/ 
WWW-Search-Backends-1.073
River stage zero No dependents
/ WWW::Search::NetFind

NAME

WWW::Search::NetFind - class for searching NetFind Originally based on Google.pm. NetFind is the same as AOL search.

SYNOPSIS

use WWW::Search; my $Search = new WWW::Search('NetFind'); # cAsE matters my $Query = WWW::Search::escape_query("search engine consultant"); $Search->native_query($Query); while (my $Result = $Search->next_result()) { print $Result->url, "\n"; }

DESCRIPTION

This class is a NetFind (AOL) specialization of WWW::Search. It handles making and interpreting NetFind searches. http://search.aol.com.

NetFinds returns 100 Hits per page.

This class exports no public interface; all interaction should be done through WWW::Search objects.

AOL SEARCH

Please note that searching at search.aol.com produces results from both the Open Source Directory and the licensed Inktomi search engine. Results from Open Source Directory are presented first followed by results from Inktomi.

If there are no results from the Open Source Directory, then results are presented from Inktomi alone. Those results that start with "MATCHING SITES" are from the Open Source Directory and those that start with "MATCHING WEB PAGES" are from the Inktomi engine.

If you are interested in results only from Inktomi, then force the search to use the web.adp query like so:

$search->native_query(WWW::Search::escape_query($query),{search_url=>'http://netfind.aol.com/web.adp'});

If you are interested in results only from the Open Source Directory, refer to the OpenDirectory.pm module.

SEE ALSO

To make new back-ends, see WWW::Search.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

native_setup_search is called (from WWW::Search::setup_search) before we do anything. It initializes our private variables (which all begin with underscore) and sets up a URL to the first results page in {_next_url}.

native_retrieve_some is called (from WWW::Search::retrieve_some) whenever more hits are needed. It calls WWW::Search::http_request to fetch the page specified by {_next_url}. It then parses this page, appending any search hits it finds to {cache}. If it finds a ``next'' button in the text, it sets {_next_url} to point to the page for the next set of results, otherwise it sets it to undef to indicate we''re done.

TESTING

This module adheres to the WWW::Search test suite mechanism.

AUTHOR

This backend is maintained and supported by Gil Vidals. <gil@positiongeek.com>

LEGALESE

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

BUGS

Since this is a new Backend there are undoubtly one. Report any ASAP.

VERSION HISTORY 1.8 Changed the root search from netfind.aol.com to search.aol.com because netfind.aol.com seemed very unresponsive and the searches timed out frequently. Also changed to the new format using $self->hash_to_cgi_string($self->{_options});

1.5 Formatting change 10/08/99

0.7 First release 09/19/99