by robotix1986
19. June 2009 19:26
Hi Folks,
was just trying out some of the accelerators that are available for IE8. I got thinking, why not make a custom one of my own… was it going to be rocket science or child’s play… i was bout to find out… well it turns out that it ain’t that complex.. in fact it is pretty straight-forward.
it involves basically just two main steps: -
-
Create the XML file known as the Service XML. Refer to the sample below.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<openServiceDescription xmlns="http://www.microsoft.com/schemas/openservicedescription/1.0">
<homepageUrl>http://www.robotix1986.com/code/IE8Add-ons.aspx</homepageUrl>
<display>
<name>Sample Search Accelerator</name>
<description>get a list of Friends and Family Birthdays</description>
</display>
<activity category="Search">
<activityAction context="selection">
<preview method="get" action="http://www.robotix1986.com/code/SampleSearch.aspx">
<parameter name="query" value="{selection}" type="text"></parameter>
</preview>
<execute method="get" action="http://www.robotix1986.com/code/SampleSearch.aspx">
<parameter name="query" value="{selection}" type="text"></parameter>
</execute>
</activityAction>
</activity>
</openServiceDescription>
As you can see above, the xml is pretty much self explanatory. It gives basic information pertaining to the accelerator.
-
Now that you have this XML ready all you need to do is create a page from where you can add this accelerator to your browser. All you need on the page is a button which makes a simple call. Sample is given below.
<button onclick="window.external.AddService('http://www.robotix1986.com/code/Data/SampleAccelerator.xml');"> Add SampleAccelerator to your browser</button>
Happy Exploring!!
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