Moonglow Quick Start Guide

Quick Start Guide

Installation

Installation may be as easy as unpacking the latest release to a local directory, cd'ing to the bin directory, and running the 'mgfind' script. Make sure you have a J2SE 1.4 compatible JVM. For using the Google and Amazon plugins, you'll need to register for a developer's key. For the Mozilla plugin, you can download mozilla plugin files.

See the install guide for more detailed instructions.

Running The App

The main script to run is mgfind. You must specify a plugin class using the -plugin option. The config/client.properties file allows use to specify default paramters for convenience, and comes with some examples of appropriate values to use. Arguments to the mgfind script are specified using the format: -x y. Arguments that are specific to the plugin are specified using the format: --x y. More information can be obtained by using the -help or --help argument.

From the command-line, run mgfind, using the following arguments:

-plugin The plugin class or registered name (see client.properties). The following plugins come with the distribution: google, amazon, or mozilla.
You can specify as many plugins as you wish, separated by colons (:). In this case, you may need to specify arguments to the plugins using their fully qualified name, e.g. mgfind -plugin google:amazon --google.keyword "Extreme Cricket" --amazon.keyword "Extreme Gardening"

-format The format template to use for the results. For example, specifying html will use the $MOONGLOW_HOME/templates/html.vm template, etc. Other good values are text, and csv. To customize your own template, simply create a file in the templates directory, e.g. bob.vm, and use -format bob. See the template writing guide for more information.

-exec Execute a process on each result item. Important: in UNIX, you'll need to escape '$', e.g. -exec "echo \$item.title". The best way to do this is to create a script to do what you'd like and then call it from the -exec argument, e.g. on UNIX: -exec "/bin/sh myscript.sh", or on Windows: -exec "cmd /c myscript.bat".
The exec argument is formatted as a velocity context, giving you access to the details of the item currently being processed, so you can do something like this: -exec "echo \$item.title". Other available variables are $items (all items), $index (current item index), and $count (number of items).

-exec:before, -exec:after Same as -exec, except executed before and after the items are individually processed. The $items variable is available in the Velocity context, representing all items. Also $count is the number of items.

-formatter The class of the results formatter. Default is Velocity, so you'll probably not have a need to set this unless you wish to use a custom formatter.

-? or -help Display usage message

Plugin Parameters

Each plugin will require certain parameters to be set. Specifying the --help option will display the plugin's usage, for example: mgfind -plugin google --help

If you use the same plugin every time, open the file config/client.properties, where you can specify a default value by setting the console.plugin property. In that file you can also specify default parameters for each plugin, for example: amazon.keyword=forklifts

Examples

Simple search: mgfind -plugin amazon --keyword "pimento loaves" --devtag your_tag
View search results as a web page, show up to 30 results: mgfind -plugin google -format google.html -max 30 --keyword aardvarks --devtag your_tag | lynx -stdin
(for Windows:) mgfind ... > output.html
start iexplore output.html
Search google using the Mozilla plugin: mgfind -plugin mozilla --src http://www.google.com/mozilla/google.src --q "pickled advocados" (or, try, file:///... for a local .src file)
Search Amazon at 1:30PM, send the results to your email address: echo 'mgfind -plugin amazon -format html --keyword "tofurkey" --devtag your_tag --tag your_associates_tag | mail -s "Amazon Results" foo@bar.com' | at 13:30
A silly use of the 'exec' arguments: mgfind -plugin amazon:google -format none --keyword "java" --amazon.devtag your_tag --google.devtag your_tag --exec:before "echo RESULTS:" --exec "echo \$item.title " --exec:after "echo -- Found \$count Items!"

-plugin	The plugin class or registered name (see client.properties). The following plugins come with the distribution: `google`, `amazon`, or `mozilla`. You can specify as many plugins as you wish, separated by colons (:). In this case, you may need to specify arguments to the plugins using their fully qualified name, e.g. `mgfind -plugin google:amazon --google.keyword "Extreme Cricket" --amazon.keyword "Extreme Gardening"`
-format	The format template to use for the results. For example, specifying `html` will use the $MOONGLOW_HOME/templates/html.vm template, etc. Other good values are `text`, and `csv`. To customize your own template, simply create a file in the templates directory, e.g. `bob.vm`, and use `-format bob`. See the template writing guide for more information.
-exec	Execute a process on each result item. Important: in UNIX, you'll need to escape '$', e.g. -exec "echo \$item.title". The best way to do this is to create a script to do what you'd like and then call it from the -exec argument, e.g. on UNIX: `-exec "/bin/sh myscript.sh",` or on Windows: `-exec "cmd /c myscript.bat"`. The exec argument is formatted as a velocity context, giving you access to the details of the item currently being processed, so you can do something like this: `-exec "echo \$item.title"`. Other available variables are `$items` (all items), `$index` (current item index), and `$count` (number of items).
-exec:before, -exec:after	Same as -exec, except executed before and after the items are individually processed. The `$items` variable is available in the Velocity context, representing all items. Also `$count` is the number of items.
-formatter	The class of the results formatter. Default is Velocity, so you'll probably not have a need to set this unless you wish to use a custom formatter.
`-?` or `-help`	Display usage message