Scroogle search URL filter

[Oddysey]

JJoe,

Your answer jibes with what I thought I knew already. (Whew!).

I need to reiterate what I've observed so far. Using IE, with or without Proxo's Alias filter (a prepended period), with a catchall as the last entry in the list (URL Alias List.txt) as indicated, I get these results:

w/o Proxo;
-- A single search term, IE attempts to go to a site by that name. If it doesn't exist, IE simply returns "Page cannot be displayed".
-- Multiple search terms using hyphens as separators, IE attempts to go to a site by that name, just as if it were a single term.
-- Multiple search terms using spaces as separators causes IE to attempt to search on the terms (which it can't do, on my system).

w/ Proxo;
-- A single search term takes me to Google (or Scroogle) just fine.
-- Multiple search terms using spaces as separators breaks IE...... it tries to go to its default search engine (auto.search.msn.com). I suppose I could write a re-direct filter for that behavior, but not yet.
-- Multiple search terms with hyphens works, I get to Google (or Scroogle) just fine. However, the hyphens are inclusive in the search results. If I manually adjust the search terms within the box at the top of the Scroogle results page (replacing the hyphens with spaces), I get entirely different results. From this, I must deduce that hyphens are not a good substitute for spaces.

Worse, if I use hyphens to separate the terms, I get a trailing backslash at the end of the query. (Again, this happens in both Google and Scroogle.) That doesn't seem to be affecting the search results, but I can't be 100% certain of that. In any event, it is bad form to insert characters that were not inserted by the user, and that may or may not have a direct bearing on the desired results, I'm sure you'll agree. Whether it's Proxo or IE that's doing that, I can't be sure. (The log window is no help here.)

So, is all of this worth any more effort? I dunno, but what I can tell you is that there is an even easier answer, one that is guaranteed to work, at least for IE. Whazzat?, you ask. Easy, it's an entry in your Registry. You might not know IE supports an Alias feature all on its own, sans Proxo. You merely have to type in the alias that you've previously setup, enter any parameters such as search terms, and off goes IE, merrily bringing back your query's results. In the Registry, navigate down to CurrentUser/Software/Microsoft/Internet Explorer/SearchURL, and make a new key. Set the default value to the search engine's address, and use the characters %s as the search parameter that will be filled in on the address bar. I've attached a screen capture of my entry for Scroogle.

While I desire to know more intimately what goes on underneath the hood of my browser, it's not important to me that I accomplish a mission in one particular way. So long as I can get the results I want, then I'm happy. If anyone can make the filter work without the need for hyphens, great, I'll check it out. Short of that, I'll continue to use the Registry entry with no qualms.


Oddysey

p.s. Registry key names can be any length, including one character. I just like full names for clarity. Also, what you type in the address bar is case-insensitive, google and Google yield the same results.



  scroogle_key.gif (Size: 23.05 KB / Downloads: 937)