Hi Monty, > Personally I think all the special handling should be > removed unless it is needed for the toolbar to function > properly. Most of the special handling is left over from > when the toolbar only had a few builtin searches with no > searches directory full of search xml files.
People should not have to memorize 325 different search terms. If I put a mathematical equation into DQSD, I expect it to return the result. If I type a URL I expect it to open a browser to that page. If I type a phone number I want the reverse lookup result. If I type in an IP address I'd like to return information about that address (and the DNS IP tools do seem to be a better fit for it). Sure there are searches to provide that functionality, but I'd much rather not have to prepend what I'm already typing with another 5 characters or so for no good reason. I *seriously* rely on the auto-handlers for most of my use of DQSD. Phone numbers, IP addresses, and URL's make up at least 90% of my searches. So much so that I seriously considered replacing the 'default' search with ARIN because I use it far more than Google. But that's just me. The way I see it, if the content can be reliably presumed to be a specific type (ip address, CIDR, mathematic equation, URL, phone number, currency... These should be parsed and treated appropriately. If someone wants *alternative* features they can prefix with "gg " for google or the search term for the other search they want to use. By providing hooks for searches to be explicitly enabled and disabled as auto-handlers it would effectively give more atomic control over the exposed functionality, making it a better tool. However, I think removing the auto-handlers altogether, especially after having them as part of the core of DQSD for so long, is really hurting our users. Perhaps a global preferences variable for people that want to disable all of them without having to know what they are, something like: autodetect_use = false; What I envision is autohandlers being enabled by default for searches just by having the search turned on. If the user wants to disable a specific handler, like phone number detection, they can use: autodetect_phone_use = false; Or: autodetect_ip_use = false; Some searches, like 'dns,' have so many options that you might want to also specify parameters to be used when an autodetection is raised: autodetect_ip_options = "/cidr /ipwhois /spam"; I use CTRL+ENTER to hit .com's from a base name all the time. Likewise, I drag and drop stuff into DQSD all the time. If it weren't for the "select, drag, shift, drop, click, enter" I might have a much more enjoyable time of it. Yes, "dragdropautosearch" allows me to disable the auto-search functionality of a drag+drop, but what I'd really like is for it to be handled just like a def() so I don't have to take three extra steps to prevent it from googling for an IP address, for example. Ultimately, what I'd really like is to be able to have a design mentality within the searches that provides for allowing preferences to override natural behavior or set new default behavior for nearly everything that happens. All user interaction; all the events. There are searches that I alias to themselves just so I can set specific parameters I'll *always* use, since the searches don't provide a simple way of exposing atomic selection within default options. Am I alone in these goals? I looked around the DQSD and SF sites and don't see a roadmap. Are there any milestones for releases beyond the next one "to include support for XP-SP2? Regards, Shawn K. Hall http://12PointDesign.com/ http://ReliableAnswers.com/ '// ======================================================== To err is human. To correct is debugging. ------------------------------------------------------- The SF.Net email is sponsored by: Beat the post-holiday blues Get a FREE limited edition SourceForge.net t-shirt from ThinkGeek. It's fun and FREE -- well, almost....http://www.thinkgeek.com/sfshirt _______________________________________________ Archive: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/dqsd-devel
