Additional help in generating a Search Engine for ~~Firefox 1.5.x.x with Search Engine Ordering Extension~~ Firefox 2.0 with "Add to Search Bar" Extension.

Search Engine assistance in Generating

Location: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/firefox/searchengine.htm
Home page: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/firefox/firefox.htm [View without Frames]

Assistance in creating your own search engine

You can create a search engine using the "Add to Search Bar" extension by right clicking within a search form on a web page.

If you don't have a form and want to create one create a file:///c:/temp/mzkb.htm and place the following code with the input form within it.

You will also want a picture file (.ico or .png) to go with it, you will be asked to find on your system. If you have opened the site in Opera you will find it if you look at .ico files within file:///C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Opera\Opera\profile\images which you can open in File Manager. Open in Firefox and use Launchy to open the directory with File Explorer.

<html>
<head>
<title>
mozillaZine kb search
</title>
<body>
<form action="http://www.google.com/custom" method="get">
<input type="hidden" name="num" value="200">
<input type="hidden" name="domains" value="kb.mozillazine.org">
<input type="hidden" name="sitesearch" value="kb.mozillazine.org">
<input type="hidden" name="ie" value="UTF-8">
<input type="hidden" name="oe" value="UTF-8">
<input type="text" name="q" size=50>
<input type="hidden" name="hl" value="en">
<input type="submit" name="sa" value="search kb.mozillaZine">
</form>   /* ie & oe refer to input/output encoding char sets */ 
</body>
</html>

Your search form would look like this

Creating the above on the fly

It would probably be possible to modify code and use the generated search form all within a webpage -- check squarefree.com for a bookmarklet that generates HTML code that you can see.

Search Engines packaged with Firefox

Within C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins you will find XML files for six search engines with the one for Google set as the default.

Firefox 2

Search plugins will have to be redone in Firefox 2. These two links were found in comments of related article.

Creating MozSearch plugins - MDC
http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Creating_MozSearch_plugins
A9.com > OpenSearch
http://opensearch.a9.com/
Site Search Plugin Generator for Mozilla Firefox using Google, creates the search engine, creates a web form, this was used in the above example and you have to assign the icon when you install using "Add to Search Bar" extension on the form.
http://www.7is7.com/software/firefox/sitesearch.html

Search Engines were redone in Firefox 2 but the old ones work, and the only real change apparently after all the hype seems to be that Firefox now does the ordering, so the old "Search Engine Ordering" Extension has been replaced by the "Add to Search Bar" Extension so that you can still simply right click in a form to generate a search engine as you could in the old extension.

Morale of the story -- whenever Firefox incorporates an extension they never quite get it right, it won't be as good as the original, but it will be available automatically with Firefox. Expect more of the same philosophy in in Firefox 3 and compare to extensions already in use. Look at the convoluted steps you need to help find your profile which should should be builtin.

Mycroft Project search engine (#mycroft)

The Mycroft Project is a project to install search engines which have been built by many people. My suggestion is to grab the one you see that you want and can find easily then use the "Add to Search Engine" extension to add those not so easily found the first time.

Used to be that the link at the bottom of the search engines pointed to Mycroft, but it no longer does so (2008-04-07, Search Engine Selector ). Evidently Mozilla has chosen to squeeze out Mycroft and substitute search engines at addons.mozilla.org and has botched their own link, which should be.

You can still install the "Mycroft Project" search engine as follows: Start at http://mycroft.mozdev.org/install.html then under Specification: choose either
- Sherlock which is compatible with Mozilla-based browsers including Sea Monkey, or
- Opensearch which is compatible with Firefox 2 and Internet Explorer 7
Firefox users can use both Sherlock, and Open Source search engine plug-ins.

Then do a search on "Mycroft" in the site/URL box, and "Internet" in the Site Category box, then click one of the Internet search engines such as "Mycroft Project - All" and you will have installed a "Mycroft Project ..." search engine.

Add to Search Bar ♦, Extension provides the ability to effortlessly add your own search engines from any search form you find. Make any pages' search functionality available in the Search Bar (or "search box"). Just make a right click in a search field and choose "Add to Search Bar..." (replaces Search Engine Ordering Extension)
Firefox Keyword Shortcuts
Google Searches in Firefox
Creating OpenSearch plugins for Firefox - MDC. Open Search plugins work in both Firefox and IE7. Does not include search suggestions.
Learn to Create a Firefox Search Plugin in Less Than 2 Minutes » Digital Inspiration
Search Engine assistance in Generating, creating a search form on a webpage.
Search engines disappear from Search Bar - MozillaZine Knowledge Base
Unable to search or add new engines - MozillaZine Knowledge Base, delete search.sqlite from profile, will be recreated

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