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Re: Spotlight sources w/o actual files?
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Re: Spotlight sources w/o actual files?


  • Subject: Re: Spotlight sources w/o actual files?
  • From: Adam Leonard <email@hidden>
  • Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 17:53:31 -0700

Hi,
I actually developed a plugin to do just that.
It searches Google when a Spotlight search is run and generates files for the results live so they appear as results.
It was a nasty Input Manager hack on Tiger, but I'm working on a new version on Leopard that should be much nicer. It is still a hack, but it uses the Accessibility API which is fully documented, and it should work with new OS releases. It also runs in its own process, so there is no performance hit for searching local files.


It will have a public plugin interface of its own that should make it very easy to use with any online data source.

Check it out here:http://caffeinatedcocoa.com/blog/?p=14

Email me off list if you want to try developing for it, or if you have any questions.

Adam Leonard

On Jun 10, 2008, at 1:07 AM, Rasmus Andersson wrote:

I would like to create a Spotlight plugin that allows me to search
among a very big set of data, located at a central server (i.e. not
able to store it locally) Thus I need to query this central storage
for matches whenever I search for something in Spotlight. (I/O latency
is not an issue)

What I have understood from reading Spotlight Importer Programming
Guide[1], there is no way to actually hook yourself in to when a user
is performing a query, or even to register a custom data source which
might be backed by for example network resources.

The alternative is of course Quicksilver, but as QS is no longer
maintained and the fact Spotlight is working OK in 10.5 makes me
prefer Spotlight.

Anyone got any clues on how to solve this?


Example scenario: Typing in "generate" into Spotlight will query an online dictionary about the word "generate" and, like the built-in dictionary, display a short description and when clicked opening the appropriate URL in a web browser.

By the way, Hi everyone! (I left this list a few years ago but now I'm back)


[1] http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Carbon/Conceptual/MDImporters/

--
Rasmus Andersson
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 >Spotlight sources w/o actual files? (From: "Rasmus Andersson" <email@hidden>)

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