Internet Explorer 8 Addons – Part 1: Accelerators

Hi Folks,

was just trying out some of the accelerators that are available for IE8. I got thinking, why not make a custom one of my own… was it going to be rocket science or child’s play… i was bout to find out… well it turns out that it ain’t that complex.. in fact it is pretty straight-forward.

it involves basically just two main steps: -

1. Create the XML file known as the Service XML. Refer to the sample below. 

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
   <openServiceDescription xmlns="http://www.microsoft.com/schemas/openservicedescription/1.0">
     <homepageUrl>http://www.robotix1986.com/code/IE8Add-ons.aspx</homepageUrl>
     <display>
       <name>Sample Search Accelerator</name>
       <description>get a list of Friends and Family Birthdays</description>
     </display>
     <activity category="Search">
       <activityAction context="selection">
         <preview method="get" action="http://www.robotix1986.com/code/SampleSearch.aspx">
           <parameter name="query" value="{selection}" type="text"></parameter>
         </preview>
         <execute method="get" action="http://www.robotix1986.com/code/SampleSearch.aspx">
           <parameter name="query" value="{selection}" type="text"></parameter>
         </execute>
       </activityAction>
     </activity>
   </openServiceDescription>
   
   As you can see above, the xml is pretty much self explanatory. It gives basic information pertaining to the accelerator.
   

2. Now that you have this XML ready all you need to do is create a page from where you can add this accelerator to your browser. All you need on the page is a button which makes a simple call. Sample is given below.
   
   <button onclick="window.external.AddService('http://www.robotix1986.com/code/Data/SampleAccelerator.xml');"> Add SampleAccelerator to your browser</button>
   
   Add SampleAccelerator to your browser

Happy Exploring!!