I can create a no-code solution to where I could add a few checkboxes to my search center to allow users to include other, off-farm data sources. I'd like them to be able to select one, many or all - similar UI to the advanced.aspx options to include other languages.

I have an older Wiki, a CIFS share, and another CMS I'd like to include - making SP 2013 my enterprise search center.

Thanks, Ross

Answer 1

The short answer is no. That will require some custom code, either client side or server side to make that happen.

You can however have federated results.

1. Add the additional result sources.
2. Build a query rule to return a set of results from the new data source
3. Configure the result block to display your results.

You can setup some rules as to how, when, and where these show up in your search results. There are some drawbacks - at least one big one:

Your results are not interwoven - that is your external sources are grouped together always - not integrated into the results. They are always presented in the block as defined.

You could of course keep them separate with Search verticals - but that's not really what you were looking for.