Even though the “Format results into a virtual book” has always been an option for displaying Oracle documentation search results, I have never paid attention to it until Tom Kyte mentioned it in his latest podcast. After trying out this option a couple of times, I noticed that it could easily be converted to a Firefox search plugin. Unlike my other Oracle documentation search plugin, this one is version specific. I have created three search plugins, one for Oracle DB version 8.1.7, one for 9.2 and another for 10.2. The result of the search is directly formatted into a virtual book.
I successfully tested the Oracle documentation search plugins on both Firefox 1.0.7 and 1.5 (Beta). I noticed one difference though, which is not related to how the search plugins work but to where each FF version installs them. the plugin files in FF 1.0 were stored in the FF installation directory (usually C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins), whereas in FF 1.5 they were stored in the user’s profile directory (usually C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles...).
Back to the Oracle documentation search. Here are a couple of tips. You can refine your search results by using boolean operators and wildcard characters. Very helpful sometimes. Also note that searches are case insensitive.
Finally, it seems to me that if I use the same search string to search the documentation for versions 8.1.7, 9.2 and 10.2, version 9.2 always produces fewer (virtual book) results than the other two. Consider the following examples:
- create tablespace: 8.1.7, 9.2, 10.2
- pl/sql datatype: 8.1.7, 9.2, 10.2
- SQL operators: 8.1.7, 9.2, 10.2
Do you notice the same thing?
Possibly related:
- Oracle Metalink Firefox search plugin
- Oracle Firefox search plugin
- Oracle Docs Firefox Extension
- See How Easily You Can Search Oracle
- Search Oracle Documentation Google Style
Tagged Documentation, Firefox, plugin, search | Post a Comment
Hope everything is working out...
Tested the “drop user” command, it does give fewer results with the oracle92 virtual book generator. It lists the links found with relevant details correctly but does not give the details as it does with oracle10.2 and oracle817
And thanks again for the plugins. How about a search plugin for metalink as well
Cheers
September 26th, 2005, at 9:07 am #Amar
Checked for DUMP, expecting the SQL reference for the function. 9iR2 didn’t turn up that (but did turn up a few other things such as USER\_DUMP\_DEST) but 8i and 10G both did.
September 26th, 2005, at 3:20 pm #DECODE is similar. Perhaps some books aren’t being searched for the 9iR2 version ?
_How about a search plugin for metalink as well_
Why not! I’ll look into it.
_Perhaps some books aren’t being searched for the 9iR2 version ?_
Maybe. I wish someone from Oracle could shed some light on this issue.
September 26th, 2005, at 4:47 pm #[…] Similar to my other two Firefox search plugins (found here and here), I have now created a plugin to search Metalink (as promised). You can download it from here. […]
October 6th, 2005, at 4:56 am #[…] Eddie Awad, has done it again! He has created version specific oracle documentation search plugins (for oracle8.1.7,oracle9.2 and oracle10.2). So if you want to find something specific to a version of Oracle, try this out. […]
October 8th, 2005, at 1:07 am #