Managing Sherlock Plug-ins

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Sigerson: Sherlock Sets Management Organize your plug-ins into convenient groups with this plug-ins manager that works like your Mac's "Extensions Manager". Very handy for us power searchers! Glooton From those same people who brought you the excellent (and free!) program Metagenerator, Glooton is a free metasearch program that uses ordinary Sherlock plugins. They claim it allows you to defind sets of plug-ins, supports relevance ranking, removes duplicate links, and checks for dead links. It's available in both Mac OS and Win-32 varieties, and their web site includes a number of links to Sherlock-related web sites. Managing Sherlock Search Sets with AppleScript Written by Apple, these four handy (and free!) AppleScripts let you create, activate, edit, and delete "sets" of Sherlock plugins to make your (meta) searching easier. Requires Leonard Rosenthol's "OSA Menu Lite", which is included in the "CD Extras" folder of the Mac OS CD-ROM. The Power Searcher's "AutoDate" Although designed to work only with certain plug-ins found at this website, it focuses your search on just the latest information by automatically synchronizing your plug-ins to today's date. Baker Street Assistant Think of this program as an "Extensions Manager" for your Sherlock Plug-ins: It displays the background information for any plug-in (such as date created, any comments, and if it's designed to update itself) and lets you create sets of plug-ins you want to group together. Totally free, courtesy of Jeffrey Robbin of Casady & Greene, the firm who wrote the exceptionally handy "Conflict Catcher". Moriarty v1.0 This little software patch allows you to resize Sherlock's window to display more plug-ins. Might help save a little scrolling around if you have a large number of plug-ins. Note! You do not need this if you are using Mac OS 8.6 or above.

Creating Sherlock Plug-ins

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How to Add Internet Search Engines to Sherlock If you want to write a Sherlock Plug-in, are reasonably familiar with HTML and possess a good deal of patience, this step-by-step tutorial from Apple Computer will show you how (and you don't have to be a programmer to follow it, but it sure doesn't hurt!). Technical Note 1141: Extending & Controlling Sherlock Written by Apple Computer and directed mainly towards Webmasters & Programmers, it details the structure & syntax of Sherlock Plug-ins, and how to tailor your site's search output to make Sherlock's job easier. Technical Note 1180: Sherlock's Find By Content Library Written by Apple Computer and directed towards Programmers, it details how Sherlock's Find By Content feature can be built directly into an application. Tip! Also check out TN1181. The PowerSearcher's "issp_builder" Just drop a web site's HTML file onto this handy AppleScript, and it will try to create a Sherlock plug-in for it. While it isn't designed to create a fully-working plug-in, it'll save you time and effort. Includes a Step-by-Step Tutorial, using an actual web site as an example. Note! This program requires AppleScript be installed on your Mac. Sherlock Generator 0.5b2 Generate your own Sherlock Plug-ins with this program courtesy of Fraser Speirs, who is quick to point out the program still has some rough edges. Note! Requires Stuffit Expander v5.0 or above. Sherlock's Pipe v1.0 Written by Chilton Webb, this small program (33.6k) provides a series of templates designed to help you quickly build a Sherlock Plug-in. Includes Online Help. Sherlock Tester 1.0 If you write your plug-ins by hand (like I do!) use this to check for proper structure & syntax. Thanks to Peter N. Lewis of Stairways Software Pty, Ltd for this tool.

Sherlock Plug-in Metasites

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Apple Computer's Sherlock Direct from the Mothership, background on the what, why and how of Sherlock. Includes articles written for the consumer & programmer alike, plug-ins to popular commercial websites, and a tutorial on writing Sherlock plug-ins. Glooton From those same people who brought you the excellent (and free!) program Metagenerator, Glooton is a free metasearch program that uses ordinary Sherlock plugins. They claim it allows you to defind sets of plug-ins, supports relevance ranking, removes duplicate links, and checks for dead links. It's available in both Mac OS and Win-32 varieties, and their web site includes a number of links to Sherlock-related web sites. Sherlock Resource Site (S.R.S) If imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery, then Apple should be quite proud of this site: It provides a forum, breaking news, helpful utilities, updates, and over sixty (60!) plug-ins in alphabetical order, all in one easy-to-read, compact website. Courtesy of MacInEurope. Dr. Watson - Sherlock Plug-in Database Directory A set of 30 eclectic plug-ins covering news, books, the arts, music, MP3, and of course, Apple. He's even got his own Sherlock Plug-in to help you search through them. Sherlock Plug-ins for the Power Searcher! This site includes a wide variety of plug-ins covering both Commerical & Government web sites, this list of convenient Sherlock links, a free program to help you create plug-ins, and (coming soon!) tips to make any search more productive. The Sherlock Collection Contains ...The "Almost Complete List" covers over 200 plug-ins. Note: Page claims it hasn't been updated since 11/06/98.

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(...be sure to wear a hard hat!) 03/14/01