[ Firefox ] Using ConQuery to quickly search Gentoo stuffs

[TGL]

Last update : 2005/11/22

ConQuery is an extension for Firefox (and other Mozilla softwares, but i don't use them). In short, it is a bit similar to Mycroft (best known as "the Google bar" in Firefox), but is much more powerful (Mycroft is fine for single entry forms, and ConQuery is for everything else). Well, the best would be that you read a more complete description on the ConQuery website.

So, why am i talking about that extension? It happens that i've written (twice actually) a set of ConQuery searchplugins dedicated to Gentoo related ressources.
They allow quick access web search on:
- Gentoo forums
- Gentoo mailing-lists archives (using GMane)
- Gentoo.org: documentation, GLEPs, GLSAs, etc. (using Google)
- Gentoo Bugzilla
- Gentoo-Wiki.org
They are all at least available in poor english, and some are available in french too.

Here are a few screenshots :
- my ConQuery menu, full of Gentoo searchplugins (plus a few others):
http://tdegreni.free.fr/gentoo/conquery/conquery-gentoo-menu.png
- an example search dialog (the Gmane archive one):
http://tdegreni.free.fr/gentoo/conquery/conquery-gentoo-example-dialog.png
- a more complex search dialog (Forum advanced search):
http://tdegreni.free.fr/gentoo/conquery/conquery-gentoo-complex-dialog.png
- the simple google plug for www.gentoo.org search (in French here, but is also available in english):
http://tdegreni.free.fr/gentoo/conquery/gentoo-simple-google-screenshot.png

If it sounds interesting to you, here is what to do:
- install the ConQuery extension (1.5.8 is latest stable atm).
- create a ~/.mozilla/conquery directory (for instance).
- configure ConQuery (in the Firefox "Tools" menu) so that it looks for his plugins in that directory (default is to use the same directory as Mycroft, which may not be a good idea). Look at the other options too, some are useful.
- download my tarball of plugins.
- unpack it somewhere (/tmp for instance), and copy the plugins you want to your ~/.mozilla/conquery. Each plugin is made of two files: the .cqr is the actual plugin, and the .png is its icon.
- try a Ctrl+right-click in Firefox for direct access to the plugins list, and have fun.

Most search plugins can use your current text selection as a search string : simple plugins will automatically perform the query if you have some selected text. More advanced plugins will just show you their dialog with your selection as the search string, so that you can tune more options. In all case, if you have no selected text, then you will be prompted with the plugin search dialog. And if you want to force a dialog to appear for a simple plugin despite you have selected text, use a Ctrl+click in the search plugins menu instead of a simple click.

Random notes:
- this plugins are all public domain, feel free to do whatever you want with them.
- corrections, additions, and even feature request, would be very welcome. Please just answer in that thread.
- if you want to play with the Gimp files of the icons, here they are.

Enjoy,

--
TGL.

[TGL]

Update : i've just fixed a few bugs on the gentoo-advanced-google.cqr, gentoo-advanced-google-french.cqr and gmane-search.cqr plugins. Fixed versions are in the 20050913 archive (the download link above has been changed).

[widu]

Nice work, thank you.
_________________
nature is a heterosexual fiction

[TGL]

I've made a little update on the forum search plugins, to include subforums. The download link in the first post should be up-to-date (last archive name is gentoo-plugins-20051113.tar.bz2).

[TGL]

Made an update to add some simplified www.gentoo.org Google search plugins. Screenshot (in french here, but the same is available in english too):
http://tdegreni.free.fr/gentoo/conquery/gentoo-simple-google-screenshot.png
The download link in the first post should be up-to-date (last archive name is gentoo-plugins-20051122.tar.bz2).