[Applet] Search Applet 1.0 « Pointui

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[Applet] Search Applet 1.0

(40 posts)

Started 7 months ago by gorf1000
Latest reply from gorf1000

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gorf1000
Member
Hi Everybody,
This is my first attempt at an applet.

I liked the search function of the search bar that was included in the original releases of Home2 but none of us liked how much screen space it took up. I often want to quickly look up information so I put together a little search applet.

Thank you gronostaj for your search screen code and jo_keks for your launch icon code, this applet wouldn't be possible without your work. I've made sure to include credit within my code.

I designed this applet under QVGA but it should work fine on VGA.

RoadMap:

0.5
- [Complete] Build search buttons from selected_providers.xml - manual edit to add
- [Complete] Search pages for each selected provider

1.0
- [Complete] Fix remove bug - click-hold any icon and it removes the first button
- [Complete] Implement add screen on click add icon to add search providers from search_providers.xml

1.1
- [In Progress] Add ability to add an internet favorite instead of search option

Future
- Implement page to add new search engines without manually editing the xml file
- Add region field for searches that can include a zip code (i.e. Fandango)
- Remove search options from the selection screen that are already selected
- Build search widget for PointSense v2

Future Search Engines
- whois

---- Usage Instructions ----
-Click on a plus icon to add a search button, you'll be given a list of search provider options.

-Click and hold on a search button to remove it.

-Enter text and click search to open a web browser and search the selected page.

-To add search providers as options you can edit the Search_Providers.xml in this format:

<Provider1>
<Search_Name>AltaVista</Search_Name>
<Search_String>http://www.altavista.com/web/results?q=</Search_String>
<Icon>Altavista.Icon.jif</Icon>
<Title>Altavista.Title.jif</Title>
</Provider1>
* You'll need to create the two jif files for the button and the title image, the icon needs to be 48x48 (QVGA) and 96x96 (VGA), and the title should be around 148 wide (QVGA) and 296 wide (VGA), the title does not need to be exact.

- To add more buttons (I default to nine spaces), edit the Selected_Providers.xml and add blank elements to the end, for example add:
<Provider10>
<Search_Name></Search_Name>
<Search_String></Search_String>
<Icon></Icon>
<Title></Title>
<pos>10</pos>
</Provider10>

------------------

Also, I'm not very good with graphics, I just don't have the time to make them look good. I could really use someone to make some good icons (something fairly uniform) and search page title images.

The current list of supported search engines is:
Altavista
Amazon
Bible Gateway
Bing
eBay
Fandango
Google
Gracenote
Internet Movie DB
Roller Coaster DB
US Patent Office
Wikipedia
Yahoo
YouTube

** If you add new search engines please post the xml code and images here so we can all use them, and I'll incorporate them all into any future releases of the code.
Attachments
1. Search_1.0_VGA.zip (243.5 KB, 181 downloads) 6 months old
2. Search_1.0_QVGA.zip (99.3 KB, 298 downloads) 6 months old
3. Search_Screen_4.png (21.7 KB, 19 downloads) 7 months old
4. Search_Screen_3.png (21.7 KB, 4 downloads) 7 months old
5. Search_Screen_2.png (24 KB, 9 downloads) 7 months old
6. Search_Screen_1.png (44.5 KB, 11 downloads) 7 months old
Posted 7 months ago #
michaelp
Member

looking good... !

Posted 7 months ago #
gorf1000
Member

I'm ready to release the finished applet, does anyone know how I can contact gronostaj and jo_keks to get their okay to use their code?

Also is there anyone that could help me out with graphics? I have graphics now for all the buttons and title images, but I would love to have something that looks more uniform and sleeker.

Thanks everyone, I hope to have it up very soon.

Posted 6 months ago #
zelendel
Member

The best bet to get ahold of them would be to post in their threads.

Posted 6 months ago #
fouad796
Member

very nice

Posted 6 months ago #
bfarkin
Member

Great! Just what I've been waiting for!

Posted 6 months ago #
gorf1000
Member

Applet released, please let me know how it works on VGA I haven't been able to test that. Enjoy everyone!

Posted 6 months ago #
bfarkin
Member

Works very well (Elf, QVGA). Amazingly fast, actually. Many thanks!

Bernard

Posted 6 months ago #
gorf1000
Member

Thanks Bernard, it's not very complex code so it should move pretty quickly, if I learn more about collections and such I can probably shrink it even more.

I'm kind of dissapointed at the overall size of the applet but it's hefty from the images.

Posted 6 months ago #
gunner22
Member

Hey i put this applet on my omnia but it will not show up when I enable it. Blank page.

Posted 6 months ago #
gorf1000
Member

Gunner, can you look in your home2 folder and look to see if there is a script_errors.txt file (or something similar). I'm using an Omnia so I'm surprised it didn't work. If it crashed it would create an error log. If there is an error log if you can put it up here I'll take a look at it and try to figure out what didn't work.

Thanks for trying it out!

Posted 6 months ago #
datristan
Member

works great on my omnia...

one suggestion... the big logos (once you select the search engine... it might look better if you make the backgrounds transparent, not white...

If you're not sure how to do this, attach the original png's & i'll fix them for you

"I am geek... hear me type"

Posted 6 months ago #
Darth
Member

I agree with datristan, this needs better logos...

Posted 6 months ago #
gorf1000
Member

As soon as I get home I'll attach the png's, like I said in my first post I definitely needed some help with the graphics. I mainly put those out there to have something for them. Thanks for the help guys! Once we get updated graphics I'll update the download link, I'm also planning to add some more search options.

Posted 6 months ago #
gunner22
Member

Hey I will get you the error log when i get a chance. Been super busy. i am also using theat pointsense v2. Maybe its not compatible? Either way I'll try and post the error log later today.

Posted 6 months ago #
flint420
Member

I get just a blank page on my htc touch. could it be because i have pointui installed on my storage card?

Posted 6 months ago #
bfarkin
Member

@flint420: I also have the touch and this applet installed on the card and it works perfectly.

Bernard

Posted 6 months ago #
gunner22
Member
@Gorf1000, hey here is the errorlog file. sorry it took so long.
Attachments
1. ScriptErrors.txt (0.3 KB, 4 downloads) 6 months old
Posted 6 months ago #
gorf1000
Member
@gunner, when you unzipped the file did you save just the "search" directory under your respective resolution in the applet_ribbon folder? It looks like it saved the directory as search_1.0 which is the name of the zip file. When you unzip there should be two sub-directories, one for QVGA and one for VGA and under those directories is the Search directory you need to put into the applet_ribbon directory. Take a look at that and let me know if that works.

@datristan, I've attached a zip of the png's, if you could help me out with them I'd really appreciate it!

Anyone have any ideas for other search's they'd like to see added to this applet? I'm working on a new release that I'll include them in.
Attachments
1. Images.zip (768.1 KB, 14 downloads) 6 months old
Posted 6 months ago #
flint420
Member

i am getting the same error as gunner. i do have just the search directory copied to the applets folder.

*update*

i got it to work once i upgraded my version of home 2

Posted 6 months ago #
gorf1000
Member

Flint, what version of Home2 where you running?

Posted 6 months ago #
Montecristoff
Pointui

Hi gorf1000,

Simple and efficient! Very useful, thanks!

>>> Added in the Store

Posted 6 months ago #
flint420
Member

i was using 2.0.32

Posted 6 months ago #
qper
Member

can somebody help me with the xml code to add mp3raid.com?

Posted 6 months ago #
gorf1000
Member

mp3raid is going to be a little tricky because of the nature of it's search engine. I'll have to do some modification to the code. The xml would look something like this:

<Provider14>
<Search_Name>Mp3Raid</Search_Name>
<Search_String>http://www.mp3raid.com/music/</Search_String>
<Icon>Mp3raid.Icon.jif</Icon>
<Title>Mp3raid.Title.jif</Title>
</Provider14>

The problem comes in that it's search adds a ".html" to the end of the search parameter and replaces all spaces in the parameter with "_". Right now I don't have a way to handle something like that. It would have to be something built in specifically for this search.

I'm going to see if I can dissect their main page a little bit and get to the root of their search function.

Posted 6 months ago #
datristan
Member

thnx have got images, working on them...

requires a bit of artistic lisence as i have to think of how each of these images will look on both a bright background & on dark ones...

working on it though...

DaTristan

Posted 6 months ago #
datristan
Member

oh yeah to save confusion it may be an idea to have a QVGA zip file and a VGA zip file.

Posted 6 months ago #
gorf1000
Member

@datristan - removed the single zip and added a separate zip for QVGA and VGA.

Posted 6 months ago #
cassith
Member

didn't work on my touch pro. just gave me a blank screen...

Posted 6 months ago #
zealster
Member
I was playing around with the links and noticed you can spell with them.. Lol..

On a serious note though, you can totally easily turn this into a favorites applet by adding more icons (at least in QVGA) and just eliminating the search part.

Also I tried making the title images transparent, but I'm not that good at photoshop so they ended up looking really yucky. I sort of gave up and start searching for ones that have already been made, and there are alot of transparent logos for these large search engines.
Attachments
1. Screen001.png (71 KB, 1 downloads) 6 months old
Posted 6 months ago #

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