*** Search with Sherlock Plug-in for Mac OS 8.5 and Later ***

Sherlock is a search front-end for the Mac OS 8.5 and later.  To make your own Sherlock plug-in, just follow the instructions below.

Open ³Search_Template.src² using a good text editor like BBedit (you will have to change to the open ³Any File² option to see and open the .src file).  Change the information therein to that relevent to your implementation of the ht://Dig search engine.  Save.

Open ³Search_Template.src² using Appleıs ResEdit, which you can download from the Apple Web site.  Select ³Get info for Search_Template.src² under ³File² drop-down menu.  Change the file name to the desired name, which must end with ³.src² and then change the file type to ³issp² and the creator to ³fndf² (so that the plug-in will be read as a Sherlock plug-in and be put in the ³Internet Search Sites² folder when dragged to the System Folder).  Save.

BinHex the resulting ³yourpluginısname.src² file to form a new file ³yourpluginısname.src.hqx² and then upload the latter BinHex file to your Web server in the directory you indicated with in your ³yourpluginısname.src² (the ³update² URL you indicated).

For it to work you will need to either specifiy existing proper cues in the "interpret" attribute of the ³yourpluginısname.src² file or place the examples of tags or others you specific in the "interpret" attribute of the ³yourpluginısname.src² in the ht://Dig search HTML files.  If you use  custom tags rather than tags or cues already existing in your search HTML files, make sure to enclose the proper information in these tags.  The example tags names are <!-- LIST --> and <!-- /LIST -->, <!-- ITEM --> and <!-- /ITEM -->, <!-- SCORE --> and <!-- /SCORE --> and must be defined in the ³yourpluginısname.src² file.  (These custom tag names borrowed from Philippe Rivière.)  To make score work properly, you should use $PERCENT in the relevant search HTML file and enclose that in the <!-- SCORE --> and <!-- /SCORE --> (or equivalent) tags.  You may want to define Sherlock-specific search HTML files (see ³Search_Template.src²:  <input name="format" value="defined results template name or if using default omit this line altogether">)

Make sure your permissions (chmod) are correct.  Now you just have to provide hyperlinks to the BinHex file so that people can download the plug-in.  Make sure to test and see whether it works.

You may want to write a little README file for end users.  To use your Sherlock plug-in, the user has to convert the BinHex, of course, which is generally automatic for most userıs configurations, and then drag ³yourpluginısname.src² to the System Folder and click on ³OK² when prompted about whether to put the plug-in in the ³Internet Search Sites² folder.

fenteany@calvin.bwh.harvard.edu


For more information on Sherlock, see http://www.apple.com/sherlock/

(Sherlock İ 1998-1999 Apple Computer, Inc.)