If you find the Google Desktop useful, you might be glad to know that you can access results programmatically via an HTTP/XML gateway, documented at the following location:
http://desktop.google.com/dev/queryapi.html#httpxml
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There is also a COM-based interface in Windows, located at |
On Windows, you get the query URL from the registry key using this:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Desktop\API\search_url
The query URL will be of the following form:
http://127.0.0.1:4664/search&s={SECRETKEY}?q=
You can get XML out by tacking on &format=xml
. A sample query is as follows:
http://127.0.0.1:4664/search&s={SECRETKEY}?q=bach
This query returns the following (excerpted here):
<results count="447"> _ <result> <category>web</category> <doc_id>247278</doc_id> <event_id>277975</event_id> _ <title> Eventful - Mountain View Events - Mashup Camp IV at Computer History Museum </title> <url>http://eventful.com/events/E0-001-002642665-0</url> <flags>259</flags> <time>128263024673430000</time> _ <snippet> Add to Reddit Add to calendar Eventful calendar Add to Calendar: <b>Bach</b> in San Francisco metro area Berkeley, California, USA My Events Add to </snippet> _ <thumbnail> /thumbnail?id=6%5F76xk4cxwsgMBAAAA&s=KLp8LKWLzFxwQ25pvDi42EHVfTk </thumbnail> _ <icon> /icon?id=http%3A%2F%2Feventful%2Ecom%2F&s=YtdjKx9s9jRBxC11CW7vm377nN0 </icon> _ <cache_url> http://127.0.0.1:4664/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2F127%2E0%2E0%2E1%3A4664%2Fcache%3Â Fevent%5Fid%3D277975%26schema%5Fid%3D2%26q%3Dbach%26s%3DuSIdPgul9xWiUyUybC6Ko3XA2cIÂ &src=1&schema=2&s=uADtUWTU45Sf6jKTCjeexK0wxjY </cache_url> </result>