searches Element

Article
11/16/2006

<searches> Element

Instructs the button to search for the string in Toolbar’s Search box in one or more pre-defined URLs. The element also controls whether or not the button displays the search results in a button window. For example,

</searches>

Contains

Element	Min	Max	Description
<buttonWindow>	0	1	Contains the information that defines a button window.
<url>	0	5	Specifies a URL for the button to search.

Attributes

href

The URL of the search service that the button uses. The URL must start with either https:// or https://.

method

Action to take with the URL. The default is post (send the query information to the specified search engine). All of the text in the URL that follows the last question mark (?) is treated as query information to be posted.

encoding

Format of any strings in the URL, especially the string retrieved by the {query} or {options} variables. The default is utf-8.

If the URL requires an encoding type that is not available on the user’s computer, the button stops the search operation.

Remarks

Optional. Each <locale> element may contain one <searches> element.

Important If your custom button will be distributed internationally, make sure that you have properly encoded the character set for the {query} variable. For more information, see String Encoding for Button Variables.

To search up to five Web pages simultaneously, use up to five <url> elements in your <searches> element. The result set for each page opens in a separate browser tab. If the user’s browser does not support tabs (or if Internet Explorer 7 tabs are turned off), the browser only opens the first URL.

Note Although it is possible to omit the {query} variable from the <url> element and use the <searches> element as a simple shortcut, it is not recommended. Use the <shortcuts> element instead.

searches Element