C#-Online.NET:Searching
Microsoft .NET Framework, ASP.NET, Visual C# (CSharp, C Sharp, C-Sharp) Developer Training, Visual Studio
This article provides an overview of the C# Online.NET search feature, as well as using external search engines—such as Google—to find information.
Contents |
C# Online.NET search
Put your text in the searchbox; it provides an input field with two buttons:
- Go - the Go button (or Enter on the keyboard), will take you automatically to the best match for the entered keyword.
- Search - the Search button will return a list of matching results.
Effective searching
Here are few good tips and hints for using the C# Online.NET search feature effectively:
Limiting results
- Any word: the C# Online.NET default search mode will turn up results with any of the words in your query. For instance, Language Reference turns up many results containing only "search" but not "engine" or only "engine" but not "search" in addition to the ones you probably wanted, which contain both words.
- All words: To limit to results that include all words, put a "+" at the beginning of each word: +Language +Reference returns only pages containing both words, like Google's default mode. You can also do a phrase search by enclosing words in quotes: "Language Reference" turns up a smaller set of results, which not only have both words but have them in order.
- Exclude words: To exclude results that include some words, put a "-" at the beginning: Language -Reference
Also, boolean searches are possible using boolean keywords words including AND, OR, and NOT.
Avoid short and common words
If your search terms include a common stop word such as "about", "every", "one", "more", "right", "such", "the", "when", "which","while", "who", or "your"; then, the search may return a large number of irrelevant results. Historically, such words could not be searched;. However, as of February 2006, the C# Online.NET Lucene index does not use stop words; so, any word may be used successfully in search queries.
Wildcards
You can use a few limited wildcards; but, be aware that wildcard searches are much slower. Look up "fulltext search" on MySQL.com and look under "boolean search" for the details.
Words with special characters
In a search for a word with a "#" (sharp or pound sign)—such as C#—, the search result depends on whether the sharp sign is stored in the database as a single character or as "C%23". Since article titles containing the sharp sign cannot normally be entered, a search for them is fruitless. Use "CSharp" in searches instead of "C#".
Words in single quotes
If a word appears in an article within single quotes—e.g. 'word'—, you can only find it if you search for the word with single quotes. Thus, it is better to use double quotes (") in articles so this problem does not arise.
An apostrophe is identical to a single quote; therefore, "Mu'ammar" might be found by searching for that exact string. A word with apostrophe s is an exception in that it can be found also by searching for the word without the apostrophe s.
Namespaces searched by default
The search only applies to the namespaces selected in the user preferences. To search other namespaces, check or uncheck the tickboxes in the "Search in namespaces" box found at the bottom of a search results page. Unfortunately, depending on the browser, a box may still be checked from a previous search but without remaining effective! To make sure, uncheck and recheck the box.
Searching the image namespace means searching the image descriptions, i.e. the first parts of the image description pages.
The source text is searched
The source text—what one sees in the edit box, also called wiki text—is searched. This distinction is relevant for piped links and special characters (If ê is coded as ê, it is found searching for ecirc), etc.
Delay in updating the search index
For technical reasons, very recent changes are not immediately taken into account in searches.
External search engines
Various search engines can provide domain-specific searches, which let you search C# Online.NET specifically. Searches are based on the text as displayed in the browser window; so, wiki markup is irrelevant. Depending on your browser, you may also be able to use tools that allow you to search C# Online.NET using bookmarklets.
In general, external search engines are faster than a C# Online.NET search. However, because the external search engine cache is based on the last date the site was indexed, the search may not return newly-created pages. Similarly, the search engine cached version of the page will not be as up-to-date as the link to C# Online.NET itself. Also, when returning C# Online.NET articles in a regular search, mirrors and forks of C# Online.NET content frequently rank higher than the actual C# Online.NET articles because of search engine optimization techniques.
Theere is a "google web search" box in the upper right hand corner of every page. Use it to search the Web or to perform an external search of C# Online.NET. Google indexes all C# Online.NET namespaces.
If you frequently search via Google, consider installing the Google Toolbar. Using the "search this site" button allows you to quickly search C# Online.NET. The official Google Toolbar is for Internet Explorer and for Mozilla Firefox.
Yahoo!
By following the link below, you can use the Yahoo! search engine to search C# Online.NET.
If you frequently search via Yahoo!, consider installing the Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Using the "Search Only the Current Site" button allows you to quickly search C# Online.NET. The official Yahoo! Companion Toolbar is only for Windows with Internet Explorer and Mozilla.
Browser specific help
Using Mozilla to automatically search
Listed below are ways to search C# Online.NET with Mozilla-based browsers including Mozilla Suite, Mozilla Firefox, and Netscape 6 and 7.
Search C# Online.NET from the sidebar search tab or address bar
Works with: Mozilla Suite, Mozilla Firefox, Netscape 6/7.
Mozilla and Netscape 6 & 7 come with a sidebar that allows a user to search the Wikipedia site, and Firefox has a toolbar item to do the same. To install the search plugin that tells Mozilla how to search Wikipedia, do the following:
- Go to one of the following sources of Wikipedia search plugins. The Mycroft plugins are sometimes out of date, and plugins from the second source may work better.
- There are versions for many languages, so pick the language local to your area.
- If JavaScript is enabled, clicking on the name of the search plugin will automatically install the search plugin.
- If you can't install the search plugin automatically, the second source above lets you right-click on the plugin and save it to disk, or download a ZIP file containing all available plugins. Save the downloaded .src file in the searchplugins directory where Mozilla is installed and restart the browser to use the new plugin.
To make C# Online.NET your default search engine in Mozilla, Beonex Communicator, and Netscape 6/7:
- Go to Edit, Preferences.
- Expand the Navigator tree and choose Internet Search.
- Choose Wikipedia as your default search engine.
With C# Online.NET selected as your default engine, searches can be conducted via the search sidebar tab, search box, or the web address bar.
Search C# Online.NET using a bookmarklet
Works with: Mozilla Suite, Mozilla Firefox, Netscape 6/7.
C# Online.NET can also be searched via a bookmarklet.
In Mozilla Firefox, follow these steps:
- Right click in the search field at the top of the page, and select "Add a Keyword for this Search".
- Enter "C# Online.NET Quicksearch" for the name.
- Enter "w" (without the quotes) for the keyword.
- Change the bookmark folder if you wish, and click "Add".
In Mozilla Suite, Netscape 6/7 and Beonex Communicator, follow these steps:
- Right click on the following web address and select "Bookmark this link".
- Go to Bookmarks, Manage Bookmarks. Choose the bookmark you have just created. Highlight the Bookmark and click Properties.
- In the dialogue that comes up, put a lowercase w in the keyword box.
- Click OK and close the properties box, then close the bookmark manager.
In Camino, use the Mozilla Suite directions. Use Get Info (cmd-I) in the bookmarks manager to bring up the properties dialogue.
To search, go to the web address bar, enter "w SEARCH_QUERY" (without the quotes), and press enter.
Javascript in bookmarks
Javascript can bring additional functionality to your bookmark. The following javascript can be pasted in as the 'Location' of a new bookmark created manually, for example in the 'Manage Bookmarks' window of Firefox. If you highlight a word in a webpage then hit the new bookmark, javascript grabs the word you have selected and uses that to perform the search. If no word is highlighted, you will be prompted to enter one.
javascript:x=escape(getSelection());if(!x)%7Bvoid(x=prompt
('Enter%20Word:',''))%7D;if(x)window.location=
http://en.csharp-online.net/index.php?search='+x
Everything above should be pasted in as a single line without spaces.
K-Meleon
The lightweight browser called K-Meleon has a search button that can be used to search Google. You can change it to search C# Online.NET instead, by:
- Close K-Meleon.
- Open up prefs.js with a text editor. The file should be in your K-Meleon\Profiles\PROFILE_NAME\RANDOM_STRING.slt\ directory.
- Add this line, and save prefs.js.
user_pref("kmeleon.general.searchEngine",
"http://en.csharp-online.net/index.php?search=");
Open up K-Meleon and press the search button to search C# Online.NET. To go back to Google or to use another search service, edit prefs.js and delete the added line. Ensure that K-Meleon is closed before editing the prefs.js file.
Advanced: C# Online.NET search field for Opera browser
All Opera versions 6, 7, and 8 use a customizable text file called search.ini. This file should only be edited while Opera is not running. The following example replaces one of the existing pre-defined search engines. It is up to the user to avoid conflicts of shortcut key (key=). By default 'w' is taken by the download.com search, so either this or the Wikipedia one should be changed. Furthermore the 'Search Engine ##' should be replaced with a free number: '12' is free by default. The Search.ini editor makes editing trivial (see external link).
[Search Engine ##] Name=&Wikipedia URL=http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?search=%s Query= Key=w Is post=0 Has endseparator=0 Encoding=utf-8 Search Type=8
Opera 8
Opera appears to take a copy of the "search.ini" and load it into an internal buffer of some type. After editing the file with your new entry you must change the "File Version" at the top of the file to allow for your changes to be seen in the browser.
New search buttons to drag
A new kind of search system has been added to Opera, which no longer requires manual editing. This will create a button on the mainbar, which can then be put anywhere you wish, even in the start panel.
Opera 9 (Preview)
Just right-click on the search field you want to create a search with and click "Create search". The following dialog is really simple. You just have to select a name for the search and a search shortcut. It even alerts you if the shortcut you want is already in use.
Older Versions
Most importantly, in 7.0, you should back up your customized search.ini because the file is overwritten by the Opera installer. This is no longer true in 7.10 and later.
In Opera 6 and 7.0, the menu accelerator letter is defined by the & in the name. In current versions the accelerator is automatically generated and may no longer be the same as the key.
More Opera information
- Search.ini editing tool — makes it easier to add search engines
- How to edit Opera's search.ini - read before attempting to hand-editing search.ini.
Searching the page history
To search the text that appears only in the page history, you must first export the text to XML format.
If you cannot find an appropriate page on C# Online.NET
If there is no appropriate page on C# Online.NET, consider creating a page, since you can edit C# Online.NET right now. Please read the Contributors Guide first.
