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URI-ParseSearchString-More-0.04
River stage zero No dependents
++
/ URI::ParseSearchString::More

NAME

URI::ParseSearchString::More - Extract search strings from more referrers.

VERSION

Version 0.04

SYNOPSIS

  use URI::ParseSearchString::More;
  my $more = URI::ParseSearchString::More;
  my $search_terms = $more->se_term( $search_engine_referring_url );

DESCRIPTION

This module is a subclass of URI::ParseSearchString, so you can call any methods on this object that you would call on a URI::ParseSearchString object. This module works a little harder than its SuperClass to get you results. If it fails, it will return to you the results that URI::ParseSearchString would have returned to you anyway.

WWW::Mechanize::Cached is used to extract search strings from some URLs which contain session info rather than search params. There is additional parsing and also a guess() method which will return good results in many cases of doubt.

USAGE

  use URI::ParseSearchString::More;
  my $more = URI::ParseSearchString::More;
  my $search_terms = $more->se_term( $url );

URI::ParseSearchString

parse_search_string( $url )

At this point, this is the only "extended" URI::ParseSearchString method. This method performs the following bit of logic:

1) If the URL supplied looks to be a search query with session info rather than search data in the URL, it will attempt a WWW::Mechanize::Cached lookup of the URL and will try to extract the search terms from the page returned.

2) If this returns no results, the URL will be processed by parse_more()

3) If there are still no results, the results of URI::ParseSearchString::se_term will be returned.

WWW::Mechanize::Cached is used to speed up your movement through large log files which may contain multiple similar URLs.

One interesting thing to note is that maps.google.* URLs have 2 important params: "q" and "near". The same can be said for local.google.* I would think the results would be incomplete without including the value of "near" in the search terms for these searches. So, expect the following results:

  my $url = ""http://local.google.ca/local?sc=1&hl=en&near=Stratford%20ON&btnG=Google%20Search&q=home%20health";
  my $terms = $more->parse_search_string( $url );

  # $terms will = "home health Stratford ON"

Engines with session info currently supported:

  http://aolsearch.aol.com/aol/search
  http://as.starware.com/dp/search
  http://as.weatherstudio.com/dp/search

se_term( $url )

A convenience method that calls parse_search_string.

URI::ParseSearchString::More

blame

Returns the name of the module that came up with the results on the last string parsed by parse_search_string(). Possible results:

  URI::ParseSearchString
  URI::ParseSearchString::More

get_mech

This gives you direct access to the WWW::Mechanize::Cached object. If you know what you're doing, play around with it. Caveat emptor.

  use URI::ParseSearchString::More;
  my $more = URI::ParseSearchString::More;

  my $mech = $more->get_mech();
  $mech->agent("My Agent Name");

  my $search_terms = $more->se_term( $search_engine_referring_url );

parse_more( $url )

Handles the guts for More's parsing. This is automatically called (if needed) when you pass a search string to se_term(). However, you may also call it directly. Just keep in mind that this method will NOT try to get results from URI::ParseSearchString if it comes up empty.

guess( $url )

For the most part, the parsing that goes on is done with specific search engines (ie. the ones that we already know about) in mind. However, in a lot cases, a good guess is all that you need. For example, an URI which contains a query string with the parameter "q" or "query" is generally the product of a search. If se_term() or parse_more() has come up empty, guess may just provide you with a valid search term. Then again, it may not. Caveat emptor.

TO DO

Here is a list of some of the engines currently not covered by URI::ParseSearchString that may be added to this module:

  images.google.*
  www.adelphia.net/google/
  http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Al7fJtDUTm2S69bM0VvjPDIjzKIX?qid=20061214165004AADtB1I

NOTES

Despite its low version number, this module actually works. It is, however, still very young and the interface is subject to some change.

BUGS

Please use the RT interface to report bugs:

http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=URI-ParseSearchString-More

SUPPORT

You can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command.

    perldoc URI::ParseSearchString::More

You can also look for information at:

AUTHOR

    Olaf Alders
    CPAN ID: OALDERS
    WunderCounter.com
    olaf@wundersolutions.com
    http://www.wundercounter.com

COPYRIGHT

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

The full text of the license can be found in the LICENSE file included with this module.