Submit Hint Search The Forums LinksStatsPollsHeadlinesRSS
14,000 hints and counting!

Use Another Launcher to create fast-access search tools Apps
I think this tip is top notch for anyone who uses the web as their main resource for learning about and using computers. I want my info fast, and I have found just the way to do it! First thing, you need to get a hold of Another Launcher ($15 donationware). Yes, it is another launcher utility, but from what I can see it is one of the best out there. I was using LaunchBar and several other haxies at the same time to do the same job as this baby. It offers the same functionality as LaunchBar (infact more fully featured version of the same concept) aswell as iTunes control, many other things, and the best bit, customised websearches.

The default setup comes with a websearch bar in the menu bar at the top. That's fine, but I think it gets better than that. Following on the LaunchBar concept, you can assign hotkeys for programs or, in this case, for any one of the 'Another Launcher' smart items. So what did I do? First I assigned a Google search to a simple sortcut, in my case just F5, and then I followed the same logic and assigned a few other well-used searches to other keyc ombos. It comes with many predefined searches, and as a developer, I particuarly liked being able to search the PHP docs at a button press.

It also includes a macosxhints.com search, but lacks a search for the OS X Hints forum site. For me, this would be the most useful of all, since, for any power user of the OS, it far outweighs the usefulness of the OS Help ;). So I had a dig 'round in the HTML code for the Forums' search engine, and extracted the info I needed to make this another one of the searches availible. So for anyone who wants to give it a go ... you need to go to the Preferences part of Another Launcher (on the Customize window's toolbar), then click on Web Search, click the small gear icon and choose Search Engine from the pop-up menu. Give it a name (macosxhints' Forum Search), a short name (Hints Forums), and for the Address field, enter:

http://forums.macosxhints.com/search.php?query=
In the Query field, enter (this should be one long line with no added spaces; broken here for a narrower display):
&forumchoice=1&titleonly=&showposts=&searchdate=-1&beforeafter=&sortby=lastpost&
 sortorder=descending&action=simplesearch
> Now I have simply assigned my new 'Help' seach to the Help key (in the main Another Launcher screen), seemingly functionless before. But now it has a whole new lease on life! Please correct me if I'm wrong in using that key and you know of any confilicts it might create ... anyway, hope that hint helps someone else out!

[robg adds: I hadn't tried Another Launcher before; it's a pretty amazing application, though somewhat confusing (and I cannot find a way to have it not include my hard drive icons in its menu). It's ability to globally assign function keys is quite useful, and the iTunes controller is a welcomed add-on. When I tested this hint, I used Command-Help (and Option-Help and Control-Help) for the key assignments, just in case some app had reserved the Help key.]
    •    
  • Currently 2.43 / 5
  You rated: 4 / 5 (7 votes cast)
 
[6,864 views]  

Use Another Launcher to create fast-access search tools | 3 comments | Create New Account
Click here to return to the 'Use Another Launcher to create fast-access search tools' hint
The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Lots of potential
Authored by: aaron128 on Nov 27, '03 05:36:35PM
Wow, how did I miss this one? Well, it seems very cool so far and will probably get better over time, but be warned this might be the app that the poster who wrote this MOSXH story warned us about because I accidentally opened up ALL my application files. This was not pretty as I have a TON of apps and games. So to avoid this, don't assign a hotkey to a Menu (like All Applications) without clicking on the little "gear" icon next to the hotkey and going to Options and then checking "Hotkey opens a menu". This will give you MaxMenus type behavior. If you don't check this it will open every item in the menu!

[ Reply to This | # ]
Use Another Launcher to create fast-acesss search tools
Authored by: Anonymous on Nov 27, '03 07:44:34PM

Interestingly enough, this means that this will work as a keyword for any Mozilla-based keyword bookmark:

http://forums.macosxhints.com/search.php?forumchoice=1&
titleonly=&showposts=&searchdate=-1&beforeafter=&
sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending&action=simplesearch&
query=%s

(all on one line, please)



[ Reply to This | # ]
Customizing Another Launcher
Authored by: ddldreaming on Nov 28, '03 02:04:50AM

I've been a LaunchBar devotee for ages but I (grudgingly) decided to give Another Launcher a whirl. I'm really impressed with its flexibility! But I'm not sure I'll make the switch for good. AL's not that easy to figure out (preference dialogs like this really make me cry for tooltips) and has some clunky aspects. LaunchBar's method of abbrev-searching is both slicker and faster than AL's (even with "Always up-to-date" unchecked). I also notice that bringing up the app-search popup and then escaping out of it does not return text-entry focus to whatever field you were typing in (like this web form).

Anyway, the menubar/docklet icons it shows by default are easily (but not obviously) changed: they're hierarchically listed in its main "Customize" window. The hard drive icons are all displayed because the "Volumes" smart item is at the top level (which is easy to miss because it's grayed out!). It can be moved to another existing menu or removed entirely.

What I did was drag the Volumes item, and everything else except for "This Mac" and "Web Search", into "This Mac". I then changed the key assignments so that cmd-space brings up the application abbrev-search popup (a la LaunchBar), and ctl-space pulls down the "This Mac" menu. This leaves the menubar/docklet reasonably clean but everything is still accessible fast.



[ Reply to This | # ]