That's exact;y the way to solve this when you don't like the way the core is handling things. Although it's difficult to compete with the options of the commercial search solution I posted before.

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I can't figure out how to edit posts... so I'm just going to post another for this.

I've written a few of new views that can be used for this now. Since modules are able to use their own views, I assume this will work the best

In total, I wrote three views that allow me to content on my website. Unfortunately, I didn't utilize the resources in place by DNN to use their search Relevance logic.

View 1: vw_SearchItemsByTabID

SELECT     dbo.ContentItems.TabID, dbo.SearchItem.Description AS [Content]
FROM         dbo.ContentItems INNER JOIN
                      dbo.SearchItem ON dbo.ContentItems.ModuleID = dbo.SearchItem.ModuleId

View 2: vw_TabsWithDetailsAndSearchableContent
(Because of the XML Path and Stuff functions, this one does not validate well within a Query Designer, but it works if you ignore errors and execute.)

SELECT     dbo.Tabs.TabName, dbo.Tabs.TabID, dbo.Tabs.TabPath, dbo.Tabs.Description, dbo.Tabs.KeyWords, dbo.Tabs.DisableLink, dbo.Tabs.IsDeleted, dbo.Tabs.PortalID, dbo.Tabs.StartDate, 
                      dbo.Tabs.EndDate, dbo.Tabs.IsSecure, dbo.Tabs.IsVisible, dbo.Tabs.Title, dbo.Tabs.ParentId, dbo.TabPermission.RoleID, dbo.TabPermission.AllowAccess, dbo.TabPermission.PermissionID, (Stuff((SELECT CAST([Content] As Nvarchar(max)) FROM [vw_SearchItemsByTabID] WHERE [vw_SearchItemsByTabID].TabID = tabs.TabID FOR XML PATH('')),1,0,'')) AS TabContent
FROM         dbo.Tabs INNER JOIN
                      dbo.TabPermission ON dbo.Tabs.TabID = dbo.TabPermission.TabID

View 3: vw_PublicTabsWithSearchableContent
(This one uses some flags built into DNN to only show publicly visible pages. Really, the biggest thing is the AllowAccess, RoleID, and PermissionID fields.)

SELECT     TabID, PortalID, TabPath, TabName, Title, KeyWords, Description, TabContent,
FROM         dbo.vw_TabsWithDetailsAndSearchableContent
WHERE     (DisableLink = 0) AND (IsDeleted = 0) AND (StartDate >= GETDATE()) AND (EndDate <= GETDATE()) AND (IsSecure = 0) AND (IsVisible = 1) AND (AllowAccess = 1) AND 
                      (RoleID = - 1) AND (PermissionID = 3) OR
                      (DisableLink = 0) AND (IsDeleted = 0) AND (StartDate IS NULL) AND (EndDate IS NULL) AND (IsSecure = 0) AND (IsVisible = 1) AND (AllowAccess = 1) AND (RoleID = - 1) 
                      AND (PermissionID = 3)

This is mostly a bunch of guess work on my behalf, so I will not claim that this works for everyone or is a viable solution for all situations. It does work for me, though, and I hope it can at least help someone get on a good track for their own needs.

@Villanite - the general guidance is that you should avoid going direct to tables.

Ok now that is out of the way what is the reality? In many places there are decent API's that allow you access to the data you want. Perfect. In others there are not.

Of course it is ultimately your web site, and your code, so you can do anything you want with it. Generally the closer you get to the tables the higher the chance that a future update will break your module.

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Best wishes,
- Richard
Agile Development Consultant, Practitioner, and Trainer
www.dynamisys.co.uk