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CynicusRex

Member

Registered: 2022-03-27

Posts: 6

Website

☑ Searching multiple web pages simultaneously with Search Actions?

Is it possible for a Search Actions* command to open two web pages simultaneously with a single search term?
Let's say I want to know the definition of a word, and would like to search three separate online dictionaries at the same time.

* Whisker Menu→Properties.

What does not work:
→Command:

exo-open https://www.dictionary.com/browse/%u https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/%u

This opens the first page with the search term correctly, but the second page searches for “%u”.

→Combing multiple commands with “&&” doesn't work either because the Search Action command cannot seem to handle multiple instances of “%u”.

Anyone who has figured this out?

Last edited by CynicusRex (2022-03-28 05:18:54)

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KBar

Member

Registered: 2021-11-05

Posts: 689

Re: ☑ Searching multiple web pages simultaneously with Search Actions?

There is xfce4-dict. It can display information from multiple sources in a single window.

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CynicusRex

Member

Registered: 2022-03-27

Posts: 6

Website

Re: ☑ Searching multiple web pages simultaneously with Search Actions?

There is xfce4-dict. It can display information from multiple sources in a single window.

A dictionary was just an example, it needs to work for any website.

Last edited by CynicusRex (2022-03-27 13:27:47)

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ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,485

Re: ☑ Searching multiple web pages simultaneously with Search Actions?

The built-in interpreter is not a complete shell. Try running the command within a bash command string:

bash -c "exo-open https://www.dictionary.com/browse/%u && exo-open https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/%u"

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CynicusRex

Member

Registered: 2022-03-27

Posts: 6

Website

Re: ☑ Searching multiple web pages simultaneously with Search Actions?

The built-in interpreter is not a complete shell. Try running the command within a bash command string:

bash -c "exo-open https://www.dictionary.com/browse/%u && exo-open https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/%u"

☑ Problem solved. Thank you, ToZ.

For posterity, this works as well*:

bash -c "exo-open https://www.dictionary.com/browse/%u https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/%u"

Documentation about exo-open.

* When working with long URLs, using “&&” works best, because otherwise not all web pages are opened if the character limit is exceeded.

Last edited by CynicusRex (2022-03-27 17:33:34)

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ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,485

Re: ☑ Searching multiple web pages simultaneously with Search Actions?

* When working with long URLs, using “&&” works best, because otherwise not all web pages are opened if the character limit is exceeded.

In that case, you can create a script to do the work. For the custom action, pass %u:

/path/to/script %u

...and from within the script, "%u" will be accessible as "$1" (first parameter).

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CynicusRex

Member

Registered: 2022-03-27

Posts: 6

Website

Re: ☑ Searching multiple web pages simultaneously with Search Actions?

* When working with long URLs, using “&&” works best, because otherwise not all web pages are opened if the character limit is exceeded.

In that case, you can create a script to do the work. For the custom action, pass %u:

/path/to/script %u

...and from within the script, "%u" will be accessible as "$1" (first parameter).

Oh wow, awesome!

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Again, for posterity's sake, a short tutorial:

Create a file named search-dictionaries.sh.

Write into that file:

#! /bin/bash
exo-open --launch WebBrowser "https://dictionary.reverso.net/english-dutch/$1"
exo-open --launch WebBrowser "https://www.dictionary.com/browse/$1"
exo-open --launch WebBrowser "https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/$1"
exo-open --launch WebBrowser "https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/$1"

The quotes ("") are optional around short URLs, but mandatory for extremely long URLs such as:

exo-open --launch WebBrowser "https://start.duckduckgo.com/?q=$1&kae=t&kad=en_US&kc=-1&k1=-1&ex=ample&kam=google-maps&example=-1&anotherexample=-1&kaq=-1&kap=-1&somevariable=-1&ie=-1&k5=1&kt=a&kaa=7b518b&k8=herp&k9=derp"

Make sure to make the file executable by right-clicking it → Permissions → Program: ☑ Allow this file to run as a program.
Or by running:

sudo chmod +x search-dictionaries.sh

Lastly, right-click the Whisker Menu → Properties → Search Actions → enter into the command part of the specific Search Action:

/path/to/scripts/search-dictionaries.sh %u

Last edited by CynicusRex (2022-03-27 22:16:17)

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