Newscan Search Gadget
Make your site easier to navigate with the Newscan Search Gadget
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A Flexible Search Tool
This gadget can be used for a variety of purposes, however, the most common use would be
to create a searchable index of your web site. With that in mind, this tutorial will
describe the steps for doing just that.
Example:
This example searches a small list of keywords and URLs. Our sample list is very small, so try searching
for something we know is in the file like 'help' or 'storage'.
The raw HTML:
<form action=/cgi-bin/newscan>
Search for: <input name=key value=e>
<input type=hidden name=file value=help/gadgets/newscan>
<input type=hidden name=template value=help/gadgets/newscan>
<input type=submit value=Search></form>
Here are links to the data,
header,
template, and footer
files.
The Data file and the TEMPLATE
Building your template is the key to working this gadget. The gadget
simply searches through your (TAB delimited data) file and pulls out
any lines (records) that match. It then uses the tabs within the line
to separate it into fields.
Let's look at the example data file. The line containing the link to the online help actually
contains "help" followed by a TAB character followed by "http://www.comevisit.com/help" (and ended with a new-line, or
carriage-return and new-line). It looks like this:
help http://www.comevisit.com/help
As we said, the gadget breaks this up into fields. In this case it
breaks it up into two fields, one containing "help" and the other
"http://www.comevisit.com/help".
In the template we refer to the fields by their position number. The
first field is {0}, and the second field is {1} (if there were more
the numbering would just continue {2}, {3} ...).
The first template looks like this:
Name: {0} <br>
Site: <A HREF="{1}">{1} </a><hr>
So the matching line comes out like:
Name: help <br>
Site: <A HREF="http://www.comeilding your template is the key to working this gadget. The gadget
simply searches through your (TAB delimited data) file and pulls out
any lines (records) that match. It then uses the tabs within the line
to separate it into fields.
Let's look at the example data file. The line containing the link to the online help actually
contains "help" followed by a TAB character followed by "http://www.comevisit.com/help" (and ended with a new-line, or
carriage-return and new-line). It looks like this:
help http://www.comevisit.com/help
As we said, the gadget breaks this up into fields. In this case it
breaks it up into two fields, one containing "help" and the other
"http://www.comevisit.com/help".
In the template we refer to the fields by their position number. The
first field is {0}, and the second field is {1} (if there were more
the numbering would just continue {2}, {3} ...).
The first template looks like this:
Name: {0} <br>
Site: <A HREF="{1}">{1} </a><hr>
So the matching line comes out like:
Name: help <br>
Site: <A HREF="http://www.comevisit.com/help">http://www.comevisit.com/help </a><hr>
Fine Points...
A maximum hit count has been implemented. It defaults to 100. Ask
support@comevisit.com for
instructions on how to change it. [It isn't posted here to stop people
from writing their own forms and stealing your whole database!]
The gadget is by default NOT case-sensitive. To turn on case
sensitivity, add
<input type="hidden" name="f_case" value="Y" > to your form.
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Copyright © 1996, ComeVisit.com
Last Updated: Tuesday, 20-Jan-1998 01:02:48 PST
Questions/Comments support@comevisit.com
Access Count: 21990