Reviews for Swift Selection Search
Swift Selection Search by Daniel Lobo
Review by Firefox user 13493849
Rated 5 out of 5
by Firefox user 13493849, 7 years agoGreat firefox extension! Love it!! but my ebay doesn't work some how.. the URL was listed as : https://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?
so how do we find the URL that can work?? let say if i want to add a random search engine?
so how do we find the URL that can work?? let say if i want to add a random search engine?
Developer response
posted 7 years agoHey there, thanks for the review! ;)
Normally, after you use the search bar on a website, you can look at the URL and see where the site placed your query. For example, if you search for "Firefox WebExtensions" on Google, Google adds "q=Firefox+WebExtensions" somewhere in the URL (among probably a lot of other things). "q" is the parameter Google uses for user queries.
SSS only needs a URL that says "{searchTerms}" in the part where your query usually goes. In the example above, that would mean the entire URL but with "q={searchTerms}" instead of "q=Firefox+WebExtensions". Your URL does not have a {searchTerms} part, so SSS doesn't know where to add the text you selected. :)
You will notice that many websites use the ? symbol and then add a lot of parameters separated with the & symbol. You'll usually be looking for the parameter that represents your query and replacing that with {searchTerms}. Most of the time, the URL also contains a lot of unnecessary parameters, so, to give an example, this simple version is what I use for Google:
https://www.google.com/search?q={searchTerms}
eBay is actually weird! It has several different search URLs, some of which very strange, but from searching around a bit it seems this one is simple and works:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/{searchTerms}
This is a bit technical but I hope I have helped. :) If the explanation wasn't clear enough please tell me. Maybe I should improve the options page instructions with a similar explanation.
Cheers!
Daniel
Normally, after you use the search bar on a website, you can look at the URL and see where the site placed your query. For example, if you search for "Firefox WebExtensions" on Google, Google adds "q=Firefox+WebExtensions" somewhere in the URL (among probably a lot of other things). "q" is the parameter Google uses for user queries.
SSS only needs a URL that says "{searchTerms}" in the part where your query usually goes. In the example above, that would mean the entire URL but with "q={searchTerms}" instead of "q=Firefox+WebExtensions". Your URL does not have a {searchTerms} part, so SSS doesn't know where to add the text you selected. :)
You will notice that many websites use the ? symbol and then add a lot of parameters separated with the & symbol. You'll usually be looking for the parameter that represents your query and replacing that with {searchTerms}. Most of the time, the URL also contains a lot of unnecessary parameters, so, to give an example, this simple version is what I use for Google:
https://www.google.com/search?q={searchTerms}
eBay is actually weird! It has several different search URLs, some of which very strange, but from searching around a bit it seems this one is simple and works:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/{searchTerms}
This is a bit technical but I hope I have helped. :) If the explanation wasn't clear enough please tell me. Maybe I should improve the options page instructions with a similar explanation.
Cheers!
Daniel