Eddie Awad's Blog » Extensions

New RSS Feed for Oracle Database 10g Documentation Search

Eddie Awad — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:00:10 +0000

How do you create an RSS feed for a web page that does not have one? you use Dapper. That’s what I did with the Oracle database 10gR2 search result page. I used the Dapper generated RSS feed for this page in my oradoc Ubiquity command.

John already had an RSS feed for the 11g documentation search results. He commented on my Ubiquity post:

A lot of the potential RSS goodness is tied up with the Web 2.0-style stuff in the 11g library. E.g. there are URLs for RSS feeds for new books, but have to find the right place(s) in the UI to link to them; for example, perhaps in the left navigation bar for each book. But the RSS feed for search results doesn’t have such dependencies, so it shouldn’t be a problem to backport.

So, a few days later, John email me the URL for the 10gR2 documentation search results RSS feed:

http://www.oracle.com/pls/db102/search?word=search_term&format=rss

and for 11gR1 it is:

http://www.oracle.com/pls/db111/search?word=search_term&format=rss

I have updated the oradoc Ubiquity command to use the new 10gR2 feed.

Thanks John, you rock!

Add Any Search Engine to Your Browser, The Easy Way

Eddie Awad — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 10:00:13 +0000

Whether you use Firefox or Internet Explorer, you probably know about this handy search box usually located at the top right corner of your browser window. This search box puts search engines at your fingertips and makes them easily available to you whenever you need them.

I have recorded a short three and a half minute screencast, with voice, that shows you how you can add any search engine to your browser’s search box, in just four clicks:

Useful Firefox Extension: ConQuery

Eddie Awad — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 19:58:20 +0000

If you use Firefox and have the Oracle Firefox search plugins installed, you know that you can easily search the Oracle documentation by typing your search terms in the search box up in the top right corner of your Firefox browser.

You can get to the search box by hitting Ctrl+K or just clicking your mouse inside the search box.

I have recently discovered a handy Firefox extension that allows you to interact with the search box in a different way. The extension is called ConQuery which stands for “Context sensitive web Query”.

ConQuery puts your regular searches to the context menu and allows you to search for selected text.

Click to see a larger picture

If no text is selected, ConQuery acts as a list of shortcuts to the search engines, allowing you to enter search terms manually.

Whenever you want to correct the content of the selected text, you may hold the Ctrl key while executing a search and ConQuery will bring you the configuration dialog for that engine. Edit the text and press OK to proceed, or Cancel to interrupt the query.

The Oracle Docs Firefox Extension has a similar functionality when you right click on a highlighted text on a web page.

One of the benefits of using Firefox is the availability of many useful extensions that can make your browser a more useful tool.

By the way, Firefox extensions will be re-named Add-ons in the next version of Firefox (2.0).

Oracle News Firefox 1.5 Extension

Eddie Awad — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 15:23:54 +0000

The extension is now compatible with Firefox 1.5.

If you have the extension in your Firefox extension list, but grayed out, just go to Tools > Extensions and click on the button “Find Updates”, an “Update Now” button should appear next to “Oracle News”. If no updates were found, then clear your Firefox cache and try again.

If you do not have the extension installed, just visit the extension’s main page to install it.

Oracle Docs Firefox Extension

Eddie Awad — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 14:53:23 +0000

I often find myself searching the Oracle documentation library for a particular term mentioned in the Oracle related blog or technical article that I am reading. Firefox is my favorite browser, so, for my search, I have a couple of options.

One option is to open up a new tab (Ctrl+t), type in tahiti.oracle.com in the address bar and hit enter, then type in what I am searching for then hit enter again.

Another option is to use my Oracle Docs Firefox search plugin. In the Firefox search box (top right corner), I make sure that Oracle Docs is selected, I type in what I am looking for then hit enter (usually I hit Alt+Enter to open the result in a new tab).

Now, there is even an easier and quicker way to search the Oracle documentation, the Oracle Docs Firefox Extension.

After you install the extension, you will be able to Alt+Click on any word in the web page you are reading to immediately search Oracle documentation for that word. Yes, it is as simple as an Alt+Click.

Moreover, the extension will add an option “Search Oracle Docs” to the menu that pops up when you right click the mouse. Selecting “Search Oracle Docs” will search Oracle documentation for the word you right clicked on.

If you want to search for more than one word, like for example ” initially deferred “, you can do that too. Just highlight the words and then right click on the highlight, select “Search Oracle Docs For …” and voila.

If you still want to type in your search criteria, you can still do that. The extension adds a sidebar to Firefox. Either hit Alt+O (which I find very handy) or, from the browser’s menu, select View – Sidebar – Oracle Docs Search.

You can type in whatever you want right there. This is similar to the search plugin I mentioned above. Or you can search within a specific version.

The Oracle Docs Firefox extension is compatible with all versions of Firefox, starting with 1.0 and including 1.5.

To install the Oracle Docs Firefox Extension:

From within Firefox, click this install link.
You may need to allow awads.net to install extensions into Firefox.
Follow the directions.
Once the installation is complete, restart Firefox.

Firefox will automatically check for updates to the extension, and prompt you if a new version is available.

Known issues: I have heavily borrowed from the Answers.com extension, and as a result, both extensions, if installed together, may not function properly.

To Do:

Add database versions to the options and allow you to set a default version for your search.
Add result formatting to the options and allow you to set a default format, like a virtual book for example.

Updated November 26, 2005: Modified the sidebar to allow you to search within a specific database version and set different search options.

For suggestions and feedback, please comment below.

Oracle News Firefox Extension

Eddie Awad — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 17:40:36 +0000

I have taken the Macromedia News Firefox extension and modified it, the result: The Oracle News Firefox extension.

If you use OraBlogs or OraNA to keep up with the latest from the Oracle blogging community, the Oracle News Firefox extension is for you. If you do not use the Firefox browser, now is a great time to switch. So, what does the Oracle News extension do?

The extension will place a small icon on the right side of Firefox’s status bar at the bottom of the window. By default, the icon will blink and turn to full red when new items on OraNA are found. To view the latest posts, simply click the icon, and a menu will open with the latest information. You can then click an item to open its web page within a tab in the browser. New items since the last refresh will be marked with a green check mark:

You can adjust preferences either by clicking the icon and choosing “preferences” or through the Firefox extension manager (Tools > Extensions):

Among the preferences, there are two rendering options. You can view items by source as shown above, or chronologically, you can also add the source next to the item:

To install the Oracle News Firefox Extension:

From within Firefox, click this install link.
You may need to allow awads.net to install extensions into Firefox.
Follow the directions.
Once the installation is complete, restart Firefox.

The extension also works in Thunderbird. To install in Thunderbird:

Download the extension from this link.
From within Thunderbird, open the Extension Manager (Tools > Extensions).
Click the install button and select the downloaded extension.
Once the installation is complete, restart Thunderbird.

Firefox and Thunderbird will automatically check for updates to the extension, and prompt you if a new version is available.

Known issues:

The Macromedia News extension and Oracle News extension do not play well together.

For feedback, please comment below.