Firefox and IE7 FLM Search Plugin

[FLL]

Sometimes it's a bit of a pain to search FLM by having to open up a new tab, load the search page,
and type the movie keyword. Ok, it's not the end of the world but it gets repetitive and boring
when you are used to using Firefox's or Internet Explorer 7's builtin search on the toolbar,
and all you want to do is a quick search to find that topic from 2 days ago. Also I can type a search once
and search in multiple places, including Opensubtitles.com and subbiee.com, which have their own plugins.

So I created a search plugin for Firefox. I am still using Firefox 2 (waiting for all my favorite extensions to be updated)
but since it's based on an open specification it should work fine in Firefox 3.
And there is an easier way to do the same thing in IE7.

Important: This capability has limitations, because of restrictions and limitations in FLM's bulletin board software.
Maybe ghost can fix this, maybe not, and if he does the plugin may need to be updated.
The search results are always in "post" form, not topics, ordered by date of last post, and show the first 200 characters of each post.
And some results are missing: a search for "Documentary" done with this quick search returns 101 results, the same search
from the search page returns 106 results.

Also, obviously, you need to be logged in to FLM already. So if you just opened the browser and you don't have your cookies set up
for FLM to remember you from session to session it won't work.

Even with these limitations it still usually saves me time. And if I don't find the results I am looking for I open up the search page and
try again. But don't use it to check whether a movie is at FLM before posting it, it's not reliable enough, even compared to normal FLM search.

In Firefox:

You need to create a file named "FLMsearch.xml". It should have the following comments (copy and paste): [Code] Installing it: go to your profile directory. (An easy way to find it is about:cache, it shows you the directory and take the /cache off the end).
In the profile directory there is a subdirectory named "searchplugins". Put the FLMsearch.xml file in the searchplugins directory.
Restart Firefox and you are set.

EDIT: the about:cache trick apparently doesn't find the right directory on all systems, see http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox and
try looking in or below the Mozilla or Firefox program directories.

In IE7:

Easier, for the nontechnical. In the search options dropdown where you choose which search to use, choose "Find more providers".
In the "Create your own" section of the resulting page enter the following URL: [Code] Give it a name, click install, and you are set.

Using the search:

In Firefox, Ctrl-K moves the cursor to the search box. Type your search, and select FLM with Ctrl-Up and Ctrl-Down or using the dropdown.
Enter searches in the current tab, Alt+Enter opens a new tab.

In IE7, it works the same except you use Ctrl-E instead of Ctrl-K to move to the search box.

[ghost]

Installing it: go to your profile directory. (An easy way to find it is about:cache, it shows you the directory and take the /cache off the end).
In the profile directory there is a subdirectory named "searchplugins". Put the FLMsearch.xml file in the searchplugins directory.
Restart Firefox and you are set.

Sounds interesting, but i haven't got a subdirectory in my cache called "searchplugins". Do i need to create it?

[FLL]

Installing it: go to your profile directory. (An easy way to find it is about:cache, it shows you the directory and take the /cache off the end).
In the profile directory there is a subdirectory named "searchplugins". Put the FLMsearch.xml file in the searchplugins directory.
Restart Firefox and you are set.

Sounds interesting, but i haven't got a subdirectory in my cache called "searchplugins". Do i need to create it?

No, go up one level, the searchplugins directory should be in the same directory as the cache directory.
It's your profile directory, which also has your bookmarks etc.

[ghost]

[Image]

Hmmmm

Using Firefox 3

[emuler]

If you go one level higher in the directory tree, what do you see?

[FLL]

Ok, in this case go up two levels... should be ......blah....\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\rwgfy3c5.default\searchplugins

If that still isn't right this page tells you how to locate the profiles directory, inside which is the searchplugins directory.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox

[ghost]

the folder wasn't in my profile, but in the program directory of Firefox!

Now it's working!!!

This is really cool Thanks FLL

[emuler]

Thanks, FLL. Works great.

Stay Tuned, a new and improved version is being prepared and will be available soon.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.