SQL Server 2012 Full Text Search on RTF - sql-server

Question

I have my Database running on a SQL Server 2012. One Column of my Table contains RTF Text. The Datatype of the Column is nvarchar(MAX).
I want setup a full text search for this column which analyses the rtf and searches only in the real text, so that I don't get rtf Tags as result.
As I understand, parsing rtf should already be part of the SQL Server. But I don't get it working :-(
I did following:
Create a full text catalog
Select the column containing rtf and add a full_text Index
But I still get wrong results
SELECT * FROM myTable WHERE
CONTAINS(myRtfColumn,'rtf')
--> still get all columns, as 'rtf' is a keyword
Any Ideas what I doing wrong? Do I have to activate rtf-Search for my SQL Server or something similar?

Answer 1

A full text search works only on text columns. You are inserting into your database binary stuff -> rtf. When you have chosen nvarchar you told the sql server you want to store text, but you are storing binary stuff. For binary stuff use varbinary(max) instead.
The problem will still remain, because the index routines don't know how to interpret richtext - what are control chars what is content.
let us talk about the interpreter/filter
documentation says:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/en-en/library/ms142531(v=SQL.105).aspx
varbinary(max) or varbinary data
A single varbinary(max) or varbinary column can store many types of documents. SQL Server 2008 supports any document type for which a filter is installed and available in the operative system. The document type of each document is identified by the file extension of the document. For example, for a .doc file extension, full-text search uses the filter that supports Microsoft Word documents. For a list of available document types, query the sys.fulltext_document_types catalog view.
Note that the Full-Text Engine can leverage existing filters that are installed in the operating system. Before you can use operating-system filters, word breakers, and stemmers, you must load them in the server instance, as follows:
Finally todo:
check if ".rtf" is as filter available.
EXEC sp_help_fulltext_system_components 'filter';
then add a calculated column to you table "typ" which always returns ".rtf"
alter table yourname add [Typ] AS (CONVERT([nvarchar](8),'.rtf',0));
This can used now for the index as type specification.