Localized Search in Firefox Search Box

Project Name

Localized Search in Firefox Search Box

Project Description

Firefox features a search box that can be customized to work with different search engines (e.g., Google, Yahoo!, Wikipedia, etc.). Most websites have their own search facilities, but the location of the search box on the page varies considerably. This project creates a mechanism for Firefox to pick up a web site's search mechanism and make it accessible to the user through the Firefox search box so that users have a consistent place to look for site-specific search.

Project Leader

Kerry M. Singh

Project Contributions

Web Site List

• Please list web sites that have OpenSearch search plugins that can be "Added" to the searchbar's list of search engines. For example, the searchbar's drop-down list's button changes blue in color when Firefox detects a web site with an OpenSearch plugin.

• Bugzilla@Mozilla

• Facebook

• The Globe and Mail

• IBM Search

• Microsoft's Live Search

• Mozilla Developer Center

• Yellow Pages

• YouTube

• Wikipedia

Project Details

Release v.01

This release demonstrates my understanding of how some searchbar features currently work in the Firefox browser. I've uploaded a patch file that outputs a series of dump("DIAGNOSTIC MESSAGE: function name - what the source code is doing") statements to the terminal window while running a debug build of Firefox (i.e. Minefield). Specifically, what functions/methods are called and what is happening in the source code with respect to the searchbar menu when the following events occur:

• The browser auto-detects a site that has a search plugin available.
• The user selects the button to display the search engine list when a search plugin is available.
• The user selects the option to "Add this search engine".
• The user changes the current search engine by selecting it from the search bar drop-down list (menu).
• The user moves the position of a search engine using the Search Engine Manager.
• The user removes an auto-detected search engine from the list of "installed" search engines.

Downloading and applying the patch

1. Download the patch file to the root mozilla directory of your source tree and unzip the file there. I suggest renaming the file localsearchpatch_v01.txt.

• NOTE: This patch requires that you use a DEBUG build of firefox. To see the output messages from the dump() statements in the patch, you have to enable it by setting the preference browser.dom.window.dump.enabled to true. You can set this preference in about:config or in a user.js file. This preference is not listed in about:config by default, so you may need to create it. Enter about:config in the browser's address bar -> right-click the empty content area -> New -> Boolean.
• You can preview the patch here: Localized Search in Firefox Search Box: Release v.01

2. Apply the patch.

 $ cd mozilla
 $ patch -p0 < localsearchpatch_v01.txt

• NOTE: Use the -p0 option to strip 0 leading directories from each filename in the patch because it is being applied in the same directory where the patch was created.

3. Build your source tree.

 $ cd mozilla
 $ make -f client.mk build

4. Run the browser to test the patch.

 $ cd objdir/dist/bin
 $ ./firefox --ProfileManager --no-remote

How to use the patch

1. Navigate to a web site that offers a search engine plugin:

• Bugzilla@Mozilla
• Mozilla Developer Center
• The Globe and Mail

Note the DIAGNOSTIC MESSAGE in the terminal window.

2. Click the searchbar's dropdown menu button.

• Note the DIAGNOSTIC MESSAGE in the terminal window and the "Add this engine" option on the searchbar menu.

3. Click the "Add this engine" option on the searchbar menu.

• Note the DIAGNOSTIC MESSAGE in the terminal window and the position of the newly added search engine on the searchbar menu.

4. Select "Manage Search Engines..." from the searchbar menu and select the newly installed engine from the list. Click the "Remove" button and then click "OK".

• Note the DIAGNOSTIC MESSAGES in the terminal window.

5. Select "Manage Search Engines..." from the searchbar menu and select one of the installed engines on the list. Next, click the "Move Up" and "Move Down" buttons and then click "OK".

• Note the DIAGNOSTIC MESSAGES in the terminal window.

6. Click the searchbar's dropdown menu button and select a different search engine as the current engine.

• Note the DIAGNOSTIC MESSAGES in the terminal window.

How to remove the patch

• You can back-out a patch by using the patch command with the -R or --reverse option. This swaps the new file with the old one to reverse the patch.

 $ cd mozilla
 $ patch -R -p0 < localsearchpatch_v01.txt

Release v.02

The target for this release was to dynamically "Add" a search engine plugin when Firefox loads a web page with an available search plugin, and then propagate the search engine to the top of the searchbar's menu as the current engine. The propagation of a newly added search engine as the current engine in the searchbar's menu was already a behavioral feature of Firefox 3 so there were no changes required for this part of my release target. Determining how to dynamically "Add" an available search engine plugin was challenging to achieve, but in the end, it only required a few modifications to the code in the browser.js file.

Patch File

• The modifications to the code in browser.js are shown below in a copy of the patch file for this release:

? localsearchpatch_v02.txt
? nohup.out
? objdir-ff-debug
Index: browser/base/content/browser.js
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/mozilla/browser/base/content/browser.js,v
retrieving revision 1.961
diff -u -8 -p -r1.961 browser.js
--- browser/base/content/browser.js	10 Feb 2008 06:57:05 -0000	1.961
+++ browser/base/content/browser.js	11 Feb 2008 19:57:26 -0000
@@ -2780,16 +2780,19 @@ const BrowserSearch = {
     // If this engine (identified by title) is already in the list, add it
     // to the list of hidden engines rather than to the main list.
     // XXX This will need to be changed when engines are identified by URL;
     // see bug 335102.
     var searchService = Cc["@mozilla.org/browser/search-service;1"].
                         getService(Ci.nsIBrowserSearchService);
     if (searchService.getEngineByName(engine.title))
       hidden = true;
+    else
+      // Dynamically "Add" the web site's search engine plugin.
+      searchService.addEngine(engine.href, Components.interfaces.nsISearchEngine.DATA_XML, iconURL, false);
 
     var engines = (hidden ? browser.hiddenEngines : browser.engines) || [];
 
     engines.push({ uri: engine.href,
                    title: engine.title,
                    icon: iconURL });
 
     if (hidden)

Code Modifications

Prior to my code modifications, the addEngine() function received a reference to an anonymous JavaScript engine object which was passed as a parameter to the function by the onLinkAdded() function that created it. Then, addEngine() used an nsIBrowserSearchService object to determine if the search engine was already on the list of engines. The addEngine() function used the title property of the engine object to "get" an nsISearchEngine object with a corresponding name property. If the search engine was on the list, then it was considered to be a "hidden" engine and it was pushed onto the browser.hiddenEngines array. This array is used by the search.xml file to determine how to populate and display the search engines on the searchbar menu. If the search engine was not on the list, it was pushed onto the "non-hidden", browser.engines array. The search engine would then be displayed as an "Add <Search Engine>" item on the searchbar menu and the searchbar button's background color would be changed to blue after a call to the updateSearchButton() function.

My code modifications alter the original addEngine() function by adding the new search plugin if is NOT on the list. The search plugin is dynamically "Added" by calling the addEngine() function defined in the nsSearchService.js file. This function completes the important step of creating a new nsISearchEngine object. It is this type of object that is required by important methods in search.xml, such as observe(),offerNewEngine() and hideNewEngine(). The remainder of the code follows the normal code paths.

How to Use the Patch

1. Copy and paste all of the text from the patch file into a text file and name the file localsearchpatch_v02.txt. Save the file to your root mozilla directory. Then, apply the patch and recompile your mozilla source code as described in the release v.01 notes.

2. Start-up Firefox 3 (i.e. Minefield) and go to a web site that offers a search engine plugin:

• Mozilla Developer Center
• The Globe and Mail
• Yellow Pages

3. Notice that the search plugin has been dynamically loaded and added to the searchbar's list of "hidden" engines. The newly added search engine appears as the current engine and it can be used to search the web site.

4. Notice also that the "Add <Search Engine>" menu item is not displayed and the searchbar's drop-down list button did not turn blue because the search plugin was dynamically loaded.

5. Open the "Manage Search Engines" dialog box and "Remove" the dynamically loaded search engine. It will now appear on the the searchbar's list as an "Add <Search Engine>" menu item. It can then be added back as normal to the searchbar's list.

6. Clicking Firefox's reload button will reload the web page and trigger the code for the search plugin to be dynamically added to the list if it is not already on the searchbar's list of "hidden" engines.

Release v.03

The target for this release was to build upon Release v.02 by dynamically "Removing" the dynamically "Added" search engine when the user navigates away from the web site offering the search plugin. I arrived at two solutions for this release and they are discussed in the next two sub-sections.

Release v.03.1

The first solution, version 0.3.1, dynamically removes the search engine when the user navigates away from the site. If the user chooses to manually remove the search plugin from the list of installed engines, the search engine is then placed on the list of available engines as an "Add <Search Engine>" searchbar menu item. The user may now manually "Add" the available search engine as usual and it will not be dynamically removed from the list of installed engines on the searchbar list when the user navigates to another web site.

Patch File - localsearchpatch_v031.txt

? localsearchpatch_v031.txt
? nohup.out
? objdir-ff-debug
Index: browser/base/content/browser.js
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/mozilla/browser/base/content/browser.js,v
retrieving revision 1.962
diff -u -8 -p -r1.962 browser.js
--- browser/base/content/browser.js	13 Feb 2008 10:40:03 -0000	1.962
+++ browser/base/content/browser.js	14 Feb 2008 00:34:15 -0000
@@ -97,16 +97,19 @@ var gContextMenu = null;
 
 var gChromeState = null; // chrome state before we went into print preview
 
 var gSanitizeListener = null;
 
 var gAutoHideTabbarPrefListener = null;
 var gBookmarkAllTabsHandler = null;
 
+// Global variable that holds an nsISearchEngine object.
+var gAddedEngine = null;
+
 #ifdef XP_MACOSX
 var gClickAndHoldTimer = null;
 #endif
 
 #ifndef XP_MACOSX
 var gEditUIVisible = true;
 #endif
 
@@ -2780,16 +2783,19 @@ const BrowserSearch = {
     // If this engine (identified by title) is already in the list, add it
     // to the list of hidden engines rather than to the main list.
     // XXX This will need to be changed when engines are identified by URL;
     // see bug 335102.
     var searchService = Cc["@mozilla.org/browser/search-service;1"].
                         getService(Ci.nsIBrowserSearchService);
     if (searchService.getEngineByName(engine.title))
       hidden = true;
+    else
+      // Dynamically "Add" the web site's search engine plugin.
+      gAddedEngine = searchService.addEngine(engine.href, Components.interfaces.nsISearchEngine.DATA_XML, iconURL, false);
 
     var engines = (hidden ? browser.hiddenEngines : browser.engines) || [];
 
     engines.push({ uri: engine.href,
                    title: engine.title,
                    icon: iconURL });
 
     if (hidden)
@@ -3849,18 +3855,27 @@ nsBrowserStatusHandler.prototype =
     this.onProgressChange(gBrowser.webProgress, 0, 0, aTotalProgress, 1);
   },
 
   startDocumentLoad : function(aRequest)
   {
     // clear out feed data
     gBrowser.mCurrentBrowser.feeds = null;
 
+    var searchService = Cc["@mozilla.org/browser/search-service;1"].
+                        getService(Ci.nsIBrowserSearchService);
+    // Remove the dynamically added search engine if it is on the list.
+    try {
+	    if (searchService.getEngineByName(gAddedEngine.name))
+        searchService.removeEngine(gAddedEngine);
+    } catch (e) {
+    }
+
     // clear out search-engine data
-    gBrowser.mCurrentBrowser.engines = null;    
+    gBrowser.mCurrentBrowser.engines = null;  
 
     const nsIChannel = Components.interfaces.nsIChannel;
     var urlStr = aRequest.QueryInterface(nsIChannel).URI.spec;
     var observerService = Components.classes["@mozilla.org/observer-service;1"]
                                     .getService(Components.interfaces.nsIObserverService);
     try {
       observerService.notifyObservers(content, "StartDocumentLoad", urlStr);
     } catch (e) {
Index: browser/components/search/nsIBrowserSearchService.idl
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/mozilla/browser/components/search/nsIBrowserSearchService.idl,v
retrieving revision 1.20
diff -u -8 -p -r1.20 nsIBrowserSearchService.idl
--- browser/components/search/nsIBrowserSearchService.idl	11 Sep 2007 16:07:11 -0000	1.20
+++ browser/components/search/nsIBrowserSearchService.idl	14 Feb 2008 00:34:16 -0000
@@ -187,19 +187,21 @@ interface nsIBrowserSearchService : nsIS
    * @param confirm
    *        A boolean value indicating whether the user should be asked for
    *        confirmation before this engine is added to the list.  If this
    *        value is false, the engine will be added to the list upon successful
    *        load, but it will not be selected as the current engine.
    *
    * @throws NS_ERROR_FAILURE if the type is invalid, or if the description
    *         file cannot be successfully loaded.
+   *
+   * @returns the created engine.
    */
-  void addEngine(in AString engineURL, in long dataType, in AString iconURL,
-                 in boolean confirm);
+  nsISearchEngine addEngine(in AString engineURL, in long dataType, in AString iconURL,
+                 	    in boolean confirm);
 
   /**
    * Adds a new search engine, without asking the user for confirmation and
    * without starting to use it right away.
    *
    * @param name
    *        The search engine's name. Must be unique. Must not be null.
    *
Index: browser/components/search/nsSearchService.js
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/mozilla/browser/components/search/nsSearchService.js,v
retrieving revision 1.108
diff -u -8 -p -r1.108 nsSearchService.js
--- browser/components/search/nsSearchService.js	29 Jan 2008 19:39:20 -0000	1.108
+++ browser/components/search/nsSearchService.js	14 Feb 2008 00:34:18 -0000
@@ -2731,16 +2731,17 @@ SearchService.prototype = {
       var engine = new Engine(uri, aDataType, false);
       engine._initFromURI();
     } catch (ex) {
       LOG("addEngine: Error adding engine:\n" + ex);
       throw Cr.NS_ERROR_FAILURE;
     }
     engine._setIcon(aIconURL, false);
     engine._confirm = aConfirm;
+    return engine;
   },
 
   removeEngine: function SRCH_SVC_removeEngine(aEngine) {
     ENSURE_ARG(aEngine, "no engine passed to removeEngine!");
 
     var engineToRemove = null;
     for (var e in this._engines)
       if (aEngine.wrappedJSObject == this._engines[e])

Release v.03.2

Similarly to the first solution, the second solution (version 0.3.2) dynamically removes the auto-detected search engine when the user navigates to a different web site unless the user manually adds the "Add <Search Engine>" menu item from the searchbar's list of available engines. This version also dynamically removes the dynamically "Added" search engine from the list of installed engines on the searchbar list and places it on the list of available engines as an "Add <Search Engine>" menu item when the user clicks the searchbar's button to display the engine list. At this time, the user can choose to manually "Add" the auto-detected search plugin and it will remain on the list of installed engines when the user navigates to another web site.

Patch File - localsearchpatch_v032.txt

? localsearchpatch_v032.txt
? nohup.out
? objdir-ff-debug
Index: browser/base/content/browser.js
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/mozilla/browser/base/content/browser.js,v
retrieving revision 1.962
diff -u -8 -p -r1.962 browser.js
--- browser/base/content/browser.js	13 Feb 2008 10:40:03 -0000	1.962
+++ browser/base/content/browser.js	14 Feb 2008 00:14:06 -0000
@@ -97,16 +97,19 @@ var gContextMenu = null;
 
 var gChromeState = null; // chrome state before we went into print preview
 
 var gSanitizeListener = null;
 
 var gAutoHideTabbarPrefListener = null;
 var gBookmarkAllTabsHandler = null;
 
+// Global variable that holds an nsISearchEngine object.
+var gAddedEngine = null;
+
 #ifdef XP_MACOSX
 var gClickAndHoldTimer = null;
 #endif
 
 #ifndef XP_MACOSX
 var gEditUIVisible = true;
 #endif
 
@@ -2780,16 +2783,19 @@ const BrowserSearch = {
     // If this engine (identified by title) is already in the list, add it
     // to the list of hidden engines rather than to the main list.
     // XXX This will need to be changed when engines are identified by URL;
     // see bug 335102.
     var searchService = Cc["@mozilla.org/browser/search-service;1"].
                         getService(Ci.nsIBrowserSearchService);
     if (searchService.getEngineByName(engine.title))
       hidden = true;
+    else
+      // Dynamically "Add" the web site's search engine plugin.
+      gAddedEngine = searchService.addEngine(engine.href, Components.interfaces.nsISearchEngine.DATA_XML, iconURL, false);
 
     var engines = (hidden ? browser.hiddenEngines : browser.engines) || [];
 
     engines.push({ uri: engine.href,
                    title: engine.title,
                    icon: iconURL });
 
     if (hidden)
@@ -3849,18 +3855,27 @@ nsBrowserStatusHandler.prototype =
     this.onProgressChange(gBrowser.webProgress, 0, 0, aTotalProgress, 1);
   },
 
   startDocumentLoad : function(aRequest)
   {
     // clear out feed data
     gBrowser.mCurrentBrowser.feeds = null;
 
+    var searchService = Cc["@mozilla.org/browser/search-service;1"].
+                        getService(Ci.nsIBrowserSearchService);
+    // Remove the dynamically added search engine if it is on the list.
+    try {
+	    if (searchService.getEngineByName(gAddedEngine.name))
+        searchService.removeEngine(gAddedEngine);
+    } catch (e) {
+    }
+
     // clear out search-engine data
-    gBrowser.mCurrentBrowser.engines = null;    
+    gBrowser.mCurrentBrowser.engines = null;  
 
     const nsIChannel = Components.interfaces.nsIChannel;
     var urlStr = aRequest.QueryInterface(nsIChannel).URI.spec;
     var observerService = Components.classes["@mozilla.org/observer-service;1"]
                                     .getService(Components.interfaces.nsIObserverService);
     try {
       observerService.notifyObservers(content, "StartDocumentLoad", urlStr);
     } catch (e) {
Index: browser/components/search/nsIBrowserSearchService.idl
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/mozilla/browser/components/search/nsIBrowserSearchService.idl,v
retrieving revision 1.20
diff -u -8 -p -r1.20 nsIBrowserSearchService.idl
--- browser/components/search/nsIBrowserSearchService.idl	11 Sep 2007 16:07:11 -0000	1.20
+++ browser/components/search/nsIBrowserSearchService.idl	14 Feb 2008 00:14:07 -0000
@@ -187,19 +187,21 @@ interface nsIBrowserSearchService : nsIS
    * @param confirm
    *        A boolean value indicating whether the user should be asked for
    *        confirmation before this engine is added to the list.  If this
    *        value is false, the engine will be added to the list upon successful
    *        load, but it will not be selected as the current engine.
    *
    * @throws NS_ERROR_FAILURE if the type is invalid, or if the description
    *         file cannot be successfully loaded.
+   *
+   * @returns the created engine.
    */
-  void addEngine(in AString engineURL, in long dataType, in AString iconURL,
-                 in boolean confirm);
+  nsISearchEngine addEngine(in AString engineURL, in long dataType, in AString iconURL,
+                 	    in boolean confirm);
 
   /**
    * Adds a new search engine, without asking the user for confirmation and
    * without starting to use it right away.
    *
    * @param name
    *        The search engine's name. Must be unique. Must not be null.
    *
Index: browser/components/search/nsSearchService.js
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/mozilla/browser/components/search/nsSearchService.js,v
retrieving revision 1.108
diff -u -8 -p -r1.108 nsSearchService.js
--- browser/components/search/nsSearchService.js	29 Jan 2008 19:39:20 -0000	1.108
+++ browser/components/search/nsSearchService.js	14 Feb 2008 00:14:09 -0000
@@ -2731,16 +2731,17 @@ SearchService.prototype = {
       var engine = new Engine(uri, aDataType, false);
       engine._initFromURI();
     } catch (ex) {
       LOG("addEngine: Error adding engine:\n" + ex);
       throw Cr.NS_ERROR_FAILURE;
     }
     engine._setIcon(aIconURL, false);
     engine._confirm = aConfirm;
+    return engine;
   },
 
   removeEngine: function SRCH_SVC_removeEngine(aEngine) {
     ENSURE_ARG(aEngine, "no engine passed to removeEngine!");
 
     var engineToRemove = null;
     for (var e in this._engines)
       if (aEngine.wrappedJSObject == this._engines[e])
Index: browser/components/search/content/search.xml
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/mozilla/browser/components/search/content/search.xml,v
retrieving revision 1.120
diff -u -8 -p -r1.120 search.xml
--- browser/components/search/content/search.xml	6 Feb 2008 19:00:09 -0000	1.120
+++ browser/components/search/content/search.xml	14 Feb 2008 00:14:09 -0000
@@ -326,16 +326,23 @@
       </method>
 
       <!-- Rebuilds the dynamic portion of the popup menu (i.e., the menu items
            for new search engines that can be added to the available list).  This
            is called each time the popup is shown.
       -->
       <method name="rebuildPopupDynamic">
         <body><![CDATA[
+	  // Remove the dynamically added search engine if it is on the list.
+	  try {
+	    if (this.searchService.getEngineByName(gAddedEngine.name))
+	      this.searchService.removeEngine(gAddedEngine);
+	  } catch (e) {
+	  }
+
           // We might not have added the main popup items yet, do that first
           // if needed.
           if (this._needToBuildPopup)
             this.rebuildPopup();
 
           var popup = this._popup;
           // Clear any addengine menuitems, including addengine-item entries and
           // the addengine-separator.  Work backward to avoid invalidating the

Release Target for v.04

• TBA

Release Target for v.05

• TBA

Release Target for v.06

• TBA

Release Target for v.07

• TBA

Release Target for v.08

• TBA

Release Target for v.09

• TBA

Release Target for v1.0

• TBA

Resources

Bugzilla@Mozilla

Mozilla Cross-Reference

MDC- Mozilla Developer Center

Search Service: Code Design - Automatic Detection

SearchLoad Options :: Firefox Add-ons

Project-Related Bugs

Bug 236587 - Allow bookmark keyword searches from the search bar

Bug 249481 – User-defined searches available not only as bookmark keywords, but also from the Search box

Bug 261124 – Textbox context menu should have "Add to Search Bar..."

Bug 335102 – support search engine renaming

Bug 335448 – Autodetect repeated use of a search field, and ask the user if they want that engine added to the browser search box

Bug 356332 – Select default search engine again after searching with another

Bug 360907 – Search current site with OpenSearch

Bug 374268 – Quicksearch/keyword should be integrated into search engine manager

Bug 384124 – Option to reset search bar engine to default when starting Firefox

Bug 394979 – Search Service is slow on startup (Ts hit)

Bug 408244 – show opensearch plugin availability same as feed availability

Bug 405443 – Making search engine discovery more discoverable

Bug 407922 – Changing the Search plug in order for en-US from alpha to category based

Project News

For up-to-date information about my project, visit my blog: Kerry's Open Source Blog