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Contents


Yahoo! Hacks
Table of Contents
Copyright
Credits
About the Author
Contributors
Acknowledgments
Preface
Why Yahoo! Hacks?
How to Use This Book
How to Run the Hacks
How This Book Is Organized
Conventions Used in This Book
Using Code Examples
Safari Enabled
How to Contact Us
Got a Hack?
Chapter 1. Search
Section 1.1. Hacks 122: Introduction
Hack 1. Fine-Tune Yahoo! Web Search Queries
Hack 2. Save Time with Search Shortcuts
Hack 3. Create a Yahoo! ID
Hack 4. Set Persistent Yahoo! Search Preferences
Hack 5. Assemble Advanced Search Queries
Hack 6. Translate Any Page with Yahoo!
Hack 7. Personalize, Track, and Share the Web
Hack 8. Prefetch Yahoo! Search Results
Hack 9. Compare Yahoo! and Google Search Results
Hack 10. Find Content You Can Reuse Legally
Hack 11. Find Video from Across the Web
Hack 12. Streamline Browsing with the Yahoo! Toolbar
Hack 13. Customize the Firefox Quick Search Box
Hack 14. Spot Trends with Yahoo! Buzz
Hack 15. Find Hot Technologies at the Buzz Game
Hack 16. Tame Long Yahoo! URLs
Hack 17. Opt Out of Advertiser Cookies
Hack 18. Track News About Yahoo!
Hack 19. Spider the Yahoo! Catalog
Hack 20. Browse the Yahoo! Directory
Hack 21. Track Additions to Yahoo!
Hack 22. Yahoo! Directory Mindshare in Google
Chapter 2. Services
Section 2.1. Hacks 2350: Introduction
Hack 23. Track Your Investments
Hack 24. Build Your Own Stock Update Email
Hack 25. Download Financial Data Using Excel Web Queries
Hack 26. Convert Currencies with One Click
Hack 27. Do the Math with Yahoo! Calculators
Hack 28. Add a Yahoo! Bookmark with One Click
Hack 29. Import Existing Bookmarks into Yahoo! Bookmarks
Hack 30. Open Yahoo! Bookmarks in a Sidebar
Hack 31. Publish Your Yahoo! Bookmarks
Hack 32. Track the Media's Attention Span over Time
Hack 33. Monitor the News with RSS
Hack 34. Personalize My Yahoo!
Hack 35. Track Your Favorite Sites with RSS
Hack 36. Add a Feed to My Yahoo! with a Right-Click
Hack 37. Build Your Own News Crawler
Hack 38. Replace Your Phone Book with Yahoo!
Hack 39. Monitor Your Commute
Hack 40. Get the Facts at Yahoo! Reference
Hack 41. Find and Rate Movies
Hack 42. Subscribe to Movie Showtimes
Hack 43. View Movie Lists on Your Cell Phone
Hack 44. Plan Your TV Viewing
Hack 45. Create a TV Watch List
Hack 46. Develop and Share a Trip Itinerary
Hack 47. Shop Intelligently
Hack 48. Visualize Your Music Collection
Hack 49. Take Yahoo! on the Go
Hack 50. Stay Connected with Yahoo! Alerts
Chapter 3. Communicating
Section 3.1. Hacks 5167: Introduction
Hack 51. Navigate Yahoo! Mail
Hack 52. Manage Yahoo! Mail
Hack 53. Create Yahoo! Mail Macros
Hack 54. Read All Your Email in One Place
Hack 55. Read Yahoo! Mail in Your Preferred Email Client
Hack 56. Manage and Share Your Schedule
Hack 57. Add Contacts to Your Yahoo! Address Book
Hack 58. Map Yahoo! Address Book Contacts
Hack 59. Discuss, Share, and Collaborate with Others
Hack 60. Archive Yahoo! Groups Messages with yahoo2mbox
Hack 61. Explore Your Social Networks
Hack 62. Import an Existing Blogroll to Yahoo! 360
Hack 63. Add an API to Your Yahoo! 360 Blog
Hack 64. Create a Yahoo! Avatar
Hack 65. Add a Content Tab to Yahoo! Messenger
Hack 66. Send Instant Messages Beyond Yahoo!
Hack 67. Store, Sort, and Share Your Photos
Chapter 4. Web Services
Section 4.1. Hacks 6876: Introduction
Section 4.2.
Hack 68. Program Yahoo! with Perl
Hack 69. Program Yahoo! with PHP 5
Hack 70. Program Yahoo! with Python
Hack 71. Program Yahoo! with VBScript
Hack 72. Program Yahoo! with ColdFusion
Hack 73. Program Yahoo! with XSLT
Hack 74. Program Yahoo! with Java
Hack 75. Program Yahoo! with Ruby
Hack 76. Program Yahoo! with REBOL
Chapter 5. Applications
Section 5.1. Hacks 7791: Introduction
Hack 77. Visualize Yahoo! Web Search Results
Hack 78. Find Links to Any Web Site
Hack 79. Import Yahoo! Local Listings into Your Address Book
Hack 80. Create a Yahoo! Local MIDlet
Hack 81. Import Yahoo! Local Listings into Excel
Hack 82. Spell Words with Yahoo! Images
Hack 83. Randomize Your Windows Desktop Background
Hack 84. Randomize Your Mac Desktop Background
Hack 85. Mash Up Images from Around the Web
Hack 86. Illustrate Any Web Site
Hack 87. Add Links to a Block of Text Automatically
Hack 88. Visualize News Topics as Tags
Hack 89. Get Related Terms Instantly with Ajax
Hack 90. Compare the Popularity of Related Search Terms
Hack 91. Plot Multiple Points on Your Own Map
Chapter 6. Webmastering
Section 6.1. Hacks 92100: Introduction
Hack 92. Get Your Site Listed at Yahoo!
Hack 93. Hide Part of Your Web Site from Yahoo!
Hack 94. Search Your Web Site with Yahoo!
Hack 95. Add Presence to Your Web Site
Hack 96. Syndicate Rich Media
Hack 97. Add Contextual Search to Your Blog
Hack 98. Post Photos to Your Blog
Hack 99. Feed Your Latest Photos to Your Web Site
Hack 100. Display Messages from a Yahoo! Group on Your Web Site
Colophon
Index
SYMBOL
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
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V
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X
Y
Z













Yahoo! Hacks
By Paul Bausch
...............................................
Publisher: O'Reilly
Pub Date: October 2005
ISBN: 0-596-00945-3
Pages: 489










Table of Contents | Index






Yahoo! took the world by storm in the 1990s as a one-of-a-kind, searchable
list of interesting web sites. But ten years later, it has expanded into a
department store overflowing with useful and innovative tools and
services-from email, blogging, social networking, and instant messaging,
to news, financial markets, shopping, movie and TV listings, and much
more. Today's Yahoo! keeps you connected with every aspect of your life
and every corner of the Web.




Yahoo! Hacks shows you how to use, expand, personalize, and tweak Yahoo!
in ways you never dreamed possible. You'll learn how to:



Fine-tune search queries with keyword shortcuts and advanced syntax



Manage and customize Yahoo! Mail, using it as your universal email
client to access all your other accounts



Explore your social networks with Yahoo! 360, blogging your life,
keeping up with friends, and making new contacts



Store, sort, blog, feed, track, and otherwise share photos with Flickr
and RSS



Make My Yahoo! your Yahoo!, and personalize Yahoo!'s many properties



Roll your own Yahoo! applications with Yahoo! new Web Services API and
Perl, PHP, Java, Python, Ruby, or the programming language of your
choice



Visualize search results and topics, mash up images from around the Web,
and remix other web content



List (or hide) your site with Yahoo!, and integrate Yahoo! Groups,
Messenger, contextual search (Y!Q), or other Yahoo! features




Whether you want to become a power searcher, news monger, super shopper,
or innovative web developer, Yahoo! Hacks provides the tools to take you
further than you ever thought possible.













Yahoo! Hacks
By Paul Bausch
...............................................
Publisher: O'Reilly
Pub Date: October 2005
ISBN: 0-596-00945-3
Pages: 489










Table of Contents | Index






Copyright

Credits


About the Author


Contributors


Acknowledgments

Preface


Why Yahoo! Hacks?


How to Use This Book


How to Run the Hacks


How This Book Is Organized


Conventions Used in This Book


Using Code Examples


Safari Enabled


How to Contact Us


Got a Hack?

Chapter 1. Search


Section 1.1. Hacks 122: Introduction


Hack 1. Fine-Tune Yahoo! Web Search Queries


Hack 2. Save Time with Search Shortcuts


Hack 3. Create a Yahoo! ID


Hack 4. Set Persistent Yahoo! Search Preferences


Hack 5. Assemble Advanced Search Queries


Hack 6. Translate Any Page with Yahoo!


Hack 7. Personalize, Track, and Share the Web


Hack 8. Prefetch Yahoo! Search Results


Hack 9. Compare Yahoo! and Google Search Results


Hack 10. Find Content You Can Reuse Legally


Hack 11. Find Video from Across the Web


Hack 12. Streamline Browsing with the Yahoo! Toolbar


Hack 13. Customize the Firefox Quick Search Box


Hack 14. Spot Trends with Yahoo! Buzz


Hack 15. Find Hot Technologies at the Buzz Game


Hack 16. Tame Long Yahoo! URLs


Hack 17. Opt Out of Advertiser Cookies


Hack 18. Track News About Yahoo!


Hack 19. Spider the Yahoo! Catalog


Hack 20. Browse the Yahoo! Directory


Hack 21. Track Additions to Yahoo!


Hack 22. Yahoo! Directory Mindshare in Google

Chapter 2. Services


Section 2.1. Hacks 2350: Introduction


Hack 23. Track Your Investments


Hack 24. Build Your Own Stock Update Email


Hack 25. Download Financial Data Using Excel Web Queries


Hack 26. Convert Currencies with One Click


Hack 27. Do the Math with Yahoo! Calculators


Hack 28. Add a Yahoo! Bookmark with One Click


Hack 29. Import Existing Bookmarks into Yahoo! Bookmarks


Hack 30. Open Yahoo! Bookmarks in a Sidebar


Hack 31. Publish Your Yahoo! Bookmarks


Hack 32. Track the Media's Attention Span over Time


Hack 33. Monitor the News with RSS


Hack 34. Personalize My Yahoo!


Hack 35. Track Your Favorite Sites with RSS


Hack 36. Add a Feed to My Yahoo! with a Right-Click


Hack 37. Build Your Own News Crawler


Hack 38. Replace Your Phone Book with Yahoo!


Hack 39. Monitor Your Commute


Hack 40. Get the Facts at Yahoo! Reference


Hack 41. Find and Rate Movies


Hack 42. Subscribe to Movie Showtimes


Hack 43. View Movie Lists on Your Cell Phone


Hack 44. Plan Your TV Viewing


Hack 45. Create a TV Watch List


Hack 46. Develop and Share a Trip Itinerary


Hack 47. Shop Intelligently


Hack 48. Visualize Your Music Collection


Hack 49. Take Yahoo! on the Go


Hack 50. Stay Connected with Yahoo! Alerts

Chapter 3. Communicating


Section 3.1. Hacks 5167: Introduction


Hack 51. Navigate Yahoo! Mail


Hack 52. Manage Yahoo! Mail


Hack 53. Create Yahoo! Mail Macros


Hack 54. Read All Your Email in One Place


Hack 55. Read Yahoo! Mail in Your Preferred Email Client


Hack 56. Manage and Share Your Schedule


Hack 57. Add Contacts to Your Yahoo! Address Book


Hack 58. Map Yahoo! Address Book Contacts


Hack 59. Discuss, Share, and Collaborate with Others


Hack 60. Archive Yahoo! Groups Messages with yahoo2mbox


Hack 61. Explore Your Social Networks


Hack 62. Import an Existing Blogroll to Yahoo! 360


Hack 63. Add an API to Your Yahoo! 360 Blog


Hack 64. Create a Yahoo! Avatar


Hack 65. Add a Content Tab to Yahoo! Messenger


Hack 66. Send Instant Messages Beyond Yahoo!


Hack 67. Store, Sort, and Share Your Photos

Chapter 4. Web Services


Section 4.1. Hacks 6876: Introduction


Section 4.2.


Hack 68. Program Yahoo! with Perl


Hack 69. Program Yahoo! with PHP 5


Hack 70. Program Yahoo! with Python


Hack 71. Program Yahoo! with VBScript


Hack 72. Program Yahoo! with ColdFusion


Hack 73. Program Yahoo! with XSLT


Hack 74. Program Yahoo! with Java


Hack 75. Program Yahoo! with Ruby


Hack 76. Program Yahoo! with REBOL

Chapter 5. Applications


Section 5.1. Hacks 7791: Introduction


Hack 77. Visualize Yahoo! Web Search Results


Hack 78. Find Links to Any Web Site


Hack 79. Import Yahoo! Local Listings into Your Address Book


Hack 80. Create a Yahoo! Local MIDlet


Hack 81. Import Yahoo! Local Listings into Excel


Hack 82. Spell Words with Yahoo! Images


Hack 83. Randomize Your Windows Desktop Background


Hack 84. Randomize Your Mac Desktop Background


Hack 85. Mash Up Images from Around the Web


Hack 86. Illustrate Any Web Site


Hack 87. Add Links to a Block of Text Automatically


Hack 88. Visualize News Topics as Tags


Hack 89. Get Related Terms Instantly with Ajax


Hack 90. Compare the Popularity of Related Search Terms


Hack 91. Plot Multiple Points on Your Own Map

Chapter 6. Webmastering


Section 6.1. Hacks 92100: Introduction


Hack 92. Get Your Site Listed at Yahoo!


Hack 93. Hide Part of Your Web Site from Yahoo!


Hack 94. Search Your Web Site with Yahoo!


Hack 95. Add Presence to Your Web Site


Hack 96. Syndicate Rich Media


Hack 97. Add Contextual Search to Your Blog


Hack 98. Post Photos to Your Blog


Hack 99. Feed Your Latest Photos to Your Web Site


Hack 100. Display Messages from a Yahoo! Group on Your Web Site

Colophon

Index















Copyright © 2006 O'Reilly Media, Inc. All rights reserved.


Printed in the United States of America.


Published by O'Reilly Media, Inc., 1005 Gravenstein Highway North,
Sebastopol, CA 95472.


O'Reilly books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales
promotional use. Online editions are also available for most titles
(safari.oreilly.com). For more information, contact our
corporate/institutional sales department: (800) 998-9938 or
corporate@oreilly.com.


Table


Editor:

Brian Sawyer

Production Editor:

A. J. Fox


Series Editor:

Rael Dornfest

Cover Designer:

Hanna Dyer


Executive Editor:

Dale Dougherty

Interior Designer:

David Futato


Printing History:





October 2005:

First Edition.







Nutshell Handbook, the Nutshell Handbook logo, and the O'Reilly logo are
registered trademarks of O'Reilly Media, Inc. The Hacks series
designations, Yahoo! Hacks, the image of boots and spurs, and related
trade dress are trademarks of O'Reilly Media, Inc.


Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish
their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear
in this book, and O'Reilly Media, Inc., was aware of a trademark claim,
the designations have been printed in caps or initial caps.


While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the
publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or
for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.


Small print: The technologies discussed in this publication, the
limitations on these technologies that technology and content owners seek
to impose, and the laws actually limiting the use of these technologies
are constantly changing. Thus, some of the hacks described in this
publication may not work, may cause unintended harm to systems on which
they are used, or may not be consistent with applicable user agreements.
Your use of these hacks is at your own risk, and O'Reilly Media, Inc.
disclaims responsibility for any damage or expense resulting from their
use. In any event, you should take care that your use of these hacks does
not violate any applicable laws, including copyright laws.


This book uses RepKover™, a durable and flexible lay-flat binding.


ISBN: 0-596-00945-3


[C]















Credits



About the Author


Contributors


Acknowledgments
















About the Author


Paul Bausch is an independent web developer living in Corvallis, Oregon.
When he's not hacking together web applications, he's writing about
hacking together web applications. He put together Amazon Hacks for
O'Reilly in 2003. Paul also helped create the popular weblog application
Blogger (http://www.blogger.com/), cowrote a book about weblogs called We
Blog: Publishing Online with Weblogs (Wiley), and maintains a directory of
Oregon weblogs called ORblogs (http://www.orblogs.com/). When he's not
working on a book, Paul posts thoughts and photos to his personal weblog,
onfocus (http://www.onfocus.com/).


















Contributors


The following people contributed their hacks, writing, and inspiration to
this book:



Jacek Artymiak (http://www.artymiak.com/) is a freelance consultant,
developer, and writer. He's been programming computers since 1986,
starting with the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. His interests include network
security, computer graphics and animation, and multimedia. Jacek lives
in Lublin, Poland, with his wife, Gosia, and can be reached at
jacek@artymiak.com.



Bonnie Biafore is the author of several books about personal finance,
investing, and project management. As an engineer, she's tenaciously
attentive to detail and digests tantalizing morsels about every topic
she approaches. Her sick sense of humor turns subjects that are
droolinducing in other books into entertaining, easy reading. Her book
the NAIC Stock Selection Handbook won major awards from both the Society
of Technical Communication and APEX Awards for Publication Excellence,
but she cherishes the raves she's received from beginning investors most
of all. She is also the author of Online Investing Hacks (O'Reilly) and
QuickBooks 2005: The Missing Manual (O'Reilly). Bonnie writes a monthly
column called WebWatch for Better Investing magazine and is a regular
contributor to WomensWallStreet.com. As a consultant, she manages
projects for clients and wins accolades for her ability to herd cats.
When not chained to her computer, she hikes in the mountains with her
dogs, cooks gourmet meals, and practices saying no to additional work
assignments. You can learn more at Bonnie's web site,
http://www.bonniebiafore.com/, or email her at bonnie.biafore@gmail.com.




Tara Calishain is the editor of ResearchBuzz
(http://www.researchbuzz.com/), a weekly newsletter on Internet
searching and online information resources. She's also a regular
columnist for Searcher magazine. She's been writing about search engines
and searching since 1996; her recent books include Google Hacks
(O'Reilly) and Web Search Garage (O'Reilly).



Kevin Hemenway (http://www.disobey.com/), better known as Morbus Iff, is
the creator of Disobey.com, which bills itself as "content for the
discontented." Publisher, developer, and writer of more home cooking
than you could ever imagine (like the popular open sourced syndicated
reader AmphetaDesk, the best-kept gaming secret Gamegrene.com, the
popular Ghost Sites and Nonsense Network, the giggle-inducing articles
at the O'Reilly Network, a few pieces at Apple's Internet Developer
site, etc.), he's an ardent supporter of cloning, merely so he can get
more work done. He cooks with a Fry Pan of Intellect +2 and lives in
Concord, New Hampshire.



Ryan Kennedy is a software engineer at Yahoo!, working on Yahoo! Mail.
In his spare time, he maintains the Yahoo! Java Search SDK.



Philipp Lenssen lives in Stuttgart, Germany, where he blogs about
Google, works as a programmer on an automobile web site, and eats spicy
Thai food with his girlfriend. He likes to ponder future technology and
jump on any technology bandwagon that seems worthwhile, especially all
the APIs that make a developer's life that much easier. Philipp's daily
musings can be found at http://blog.outer-court.com/.



Mikel Maron is an independent software developer and ecologist. He has
built several geographic-oriented projects around the worldKit mapping
package, including World as a Blog and mapufacture. Previously, he led
development of My Yahoo! in the pre-RSS days. Mikel was awarded a
master's degree from the University of Sussex for building a simulation
of the evolution of complexity in food webs. Originally from California,
Mikel is presently based mostly in Brighton, United Kingdom, with his
wife, Anna. Links to various things can be found at
http://brainoff.com/.



Deepak Nadig is an entrepreneur and has helped build innovative and
useful products for 14 years. He is currently taking a break after
cofounding and selling Covigna, a pioneer in Contract Lifecycle
Management.



Todd Ogasawara focuses on Mobile Workforce and Mobile Lifestyle
technology, paying special attention to the Microsoft Windows Mobile
platform (Pocket PC and Smartphone). Microsoft has recognized his
demonstrated practical expertise and willingness to share his experience
by recognizing him as a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) in
the Mobile Devices category since 2000. His other technology focus is in
the effort to bring commercial (especially Microsoft-related) products
and GNU/Open Source software together in a synergistic and productive
way. Todd has written several articles about mobile devices, digital
cameras, and the Apple Mac Mini for the O'Reilly Network. He previously
worked as a technology analyst for GTE/Verizon. He also served as the
contracted forum manager for the MSN.com (and later ZDNet) Telephony
Forum and Windows CE Forum. More recently, he has served as the
eGovernment team leader for the State of Hawaii. You can find his Mobile
Workforce and Lifestyle commentary at http://www.mobileviews.com/. You
can learn more about Eccentric Technology at
http://www.ogasawalrus.com/. You can reach Todd by email at
Hacks@OgasaWalrus.com.



Mark Pilgrim is an accessibility architect by day. By night, he is a
husband and father who lives in North Carolina with his wife, his son,
and his dog. Mark spends his copious free time sunbathing, skydiving,
and reading Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason in the original
Klingon. He can be found stirring up trouble at
http://diveintomark.org/.



Premshree Pillai is a geek working at Yahoo!. He loves Ruby, beer, and
classic rock. He blogs at http://www.livejournal.com/users/premshree.



Eric Ries is currently CTO of IMVU, a startup creating 3-D, avatarbased
instant messaging. Eric also serves, in a volunteer capacity, as CTO of
the Taproot Foundation. Previously, he was senior software engineer at
There and cofounder and CTO of Catalyst Recruiting. He is author of
several free software projects, most recently the peer-to-peer RPC
system Kenosis, and coauthor of several books, including The Black Art
of Java Game Programming and Mastering Java.



Alan Taylor has been a web developer for over 10 years and has worked
for Monster.com, MSNBC.com, and Amazon.com. He builds web projects (such
as Amazon Light; http://kokogiak.com/amazon) and web hacks/toys on an
irregular basis, most of which can be found at http://kokogiak.com/.
Alan believes that open APIs are your friends and are positively the
best trend on the Internet in years.
















Acknowledgments


To my wife, Shawnde, thanks for the continuous feedback and frontline
editing, and for cheerfully discussing Yahoo! during breakfast, lunch,
dinner, and every spare moment in between.


Many thanks go to Brian Sawyer for providing direction and encouragement,
and for fine-tuning the text.


Thanks to tech editor Steve Champeon for testing code, double-checking
facts, and adding important points to the technical details.


Thanks to Morbus Iff for taking my Perl to task and simplifying the
confusing bits.


Finally, thanks to everyone at Yahoo! who contributed tips and hack ideas,
including Vijay Anisetti, Stig Sæther Bakken, Dave Brown, Aurora Casanova,
David Dueblin, Jennifer Dulski, Marcus Foster, David Hall, Jason B.
Silverstein, Jeremy Zawodny, and many anonymous Yahoos. Thanks also to
Chris Kalaboukis and Bernard Mangold at Yahoo! Research for lending a
hand.
















Preface


Yahoo! is an impressive example of what can happen when a hobby takes on a
life of its own. In 1994, Jerry Yang and David Filo began publishing a
personal list of sites they found interesting on the emerging World Wide
Web. As "Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web" grew larger, the two
Stanford grad students began organizing the sites into categories, and the
basic structure of today's Yahoo! Directory was born. By late 1994, they
chose to rename their directory after the word yahoo because its original
definition describing a crude, rude person appealed to the pair's
subversive natures. (And as true computer geeks, they turned Yahoo! into
an acronym for Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle.) Figure P-1 is a
look at the Yahoo! home page from December 1994.


Yahoo! looks very different today. Figure P-2 shows the more familiar
Yahoo! home page of 2005.


Though the two Yahoo! home pages look radically different, the original
idea of taming the chaos of the World Wide Web and making it accessible to
a wider audience remains. According to their vision statement, Yahoo!
wants "to enable people to find, use, share, and expand all human
knowledge." The goal of furthering this vision, nicknamed FUSE (for "find,
use, share, and expand"), can be found in every acquisition Yahoo! makes
and every product Yahoo! releases. Yahoo! has localized versions of its
offerings in dozens of countries, and the Yahoo! brand is recognized
around the world. Over the past 10 years, Yahoo! has become much more than
a guide to the Web; Yahoo! is a platform for visualizing and connecting
with the world.


Many Yahoo! features are familiar to anyone who uses the Web. Millions of
people use Yahoo! Search to find information on the Web. Millions more use
Yahoo! Groups to share information and collaborate on projects. And still
more use Yahoo! Mail every day to stay in touch with friends, family, and
coworkers. And Yahoo! is continually adding products and features to
realize its vision.




Figure I-1. Yahoo! in 1994





Over the past year, the FUSE philosophy has been a distinct feature of
Yahoo!'s newest services. In February 2005, Yahoo! launched Yahoo! Web
Services, allowing outside developers to use, share, and expand Yahoo!
features. In March 2005, Yahoo! launched Yahoo! 360, a way for people to
share thoughts and information with friends and family, while expanding a
network of friends. In April 2005, Yahoo! introduced My Web, a way to save
and share search results while creating your own personal categorized
directory of the Web.


This book aims to help you FUSE Yahoo! features and services by
introducing you to little-known corners of Yahoo!, by reintroducing you to
familiar Yahoo! services, and by showing you examples of the many ways
people are expanding Yahoo! on their own. Though the hacks might be crude
and rude at times, they're written in the same spirit of sharing something
interesting that inspired the creation of Yahoo! in the first place.




Figure I-2. Yahoo! in 2005



















Why Yahoo! Hacks?


The term hacking has a bad reputation in the press. They use it to refer
to someone who breaks into systems or wreaks havoc with computers as their
weapon. Among people who write code, though, the term hack refers to a
quick-and-dirty solution to a problem, or a clever way to get something
done. And the term hacker is taken very much as a compliment, referring to
someone as being creative, having the technical chops to get things done.
The Hacks series is an attempt to reclaim the word, document the good ways
people are hacking, and pass the hacker ethic of creative participation on
to the uninitiated. Seeing how others approach systems and problems is
often the quickest way to learn about a new technology.


While Yahoo! itself has been around for over 10 years, it is releasing new
applications, web sites, and software at a blinding pace. This book isn't
intended to catalog everything Yahoo! offers, but rather to introduce new
technologies, such as Yahoo! Web Services, while showing novel ways to use
perennial offerings like Yahoo! Search, Yahoo! Mail, and Yahoo! Groups.
Through the years, developers have scraped, poked, and prodded every
corner of Yahoo! for their own uses, and the release of Yahoo! Web
Services is like a welcome mat being put out for a wider audience of
would-be hackers. This book intends to show you what's possible when you
view Yahoo! as a platform and inspire your inner hacker to take a new look
at Yahoo!.
















How to Use This Book


You can read this book from cover to cover if you like, but each hack
stands on its own, so feel free to browse and jump to the different
sections that interest you most. If there's a prerequisite you need to
know about, a cross-reference will guide you to the right hack.


















How to Run the Hacks


The programmatic hacks in this book run either on the command line (that's
Terminal for Mac OS X folk, DOS command window for Windows users) or as
CGI (that's "common gateway interface") scriptsdynamic pages living on
your web site, accessed through your web browser.


Command-Line Scripts


Running a hack on the command line invariably involves the following
steps:



Type the program into a garden-variety text editor: Notepad on Windows,
TextEdit on Mac OS X, vi or Emacs on Unix/Linux, or anything else of the
sort. Save the file as directedusually as scriptname.pl (the pl bit
stands for Perl, the predominant programming language used in Yahoo!
Hacks).


Alternately, you can download the code for all of the hacks online at
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/yahoohks, where there is a ZIP archive
containing individual scripts saved as text files.



Get to the command line on your computer or remote server. In Mac OS X,
launch the Terminal (Applications Utilities Terminal). In Windows, click
the Start button, select Run…, type command, and hit the Enter/Return
key on your keyboard. In Unix…well, we'll just assume you know how to
get to the command line.



Navigate to where you saved the script at hand. This varies from
operating system to operating system, but usually involves something
like cd~/Desktop (that's your Desktop on the Mac).



Invoke the script by running the programming language's interpreter
(e.g., Perl) and feeding it the script (e.g., scriptname.pl) like so:


$ perl scriptname.pl




Most often, you'll also need to pass along some parametersyour search
query, the number of results you'd like, and so forth. Simply drop them
in after the script name, enclosing them in quotes if they're more than
one word or if they include an odd character or three:


$ perl scriptname.pl '"much ado about nothing" script' 10




The results of your script are almost always sent straight back to the
command-line window in which you're working, like so:


$ perl scriptname.pl '"much ado about nothing" script' 10
1. "Amazon.com: Books: Much Ado About Nothing: Screenplay…" [http://
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0393311112?v=glance]
2. "Much Ado About Nothing Script" [http://www.signal42.com/much_ado_
about_nothing_script.asp]
…






The elllpsis (…) bit signifies that we've cut off the output
for brevity's sake.






To stop output scrolling off your screen faster than you can read it, on
most systems you can pipe (read: redirect) the output to a little
program called more:


$ perl scriptname.pl | more




Hit the Enter/Return key on your keyboard to scroll through line by
line, or the space bar to leap through page by page.


You'll also sometimes want to direct output to a file for safekeeping,
importing into your spreadsheet application, or displaying on your web
site. This is as easy as:


$ perl scriptname.pl > output_filename.txt




And to pour some input into your script from a file, simply do the
opposite:


$ perl scriptname.pl < input_filename.txt




Don't worry if you can't remember all of this; each command-line hack has
a "Running the Hack" section that shows you just how it's done.


CGI Scripts


CGI scriptsprograms that run on your web site and produce pages
dynamicallyare a little more complicated if you're not used to them. While
fundamentally they're the same sorts of scripts as those run on the
command line, they are more troublesome because setups vary so widely. You
might be running your own server, your web site might be hosted on an
Internet service provider's (ISP's) server, your content might live on a
corporate intranet serveror anything in between.


Since going through every possibility is beyond the scope of this (or any)
book, you should check your ISP's knowledge base, or call the ISP's
technical support department, or ask your local system administrator for
help.


Generally, though, the methodology is the same:



Type the program in to a garden-variety text editor: Notepad on Windows,
TextEdit on Mac OS X, vi or Emacs on Unix/Linux, or anything else of the
sort. Save the file as directedusually as scriptname.cgi (the cgi bit
reveals that you're dealing with a CGI script).


Alternately, you can download the code for all of the hacks online at
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/yahoohks, where there is a ZIP archive
containing individual scripts saved as text files.



Move the script over to wherever your web site lives. You should have
some directory on a server somewhere in which all of your web pages (all
those .html files) and images (ending in .jpg, .gif, etc.) live. Within
this directory, you'll probably see something called a cgi-bin
directory: this is where a CGI script must usually live in order for the
server to run the script (rather than just displaying the script's text
in your web browser) when you visit its URL.



You usually need to "bless" CGI scripts as executableto be run rather
than displayed. Just how you do this depends on the operating system of
your server. If you're on a Unix/Linux or Mac OS X system, this usually
entails typing the following on the command line:


$ chmod 755 scriptname.cgi





Now you should be able to point your web browser at the script and have
it run as expected, behaving in a manner similar to that described in
the "Running the Hack" section of the hack at hand.


Just what URL you use, once again, varies widely. It should, however,
look something like http://www.your_domain.com/cgi-bin/scriptname.cgi,
where your_domain.com is your web site domain, cgi-bin refers to the
directory in which your CGI scripts live, and scriptname.cgi is the
script itself.


If you don't have your own domain and are hosted at an ISP, the URL is
more likely to look like
http://www.your_isp.com/~your_username/cgi-bin/scriptname.cgi, where
your_isp.com is your ISP's domain, ~your_username is your username at
the ISP, cgi-bin refers to the directory in which your CGI scripts live,
and scriptname.cgi is the script itself.


If you come up with something called an "internal server error" or see the
error code 500, something's gone wrong somewhere in the process. At this
point you can take a crack at debugging (read: shaking the bugs out)
yourself or ask your ISP or system administrator for help.
Debuggingespecially CGI debuggingcan be a little more than the average
newbie can bear, but there is help in the form of a famous frequently
asked question (FAQ) archive: "The Idiot's Guide to Solving Perl CGI
Problems." Search for it and step through as directed.


Learning to Code


Fancy trying your hand at a spot of programming? O'Reilly's best-selling
Learning Perl (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/lperl3), by Randal L.
Schwartz and Tom Phoenix, provides a good start. Apply what you learn to
understanding and using the hacks in this book, perhaps even taking on the
"Hacking the Hack" sections to tweak and fiddle with the scripts. This is
a useful way to get a little programming under your belt if you're a
searching nut, since it's always a little easier to learn how to program
when you have a task to accomplish and existing code to leaf through.
















How This Book Is Organized


The book is divided into several chapters, organized by subject:




Chapter 1, Search


This chapter shows you how to become a Yahoo! power searcher by taking
advantage of meta keywords to return more relevant results. You'll also
see how to use search shortcuts to find instant answers to some common
questions. This chapter tells you how to find popular search phrases and
technologies by analyzing Yahoo! Buzz, and we'll pit Yahoo! against Google
to see which search engine returns the most relevant results.




Chapter 2, Services


Yahoo! offers information about everything from stocks and bonds to movie
and TV schedules. This chapter shows some unique ways to use Yahoo! Web
Services, including monitoring your commute for problems, watching TV
schedules automatically for appearances by your favorite celebrities, and
visualizing your music collection.




Chapter 3, Communicating


Use the hacks in this chapter to reach out and touch someone. You'll find
hacks for managing your Yahoo! Mail, collaborating with Yahoo! Groups, and
exploring your social networks with Yahoo! 360. This chapter also shows
some ways to personalize Yahoo! Messenger and share your photos with the
world.




Chapter 4, Web Services


This chapter introduces you to the back door that Yahoo! has opened for
developers. You'll find bare-bones examples in several scripting languages
that can give you a head start to creating your own Yahoo!-powered
applications.




Chapter 5, Applications


See how people are using Yahoo! data in their own applications and have a
bit of fun in the process. Find out how to randomize your desktop
background with images from across the Web and how to integrate Yahoo!
with Excel and Outlook.




Chapter 6, Webmastering


If you publish on the Web, you're well aware of the traffic Yahoo! can
send to your site. This chapter shows how to get listed and introduces you
to other Yahoo! components you can plug into your site.















Conventions Used in This Book


The following is a list of the typographical conventions used in this
book:




Italics


Used to indicate URLs, filenames, filename extensions, and directory
names. For example, a path in the filesystem will appear as
/Developer/Applications.




Constant width


Used to show code examples, the contents of files, and console output, as
well as the names of variables, commands, and other code excerpts.




Constant width bold


Used to highlight portions of code, typically new additions to old code.
Also used to show text you should type literally at a command-line prompt.




Constant width italic


Used in code examples and other excerpts to show sample text to be
replaced with your own values.




Gray type


Used to indicate a cross-reference within the text.



A carriage return () at the end of a line of code is used to denote an
unnatural line break; that is, you should not enter these as two lines of
code, but as one continuous line. Multiple lines are used in these cases
due to page-width constraints.


You should pay special attention to notes set apart from the text with the
following icons:




This is a tip, suggestion, or general note. It contains useful
supplementary information about the topic at hand.








This is a warning or note of caution, often indicating that
your money or your privacy might be at risk.






The thermometer icons, found next to each hack, indicate the relative
complexity of the hack:


beginner moderate expert















Using Code Examples


This book is here to help you get your job done. In general, you may use
the code in this book in your programs and documentation. You do not need
to contact us for permission unless you're reproducing a significant
portion of the code. For example, writing a program that uses several
chunks of code from this book does not require permission. Selling or
distributing a CD-ROM of examples from O'Reilly books does require
permission. Answering a question by citing this book and quoting example
code does not require permission. Incorporating a significant amount of
example code from this book into your product's documentation does require
permission.


We appreciate, but do not require, attribution. An attribution usually
includes the title, author, publisher, and ISBN. For example: "Yahoo!
Hacks by Paul Bausch. Copyright 2006 O'Reilly Media, Inc., 0-596-00945-3."


If you feel your use of code examples falls outside fair use or the
permission given above, feel free to contact us at
permissions@oreilly.com.
















Safari Enabled


When you see a Safari® Enabled icon on the cover of your favorite
technology book, that means the book is available online through the
O'Reilly Network Safari Bookshelf.


Safari offers a solution that's better than e-books. It's a virtual
library that lets you easily search thousands of top tech books, cut and
paste code samples, download chapters, and find quick answers when you
need the most accurate, current information. Try it for free at
http://safari.oreilly.com/.



















How to Contact Us


We have tested and verified the information in this book to the best of
our ability, but you may find that features have changed (or even that we
have made mistakes!). As a reader of this book, you can help us to improve
future editions by sending us your feedback. Please let us know about any
errors, inaccuracies, bugs, misleading or confusing statements, and typos
that you find anywhere in this book.


Please also let us know what we can do to make this book more useful to
you. We take your comments seriously and will try to incorporate
reasonable suggestions into future editions. You can write to us at:
O'Reilly Media, Inc.1005 Gravenstein Hwy N.Sebastopol, CA 95472(800)
998-9938 (in the U.S. or Canada)(707) 829-0515 (international/local)(707)
829-0104 (fax)


To ask technical questions or to comment on the book, send email to:
bookquestions@oreilly.com


The web site for Yahoo! Hacks lists examples, errata, and plans for future
editions. You can find this page at:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/yahoohks


For more information about this book and others, see the O'Reilly web
site:
http://www.oreilly.com/















Got a Hack?


To explore Hacks books online or to contribute a hack for future titles,
visit:
http://hacks.oreilly.com/















Chapter 1. Search


Section 1.1. Hacks 122: Introduction


Hack 1. Fine-Tune Yahoo! Web Search Queries


Hack 2. Save Time with Search Shortcuts


Hack 3. Create a Yahoo! ID


Hack 4. Set Persistent Yahoo! Search Preferences


Hack 5. Assemble Advanced Search Queries


Hack 6. Translate Any Page with Yahoo!


Hack 7. Personalize, Track, and Share the Web


Hack 8. Prefetch Yahoo! Search Results


Hack 9. Compare Yahoo! and Google Search Results


Hack 10. Find Content You Can Reuse Legally


Hack 11. Find Video from Across the Web


Hack 12. Streamline Browsing with the Yahoo! Toolbar


Hack 13. Customize the Firefox Quick Search Box


Hack 14. Spot Trends with Yahoo! Buzz


Hack 15. Find Hot Technologies at the Buzz Game


Hack 16. Tame Long Yahoo! URLs


Hack 17. Opt Out of Advertiser Cookies


Hack 18. Track News About Yahoo!


Hack 19. Spider the Yahoo! Catalog


Hack 20. Browse the Yahoo! Directory


Hack 21. Track Additions to Yahoo!


Hack 22. Yahoo! Directory Mindshare in Google
















1.1. Hacks 122: Introduction


Many of us use search engines in the same way we we use street signs. We
use them to navigate, to get our bearings, and to pinpoint our
destination. We rarely stop to consider the signs themselves or look for
more information they might be telling us. As with street signs, we'd be
lost without search engines, and by taking a few minutes to contemplate
the Yahoo! Web Search results page, you might find new ways to reach your
destination.


Take a look at Figure 1-1, which shows a Yahoo! Web Search results page
for the query ancient greece.




Figure 1-1. Yahoo! Web Search results





You can see the familiar numbered listing of search results, but there are
a number of other bits of information on the page. Here's a look at what's
available on a Yahoo! Search results page:




Navigation bar


You'll find the gray navigation bar at the top of the page on many pages
at Yahoo! sites. The bar provides a consistent way to get to the main
Yahoo! page (http://www.yahoo.com/), the My Yahoo! portal [Hack #34], and
Yahoo! Mail [Hack #52]. The bar also indicates your login status by
displaying your Yahoo! ID [Hack #3] or Guest, along with links that let
you sign in to Yahoo! or sign out. You can also click the Help link at the
far right of the navigation bar to read documentation about the site.




Search links


Just above the search form, you'll find links to other Yahoo! searches,
including Images, Video [Hack #11], the Yahoo! Directory [Hack #20],
Yahoo! News [Hack #32], and Yahoo! Shopping [Hack #47]. You can click any
of these search links to search with the exact query you used at one of
the other Yahoo! Search properties so that you don't have to retype your
search term.




Result count


Search results are returned as a number of pages, and you'll find your
position within the results in the shaded blue bar. For instance, the
first page of results will be labeled as Results 110, the second page will
show Results 1120, and so on. (You can adjust the number of results per
page by setting your search preferences [Hack #4].) You'll also see the
estimated total number of results for your query.




Query definition links


Just to the right of the result count, you'll see the words in the query
as links. You can click the links to see dictionary definitions of the
words at Yahoo! Reference [Hack #40].




Search speed


The shaded blue bar will also show you how long it took to fetch the
results, usually less than a half-second.




Sponsor results


You'll find context-sensitive advertising along the right side of the page
and in a shaded blue box above or below the Yahoo! Web Search results.
Advertising is always clearly labeled Sponsor Results, and the type of ads
will be triggered by the topic you're searching for.




Search suggestions


Search phrases similar to the one you entered are labeled with Also Try:
at the top of the page. These suggestions show you what other Yahoo! users
are searching for related to your topic and can help you refine your
search. Yahoo! will display the top few suggestions, and if there are
several suggestions you can click the More or Show All links to see a
complete list of suggestions available.




Yahoo! shortcut info


If your query triggered a Yahoo! Shortcut [Hack #2], the shortcut info
will be shown above the Web results and marked with the Y! logo. Shortcuts
usually give you brief information about your query, with links to more
information at other Yahoo! properties.




Web results


The Web Search results show the familiar list of documents from across the
Web, which contain your query words or phrases. Each result is numbered
and includes the document title, a brief excerpt with query words in bold,
and the document location.




Results page


Below the Web Search results you can navigate between results pages by
clicking a page number or the Prev and Next links.


Each Yahoo! Web Search result represents a document somewhere on the Web.
The document will most likely be a web page written in HTML, but could be
in another format such as Adobe PDF, Microsoft Word, or plain text. Figure
1-2 shows a typical Yahoo! Web Search result with all of the associated
links and features.




Figure 1-2. A single Yahoo! Web Search result





A closer look at a Web Search result shows that there's more listed than
simply a document title and excerpt. Here's a look at what you'll find
with each result:




Document title


The document title is pulled from the document itself, either from HTML

http://address.yahoo.com/
My geocoded Yahoo! Address Book
RSSHEADER


my (%hash, @vals, $arg, $loc, $lat, $lon, $success, $country);


# First line of Yahoo! CVS is keys
my @keys = @{ getrecord(*STDIN) };


while (! eof(STDIN)) {
@vals = @{ getrecord(*STDIN) };
@hash{ @keys } = @vals;


$success = 0;
undef($loc);
$country = $countrycode{ $hash{'Home Country'} } || $defaultcountry;


# Check for sufficient information to geocode


if (length($hash{'Home City'}) == 0
|| ($country eq "US" && length($hash{'Home State'}) == 0)) {
print STDERR "Couldn't geocode: \""
. join ("\",\"", @vals) . "\"\n";
next;
}


# Try geocoding US street address
if ($country eq 'US'
&& length($hash{'Home Address'}) > 0) {
$arg = $hash{'Home Address'} . "," . $hash{'Home City'}
. "," . $hash{'Home State'};


eval {
# Be patient, geocoder.us free service is rate limited
$loc = XMLin(
get("http://geocoder.us/service/rest/?address="
. uri_escape($arg) )
);
};


if (!$@ && defined($loc->{"geo:Point"}->{"geo:long"}) &&
defined($loc->{"geo:Point"}->{"geo:lat"})) {
$success = 1;
}
}


# Try geocoding world city
if ($country ne 'US' || ! $success) {
if ($country ne "US") {
$arg = $hash{'Home City'} . "," . $country;
} else {
$arg = $hash{'Home City'} . "," . $hash{'Home State'}
. "," . $country;
}
eval {
$loc = XMLin(
get("http://brainoff.com/geocoder/rest?city="
. uri_escape($arg))
);
};


if (!$@ && defined($loc->{"geo:Point"}->{"geo:long"}) &&
defined($loc->{"geo:Point"}->{"geo:lat"})) {
$success = 1;
}
}


if ($success) {
print <

$loc->{"geo:Point"}->{"geo:lat"}
$loc->{"geo:Point"}->{"geo:long"}



ITEM
} else {
print STDERR "Couldn't geocode: \""
. join ("\",\"", @vals) . "\"\n";
}
}


print "\n";


#
# "getrecord" returns the next record as an array from an open
# filehandle. It is a simple state machine, that expects a file
# formatted in 'Yahoo! CVS'
#
sub getrecord {
my $fh = shift;
my $c = "";
my $st = 0;
my @record;
my $entry = "";
while (defined($c)) {
$c = getc($fh);
if ($st == 0) {
if ($c eq "\n" || ! $c) {
return \@record;
} elsif ($c eq "\"") {
$st = 1;
} else {
die "error: parsing state:$st char:$c\n";
}
} elsif ($st == 1) {
if ($c eq "\"") {
$st = 2;
} else {
$entry .= $c;
}
} elsif ($st == 2) {
if ($c eq "\"") {
$entry .= "\"";
$st = 1;
} elsif ($c eq ",") {
push @record, $entry;
$entry = "";
$st = 0;
} elsif ($c eq "\n") {
push @record, $entry;
return \@record;
} else {
die "error: parsing state:$st char:$c\n";
}
}
}
die "error: premature end of file\n";
}




The main body of the script builds a hash from the current record,
attempts to geocode the address, and outputs an RSS item if it's
successful. For U.S. locations with full street address, the REST service
from http://geocoder.us/ is employed. It expects an address, city name,
and state abbreviation, and it returns a small bit of XML containing a
latitude/longitude pair if it's successful. The free service is rate
limited, so you'll notice pauses during requests. For non-U.S.
locationsand for unsuccessful Geocoder requestsa request is made to the
REST interface of the Geocoder at http://brainoff.com/geocoder, which
expects a city, state abbreviation for U.S. cities, and country code.


The country codes are particular to the GNS
(http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html) database that backs this service. To
look up the codes, go to http://brainoff.com/geocoder/countryselect.php
and select a country; a JavaScript alert will give you the code. You will
need to map the country names used in your address book to these codes, by
adding entries to %countrycode in the script.


If you use a non-English language on Yahoo!, you might have different
field names from the ones expected. The script uses Home Address, Home
City, Home State, and Home Country. You might need to examine your CSV
export and replace these field names in the code. Similarly, if you wanted
to map work addresses, you'd replace Home with Work in each of these field
names. Another modification to try is adding a or
field to each item, set, for example, to the Personal Website field.


3.9.3. Running the Hack


With the script and the Yahoo! CSV export file (yahoo.csv) in place, call
the script like this:


perl yadr2geo.pl < yahoo.csv > rss.xml




The file rss.xml will contain each of the entries from your Yahoo! Address
Book, along with its geocoded location.


3.9.4. Plotting the Addresses


The final step is to download worldkit from http://brainoff.com/worldkit
and install it on your server or locally. Loading the included index.html
in your browser displays the default map. Replace the included rss.xml
with the output of yadr2geo.pl and reload the map. You'll see the
locations of your friends spread over the globe, as in the geographically
dispersed map in Figure 3-20.




Figure 3-20. Yahoo! Address Book entries plotted on a worldkit map





There are many possible customizations described in the worldkit
documentation, from changing the map from global to city scale, to
changing the annotation colors according to the category of each contact.


Mikel Maron
















Hack 59. Discuss, Share, and Collaborate with Others





Use Yahoo! Groups to set up a space to share information via email and on
the Web.


The Web is redefining how groups of people can work together to achieve a
common goal. At one time, forming collaborative relationships meant
meeting in the same physical location. By collaborating online, people
across the globe can come together to work on a project, exchange
information, or simply chat. A family that's distributed across the
country can share photos and stories, or a local club can plan meeting
times.


Yahoo! Groups is a space that facilitates these kinds of relationships,
and at its most basic, Yahoo! Groups provides an easy way to create a
mailing list. A mailing list is simply a way to send an email to a number
of specified email addresses. Some mailing lists are one-way, meaning the
list owner sends email to everyone on the list but members don't
communicate between each other; these are called announcement or
distribution lists. A two-way list is called a discussion list and allows
any of its members to send an email to the list; everyone on the list will
receive the message. A Yahoo! Group can have either type of mailing list,
but Yahoo! Groups are most often thought of as a place for discussion.


3.10.1. Group Features


In addition to its mailing list, every Yahoo! Group has its own group
site. Here are the features you'll find at a Yahoo! Groups site:




Messages


Every message sent to the group via email is archived at the group site,
where members can search through past messages or post new messages to the
group.




Chat


A Java™ application that runs in the browser provides real-time chatting
for members that are at the group site at the same time.




File, Photo, and Link Sharing


Members can upload files and photos to share with others. And there's a
special section of the group site for sharing links to other sites.




Shared Databases


The group can work together on a database of information. You can even
create your own structure for the data. Prebuilt options include a shared
phone book, CD library, recipes, and contact list.




Group Polls


You can take the pulse of the group by creating a multiple-choice poll
question and letting members vote on the choices.




Shared Calendar


Everyone can keep each other informed of important events by adding event
descriptions to the group calendar.


Each Yahoo! Group site offers a number of features that aren't available
via email.


3.10.2. Joining a Group


Though you might be tempted to rush into creating your own group, you
might find that a group already exists for your favorite topic.


There are millions of public Yahoo! Groups, and you can search for groups
or browse by topic at http://groups.yahoo.com/. Say you're interested in
robotics and want to see what people are discussing. You could browse
through the categories to Science Engineering Mechanical Robotics and find
a listing of around 500 potential groups, as shown in Figure 3-21.


Each Yahoo! Group listing shows the title and description, the number of
members, and whether the message archive is open to the public. If the
archives are public, you can read through past discussions to see if
you're interested in the group. Otherwise, you might have to join the
group and try it out.


When you spot a group you might like to join, click the group title and
you'll visit the group site, like the one shown in Figure 3-22.




Figure 3-21. A listing of Yahoo! Groups







Figure 3-22. An individual Yahoo! Groups site





Across the top of the group page, you'll notice that it lists the group
activity within the past seven days. This includes messages posted to the
group and any files, photos, or links shared. This is a good way to get a
sense of how active a particular group is. You'll also be able to read the
entire group description and read through recent messages if the archives
are public. Click Join This Group! to become a member. At this point,
you'll need to log in with your Yahoo! ID if you're not logged in already.


After you decide to join a group, you'll need to decide how you'd like to
receive messages. You can choose your preferred email address for the
group and how you'd like to receive messages at that address:




Individual Emails


With this setting, you'll receive every individual email sent to the
group. This is a good option if you want to be in the thick of daily
conversation.




Daily Digest


A digest is a group of all the messages to the group for a day, joined
together into one email. This is a good option if you'd like to keep close
tabs on the group but don't want to participate heavily in the
conversation.




Special Notices


With this option, you'll receive only messages that the group moderators
mark as important. Use this option if you primarily read messages at the
group site but want an occasional update.




No Email


You can read a group exclusively at the group site and avoid any extra
messages in your inbox.


You can also choose whether you prefer plain-text or HTML-formatted email.


Once you're a member, you'll be able to post messages to the group, access
the archives, and use the extended features of the group site. Keep in
mind that some groups require approval from a moderator before allowing
you to become a member, and some groups require that all messages sent to
the group are approved by a moderator before they're sent on to the entire
group.


3.10.3. Creating a Group


To start your own group, browse to http://groups.yahoo.com/ and click the
"Start a group now" link. You'll need to log in if you haven't done so
already. You can create a group in three steps:




Choose a Category


You need to place your group within a Yahoo! Groups category, even if the
group is going to be private. If your group is for a family, you could
place it in Family & Home Families Individual Families.




Describe the Group


Enter a group name, email address prefix, and description. This
description is the group's public face to the world and will appear in the
Yahoo! Groups directory if the group is public. The email address prefix
will also determine the group site URL, so choose something short and
memorable.




Confirm Your Address


Choose your preferred email address to receive messages at the group, and
prove you're not a robot by filling out a captcha form, as you may have
done when you created a Yahoo! ID [Hack #3].


With the group created, there's nothing more you need to do. You can start
inviting people to join your group and start the discussion. You can view
your group site by visiting its URL, which is in this format:


http://groups.yahoo.com/group/insert email prefix




Even though your group is ready to go with the default options, click the
Management link on the left side of the home page to see all of your
administrative options. The links under the Group Settings headings will
let you configure every aspect of your group, from public archives to the
look and feel of the group site.















Hack 60. Archive Yahoo! Groups Messages with yahoo2mbox





Looking to keep a local archive of your favorite mailing list? With
yahoo2mbox, you can import the final results into your favorite mailer.


With the popularity of Yahoo! Groups (http://groups.yahoo.com/) comes a
problem. Sometimes, you want to save the archives of a Yahoo! Group,
access the archives outside the Yahoo! Groups site, or move your list
somewhere else and take your existing archive with you.


3.11.1. The Code


Vadim Zeitlin had these same concerns, which is why he wrote yahoo2mbox
(http://www.tt-solutions.com/en/products/yahoo2mbox). This hack retrieves
all the messages from a mailing list archive at Yahoo! Groups and saves
them to a local file in mbox format. Plenty of options make this handy to
have when you're trying to transfer information from Yahoo! Groups. You'll
need Perl and several additional modules to run this code, including
Getopt::Long, HTML::Entities, HTML::HeadParser, HTML::TokeParser, and
LWP::UserAgent.


3.11.2. Running the Hack


Running the code looks like this:


perl yahoo2mbox.pl [options] [-o mbox] groupname




The options for running the program are as follows:


--helpgive the usage message showing the program options
--versionshow the program version and exit
--verbosegive verbose informational messages (default)
--quietbe silent, only error messages are given
--resumeresume an interrupted download
-o mboxsave the message to mbox instead of file named groupname
--start=nstart retrieving messages at index n instead of 1
--end=nstop retrieving messages at index n instead of the last one
--last=nget the last specified number of messages from the list
--noresumedon't resume, **overwrites** the existing output file if any
--user=namelogin to eGroups using this username (default: guest login)
--pass=passthe password to use for login (default: none)
--cookies=xxxfile to use to store cookies (default: none,
'netscape' uses netscape cookies file).
--proxy=urluse the given proxy, if 'no' don't use proxy at all (even not
the environment variable http_proxy which is used by default),
may use http://username:password\@full.host.name/
--country=xxuse the given country code in order to access localized yahoo
--x-yahooadd X-Yahoo-Message-Num header to identify Yahoo! messages
--delay=nsleep for the specified number of seconds between requests




So, this command downloads messages from Weird Al Club, starting at
message 3258:


% perl yahoo2mbox.pl --start=3258 weirdalclub2
Logging in anonymously… ok.
Getting number of messages in group weirdalclub2…
Retrieving messages 3258..3287: .............................. done!
Saved 30 message(s) in weirdalclub2.




Here, the messages are saved to a file called weirdalclub2. Renaming the
file weirdalclub2.mbx means that I can immediately open the messages in
Eudora, as shown in Figure 3-23. Of course, you can also open the
resulting files in any mail program that can import (or natively read) the
mbox format.




Figure 3-23. A Yahoo! Groups archive in Eudora





3.11.3. Hacking the Hack


Because this is someone else's program, there's not too much hacking to be
done. On the other hand, you might find that you don't want to end this
process with the mbox file; you might want to convert to other formats for
use in other projects or archives. In that case, check out these other
programs to take that mbox format a little further:




hypermail (http://sourceforge.net/projects/hypermail/)


Converts mbox format to cross-referenced HTML documents.




mb2md (http://www.gerg.ca/hacks/mb2md/)


Converts mbox format to Maildir. Requires Python and Procmail.




mb2md.pl (http://batleth.sapienti-sat.org/projects/mb2md/)


Converts mbox format to Maildir. Uses Perl.


Kevin Hemenway and Tara Calishain
















Hack 61. Explore Your Social Networks





Use Yahoo! 360 to stay in touch with friends, family, and coworkers while
viewing their social connections.


You've probably heard the famous theory that says everyone on earth can be
connected to anyone else through six degrees of separation. For example,
if you really wanted to get in touch with Bill Gates through friends, you
could go to someone you know, they could go to someone they know, and
you'd eventually reach Bill through no more than six contacts. These
relationships make up your social network, and Yahoo! 360 is an attempt to
map and expose those connections.


In addition, Yahoo! 360 is a place to keep your friends, family, and
coworkers up-to-date with what's happening in your life, as well as a way
for you to see what they're up to. It's also a way to meet your friends'
friends, and perhaps meet some people you wouldn't have otherwise met.
Some of the features you'll find at Yahoo! 360 include:




Your personal profile


Assemble an autobiography and list cities you've lived in, places you've
worked, and schools where you've studied. You can also put together lists
of favorite movies, music, and television shows.




Weblog


You can keep a personal public journal that will keep your friends
up-to-date with your recent thoughts and activities.




Friends list


Assemble a list of your contacts that are on Yahoo! 360 and stay in touch
with them.




Yahoo! Network


You can integrate Yahoo! Network data into your personal profile,
including Yahoo! Photos you've uploaded, Yahoo! Groups you belong to, and
your Yahoo! Local reviews.


Whether you arrive at Yahoo! 360 by invitation or by signing up at
http://360.yahoo.com/, you should take a few steps before you start
connecting with others to get the most out of your Yahoo! 360 space.


3.12.1. Create a Profile


Your Yahoo! 360 profile is your public face to others. As people run into
your weblog or see your comments on other weblogs, they'll be able to view
your profile to learn more about you. When you log into Yahoo! 360, you'll
find your profile page full of empty yellow boxes, as shown in Figure
3-24.


This page is a blank canvas that you can begin to fill in with details
about yourself. A good place to start is the Edit Basic Info link on the
left side of the page. From there, you can enter your name and a nickname,
and decide how you want your identity displayed to others.


You can include other bits of information, such as your current location,
age, birthday, and primary email address. Most settings allow you to
specify a privacy setting, as shown in Figure 3-25, and you'll find
similar settings throughout Yahoo! 360.


The default value for information entered into Yahoo! 360 is "just me"
(private), and you might want to leave this value alone until you're
finished with your Yahoo! 360 space and ready to connect with others. You
can always click the Edit Basic Info link later to change your basic info
privacy settings.


Once your basic info is set, click Save to return to your profile page.
Because photos are used extensively throughout Yahoo! 360, a good next
step is uploading a personal photo. The personal photo space is fairly
large, so if you'd like to include an image without any distortion, create
a personal photo that's 190 pixels wide by 245 pixels high. The photo will
need to be in the standard JPEG format. You can upload up to four
different photos, and people reading your profile will be able to click on
thumbnails to see them at the 190 x 245 size.




Figure 3-24. A blank Yahoo! 360 profile







Figure 3-25. Choosing a privacy setting for a piece of information





With your personal photos in place, click the Create Profile link at the
bottom of your profile page. This is where your autobiography begins, and
you can tell people as little or as much about yourself as you'd like.
Yahoo! 360 provides a space for describing yourself, forms for listing
places you've lived, worked, or gone to school, a space to list your home
page, a way to list languages you speak, and a spot for your favorite
quote. Click Save when you're finished, and you should start to see your
profile page taking shape.


Click Share Lists to add lists of things you're interested in. These lists
help you connect with other Yahoo! 360 members by interest. You can list
general interests, favorite books, movies, music, and television shows.


Finally, click Edit Contact Settings on the left side of your profile page
and decide how you'd like to receive messages from other Yahoo! 360
members. You can allow anyone to contact you, just people you've
designated as friends, or friends of friends within your network. You can
also adjust the settings for Yahoo! 360 friend invitations and Yahoo!
Messenger settings. Now that you have a home base set and you've decided
how you'd like to be contacted, you can start connecting with others.


3.12.2. Start Blogging


A blog (short for weblog), is a public journal that can be a way to share
opinions, a place to describe recent activities, or simply a space to
chronicle interesting things you find on the Web. To set up your blog, go
to your profile page and click the "Start a Blog" link and give your new
weblog a title and description. You can also choose to activate a Simple
URL for your blog. The default URLs for Yahoo! 360 weblogs aren't easy to
pass around. Here's what a standard Yahoo! 360 blog URL looks like:


http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-W.nEFiYoc6l2SMTF4MyXa0E-




But you can enable a Simple URL that contains your Yahoo! ID and is much
more manageable, something like this:


http://blog.360.yahoo.com/yhoohacks




Yahoo! 360 uses the first, more complex URL as the default, so that your
Yahoo! ID isn't immediately available to others. If you don't mind sharing
your Yahoo! ID with others, though, you can have a much simpler URL to
share with friends and family.


Next, choose who can see your blog: anyone (public), friends in your
network, or just you (completely private). If you choose the public
option, you can also publish a site feed. With a site feed, others can
subscribe to your weblog through My Yahoo! or other RSS newsreaders.
Finally, choose who can comment on your posts and click the Begin Blog
button.


You'll find yourself at your weblog, without any posts. Click the Compose
New Entry link on the left to write your first message to the world. Just
as with email, each post has a title and a body (entry content). In most
browsers you can format the text of your post with the controls just above
the Entry Content area. Figure 3-26 shows some of the formatting options
available, including bold, italics, links, smileys, and lists.




Figure 3-26. Posting to a Yahoo! 360 blog





If you're familiar with HTML, you can skip the formatting buttons and
write the HTML yourself by selecting the View HTML Source option. Be aware
that your HTML options are limited; you'll need to brush up on what's
allowed at Yahoo! 360 by clicking the "Learn more" link under the Entry
Content area.


If you include a photo with your post, the photo will appear at the top of
the post when it's published. The photo will be scaled to 284 pixels wide
once it's uploaded to Yahoo! 360. The photo will appear directly under the
title and above the main body of the post once the post is published.


Once you're happy with your entry, click Post This Entry to make the post
available on your blog. Who can read your words will depend on your
privacy settings. An occasional blog entry is an unobtrusive way to keep
friends, coworkers, and family up to speed on what's happening in your
life. Plus, your friends and family can add their own comments to your
posts, which keeps a public dialogue going.


Another option available on your Yahoo! 360 blog is a tool for building a
blogroll. A blogroll is simply a list of links to other blogs and sites
you enjoy. To add sites to your blogroll, click the My Blog link at the
top of any Yahoo! 360 page and click the Edit Blogroll link. From there,
you can add sites by typing in a site's name and URL. If you're moving
from another weblog service and already have a blogroll, you might want to
automate this process [Hack #62].


3.12.3. Connect with Friends


The strength of Yahoo! 360 lies in your connections with other members. As
you add people to your friends list, you'll see their recent activity and
they'll see yours. Figure 3-27 shows a Yahoo! 360 home page listing the
latest information from friends.




Figure 3-27. A Yahoo! 360 home page with friends' current activity





There are a few different ways to build your own friends list. You can
click the Home link at the top of any Yahoo! 360 page and then click the
"Invite a Friend" link from the left side of the home page. From there,
you can send an invitation email and personal message to someone you know.
If she accepts your invitation, joins Yahoo! 360, builds a profile, and
starts posting to a weblog, she'll be listed as a contact, and you'll see
her latest activity on your home page.


Another way to spot friends is by browsing your existing friends' lists.
If we're all connected by six degrees, you shouldn't have to surf other
friends' lists long before you find people you know. You can also click
the Search link at the top of any Yahoo! 360 page to search for people you
know, or you can enter specific criteria such as location, age, or schools
attended to find people you don't know (yet).


You can also click My Page at the top of any Yahoo! 360 page to get to
your profile. If you've assembled lists of books, music, and movies you
enjoy, you can click those titles to see other Yahoo! 360 members who
share that interest. For example, if you've listed Kraftwerk as a musical
favorite, simply click the Kraftwerk link to see others who like the
German electronic group. If you see someone you'd like to add to your
friends list, click the Invite link next to his name. If he accepts your
invitation, he'll be added to your friends list, and you'll see his latest
activity on your home page.


In addition to weblog posts and comments, you can communicate privately
with other Yahoo! 360 members through your Mailbox. As you'd expect, you
can reach your Yahoo! 360 Mailbox by clicking the Mailbox link at the top
of any Yahoo! 360 page. Whenever you see someone you'd like to talk with,
click the Send Message link next to her name. The messages are similar to
email, but your email address isn't exposed in the process. This way, you
can contact people with as little or as much anonymity as you'd like.
















Hack 62. Import an Existing Blogroll to Yahoo! 360





Moving your blog to Yahoo! 360 and already have a blogroll? Automate
adding blogroll links with OPML and Perl.


A prominent feature of most weblogs is a list of links to other weblogs
running down the side of the page. This list is called a blogroll, and
they're so popular that a service called Blogrolling
(http://www.blogrolling.com/) is there to help people maintain large lists
of links and easily include them on their own weblog.


Yahoo! 360 [Hack #61] also features a blogroll and a blogroll manager
(http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog/blogroll.html). To add a link to your
blogroll, add the site name and URL into the form. If you'd like to add
more links, click the Add Another button at the top of the page to reveal
more fields. Adding a handful of links this way is fine, but if you
already have a list of 10 or more sites you'd like to include, this can
get tedious quickly. Luckily, there's a standard way of exchanging links
that can make the job faster.


As more and more services offer the ability to create blogrolls or lists
of links, the way to exchange these lists is an XML format called Outline
Processor Markup Language ( OPML). OPML can be used to syndicate lists of
just about anything. Sites such as Blogrolling and the newsreader
Bloglines (http://www.bloglines.com/) use OPML to import and export long
lists of web sites. For example, at Bloglines, you can subscribe to your
favorite web sites to read their posts. Using Bloglines on a regular
basis, you can accumulate a list of hundreds of sites. If you'd like to
use this same list of accumulated sites with another service, you can use
Bloglines's export function to get an OPML list of the site names and
URLs.


Each individual entry in an OPML file exported from Bloglines looks like
this:


type="rss" xmlUrl="http://radar.oreilly.com/index.rdf"/>




As you can see, the OPML file contains the title and URL of the site, and
the location of the site's RSS feed. Having your list of favorite sites in
this structured way can help you automate adding the sites to your Yahoo!
360 blogroll. Figure 3-28 shows a Yahoo! 360 blogroll that's been imported
with the code in this hack.


Instead of typing in each entry by hand into the Yahoo! 360 form, you can
let Perl do the heavy lifting for you.


3.13.1. The Code


This code relies on a nonstandard component called WWW::Mechanize to
handle the automation. Among other things, WWW::Mechanize can log in to
web sites and fill out formsperfect for adding a batch of entries to the
Yahoo! 360 blogroll editor. You'll also need to install the
Yahoo!-specific component WWW::Yahoo::Login, which works with
WWW::Mechanize to log in to your Yahoo! account.


Once the components are installed, save the following code to a file
called import_blogroll_360.pl and be sure to add your Yahoo! ID and
password to the script. Also, take a look at your current blogroll form
(available at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog/blogroll.html) and count the
number of rows you see. If you're starting with a blank blogroll, the
number should be 3. Add this number to the code at the line my $i= n. This
will tell the script where to begin adding links and will ensure that any
current links you have at your Yahoo! 360 blogroll won't be overwritten.




Figure 3-28. A Yahoo! 360 imported blogroll





#!/usr/bin/perl
# import_blogroll_360.pl
# Imports links from an OPML file into Yahoo! 360 Bookmarks
# Usage: import_blogroll_360.pl


use strict;
use WWW::Yahoo::Login qw( login logout );
use WWW::Mechanize;


# Open the incoming file
open(OPML, "@ARGV") || die "usage: import_blogroll_360.pl ";
my @opml = reverse ;


my $mech = WWW::Mechanize->new();


# Log into Yahoo! 360
my $resp = login(
mechq=>$mech,
uri=>'http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog/blogroll.html',
user=>'insert Yahoo! ID' ,
pass=>'insert Yahoo! Password' ,
);


# Set the beginning field value
my $i = n;
my $form = $mech->current_form();


# If login succeeded, loop through the OPML


if ($resp) {
# Parse the OPML
foreach my $link (@opml) {
# Depending on the flavor of OPML you're parsing
# you may need to edit this regex
while ($link =~ /]. */gi) {
$i++;
my $title = $1;
my $url = $2;
# Set title field
my (%titleattr);
$titleattr{name} = "title_$i";
$titleattr{value} = $title;
$form->push_input("text", \%titleattr);
$mech->field("title_$i", $title);
# Set URL field
my (%urlattr);
$urlattr{name} = "url_$i";
$urlattr{value} = $url;
$form->push_input("text", \%urlattr);
$mech->field("url_$i", $url);
print "$title - $url\n";
}
}
$mech->field("amt",$i);


# Submit the form
$mech->click("save");
} else {
warn $WWW::Yahoo::Login::ERROR;
}




This script is set to parse the output from Bloglines, and other services
might have slightly different flavors of OPML that will require some
changes. Even though OPML is emerging as a standard, the format is
flexible and different services implement it in different ways. For
example, Bloglines uses a title attribute to indicate the title of a site,
while some others use a text attribute. If the flavor of OPML that you're
working with is different, change the line that contains the format of the
tag (bold in the code).


3.13.2. Running the Hack


To run the code, call it from the command line and pass in the name of
your OPML file. So if your Bloglines export file is named
bloglines_export.xml, you'd invoke the script like this:


perl import_blogroll_360.pl bloglines_export.xml




Once executed, the script logs in to Yahoo! 360 with your Yahoo! ID and
password and analyzes the blogroll form. From there, it loops through the
OPML file, adding the proper fields and values to the Yahoo! 360 form.
Once it's through the file, $mech->click("save") does the work of clicking
the Save button, and you'll have your old blogroll in a new location!


















Hack 63. Add an API to Your Yahoo! 360 Blog





Start using third-party services with your Yahoo! 360 blog by adding your
own API.


Yahoo! 360 is a site designed to help you keep in touch with friends,
family, and coworkers. In addition to sharing reviews, photos, and lists
of your favorite music and movies, Yahoo! 360 lets you post messages in a
blog. Of course, Yahoo! isn't the only place you can keep a blog. Services
such as Blogger (http://www.blogger.com/) and TypePad
(http://www.typepad.com/) will also host a blog for you. But if your
friends are all chatting away on Yahoo! 360, you might want to keep a
journal there, where you and your friends can all connect.


At the time of this writing, Yahoo! 360 is in beta testing, and its
developers are working on the features they intend to offer for a wider
release. Unfortunately, this means the blog portion of Yahoo! 360 isn't as
robust as some of the other weblog services, and Yahoo! 360 doesn't yet
offer a way to post to your weblog from third-party services. For example,
if I keep a weblog on Blogger, I can post photos to that weblog from
Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/), a photo-sharing application recently
acquired by Yahoo!. That's because Blogger offers an application
programming interface (API) that lets other services access data
programmatically.


Even though Yahoo! 360 doesn't offer an API, with a bit of scripting you
can mimic a weblog API and start posting through third-party tools.


3.14.1. What You Need


To implement this hack, you'll need access to a publicly available web
server that can run Perl scripts, and several external modules. Here's a
look at the modules you need, what they provide, and where you can find
them:




XMLRPC::Transport::HTTP


This module handles all of the formatting of XML-RPC requests and
responses required for the metaWeblog API interface. The module is part of
a larger package called SOAP::Lite. To read the documentation, go to
http://search.cpan.org/~byrne/SOAP-Lite-0.60a/lib/XMLRPC/Transport/HTTP.pm.




LWP::Simple


This module allows you to download the contents of pages from the Web. It
is available at
http://search.cpan.org/~gaas/libwww-perl-5.803/lib/LWP/Simple.pm.




WWW::Mechanize


Also known as Mech, this module can automate interactions with a website.
This hack uses Mech to log in to Yahoo! and post items to a Yahoo! 360
weblog. To download the module and read its documentation, go to
http://search.cpan.org/~petdance/WWW-Mechanize-1.12/lib/WWW/Mechanize.pm.




WWW::Yahoo::Login


This module is an extension of Mech that handles logging in to Yahoo!
sites. Find it ar
http://search.cpan.org/~struan/WWW-Yahoo-Login-0.10/lib/WWW/Yahoo/Login.pm.




Image::Size


This module can find the dimensions in pixels of any image. It's used in
this hack to find the dimension of images posted from Flickr. You can read
more at http://search.cpan.org/~rjray/Image-Size-2.992/Size.pm.


If you're missing any of these modules, you can install each of them with
CPAN, like this:


perl MCPAN e shell
cpan> install insert package name




With the modules in place, you're ready to move on to the script.


3.14.2. The Code


This code doesn't fully implement all of the functions you'll find in the
metaWeblog API. Instead, it implements two methods: getUsersBlogs and
newPost. These two methods are the bare minimum needed to interface with
other systems and add new weblog posts.


As you'd expect, getUsersBlogs returns a list of weblogs that a particular
user can post to at a weblog service. Because Yahoo! 360 users are limited
to one blog per Yahoo! ID, this function simply logs in to Yahoo! and
fetches the name of the user's Yahoo! 360 blog. The newPost function also
logs in to Yahoo!, changes the incoming text of a post if necessary, and
adds the text as a new post to the Yahoo! 360 weblog.


Save the following code to a file called Y360_api.pl:


#!/usr/bin/perl
# Y360_api.pl
# Implements a minimalist metaWeblog API for Yahoo! 360 blogs.
# You can read more about the metaWeblog API here:
# http://www.xmlrpc.com/ metaWeblogApi
#
# Usage: send metaWeblog API requests for methods:
#
#getUsersBlogs
#Returns the name and URL of a Yahoo! 360


#blog for the given user.
#newPost
#Adds a post with the incoming text to
#a Yahoo! 360 blog for the given user.


use strict;
use XMLRPC::Transport::HTTP;


XMLRPC::Transport::HTTP::CGI
-> dispatch_to('metaWeblog')
-> handle
;


package metaWeblog;
use WWW::Yahoo::Login qw( login logout );
use WWW::Mechanize;
use Image::Size 'html_imgsize';
use LWP::Simple;


my $mech = WWW::Mechanize->new(autocheck => 1);


sub getUsersBlogs {
my($app, $msg, $user, $pass) = @_;


# Set some defaults
my $blog_url = "http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog/";
my $blog_name = "My Yahoo! 360 Blog";


# Log into Yahoo! 360
my $mech = WWW::Mechanize->new();
my $login = login(
mech => $mech,
uri => 'http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog/',
user => $user,
pass => $pass,
);


# Get weblog URL and title
if ($login) {
my $html = $mech->response()->content( );
if ($html =~ m!

(.*?)

!mgis) {
$blog_name = $1;
}
if ($html =~ m!

View Blog

!mgis) {
$blog_url = $1;
}
}


# Send the response
my @res;
push @res, { url => SOAP::Data->type(string => $blog_url),
blogid => SOAP::Data->type(string => "1"),
blogName => SOAP::Data->type(string=> $blog_name) };
\@res;
}


sub newPost {
shift if UNIVERSAL::isa($_[0] => __PACKAGE__);
my($blog_id, $user, $pass, $item, $publish) = @_;


# Log into Yahoo! 360
my $mech = WWW::Mechanize->new();
my $login = login(
mech => $mech,
uri => 'http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog/compose.html',
user => $user,
pass => $pass,
);


# Add width/height to image tags (for Flickr posts)
if ($item->{description} =~ m!(.*?.*)!mgis) {
my $file = get($2);
my $size = html_imgsize(\$file);
$item->{description} = "$1 $size $4";
}


# Write post description to a file
open(FILE, ">> post.txt") or die("Couldn't open post.txt\n");
print FILE $item->{description} . "\n\n";


# Remove initial div tag from del.icio.us posts
$item->{description} =~ s!

(.*?)

!$1!gis;


# Strip line breaks
$item->{description} =~ s!\n!!gis;


# If login succeeded, add post and send a successful
# response with the generic 1000 as the post ID
if ($login && $item->{title}) {
my $form = $mech->form_name("blog_compose");
$mech->field("title", $item->{title});
$mech->field("contents", $item->{description});
$mech->click("post");
SOAP::Data->type(string => "1000");
} else {
return error $WWW::Yahoo::Login::ERROR;
}
}




This script is built specifically to work with the API-related services at
Flickr [Hack #67] and del.icio.usa bookmark manager available at
http://del.icio.us/. The newPost subroutine reformats incoming text based
on the text that these services provide. For example, Flickr doesn't
provide height and width attributes for image tags in the HTML it
produces, and Yahoo! 360 requires those attributes in weblog posts. So
this script uses the Image::Size module to add those attributes to the
text.


3.14.3. Running the Hack


To run the hack, upload Y360_api.pl to a publicly available web server and
note the URL. It should look something like this:


http://example.com/Y360_api.pl




Be aware that this URL is sometimes referred to as an API Endpoint, so
don't let the jargon throw you off. Whenever a service asks for a URL,
this is the one you should use.


The final step is to test out your new API at a third-party service. Since
the script was built specifically for Flickr, that's a good place to
start. Follow the steps to set up a weblog at Flickr [Hack #98] and choose
MetaWeblogAPI Enabled Blog as your weblog type, enter your script's URL as
the Endpoint, and include your Yahoo! ID and password.


Flickr will contact your script behind the scenes with a getUsersBlogs
request, and your script will send back the title and URL of your Yahoo!
360 weblog. Once your weblog is set up in Flickr, you can click the Blog
This button above any photo and choose your Yahoo! 360 weblog (see Figure
3-29).




Figure 3-29. The Blog This button at Flickr





From there you can compose your post at Flickr and see the finished
product as a post on your Yahoo! 360 blog like that shown in Figure 3-30.




Figure 3-30. A Flickr image posted to a Yahoo! 360 blog





The code takes a bit of time to set up, but once you wire this shortcut
for yourself, you may find that you use both Yahoo! 360 and Flickr more
often.
















Hack 64. Create a Yahoo! Avatar





Make a custom caricature of yourself and watch it smile or cry along with
you as you chat through Yahoo! Instant Messenger.


Having an instant messaging conversation on the computer is a bit like
having a conversation with a blindfold on. You can "hear" what the other
person is saying clearly by reading what he types, but other cues, such as
facial expressions, are completely absent. Without seeing and hearing the
person you're chatting with, it's hard to pick up on emotional overtones
such as humor, sadness, or sarcasm. This is exactly why we've developed
text shortcuts to convey emotions over the Internetfor example, using an
emoticon to indicate smiling, or using an abbreviation such as LOL to
indicate that you're laughing out loud.


Yahoo! has taken this idea of conveying emotion a step beyond such text
shortcuts by creating cartoon-like characters called avatars to stand in
for some of these emotional cues during Yahoo! Instant Messenger
conversations. With a little work, you can create your own avatar that's
unique to your personality and let it stand in for you as you chat with
people online.


3.15.1. Your Digital Double


To create the Internet representation of you, browse to the Yahoo! Avatars
site (http://avatars.yahoo.com/). (You'll need to be at a Windows computer
and have the Flash plug-in installed for your browser.) Once you're there,
log in and choose the gender of your avatar (male or female); all other
options will flow from this choice. You can then go on a virtual shopping
spree to change the look of your avatar in a number of ways:




Appearance


Match your skin color, face shape, eye color, or hairstyle.




Apparel


Dress your avatar up in different tops and bottoms.




Extras


Give your avatar bags, jewelry, scarves, sports items, pets, hats, or
holiday-specific items.




Backgrounds


Put your avatar in a specific location, such as a school or vacation spot.




Branded


Give your avatar the latest brand-name apparel.


As you go from section to section changing your avatar, you can keep track
of your changes on the Previewing Changes panel on the left side of the
page, as shown in Figure 3-31.


As you click different apparel items or extras, you'll find them listed
under the "What I'm trying on" box below the preview panel. When you find
a combination you like, click Save to move the list of items to the "What
I'm wearing" box. If you ever find that you've accidentally added a ski
outfit and your avatar is in a beach scene, click the Clear button to
revert to your last saved avatar.


There are quite a few customizations to click through, and if you ever
spot something you'd like to come back to, you can add an outfit or scene
to your Favorites section to keep them just a click away. (You can see
your favorites at any time by clicking the My Favorites link from the
Yahoo! Avatars toolbar.) You can also save entire avatars to your
Favorites list, giving you quick access to fairly complex combinations
quickly. But keep in mind that if you ever decide to change genders,
you'll lose all of your previously saved avatars!




Figure 3-31. Dressing up a Yahoo! avatar





3.15.2. Getting Moody


Just as your avatar can reflect your physical appearance to some degree,
your avatar can also reflect your mood. At the top of the preview panel in
Figure 3-31, you can see five face icons that represent different moods.
Clicking on each face changes your avatar to display a different emotion,
such as happy, excited, sad, or angry. Figure 3-32 shows the whole range
of available emotions.




Figure 3-32. A Yahoo! avatar showing its emotions





There's also a special mood that changes based on the selections you've
made for your avatar's facial appearance. If you don't set a specific mood
for your avatar when you're in the designing process, you avatar will
still emote while you're chatting.


Once your avatar is set, start Yahoo! Instant Messenger and log in.
Double-click an ID in your friends list to bring up a chat window, and
click the small head icon next to the Send button. This will make your
avatar visible to you while you're chatting with others. If your friend on
the other end is also using the Windows version of Yahoo! Instant
Messenger, she'll see your avatar as well.


As you're chatting, you might notice that your avatar changes expression
from time to time. For example, if you type LOL in a conversation, your
avatar will have a big smile for a moment and return to its normal
expression. There is a whole series of words and emoticons that will
change the expression of your avatar. Here are a few of the most common
expressions that avatars can display, along with different strings you can
type to trigger each one:




Neutral


happy, nice, or :) (the standard smiling emoticon)




Excited


hehe, haha, rotf (for "rolling on the floor"), lol, or excited




Sad


boo, hoo, or :( (the frowning face emoticon)




Angry


hmmph, grr, or angry


To trigger the special mood for a specific avatar, you can type (*). A
complete list of avatar-altering words is available at
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/avatar/avatar-14.html.


You can also change the mood of your avatar by clicking the avatar within
Yahoo! Instant Messenger and choosing Set Avatar Mood To. This option
allows you change between the five basic moods shown in Figure 3-32.


While using an avatar can never replace face-to-face communication, Yahoo!
Instant Messenger avatars communicate some extra information about
identity and emotions as you're communicating in an environment that's
largely limited to text.















Hack 65. Add a Content Tab to Yahoo! Messenger





With a bit of Registry hacking, you can add a custom content tab to Yahoo!
Instant Messenger.


Yahoo! Messenger (http://messenger.yahoo.com/) is more than just a way to
have conversations with your friends. It's is also a way to keep up with
your favorite Yahoo! content. Across the bottom of the Yahoo! Messenger
window, you'll find a series of content tabs. Each tab gives you instant
access to some information you'd normally find on the Yahoo! website, such
as weather, stock quotes, news headlines, or your Yahoo! calendar. Figure
3-33 shows a series of content tabs in Yahoo! Messenger, with the Yahoo!
Buzz tab selected.




Figure 3-33. The Yahoo! Buzz content tab in Yahoo! Messenger





The Yahoo! Buzz tab gives you a quick summary of what you'll find at the
Yahoo! Buzz site (http://buzz.yahoo.com/), tracking trends in Yahoo!
searching. You can customize which tabs appear in Yahoo! Messenger by
choosing Messenger Preferences from the top menu and selecting the Content
Tabs category from the left pane. From there, you can choose from around a
dozen different tabs to show or hide from your Yahoo! Messenger interface.




This hack describes the latest version of Yahoo! Messenger for
Windows. At the time of this writing, the Mac version of
Yahoo! Messenger has four content tabs, and there's no way to
add custom tabs to the interface






The choices you'll find in your Yahoo! Messenger settings are static, and
you can't add or remove tabs you find from within the preferences
interface. But this hack shows how to add your own content tab to Yahoo!
Messenger by tweaking some settings behind the scenes.




Thanks to Marcus Foster at Yahoo! for sharing this method of
adding a tab!






3.16.1. Inside Your Registry


All of the content tabs within Yahoo! Messenger are defined within the
Windows Registry, a database that stores system settings. You can take a
look at the settings for each of the tabs by viewing the settings in the
Registry Editor. Start the Registry Editor by clicking Start Run and
typing regedit.




Be very careful when editing your Registry settings. If you
change the wrong setting, you could do irreparable harm to
your system. Just be aware that the Registry settings are
vital to your system, and if you're not comfortable tooling
around in sensitive areas, you might want to skip this hack!






With the registry editor open, browse to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Yahoo\Pager\View\. Beneath the View key, you'll
find a series of registry keys with the prefix YMSGR_. These are the
available content tabs, and you can highlight each to see the system
settings. Figure 3-34 shows the Registry key for the Yahoo! Buzz tab, with
its system settings in the right pane.




Figure 3-34. Yahoo! Messenger content tab settings in the Registry





The important settings to note are Display Name, Display Bmp, and content
url. The first two set the tab name and icon. And because each tab display
is simply a web page, the content url value is where you'll find the page
for a particular tab. In fact, you can visit any tab page in Internet
Explorer including the Yahoo! Buzz content tab at
http://tools.search.yahoo.com/ym/buzz.


The key to adding your own tab to Yahoo! Messenger is creating a new
Registry key with content url set to a URL of your choosing. And the
easiest way to create a new key with all of the proper settings is to copy
an existing key. Inside the Registry Editor, highlight the YMSGR_buzz key,
right-click, and click Export. Save the key as YMSGR_buzz.reg, and you'll
be set to create your own tab.


So, what type of web page makes a good content tab? The best content tab
page will be compact, with its contents viewable in a small space. Most
pages probably won't fit very well into a content tab, and you'll have to
design a page specifically for use within Yahoo! Messenger. If you've
already added a Yahoo! Bookmarks sidebar [Hack #30] to your browser,
you'll know there's already a page available to display your Yahoo!
Bookmarks in a small space. There isn't a Bookmarks content tab currently
available in Yahoo! Messenger, but the following Registry changes will add
one.


3.16.2. The Code


Copy the YMSGR_buzz.reg file and to a new file and name the new file
YMSGR_bookmarks.reg. Open the file in Notepad and make the following
changes to the Registry settings within. Note that the changes are in
bold.


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00


[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Yahoo\Pager\View\YMSGR_bookmarks]
"Display Name"="Bookmarks"
"Display Bmp"="YView\\ybang.bmp"
"default"=dword:00000001
"insert"=dword:00000001
"enable browsing"=dword:00000001
"Stat Letter"="B"
"click count"=dword:00000000
"persistent"=dword:00000001
"content url"="http://my.yahoo.com/tearoff/sites.html"
"MinHeight"=dword:0000001e
"PreferHeight"=dword:000000d1
"Resizable"=dword:00000001
"Refreshable"=dword:00000000




The key name has been changed to YMSGR_bookmarks and the display name is
set to Bookmarks. There isn't a custom icon for the Bookmarks tab (because
it doesn't exist yet), so the icon has been changed to ybang.bmp, a
generic Yahoo! icon included when you install Yahoo! Messenger.




If you want to go the extra mile for your custom content tab,
you could create your own icon to display it. Use the icons in
the YView directory of your Yahoo! Messenger installation as a
guide.






Finally, the content url setting points to your Yahoo! Bookmarks
minimalist display URL.


3.16.3. Running the Hack


Click Save in Notepad to save your modified Registry file, and then
doubleclick YMSGR_bookmarks.reg. Confirm that you'd like to add the
settings to the Registry, and you should receive a message that the
contents were added. Restart Yahoo! Messenger and keep in mind that even
if you close the Yahoo! Messenger window it can still be running in the
taskbar. You'll need to completely restart the program and then bring up
the Content Tabs category in your Preferences. You should see the new
option to add a Bookmarks tab, as shown in Figure 3-35.




Figure 3-35. Adding a new content tab in Yahoo! Messenger





Highlight the Bookmarks tab, click the Show button, and click OK to close
your Preferences. You should see the new tab along the bottom of Yahoo!
Messenger. Click the Bookmarks tab with the generic Yahoo! icon, and you
should see your Yahoo! Bookmarks appear in the content pane, as shown in
Figure 3-36.




Figure 3-36. The Bookmarks content tab in Yahoo! Messenger





Of course, a custom content tab doesn't have to be Yahoo! content as in
this example. Because content tabs are simply standard URLs, you could
easily create your own pages and have instant access to your own custom
information while you're chatting with friends.


3.16.4. Hacking the Hack


Sites specifically designed for mobile devices like cell phones and PDAs
work extremely well as Yahoo! Messenger content tabs. If you can track
down a URL for a mobile site, you can create your own tab. For example,
Yahoo!'s photo-sharing service Flickr [Hack #67] has a mobile site
available at http://flickr.com/mob. Change the key and display names in
the Registry file, and set content url to the Flickr mobile URL. Once you
run the file, restart Yahoo! Messenger and add the new tab. You'll end up
with the content shown in Figure 3-37.


With the Flickr tab in place, you can easily keep tabs on the photos your
friends are posting without opening up a web browser.




Figure 3-37. Flickr mobile in a Yahoo! Messenger content tab





Yahoo! also has a mobile site (http://wap.oa.yahoo.com/); you could easily
set up a Yahoo! tab and have access to all your personalized Yahoo!
content in a single Yahoo! Messenger tab.
















Hack 66. Send Instant Messages Beyond Yahoo!





In a world where your friends are using different instant messaging
systems, speak with all of them using Trillian.


If Yahoo! Instant Messenger is your favorite way to chat with friends,
ideally everyone you know would also use Yahoo! Instant Messenger. But the
world isn't a perfect place, and there are many competing instant
messaging applications, including AOL Instant Messenger ( AIM), ICQ,
Microsoft's MSN Messenger, and Apple's iChat. Unfortunately, a friend
using AIM can't talk with another friend using ICQ. And neither of these
friends would be able to chat with you on Yahoo! Instant Messenger.
Instead of trying to convince everyone you know to switch to your favorite
applicationor installing four different programsyou could switch to a
universal instant messaging program: Trillian.


Cerulean Studios, the company behind Trillian, recognized this
communication breakdown between instant messengers and decided to make a
program that could speak with all of them. Trillian lets you chat with
anyone on Yahoo!, AIM, ICQ, or MSN. It works by connecting directly with
servers for each service and mimicking the messages sent from the standard
messaging program. The basic version is free, and Trillian Pro offers a
few more features for $25.


Trillian runs only on Windows 98 or above, so Linux and Mac users are out
of luck. You'll also need an account with each service you'd like to
communicate with. But to get started, you'll just need your Yahoo! ID and
password.




Mac OS X users might want to try the freely available Fire
application, which is similar to Trillian. You can download
Fire from http://fire.sourceforge.net/.






3.17.1. Installation and Setup


From the Cerulean Studios homepage (http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/),
click Downloads and then click the Download button on the next page.
Because Cerulean Studios distributes the program through its partner CNet,
the download link takes you to Download.com (http://www.download.com/).
From there, choose Download Now to get the program. Double-click the
installation file to install Trillian.


When you launch Trillian for the first time, you'll see the Trillian First
Time Wizard, which will step you through setting up the program. On the
Choose Features page, make sure that Yahoo! Messenger is selected and
click Next. When you see the "Connect to Yahoo! Messenger" page as shown
in Figure 3-38, enter your Yahoo! username and password.




Figure 3-38. Trillian Yahoo! Messenger setup





If you already have a contact list in Yahoo! Instant Messenger, Trillian
will get the list of contacts when it connects with Yahoo!. ( Trillian
will do the same for accounts on other systems as well.) If the connection
works as planned, you should see a list of your contacts across instant
messaging systems, as shown in Figure 3-39.




Figure 3-39. Instant messaging contacts from different platforms





The contacts are color-coded, with Yahoo! users in red. To add a Yahoo!
contact at any time, choose Trillian from the top menu and then choose Add
Contact or Group. From there, select Yahoo as the medium, and fill out the
form you see in Figure 3-40 with your friend's Yahoo! ID and a brief
message.




Figure 3-40. Adding a Yahoo! contact in Trillian





You can also set up multiple Yahoo! IDs with Trillian and connect to any
or all of them at once. This is handy if you have a separate account for
personal and work contacts, or multiple Yahoo! IDs for different
situations. To add a new Yahoo! ID at any time, choose Trillian from the
top menu, then Connections Manage My Connections. Click "Add a New
Connection" at the bottom of the page and then choose Yahoo. Then add a
Yahoo! username and password, and Trillian will connect with that ID as
well.


3.17.2. What You'll Miss


The Windows versions of both Yahoo! Instant Messenger and Trillian work
well for sending text messages back and forth, but there are some
differences between the programs you should be aware of. Unlike Yahoo!
Instant Messenger, Trillian doesn't offer instant access to other Yahoo!
features, such as LaunchCast, Games, Stock Quotes, Weather, and your
Yahoo! Calendar and Address Book. The one notable exception is Yahoo!
Mail, which Trillian will check periodically. If new mail arrives while
you're using Trillian, it will display a new mail alert (like the one
shown in Figure 3-41) .




Figure 3-41. Trillian new mail notification





Trillian users will also miss out on some Yahoo! Instant Messenger
features, such as Audibles, which feature animated characters saying
humorous phrases, and Trillian users won't see the animated avatars that
show a cartoon-like representation of the chat participants.


Beyond these differences, Trillian is a great way to stay in touch with
people if their favorite instant messenger isn't the same as yours.
















Hack 67. Store, Sort, and Share Your Photos





Flickr makes it easy to share your photos with the world.


At its most basic, Flickr is a web application that helps you create a
public journal of photos. You can upload your photos to Flickr and see
them appear on a web page with the most recently added photo on top. But
once you start playing with Flickr, you'll quickly find that it's much
more sophisticated. In fact, Flickr is an open platform for storing,
arranging, sharing, discussing, and discovering photos with people across
the globe.


What began as an independent project by a small company called Ludicorp
was recently purchased by Yahoo! and is in the process of being integrated
more closely with Yahoo!. At the time of this writing, Flickr is still
very much an independent application, and you'll need your own Flickr
account to upload photos (a Yahoo! ID will not work). You can create a
free Flickr account by browsing to http://www.flickr.com/ and clicking the
pink "Sign up now!" button.




A basic Flickr account is free, lets you upload up to 20 MB in
photos per month, show up to 200 of your photos, and create
three individual galleries (which Flickr calls sets). You can
also upgrade to a paid Flickr Pro account, which gives you
much more storage and unlimited sets. At the time of this
writing, a Flickr Pro account is $24.95 per year.






Once you've created an account, you can add some information about
yourself to your profile that will tell others a bit about you. Flickr is
a social application, and unlike some sites where uploading photos feels
like a lonely process, adding photos to Flickr feels like a group
activity.


3.18.1. Store


The first step in getting to know Flickr is to upload some of your photos.
The steps required to move photos from your camera to your computer vary
widely, so that will have to be left as an exercise for the reader. But
once photos are on your computer, there are several ways to move them to
Flickr.


3.18.1.1. From your browser.


The simplest way to upload photos is via your web browser and the "Upload
Photos to Flickr" page (http://www.flickr.com/photos/upload). Click
Browse… next to one of the blank fields on the page, and a new window will
let you choose an image file on your local computer. Figure 3-42 shows
what choosing a file looks like on Windows XP.


When you highlight a photo and click Open, the previously blank field will
be filled in with the local path to the image file. You can upload up to
six photos at a time and set tags and privacy settings for each photo in
the group. Clicking Upload sends your photos to Flickr, which might take
some time, depending on the size of your photos and your connection speed.
Once your photos have been uploaded, you'll have the option to add titles
and descriptions to each of them. It's easy to add titles and descriptions
later as well.




Figure 3-42. Choosing photos to upload to Flickr





You can set default privacy options for every photo you upload, by
clicking Your Account from the top of any Flickr page and choosing Default
Photo Privacy from the menu. Or you can browse directly to
http://www.flickr.com/profile_photoconf.gne to set options such as who can
see your photos, who can comment, and who can add notes and tags.


3.18.1.2. From your desktop.


Once you're completely hooked on Flickr, you might want to upload entire
sets of photographs at a time. You can find a number of ways to upload
photos on the Tools page (http://www.flickr.com/tools). The tools are
programs you can download and install on Windows or Macintosh computers
that allow you to upload a number of photos at once. Figure 3-43 shows the
Windows Flickr Uploadr in action; you can simply drag images from the
Windows File Explorer and drop them onto the Flickr Uploadr window.


Once you've added all of the photos you want to send to Flickr into the
Flickr Uploadr, click the Upload… button. You'll also have the option to
add tags to the photos or change the default privacy settings for those
photos.




Figure 3-43. Adding photos from the desktop with Flickr Uploadr





3.18.1.3. From an email address.


In addition to uploading photos via the Webor a desktop application, you
can send photos to Flickr by email. Click the Your Account link from the
top of any Flickr page and choose "Uploading photos by email" under the
Photo Settings heading. You can also browse directly to
http://www.flickr.com/profile_mailconf.gne.


Once there, you'll find a randomly generated email address that's unique
to your Flickr account. You can use the address to send photos to Flickr
as email attachments. This option is particularly handy for cell phone
cameras, because you can snap your photo on the go and post it directly to
Flickr without making a trip to your home computer.


3.18.2. Sort


You'll find every photo you upload in your Flickr photostream. A
photostream is simply a list of every photo you've uploaded in
reverse-chronological order (i.e., the photo you uploaded most recently is
listed first). And once your photos are in your photostream, there are a
number of ways you can organize them beyond the chronological listing.


3.18.2.1. Tagging.


Tagging is a simple form of organization that lets you associate keywords
with each of your photos. Unlike traditional categorization schemes, tags
are free-form: you can use any words, numbers, or phrases you like. Figure
3-44 shows a photo at Flickr with its tags listed just to the right of the
photo.




Figure 3-44. A photo with tags at Flickr





The photo was taken in the town of Kaneohe, Hawaii, at a Buddhist temple,
and the photographer has tagged the photo with the words temple, Kaneohe,
and Hawaii. By clicking any tag, you'll see all of your photos tagged with
that particular word. And by clicking the globe icon next to any tag,
you'll see photos by everyone at Flickr tagged with that word.


3.18.2.2. Organizing.


The key to more complex organization is the Flickr tool called Organizr.
Organizr runs in your browser and you'll need the free Macro-media Flash
Player (http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer) installed to use it.
You can fire up Organizr by clicking the Organize link at the top of any
Flickr page.


Inside Organizr, you'll find your photos in the main window. You can view
all photos, limit your photos by date, or search your titles,
descriptions, and tags. The sliders below the main window adjust the dates
you'd like to view (see Figure 3-45).




Figure 3-45. Sorting photos with Flickr Organizr





Inside Organizr, you can create and edit photo sets. A set is group of
photos that you assemble into an individual gallery. Once you've created a
set and given it a title, you can drag a photo from the main window and
drop it into a set on the right to add the photo to the set. From there,
you can arrange the photos in a set into a specific order. Figure 3-46
shows what the cover page of a set looks like to someone browsing a set
for the first time.




Free Flickr accounts are limited to three sets, but you can
create an unlimited number of sets with a Flickr Pro account.






The "View as slideshow" link on the front page of a set will let someone
see the group of photos as Flash presentation. Viewers don't even have to
type on the keyboard or click their mouse; they can sit back and watch the
photos dissolve in and out as the presentation automatically moves from
one picture to the next.


3.18.3. Share


One of the primary benefits of using Flickr is that once your photos are
uploaded, they are accessible to anyone with a web browser.




Figure 3-46. A Flickr photoset





3.18.3.1. Free to the public.


The easiest way to share all of your photos is to create a simple URL,
called a Flickr address, that you can share with others. Browse to
http://www.flickr.com/profile_url.gne and choose a simple word as your
address. The format of the URL will look like this:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/insert your word




It's important to choose your Flickr address carefully, because your
choice is permanent; you can't edit your Flickr address once you've
created it. The newly created URL will point directly to your photostream,
and you can give the URL to your friends and family or link to your
photostream from another web site using the URL.


Once your photos are on Flickr, you can also share them by automatically
posting them to a weblog [Hack #98] or by displaying your latest photos
with a Flickr badge [Hack #99]. Flickr also provides RSS feeds for
photostreams, groups, and tags, so once your photos are in the system,
there are myriad ways for others to view them.


One benefit of these methods of sharing is that others viewing your photos
don't need to be members of Flickr to see them. They don't have to go
through an account creation process simply to look at your photos. But if
someone does go the extra mile to become a Flickr member, there are
several more ways to connect and share photographs.


3.18.3.2. Flickr community.


Flickr works best when your friends and family are also participating at
the site. Once someone has an account, you can add him as a friend, family
member, or contact.




Keep in mind that whichever category another Flickr member is
in will determine which photos of yours she can see if you
alter the default privacy settings for a particular photo.






As you build a group of contacts at Flickr, you'll be able to easily
browse their photos just as they can browse yours. Clicking the Your
Contacts' link in the Photos: bar at the top of any Flickr page will show
the latest photos added by all of your contacts, and it's a great way to
keep up with your friends. You can also browse a full list of your
contacts by clicking the People link at the top of any page and then
clicking someone's name to see his photostream. Figure 3-47 shows a
contact list at Flickr.




Figure 3-47. A list of contacts at Flickr





The Groups feature lets anyone form a public discussion and photo-sharing
space at Flickr. In addition to sending photos to a group photo pool, you
can post messages to the group and carry on a conversation. For example,
there's a group called The Bookshelf Project
(http://www.flickr.com/groups/bookshelf). The members there share photos
of their home bookshelves and discuss the topic of storing books.


If you're interested in a specific topic, chances are good that someone
has created a specific Flickr Group devoted to it. You can browse a full
list of groups, organized by topic, at
http://www.flickr.com/groups_browse.gne. Figure 3-48 shows the Flickr
Group for this book, which you'll find online at
http://www.flickr.com/groups/yahoohacks.




Figure 3-48. A Flickr Group page





Flickr members can also comment on each other's photos, help out with
tagging, and even add notes to specific areas of a photo. And, as always,
these features are contingent on the permissions you set for your photos.



















Chapter 4. Web Services


Section 4.1. Hacks 6876: Introduction


Section 4.2.


Hack 68. Program Yahoo! with Perl


Hack 69. Program Yahoo! with PHP 5


Hack 70. Program Yahoo! with Python


Hack 71. Program Yahoo! with VBScript


Hack 72. Program Yahoo! with ColdFusion


Hack 73. Program Yahoo! with XSLT


Hack 74. Program Yahoo! with Java


Hack 75. Program Yahoo! with Ruby


Hack 76. Program Yahoo! with REBOL
















4.1. Hacks 6876: Introduction


As you've already seen, Yahoo! provides an impressive amount of
information on its sites. And through the years, private hackers have
found ways to use Yahoo! data in their scripts and programs. A search for
Yahoo! in the Perl module repository CPAN (http://search.cpan.org/) will
turn up hundreds of modules written by independent programmers who wanted
to automate some piece of Yahoo! for their own purposes. Most of these
Perl modules and any code in other languagesrely on screen scraping to
fetch the data. That is, the program downloads a Yahoo! web page and picks
through the HTML to find the interesting data. Screen scraping isn't a
reliable way to fetch data, because a single change to the HTML means a
change to the code is necessary to keep it working.


In February 2005, Yahoo! opened up a much more reliable and developer
friendly path to its data, giving outside developers, tinkerers, and
Yahoo! customers programmatic access to some of the data available on
Yahoo! sites. This means that if you want to integrate information you
find on Yahoo! into your own applications or web sites, Yahoo! Web
Services has opened the door for you.















4.2.


4.2.1. What Are Web Services?


The term web service refers to a set of standards for exchanging data
between two systems. Though the systems may be built with completely
different platforms, the web service protocols allow the systems to
exchange information. For example, a service built with Perl scripts on a
Linux machine could exchange information with a Visual Basic application
on a Microsoft computer because both platforms can speak the common web
service language.




Sometimes a web service is referred to as an application
programming interface (API), a similar pre-Web concept. The
terms are used interchangeably throughout this book.






The phrase web service has also come to describe a specific method of
exchanging data using XML files sent over the familiar HTTP protocol. XML
is a textual, structured representation of data that both computers and
humans can read, and HTTP is the standard protocol for delivering content
across the Web. Yahoo! has implemented a straightforward XML over HTTP
architecture for its web services.


4.2.2. Yahoo! Web Services


Yahoo! has chosen a web services standard called REST for delivering most
of its data. If you've used the Web, you'll be familiar with how REST
works. A specially constructed URL will return the data you're afterjust
as the URL for a document on the Web returns that document. Instead of a
web page (HTML document), REST requests return an XML document. The key to
using Yahoo! Web Services is learning how to construct the proper request
URLs.


Before creating your own request URLs though, it'd be good to know exactly
what you can get your hands on through the API.


4.2.2.1. What's Available


Not every piece of data available at Yahoo! is available via web services.
For example, movie showtimes [Hack #42] and television schedules [Hack
#44] are still limited to the Web. But you can get access to Yahoo! Search
results and a few services that aren't available via the Web.


The list of web services that Yahoo! provides is continually evolving, and
you should browse to the Yahoo! Developer Network
(http://developer.yahoo.net/) to keep up with additions and changes. At
the time of this writing, the services available include:




Search


As you'd expect, you can access search results across the Web, Image,
Local, News, Video, Audio, Shopping, and Contextual [Hack #97] Searches.




Text Analysis


In addition to the search results, you can access some features of the
Yahoo! Search pages including Related Queries and Spelling Suggestions.
You can also access the Content Analysis feature that extracts keywords
from text.




My Web


You can access information from Yahoo!'s My Web [Hack #7], giving you the
ability to integrate your saved pages into other applications.




Maps


By specifying the URL of a geo-encoded RSS file, you can plot your own
points [Hack #91] on an interactive Yahoo! Map.




Flickr


Purchased by Yahoo! in 2005, Flickr [Hack #67] joined the Yahoo! family
with a fully realized web services offering of its own. You can use the
Flickr API to programmatically access every facet of the photo-sharing
service from adding photos to browsing information about Flickr members.




RSS


While RSS is not technically a web service, it's important to keep in mind
that Yahoo! offers RSS feeds across their sites, and the feeds provide a
simple way to integrate data with your web site.


Along with offering web services, Yahoo! has started a conversation with
developers at the Yahoo! Developer Network. Browse to the Community
Resources page (http://developer.yahoo.net/community) to see how other
developers are using Yahoo! data in their applications.


4.2.2.2. Yahoo!'s Terms


Yahoo! has made this data available for free, but there are a few rules
you have to play by to keep your access to the data. The key rule to keep
in mind is that Yahoo! data can't be used in commercial applications. That
means you can't use the API in an application you plan to sell or on a web
site you charge people to access. Yahoo! also asks that you add
attribution somewhere in your application. Adding the phrase "Powered by
Yahoo! Search" to a site that uses Yahoo! data will fulfill the
requirement.




If you're a lawyer (or think like one) you can read the
complete Yahoo! APIs Terms of Use at
http://developer.yahoo.net/terms.






If the API is free, what's in it for Yahoo!? Yahoo! Search Evangelist
Jeremy Zawadony said, "By exposing interesting pieces of Yahoo! to the
larger developer community, we think they'll build applications that
benefit both us and our users." In addition to showing you some basic code
to access Yahoo! in various programming languages, this chapter will show
you some of the applications that outside developers are building with
Yahoo! data.


4.2.2.2.1. Request limits.


Yahoo! imposes some limits on the number of requests that can be made per
day. The request limit can vary by service, but at the time of this
writing, you're limited to 5,000 queries per day for most services. Yahoo!
tracks usage by IP address (a numeric address for every machine connected
to the Internet), so a single machine can't make more than 5,000 requests
in a single day.


If you ever reach the limit, you'll receive an HTTP 403 "Forbidden" error
that indicates you're over your limit for the day.


4.2.2.2.2. Application IDs.


Yahoo! also requires that for every application you build, you include an
ID unique to the application with every request the application makes. You
can request a unique ID at any time by browsing to
http://api.search.yahoo.com/webservices/register_application. You'll need
to be logged in with your Yahoo! ID to request an application ID.


Keep in mind that Yahoo! doesn't use application IDs to monitor request
limits; the ID is simply used to track your application usage. In turn,
Yahoo! provides the usage data for your application IDs at
http://api.search.yahoo.com/webservices/register_application. Figure 4-1
shows the Application ID report available at the Yahoo! Developer Network.




Figure 4-1. Application ID Usage page





4.2.2.3. Making Requests


Now that you know the rules, you can start making Yahoo! Web Service
requests by assembling URLs for the different services.


4.2.2.3.1. Search and Text.


The Search, Text, and My Web services all use the same structure for
request URLs. The URL starts with the base service URL,
http://api.search.yahoo.com/. From there, you add a service name, version
number, and specific function to the URL. Calling the Web Search (
webSearch) function of the Web Search service (WebSearchService) looks
like this:


http://api.search.yahoo.com/WebSearchService/V1/webSearch




At the time of this writing, all Yahoo! Search services are in Version 1,
so the V1 parameter will be consistent throughout. As Yahoo! upgrades the
service in the future, this parameter might change.


The final step to assembling the proper URL is adding parameters to the
query. The only parameters required for a web search are appid and query,
so a Web Search request could be as simple as:


http://api.search.yahoo.com/WebSearchService/V1/webSearch?app

id=insert app



ID&query=insert query




Once you have the query built, you can even plug the URL in your browser's
address bar to bring up the response XML and see exactly which information
you'll receive. Figure 4-2 shows a Yahoo! Search response for the term
hacks in a browser.


Every Yahoo! service contains a different set of potential request
parameters you can use to modify your requests. For example, the Yahoo!
Web Search service allows you to filter searches by language (language),
country (country), adult content ( adult_ok), document type (type), or
Creative Commons license (license). Each service also has parameters for
controlling the page of the response. Just as the Web Search lists
responses across a number of pages, Yahoo! Search Web Services also breaks
the responses into pages. You can adjust the response by specifying the
number of results (results) up to 50 per page and specifying the result
position (start) the current page should start with.


You can read the full documentation and find all of the parameters
available for each of the services at the developer site
(http://developer.yahoo.net/).


4.2.2.3.2. Maps.


To create your own map with custom points, you'll need an application ID
and the URL of a specially prepared RSS file on your own server. You can
assemble these pieces into a URL like this:


http://api.maps.yahoo.com/Maps/V1/AnnotatedMaps?appid=insert app



ID&xmlsrc=insert RSS url






Figure 4-2. A response from Yahoo! Web Search Services





The Maps API is a bit different because you're receiving not XML, but a
fully realized HTML document. You'll find a custom map example [Hack #91]
in Chapter 5.


4.2.2.3.3. Flickr.


At the time of this writing, the Flickr API operates under different rules
from other Yahoo! Search APIs. You'll need to request a Flickr API Key at
http://www.flickr.com/services/api/key.gne to make requests, and you have
the option of using a REST, XML-RPC, or SOAP interface for the requests.
You can find a complete list of API methods available for Flickr at
http://www.flickr.com/services/api.


4.2.2.3.4. RSS.


You'll find Yahoo! RSS documents throughout Yahoo! sites, and you don't
need anything extra to use them. Simply copy the RSS URL and paste it into
your favorite RSS newsreader, or integrate the files with your own web
sites. Yahoo! doesn't limit access or require an application ID to use
RSS, and the feeds aren't covered by the Yahoo! Web Services terms of
service.


4.2.2.4. Working with Responses


The way to parse XML responses will be unique to your development
environment, and this chapter provides basic examples in nine different
languages. Typically, you'll need two pieces of software that aren't
always built into your environment of choice: code to handle HTTP requests
and code to parse XML responses.


Yahoo! responses are in a proprietary XML format that's unique to the
Yahoo! APIs. The top-level tag in Yahoo! Search API responses is
, with a number of tags holding information about each
individual result.


Each result detail will vary by service, but typically you'll receive all
of the data necessary to duplicate what you find on the corresponding
Yahoo! site. For example, each Web Search result includes the following
XML tags:

Search Results

Powered by Yahoo!

In addition to the stylesheet, you'll need a scripting language to make
the request and perform the transformation. Every development environment
has XSLT tools you can use; this example uses Perl. As with most of the
Perl examples in this book, you'll need the component LWP::Simple to make
Yahoo! API requests. And to work with XSL, you'll need the XML::XSLT
module.


This script accepts a search query term, assembles the Yahoo! API request
URL, and fetches the response. Then it uses the XML:: XSLT module to apply
the stylesheet to the XML response and it prints the results. To create
the script, save the following code to a file called yahoo_ xslt.cgi:


#!/usr/bin/perl
# yahoo_xslt.cgi
# Accepts a search term and shows the top results.
# Usage: yahoo_xslt.cgi?
#
# You can create an AppID, and read the full documentation
# for Yahoo! Web Services at http://developer.yahoo.net/


use strict;
use XML::XSLT;
use LWP::Simple;


# Set the XSL stylesheet
my $xslfile = "yahoo_search.xsl";


# Set your unique Yahoo! Application ID
my $appID = "insert Application ID";


# Grab the incoming search query
my $query = join(' ', @ARGV);
unless ($query) {
print "Content-type: text/plain\n\n";
print "Usage: yahoo_xslt.cgi?query";


exit;
}


# Construct a Yahoo! Search Query with only required options
my $language = "en";
my $req_url = "http://api.search.yahoo.com/";
$req_url .= "WebSearchService/V1/webSearch?";
$req_url .= "appid=$appID";
$req_url .= "&query=$query";
$req_url .= "&language=$language";


# Make the request
my $yahoo_response = get($req_url);


# Transform the response
my $ xslt = XML:: XSLT->new ($xslfile, warnings => 1);
$ xslt->transform ($yahoo_response);


# Print the transformation
print "Content-Type: text/xml\n\n";
print ' '"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">';
print $xslt->toString;


# Clean up
$xslt->dispose();




4.8.2. Running the Hack


To run the code, upload both files to a web server and bring up the script
in a browser, adding a search term like this:


http://example.com/yahoo_xslt.cgi?insert query




So searching for the phrase "Elements of Style" looks like this:


http://example.com/yahoo_xslt.cgi?Elements%20of%20Style




Figure 4-9 shows the results of the script in a browser, with the XML
formatted as HTML with the stylesheet.


4.8.3. Hacking the Hack


This example was written with Perl, but you could make Yahoo! API requests
with your favorite development environment. If you were to re-create this
example in PHP, Python, or Visual Basic, the XSL stylesheet would stay the
same and only the script that makes requests and processes the
transformation would change.




Figure 4-9. Yahoo! Search API response transformed with XSLT



















Hack 74. Program Yahoo! with Java





Java's native support for working with XML makes parsing Yahoo! Search Web
Services responses a snap.


Simple REST, XML-over-HTTP interfaces like the one Yahoo! provides are
most often associated with scripting languages such as Perl or PHP, while
Javaa compiled languageis viewed as a better tool for working with more
complex web services protocols. If Java is your preferred language, some
new tools in the latest version have made it even easier to work with
services like the Yahoo! API.


Java 1.5 added native support for working with XML documents using XPath.
This means that if you know the XML format ahead of time, you can retrieve
a specific piece of the document with a simple query. For example, every
Yahoo! response includes an attribute called totalResultsAvailable in the
tag, which holds the value of the total number of results
Yahoo! has for that particular query. If you'd like to grab this value
with XPath, you can use this simple query:


/ResultSet/@ totalResultsAvailable




This hack presents a quick example using Java's built-in XML and XPath
tools to work with Yahoo! Search Web Services. This native support means
you won't need to download any external XML parsers; you simply need the
latest version of Java.


4.9.1. What You Need


If you don't have Java 1.5 or higher, you'll need the latest Java
Developer Kit ( JDK™), available at http://java.sun.com/. On the right
side of the page, you'll find a section called Popular Downloads. Click
the link for Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE™) 5.0 and download the JDK.
Don't confuse this with the Java Runtime Environment (JRE), because you'll
need the complier included with the JDK.


Once you've downloaded the file for your system, install the JDK and
you'll be set to compile and run the hack.


4.9.2. The Code


This simple Java program accepts a query term, builds the appropriate
Yahoo! Search Web Services URL with that term, and parses the response.
Then the program lists the top 10 URLs for that search term. The code uses
XPath queries to pick out the total results available and each URL in the
response.


Save the following code to a file called WebSearch.java and be sure to
include a unique application ID:


import org.w3c.dom.Document;
import org.w3c.dom.Node;
import org.w3c.dom.NodeList;
import org.xml.sax.SAXException;


import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilder;
import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory;
import javax.xml.parsers.ParserConfigurationException;
import javax.xml.xpath.XPath;
import javax.xml.xpath.XPathConstants;
import javax.xml.xpath.XPathExpressionException;
import javax.xml.xpath.XPathFactory;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
import java.net.MalformedURLException;
import java.net.URL;
import java.net.URLEncoder;
import java.text.MessageFormat;


/**
*Simple demonstration of the Yahoo! Web Search Service using Java 1.5's
*XML support.
*/
public class WebSearch {
// Need to have an application ID to call the Yahoo! services.
private static final String APPLICATION_ID = "insert app ID";


// URL format for the request. The simplest request includes the
// application ID and the query. See the service documentation for
// a list of additional parameters.
private static final String WEB_SEARCH_URL_FORMAT =
"http://api.search.yahoo.com/WebSearchService/V1/



webSearch?appid={0}&query={1}";
/**


*
*Main program that takes a query and executes it as a web search
*using the Yahoo! Web Search Service.
*
*@param args Command line arguments. There should be at least 1.
*/
public static void main(String[] args) throws

UnsupportedEncodingException,
MalformedURLException, XPathExpressionException,
ParserConfigurationException {
// Make sure a query was given.
String query = null;
if(args.length == 0) {
System.out.println("Usage: java WebSearch ");
System.exit(1);
}
else {
// Construct the query from the command line arguments.
query = prepareQuery(args); }


// Construct the URL. Inject the URL encoded application ID and
// the search query.
URL url = new URL(MessageFormat.format(WEB_SEARCH_URL_FORMAT,
new Object[]{URLEncoder.encode(APPLICATION_ID, "utf-8"),
URLEncoder.encode(query, "utf-8")}));
System.out.println("Request URL = " + url.toString());


// Create an XPath engine.
XPath xpath = XPathFactory.newInstance().newXPath( );


// Execute the query.
Document responseDocument = null;
try {


// We need a Document to use XPath.
DocumentBuilder builder = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance()

.newDocumentBuilder();
responseDocument = builder.parse(url.openStream());
}
catch (IOException e) {
// Error calling the service.
System.err.println("Error calling the service: " + e.toString(

));
e.printStackTrace(System.err);
System.exit(1);
}
catch (SAXException e) {
// Error parsing the XML.
System.err.println("Error parsing the XML: " + e.toString());
e.printStackTrace(System.err);
System.exit(1);


}
// Query the XML for the total results available.
String totalResultsAvailable = (String) xpath.evaluate(
"/ResultSet/@totalResultsAvailable",
responseDocument,
XPathConstants.STRING);
System.out.println("Total results available for '" + query + "' is "
+ totalResultsAvailable);


// Query the XML for the URLs.
NodeList urls = (NodeList) xpath.evaluate("/ResultSet/Result/Url",
responseDocument, XPathConstants.NODESET);
for(int i = 0; i < urls.getLength(); i++) {
Node urlNode = urls.item(i);
System.out.println("URL " + (i + 1) + ": "
+ urlNode.getTextContent());
}


}
/**
* Simple method that stitches together an array of strings into
* a single string. Used to take multiple command line arguments
* and turn it into a single query string.
*
*@param args The individual strings to stitch together.
*@return A new string containing each of the strings passed in, all
*seperated by spaces.
*/
private static String prepareQuery(String[] args) {
String query;
StringBuffer queryBuffer = new StringBuffer();
for (int i = 0; i < args.length; i++) {
queryBuffer.append(args[i]);
if((i + 1) < args.length) {
queryBuffer.append(" ");


}
}
query = queryBuffer.toString();
return query;


}


}




To compile this code, open up a command prompt and type the following:


javac WebSearch.java




This should create the compiled WebSearch.class, which you can now run.


4.9.3. Running the Hack


From the same command prompt, you can run the code like so:


java WebSearch insert term




In response, the program shows the request URL it used, total results for
that query, and the top 10 URLs. Figure 4-10 shows results for the term
"Java XML".




Figure 4-10. Yahoo! Search results for "Java XML"





As you can see, handling REST queries and responses with Java is fairly
quick work!


Ryan Kennedy


















Hack 75. Program Yahoo! with Ruby





Use a Yahoo! Ruby library to include Yahoo! data in your Ruby scripts.


The Yahoo! Developer Network web site (http://developer.yahoo.net/)
provides a number of tools to help developers build applications with
Yahoo! data. Their Yahoo! Search Web Services software development kit
(SDK) includes libraries for various programming languages; Ruby,
unfortunately, is not one of them. However, I have developed a Ruby
library, which is available at
http://premshree.seacrow.com/code/ruby/yahoo-ruby.


The library is easy to use; there's no "installation" as such. Just copy
the contents and place it in any suitable directory. The library is just
one file, yahoo-ruby.rb, which you need to place in the lib/ruby/site_ruby
directory of your Ruby installation. Once it is in place, whenever you
want to use the Ruby API for Yahoo! Search Web Services, simply include
require yahoo-ruby in the script. Using this Ruby library means you'll
never have to know how to construct Yahoo! Search Web Services URLs, or
even know what the XML looks like. The library handles all of the work of
communicating with Yahoo!'s server.


4.10.1. The Code


This simple Ruby script uses the Ruby library to return Yahoo! Web Search
responses. Save this code to a file called yahoo_search.rb and be sure to
add your own unique application ID:


#!/usr/bin/ruby
# yahoo_search.rb
# A simple Yahoo! search script using the
# Ruby API (http://premshree.seacrow.com/code/ruby/yahoo-ruby)
# Usage ruby yahoo_search.rb


# include the yahoo-ruby API
require 'yahoo-ruby'


# get the query parameter
query = ARGV[0]? ARGV[0] : exit


##
# create a web search object:
# Arguments:
# 1. App ID (You can get one at http://developer.yahoo.net)
# 2. The query
# 3. type can be one of: 'all', 'any' or 'phrase'
# 4. The no. of results
##
obj = WebSearch.new('insert app ID', query, 'all', 3)


# store the results -- returns an array of hashes
results = obj.parse_results


# now loop over each item in results, and display the title, summary and
URL
results.each { |result|
print "Title:\t#{result['Title']}\n"
print "Summary:\t#{result['Summary']}\n"
print "URL:\t#{result['Url']}\n"
print "=====================================\n\n"


}




The first thing this script looks for is the yahoo-ruby API. Then the
script looks for the query argument; if an argument is not present, the
script exits. After fetching the query from the command line, the script
creates a WebSearch object and then calls the parse_results function to
get the results as an array of hashes.


To use a different Yahoo! Search serviceImage search, for exampleyou need
to create a different object.


4.10.2. Running the Hack


Run the script on the command line:


ruby yahoo_search.rb insert query




So a search for the term ruby would look like this:


ruby yahoo_search.rb ruby




Figure 4-11. Yahoo! Search results for "ruby"




Figure 4-11. shows the results of the search.





As you can see, using the yahoo-ruby library means you can integrate
Yahoo! data within your Ruby applications with a few lines of code.


Premshree Pillai















Hack 76. Program Yahoo! with REBOL





With REBOL, you can build a graphical interface to Yahoo! with minimal
code.


Relative Expression-based Object Language (REBOL) is a technology that
provides a lightweight method of distributed computing and communication.
REBOL is a messaging language, which means it was built specifically to
send messages across Internet protocols. REBOL is available for free, and
there are two variations available for download:




REBOL/Core


This is the kernel, the heart of REBOL, with a command-line interface.




REBOL/View


This is a graphical client version, an extension of REBOL/Core for
developers who want to work visually.


This hack creates a simple Yahoo! Image search widget with the REBOL/ View
variation. The widget allows you to enter a keyword, display the first
image in the results, and navigate between other results with Previous and
Next buttons. This type of graphical user interface (GUI), which uses
buttons in a familiar desktop-style application, is quite a bit different
from the scripting, command-line applications in this book.


To begin, download REBOL/View for your platform at
http://www.rebol.com/view-platforms.html. Next, you'll need to download a
modified version of Gavin F. McKenzie's SAX XML parser at
http://premshree.seacrow.com/code/rebol/xml-parse.r/view. Place
xml-parse.r in the working directory where you'll create the widget.


4.11.1. The Code


Unlike with most GUI frameworks, creating GUIs is a breeze in REBOL.




In the following commented code, note that comments in REBOL
begin with a semicolon.






Save the following code to a file called yahoo.r and be sure to include
your own Yahoo! application ID:


REBOL [
Title: "Yahoo Search Web Services"
File: %yahoo.r
Date: 22-May-2005
Author: "Premshree Pillai"


Purpose: {
Yahoo! Search Web services demo
}
]
;;
; load the SAX XML Parser
;;
do %xml-parse.r


;;
; set the Application ID
;;
APP_ID: 'insert App ID'


;;
; This function takes two parameters
; 1. query
; 2. Application ID
; It returns the results as an array of maps
; The parsing bit is done by the parse handlers within the parser.
;;
ImageSearch: func [query app_id] [
return parse-xml+ read rejoin
[http://api.search.yahoo.com/ImageSearchService/V1/imageSearch '?query='



query '&appid=' app_id]
]


;;


; Define a layout
;;
out: layout [
;;
; This will appear as the heading in the widget
;;
H3 400 {
Yahoo Search Web Services
demo using REBOL
}


;;
; tells REBOL to place following elements across
;;
across
query: field
button "Search" [
ImageSearchResults: ImageSearch query/text 'rebol-yahoo' APP_ID
curr_count: 1 ; current result no.
img: load to-url ImageSearchResults/:curr_count/3/2
backface/image: img
show backface
]


;;
; tells REBOL to place the following elements below
;;
return


;;
; A text box
;;
backface: text 400x300 center


return


;;
; Navigate to previous search result
;;
button "Previous" [
curr_count: curr_count - 1
img: load to-url ImageSearchResults/:curr_count/3/2
backface/image: img
show backface


]


;;
; Navigate to next search result
;;
button "Next" [
curr_count: curr_count + 1
img: load to-url ImageSearchResults/:curr_count/3/2
backface/image: img
show backface


]
pad 0x5
]


;;
; Display the widget!
;;
view out




This minimal widget has no error handling. However, this code should give
you a sense of how to use Yahoo!'s Search Web Services with REBOL. Note
that the work of parsing the XML response is handled by the handlers in
the SAX XML Parser. Modifications to the parse handler functions are
commented with my name (Premshree Pillai). If you need to use any of the
other Yahoo! Search Web Services, you might need to modify the SAX
handlers.


4.11.2. Running the Hack


If you're on Windows, simply double-click the filename and a widget should
pop up. If you're running Unix, run the hack from the command line, like
so:


rebol yahoo.r




Figure 4-12. A graphical Yahoo! Image search result for "Pink Floyd"




Figure 4-12. shows the result for a search for Pink Floyd.





You can click the Next and Previous buttons to browse other Yahoo! Image
search results.


Premshree Pillai
















Chapter 5. Applications















5.1. Hacks 7791: Introduction


Basic sample code can get you started with Yahoo! Web Services, but to get
to know what's available and how you might use the features of the API,
this chapter shows you some more fully realized applications. They range
from seriously useful applications (such as Grokker [Hack #77] and
TagCloud [Hack #88]) that extend Yahoo! features into new directions, to
the seriously silly (such as Web of Letters [Hack #82] or yReplacer [Hack
#86]). This chapter intends to give you a taste of what's possible when a
company like Yahoo! opens its database to outside developers, tinkerers,
and hackers.


The hacks in this chapter merely scratch the surface of what's possible,
and you'll find many more examples of Yahoo! Web Services applications in
the wild. The best place to spot new applications is at the Yahoo!
Developer Network application list
(http://developer.yahoo.net/wiki/index.cgi?ApplicationList). The list is
open to the public; if you build your own Yahoo! application, be sure to
add it so others can see what you've builtwhether it increases
productivity or is a fun distraction.
















Hack 77. Visualize Yahoo! Web Search Results





A service called Grokker groups Yahoo! Web Search results into a
categorized, animated display.


When you type a query at Yahoo! Web Search (http://search.yahoo.com/),
Yahoo! will return a list of sites in an order that Yahoo! thinks is best.
This is a great way to view results when you're looking for a specific bit
of information, but it's not as helpful if you want to quickly get a broad
overview of a general topic. A free web service called Grokker
(http://www.grokker.com/) takes the top 158 Yahoo! Web Search results for
a query, categorizes the documents in the results, and displays them as
groups in a visual map.


Imagine you're looking for information about DNA; type in the term DNA and
you'll get the familiar sequential list of sites, as shown in Figure 5-1.




Figure 5-1. Yahoo! Search results for DNA





You'll find some sites with information about DNA, but it's difficult to
find patterns within the results. You could mentally categorize sites as
you browse through the pages of results, but Grokker can do the
categorization for you, quickly giving you a sense of the type of
information related to the query DNA. Perform the same query at Grokker,
and you'll see the radically different display of results shown in Figure
5-2.


It takes a few minutes to orient yourself to a Grokker map, but once you
know how to read the results, you can scan a large amount of information
fairly quickly.




Figure 5-2. A Grokker map for DNA





Each circle on a Grokker map represents a category, and each square
represents a specific document in the search results. You can click within
a circle to zoom in on a category and see the documents within. As you can
see, Grokker grouped results for the query DNA into categories such as
Basic, Testing, and Molecule. The highlighted Double Helix category is
within a top-level Structure category. And within the Double Helix
category are four squares that represent documents that discuss the Double
Helix structure of a DNA molecule. At a glance, you can see some patterns
emerging from the search results that you couldn't get from a simple list
of documents.


A circle shaded like a sphere on a Grokker map represents a category with
several results. To see more details within the category, you can click
the sphere to zoom in. As you zoom in to different parts of the search
results, you can find more details about the documents in the results.
Figure 5-3 shows a document detail within the Double Helix category.




Figure 5-3. Site details on a Grokker map





As you click to view document details, you'll see a thumbnail preview and
summary of the document in the right frame. To zoom back to your original
view of the map, click the Top link at the top of map.


In addition to the automatic categorization on a Grokker map, you can
create your own categories within search results. From the main map,
right-click any empty space and choose Create from the menu. This will
create a blank circle. Click just below the circle to give your new
category a title and then start clicking and dragging documents or
categories into your new category, as shown in Figure 5-4.




Figure 5-4. A custom category on a Grokker map





A custom category is a handy way to assemble a handful of documents to
explore from the hundreds of documents on the original Grokker map.
Similarly, you can delete any categories from the results by
right-clicking a circle and choosing Delete from the menu.


Once you put the time into customizing a Grokker map, you can share it
with others and save it for yourself by clicking the Email Your Grokker
Map link at the top of the page. Fill out the form, and Grokker will send
a link to your custom map to any addresses you specify.




In the lower-left corner of the map, you'll see a Show Tools
link. These tools let you search within the map, filter sites
by date and Yahoo! rank, and adjust the look and feel. You can
change from a circular map to a square map, or change the
colors to dark text on a light background.






Another benefit of using Grokker maps is that you'll find sites deep
within search results that otherwise you might never have seen. You'd need
to read through eight pages of Yahoo! Web Search results to see all of the
documents that make up a single Grokker map. If nothing else, playing with
this Yahoo! visualization should bring some results to your attention that
you wouldn't have seen otherwise.


















Hack 78. Find Links to Any Web Site





Yahoo! can tell you which sites link to any other site, and yLinkbacks
uses Yahoo! Search Web Services to find links to the current page you're
browsing.


When you browse to a web site you've never seen before, you don't have
very much advance knowledge about the site. You might know that you've
followed a link from a particular site that you read frequently, or you
might have found the site in some search results for a certain search
term. Of course, the site itself can tell you quite a bit, but that still
doesn't give you any clues about where the site fits into the larger Web.
With some searching at Yahoo!, you can get extra info about a site by
using the special link: syntax.


If you want to find what sites are linking to any other particular site,
you can browse to http://search.yahoo.com/ and enter this query:
link:insert URL. Instead of standard search results, Yahoo! will display a
list of the sites that link to the URL you've specified in the query. For
example, if you'd like to find out where the O'Reilly Hacks site fits into
the Web, you could search for link:http://hacks.oreilly.com/.


In the results, you immediately get a sense of how many pages link to the
site and what kinds of sites are linking there. If you're browsing the
Web, leaving a site to do a quick Yahoo! link: search can be annoying if
you'd just like to get this sense about the current site you're visiting.
To find the sites, you need to copy the current URL from your browser
address bar, open a new window or tab, browse to Yahoo!, and then assemble
the proper query. It's a quick process, but you can speed it up
considerably with a bit of classic ASP and a JavaScript bookmarklet.


This hack uses JavaScript to get the URL of the current page you're
viewing in your browser. From there, it passes the URL to a server-side
script that assembles the proper Yahoo! query and fetches the top 10
results with Yahoo! Search Web Services. A new pop-up window will give a
quick look at which sites are linking to the current page, without leaving
your place.


5.3.1. The Code


The first part of this hack is a server-side script that retrieves the
search results and formats them for display. The HTML result will end up
being inserted into a separate pop-up browser window above the current
page.


The script accepts a URL with the querystring variable q. From there, it
creates a Yahoo! Search Web Services URL using the special link: syntax.


To create the script, save the following code to a file called yl.asp and
be sure to include your own unique application ID in the code:












<%


On Error Resume Next
Response.Buffer = True
'' Expecting a URL string to be in the querystring "q"
szQ = Request("q")
If (szQ <> "") Then %>

href="http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=link:<% =szQ %>">Yahoo



Linkbacks


for this url

style='font-weight:bold;text-align:center;width:98%;padding-top:20px;'>
Loading…

<% Response.Flush %>

<%Dim objXML, xml
szStr = ""
szUrl = ""
szTitle = ""


szSummary = ""
set xml = Server.CreateObject ("MSXML2.ServerXMLHTTP.3.0")


szGetString = ("http://api.search.yahoo.com/" &_
"WebSearchService/V1/webSearch?" &_
"appid=[YOUR_APPLICATION_ID ]&results=10&query=link :" & szQ)


xml.Open "GET", szGetString, False
xml.Send
set objXML = xml.responseXML


If (objXML.getElementsByTagName("Result").length>0) Then
If (objXML.getElementsByTagName("Result").length>10) Then
nLen = 10
Else


nLen = objXML.getElementsByTagName("Result").length-1
End if
For z = 0 to nLen


'' Get each "Result" Node and loop through
'' its childNodes to get Url, Title and Summaries
Set nGb = objXML.getElementsByTagName("Result")(z)
set o18 = nGb.childNodes
For k = 0 to o18.length-1
Select Case (o18.item(k).nodeName)
Case "Title"
szTitle = o18.item(k).text
Case "Summary"
szSummary = o18.item(k).text
Case "Url"
szUrl = o18.item(k).text
End Select
Next


If (szSummary <> "") Then szSummary = ": " & szSummary


szStr = szStr & ("
• " & szTitle &
  
  
  
  "")
  szStr = szStr & (szSummary & "
")


szUrl = ""
szTitle = ""
szSummary = ""


Next
End if
If (szStr <> "") Then
Response.write(szStr)
Else
Response.write("
• No Results Found
")
End if


set xml = Nothing
set objXML = Nothing
End if %>

Upload yl.asp to a public web server to make it available to the
bookmarklet. The bookmarklet is a bit of JavaScript that resides in a
bookmark and calls the ASP page in-context by sending the URL of the page
currently in the browser.


5.3.2. Running the Hack


Add the following code to an existing bookmarklet by adding it to the
location field. Be sure to include the URL of the server-side page,
yl.asp:


javascript:function p(){window.open(('http://example.com/yl. asp?q='+



document.location. href),'nsm','width=250,height=350,directories=no,



location=no,menubar=no, scrollbars=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,



resizable=no,left=0,top=0,screenx=0,screeny=0')}p()




Name the bookmarklet yLinkback, and you should be set for easy access to
linking information. For example, if you browse to the photo-sharing web
site Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/) and click the yLinkback bookmark,
you'll see a pop-up window like the one shown in Figure 5-5.




Figure 5-5. The yLinkbacks pop-up window at Flickr





A quick survey of the sites there shows that Flickr is linked by many
personal weblogs, and this can let you know that the site is probably a
favorite with the weblog community. Once you have the yLinkbacks
bookmarklet installed, you can gather some quick information like this for
any web site you visit. If you'd rather not build your own version of the
hack, you can install the bookmarklet at
http://www.kokogiak.com/yahoo_linkbacks.html.


Alan Taylor















Hack 79. Import Yahoo! Local Listings into Your Address Book





A freely available program called gvcard can help you import a Yahoo!
Local listing into your email address book, cell phone, or any application
that understands vCard.


Have you ever wondered why it is so darn hard to import search results
from Yellow Pages sites like Yahoo! Local (http://local.yahoo.com/) into
other programs? Whether you are at your desk or using your fancy Treo 650,
wouldn't it be nice if you could import these addresses, phone numbers,
and URLs directly into your address book? Now you can.


gvcard (http://gvcard.sf.net/) is a free program that wraps common Yellow
Pages services from Yahoo! and Google and makes their results available in
the vCard format. gvcard is written in Python and the source code is
available via CVS.


gvcard comes in four flavors (all four versions are available at the
gvcard web site):



A standalone CGI script that you can run from any web site



A command-line client you can run locally just about anywhere



A weblet version of the CGI script that you can also run locally



A plug in for IMSmarter.com (http://imsmarter.com/developer.php) that
allows you to access gvcard over IM


At the heart of gvcard is the vCard standard: a simple text-based format
that almost all phone book, address book, and calendaring applications
understand. vCard allows these programs to share contact information
across a wide variety of platforms. By wiring vCard up to Yahoo! Local,
gvcard helps you avoid searching for the same information twice. Best of
all, it makes local business information easy to take with you on all
kinds of portable devices, from PDAs to cell phoneseven those without
Internet access.


You can view the complete vCard standard at http://www.imc.org/pdi, but
it's easy to see how it works in an example:


BEGIN: VCARD
FN:Coupa Cafe
ORG:Coupa Cafe
ADR;DOM;POSTAL;WORK:538 Ramona St;;;Palo Alto;CA;;
TEL;Work;VOICE;PREF:(650) 322-6872
URL:http://www.coupacafe.com/
UID:http://www.coupacafe.com/
NOTE:***Directions: http://xrl.us/fbu5 ***Search: http://xrl.us/fbu4
VERSION:2.1
END: VCARD




Every line in the vCard has a tag and value, such as ORG:Coupa Cafe, which
identifies this vCard as being for the organization Coupa Cafe. It also
has additional bits of metadata that work similarly to XML's attributes,
such as PREF, which indicates that the work phone number listed is the
preferred mode of contact. Unfortunately, the vCard standard predates the
widespread adoption of XML as the Web's "one true metadata format," so
some of its features are a bit archaic. Thankfully, we don't have much
need for its advanced features.




If you're interested in playing around with vCards, the
following handy site has a simple CGI that will generate them
from an HTML form: http://www.vcardprocessor.com/try.htm.






Accessing Yahoo! Local is a snap, thanks to Yahoo!'s excellent web
services support. Like all Yahoo! APIs, Yahoo! Local works via REST, a
simple technique whereby a client makes a standard HTTP request using GET
parameters and receives an XML response. The client applicationin this
case, gvcardneeds to be able to correctly format the request based on user
input and then parse and present the response. Here's a sample Yahoo!
Local query:


http://api.local.yahoo.com/LocalSearchService/V1/localSearch?appid=insert



App ID&query=pizza&zip=94306&results=2




And here's an excerpt of the response it generates:





totalResultsReturned="2" firstResultPosition="1">




http://local.yahoo.com/mapview?stx=pizza&csz=Palo+Alto%2C+CA&city=



Palo+Alto&state=CA&radius=5&ed=BVD56a131DxIV6V7_5O_wO8KQY1.bxtOAd8qew--

3407 Alma St

Palo Alto
CA
(650) 494-2928



0.28




http://local.yahoo.com/details?id=21395990&state=CA&stx=pizza&csz=Palo+Alto



+CA&ed=o9pJ_q160Sy74qzFN72I0cSInA8HkgnO3mChobdW6IFvjLcw9Npqo0NC0IKIFIrT








http://local.yahoo.com/details?id=21395990&state=CA&stx=pizza&csz=Palo+



Alto+CA&ed=o9pJ_q160Sy74qzFN72I0cSInA8HkgnO3mChobdW6IFvjLcw9Npqo0NC0IKIFIrT










http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?name=Round+Table+Pizza+Palo+Alto&desc=



6504942928&csz=Palo+Alto+CA&qty=9&cs=9&ed=o9pJ_q160Sy74qzFN72I0cSInA8H



kgnO3mChobdW6IFvjLcw9Npqo0NC0IKIFIrT




http://www.roundtablepizza.com/


http://www.roundtablepizza.com/






Most of the elements in this XML are straightforward and map pretty
closely to the corresponding fields in the vCard. Because some of the URLs
are lengthy, gvcard often uses a URL rewriting service from
http://www.metamark.net/ to keep the URL lengths manageable. Other than
that, the data is copied directly from Yahoo! Local XML responses to the
vCard.


5.4.1. The Code


Although gvcard comes in several varieties, each with its own user
interface, they all work according to the following basic four-step
procedure:



Get input, consisting of a search term (such as pizza in our previous
example) and a location (such as 94301 or "Palo Alto, CA").



Pass the request to Yahoo! Local and parse the response.



Create a vCard using the appropriate fields.



Present the result for easy import into an address book application.


gvcard is written in Python, and even if you're not familiar with Python,
the following code example should be straightforward.


At the heart of all gvcard versions is the lookup.py module. Its job is to
formulate the request and parse the response. This is accomplished with
two simple classes, YahooLocalRequest and YahooParser:


class YahooLocalRequest:
def __init__(self, searchTerm, location):
self.baseUrl_ = "http://api.local.yahoo.com/LocalSearchService/V1/



localSearch"
self.params_ = {"appid":"gvcard-python",
"query": searchTerm,
"location": location
}


self.url_ = "%s?%s" % (self.baseUrl_, urllib.urlencode(self.params_))
self.request_ = urllib2.Request(url=self.url_)


def fetchRaw(self):
f = urllib2.urlopen(self.request_)
self.contents_ = f.read()
return self.contents_






gvcard also works with Google Local, which is a nearly
equivalent service. However, Google does not provide a web
services API for its Local search, and the code to interface
with it is much more complicated. Feel free to compare the two
if you ever need to make the case for web services to
somebody.






If you're familiar with python's urllib2 module, this code will look
completely familiar. Take the search term and location (along with an
appid, which is assigned by Yahoo!), URL-encode them, and retrieve the raw
XML as text via HTTP. The YahooParser does the rest (no pun intended):


class YahooParser:
def __init__(self):
self.results_ = {}


def get(self, xml, tag, default=""):
rs = xml.getElementsByTagName(tag)
if not rs:
return default
element = rs[0]
textNode = element.firstChild
if textNode:
return textNode.data
else:
return default


def feed(self, data):
dom = xml.dom.minidom.parseString(data)
rs = dom.getElementsByTagName("ResultSet")[0]
for i, result in enumerate(rs.getElementsByTagName("Result")):
self.results_[i] = { "phone" : self. get(result, "Phone"),
"directionsUrl" : self.get(result,



"MapUrl"),
"homepageUrl" : self.get(result,



"BusinessUrl"),
"city" : self.get(result, "City"),
"state" : self.get(result, "State"),
"zip" : "",
"street" : self.get(result, "Address"),
"name" : self.get(result, "Title"),
"searchUrl" : self.get(result, "ClickUrl")
}
return self.results_




The feed() method constructs a Python dictionary that holds the relevant
data for each result. Use the get() method as a simple wrapper for
python's xml.minidom module, whose API is not entirely well suited to the
kind of parsing we're doing here.


Finally, the results of the search are passed to the makevcard module,
which looks like this:


def generateVCard(name, street, city, state, zip, phone, url=None,
location=None, note=None, searchUrl=None):
text = ""
text += "BEGIN:VCARD\n"
text += "FN:%s\n" % name
text += "ORG:%s\n" % name
text += "ADR"
text += ";DOM;POSTAL;WORK:"
text += "%s;" % street
text += ";;%s;%s;%s;\n" % (city, state, zip)
text += "TEL;Work"
text += ";VOICE"
text += ";PREF"
text += ":%s\n" % phone
if url:
text += "URL:%s\n" % url
text += "UID:%s\n" % url


if not note:
note = ""
if searchUrl:
note += " ***Search: %s" % searchUrl
if note:
text += "NOTE:***Directions: %s\n" % note
text += "VERSION:2.1\n"
text += "END:VCARD\n"
return text




The vCard is then presented to the user in a form that is easy to import.
Because the CGI version of gvcard is the most widely used, let's take a
look at its inner workings:


form = cgi.FieldStorage()
try:
location = form["location"].value
except KeyError:
if recentLocations:
location = recentLocations[0]
else:
location = ""
try:
search = form["search"].value
except KeyError:
search = ""




As you can see, this code handles the input from the web form and verifies
that the user has entered information.


5.4.2. Running the Hack


To pull it all together into a script, start by using Python's built-in
cgi module to get the query parameters. Next, the program emits the actual
HTML that the user will see:


cprint( "" )
cprint( "" % mode )
cprint( "

Business name:
" %



search )
cprint( "Location: (e.g. Palo Alto,



CA or 94301)
" % location )
cprint( "Choose a local search provier: ")
options = ("Google", "Yahoo")
for option in options:
if option == searchType:
sel = " SELECTED"
else:
sel = ""
cprint("%s" % (sel,option))
cprint( "
")
cprint( " Show at most" )
cprint( "12
51025
results

" )




If you've been provided with search terms, go ahead and run the search,
using the lookup module:


if search and location:
if location in recentLocations:
recentLocations.remove(location)
recentLocations.insert(0, location)
tpl = (search, location)
if tpl in recentSearches:
recentSearches.remove(tpl)
recentSearches.insert(0, tpl)


results, url = lookup.resultsForQuery(searchTerm=search,



location=location, searchType=searchType)
cprint( "Results (from these raw search



results):

" % url)




Next, present a list of all the results, in a simple, stripped-down HTML
format. This HTML page renders equally well on most cell phone and PDA web
browsers, allowing access to gvcard from a wide variety of devices:


for valueDict, vc in results[:maxResults]:
for entry in ResultTemplate.split("\n"):
oe = entry
for k, v in valueDict.items():


entry = entry.replace("$%s" % k, v)
if oe != entry:
cprint( entry )
qs = urllib.urlencode(valueDict)
cprint( " vCard: download here




"% qs )
cprint( "

---

" )




One technique to note here is the use of a simple template to present each
result. The template (called ResultTemplate in the preceding code
fragment) looks like this:


ResultTemplate = """
$name

$street

$city, $state $zip

$phone

$homepageUrl

$searchType Link -
Directions

"""




This template could easily be changed to something more graphically rich,
perhaps incorporating some additional elements of Yahoo! Local (such as
its mapping features) that are not currently supported by gvcard.


The last aspect of gvcard for which the CGI script is responsible is to
provide the user a way to easily import the vCard into her address book
program of choice. Since gvcard is designed to work with the widest
possible array of programs and platforms, this is a bit tricky. Notice the
line from the previous fragment that looked like this:


cprint( "vCard: download here
"



% qs )




This constructs a link to another part of gvcard, the vcardcgi.cgi script.
It's responsible for emitting the vCard data itself, using the correct
MIME type: text/x-vcard. Keep in mind that not all browsers recognize the
vCard MIME type, but most know about the vCard file extension .vcf, which
is why the link is written with the trailing /card.vcf. Many browsers will
assume this is the filename of the file being downloaded and invoke the
right program to handle it.


A freely accessible running instance of the gvcard CGI script is available
at http://www.speakeasy.org/~ericries/gvcard/lookupcgi.cgi, so feel free
to try it out. Bookmark this URL in your phone, PDA, or handheld's web
browser and surprise yourself with how many times it comes in handy. At
the very least, you'll save yourself a few bucks in calls to 411.


Eric Ries
















Hack 80. Create a Yahoo! Local MIDlet





Use Java for mobile devices to access the Yahoo! Local API on a mobile
device.


The Yahoo! Local Search service allows you to search the Internet for
businesses near a specified location. With the availability of a REST web
service interface to Yahoo! Local Search, it is quite simple to implement
an application that enables mobile devices to access Yahoo! Local Search.
It might save you the cost of expensive 411 calls to find out the phone
number or the address of a business when you are traveling.


Before you build the hack, it might help to familiarize yourself with a
couple of important terms you'll encounter:




MIDlet


A MIDlet is a Java application for small devices like cell phones. More
specifically, it's a Java 2, Micro Edition ( J2ME™) application that is
conformant with the Mobile Information Device Profile ( MIDP)
specification.




J2ME


J2ME is a group of Java APIs for creating applications on small devices
like cell phones, pagers, PDAs, and set-top boxes.


This hack shows you how to build a MIDlet that allows users to perform
local search, implemented over Yahoo! Local Search API, from a mobile
device.


5.5.1. What You Need


To use this hack, you'll need a Handspring Treo 600 running the Web-Sphere
Everyplace Micro Environment (WEME), which you'll find at
http://www.palmone.com/us/support/jvm.


You'll also need the Sun Java Wireless Toolkit Version 2.2, which you can
find at http://java.sun.com/products/j2mewtoolkit, and the Eclipse
development environment with the EclipseME plug-in for building MIDlets,
available at http://eclipseme.org/.


5.5.2. The Code


The code for this hack is organized into three files:




LocalSearch.java


MIDlet described in more detail below




LocalSearchResponseHandler.java


SAX event handler class used to parse the response from Yahoo! Local
Search




URLUTF8Encoder.java


Utility class used to encode special characters in the URL




You can download the complete code for this hack at
http://mobile-j2me.blogspot.com/.






The code in LocalSearch.java handles most of the work. This file
implements the MIDlet interface requirements, describes the application
interface, and handles any user interaction. Here's a look at the key
methods in LocalSearch.java:


// package/import statements
public class LocalSearch extends MIDlet implements CommandListener
{
// Data members
public LocalSearch()
{
// Create the UI forms and the buttons/commands
}
protected void startApp() throws MIDletStateChangeException
{
// Set the display to the main form
}
protected void pauseApp()
{
// Not used
}
protected void destroyApp(boolean unconditional)
{
// Not used
}
public void commandAction(Command c, Displayable s)
{
// Handle commands from the UI
// Retrieve data entered by the user
// Invoke Yahoo! Local Search (see doYahooLocalSearch())
// Parse the response
// Display the results or error to the user
}
// Invoke Yahoo Local Search and get response
private String doYahooLocalSearch() throws IOException
{
// Invoke Yahoo Local Search
String url =
"http://api.local.yahoo.com/LocalSearchService/V1/localSearch?"
+ "appid="
+ appID
+ "&query="
+ URLUTF8Encoder.encode(query)
+ "&results="
+ results
+ "&start="
+ start
+ "&zip=" + zip;


return(postViaHttpConnection(url).toFormattedString());
}
private LocalSearchResponseHandler postViaHttpConnection(String url)



throws IOException
{
// POST a HTTP request with the URL
// Retrieve the response (XML document)
// Invoke parseXML()
}
// Parse the response XML document using SAX and retrieve
// the needed information
private LocalSearchResponseHandler parseXML(InputStream is) throws



SAXException, IOException
{
}
}




The following code is a SAX handler that retrieves the title, phone
number, and address from each of the businesses that Yahoo! returns. Here
are the key methods in LocalSearchResponseHandler.java:


// package/import statements
class LocalSearchResponseHandler extends DefaultHandler
{
// Data members


public void startElement(String uri, String localName, String qName,



Attributes attributes) throws SAXException
{
// Keep track of QNames
qNameStack.push(qName);


// Get the # of results available and the # of results
// returned in the response
if (qName.equals(ELEM_RS))
{
totalResultsAvailable=attributes.getValue(ATTR_TRA);
totalResultsReturned = attributes.getValue(ATTR_TRR);
}


currentElementContent = "";
}


public void characters(char[] ch, int start, int length)
throws SAXException
{
currentElementContent = currentElementContent + new String(ch, start,



length);
}


public void endElement(String uri, String localName, String qName)
throws SAXException
{
// Get current QName
qName = (String) qNameStack.peek();


// Get the title, phone, address of the listing
if (ELEM_TITLE.equals(qName))
{
titles.addElement(currentElementContent);
}
else if (ELEM_PHONE.equals(qName))
{
phones.addElement(currentElementContent);
}
else if (ELEM_ADDRESS.equals(qName))
{
addresses.addElement(currentElementContent);
}


// Pop QName, since we are done with it
qNameStack.pop();
}


}




5.5.3. Running the Hack


Once you have the source files in place, you can build the application
from within Eclipse by right-clicking the project and selecting Build
Project. Or to package the application, right-click the project and select
J2ME Create Package.


Upload the resulting YahooWebServices.jar file to a publicly accessible
web server. Then use the IBM MIDlet manager on the Treo to download the
MIDlet at the appropriate URL.


Once the code is installed, launch the IBM MIDlet manager from the
handheld. You should see a screen similar to that shown in Figure 5-6.




Figure 5-6. MIDlet manager







You can also use the MIDlet manager to install a different
MIDlet or get a new version of the Yahoo! Web Services MIDlet.






From the manager, select the Yahoo Web Services MIDlet and click Launch.
The main screen of the MIDlet will appear, as shown in Figure 5-7.




Figure 5-7. MIDlet entry form





There are five fields you can fill in on the form. AppID identifies the
user of Yahoo! Local Web Services. By default, its value is set to
YahooDemo, but you can get your own app ID at
http://api.search.yahoo.com/webservices/register_application. The Query
field is for the business you're looking for; Results is for the number of
results that you want to see on the results screen; and Start identifies
the point from where you would like to see the results from the complete
list. Finally, ZIP is for the Zip Code that identifies the location where
you want to do the search.


Enter the name of a local business or type of business along with your Zip
Code and click Search. You should see results like those shown in Figure
5-8.




Figure 5-8. MIDlet results





If the top results aren't quite what you're looking for, you can click
Next to see more.


Assembling this hack takes a bit of work, but it's an excellent example of
seamlessly integrating Yahoo! data into unusual places, such as
applications for mobile devices.


Deepak Nadig















Hack 81. Import Yahoo! Local Listings into Excel





Bringing Yahoo! Local Search results into a spreadsheet can help you sort,
view, and visualize local businesses.


Having access to the Yahoo! Local API is like being able to effortlessly
move entries from the physical Yellow Pages to your computer. And dumping
the entries into a structured environment like Excel can give you a new
way to look at Yahoo! Local Search results.


Imagine that you find yourself in Corvallis, Oregon, and you'd like to
find a spot to sit down, grab a bite to eat, and surf the Internet
wirelessly. A Yahoo! Local Search for wifi near the Corvallis Zip Code
(97333) will turn up several results for businesses that have wireless
Internet access, as shown in Figure 5-9.




Figure 5-9. Yahoo! Local Search for "wifi" near 97333





Unfortunately, Yahoo! Local won't tell you which places have free wireless
access, so you'd have to call each of the businesses to ask them. You
could scroll and click through the web page and jot down each phone
number, or you could take advantage of the Yahoo! Local API to import the
list into a spreadsheet for quick reference to the phone numbers.


5.6.1. Exporting Yahoo! Local Search to a Spreadsheet


Programmer Rikul Patel has already done much of the work involved with
importing results into a spreadsheet. His program, called Yahoo! Local
Search To Excel, is available for free at
http://rikulpatel.com/ylocalsearch.php. It's available on Windows only,
and you'll need a spreadsheet program such as Excel to view the results.


Once you download the program, there's nothing to install. Double-click
YLocalSearch.exe and you'll see a form like the one shown in Figure 5-10.




Figure 5-10. The Yahoo! Local Search To Excel form





Type in a query, Zip Code, and radius, and then click Local Search. Behind
the scenes, the program asks Yahoo! for the data and formats the response
as a comma-separated value ( CSV) file. The program will ask you to name
the file, so call it something appropriate, like corvallis_wifi.csv in
this example. If Excel is installed on your system, corvallis_wifi.csv
should open in Excel when you double-click it, and you'll see a
spreadsheet like the one shown in Figure 5-11.




Figure 5-11. Yahoo! Local results in an Excel spreadsheet





The spreadsheet includes the name, address, city, state, and phone number
of the business. If Yahoo! has a web site listed for the business, that's
included as well. With the data in the spreadsheet, you can then add your
own columns, mix it with existing data, or even create charts based on the
data. And this definitely makes for a quick list of phone numbers you can
call to see who has free wireless in the area.


5.6.2. Using Perl


Yahoo! Local Search To Excel is easy to use, but the output isn't very
flexible. To access some of the other data available through the Yahoo!
APIsuch as distance and user ratingsyou'll need to write your own code.
Luckily, this is fairly quick work with a scripting language like Perl.


5.6.2.1. The code.


Much like the previous program, this Perl script accepts a query and a Zip
Code and assembles a CSV file with results from a Yahoo! Local Search. As
with most of the other Perl examples in this book, you'll need to have
LWP::Simple and XML::Simple installed on your system for requesting and
parsing Yahoo! data. You'll also need the Getopt::Simple module for
handling the command-line parameters. Save the following code to a file
called yahoo_excel.pl:


#!/usr/bin/perl
# yahoo_excel.pl
# Accepts a query and zip code and returns a CSV
# list of results you can open in Excel.
# Usage: yahoo_excel.pl -q -z
#
# You can create an AppID, and read the full documentation
# for Yahoo! Web Services at http://developer.yahoo.net/


use strict;
use Getopt::Simple qw($switch);
use LWP::Simple;
use XML::Simple;


# Set your unique Yahoo! Application ID
my $appID = "insert app ID";


# Get/Set the command line options
my $options =
{


q =>
{
type => '=s',
env => '-',
default => '',
verbose => 'Specify a query',
order => 1,
},
zip =>
{
type => '=f',
env => '-',
default => '',
verbose => 'Specify a zip code',
order => 2,
},
};
my $option = Getopt::Simple->new();
if (!$option->getOptions($options,
"Usage: yahoo_excel.pl -q [query] -z [zip code]")) {
exit(-1);
}


# Make sure the command line options have values
my $query = $$switch{'q'};
my $zip = $$switch{'zip'};
if ((!$query) || (!$zip)) {
print "Usage: yahoo_excel.pl -q -z ";
exit;
};


# Construct a Yahoo! Local Query with only required options
my $language = "en";


my $req_url = "http://api.local.yahoo.com/";
$req_url .= "LocalSearchService/V1/localSearch?";
$req_url .= "appid=$appID";
$req_url .= "&query=$query";
$req_url .= "&zip=$zip";


# Make the request
my $yahoo_response = get($req_url);


# Parse the XML
my $xmlsimple = XML::Simple->new();
my $yahoo_xml = $xmlsimple->XMLin($yahoo_response);


# Loop through the items returned, printing as CSV
print "\"Title\",\"Address\",\"Distance\",\"Rating\"\n";
foreach my $result (@{$yahoo_xml->{Result}}) {
my $title = $result->{Title};
my $address = $result->{Address};
my $distance = $result->{Distance};
my $rating = $result->{Rating};
if (!eval($rating)) {
$rating = "";
}
print "\"$title\",\"$address\",\"$distance\"\,\"$rating\"\n";
}




With a bit more control over the file, you can decide which columns you'd
like to include in your spreadsheet. As you can see in the last line of
this code, the script prints the title of the business, the address, the
distance from the center of the Zip Code, and the rating as an average of
Yahoo! user ratings for that business.


5.6.2.2. Running the hack.


Run the code from the command line by passing in the two parameters: -q
followed by a query, and -z followed by a Zip Code. If you're still
looking for wireless hotspots in Corvallis, you might call the script like
this:


perl yahoo_excel.plq wifiz 97333




If all goes well, you should see a block of text scroll past with all of
the options. Because you'd rather read the results in a spreadsheet, you
should pipe the results to a CSV file, like so:


perl yahoo_excel.plq wifiz 97333 > wifi.csv




Double-click the newly created wifi.csv to see the results of the query,
and you should have something like what's shown in Figure 5-12.




Figure 5-12. Custom Yahoo! Local results in an Excel spreadsheet





With a custom script, you can now quickly see not only which businesses
offer wireless Internet access, but also how close they are and how Yahoo!
users have rated each business. The key to the hack is that, thanks to
Yahoo!'s open API, you can add the search results to other programs such
as Excel and structure the data in ways that are useful to you.















Hack 82. Spell Words with Yahoo! Images





Web of Letters combines Yahoo! Image Search results to spell a single
word.


The Web of Letters is a PHP script that uses the Yahoo! Image Search API
to grab images of letters from all over the Web to spell words. The
resultsa combination of photos and illustrationsare always surprising and
can even look like modern art. You simply type a word into a web form, and
the script assembles the images.


The key to the hack is transforming the user's word into the proper Yahoo!
query. When the user enters hello, the code queries Yahoo! Image Search
for each letter in the word"letter h", "letter e", "letter l", and so
oneventually spelling the complete word, as shown in Figure 5-13.




Figure 5-13. The word "hello" assembled from Yahoo! Images





When the character is a number, the query syntax is "number 1", "number
2", etc. When the character is a symbol, the code queries Yahoo! for its
full name; the symbol & becomes ampersand.


You can try a working Web of Letters is at
http://blog.outer-court.com/yahoo/letters.php5.


5.7.1. The Code


Web of Letters uses PHP5, and you can start by creating a file called
letters.php5. In addition to a standard HTML head, add the following code
to accept a query parameter q:


$q = ( isset($_POST['q']) ) ? $_POST['q'] : '';




Then add the following XHTML snippet, which will ask the user for input:

Enter anything:
value="" />

Print the query in the input box if something has been posted already, but
make sure to convert it to an HTML attribute value using the toAttribute
function:


function toAttribute($s)
{
$s = toXml($s);
$s = str_replace('"', '&"', $s);
return $s;
}


function toXml($s)
{
$s = str_replace('&', '&', $s);
$s = str_replace('<', '<', $s);
$s = str_replace('>', '>', $s);
return $s;
}




The heart of the code shows the images retrieved from Yahoo!.




The script accepts only words of up to 40 letters. It's also
wise to implement a cache when you query Yahoo!; "letter b"
will be used for every b, but we do not need to query Yahoo
every time for this.








if ($q != '')
{
?>

Spelling

(reload for variations):

if ( strlen($q) <= 40 )
{
for ($i = 0; $i < strlen($q); $i++)
{


$letter = substr($q, $i, 1);
switch ( strtolower($letter) )
{


case '.':
showImage('dot');
break;


case '_':
showImage('underscore');
break;


case '-':
showImage('minus');
break;


case '/':
showImage('slash');
break;


case ':':
showImage('colon sign');
break;


case '$':
showImage('dollar');
break;


case '0':
case '1':
case '2':
case '3':
case '4':
case '5':
case '6':
case '7':
case '8':
case '9':
showImage('"number ' . $letter . '"');
break;


case '!':
showImage('"exclamation mark"');
break;
case '?':
showImage('"question mark"');
break;
case 'a':
case 'b':
case 'c':
case 'd':
case 'e':
case 'f':
case 'g':
case 'h':
case 'i':
case 'j':
case 'k':
case 'l':
case 'm':
case 'n':
case 'o':
case 'p':
case 'q':
case 'r':
case 's':
case 't':
case 'u':
case 'v':
case 'w':
case 'x':
case 'y':
case 'z':
showImage('"letter ' . $letter . '"');
break;


default:
echo '
';
break;
}
}
}
else
{
echo '

Up to 40 letters only.

';
}
}




The switch-case clause calls the showImage function that grabs 20 images
from Yahoo! for every query and then displays one at random:


function showImage($q)
{
$max = 20;
$s = '';
$url = 'http://api.search.yahoo.com/ImageSearchService/' .
'V1/imageSearch?appid=insert app ID&'.
'query=' . urlencode($q) .
'&results=' . $max;


$dom = new domdocument;
$dom->load($url);


$xpath = new domxpath($dom);
$i = rand(0, $max - 1);
$source = $xpath->query('//Result/Thumbnail/Url')->
item($i)->firstChild->data;
echo ' 'style="width:80px; height:80px" alt="" />';
}




5.7.2. Running the Hack


Upload letters.php5 to your server and view it with your browser. Type a
word in the form and click Display. You should see a group of letters
spelling your word, like the results for Yahoo! Hacks shown in Figure
5-14.




Figure 5-14. "Yahoo! Hacks" spelled by the Web of Letters





As you can see in Figure 5-14, all images are scaled to 80 pixels by 80
pixels, so they have the same size. The script uses inline styles, but you
might want to move the style definitions into a separate CSS stylesheet to
keep the HTML lean.


With Web of Letters, you can use the power of images across the Web for
some fun. Happy writingand no ransom notes, please!


Philipp Lenssen


















Hack 83. Randomize Your Windows Desktop Background





Use the Yahoo! Image Search web service to spin a virtual roulette wheel
and let fate choose your desktop background image.


People love to change their desktop backgrounds. It's one of the first
skills that new computer users learn, and even old computer pros fiddle
with their desktop background image on a fairly regular basis. Browsing
through the aisles of your local computer shop, you'll find CDs full of
scenic imagery that you can use as your desktop background pictures. But
why shell out money for custom backgrounds, when you can use the entire
Web as your source for background images?


The Yahoo! Image Search is a good place to start your search for a new
desktop background. Point your browser to http://search.yahoo.com/images
and type in a query, such as landscape. You should find many thumbnails of
images, such as the ones in Figure 5-15, which would make suitable desktop
backgrounds.




Figure 5-15. Yahoo! Image Search results for "landscape"





Underneath each photo is the name of the image file, its size in pixels,
and the URL where the image was found. The closer the image is to the size
of your current desktop, the better it will look as a background. To find
out your desktop's current resolution, right-click anywhere on your
desktop, choose Properties from the menu, and click the Settings tab. The
current size of your desktop is listed under Screen Resolution and is
typically 800 pixels wide by 600 pixels tall, or a bit larger at 1024 x
768. As monitors have been getting bigger, desktop sizes have been
increasing as well.


To find the best images to use as backgrounds, perform an advanced image
search (http://search.yahoo.com/images/advanced) and set the Size option
to "large" or "wallpaper." This will exclude any images that wouldn't make
good desktop backgrounds, such as buttons or icons. You can also include
some search meta keywords with your query to find images with a specific
size. For example, if your desktop is 1024 x 768, you could use the query
landscape width:1024 height:768 to find only images that match your
desktop resolution. The width and height keywords tell Yahoo! Image Search
to return only images with the specified size.


From the search results, click on an image that's close to your desktop
size to see the page on which Yahoo! found the original image. From the
top frame, click the View Image link to display the original image by
itself in your browser window. Right-click anywhere on the image and
choose "Set as Wallpaper" in Firefox or "Set as Background" in Internet
Explorer. Then you can close your browser and see your new background
image!


This process is easy to follow anytime you're ready for a new background,
but with a little scripting, you can speed things up and let chance decide
which picture you should use.


5.8.1. The Code


This hack contacts Yahoo! via its Web Services API, performs an image
search, chooses one of the responses at random, downloads the image, and
sets it as your desktop background. Because Windows expects desktop
backgrounds to be the bitmap image type and most web images are JPEGs, the
script will also have to convert any image from a JPEG to a bitmap.


This conversion process is out of the scope of the Windows scripting
environment, and this hack uses a third-party ActiveX component that
converts JPEG files to bitmaps. An ActiveX component is a piece of
software that is meant to be used by other programs, and it usually
performs a specific task. Alex K. Angelopoulos wrote this particular
component, called Convert to Bitmap, and published it on his web site. You
can download a copy at
http://dev.remotenetworktechnology.com/wsh/comwsh.htm. Once you've
downloaded the file and unzipped the contents, you'll need to install the
component so it's available to scripts. From a command line, browse to the
directory where you unzipped the package and type the following command:


Regsvr32 GfxConverter.ocx




With the component installed, you'll be set to run the script. Save the
following code to a file called Y!background.vbs:


'----------------------------------------------------
' Y!Background.vbs
'
' Finds a random image via the Yahoo! Image API and
' sets it as the desktop background image.
'
' This script depends on GfxConverter.ocx that you
' download here:
'
' http://dev.remotenetworktechnology.com/wsh/comwsh.htm
'
' Click/Save "Convert to Bitmap", unzip, and install
' from the command line, like this:
'
' Regsvr32 GfxConverter.ocx
'
' Edit the following line to change the "theme" of
' your background. Double-click this file to run it.
'----------------------------------------------------
strQuery = "landscape"


'----------------------------------------------------
' the Yahoo! App ID -- Please don't change this
'-----------------------------------------------------
Const APP_ID = "ybackground"


'----------------------------------------------------
' Using the query, find a random image via Yahoo!
'-----------------------------------------------------
'Construct a Yahoo! Search Query
strReqURL = "http://api.search.yahoo.com/" & _
"ImageSearchService/V1/imageSearch?" & _
"appid=" & APP_ID & _
"&query=" & strQuery & _
"&results=50" & _
"&adult_ok=0"


'Start the XML Parser
Set MSXML = CreateObject("MSXML.DOMDocument")


'Set the XML Parser options
MSXML.Async = False


'Make the Request
strResponse = MSXML.Load(strReqURL)
If MSXML.parseError.errorCode <> 0 Then
WScript.Echo("Error! " + MSXML.parseError.reason)
End If


'Make sure the request loaded
If (strResponse) Then


'Find the total available
Set ResultSet = MSXML.SelectSingleNode("//ResultSet")
intTotalReturned = ResultSet.getAttribute("totalResultsReturned")


'Pick a random number
Randomize
RandomNumber = Int(intTotalReturned * Rnd + 1)


'Load the results
Set Results = MSXML.SelectNodes("//Result")


'Loop through the results
For x = 0 to Results.length - 1
If x = RandomNumber Then


strImageURL = Results(x).SelectSingleNode("Url").text
End If
Next


'Unload the results
Set Results = Nothing
Set ResultSet = Nothing


End If


'If no image URL is found, send a message
If strImageURL = "" Then
WScript.Echo "No image found! Try again."
WScript.Quit
End If


'----------------------------------------------------
' Save the image locally to the root c:\ folder
'-----------------------------------------------------
Set fs = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set xmlhttp = CreateObject("Msxml2.SERVERXMLHTTP")
xmlhttp.Open "GET", strImageURL, false
xmlhttp.Send(Now)


fs.CreateTextFile "c:\" & strImageFile & ".jpg"


'Create a Stream instance
Dim objStream
Set objStream = CreateObject("ADODB.Stream")


'Open the stream
objStream.Open
objStream.Type = 1 'adTypeBinary
objStream.Write xmlhttp.responseBody
objStream.SaveToFile "c:\" & strQuery & ".jpg", 2 'adSaveCreateOverwrite
objStream.Close
Set objStream = Nothing
Set xmlhttp = Nothing
Set fs = Nothing


'----------------------------------------------------
' Convert the jpeg to a bitmap
'-----------------------------------------------------
Set Converter = CreateObject("Gfx.Converter")
Converter.ToBitmap "c:\" & strQuery & ".jpg", "c:\" & strQuery & ".bmp"
Set Converter = Nothing


'----------------------------------------------------
' Set the newly created bitmap to background
' and refresh
'----------------------------------------------------
strRegRoot = "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\" & _
"Internet Explorer\ Desktop\General\"
strRegRoot2 = "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\"


Set Shell = WScript.CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
Shell.RegWrite strRegRoot & "BackUpWallpaper", "c:\" & strQuery & ".bmp"
Shell.RegWrite strRegRoot & "Wallpaper", "c:\" & strQuery & ".bmp"
Shell.RegWrite strRegRoot2 & "Wallpaper", "c:\" & strQuery & ".bmp"
Shell.Run "%windir%\System32\RUNDLL32.EXE " & _
"user32.dll,UpdatePerUserSystemParameters", 1, False
Set Shell = Nothing




Note that the first line of the script sets the theme of your desktop
background. If you'd like something different from landscape images,
simply edit this line to whatever you'd like to see.


Also keep in mind that you can tweak the request URL variable strReqURL to
get different results. The URL is currently set to exclude adult images:
adult_ok is set to 0. If you change this value to 1, you might find adult
images in your results. Of course, changing the strReqURL value to
something more adult-oriented will have an effect on the content of the
search as well. Even with the filter set to keep adult images out,
understand that Yahoo!'s filter isn't perfect and some adult images might
find their way into the mix.


5.8.2. Running the Hack


Before you run the script, make sure you understand the risks. This will
replace your current desktop background with a random image from the Web,
so be sure you have a backup of your current desktop background image
before you proceed; otherwise, you might lose it forever. Also, remember
that you're grabbing images from any web site; while the risk is minimal,
some malicious code can find its way into image files. Make sure your
antivirus program is up-to-date before playing around with this code.


When you're ready to run the script, double-click the script file or run
it from the command line:


Y!Background.vbs




You should see your desktop background change. If you're not happy with
the image, run the script again. You can keep running the script until you
settle on something you likefor example, the nice landscape in Figure
5-16.




Figure 5-16. A random Windows desktop background via Yahoo!





If you want the random fun to continue, you can place this script in your
Startup folder and you'll find a new background every time you log in to
your machine. The Startup folder is located at C:\Documents and
Settings\\Start Menu\Programs\.


5.8.3. Hacking the Hack


For even more random desktop background fun, add the script as a scheduled
task by selecting Start Settings Control Panel Scheduled Tasks and
choosing Add Scheduled Task. You can set it to run as frequently as you'd
like, from once a week to once an hour.


Leaving your desktop background to chance is definitely a risky game, but
you might find some great images from across the Web in the process.















Hack 84. Randomize Your Mac Desktop Background





Leave your Mac desktop picture to chance with Yahoo!, Perl, and
AppleScript.


Windows users aren't the only ones who can experience the fun that is
random desktop backgrounds [Hack #83]. By using Yahoo! as your own image
database, you can automatically change your Mac desktop background picture
when the mood strikes.


If you use Mac OS X just to browse the Web and send email, you might not
be aware that there's a powerful Unix-based operating system under the
hood. In fact, in addition to AppleScript (the Mac scripting language),
Mac OS X ships with Perl installed. This hack takes advantage of both Perl
and AppleScript to bring some randomness to your desktop.


5.9.1. The Code


Perl is a great language for making HTTP requests and working with the
responses. But it's not as good as AppleScript at performing Mac system
tasks, such as setting a desktop image. Luckily, a Perl module called
Mac::AppleScript lets you execute AppleScript code from within your Perl
scripts. To install this module, open a Terminal window and type the
following command:


sudo perl -MCPAN -e 'install Mac::AppleScript'




Before you begin, you'll need to install a couple of other Perl modules.
As with most of the Perl examples in this book, you'll need LWP::Simple
and XML::Simple to make Yahoo! requests and parse responses.


Once these prerequisites are installed, save the following code to a file
named ybackground.pl:


#!/usr/bin/perl
# ybackground.pl
# Accepts a query term and sets a Mac desktop background
# with that theme.
# Usage: ybackground.pl
#
# You can read the full documentation
# for Yahoo! Web Services at http://developer.yahoo.net/


use strict;
use LWP::Simple;
use XML::Simple;
use Mac::AppleScript qw(RunAppleScript);


# Please leave this Yahoo! Application ID
my $appID = "ybackground-mac";


# Grab the incoming search query
my $query = join(' ', @ARGV) or die "Usage: ybackground.pl \n";


# Construct a Yahoo! Search Query with only required options
my $language = "en";
my $req_url = "http://api.search.yahoo.com/";
$req_url .= "ImageSearchService/V1/imageSearch?";
$req_url .= "appid=$appID";
$req_url .= "&query=$query";
$req_url .= "&results=50";
$req_url .= "&adult_ok=0";


# Make the request
my $yahoo_response = get($req_url);


# Parse the XML
my $xmlsimple = XML::Simple->new();
my $yahoo_xml = $xmlsimple->XMLin($yahoo_response);


# Grab a random image URL from the results
my $rnd = int(rand(@{$yahoo_xml->{Result}}));
my $url = $yahoo_xml->{Result}->[$rnd]->{Url};


# Save the image locally
my $time = time;
my $image = get($url);
open IMAGE,">$query-$time.jpg";
print IMAGE $image;
close IMAGE;


# Set the image as the current
# desktop background


RunAppleScript(qq(
tell application "Finder"
set desktop picture to document file "$query-$time.jpg"
end tell));




This code creates a unique image file each time the script is run, using
the time the file was downloaded as part of the title. The last four lines
of the script are where the AppleScript runs, via the RunAppleScript
function, setting the desktop background to the newly downloaded file.


If you know the specific size of an image you'd like to download, you can
modify the script to look for that size. For example, if your desktop size
is set to 1024 x 768, a smaller image that's stretched might not look as
good as an image that is 1024 x 768 without resizing.


To find only images that are a certain size you can use the height: and
width: meta keywords when you construct the Yahoo! URL. If you only want
images that are 1024 pixels wide, change the line in the script where you
set the query, like so:


$req_url .= "&query=$query width:1024";




With the width set appropriately, you'll be sure to get only images that
fit the width of your desktop.


5.9.2. Running the Hack


You can run the script from the command line, adding a desktop theme, like
this:


perl ybackground.pl insert theme




Running the script with the lightning search term sets your background to
something that looks like Figure 5-17.




Figure 5-17. A random Mac desktop background via Yahoo!





While the idea of leaving your desktop background to chance might seem
frightening, you might be surprised at the quality of some of the images
Yahoo! has found across the Web.
















Hack 85. Mash Up Images from Around the Web





The Yahoo! Image API provides access to thousands of images across the
Web, and developers are recombining these images into new applications
that let you play along.


In the music world, a mash-up combines two or more existing songs into
something entirely new. A mash-up might have a song from the Beatles in
the background and vocals from Snoop Dogg in the foreground, while
blending in a Sesame Street song at the same time. The Yahoo! Image Search
web service offers programmatic access to thousands of images, and some
developers are using this service to create their own visual
mash-upscombining disparate images into games, interesting visualizations,
or random works of art. Here are a few interactive examples that will give
you a taste of what's being mashed together with the Yahoo! Image Search
API.


5.10.1. Yahoo! Buzz Demo


The Yahoo! Buzz Demo is an alternative way to read the news. When you
browse to http://buzz.progphp.com/, you'll find an oval-shaped collage
made up of over 100 different images, each representing a current top news
story. As you move your pointer over each image in the collage, the image
pops to the foreground so that you can see it clearly, and a summary of
the news story the image represents is displayed in the middle of the
page, as shown in Figure 5-18.


Clicking an image takes you directly to that image's original location on
the Web, and clicking the center news story takes you to the full story at
Yahoo! News. In addition to top stories, you can browse images based on
other news categories, or use your own term.


Rasmus Lerdorf, a Yahoo! employee, built the Yahoo! Buzz Demo to show
what's possible with the Yahoo! Image Search web service. The demo uses
PHP to pull in news stories from Yahoo! News RSS and the Yahoo! News API,
images from around the Web via the Yahoo! Image API, and some crafty CSS
to pull everything together. While it won't replace the front page of the
paper anytime soon, the Buzz Demo is a fun way to find stories. If you'd
like to take a look behind the scenes, you can view the complete source
code at http://buzz.progphp.com/buzz.phps.


5.10.2. Search Collage Generator


Siddharth Uppal put together around 100 lines of Perl that grabs up to 50
images for any given query and assembles them into a single collage. He
used the existing Yahoo::Search module (available at
http://search.cpan.org/~jfriedl/Yahoo-Search-1.4.7/lib/Yahoo/Search.pm) to
assemble Yahoo! Image




Figure 5-18. A visual look at top news stories





API requests and return the results as Perl-friendly objects. The script
then puts each image into a collage on a web page, resizing each image to
the same size within HTML tags.


You can download a copy of the script at
http://upster.blogspot.com/2005/03/yahoo-image-search-collage-generator.html
and run it from the command line like this:


perl yahoo_collage.pl --query insert query




The output is HTML, so you'll want to send this output to a new file. For
example, you can create a collage of portraits from around the Web by
calling the script like this:


perl yahoo_collage.pl --query portrait > portrait.html




After you run this script, portrait.html will show you a collage similar
to the one in Figure 5-19.


The script also provides the HTML necessary to share your collage with the
world. You can simply cut and paste the HTML in the at the <br /> bottom of the page and paste it into your weblog or web publishing tool to <br /> show off your creation.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 5-19. A collage generated with the query "portrait"<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> 5.10.3. Yahoo! Memory Game<br /><br /><br /> Remember those memory games you played as a kid, where you had to turn <br /> over cards of matching pictures? Swedish developer Nisse Bryngfors <br /> recreated the game with the Yahoo! Image API and Flash. When you browse to <br /> http://bryngfors.com/index.php?page_id=10, you'll find a blank game form <br /> titled "Dynamiskt memory spel," and a "Search images" field in which you <br /> can type a search term. Enter a term, click Go!, and the game will be <br /> populated with 28 silver tiles.<br /><br /><br /> Clicking a silver tile reveals an image that has been gathered via the <br /> Yahoo! Images API. Somewhere under another tile is the same image, and <br /> it's your mission to find all of the matches as quickly as possible. <br /> Figure 5-20 shows a game in progress using the term fire.<br /><br /><br /> If you'd like a shorter game, you can decrease the number of tiles. <br /> Sometimes, seeing what images the Yahoo! Image API returns is as <br /> entertaining as the game itself!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Hack 86. Illustrate Any Web Site<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> The yReplacer Yahoo! game replaces words on any web page with an image.<br /><br /><br /> Some books are better with pictures, and some web pages would be better <br /> with illustrations. You can't edit every text-heavy page on the Web <br /> yourself, but you can have some fun swapping words with images thanks to a <br /> clever script called yReplacer.<br /><br /><br /> With yReplacer, you can highlight any word on a web site and click a <br /> bookmarklet to swap that word with a matching image from Yahoo! Image <br /> Search. So the word Martians on a page could become a picture of the <br /> cartoon character Marvin the Martian, or the word planet could become a <br /> picture of Saturn.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 5-20. A Flash memory game using the query "fire"<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> This hack is composed of two parts: a server-side script that retrieves <br /> the search image from Yahoo! and displays it, and a bookmarklet that <br /> initiates the swap. You can install the bookmarklet from yReplacer's <br /> permanent home on the Web at http://www.kokogiak.com/yreplacer.html, or <br /> you can build this hack yourself with the following code.<br /><br /><br /> 5.11.1. The Code<br /><br /><br /> The first part of this hack is server-side retrieval of a random image, <br /> written here in VBScript for classic ASP. This script accepts an incoming <br /> word with the querystring variable q, sends a request to the Yahoo! Image <br /> API, and selects a random result from the response. The script then uses <br /> the random image to write some HTML to display the image, which will end <br /> up in an HTML <iframe> element inside the page the script is called from.<br /><br /><br /> Save the following code to a file called yr.asp and be sure to create and <br /> use a unique application ID for the script:<br /><br /><br /> <html><br /> <head><br /> <style type="text/css"><br /> body{background-color:#fff;color:#000;margin:0px;padding:0px;border: <br /> 0px;} <br /> </style> <br /> </head><br /><br /><br /> <body scroll="no"><br /> <%<br /> On Error Resume Next<br /> Response.Buffer = True<br /><br /><br /> '' Expecting a search term to be in the querystring "q"<br /> szQ = Request("q")<br /> If (szQ <> "") Then<br /> Dim objXML, xml <br /> set xml = Server.CreateObject("MSXML2.ServerXMLHTTP.3.0")<br /><br /><br /> szGetString = ("http://api.search.yahoo.com/" &_<br /> "ImageSearchService/V1/imageSearch" &_ <br /> "?appid=[YOUR_APPLICATION_ID]&results=10&query=" & szQ)<br /><br /><br /> xml.Open "GET", szGetString, False<br /> xml.Send<br /> set objXML = xml.responseXML<br /><br /><br /> If (objXML.getElementsByTagName("Result").length>0) Then<br /><br /><br /> '' Fetch a random image within the set returned <br /> Randomize <br /> ano = Int(((objXML.getElementsByTagName("Result").length-1) * Rnd))<br /><br /><br /> Set oGb = objXML.getElementsByTagName("Result")(ano) <br /> Set oTn = oGb.getElementsByTagName("Thumbnail")(0)<br /><br /><br /> Response.write("<a target='_top' href='") <br /> Response.write(oGb.getElementsByTagName("RefererUrl")(0).text) <br /> Response.write("'><img title='" & szQ & "' alt='" & szQ & "' ") <br /> Response.write("src='" & oTn.getElementsByTagName("Url")(0).text & <br /><br /> "'")<br /> Response.write(" style='border:0px;'/></a>")<br /> End if <br /> Set oGb = Nothing<br /> Set oTn = Nothing<br /> set xml = Nothing<br /> set objXML = Nothing<br /><br /><br /> End if %><br /> </body><br /> </html><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Upload yr.asp to a publicly available web server and you're halfway there!<br /><br /><br /> Now we need to call the ASP page in-context so that it will swap an image <br /> for selected text. To do this, we'll use JavaScript embedded in a <br /> bookmarkalso known as a bookmarklet or favelet. This JavaScript is <br /> designed to function in either IE4+ or Mozilla/Firefox.<br /><br /><br /> Here's the yReplacer JavaScript bookmarklet code, expanded for easy <br /> reading. Note that you'll need to include the location of yr.asp in the <br /> code:<br /><br /><br /> function p(){<br /> u='http://example.com/yr.asp?q=';<br /> if(document.all){<br /> //IE version<br /> r=document.selection.createRange();<br /> r.pasteHTML('<iframe scrolling=no style=\'width:75;height:75;border<br /><br /><br /><br /> :0;\' src=\''+u+r.text+'\'/>')<br /> }else{ <br /> //Mozilla/Firefox version <br /> var g=window.getSelection(); <br /> r=g.getRangeAt(0); f=document.createElement('IFRAME'); <br /> f.setAttribute('scrolling','no'); <br /> f.setAttribute('style','width:75;height:75;border:0'); <br /> f.setAttribute('src',u+g); <br /> r.deleteContents(); <br /> r.insertNode(f)<br /> }<br /> }<br /> p();<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> This JavaScript inserts an HTML <iframe> in place of the currently <br /> selected word and uses yr.asp with that word as the source for the frame.<br /><br /><br /> 5.11.2. Running the Hack<br /><br /><br /> With yr.asp on a publicly available server and the JavaScript code ready <br /> to go, the last step is formatting the JavaScript for a bookmarklet. <br /> Here's the same yReplacer bookmarklet JavaScript code in the single-line <br /> format necessary for bookmarklets:<br /><br /><br /> JavaScript:function p(){u='http://example.com/yr.asp?q=';if(document.<br /><br /><br /><br /> all){r=document.selection.createRange();r.pasteHTML('<iframe scrolling=no<br /><br /><br /><br /> style=\'width:75;height:75;border:0;\' src=\''+u+r.text+'\'/>')}else{var<br /><br /><br /><br /> g=window.getSelection();r=g.getRangeAt(0);f=document.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> createElement('IFRAME');f.setAttribute('scrolling','no');f.<br /><br /><br /><br /> setAttribute('style','width:75;height:75;border:0');f.<br /><br /><br /><br /> setAttribute('src',u+g);r.deleteContents();r.insertNode(f)}}p()<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Add the code to an existing bookmark or favorite by pasting the code into <br /> the location property of the bookmark. Give the bookmarklet a name, such <br /> as yReplacer, and you'll be ready to illustrate the Web. For example, H. <br /> G. Wells's War of the Worlds is filled with wonderful imagery, but not <br /> wonderful images. Figure 5-21 shows the text of the book, which is freely <br /> available online.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 5-21. A text-heavy web page with the yReplacer bookmarklet ready <br /> for use<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> As you read, you can highlight a word, click the yReplacer bookmarklet, <br /> and have a new, illustrated War of the Worlds, as shown in Figure 5-22.<br /><br /><br /> Replacing words with random Yahoo! Image Search results won't yield a new <br /> masterpiece, but the results can be surprisingly accurate and humorous.<br /><br /><br /> Alan Taylor<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Hack 87. Add Links to a Block of Text Automatically<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Auto-Linker uses the Yahoo! API to add relevant links to keywords in any <br /> text.<br /><br /><br /> Isn't the task of inserting links into web pages mundane? The Yahoo! <br /> Auto-Linker solves this problem by automatically substituting keywords in <br /> anytext with hyperlinks to top Yahoo! searches for that keyword. The <br /> result of this hack can be useful and inspiring, bizarre, or just plain <br /> amusing. The Auto-Linker accepts a bit of text via a web page form like <br /> the one shown in Figure 5-23 and returns the same block of text with <br /> hyperlinks inserted.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 5-22. The same web page, now illustrated with yReplacer<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 5-23. The Auto-Linker text-entry form<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> At http://blog.outer-court.com/yahoo/autolinker.php5, you can play with a <br /> working version of Auto-Linker and see how it works in detail. Once you're <br /> comfortable with it, you can build your own version with the code in this <br /> hack.<br /><br /><br /> The Auto-Linker makes use of two Yahoo API services when it auto-links a <br /> given text. First, it finds the significant phrases within the text using <br /> Yahoo's Term Extraction <br /> (http://developer.yahoo.net/content/V1/termExtraction.html).<br /><br /><br /> Second, it uses the Yahoo! Web Search <br /> (http://developer.yahoo.net/web/V1/webSearch.html) to find the top web <br /> page for this phrase. All that's left to do is add the corresponding HTML <br /> link to each occurrence of the phrase within the text.<br /><br /><br /> 5.12.1. The Code<br /><br /><br /> The code for Auto- Links is PHP5, so save the following code to a file <br /> called autolinker.php5:<br /><br /><br /> <html><br /> <body><br /> <?php<br /> $text = ( isset($_POST['text']) ) ? $_POST['text'] : '';<br /> $rel = ( isset($_POST['rel']) ) ? $_POST['rel'] : '';<br /> $engine = ( isset($_POST['engine']) ) ? $_POST['engine'] : '';<br /> $text = stripslashes($text);<br /><br /><br /> $maxLength = 2000;<br /> if ( strlen($text) >= $maxLength ) {<br /> $text = substr($text, 0, $maxLength - 1) . '…';<br /> }<br /><br /><br /> echo '<h1> Auto-Linker</h1>';<br /><br /><br /> if ($text == '')<br /> {<br /> ?><br /> <p>This tool uses the Yahoo API to link significant words and phrases from <br /> a<br /> text you provide.</p><br /><br /><br /> <form action="autolinker.php5" method="post"><div><br /> <textarea style="font-size: 90%" name="text"<br /> cols="58" rows="8">



Relation:

[Default]
Nofollow



  Search Engine:

Yahoo
Google

}




This code makes sure that if the text parameter has not been submitted,
the script presents a to be filled out. The user can also <br /> choose between links returned from Yahoo! or a Google web search.<br /><br /><br /> Once the text is submitted to the script, the actual auto-linking takes <br /> place. Here is the else clause that triggers auto-linking:<br /><br /><br /> else<br /> {<br /> $sLinked = autoLink($text, $rel, $engine);<br /> echo '<p style="font-size: 105%;">' .<br /> $sLinked . '</p>'; <br /> showCopyable($sLinked); <br /> echo '<p><a href="autolinker.php5">[ Auto-Linker Home]</a></p>';<br /> }<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> The showCopyable function just inserts a <textarea> where the user can <br /> copy the HTML source of the auto-linked result. The auto-linking core is <br /> in the autoLink function:<br /><br /><br /> function autoLink($s, $rel, $engine)<br /> {<br /> $s = strip_tags($s);<br /> $sRel = ($rel != '') ? ' rel="' . $rel . '"' : '';<br /><br /><br /> $url = 'http://api.search.yahoo.com/ContentAnalysisService/' . <br /> 'V1/termExtraction.xsd?appid=insert App ID&' . <br /> 'context=' . urlencode($s); //*See footnote<br /><br /><br /> $dom = new domdocument;<br /> $dom->load($url);<br /> $xpath = new domxpath($dom);<br /> $xNodes = $xpath->query('//Result');<br /><br /><br /> $counter = 0;<br /> $maxLinks = 10;<br /> foreach ($xNodes as $xNode)<br /> {<br /><br /><br /> if (++$counter > $maxLinks) { break; }<br /> $phrase = $xNode->firstChild->data;<br /><br /><br /> $phraseUrl = '';<br /><br /><br /> if ($engine == 'google') {<br /> $phraseUrl = getTopLinkGoogle($phrase);<br /> }<br /> else {<br /> $phraseUrl = getTopLinkYahoo($phrase);<br /> }<br /><br /><br /> if ($phraseUrl != '') <br /> }<br /> $s = preg_replace('@( ' . $phrase . ')@ei', <br /> '\' <a href="' . $phraseUrl . <br /> '">\' . trim(\'$1\') . \'</a>\'', <br /> $s, 4);<br /> }<br /> }<br /> $s = str_replace("\r\n", '<br />', $s);<br /><br /><br /> return $s; <br /> }<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> The autoLink function takes the parameters s (the whole text), rel (the <br /> link relation, either default or nofollow), and engine (the search engine, <br /> either yahoo or google). Then the function requests the list of <br /> significant phrases from the Yahoo! API. Yahoo! recommends using a POST <br /> request for longer text, but a GET request, as used here, also works. <br /> Yahoo!'s returned XML looks like this, with all lowercase values:<br /><br /><br /> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><br /> <ResultSet…><br /> <Result>superman</Result><br /> <Result>clark kent</Result><br /> <Result>super powers</Result><br /> </ResultSet><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> The script applies an XPath expression to this XML to iterate through all <br /> Result elements to get their values. The preg_replace function searches <br /> for the phrase (in this example, blank before the phrase is to catch words <br /> only, and we make sure the replace is case-insensitive).<br /><br /><br /> The link will be taken from either Yahoo! or Google, using these two <br /> functions:<br /><br /><br /> // We grab results from Yahoo's "REST" API again<br /> // using PHP5's nice native XML functionality.<br /><br /><br /> function getTopLinkYahoo($q)<br /> {<br /><br /><br /> $url = 'http://api.search.yahoo.com/WebSearchService/' . <br /> 'V1/webSearch?appid=insert app ID&max=1&q=' . <br /> urlencode($q); //*See footnote<br /> $dom = new domdocument;<br /> $dom->load($url);<br /> $xpath = new domxpath($dom);<br /> $topUrl = $xpath->query('//Url')->item(0)->firstChild->data;<br /><br /><br /> return $topUrl;<br /> }<br /><br /><br /> // A tiny screen-scraping function avoids the overhead<br /> // of Google's SOAP API; this code will need<br /> // adjustments whenever Google drastically changes their<br /> // result-page HTML.<br /><br /><br /> function getTopLinkGoogle($q)<br /> {<br /><br /><br /> error_reporting(E_ERROR | E_PARSE);<br /> $dom = new domdocument;<br /> $dom->loadHTMLFile('http://www.google.com/search?' .<br /> 'hl=en&q=' . urlencode($q) . '&num=1');<br /> $xpath = new domxpath($dom);<br /> $s = $xpath->query(<br /> "//p[@class='g']/a[@href]")->item(0)->getAttribute('href'); <br /> if ( ! ( strpos($s, 'spell=1') === false ) && <br /> ! ( strpos($s, '/search?') === false ) )<br /> { <br /> $s = $xpath->query( <br /> "//p/a[@href]")->item(1)->getAttribute('href'); <br /> }<br /><br /><br /> return $s;<br /> }<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> 5.12.2. Running the Hack<br /><br /><br /> To run the code, upload autolinker.php5 to a web server and point your <br /> browser there. Add some text to the form and you should get a response <br /> similar to the one shown in Figure 5-24.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 5-24. Some auto-linked text<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Now that all pieces of the hack are in place, nothing stops you from <br /> quickly spicing up any text with relevant hyperlinks!<br /><br /><br /> Philipp Lenssen<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Hack 88. Visualize News Topics as Tags<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Two services, Yahoo! News Tag Soup and TagCloud, use the Yahoo! Contextual <br /> Web Search API to help you visualize which topics are mentioned the most <br /> across Yahoo! News and your favorite sites.<br /><br /><br /> As you consume the news each day, you get a general sense of what the big <br /> stories are. If CNN is leading the hour with news about the Supreme Court, <br /> you open the newspaper to find a story about the Supreme Court on the <br /> front page, and then you spot a Supreme Court story at the top of Yahoo! <br /> News, you can bet the Supreme Court is the hot topic. But this general way <br /> of identifying a hot topic isn't as precise as actually analyzing the <br /> content itself to quantify which keywords are mentioned most often <br /> throughout a day.<br /><br /><br /> With digital information, it's possible to track exactly which words are <br /> used more frequently than others. And there are a number of ways you can <br /> categorize information to make that tracking easier. One system of <br /> categorization is called tagging, in which people add keywords to an <br /> article, photo, or web site in order to organize that bit of information. <br /> Each keyword is referred to as a tag, and lots of fun can be had analyzing <br /> the tags.<br /><br /><br /> A popular way to visualize tag usage is in the form of a tag map that <br /> displays more popular tags in a larger font. So popular tags appear large, <br /> and less-popular tags appear small. With one glance at a tag map, you can <br /> see which topics are hot.<br /><br /><br /> Now, imagine you have a source of information, but no people to tag it for <br /> you. That's where the Yahoo! Contextual Web Service can help. This service <br /> lets you send an arbitrary amount of text, and it will automatically <br /> extract keywords from that text. The service ignores common words such as <br /> a, and, or the and returns the more unique words from a text. For example, <br /> the Yahoo! Contextual Web Service analysis of the text of this hack <br /> returned phrases such as supreme court, hot topic, and search api.<br /><br /><br /> By automatically extracting keywords from text, you can create <br /> computer-generated tags and perform similar sorts of analysis on those <br /> tags.<br /><br /><br /> 5.13.1. Yahoo! News Tag Soup<br /><br /><br /> Seeing a more precise picture of news keywords was the motivation behind a <br /> service by John Herren called Yahoo! News Tag Soup <br /> (http://yahoo.theherrens.com/). By sending stories from Yahoo! News <br /> through the Yahoo! Contextual Web Service and storing the resulting <br /> keywords, you can visualize trends in the day's news as a tag map.<br /><br /><br /> Figure 5-25 shows the Yahoo! News Tag Soup for June 28, 2005.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 5-25. A tag map with topics culled from Yahoo! News stories<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> As you can see, the Supreme Court was in the news that day. When you click <br /> on the tags at Yahoo! News Tag Soup, the service provides a list of <br /> stories that contain that particular keyword, as shown in Figure 5-26.<br /><br /><br /> Yahoo! News organizes stories by importance, or into broad categories such <br /> as politics, business, or technology. Yahoo! News Tag Soup is a completely <br /> new way to browse news stories, made possible thanks to Yahoo!'s open <br /> technology.<br /><br /><br /> Not content to focus solely on Yahoo! News, the creator of Tag Soup helped <br /> build a way for you to assemble your own personal news visualizations from <br /> any source.<br /><br /><br /> 5.13.2. Your Personal Tag Cloud<br /><br /><br /> John Herren's company IonZoft, Inc., took the idea behind Yahoo! News Tag <br /> Soup and made it accessible to others. The application is called TagCloud <br /> (http://www.tagcloud.com/) and it's a free service. To get started, browse <br /> to the TagCloud web site and create an account.<br /><br /><br /> Once you're logged in, you can create a personalized cloud. The Cloud Name <br /> must be unique across the system, so you might need to choose something <br /> unusual. For instance, the cloud name oregon is probably taken by someone <br /> else already, but oregon2112 is probably available. Use the Description to <br /> identify what types of news sources you're going to analyze with your <br /> cloud. Click Create Cloud and you'll have an empty space you can start <br /> filling up with personal news and information.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 5-26. A list of Yahoo! News stories by tag<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> TagCloud relies on RSS feeds as input, and you can add individual feeds <br /> one at a time by clicking the Feeds tab and entering the URL. If you <br /> already have a list of feeds you read at a service such as Bloglines <br /> (http://www.bloglines.com/), you can import several at once by clicking <br /> the Import OPML tab and specifying an OPML file that contains a list of <br /> your feeds.<br /><br /><br /> Once you have a few feeds included in your cloud, click the View tab at <br /> the top of the page. You should see a list of tags that have been <br /> extracted from your feeds, with each tag a different size based on its <br /> frequency, as shown in Figure 5-27.<br /><br /><br /> Click on any tag to see a list of matching stories and posts across your <br /> feeds. This is a useful way to visualize what topics are hot on a specific <br /> group of sites. You can also publish your TagCloud to your web site, so <br /> you can share your slice of the news with others.<br /><br /><br /> Click Implementation Guide at the top of any TagCloud page and you'll see <br /> how easy it is to add a TagCloud to a remote site. You simply need to copy <br /> two lines of JavaScript and paste them into your site. The TagCloud <br /> service does the rest. Figure 5-28 shows a personal TagCloud included as a <br /> sidebar on a weblog.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 5-27. A personal TagCloud<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> As readers click on a tag, they'll find a list of posts and stories from <br /> your selected feeds that have that keyword.<br /><br /><br /> Listing your personal TagCloud on your weblog, or reviewing it privately <br /> for fun, is a great way to keep a visual handle on the day's news.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Hack 89. Get Related Terms Instantly with Ajax<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Pull Yahoo! related search suggestions into a web page without clicking a <br /> link, a form button, or the Refresh button.<br /><br /><br /> Though widely used, JavaScript has never been considered an indispensable <br /> development language. That perception is changing, though, thanks to <br /> improvements in web browsers. Now that most widely used web browsers <br /> support a standard form of JavaScript, developers can spend their time <br /> writing code rather than tweaking the code they've already written. Since <br /> a single block of code can work across different browsers, JavaScript is <br /> back in the spotlight.<br /><br /><br /> JavaScript's most impressive use is in combination with XML-based <br /> services, such as Yahoo! Web Services. Because JavaScript can make <br /> requests from the user's machine and doesn't require a page refresh, <br /> information can be updated almost instantly without the user clicking a <br /> link, clicking a form button, or reloading the page. This makes very <br /> interactive, dynamic pages possible. The name for this type of JavaScript <br /> is Asynchronous JavaScript + XML, or Ajax for short.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 5-28. A personal TagCloud on a weblog<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> This hack is a simple Ajax application that uses Yahoo! Web Services as a <br /> data source. As you type in standard HTML text input, JavaScript is in <br /> constant communication with the Yahoo! API. With every letter added, the <br /> script checks to see if Yahoo! has related search suggestions for the <br /> current search term. Related search suggestions are simply phrases that <br /> are related to any query, and they're displayed below the text input as <br /> you type. This way, if you're typing activeX control into the form, you <br /> can see suggested alternate terms like active volcanoes and free activeX <br /> along the way.<br /><br /><br /> 5.14.1. The Code<br /><br /><br /> This script relies on the XML HTTP object to send and receive responses <br /> from a server, and to parse those responses into objects that JavaScript <br /> can manipulate. When the page loads, an XML HTTP object is created. The <br /> user-input text field has an onkeyup event, so that when the user's input <br /> has a keystroke, the getAlts( ) function contacts the Yahoo! Search Web <br /> Services, looking for related search terms. If there are no related terms, <br /> nothing happens. If related terms are found, the printResponse( ) function <br /> formats the related search terms as HTML and prints them to the page with <br /> the innerHTML property of a <div> tag below the form.<br /><br /><br /> This code is a standard HTML file, and it doesn't need to reside on a web <br /> server. Simply open a text editor, such as Notepad, add the following <br /> code, and name the file relatedterms.html:<br /><br /><br /> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"><br /><br /><br /> <html><br /> <head><br /> <title>Related Terms</title><br /> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript"><br /> // netscape.security.PrivilegeManager.<br /><br /><br /><br /> enablePrivilege("UniversalBrowserAccess");<br /> var xmlhttp=false;<br /> /*@cc_on @*/<br /> /*@if (@_jscript_version >= 5)<br /> // Verify that the browser can load the xmlHttp object.<br /> try {<br /> xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");<br /> } catch (e) {<br /> try {<br /> xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");<br /> } catch (E) {<br /> xmlhttp = false;<br /> }<br /> }<br /> @end @*/<br /> if (!xmlhttp && typeof XMLHttpRequest!='undefined') {<br /> xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();<br /> }<br /><br /><br /> // Accepts a related term, and makes it a Yahoo! link <br /> function getLink(r) { <br /> var o = "<a href=\"http://search.yahoo.com/search?p="<br /> o = o + escape(r) + "\">" + r + "</a>";<br /> return o;<br /> }<br /><br /><br /> // Accepts the Yahoo! Search Web Services response, and<br /> // prints to the page as HTML<br /> function printResponse(xml) {<br /> // netscape.security.PrivilegeManager.<br /><br /><br /><br /> enablePrivilege("UniversalXPConnect");<br /> var results = xml.getElementsByTagName("Result");<br /> var numOfResults = results.length;<br /> if (numOfResults > 0) {<br /> var out = ""; <br /> for (var i=0;i<numOfResults;i++) { <br /> out = out + "<li>" + getLink(results[i].firstChild.nodeValue) + <br /><br /><br /><br /> "</li>";<br /> }<br /> var s = document.getElementById('suggest');<br /> s.innerHTML = "You might also try:<ul>" + out + "</ul>";<br /> }<br /> }<br /><br /><br /> // Accepts a full or partial search term, and looks for <br /> // related terms with a Yahoo! Search Web Services request <br /> function getAlts(t) {<br /> var yurl = "http://api.search.yahoo.com/WebSearchService/V1/" <br /> yurl = yurl + "relatedSuggestion?appid=YahooDemo&query=" + <br /><br /><br /><br /> escape(t); <br /> // netscape.security.PrivilegeManager.<br /><br /><br /><br /> enablePrivilege("UniversalXPConnect"); <br /> try {<br /> xmlhttp.open("GET", yurl, true);<br /> }<br /> catch (E) {<br /> alert(E);<br /> } <br /> xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = function() { <br /> if (xmlhttp.readyState==4) { <br /> printResponse(xmlhttp.responseXML);<br /> }<br /> }<br /> xmlhttp.send(null)<br /> }<br /> </script><br /> </head><br /><br /><br /> <body><br /> <h2>Yahoo! Related Terms</h2><br /> <form><br /> <input name="txt" type="text" value="" onkeyup="getAlts(this.value)" /><br /> </form> <br /> <div name="suggest" id="suggest"></div> <br /> </body> <br /> </html><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> As you can see, the HTML for this page is straightforward, and the work is <br /> done in the JavaScript section in the <head> of the page. Be sure to <br /> request a unique application ID for the script and use it in the code.<br /><br /><br /> 5.14.2. Running the Hack<br /><br /><br /> To avoid potential problems with cross-site scripting exploits, by default <br /> browsers do not allow JavaScript to call pages from other domains. And <br /> because Yahoo! Search Web Services are at another domain, this script will <br /> require some browser tweaks to run. If you were to implement this script <br /> on a web site, you'd need to set this up in a different way. But this <br /> example is intended to show what's possible with Ajax, rather than the <br /> perfect way to deploy an Ajax application to other users.<br /><br /><br /> When you open this page in Internet Explorer, you'll probably see a yellow <br /> security warning like the one shown below the Address bar in Figure 5-29.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 5-29. Internet Explorer security warning<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Click the yellow banner, and choose Allow Blocked Content…to let the <br /> script contact Yahoo!.<br /><br /><br /> For Firefox, you'll need to uncomment the following text by removing the <br /> double slashes at the beginning of its line in relatedterms.html:<br /><br /><br /> netscape.security.PrivilegeManager.enablePrivilege("UniversalXPConnect");<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> This will allow the browser to contact a remote domain, and the first time <br /> it tries to run, you'll see a request to allow the privilege change, as <br /> shown in Figure 5-30.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 5-30. Firefox security request<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Check the "Remember this decision" box and then click the Allow button. If <br /> you ever spot this dialog while browsing a file that you didn't write, <br /> you'll want to click Deny instead. But because you're in control of the <br /> information being passed around, you can be sure you're not doing anything <br /> malicious.<br /><br /><br /> With the security settings behind you, you can start playing with the <br /> script. As you type, the JavaScript contacts Yahoo! for suggestions. Try <br /> searching for the tech term activeX Component, and you'll see different <br /> suggestions appear along the way. After you type the first six letters <br /> (active), several suggestions appear below the form, as shown in Figure <br /> 5-31.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 5-31. Yahoo! related terms for "active"<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Keep typing, and new suggestions appear as you type the X, as shown in <br /> Figure 5-32.<br /><br /><br /> Click any of the suggestions to view the search results for that phrase at <br /> Yahoo!. The complete phrase activeX Control will yield even more <br /> suggestions.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Hack 90. Compare the Popularity of Related Search Terms<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> By gluing together two different kinds of Yahoo! Web Services requests, <br /> you can find the most widely used alternate search requests for any given <br /> topic.<br /><br /><br /> Though the Yahoo! Search engine is something each of us use in isolation, <br /> from Yahoo!'s perspective searching is a group activity. They have the <br /> ability to analyze each individual query and group it together with other, <br /> similar queries. When you do a web search on Yahoo!, you can get a glimpse <br /> of these similar phrases. Figure 5-33 highlights the list of "Also try:" <br /> phrases for a search on the term robot.<br /><br /><br /> Yahoo! has also exposed some of this group data in the Related Suggestions <br /> feature of Yahoo! Search Web Services.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 5-32. Yahoo! related terms for "activeX"<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 5-33. "Also try:" related suggestion on Yahoo! Search results<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Related Suggestions returns a list of alternate phrases for any given <br /> search term or phrase. For example, if I ask Yahoo! for related <br /> suggestions for the term robot, Yahoo! will return a long list of <br /> alternates, including industrial robots, toy robots, humanoid robots, <br /> building robots, and so on. This not only gives you a window to what other <br /> robot-minded Yahoo! users are searching for, but it can also help you <br /> refine your own query to find just the information you're looking for.<br /><br /><br /> Yahoo!'s API returns up to 50 related search terms, but some terms have <br /> just a few related examples. The robot example returns 50 related terms, <br /> but android returns only 14. Though the API returns the related terms, it <br /> doesn't tell you which of those terms is the most popular across the Web. <br /> However, a standard web search includes the totalResultsAvailable tag, <br /> which lets you know how many pages Yahoo! has indexed with the term. <br /> Gluing these two pieces together is a perfect job for Perl, and with a few <br /> dozen Yahoo! Search Web Services queries, you can put together a report <br /> about the popularity of related search terms.<br /><br /><br /> 5.15.1. The Code<br /><br /><br /> This hack relies on several nonstandard Perl modules that you might need <br /> to install before you can run the script. As with most examples in this <br /> book, LWP::Simple makes API requests and XML::Simple parses the response. <br /> In addition, URI::Escape is used to encode queries so they can be used in <br /> a URL, and Number::Format is used as a quick way to add commas to large <br /> numbers.<br /><br /><br /> Because this script makes trips to the Yahoo! server in different ways, <br /> the code for accessing Yahoo! has been encapsulated into the query_yahoo( <br /> ) function, which returns a parsed XML response based on the parameters <br /> sent to it.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> The function accepts a results value that tells Yahoo! how <br /> many search results to return. By changing this value, you can <br /> find more or fewer related search terms.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Save the following code to a file called pop_related.pl:<br /><br /><br /> #!/usr/bin/perl<br /> # pop_related.pl<br /> # Accepts a search term, finds related search terms, queries<br /> # Yahoo! to find the total results available for each, and<br /> # prints a report with the popularity of each related term.<br /> # Usage: pop_related.pl <query><br /> #<br /> # You can create an AppID, and read the full documentation<br /> # for Yahoo! Web Services at http://developer.yahoo.net/<br /><br /><br /> use strict;<br /> use LWP::Simple;<br /> use XML::Simple;<br /> use URI::Escape; <br /> use Number::Format;<br /><br /><br /> # Set your unique Yahoo! Application ID <br /> my $appID = "insert your app ID ";<br /><br /><br /> # Grab the incoming search query <br /> my $query = join(' ', @ARGV) or die "Usage: pop_related.pl <query>\n";<br /><br /><br /> # Initialize some variables <br /> my ($final_related, $final_total);<br /><br /><br /> # Define the file header <br /> format STDOUT_TOP= <br /> Related Search Terms<br /><br /><br /> query: @<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< <br /> $query<br /> ---------------------------------------------<br /> Related SearchTotal<br /> ---------------------------------------------<br /> .<br /><br /><br /> # Define the line-item details<br /> format STDOUT=<br /> @<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< @>>>>>>>><br /> $final_related, $final_total<br /> .<br /><br /><br /> # Make the API call with query_yahoo() function<br /> my $yahoo_xml = &query_yahoo($appID,"relatedSuggestion",25 ,$query);<br /><br /><br /> # Initialize results array<br /> my @popresults;<br /><br /><br /> # Loop through the items returned, printing them out<br /> foreach my $related (@{$yahoo_xml->{Result}}) { <br /> my $query = uri_escape($related); <br /> my $query = "\"$query\"";<br /><br /><br /> # Make the API call with query_yahoo() function <br /> my $yahoo_xml = &query_yahoo($appID,"webSearch",1 ,$query);<br /><br /><br /> # Grab Total Available Results for related term<br /> my $total = $yahoo_xml->{totalResultsAvailable};<br /><br /><br /> # Store in a hash, add to results array<br /> my $thisRelated = {<br /> related => $related,<br /> total => $total,<br /> }; <br /> push @popresults, $thisRelated; <br /> }<br /> # Sort the array,<br /> @popresults = sort({ $$b{total} <=> $$a{total} } @popresults);<br /><br /><br /> # And print the results<br /> for my $pop(@popresults) {<br /> $final_related = $$pop{related};<br /> $final_total = $$pop{total};<br /> my $x = new Number:: Format();<br /> $final_total = $x->format_number($final_total,2);<br /><br /><br /> write;<br /> }<br /><br /><br /> # This function assembles a Y!WS URL and retuns a parsed response<br /> sub query_yahoo () {<br /> my ($appID,$type,$results,$query) = @_;<br /><br /><br /> # Construct a Yahoo! Search Query with only required options<br /> my $req_url = "http://api.search.yahoo.com/";<br /> $req_url .= "WebSearchService/V1/$type?";<br /> $req_url .= "appid=$appID";<br /> $req_url .= "&query=$query";<br /> $req_url .= "&results=$results";<br /><br /><br /> # Make the request<br /> my $yahoo_response = get($req_url);<br /><br /><br /> # Parse the XML<br /> my $xmlsimple = XML::Simple->new();<br /> return $xmlsimple->XMLin($yahoo_response);<br /> }<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> The response is formatted with the built-in format method and its write <br /> command. The format is set for standard output on the command line, or <br /> STDOUT, but could easily be switched to a Perl filehandle if you'd rather <br /> print the results to a text file automatically.<br /><br /><br /> 5.15.2. Running the Hack<br /><br /><br /> To run the code, simply call it from a command line, adding the term you'd <br /> like to search for:<br /><br /><br /> perl pop_related.pl insert word <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> And if you want to pipe the results to a text file, you could call it like <br /> so:<br /><br /><br /> perl pop_related.pl insert word > insert text file <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 5-34 shows the results of the robot search, with the output sent to <br /> a file called pop_robot.txt, like this:<br /><br /><br /> perl pop_related.pl robot > pop_robot.txt<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 5-34. Popular related searches for the term "robot"<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Now that you know the popularity of giant robot trumps that of robot <br /> chicken, you can be sure to give the next robot you build an appropriate <br /> name!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Hack 91. Plot Multiple Points on Your Own Map<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Use the Yahoo! Maps Web Service to plot several locations on a map at <br />once.<br /><br /><br /> An online mapping service such as Yahoo! Maps (http://maps.yahoo.com/)is a <br /> vast improvement over the multifold paper maps that are stashed in your <br /> glove compartment. Enter your starting address and an end address at <br /> Yahoo! Maps, and you'll get a detailed map, along with directions that <br /> include every turn you need to make to reach your destination. Finding a <br /> single address on a map is easy, but plotting several unique points on an <br /> interactive map used to be a task that only map service providers could <br /> accomplish.<br /><br /><br /> Yahoo! has opened this ability to anyone with a bit of scripting <br /> knowledge, and you can plot dozens of points on a map instantly with the <br /> Yahoo! Maps Web Service (http://developer.yahoo.net/maps). The key to <br /> plotting several points is building a Yahoo! Maps Annotation file: an XML <br /> file with information about the points you want to plot on your map. If <br /> you're familiar with the syndication format RSS, you're most of the way <br /> there. The Yahoo! Maps Annotation file uses the RSS 2.0 format with some <br /> proprietary extensions that describe locations. This hack shows how to put <br /> together an RSS file that Yahoo! Maps will understand, and it explains how <br /> that file plots points on a Yahoo! Map.<br /><br /><br /> 5.16.1. Assembling Your Locations<br /><br /><br /> Imagine it's Saturday morning, and you've decided to spend the day going <br /> to garage sales in your area. You open the paper, find a list of garage <br /> sales in the classified ads, and want to choose the most efficient route <br /> for visiting the sales. Unless the paper provides a list of sales on a <br /> map, it's difficult to visualize where each address is located. This is <br /> where the Yahoo! Maps Web Service can help.<br /><br /><br /> To start building your map, you need to have your location data in a <br /> digital format. A spreadsheet works well for data entry, so open Excel and <br /> add the addresses you want to plot on a map. This hack expects the data in <br /> five columns, in this order: address, city, state, Zip Code, and notes <br /> about the address. Now you can copy the garage sale addresses from the <br /> paper and include notes about what you're most interested in at that <br /> particular sale. Figure 5-35 shows a sample spreadsheet in Excel.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 5-35. Excel spreadsheet with garage sale addresses<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Once you've added all the addresses you want to plot, save the file in the <br /> plain text comma-separated value (CSV) format and call the file <br /> garage_sales.csv. Now that your location data is in a digital format, you <br /> can easily convert the CSV file into the Yahoo! Maps Annotation format <br /> with some Perl.<br /><br /><br /> 5.16.2. The Code<br /><br /><br /> This script accepts a filename for a CSV file and uses the data in the <br /> file to create a geo-aware RSS 2.0 file. You won't need any extra modules, <br /> so you can simply save the following code to a file called <br /> csv_to_geoRSS.pl:<br /><br /><br /> #!/usr/bin/perl<br /> # csv_to_geoRSS.pl<br /> # Converts a CSV file with addresses to geo-aware RSS<br /> # Usage: csv_to_geoRSS.pl <CSV File><br /><br /><br /> use strict;<br /><br /><br /> # Open the incoming file<br /> open(CSV, "<@ARGV" ) or die "Can't open @ARGV : $!";<br /><br /><br /> # Change the .csv extension to .xml for RSS file<br /> my $RSSfile = $ARGV[0];<br /> $RSSfile =~ s!csv$!xml!;<br /><br /><br /> # Open the RSS file for writing<br /> open(RSS, ">$RSSfile") or die "Can't open file: $!";<br /><br /><br /> print RSS<<"HEADER_END";<br /> <?xml version="1.0"?><br /> <rss version="2.0" xmlns:geo="http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#"<br /> xmlns:ymaps="http://api. maps.yahoo.com/Maps/V1/AnnotatedMaps.xsd"> <br /> <channel> <br /> HEADER_END<br /><br /><br /> # Loop through the CSV file, adding items<br /> while(<CSV>) {<br /> chomp;<br /> my($address, $city, $state, $zip, $notes) = split(/,/, $_);<br /><br /><br /> print RSS<<"ITEM_END";<br /> <item><br /> <title>$address</title><br /> <link /><br /> <description>$notes</description><br /> <ymaps:Address>$address</ymaps:Address><br /> <ymaps:CityState>$city, $state</ymaps:CityState><br /> <ymaps:Zip>$zip</ymaps:Zip><br /> <ymaps:Country>us</ymaps:Country><br /> </item><br /> ITEM_END<br /> }<br /> # Finish the RSS<br /> print RSS "</channel>\n";<br /> print RSS "</rss>";<br /><br /><br /> # Close the files<br /> close CSV;<br /> close RSS;<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> As you look through the script, you can see that the RSS format contains <br /> the standard <title>, <link>, and <description> tags. It also has some <br /> Yahoo!-specific extension tags including <ymaps:Address>, <br /> <ymaps:CityState>, <ymaps:Zip>, and <ymaps:Country>. Because the garage <br /> sales in this example don't have titles or links, the address is used as a <br /> title and the link tags are blank in the final RSS file. You could easily <br /> add more columns to the spreadsheet to hold titles or links.<br /><br /><br /> Also keep in mind that if your source spreadsheet file data contains <br /> commas (in the address or note columns, for example), you may need to <br /> adjust the script to accommodate. Try saving the spreadsheet as a <br /> tab-delimited file and changing the line in the code that separates data <br /> by commas so that it instead separates data by tabs:<br /><br /><br /> my($address, $city, $state, $zip, $notes) = split(/\t/, $_);<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> This measure should help ensure your data lines up properly in the RSS <br /> file.<br /><br /><br /> 5.16.3. Running the Hack<br /><br /><br /> To create the RSS file, pass the name of your CSV file to the script, like <br /> so:<br /><br /><br /> perl csv_to_geoRSS.pl garage_sales.csv<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> The script will create a file called garage_sales.xml that contains the <br /> properly formatted RSS for plotting points on a Yahoo! Map. Upload the RSS <br /> file to a publicly available web server and note the URL. The RSS file <br /> needs to be available online so Yahoo! Maps can use the data.<br /><br /><br /> 5.16.4. Building the Map<br /><br /><br /> Once your RSS file is in place, building your map is simply a matter of <br /> constructing the proper Yahoo! Maps URL. You'll need a Yahoo! Application <br /> ID, which you can pick up at <br /> http://api.search.yahoo.com/webservices/register_application. With your <br /> Application ID and RSS URL, link to your custom map like this:<br /><br /><br /> http://api.maps.yahoo.com/Maps/V1/AnnotatedMaps?appid=insert App <br /><br /><br /><br /> ID&xmlsrc=insert RSS URL<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> For this example, the URL would be:<br /><br /><br /> http://api.maps.yahoo.com/Maps/V1/AnnotatedMaps?appid=insert App <br /><br /><br /><br /> ID&xmlsrc=http://example.com/garage_sales.xml<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> When you browse to the URL, Yahoo! fetches the RSS file and plots the <br /> addresses on a map, like the one shown in Figure 5-36.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 5-36. Yahoo! map with plotted addresses<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Hover over the points on the map to see details, including notes about <br /> each address. You can also click the Printable Version link at the top of <br /> the page to see a numbered map of the points and a list of the addresses <br /> below the mapperfect for taking with you to those garage sales. Beyond <br /> personal use, you now have a unique map you can share with others via <br /> email or on the Web.<br /><br /><br /> 5.16.5. Hacking the Hack<br /><br /><br /> This hack gives the most basic example of plotting several points on a <br /> map, and there are more ways to use the Yahoo! Maps service. If you have <br /> longitude and latitude data instead of addresses, you can use geoRSS 2.0<br /><br /><br /> (http://brainoff.com/worldkit/doc/rss.php) to plot points. geoRSS is a <br /> standard RSS file with extra <geo:lat> and <geo:long> tags or specially <br /> formatted text in the <description> tag to describe coordinates.<br /><br /><br /> If you want to change the look and feel of your map, you can add special <br /> tags that provide alternate icons for plotted points. You can also design <br /> your own pop up to describe items and give the pop-up URL in a <br /> <ymaps:ItemUrl> tag. You can read the complete Yahoo! Maps API <br /> documentation at http://developer.yahoo.net/maps.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Chapter 6. Webmastering<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> 6.1. Hacks 92100: Introduction<br /><br /><br /> According to Nielsen/Netratings (a company that tracks Internet usage), <br /> Yahoo! served results for 908 million searches in the month of May 2005. <br /> With millions of people relying on Yahoo! to point them to information <br /> across the Web, it makes sense that if you publish online you'll want to <br /> make sure your content is listed [Hack #92] at any appropriate Yahoo! <br /> site. And if you're publishing sensitive material, you might want the <br /> opposite [Hack #93].<br /><br /><br /> In addition to sending traffic to your site, Yahoo! has a number of tools <br /> you can use to augment your site. Letting your readers know when you're <br /> online [Hack #95], giving your readers contextual search [Hack #97], and <br /> publishing your photos [Hack #99] can add unique features to an existing <br /> web site. And, of course, the presence of RSS throughout Yahoo!'s sites <br /> means you can write your own code to syndicate data such as messages from <br /> a Yahoo! Group [Hack #100] to your own web site.<br /><br /><br /> Yahoo! offers more than just a bit of extra traffic to webmasters, and <br /> this chapter shows you how to take advantage of some of the services <br /> available.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Hack 92. Get Your Site Listed at Yahoo!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Put your site in front of Yahoo! searchers by suggesting it for inclusion.<br /><br /><br /> Millions of people use Yahoo! to find information, and having your site in <br /> Yahoo! Search or the Yahoo! Directory can mean more sales, more <br /> conversations with people you wouldn't have met otherwise, and more hits <br /> for your web site. However, letting Yahoo! know that your site exists can <br /> be a bit confusing. There's a distinction between Yahoo! Search <br /> (http://search.yahoo.com/) and the Yahoo! Directory <br /> (http://dir.yahoo.com/), and the process for submitting your site to each <br /> is a bit different.<br /><br /><br /> 6.2.1. Yahoo! Search<br /><br /><br /> If other sites on the Web link to your site, chances are good that Yahoo! <br /> has already added your site to its index. An index is simply another name <br /> for the total list of sites that Yahoo! is watching. Yahoo! Search relies <br /> on a crawler to find new sites and keep current sites up-to-date. If a <br /> site that's currently in Yahoo!'s index has linked to your site, the <br /> crawler has probably already visited your site and automatically added it <br /> to Yahoo!'s index.<br /><br /><br /> You can see if Yahoo! is already indexing your site by searching for it <br /> with the url: meta keyword [Hack #1]. Browse to http://search.yahoo.com/ <br /> and enter a query like this:<br /><br /><br /> url:http://insert your site<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> So a query to find the O'Reilly Hacks site looks like this:<br /><br /><br /> url:http://hacks.oreilly.com<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> It's important to include the full URL with the http:// prefix. Click <br /> Search; if a result is returned, it means that Yahoo! is already visiting <br /> your site periodically and you don't need to submit your URL. If you don't <br /> see a result, you can tell Yahoo! about your site for free.<br /><br /><br /> Browse to http://submit.search.yahoo.com/free/request and enter your <br /> site's primary page URL into the form. You'll need to have a Yahoo! ID <br /> [Hack #3] to submit your site, and you'll have to log in before submitting <br /> a site. Once Yahoo! has your URL on file, the Yahoo! crawler will visit <br /> your site within a few weeks and make your site available to searchers.<br /><br /><br /> If you operate a site for mobile devices, there's a separate form you can <br /> use to submit your site URL at <br /> http://search.yahoo.com/free/mobile/request. And if you run a site for <br /> kids, you can submit a site to Yahooligans! <br /> (http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/) at http://add.yahoo.com/fast/add?+Kids.<br /><br /><br /> 6.2.2. Yahoo! Directory<br /><br /><br /> While Yahoo! Search tries to include as many sites as possible in its <br /> index, the Yahoo! Directory is more like an exclusive club, where sites <br /> have to be approved by Yahoo! Editors. Because Yahoo! wants to maintain a <br /> highly useful directory, the steps for inclusion are a bit more involved.<br /><br /><br /> To see if your site is already listed in the Yahoo! Directory, browse to <br /> http://dir.yahoo.com/ and search for the title of your site. If you don't <br /> see your site among the results, you can suggest your site to the Yahoo! <br /> Directory.<br /><br /><br /> The first thing you need to determine about your site is whether it's <br /> commercial or noncommercial, because you'll need to pay $299 to submit a <br /> commercial site. According to Yahoo!, "If your site sells something, <br /> promote[s] goods and services, or represents a company that sells products <br /> and/or services," your site is commercial and should be listed somewhere <br /> in the Business and Economy category within the directory. If your site is <br /> purely personal, informational, or not-for-profit, your site is <br /> noncommercial. A banner ad or text ad on your site doesn't necessarily <br /> make your site commercial; if you have such an ad, it'll be up to the <br /> Yahoo! Editors to decide whether your site is commercial.<br /><br /><br /> 6.2.2.1. Adding a noncommercial site.<br /><br /><br /> The first step to adding a noncommercial site is to find the appropriate <br /> category for your site. If you know of some sites that are similar to <br /> yours, you might try searching for the titles of those sites within the <br /> directory to see how they're categorized. Otherwise, start browsing <br /> through the directory at http://dir.yahoo.com/ for the most appropriate <br /> place for your site. If your site is a personal home page, browse to <br /> "Society and Culture" People Personal Home Pages. If your site is a <br /> weblog, you'll want to browse to "Computers and Internet" Internet World <br /> Wide Web Weblogs.<br /><br /><br /> Once you've found the appropriate category, click the "Suggest a Site" <br /> link at the top of the page. Choose Standard Consideration and follow the <br /> instructions for adding a site. You'll have the option to include a site <br /> title, URL, geographic location, and description. If you have suggestions <br /> about other categories that your site might be appropriate for, you can <br /> include those suggestions in notes to Yahoo! Editors.<br /><br /><br /> Once you've made your submission, the waiting game begins. Yahoo! doesn't <br /> guarantee that all sites submitted will be reviewed, and many sites are <br /> not included in the directory. If your site doesn't show up in the <br /> directory within two or three weeks, you can resubmit your site using the <br /> same process. Multiple submissions in a short period of time could exclude <br /> your site from consideration altogether. To be guaranteed a response about <br /> your site's placement within the directory, you can submit your site as if <br /> it were a commercial site, paying the commercial fee.<br /><br /><br /> 6.2.2.2. Adding a commercial site.<br /><br /><br /> To add a site to the commercial side of the Yahoo! Directory, you'll need <br /> to use a service called Yahoo! Directory Submit. The service requires a <br /> nonrefundable fee of $299 to review a site, with an annual fee of $299 to <br /> maintain the listing. Adult sites must pay $600 for review and as an <br /> annual fee due to extra work involved with reviewing them. Keep in mind <br /> that the initial $299 fee will guarantee that a Yahoo! Editor will review <br /> your site, but paying the fee does not guarantee that your site will be <br /> included in the Yahoo! Directory.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> The Yahoo! Directory Submit terms of service state that <br /> "Yahoo! Directory does not accept listings for online gambling <br /> sites and prescription drug sites." If your site is related to <br /> either of these businesses, you might want to take a closer <br /> look at the submission terms, which are available at <br /> https://ecom.yahoo.com/dir/reference/submit.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Once you agree to the fees and terms, you'll need to include your site <br /> information, including title, URL, geographic location, description, and <br /> any additional information that might help Yahoo! Editors categorize your <br /> site. You can also provide a username and password for your site if your <br /> site requires membership.<br /><br /><br /> Once you have submitted your site, Yahoo! will respond within seven <br /> business days, letting you know whether your site will be listed in the <br /> directory. If your site is denied a listing, you can appeal the decision <br /> once within 30 days.<br /><br /><br /> 6.2.2.3. Updating your listing.<br /><br /><br /> As your site changes, chances are good that you'll need to update your <br /> Yahoo! Directory listing once in a while. You can suggest changes to your <br /> listing at http://add.yahoo.com/fast/change.<br /><br /><br /> 6.2.3. Yahoo! RSS<br /><br /><br /> Many sites offer RSS feeds of their content, and Yahoo! has some tools <br /> specifically for RSS publishers. A good place to start is the Yahoo! <br /> Publisher's Guide to RSS, available at <br /> http://publisher.yahoo.com/whatis.php and shown in Figure 6-1.<br /><br /><br /> The Publisher's Guide contains a wealth of information about RSS, tools <br /> for generating "Add to My Yahoo!" buttons, and a form for submitting your <br /> RSS feed for indexing by Yahoo!.<br /><br /><br /> As you update your RSS feed, you can notify My Yahoo! that you've done so <br /> by pinging the service at this URL:<br /><br /><br /> http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping?u=insert your feed's URL<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Doing this will ensure that your readers there will have your latest <br /> content as soon as that content is added.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 6-1. Yahoo! Publisher's Guide to RSS<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Hack 93. Hide Part of Your Web Site from Yahoo!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Though many sites do whatever they can to be found and ranked highly in <br /> Yahoo! Search results, there might be parts of your site that you want to <br /> keep private.<br /><br /><br /> The Web is considered a public place, used to share pages of information <br /> with anyone in the world who wants to view them. But, to a lesser degree, <br /> the Web is also used to share information with small groups, or even a <br /> single individual. Because Yahoo! indexes as much of the Web as it can, <br /> these semipublic spaces can also be included in Yahoo! Search results. <br /> With just a bit of work, you can tell Yahoo! exactly which pages are meant <br /> for public consumption and which pages shouldn't be included in Yahoo! <br /> Search results. In addition, some sections of sites might not be a good <br /> introduction to the site, and you might want to control where people <br />enter.<br /><br /><br /> Yahoo! scans the Web with a program called Slurp. Slurp is a bot (short <br /> for robot) that visits and indexes web pages, makes a copy of the page for <br /> Yahoo!, and follows any links in the page looking for more pages to index. <br /> In addition to standard web pages, Slurp copies other files it finds along <br /> the way, such as PowerPoint presentations, PDF files, Word documents, <br /> Excel spreadsheets, and XML data files. Because of Slurp's link-following <br /> nature, many people think that if a page or document isn't linked from a <br /> page on their site that Yahoo! won't find it and it'll be out of view. But <br /> Slurp doesn't follow links exclusively; Slurp also looks for common <br /> filenames. And if a particular file is linked from another site, Slurp <br /> might find it that way.<br /><br /><br /> 6.3.1. Server Authentication<br /><br /><br /> The best way to keep pages and files out of view of the general public is <br /> to place them behind server authentication. Server authentication is the <br /> web server's attempt to verify the identity of a particular user by <br /> requesting a username and password. The authentication is set at the <br /> server level.<br /><br /><br /> Slurp can't enter a username and password if it encounters a server <br /> authenticated page, so you can be sure that anything behind this wall will <br /> not be indexed. You can set authentication permissions on a directory or <br /> file, and it's fairly easy to set up with both Apache and Microsoft's <br /> Internet Information Server ( IIS).<br /><br /><br /> Imagine you have a directory on your server called /private and you'd like <br /> to keep any pages or files out of Yahoo! Search results. Apache includes <br /> many ways to set authentication, but a straightforward method involves <br /> setting a .htaccess file. The .htaccess file tells Apache how to configure <br /> a particular directory, and you can add a .htaccess file to the /private <br /> directory with the following information:<br /><br /><br /> AuthName "Please enter you login info."<br /> AuthType Basic<br /> AuthUserFile /your/path/to/. htpasswd<br /> AuthGroupFile /dev/null<br /> require user insert user name<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Note that AuthUserFile points to a file that contains the username and <br /> password of the authenticated user, and you'll need to change <br /> /your/path/to/ to a real directory on your server that's not accessible <br /> via the Web. The next step is to create that password file with the <br /> htpasswd tool. Enter the following command from a command prompt:<br /><br /><br /> htpasswd -c /your/path/to/.htpasswd insert user name <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> This creates the proper .htpasswd file for that user and puts in place all <br /> of the pieces for basic HTTP authentication.<br /><br /><br /> To get the same results on a Windows server running IIS, open the IIS <br /> manager and find the directory you'd like to protect. Right-click the <br /> directory and choose Properties Directory Security. Click Edit under <br /> "Anonymous Access and Authentication Control," and you'll see the window <br /> shown in Figure 6-2.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 6-2. Authentication Methods prompt in IIS<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Uncheck the "Anonymous access" box to require authentication. Check <br /> "Integrated Windows authentication" for a bit more security or "Basic <br /> authentication" for the most basic HTTP authentication. Once you set one <br /> of these, only authenticated users will be able to view the files or <br /> subdirectories of /private, and Slurp won't be allowed in.<br /><br /><br /> 6.3.2. robots.txt Exclusions<br /><br /><br /> If server authentication seems like overkill and you'd rather make your <br /> directory or files available to everyone except Slurp, you can do so with <br /> a robots.txt file, which indicates how you'd like robots to behave at your <br /> site. Well-behaved bots (such as Slurp) check for robots.txt before <br /> indexing anything, to make sure they're acting as the site owner wants <br /> them to.<br /><br /><br /> With robots.txt, you can tell Slurp that you'd like it to exclude certain <br /> directories or files from its crawl. For example, if you'd like Slurp to <br /> skip a directory called /private, save the following line to a file called <br /> robots.txt:<br /><br /><br /> User-agent: Slurp<br /> Disallow: /private/<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> You can also tell Slurp to skip specific files:<br /><br /><br /> User-agent: Slurp<br /> Disallow: /Private.doc<br /> Disallow: /Private.html<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Once you've listed all of the files and directories you'd like to hide, <br /> add robots.txt to the root directory of your web site, so it has a URL <br /> like this:<br /><br /><br /> http://example.com/robots.txt<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> If a human reads your robots.txt file, they'll see a list of <br /> the files and directories you've asked Yahoo! not to index. <br /> While robots.txt will keep some bots away, it won't keep <br /> people from viewing the files. Private files should always be <br /> placed behind server authentication where a password is <br /> required to access them.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> If you'd like to deny entry to all robots across all areas of you site, <br /> you can use a wildcard, like this:<br /><br /><br /> User-agent: *<br /> Disallow: /<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Keep in mind that only bots that adhere to the robots.txt standard will <br /> play by the rules. People are free to build bots any way they want, and <br /> some ignore robots.txt altogether. Luckily, Slurp will always play by the <br /> rules.<br /><br /><br /> 6.3.3. robots Meta Tags<br /><br /><br /> Another way to guide the Slurp bot on a page-by-page basis as it crawls <br /> your web site is through special HTML meta tags. Meta tags add extra <br /> information to a web page and are located toward the top of the page, <br /> between the <head></head> tags. To keep Slurp from indexing a particular <br /> page, add the following tag:<br /><br /><br /> <META NAME="robots" CONTENT="noindex"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> This will insure that the page will not show up in Yahoo! Search results. <br /> Many web crawlers look for this tag, and adding this robots tag will <br /> affect more than Yahoo! Other search engines, such as Google, will also <br /> skip the page.<br /><br /><br /> If you'd like search engines to index the page, but not keep a copy in <br /> their cache, you can use the following tag:<br /><br /><br /> <META NAME="robots" CONTENT="noarchive"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Using this tag will mean your page will show up in search results, but the <br /> search engine will not store a copy of the page that their users can view. <br /> Again, this will affect more than just Yahoo!, because many search engines <br /> also obey this tag.<br /><br /><br /> Now that you know how to speak Slurp's language, you can make sure that <br /> your private or semiprivate information doesn't turn up in Yahoo! Search <br /> results, and you can control what Yahoo! sees in the first place.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Hack 94. Search Your Web Site with Yahoo!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Offer your readers a way to search your sitewithout hiring a team of <br /> developers to build it.<br /><br /><br /> As a serious web addict, I'm frequently frustrated by sites that don't <br /> offer a way to search their content. Navigating through a maze of <br /> different sections, trying to find that one piece of information I'm after <br /> feels like a waste of time. Often I'm forced to leave the site, bring up <br /> Yahoo! Web Search, and use its site: meta keyword. The site: shortcut lets <br /> you specify that the search results should be limited to a single domain.<br /><br /><br /> For example, if you browse to mountaindew.com, you're immediately blasted <br /> with metal music and an extreme Flash animation showing various extreme <br /> sports. But all I'm after is the number of calories in a can of soda, and <br /> there's not a search form in sight. I could try clicking on a few of the <br /> menu items, but I'd probably find more images of skateboarding than useful <br /> information. So I surf over to Yahoo! and type:<br /><br /><br /> site:mountaindew.com calories<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> In a few seconds, I have a specific link deep within the mountaindew.com <br /> site that has the information I'm after, as shown in Figure 6-3.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 6-3. Search results for "calories" limited to mountaindew.com<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> PepsiCo, Inc. (the owners and operators of http://www.mountaindew.com/) <br /> probably has the budget and team of developers to build its own search <br /> engine for the site if it wanted to. But many individuals and small <br /> businesses don't have that luxury. Since Yahoo! is probably already <br /> indexing any pages you have on the Web, you could easily give your readers <br /> a shortcut to searching your site with a custom Yahoo! search form.<br /><br /><br /> 6.4.1. The Code<br /><br /><br /> In addition to the site: meta keyword, some tweaks to a standard Yahoo! <br /> Web Search URL will also limit results to a single domain. Here's a search <br /> URL that will return the same results as the previous example:<br /><br /><br /> http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=calories&vs=mountaindew.com<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> As you can see, the p querystring variable holds the search query and the <br /> vs variable indicates the domain to limit the search results to. Armed <br /> with this information, here's a bit of HTML that will build the proper <br />URL:<br /><br /><br /> <form action="http://search.yahoo.com/search"><br /> <input type="text" name="p" size="34" /><br /> <input type="submit" value="Search" /><br /> <div><br /> <input type="radio" name="vs" value="" id="websearch" /><br /> <label for="websearch">Search the web</label><br /> <input type="radio" name="vs" id="sitesearch"<br /> value="insert your domain" checked="checked" /><br /> <label for="sitesearch">Search this site</label><br /> </div><br /> </form><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> 6.4.2. Running the Hack<br /><br /><br /> All you need to do to customize the code is insert your domain name in the <br /> second radio input tag. You can add this HTML to any existing web page to <br /> provide your readers with a way to search your site. In a browser, the <br /> result looks like Figure 6-4.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 6-4. Custom Yahoo! search form<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> The "Search this site" option will be selected by default, but users could <br /> also search the entire Web from the form. While this won't make your site <br /> as extreme as http://www.mountaindew.com/, at least your visitors will be <br /> able to find exactly what they're after.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Hack 95. Add Presence to Your Web Site<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Let your visitors know when you're online by connecting your site to <br /> Yahoo! Messenger.<br /><br /><br /> The Web is great for asynchronous communication. That is, I can post <br /> something to my web site at 4:00 a.m., and you can read what I've written <br /> at any point after that. We don't need to be sitting at our computers at <br /> the same time to share information. However, if both of us want to have a <br /> realtime text conversationsimilar to a telephone coversation, but typed <br /> rather than spokenthe Web doesn't work nearly as well, and that's where <br /> instant messaging can help.<br /><br /><br /> Yahoo! Instant Messenger is a program that lets you communicate with other <br /> people in real time. If you and a friend both have Yahoo! Instant <br /> Messenger and you're both at your respective computers at the same time, <br /> you can send messages back and forth instantly. The program lets you set a <br /> status that lets others know whether you're currently available. This <br /> status, or presence, is available only to people who have you on their <br /> Yahoo! Instant Messenger friends list and who have the program open. But <br /> with some simple HTML, you can make your presence known to anyone browsing <br /> your web site.<br /><br /><br /> Yahoo! has opened a back door to the current online status of Yahoo! <br /> members, called the Online Presence Indicator. Thanks to a predictable <br /> image URL, you can display a graphic on your web site that tells people <br /> whether you're available to chat. If one of your readers also has Yahoo! <br /> Instant Messenger, he'll be able to click the graphic to send you an <br /> instant message.<br /><br /><br /> The only thing you'll need to run this hack is a copy of Yahoo! Instant <br /> Messenger (http://messenger.yahoo.com/). You'll also need to be sure that <br /> your Yahoo! Profile allows others to view your online status. To verify <br /> that others can view your online status, go to <br /> http://edit.profiles.yahoo.com/config/edit_identity and make sure that the <br /> box to "hide my online status" is unchecked, as shown in Figure 6-5.<br /><br /><br /> 6.5.1. The Code<br /><br /><br /> If you want the lightning-fast way to add presence to your web site, <br /> Yahoo! offers some cut-and-paste HTML at <br /> http://messenger.yahoo.com/messenger/help/online.html. But by taking some <br /> time to understand how to put together your own presence HTML, you can <br /> customize the look of the presence indicator and get it to behave the way <br /> you want it to.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 6-5. Yahoo! Profile setting to hide online status<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> The key to writing the presence HTML lies in knowing how to build a custom <br /> URL that indicates any member's online status. The following URL shows the <br /> basic format:<br /><br /><br /> http://opi.yahoo.com/online?u= insert your Yahoo! ID & m =g& t =2<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> There are three required variables in the URL that you can play with to <br /> get different results:<br /> u A Yahoo! member ID.m The method Yahoo! will use to deliver the status. g <br /> returns a graphic and t returns text.t The type of text or graphic to <br /> send. The value should be a number between 1 and 3: use 2 for the largest <br /> graphic, 1 for a medium-sized graphic, and 3 for the smallest. <br /><br /><br /> To test a URL, simply type it into your browser. Using the example URL <br /> with m set to g (for a graphic) and t set to 2 will return an online or <br /> offline image like the ones in Figure 6-6.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 6-6. Online and offline images with type set to 2<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> By changing the value of t, you can change the images. For example, the <br /> following URL will display an online or offline image like the ones in <br /> Figure 6-7:<br /><br /><br /> http://opi.yahoo.com/online?u= insert your Yahoo! ID &m=g&t= 1 <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 6-7. Online and offline images with type set to 1<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> The final option, with t set to a value of 3, is simply an image of a <br /> face, as shown in Figure 6-8.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 6-8. Online and offline images with type set to 3<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> The image will automatically change based on your Yahoo! Instant Messenger <br /> status. You can confirm this change by bringing up the image URL in your <br /> browser, going on-or offline in Yahoo! Instant Messenger, and then <br /> reloading the image.<br /><br /><br /> 6.5.2. Running the Hack<br /><br /><br /> To add the image to your site, add it as the src of an image tag, like so:<br /><br /><br /> <img src="http://opi.yahoo.com/online?u= insert your Yahoo! ID&m=g&t=2" /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> This tag will add the presence indicator to your web site, and with one <br /> more step you can let people send you an instant message by clicking the <br /> image. Yahoo! provides a page that lets someone send you an instant <br /> message regardless of whether she has Yahoo! Instant Messenger installed. <br /> Use this URL:<br /><br /><br /> http://messenger.yahoo.com/edit/send/?.target= insert your Yahoo! ID<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> If your visitor has Yahoo! Instant Messenger installed, a chat dialog will <br /> pop-up and she can start chatting with you. If she doesn't have the <br /> program, Yahoo! will provide a web pop-up window to let her send a <br />message.<br /><br /><br /> Putting it all together, you should end up with something like the <br /> following HTML:<br /><br /><br /> <a href="http://messenger.yahoo.com/edit/send/?.target= insert your Yahoo! <br /> ID"><br /> <img src="http://opi.yahoo.com/online?u= insert your Yahoo! ID&m=g&t=2"<br /> border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> This will display your online status to viewers of your web site and let <br /> people click to send you a message when you're available. Figure 6-9 shows <br /> the image in action on a remote site.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 6-9. The Online Presence Indicator at a remote site<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> With some presence on your site, you'll be able to let people know when <br /> you're online, and you'll give them the opportunity to communicate with <br /> you instantly.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Hack 96. Syndicate Rich Media<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Media RSS can tell Yahoo! and the world about your audio and video.<br /><br /><br /> Web publishers have been using the syndication format RSS to move text <br /> around the Internet since 1999. Typically, an RSS feed contains summaries <br /> of news stories or weblog posts and URLs that point to the permanent <br /> location of those pieces of text. The type of content that could be <br /> delivered via RSS expanded when the format added support for enclosures. <br /> Enclosures are like email attachments and can be used to include any type <br /> of binary file, including audio and video.<br /><br /><br /> This support for enclosures led to a new form of audio distribution called <br /> podcasting, which lets people subscribe to audio shows via an RSS file and <br /> automatically download new episodes to an iPod or other portable media <br /> player. This new distribution method has generated an explosion of <br /> independent audio content and a new audience for that content.<br /><br /><br /> Looking forward, it's not hard to imagine a similar scenario with video <br /> content. Anyone with a computer and a digital video camera can produce <br /> their own content, and the Internet is a perfect distribution system for <br /> those digital bits. Video syndication poses some additional challenges, <br /> but Yahoo! has already started building the tools necessary for video <br /> syndication.<br /><br /><br /> 6.6.1. Introducing Media RSS<br /><br /><br /> Yahoo! wanted something more flexible for publishers of audio and video <br /> than a single "attachment" for items in their RSS feed. And they wanted <br /> publishers to be able to describe those media files in a structured way. <br /> Unfortunately, the enclosure capabilities of RSS don't quite fit the bill. <br /> While you can definitely include a video file as an enclosure, you can't <br /> include multiple files or describe the files in a structured way.<br /><br /><br /> One of the strengths of the RSS syndication format is the fact that anyone <br /> can extend the format with modules. And Yahoo! has taken the enclosure <br /> features of RSS a step further with its Media RSS module.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> You can read the specification for Media RSS at <br /> http://search.yahoo.com/mrss or read through the frequently <br /> asked questions at http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/mrss.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Beyond giving publishers a bit more control, this more fine-grained <br /> approach to describing media within RSS helps Yahoo! discover video to <br /> index for Yahoo! Video Search [Hack #11]. Because many audio and video <br /> publishers include their media files in special player pop-up windows, <br /> finding and indexing the video is not as simple as finding and indexing <br /> web pages. Yahoo! is encouraging people who provide audio and video to use <br /> Media RSS as a way to tell Yahoo! what to include in their video search <br /> engine.<br /><br /><br /> Here's a look at some of the ways Media RSS expands the enclosure <br /> capabilities of RSS:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Multiple files<br /><br /><br /> The <media:group> tag allows for multiple media files within a single <br /> <item>. This way, a single news story that contains several video clips <br /> could include each of the clips within a single RSS item.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Metadata<br /><br /><br /> The <media:content> tag includes nine attributes that describe the video <br /> file, including url, type, bitrate, duration, height, and width.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Thumbnails<br /><br /><br /> Publishers who want to supply a thumbnail for a video file can use the <br /> <media:thumbnail> tag and include a thumbnail url, height, and width.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Credits<br /><br /><br /> The < media:credit> tag can be used to indicate who put together the <br /> content. A role attribute indicates a title, and the tag itself holds <br /> someone's name.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Text<br /><br /><br /> The <media:text> tag could be used to include lyrics, a transcript, or <br /> some related text. The type attribute specifies whether the text is plain <br /> or HTML.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Player<br /><br /><br /> Publishers who want to control the way a video or audio clip is played can <br /> provide a URL to a web-based player with the <media:player> tag.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Categorization<br /><br /><br /> Each media file included in a Media RSS file can be categorized with the <br /> <media:category> tag, giving more information about the content of the <br /> file.<br /><br /><br /> To use the extended capabilities of the Media RSS Module, you simply need <br /> to declare the Media RSS namespace in the opening RSS tag, like this:<br /><br /><br /> <rss version="2.0" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> This declaration gives computers parsing the file some indication of how <br /> the file should be used, and it gives curious people viewing the file a <br /> way to look up the precise way the <media:> tags should be used, so they <br /> can understand what they're looking at.<br /><br /><br /> 6.6.2. Automating Media RSS<br /><br /><br /> Most RSS feeds today are generated with content management software. After <br /> you write a news story or weblog post, you don't even have to think about <br /> the RSS that describes it. The RSS is generated automatically for you. As <br /> Media RSS evolves, it will likely be generated by software as well, and <br /> this hack illustrates how a simple script can generate Media RSS for you.<br /><br /><br /> Imagine you have a directory full of video on your server. The video might <br /> be linked from various web pages on your site, but you'd like to be sure <br /> that all of your video files are indexed by Yahoo! Video so they'll appear <br /> in Yahoo! Search results. This script solves the problem by creating a <br /> Media RSS file based on a directory full of media files that's suitable <br /> for submitting to Yahoo!.<br /><br /><br /> 6.6.3. The Code<br /><br /><br /> This code is an ASP file written with VBScript that can be used on Windows <br /> servers. Save the following code to a file called mRSS.asp and be sure to <br /> alter the three values at the top to match your setup:<br /><br /><br /> <%<br /> '-----------------------------------------------------------------<br /> ' mRSS.asp<br /> '<br /> ' Finds video files in a directory and generates a Media RSS file<br /> ' describing those video files.<br /> '-----------------------------------------------------------------<br /> ' Change these values to fit your setup.<br /> '<br /> ' BASE_URL is the publicly available address for the directory<br /> ' MEDIA_ADULT indicates whether or not the files are for adults only<br /> ' MEDIA_EXTS is a list of recognized media extensions that you want<br /> ' to include in the Media RSS file<br /> '<br /> Const BASE_URL = "http://insert/path/to/videos/"<br /> Const MEDIA_ADULT = "false"<br /> Const MEDIA_EXTS = "avi,mov,mp3,mpg,mpeg,wmv"<br /><br /><br /> ' Set content type for the page<br /> Response.ContentType = "text/xml"<br /><br /><br /> %><?xml version="1.0"?><br /> <rss version="2.0" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss"><br /> <channel><br /> <title>My Site Videos</title><br /> <link>http://www.example.com/</link><br /> <description>Various videos I've produced</description><br /> <%<br /> ' Start the FileSystem Object<br /> Setfs = Server.CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")<br /><br /><br /> ' Find the current directory<br /> thisPath = Request.ServerVariables("path_info")<br /> lastS = InStrRev(thisPath,"/")<br /> thisPath = Mid(thisPath,1,lastS)<br /> thisFullPath = Server.MapPath(thisPath)<br /><br /><br /> ' Load the current directory<br /> Set fsFolder = fs.GetFolder(thisFullPath)<br /> Set fsFiles = fsFolder.Files<br /><br /><br /> ' Loop through each file in the directory and<br /> ' check the extension. If it's a recognized<br /> ' type, build the RSS item<br /> For Each Item in fsFiles<br /> strName = Item.Name<br /><br /><br /> intDot = InStrRev(strName,".") + 1<br /> strShortName = Left(strName,intDot - 2)<br /> strExtension = LCase(Mid(strName,intDot,Len(strName)))<br /> If InStr( MEDIA_EXTS,strExtension) Then<br /> strSize = Item.Size<br /> dtmDate = Item.DateCreated<br /> dtmMod = Item.DateLastModified<br /> strType = Item.Type<br /> response.write "<item>" & Chr(13)<br /> response.write " <title>" & strShortName & "</title>" & Chr(13)<br /> response.write " <link>" & BASE_URL & strName & "</link>" & <br /><br /><br /><br /> Chr(13)<br /> response.write " < media:content url=""" & BASE_URL & strName <br /><br /><br /><br /> & """"<br /> response.write " fileSize=""" & strSize & """"<br /> response.write " type=""" & getType(strExtension) & """ />" <br /><br /><br /><br /> & Chr(13)<br /> response.write " < media:adult>" & MEDIA_ADULT & "</media: <br /><br /><br /><br /> adult>"<br /> response.write Chr(13) & "</item>" & Chr(13)<br /> End If<br /> Next<br /><br /><br /> ' Clean up the objects<br /> Set fsFiles = Nothing<br /> Set fsFolder = Nothing<br /> Set fs = Nothing<br /> %><br /> </channel><br /> </ rss><br /> <%<br /> ' This function translates a file extension<br /> ' into its content type<br /> Function getType(ext)<br /> Select Case ext<br /> Case "avi"<br /> getType = "video/avi"<br /> Case "mov"<br /> getType = "video/quicktime"<br /> Case "mp3"<br /> getType = "audio/mpeg"<br /> Case "mpeg","mpg"<br /> getType = "video/mpeg"<br /> Case "wmv"<br /> getType = "video/x-ms-wmv"<br /> End Select<br /> End Function<br /> %><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> This code loops through the files in a directory and checks the file <br /> extension against the list of extensions set as MEDIA_EXTS. If the <br /> extension is one of the set types, the script creates an RSS item using <br /> the filename as the <title>, and the value set in BASE_URL plus the <br /> filename as the <link>.<br /><br /><br /> The script then adds a minimal < media:content> tag to describe the file <br /> and the < media:adult> tag to indicate whether the file has adult content. <br /> This value is hardcoded into the script, so you'll need to keep your adult <br /> files separate from your kid-friendly files. You can change how the script <br /> treats the file by setting the MEDIA_ADULT variable to true or false at <br /> the top of the script.<br /><br /><br /> 6.6.4. Running the Hack<br /><br /><br /> To run the code, place mRSS.asp in a directory that is available on the <br /> Web and contains media files, and bring its URL up in a browser. For <br /> example:<br /><br /><br /> http://example.com/videos/mRSS.asp<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> You should see an RSS feed with a list of all the media files in the <br /> directory. Each <item> in the feed will correspond to a file and should <br /> look something like this:<br /><br /><br /> <item><br /> <title>My_Home_Video</title><br /> <link>http://example.com/videos/My_Home_Video.wmv</link><br /> <media:content url="http://example.com/videos/My_Home_Video.wmv"<br /> fileSize="5676202"<br /> type="video/x-ms-wmv"/><br /> <media:adult>false</media:adult><br /> </item><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> This simple feed doesn't take advantage of all the features of Media RSS, <br /> but it's enough to build a feed suitable for submitting to Yahoo! Video.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> You can validate any RSS feedincluding Media RSSwith the Feed <br /> Validator (http://www.feedvalidator.org/). Simply plug in your <br /> RSS feed URL into the form, and the validator will fetch the <br /> feed and point out any problems.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> 6.6.5. Submitting Video to Yahoo!<br /><br /><br /> Once you have an RSS feed filled with pointers to rich media, you can <br /> submit the feed to Yahoo! to be sure your video is available to Yahoo! <br /> searchers. Browse to http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/submit and add your RSS <br /> feed URL to the form. You can also include your email address, web site <br /> URL, and company name, but these are optional. Once Yahoo! has your Media <br /> RSS URL in its database, a Yahoo! crawler will begin visiting your feed <br /> and indexing your video.<br /><br /><br /> If you put time and energy into publishing independent content, describing <br /> it with Media RSS can help you reach a wider audience by making the <br /> content available through Yahoo! Video Search.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Hack 97. Add Contextual Search to Your Blog<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Y!Q gives your readers the ability to search for content directly related <br /> to your posts.<br /><br /><br /> Say you're reading a weblog about astronomy and you run across a post <br /> about refraction, a stellar optical illusion caused by the atmosphere. If <br /> you want to learn more about refraction, you'll need to leave the weblog, <br /> browse to your favorite search engine, type in refraction, and start <br /> browsing through the results. Unfortunately, the search is lacking any <br /> context, and though you will get results related to astronomical <br /> refraction, you'll also find many results about lenses, the human eye, and <br /> physics. Most likely, you were interested in the term refraction as it <br /> relates to astronomy.<br /><br /><br /> Yahoo! is addressing this problem by bringing search capabilities to <br /> remote sites such as weblogs with a feature called Y!Q. Y!Q is a <br /> contextual search, which means a Y!Q search uses additional information to <br /> refine the search results. If the astronomy weblog had a Y!Q search link <br /> embedded with every post, you could have clicked the link to see the top <br /> related results without leaving the weblogand within an astronomical <br /> context.<br /><br /><br /> Weblogs are particularly suited for contextual search, because each post <br /> is a unique burst of text with its own topic. A related search link can <br /> give readers a path to explore more about a particular topic. And adding <br /> the feature to your weblog is just a matter of knowing some HTML.<br /><br /><br /> Most weblog systems provide a template system for defining how posts <br /> should be displayed within a page. Adding a Y!Q search form is just a <br /> matter of editing your template. Every page that will host a Y!Q search <br /> must include the JavaScript Y!Q library. Open your template and add the <br /> following code somewhere between the <head> and </head> tags in the page:<br /><br /><br /> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript"<br /> src="http://yq.search.yahoo.com/javascript/yq.js"></script><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Next, you'll need to add some HTML to the section of the template that <br /> describes how posts should be displayed. Here's a simple bit of HTML from <br /> a Blogger (http://www.blogger.com/) template that describes how to display <br /> the text of a post:<br /><br /><br /> <div class="post-body"><br /> <p><$BlogItemBody$></p><br /> </div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> And here's the same code, with the addition of a Y!Q Search Related Info <br /> link:<br /><br /><br /> <div class="post-body"><br /> <div class="yqcontext"><br /> <p><$BlogItemBody$></p><br /> <form action="http://yq.search.yahoo.com/search" method="post"><br /> <input type="hidden" name="context" value="<$BlogItemBody$>" /><br /> <div class="yqact"><br /> <input class="yqbt" type="submit" value="Search Related Info"<br /> onclick="return activateYQ(this)" /><br /> </div><br /> </form><br /> </div><br /> </div> <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> The <div> tag with the class yqcontext tells Y!Q what to highlight when <br /> someone clicks the Search Related Info link. And the <form> creates the <br /> Search Related Info link. Within the form, the hidden element named <br /> context tells Yahoo! what information is related to the search. In this <br /> case, the Blogger-specific <$BlogItemBody$> tag sets the value of context <br /> to the full text of the post when the weblog is published.<br /><br /><br /> You could also narrow this value to the title of the post by using the <br /> <$BlogItemTitle$> tag instead. Other weblog systems have special tags for <br /> categories related to the post or a post excerpt. You might need to <br /> experiment with the context to see which information gives the best <br /> related results.<br /><br /><br /> Once you save your template changes and republish your weblog, you should <br /> see the Search Related Info link after every post, as shown in Figure <br />6-10.<br /><br /><br /> When a reader clicks the link, a new window appears within the page, <br /> highlights the context, and shows the top few related search results, as <br /> shown in Figure 6-11.<br /><br /><br /> At this point, the reader can review the top results, click one to visit <br /> another site, close the Related Search Results box, or type his own query <br /> in the search field. Even though he types his own search query, Y!Q still <br /> retains the context of the post. Figure 6-12 shows the Y!Q Search Results <br /> page, along with the keywords extracted from the context text.<br /><br /><br /> The reader can review the keywords and rerun the search with a different <br /> context, or he can completely turn off the related search feature to find <br /> more general results.<br /><br /><br /> This example has shown the bare minimum needed to implement Y!Q. But there <br /> are quite a few options you can customize, most with hidden form elements <br /> you can add to the Y!Q HTML. Here are some of the possible customizations:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 6-10. Y!Q Search Related Info links on a weblog<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Search Specific Sites<br /><br /><br /> You can use a hidden input tag named siteRestriction to limit Y!Q results <br /> to a single web site, including your own site. Set the value attribute of <br /> the tag to a list of sites separated by spaces.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Number of Results<br /><br /><br /> By default, you'll see the top three results in a Y!Q box, but you can <br /> change this with a hidden input tag named YSTResultsMax.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 6-11. Y!Q Related Search Results box<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> More Context<br /><br /><br /> If there's some context you'd like to provide beyond what your readers <br /> see, you can use a hidden tag named siteContext for a brief paragraph of <br /> text, or a hidden tag named p to add specific keywords to the context.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Custom Logo or Text<br /><br /><br /> You can add your own logo or text to the Y!Q box with hidden input tags <br /> named c1, c2, and c3. The value of the tags can be plain text or HTML, so <br /> you could include the HTML necessary to have your own logo in the Y!Q box, <br /> for example.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Look and Feel<br /><br /><br /> You can play with the entire look and feel of the box by creating your own <br /> stylesheet. The default stylesheet for Y!Q <br /> (http://yq.search.yahoo.com/javascript/defaultTheme.css) is a good basis <br /> for building your own.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 6-12. Y!Q Search Results page<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> You can find a full list of Y!Q customization options for publishers at <br /> http://yq.search.yahoo.com/publisher/embed.html.<br /><br /><br /> By adding a Y!Q search to your weblog, you'll be giving your readers a <br /> smarter search tool that lets you set the context for their research.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Hack 98. Post Photos to Your Blog<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> If you take a few minutes to enter some information about your weblog at <br /> Flickr, you can post photos directly to your weblog with a single click.<br /><br /><br /> Even though many weblog systems offer tools to help you upload and include <br /> images with your posts, you might find that Flickr is a nice alternative <br /> to the standard photo tools. Once you upload a photo to Flickr [Hack #67], <br /> you have several options for including that photo in your weblog posts.<br /><br /><br /> 6.8.1. Blog This<br /><br /><br /> The most direct way to send a photo from Flickr to your weblog is through <br /> the Blog This button above each of your photos, as shown in Figure 6-13.<br /><br /><br /> To enable the Blog This button, you need to give Flickr some information <br /> about your weblog.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 6-13. The Blog This button above a photo at Flickr<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> 6.8.1.1. Configuring a weblog.<br /><br /><br /> Setting up Flickr to post to a weblog is a simple process. Click Your <br /> Account at the top of any page at Flickr and then click Your Blogs under <br /> the section labeled Blogging. You'll find a list of any weblogs you've <br /> already set up, or you can click "Set up a new blog" to add a new weblog <br /> to your account.<br /><br /><br /> The first step to setting up a new weblog is telling Flickr which weblog <br /> tool you use. Flickr supports the following weblog systems:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Blogger<br /><br /><br /> http://blogger.com/<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> TypePad<br /><br /><br /> http://sixapart.com/typepad<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Movable Type<br /><br /><br /> http://sixapart.com/movabletype<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> LiveJournal<br /><br /><br /> http://sixapart.com/livejournal<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> WordPress<br /><br /><br /> http://wordpress.org/<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Manila<br /><br /><br /> http://www.manilasites.com/<br /><br /><br /> If you use a weblog tool that's not listed, check your tool's <br /> documentation to see if your tool uses one of the supported weblog <br /> application programming interfaces (APIs). An API allows a third-party <br /> tool such as Flickr to add posts to your weblog. Flickr supports the <br /> following APIs:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> ATOM<br /><br /><br /> This API is an emerging independent standard for programmatic weblog <br /> access and is supported by many tools, including Blogger and the latest <br /> versions of Movable Type. You can see the details of the API at <br /> http://atomenabled.org/.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> BloggerAPI<br /><br /><br /> This is the first weblog API implemented by Blogger. It is no longer <br /> actively developed but might be supported in some tools.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> MetaWeblogAPI<br /><br /><br /> This is also an older API that some tools, including WordPress, support. <br /> You can read more about the API at http://www.xmlrpc.com/metaWeblogApi.<br /><br /><br /> If your weblog tool supports one of the above APIs, you just need to know <br /> the API Endpoint: a URL to which Flickr should send API requests. The <br /> documentation should give you the API Endpoint URL, and with that in hand, <br /> you can move on to the second step.<br /><br /><br /> Once you've chosen your tool or supported API, you'll need to enter the <br /> username and password you use at your weblog tool. Flickr will use this <br /> information to contact the weblog tool and fetch information about your <br /> weblog or the multiple weblogs you maintain there. Choose your weblog from <br /> the list, click Next, and verify the information on the following page. If <br /> you don't feel comfortable storing your weblog tool's password with <br /> Flickr, you can uncheck the box labeled "Store your password?" Click All <br /> Done and you'll be ready to start posting pictures!<br /><br /><br /> 6.8.1.2. Posting to your weblog.<br /><br /><br /> With your weblog set to go at Flickr, browse to one of your photos that <br /> you'd like to post to a weblog. Click the Blog This button above the photo <br /> and choose one of your weblogs from the list, as shown in Figure 6-14.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 6-14. Choosing a blog with the Blog This button<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Once you choose your weblog, you'll have the option to compose your post <br /> at Flickr (see Figure 6-15).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 6-15. Composing a weblog post at Flickr<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Click Post Entry, and Flickr will automatically send the text and photo to <br /> your weblog. Figure 6-16 shows the example post at a Blogger-powered <br /> weblog.<br /><br /><br /> The nice part about using the Blog This feature of Flickr is that you <br /> don't have to write the HTML necessary to link to a photo. You can simply <br /> point and click to add a post with a photo to your weblog. Flickr <br /> assembles the necessary HTML behind the scenes.<br /><br /><br /> If you want to change the HTML that Flickr uses, you can alter the way <br /> Flickr lays out the photo and text for your weblog posts. To customize a <br /> post layout for one of your weblogs, browse to the Your Blogs page at <br /> Flickr and click Layout. You'll see several options, as shown in Figure <br /> 6-17.<br /><br /><br /> You can even create a custom post layout template, if you want to go <br /> beyond the existing options.<br /><br /><br /> 6.8.2. Roll Your Own Post<br /><br /><br /> While the Blog This feature at Flickr works well for posting a single <br /> photo along with some text, it doesn't work as well for posting multiple <br /> photos within a single post. And you might find that your post layouts are <br /> so unique that a single template won't work. In each of these cases, <br /> you'll need to write your own HTML to display images in your weblog posts. <br /> Even though you'll be doing some of the work on your own, Flickr can still <br /> make your life easier by hosting and processing your images.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 6-16. A weblog post via Flickr<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 6-17. The weblog post layout options at Flickr<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> The key to writing your own HTML to display images is finding a direct URL <br /> for the images you upload. But there's more than just one URL per image. <br /> For every image you upload to Flickr, there are five image sizes <br /> available, each with its own URL. This lets you choose the appropriate <br /> image size for the post or use a thumbnail instead of a full image.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Keep in mind that the larger your photo, the longer it takes <br /> your readers to download the photo. And large photos won't <br /> always fit within the design constraints of a standard weblog. <br /> If your weblog text fits within a 400 pixel-wide column, <br /> posting an 800 pixel-wide photo will break the design.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> To find URLs for each of the image sizes available, click the <br /> appropriately titled All Sizes button above any photo you've uploaded to <br /> Flickr. You'll find the All Sizes page (see Figure 6-18), which includes <br /> the size options listed across the top of the page, along with the <br /> dimensions of the photo in that particular size.<br /><br /><br /> As you click each image size in the menu, you'll find a unique URL listed <br /> underneath the photo. Each URL has a similar format that looks something <br /> like this:<br /><br /><br /> http://photos11.flickr.com/17422514_fff01711bb_o .jpg<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Notice that the URL starts with a Flickr domain, followed by a filename <br /> made up of two alphanumeric IDs and a final letter (separated by <br /> underscores) before the extension .jpg. That final letter is a URL code <br /> that represents the size of a Flickr photo, and understanding the codes <br /> can help you create or change links to different photo sizes on the fly. <br /> Here's a quick look at the different photo sizes available at Flickr:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Large<br /><br /><br /> This size is the original size of the photo before it was uploaded to <br /> Flickr. If you uploaded a photo that was 800 pixels wide by 600 pixels <br /> high, you can access the original by clicking the Large size. The URL code <br /> for this size is o, which probably stands for "original." If the original <br /> image you uploaded was extremely large, you may also have the URL code b <br /> available for the large image size.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 6-18. The All Sizes page for an image at Flickr<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Medium<br /><br /><br /> The Medium size is what you see on a Flickr photo detail page. This size <br /> will be 500 pixels at its longest dimension, depending on the orientation <br /> of the photo. There is no URL code for Medium photos, because this is the <br /> default size.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Small<br /><br /><br /> Small photos are 240 pixels at the longest dimension and are used on <br /> photostream pages as thumbnails. The URL code for Small photos is m, <br /> possibly because at one time this size was considered medium.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Thumbnail<br /><br /><br /> This size is 100 pixels at its longest dimension and can be used to link <br /> to a larger version of the photo. The URL code for Thumbnail-sized photos <br /> is t.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Square<br /><br /><br /> The Square photos are versions of the original cropped to a square of 75 x <br /> 75 pixels. You'll find this size of photo in use on your Flickr home page <br /> when you're logged in. This is a handy size to use if you need to know the <br /> exact width and height of a photo. The URL code for square photos is s.<br /><br /><br /> Once you know the size of the photo you'd like to display in your post, <br /> copy the URL. Then you can use the URL in an HTML image tag to display the <br /> photo, like this:<br /><br /><br /> <img src="http://photos11.flickr.com/17422514_fff01711bb_m.jpg" <br />width="240"<br /> height="180" alt="speedometer" /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Once you're writing your own HTML, you can combine multiple images, link <br /> images to unique web pages, or create more complex layouts than are <br /> possible with Flickr's Blog This feature. Figure 6-19 shows a single post <br /> at LiveJournal with several photos hosted at Flickr.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 6-19. A post at LiveJournal with images hosted at Flickr<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> While you might not need this level of control for every post you make, <br /> knowing what's available to you can give you the freedom to get creative <br /> with your weblog posts.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Hack 99. Feed Your Latest Photos to Your Web Site<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Flickr provides a number of ways to syndicate your photos to another web <br /> site.<br /><br /><br /> Adding photos to an existing web site can be a complex chore. You have to <br /> upload each photo to your site, write some HTML to display each photo on a <br /> page, and create duplicate, resized images if you want to show thumbnails <br /> of the photos. If you already use Flickr [Hack #67] to share your photos, <br /> there are several tools at your disposal that simplify the process of <br /> sharing your photos on a remote web site.<br /><br /><br /> Even though you upload your photographs to Flickrand they're stored on <br /> Flickr's serversyour photos aren't locked in at the site. Flickr is an <br /> open system that allows you to access your photos in a number of ways and <br /> display them anywhere you'd like. One of the easiest ways to show your <br /> photos on another site is with a Flickr badge.<br /><br /><br /> 6.9.1. Flickr Badges<br /><br /><br /> Though it sounds like something you might wear on your uniform, a Flickr <br /> badge is simply a bit of code that displays photos on a remote web site. <br /> Figure 6-20 shows a simple Flickr badge with three photos on a remote web <br /> site.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 6-20. A Flickr badge on a remote site<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> You can create your own Flickr badge in a simple five-step process. Browse <br /> to the "Create your own Flickr badge" page at <br /> http://www.flickr.com/badge_new.gne, and log in if you aren't already.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Keep in mind that you'll need a unique Flickr ID and password <br /> to use the tools. You can create a free account at <br /> http://www.flickr.com/register.gne. Although Yahoo! has <br /> purchased Flickr, at the time of this writing a Yahoo! ID will <br /> not work on Flickr.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Creating a Flickr badge is the process of making a number of decisions <br /> about the badge. Here's a look at the steps:<br /><br /><br /><br /> Choose the type. <br /><br /><br /> You can decide between basic static HTML or an animated, Flash-based <br /> badge. The animated badge shows a bit of movement and fades thumbnails <br /> in and out. Choosing Flash will mean your visitors will need the <br /> Macromedia Flash plug-in installed for their browser in order to see <br /> your photos. <br /><br /><br /><br /> Choose the photos. <br /><br /><br /> You can choose to display your latest photos or those of your photos <br /> that are tagged with a specific term. In addition, you can display <br /> photos from a group you're a member of, all photos with a certain tag, <br /> or, if you're feeling generous, all public photos. <br /><br /><br /><br /> Set the layout (HTML only). <br /><br /><br /> When you're building an HTML badge, you have a number of options for the <br /> layout. You can choose to show your personal buddy icon, which links to <br /> your Flickr profile page. You can choose the number of photos you'd like <br /> to show, the size of the thumbnails, and the orientation of the badge: <br /> horizontal or vertical. Finally, you can choose to show the latest <br /> photos or a random sampling. <br /><br /><br /><br /> Choose colors. <br /><br /><br /> If you want the badge to fit in seamlessly with your remote site's <br /> design, you can adjust the background, border, and link colors. The <br /> preview at the bottom of the page will show your changes in progress. <br /><br /><br /><br /> Copy and paste code. <br /><br /><br /> On the last page, you can preview your badge and then copy the code for <br /> it by highlighting the badge and clicking Ctrl-C. <br /><br /><br /> The code for a static HTML badge is a combination of CSS, HTML, and <br /> JavaScript and should look something like this:<br /><br /><br /> <!-- Start of Flickr Badge --><br /> <style type="text/css"><br /> #flickr_badge_source_txt {padding:0; font: 11px Arial, Helvetica, Sans <br /> serif;<br /> color:#666666;}<br /><br /><br /> # flickr_badge_icon {display:block !important; margin:0 !important;<br /> border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0) !important;}<br /> # flickr_icon_td {padding:0 5px 0 0 !important;}<br /> .flickr_badge_image {text-align:center !important;}<br /> .flickr_badge_image img {border: 1px solid black !important;}<br /> #flickr_www {display:block; padding:0 10px 0 10px !important;<br /> font: 11px Arial, Helvetica, Sans serif !important; color:#3993ff<br /> !important;}<br /> #flickr_badge_uber_wrapper a:hover,<br /> #flickr_badge_uber_wrapper a:link,<br /> #flickr_badge_uber_wrapper a:active,<br /> #flickr_badge_uber_wrapper a:visited {text-decoration:none !important;<br /> background:inherit !important;color:#3993ff;}<br /> #flickr_badge_wrapper {background-color:#ffffff;border: solid 1px #000000}<br /> #flickr_badge_source {padding:0 !important;<br /> font: 11px Arial, Helvetica, Sans serif !important; color:#666666<br /> !important;}<br /> </style><br /> <table id="flickr_badge_uber_wrapper" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="10"<br /> border="0"><br /> <tr><br /> <td><br /> <a href="http://www.flickr.com" id="flickr_www"><br /> www.<strong style="color:#3993ff">flick<br /> <span style="color:#ff1c92">r</span></strong><br /> .com</a><br /> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="10" border="0" id="flickr_badge_<br /><br /><br /><br /> wrapper"><br /> <script type="text/javascript"<br /> src="http://www.flickr.com/badge_code_v2.gne?count=3&display=latest&size=t<br /><br /><br /><br /> &layout=v&source=user&user=33853652177%40N01"><br /> </script><br /> </table><br /> </td><br /> </tr><br /> </table><br /> <!-- End of Flickr Badge --><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> The CSS style definitions at the top of the code format how the badge <br /> looks. You can modify this CSS at any point to change how the badge looks <br /> on your site. Immediately after the <style> tags, the standard HTML <br /> <table> holds the photos.<br /><br /><br /> The <script> tag does the work of displaying the photos. As you can see in <br /> the src attribute, the JavaScript file resides at http://www.flickr.com/ <br /> and displays photos based on the parameters passed in the URL. Many of the <br /> decisions you made while running through the badge creation process are <br /> encapsulated in this URL. For example, the count variable will be set to <br /> the number of photos you told the badge to display, and the layout <br /> variable will be set to v or h, depending on your choice of vertical or <br /> horizontal layout.<br /><br /><br /> If you need to change your badge, try studying the fairly self-explanatory <br /> variables in the URL and changing values. That way, you can make changes <br /> quickly without running through the badge-creation process again.<br /><br /><br /> 6.9.2. Flickr Feeds<br /><br /><br /> Another way that Flickr makes photos available for use on other sites is <br /> through standard XML syndication formats. Browse to your photos, scroll to <br /> the bottom of the page, and you'll see the feed options shown in Figure <br /> 6-21.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 6-21. Flickr feed options at the bottom of a Flickr page<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> You'll find feeds in the popular RSS and Atom formats. Click the link to <br /> view the feed or copy the URL. You can also click the "Add to My Yahoo!" <br /> button with the plus sign to watch that particular group of photos on your <br /> My Yahoo! page. You'll find the same feed listing at the bottom of group <br /> pages and pages showing photos with a particular tag.<br /><br /><br /> Each feed contains the 10 most recently added photos for a particular <br /> user, group, or tag. The item nodes in the feed contain all of the details <br /> you need to display the photo on a remote site: the title, a link to the <br /> photo on Flickr, and a bit of HTML for displaying a photo thumbnail and <br /> caption. Here's a look at an item in a Flickr RSS feed. Note that this <br /> example has been formatted for readability; the actual feed includes <br /> escaped HTML with tags like <p> rendered as the escaped <p>.<br /><br /><br /> <item><br /> <title>Ultimate Championships</title><br /> <link>http://www.flickr.com/photos/pb/16469233/</link><br /> <descriptio><br /> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/pb/">pb</a> posted a photo:<br /><br /><br /><br /> </p><br /> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pb/16469233/"<br /> title="Ultimate Championships"><br /> <img src="http://photos10.flickr.com/16422514_40ac8021f5_m.jpg"<br /> width="240" height="161" alt="Ultimate Championships"<br /> style="border: 1px solid #000000;" /></a></p><br /> <p>the women's championship game was washington vs. stanford</p><br /> </description><br /> <pubDate>Mon, 30 May 2005 11:01:15 -0700</pubDate><br /> <author>nobody@flickr.com (pb)</author><br /> <guid isPermaLink="false">tag:flickr.com,2004:/photo/16469233</guid><br /> </item><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> The <title> and <link> elements hold the title of the photo and a link to <br /> the photo, as you'd expect. The <description> element holds the block of <br /> HTML you can use on a remote site.<br /><br /><br /> The most common use of RSS is for viewing new items in a newsreader, but <br /> there's no reason you can't use this same feed to create a custom Flickr <br /> badge. Parsing XML is the perfect job for Perl, and with a few lines of <br /> code you can build your own badge.<br /><br /><br /> 6.9.2.1. The code.<br /><br /><br /> This Perl script uses the LWP::Simple module to fetch a Flickr feed and <br /> the XML::RSS module to parse the feed and display its contents. Make sure <br /> you have these modules on your server, and then save this code to a file <br /> called flickr_feed.pl. Be sure to include a valid Flickr feed URL that <br /> contains the photos you want to syndicate.<br /><br /><br /> #!/usr/bin/perl<br /> # flickr_feed.pl<br /> # Transforms a Flickr Feed into HTML<br /> # Usage: flickr_feed.pl<br /><br /><br /> use strict;<br /> use XML::RSS;<br /> use LWP::Simple;<br /><br /><br /> # Grab the feed.<br /> my $flickr_feed = 'insert Flickr feed URL';<br /> my $feed = get($flickr_feed);<br /><br /><br /> # Start RSS Parser<br /> my $rss = new XML::RSS;<br /><br /><br /> # parse the feed<br /> $rss->parse($feed);<br /><br /><br /> # initialize item counter<br /> my $i;<br /><br /><br /> # print the title, link, and description of each RSS item<br /> foreach my $item (@{$rss->{'items'}}) {<br /> $i++;<br /> my $desc = "$item->{'description'}\n";<br /><br /><br /> # remove the "posted by" text<br /> $desc =~ s!<p>.*?posted a photo:</p>!!;<br /><br /><br /> # use thumbnails instead of medium images<br /> $desc =~ s!_m!_t!;<br /><br /><br /> # remove the width and height attributes from image tags<br /> $desc =~ s!width=".*?" height=".*?"!!;<br /><br /><br /> # remove the paragraph tags<br /> $desc =~ s!</?p>!!g;<br /><br /><br /> # print the item<br /> print "$desc<br />";<br /> print "<a href=\"$item->{'link'}\">";<br /> print "$item->{'title'}</a><br /><br />";<br /><br /><br /> # set the number of photos<br /> last if ($i == 3);<br /> }<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> This code downloads the Flickr feed and massages the HTML in the <br /> <description> tag, removing some text. Then it prints each item in the <br /> feed, until it hits the number specified in the last line of the script.<br /><br /><br /> 6.9.2.2. Running the hack.<br /><br /><br /> You can run this code from the command line by calling the script like <br /> this:<br /><br /><br /> perl flickr_feed.pl<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> And you'll probably want to set the script to run on a regular schedule <br /> with the Windows Task Scheduler or cron on Unix-based systems.<br /><br /><br /> Using an XML feed instead of a preprogrammed Flickr badge is a bit more <br /> work, but it gives you some more control over the presentation. You can <br /> create your own CSS styles and classes to make the photos appear as you <br /> want them to. Figure 6-22 shows a custom Flickr badge created with this <br /> script and displayed on a remote site.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 6-22. A custom Flickr badge<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> 6.9.3. Hacking the Hack<br /><br /><br /> Even though the Flickr feeds contain most of the information associated <br /> with each photo, you can still do more with the Flickr API. The API <br /> provides programmatic access to anything at Flickr, not just photos. You <br /> can read the full documentation at http://www.flickr.com/services/api.<br /><br /><br /> In addition to titles and captions, you can get access to everything else, <br /> from the number of comments people have left about a photo, to notes left <br /> by others, to technical data ( EXIF tags) from the camera that took the <br /> photo! Building a custom badge with the API will be more technically <br /> complex than parsing an RSS feed, but if you really want access to all of <br /> your data stored at Flickr, it's available!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Hack 100. Display Messages from a Yahoo! Group on Your Web Site<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Use RSS to display the latest messages from a Yahoo! Group on a remote web <br /> site.<br /><br /><br /> Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a standard XML format designed for <br /> syndicating content across web sites. The fact that there are so many <br /> tools available that can work with RSS means it really is simple to work <br /> with.<br /><br /><br /> Yahoo! has embraced RSS and offers RSS feeds for many of their features, <br /> including search results, news headlines, and Yahoo! Groups. Many people <br /> use Yahoo! Groups alongside another web site, or in cooperation with <br /> several web sites, so the following hack offers an excellent example of <br /> how this simple XML format can add a lot of value to an existing site.<br /><br /><br /> The first step is to find the feed URL for the Yahoo! Group you're <br /> interested in. If the Yahoo! Group allows anyone to view the message <br /> archive, you should find a bright orange XML icon on the front page, like <br /> the one shown in Figure 6-23.<br /><br /><br /> If you don't see the XML icon, you can ask the group moderator to change <br /> the settings to allow anyone to view the group archives, which will enable <br /> the feed. The steps for the moderator are:<br /><br /><br /><br /> From the group's front page, click Management at the bottom of the menu <br /> on the left side of the page. <br /><br /><br /><br /> Click Messages on the right side of the page, under Group Settings. <br /><br /><br /><br /> Click Edit next to Posting and Archives. <br /><br /><br /><br /> Change the Archive Options at the bottom of the page to Anyone and click <br /> Save Changes. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 6-23. XML feed indicator on a Yahoo! Group<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> After the moderator completes these steps, the orange XML icon should <br /> appear. Right-click the icon and choose Copy Link Location or Copy <br /> Shortcut. The feed URL will now be on your virtual clipboard, ready for <br /> pasting where you need it.<br /><br /><br /> If you click the icon instead of copying the URL (in a browser that <br /> displays XML), you'll get a sense of what the RSS format looks like. <br /> Figure 6-24 shows what the Yahoo! Groups RSS feed looks like.<br /><br /><br /> Looking at the feed, you can see that the basic tags of each RSS <item> <br /> that represent a post to the group are <title>, <link>, <description>, and <br /> <pubDate>. The first two tags hold what you'd expect them to: the title of <br /> the message and a link to the message on the web archive, respectively. <br /> The <description> tag holds the first few lines from the message, and <br /> <pubDate> holds the date the message was originally sent. With this <br /> format, it's easy for a script to grab the information and display it on <br /> another site.<br /><br /><br /> 6.10.1. The Code<br /><br /><br /> Instead of parsing the XML by hand with XML:: Simple (as in most of the <br /> Perl hacks in this book), this script uses a module tailor-made for <br /> working with RSS called, appropriately enough, XML::RSS. This module <br /> features some handy shortcuts when parsing RSS, and it makes working with <br /> the format even easier. To install XML::RSS on your system, you can use <br /> CPAN from the command line like this:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 6-24. A Yahoo Groups! RSS feed<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> perl MCPAN e shell<br /> cpan> install XML::RSS<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> The other module you'll need is LWP:: Simple, which will fetch the RSS <br /> from Yahoo!.<br /><br /><br /> Save the following code to a file called write_feed.pl:<br /><br /><br /> #!/usr/bin/perl<br /> # write_feed.pl<br /> # Accepts an RSS feed URL and prints as HTML.<br /> # Usage: write_feed.pl <RSS Feed URL><br /><br /><br /> use LWP::Simple;<br /> use XML::RSS;<br /><br /><br /> # Grab the incoming feed URL<br /> my $url = join(' ', @ARGV) or die "Usage: write_feed.pl <RSS Feed URL>\n";<br /><br /><br /> # Make the request<br /> my $rss = get($url);<br /><br /><br /> # Parse the RSS<br /> my $xmlrss = new XML::RSS();<br /> $xmlrss-> parse($rss);<br /><br /><br /> # Print the feed Header with title<br /> print "<h3>" . $xmlrss->channel('title') . "</h3>";<br /> print "<ul>";<br /><br /><br /> # Loop through the items returned, printing them out<br /> foreach my $item (@{$xmlrss->{'items'}}) {<br /> my $title = $item->{'title'};<br /> my $url = $item->{'link'};<br /> my $description = $item->{'description'};<br /> print "<li><a href=\"$url\">$title</a></li>\n";<br /> }<br /><br /><br /> # Print the feed Footer<br /> print "</ul>";<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> The XML::RSS parse() function turns the RSS from Yahoo! into an object <br /> that Perl can work with. From there, the final foreach loops over each <br /> item in the feed and prints the results with a bit of HTML formatting.<br /><br /><br /> 6.10.2. Running the Hack<br /><br /><br /> To run the script, call it from the command line, supplying a feed URL:<br /><br /><br /> perl write_feed.pl insert feed URL <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> This will print the HTML to the command line, which probably isn't the <br /> effect you're after. To pipe the output to a text file, add one to the end <br /> like this:<br /><br /><br /> perl write_feed.pl insert feed URL > insert text file <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> And here's a look at writing a Yahoo! Groups feed directly:<br /><br /><br /> perl write_feed.pl http://rss.groups.yahoo.com/group/rss-media/rss > <br /> mrss.html<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Once run, the newly created mrss.html file will contain the script's <br /> output, which will look something like Figure 6-25.<br /><br /><br /> The final step to including this file in an existing web site is to drop <br /> it in as a server-side include. This can be as simple as adding a line to <br /> an existing dynamically generated web page, like so:<br /><br /><br /> <!--#include virtual="/mrss.html" --><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Of course, be sure to replace the name of the file with the name of your <br /> HTML.<br /><br /><br /> You could run this script manually once in a while, but it's much handier <br /> to let the server handle it. You can add your script as a cron job to run <br /> every few hours, and you won't ever have to touch it again. Any new <br /> messages sent to the Yahoo! Group will also show up on your remote web <br /> site. It's a quick way to keep visitors to your site up-to-date with <br /> activities happening somewhere else.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Figure 6-25. A converted Yahoo! Groups RSS feed at another domain<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Colophon <br /><br /><br /> Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and <br /> feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our <br /> distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life <br /> into potentially dry subjects.<br /><br /><br /> The image on the cover of Yahoo! Hacks shows a pair of cowboy boots with <br /> spurs. American cowboy boots evolved from Hessians (boots with the <br /> familiar V-cut in front, worn by German soldiers who fought in the <br /> Revolution), Wellingtons (knee-high British boots), and others. They are <br /> treadless, in order for one to quickly slide the forefoot into and out of <br /> the stirrup, and have a tall heel that holds the boot in place while one <br /> is mounted. The revolving rowel used in modern spurs became popular around <br /> the fourteenth century. Earlier spurs (used throughout Europe from the <br /> time of the Etruscans, and farther east by Genghis Khan and his support <br /> staff) had a single sharp protrusion. Early Native Americans did not use <br /> spurs, preferring a sort of quirt (short-handled whip).<br /><br /><br /> Unlike "down at the heel" and "slipshod," the term "well-heeled" <br /> originally referred not to footgear but to fowl: in cockfighting, it has <br /> long been used to indicate that a bird has sharp spurs (natural weapons on <br /> its legs, sometimes augmented artificially). On the American frontier, the <br /> term was used to mean one was carrying a gun; later it evolved to mean one <br /> was armed with wealth. The phrase "to earn one's spurs" traces back to <br /> chivalric tradition, when spurs were awarded in recognition of battlefield <br /> or tournament heroics.<br /><br /><br /> Abby Fox was the production editor and proofreader for Yahoo! Hacks. Derek <br /> Di Matteo was the copyeditor. Lydia Onofrei and Marlowe Shaeffer provided <br /> production assistance. Adam Witwer and Claire Cloutier provided quality <br /> control. Lucie Haskins wrote the index.<br /><br /><br /> Hanna Dyer designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by <br /> Edie Freedman. The cover image is a photograph from Getty Images. Marcia <br /> Friedman produced the cover layout with Adobe InDesign CS using Adobe's <br /> Helvetica Neue and ITC Garamond fonts.<br /><br /><br /> David Futato designed the interior layout. Keith Fahlgren converted this <br /> book from Microsoft Word to FrameMaker 5.5.6 with a format conversion tool <br /> created by Erik Ray, Jason McIntosh, Neil Walls, and Mike Sierra that uses <br /> Perl and XML technologies. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading <br /> font is Adobe Helvetica Neue Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont's <br /> TheSans Mono Condensed. The illustrations that appear in the book were <br /> produced by Robert Romano, Jessamyn Read, and Lesley Borash using <br /> Macromedia Free-Hand MX and Adobe Photoshop CS. Abby Fox wrote this <br /> colophon.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Index<br /><br /><br /> [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] <br /> [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Index<br /><br /><br /> [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] <br /> [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] <br /><br /><br /> <Cache> tag<br /> <cfhttp> tag 2nd<br /> <cfhttpparam> tag<br /> <cfloop> tag<br /> <ClickUrl> tag<br /> <description> tag<br /> HTML and 2nd<br /> RSS format 2nd<br /> <div> tag 2nd 3rd<br /> <form> tag<br /> <head> tag 2nd<br /> <iframe> element 2nd<br /> <item> tag 2nd<br /> <link> tag<br /> photo titles<br /> RSS format<br /> <media:adult> tag<br /> <media:category> tag<br /> <media:content> tag 2nd<br /> <media:credit> tag<br /> <media:player> tag<br /> <media:text> tag<br /> <media:thumbnail> tag<br /> <MimeType> tag<br /> <ModificationDate> tag<br /> <outline> tag<br /> <pubDate> tag<br /> <ResultSet> tag<br /> <script> tag<br /> <SEARCH> tag<br /> <style> tag<br /> <textarea> tag 2nd<br /> <title> tag<br /> web search results<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Index<br /><br /><br /> [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] <br /> [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] <br /><br /><br /> about:cache file<br /> about:config file<br /> ACT!<br /> ActiveX Control 2nd<br /> Acxiom<br /> Add to My Yahoo! icon<br /> Add/Edit Buttons (Yahoo! Toolbar)<br /> addKey( ) function 2nd<br /> address book<br /> adding to 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th<br /> exporting<br /> mapping contacts<br /> one-click access 2nd<br /> syncing<br /> Yahoo! Mail and<br /> Yahoo! Mobile and 2nd<br /> Address field (Yahoo! Calendar)<br /> address! property shortcut<br /> addresses<br /> blocking specific<br /> Flickr address<br /> groups and<br /> importing<br /> mail server<br /> mapping to 2nd<br /> plotting 2nd<br /> temporary<br /> Yahoo! Maps and<br /> adult content<br /> desktop images<br /> filtering<br /> Yahoo! services and<br /> adult_ok parameter 2nd<br /> advertising<br /> cookies and 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> AIM (AOL Instant Messenger)<br /> Ajax 2nd 3rd<br /> alerts<br /> email<br /> American Heritage Dictionary<br /> American Heritage Spanish Dictionary<br /> ampersand (&)<br /> search queries and<br /> spelling words with images<br /> Yahoo! Mail URLs<br /> Angelopoulos<br /> announcement lists<br /> AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)<br /> API Endpoint 2nd<br /> API variables<br /> APIs (application programming interfaces)<br /> accessing data<br /> adding to blogs 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th<br /> Buzz Game 2nd<br /> comparing search terms<br /> mash-up images 2nd<br /> spelling words with images<br /> weblogs and<br /> apostrophe (')<br /> appid parameter<br /> Apple<br /> Dashboard feature<br /> AppleScript 2nd<br /> application IDs<br /> gvcard and<br /> Perl and<br /> plotting map points<br /> unique<br /> VBScript and<br /> applications<br /> adding links automatically 2nd 3rd 4th 5th<br /> Ajax 2nd<br /> comparing search terms 2nd 3rd 4th 5th<br /> creating MIDlets 2nd<br /> finding links<br /> grouping search results 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th<br /> illustrating web sites 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> importing from<br /> importing listings into Excel 2nd<br /> OPML 2nd<br /> overview<br /> plotting maps 2nd 3rd<br /> Python and<br /> random Mac desktop 2nd 3rd<br /> random Windows desktop 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th<br /> spelling words with images 2nd<br /> visualizing news topics 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> archives<br /> group email 2nd<br /> Yahoo! Buzz Log<br /> Yahoo! Group and<br /> yahoo2mbox 2nd<br /> Artymiak<br /> Ask Yahoo!<br /> aspect keyword<br /> aspect ratio<br /> asterisk (*)<br /> asynchronous communication<br /> file:///D:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Lovish/Desktop/yahoo/yahoohks-CHP-3-SECT-3.html#idx-CHP-3-1036<br /> ATOM API<br /> Atom feed<br /> authentication<br /> AuthUserFile setting<br /> Auto-Linker 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> automobile loan calculations<br /> autos property<br /> avatars<br /> creating<br /> Yahoo! Instant Messenger and<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Index<br /><br /><br /> [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] <br /> [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] <br /><br /><br /> background images<br /> Windows 2nd<br /> backslash (\)<br /> banking property<br /> banking-related calculators<br /> Bartlett's Familiar Quotations<br /> Battelle<br /> Bausch<br /> bcc variable<br /> Beattie<br /> Biafore<br /> Block link<br /> My Web and 2nd 3rd<br /> Blog This button 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> Blogger service 2nd<br /> BloggerAPI<br /> Bloglines RSS reader<br /> importing blogrolls<br /> importing bookmarks<br /> OPML applications 2nd<br /> Blogrolling web service 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> body variable<br /> bonds<br /> calculators related to<br /> tracking<br /> bookmarklets<br /> shortening URLs<br /> translation 2nd 3rd<br /> Yahoo! Mail 2nd 3rd<br /> Yahoo! Travel and<br /> yReplacer and 2nd<br /> bookmarks<br /> bookmarklets and 2nd<br /> importing 2nd<br /> movie showtimes<br /> one-click adding 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> opening in sidebars 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> publishing<br /> Yahoo! Mail URLs<br /> box office charts<br /> Brown<br /> browsers<br /> cross-site scripting<br /> JavaScript and<br /> opting out of cookies<br /> SafeSearch Lock and<br /> transferring bookmarks<br /> uploading photos<br /> Yahoo! Mail and<br /> Yahoo! Toolbar 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th<br /> browsing<br /> international stock exchanges<br /> Yahoo! Directory and 2nd 3rd<br /> Yahoo! Shopping<br /> Bryngfors<br /> Bulk folder 2nd<br /> Bureau of Labor Statistics<br /> Burke<br /> businesses<br /> buzz score 2nd<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Index<br /><br /><br /> [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] <br /> [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] <br /><br /><br /> caches<br /> prefetch results and<br /> Cadenhead 2nd<br /> calculators 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th<br /> calendar! property shortcut<br /> calendars<br /> finding dates<br /> managing and sharing 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th<br /> shared<br /> Yahoo! TV and 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> Calishain 2nd<br /> Cantoni<br /> captcha image 2nd<br /> cars property<br /> categories<br /> calculating links<br /> contacts and<br /> Flickr members and<br /> tracking additions<br /> Yahoo!<br /> CC (Creative Commons) 2nd 3rd 4th 5th<br /> cell phones<br /> checking mail via<br /> content tabs<br /> sending information to<br /> sending photos to Flickr<br /> tracking portfolios<br /> viewing movie lists 2nd 3rd 4th 5th<br /> web cookies and<br /> Yahoo! Alerts 2nd<br /> Yahoo! Mobile and<br /> Cerulean Studios<br /> CFML (ColdFusion Markup Language)<br /> CGI<br /> vCard 2nd 3rd<br /> cgi module (Python)<br /> channel lineup 2nd<br /> character codes<br /> charset attribute<br /> charts<br /> chats<br /> avatars and<br /> groups and<br /> instant messenger<br /> Yahoo! 360<br /> Choose Buttons option (Yahoo! Toolbar)<br /> classifieds property<br /> CNET News.blog: Yahoo weblog<br /> ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML) 2nd<br /> colon (:)<br /> colors<br /> email accounts<br /> Grokker maps<br /> instant messenger contacts and<br /> My Yahoo! pages 2nd<br /> My Yahoo! Ticker and<br /> Columbia Encyclopedia<br /> comic strips<br /> .comment variable<br /> communicating<br /> adding contacts to address book<br /> archiving group messages 2nd 3rd<br /> creating avatars 2nd<br /> exploring social networks<br /> group collaboration 2nd 3rd 4th 5th<br /> managing Yahoo! Mail 2nd 3rd 4th 5th<br /> navigating Yahoo! Mail 2nd 3rd 4th 5th<br /> reading email in one place 2nd 3rd 4th 5th<br /> reading email in preferred client 2nd 3rd<br /> sharing calendars 2nd 3rd<br /> storing and sharing photos 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th<br /> tab 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th<br /> Trillian 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> Yahoo! Mail macros 2nd 3rd 4th 5th<br /> commute 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> configuration<br /> email clients<br /> weblogs 2nd<br /> contacts<br /> Flickr community<br /> Yahoo! 360 profile and<br /> content 2nd<br /> content management software<br /> content tabs (Yahoo! Messenger) 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th<br /> content url setting (Yahoo! Messenger) 2nd 3rd<br /> context menus 2nd 3rd<br /> contextual searches<br /> adding to weblogs 2nd 3rd 4th 5th<br /> web services and<br /> conversion<br /> currencies<br /> JPEG to bitmap<br /> Conversion Calculator<br /> convert shortcut<br /> Convert to Bitmap (ActiveX component)<br /> cookies<br /> opting out of advertiser 2nd 3rd<br /> SafeSearch settings<br /> Yahoo! ID<br /> country parameter<br /> CPAN module repository<br /> Yahoo! 360 and<br /> crawlers<br /> Creative Commons (CC) 2nd 3rd 4th 5th<br /> CSS stylesheets<br /> CSV (comma-separated values) format<br /> gvcard and<br /> Microsoft Outlook<br /> Perl and<br /> plotting contact location<br /> Yahoo! Local Search To Excel program<br /> csz variable<br /> Ctrl-Shift-C (check mail) shortcut<br /> Ctrl-Shift-F (view folders) shortcut<br /> Ctrl-Shift-H (help) shortcut<br /> Ctrl-Shift-P (compose new mail) shortcut<br /> Ctrl-Shift-S (open Advanced Search form) shortcut<br /> currencies 2nd<br /> Currency Converter (Yahoo! Finance) 2nd 3rd 4th<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Index<br /><br /><br /> [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] <br /> [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] <br /><br /><br /> Dashboard (Macintosh)<br /> databases<br /> shared<br /> TV show<br /> Date field (Yahoo! Calendar)<br /> date keyword<br /> Date::Manip module<br /> Daypop weblog search<br /> Decliners link (Yahoo! Buzz)<br /> del.icio.us bookmark manager 2nd<br /> directions 2nd<br /> directories<br /> Display Bmp setting (Yahoo! Messenger)<br /> Display Name setting (Yahoo! Messenger)<br /> distribution lists<br /> domains<br /> Donamraju<br /> .done variable<br /> Drafts folder 2nd<br /> driving directions<br /> duration keyword<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Index<br /><br /><br /> [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] <br /> [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] <br /><br /><br /> eavesdropping<br /> Eclipse environment 2nd<br /> EclipseME plug-in<br /> Edit Web Query dialog box<br /> editing<br /> editorial cartoons<br /> education! property shortcut<br /> email<br /> alerts 2nd<br /> book 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> creating macros 2nd 3rd<br /> creating TV watch lists<br /> displaying on web sites 2nd 3rd<br /> enclosures and<br /> exporting address books<br /> favorite TV listings<br /> invitation service<br /> long URLs and<br /> shortcuts for<br /> stock updates 2nd 3rd 4th 5th<br /> Email field (Yahoo! Address Book)<br /> emoticons<br /> emotions 2nd<br /> enclosures<br /> entertainment news<br /> equals sign (=)<br /> escape( ) function 2nd<br /> Event Type field (Yahoo! Calendar)<br /> events<br /> adding<br /> privacy setting<br /> Everything Yahoo!<br /> Excel (Microsoft)<br /> Buzz Game 2nd 3rd 4th 5th<br /> data 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th<br /> exclamation point (!)<br /> EXIF tags<br /> exporting<br /> address book<br /> contacts<br /> searches to spreadsheets 2nd<br /> web site lists<br /> Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL)<br /> external mail accounts adding 2nd<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Index<br /><br /><br /> [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] <br /> [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] <br /><br /><br /> fact-checking<br /> fair use<br /> Fandango<br /> fare trackers 2nd<br /> feed URLs<br /> adding<br /> finding 2nd<br /> messages on web sites 2nd<br /> Feed Validator<br /> feed( ) method<br /> files<br /> filesize keyword<br /> Filo<br /> filters<br /> adult content 2nd<br /> external accounts and<br /> spiders and<br /> finance! property shortcut<br /> financial markets 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th<br /> FIND function<br /> Fire application<br /> Firefox browser<br /> adding Yahoo! Search types 2nd 3rd<br /> Clear Recent Searches option<br /> cookie settings<br /> desktop pictures<br /> getting related terms instantly<br /> importing bookmarks from<br /> keyboard shortcuts 2nd 3rd<br /> pop-up windows and<br /> property shortcuts<br /> search box<br /> Yahoo! ID and<br /> Yahoo! Toolbar<br /> first party<br /> FishHoo! fishing search engine<br /> Flash plug-in<br /> avatars<br /> photo slideshow<br /> Flickr address<br /> Flickr badges 2nd 3rd 4th 5th<br /> Flickr photo-sharing service<br /> email subject lines<br /> feeding photos to web sites 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th<br /> mobile site<br /> posting photos to blogs 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th<br /> storing/sharing photos 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th<br /> web services and 2nd<br /> weblogs and<br /> folder class (CSS)<br /> .folder variable<br /> folders<br /> external mail accounts<br /> shared<br /> Startup<br /> follow_link function<br /> fonts<br /> Yahoo! Music Engine<br /> format method<br /> formats<br /> date<br /> Yahoo! Advanced Search<br /> Yahoo! Video Search<br /> Foster<br /> fromsite keyword<br /> fromtitle keyword<br /> fromtld keyword<br /> Furl<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Index<br /><br /><br /> [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] <br /> [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] <br /><br /><br /> games<br /> memory<br /> yReplacer 2nd 3rd<br /> games! property shortcut<br /> garbage characters<br /> Geocoder web service 2nd<br /> geocoding 2nd<br /> geoRSS<br /> GET request 2nd<br /> get( ) method<br /> Getopt::Long module<br /> Getopt::Simple module<br /> getUsersBlogs method 2nd<br /> Gift Finder (Yahoo! Shopping)<br /> GNS database<br /> Google News<br /> Google search engine<br /> Firefox and 2nd<br /> link counts 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> Yahoo! Finance and<br /> Yahoo! Search and 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> gossip<br /> graphical user interface (GUI)<br /> graphs<br /> Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body<br /> Greasemonkey plug-in (Firefox) 2nd 3rd 4th 5th<br /> greater-than sign (>)<br /> Grokker service 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th<br /> groups<br /> collaborating in 2nd 3rd 4th 5th<br /> creating<br /> joining<br /> RSS feeds<br /> sharing information 2nd<br /> GUI (graphical user interface)<br /> gvcard 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Index<br /><br /><br /> [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] <br /> [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] <br /><br /><br /> hackers<br /> health news<br /> health property<br /> height keyword<br /> Flickr<br /> video searches<br /> help shortcut<br /> Hemenway 2nd<br /> Herren<br /> Hitchcock<br /> horoscopes 2nd<br /> Hsiung<br /> HTML<br /> adding web site presence<br /> ColdFusion and<br /> email format<br /> Flickr and 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> screen scraping and 2nd<br /> vCards<br /> XSLT stylesheets and 2nd 3rd<br /> Y!Q and<br /> YME and<br /> HTML::Entities module<br /> HTML::HeadParser module<br /> HTML::LinkExtor module<br /> HTML::TableExtract module<br /> HTML::TokeParser module<br /> htmlUrl attribute<br /> htpasswd tool<br /> HTTP protocol<br /> 403 "forbidden" error<br /> basic authentication<br /> getting related terms instantly<br /> Perl and<br /> REST service and<br /> file:///D:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Lovish/Desktop/yahoo/yahoohks-CHP-6-SECT-2.html#idx-CHP-6-1883<br /> hyperlinks<br /> hypermail program<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Index<br /><br /><br /> [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] <br /> [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] <br /><br /><br /> IBM MIDlet manager<br /> iChat (Apple)<br /> icons<br /> Add to My Yahoo!<br /> desktop backgrounds and<br /> generic Yahoo! 2nd<br /> Google<br /> personal buddy<br /> XML 2nd<br /> yellow folder<br /> ICQ<br /> IIS (Internet Information Server)<br /> Image::Size module 2nd<br /> IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol)<br /> Import Data dialog box<br /> Important Dates field (Yahoo! Address Book)<br /> importing<br /> addresses<br /> bookmarks 2nd 3rd<br /> contacts 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> from applications<br /> listings into Excel<br /> IMSmarter.com<br /> Inbox folder 2nd<br /> indexes 2nd<br /> installation<br /> bookmarklets<br /> pYsearch library<br /> Yahoo! Local Traffic widget<br /> Yahoo! Toolbar 2nd<br /> YPOPs! 2nd<br /> instant messenger<br /> avatars 2nd 3rd<br /> Trillian 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> Yahoo! Alerts 2nd<br /> insurance property<br /> Intellisync for Yahoo! 2nd<br /> Internet Explorer browser<br /> adding RSS feeds 2nd 3rd<br /> Internet Information Server (IIS)<br /> My Yahoo! Ticker 2nd 3rd<br /> search bar 2nd<br /> Yahoo! Toolbar<br /> Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP)<br /> investment-related calculators<br /> investments 2nd 3rd<br /> invitations<br /> Yahoo! 360 and 2nd 3rd<br /> Yahoo! Calendar 2nd<br /> Invitations field (Yahoo! Calendar)<br /> IonZoft<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Index<br /><br /><br /> [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] <br /> [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] <br /><br /><br /> J2ME (Java 2<br /> Java Developer Kit (JDK)<br /> Java language<br /> web services 2nd 3rd 4th 5th<br /> JavaScript<br /> getting related terms 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> Y!Q library<br /> JDK (Java Developer Kit)<br /> job openings<br /> jobs property<br /> JPEG format 2nd<br /> .jpg extension<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Index<br /><br /><br /> [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] <br /> [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] <br /><br /><br /> Kennedy<br /> keywords<br /> creating TV watch lists<br /> desktop background searches<br /> indexes and<br /> Perl example 2nd<br /> tags as 2nd<br /> tracking trends<br /> Yahoo! Video Search 2nd<br /> Kinja<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Index<br /><br /><br /> [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] <br /> [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] <br /><br /><br /> Langreiter<br /> language parameter<br /> LDIF (Lightweight Directory Interchange Format)<br /> LEFT function<br /> LEN function<br /> Lenssen 2nd<br /> Lerdorf<br /> less-than sign (<)<br /> license parameter<br /> life insurance calculators<br /> Lightweight Directory Interchange Format (LDIF)<br /> link class (CSS)<br /> link count<br /> linkbacks 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> links<br /> blogrolls and<br /> del.icio.us service<br /> finding to web sites 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> garbage characters and<br /> OPML and<br /> saving<br /> Set Alert<br /> sharing<br /> URL trimming services and<br /> Yahoo! Mobile<br /> Linux environment<br /> YPOPs! software<br /> listFolders function<br /> listUrls function<br /> LiveJournal<br /> loans property<br /> Location field (Yahoo! Calendar)<br /> lookup module<br /> lookup.py module<br /> lottery property<br /> lottery results<br /> Lotus Organizer<br /> lp variable 2nd<br /> Ludicorp<br /> LWP::Simple module<br /> emailing listings<br /> Flickr feeds<br /> geocoding and<br /> graphing markets<br /> Mac desktop images<br /> stock update email<br /> web services and<br /> Yahoo! API requests and<br /> LWP::UserAgent module<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Index<br /><br /><br /> [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] <br /> [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] <br /><br /><br /> m variable<br /> Mac::AppleScript module<br /> Macintosh environment<br /> Dashboard<br /> random desktop background<br /> uploading photos<br /> web queries<br /> Yahoo! Messenger<br /> Macromedia Flash Player<br /> macros<br /> mag variable<br /> mail accounts<br /> adding<br /> mail! shortcut 2nd<br /> Mailbox link<br /> Maildir format<br /> mailing lists 2nd<br /> Make TinyURL! button<br /> Manila<br /> mapping<br /> contacts<br /> work addresses<br /> maps<br /> Grokker 2nd 3rd<br /> plotting points<br /> web services and<br /> Maps API<br /> Maron<br /> mash-ups<br /> mb2md program (Python)<br /> mb2md.pl program (Perl)<br /> mbox format 2nd<br /> McKenzie<br /> McManus<br /> media RSS 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th<br /> memory games<br /> message boards<br /> message filters 2nd<br /> Messenger ID field (Yahoo! Address Book)<br /> meta keywords<br /> meta tags<br /> metadata 2nd<br /> MetaWeblogAPI 2nd<br /> Microsoft IIS<br /> Microsoft MSN Messenger<br /> Microsoft Outlook 2nd<br /> Microsoft Windows Script 2nd<br /> Microsoft XML Parser 2nd<br /> MIDlet 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> MIDP (Mobile Information Device Profile) specification<br /> minsev variable<br /> Missing Children Alerts<br /> Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) specification<br /> MODE text link<br /> modules<br /> CPAN repository 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> moving<br /> My Yahoo! Ticker and<br /> moods 2nd<br /> Morris<br /> mortgage-related calculators<br /> Movable Type<br /> movies<br /> finding and rating 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th<br /> showtimes for 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th<br /> viewing lists on cell phones<br /> Mozilla<br /> MSN Messenger (Microsoft)<br /> music collection 2nd 3rd 4th 5th<br /> mutual funds 2nd 3rd 4th 5th<br /> My Favorites link<br /> My Yahoo!<br /> adding content<br /> favorite channels<br /> finding bookmarks<br /> personalizing<br /> product feeds<br /> RSS feeds 2nd<br /> tracking information<br /> tracking news about Yahoo!<br /> tracking sites 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> Yahoo! Bookmarks and<br /> Yahoo! Finance RSS feed and<br /> My Yahoo! Ticker 2nd 3rd 4th 5th<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Index<br /><br /><br /> [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] <br /> [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] <br /><br /><br /> n variable<br /> Nadig<br /> Name field (Yahoo! Address Book)<br /> .name variable<br /> Neilsen ratings<br /> NET::SMTP module 2nd<br /> New Web Query dialog box 2nd<br /> New Window box<br /> NEW! icon<br /> newline character<br /> newPost method 2nd<br /> news<br /> breaking<br /> entertainment<br /> health<br /> photo modules<br /> news! property shortcut<br /> newspaper icon<br /> newsreaders<br /> OPML and<br /> RSS and<br /> next! property shortcut<br /> Nielsen/Netratings<br /> Nilsen<br /> Notepad 2nd<br /> Notes field<br /> Yahoo! Address Book<br /> Yahoo! Calendar<br /> Number::Format module<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Index<br /><br /><br /> [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] <br /> [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] <br /><br /><br /> O'Reilly Media<br /> Ogasawara 2nd 3rd<br /> Online Presence Indicator<br /> Open Directory Project (Google) 2nd 3rd<br /> OPML (Outline Processor Markup Language)<br /> applications<br /> blogrolls and<br /> TagCloud and<br /> OPML Link Publisher 2nd<br /> opting out (cookies)<br /> Organizr tool (Flickr) 2nd<br /> Outlook (Microsoft) 2nd<br /> Outlook Express<br /> Oxford Shakespeare<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Index<br /><br /><br /> [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] <br /> [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] <br /><br /><br /> package trackers<br /> padlock icon 2nd<br /> PageRank (Google)<br /> Palm Desktop<br /> Parameters dialog box<br /> parentheses (( ))<br /> parse( ) function<br /> Password Gorilla program<br /> Password Safe program<br /> passwords<br /> in scripts<br /> server authentication<br /> Yahoo! ID and<br /> Patel<br /> PDAs (personal digital assistants)<br /> ABA format<br /> pencil icon<br /> people 2nd<br /> Perl language<br /> CSV files and<br /> Flickr feeds<br /> programming Yahoo! 2nd 3rd<br /> REST service and<br /> pets property<br /> phone books 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th<br /> Phone field (Yahoo! Calendar)<br /> Phone Numbers field (Yahoo! Address Book)<br /> photographs<br /> photos<br /> desktop background<br /> posting to blogs 2nd 3rd<br /> profiles and<br /> Yahoo! 360 and<br /> photostream (Flickr) 2nd<br /> PHP language<br /> Web of Letters 2nd<br /> web services and 2nd 3rd<br /> Yahoo! Buzz Demo<br /> PICK! icon 2nd<br /> Picks of the Day (Yahoo!)<br /> Pilgrim 2nd<br /> Pillai 2nd<br /> pipe<br /> to files<br /> to text files 2nd<br /> pixels<br /> desktop background 2nd<br /> image sizes and<br /> videos and<br /> plug-ins<br /> EclipseME<br /> Flash 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> Greasemonkey 2nd<br /> TraxStats<br /> YME and 2nd 3rd<br /> Pocket PCs<br /> podcasting<br /> polls<br /> POP (Post Office Protocol)<br /> configuring email clients<br /> external mail accounts and<br /> Yahoo! Mail Plus and<br /> pop-up windows<br /> portal spiders 2nd<br /> portfolios 2nd 3rd<br /> POST request<br /> presence 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> printing<br /> privacy<br /> Acxiom on<br /> event setting<br /> Flickr member categories and<br /> third parties and<br /> uploaded photos<br /> web sites and 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> Yahoo! 360 profiles<br /> Yahoo! Mail and<br /> Yahoo! Toolbar 2nd<br /> product comparison 2nd 3rd<br /> properties<br /> for services<br /> My Yahoo! Ticker and<br /> publishing Yahoo! Bookmarks 2nd 3rd<br /> pYsearch library (Python) 2nd 3rd<br /> Python language<br /> gvcard and<br /> web services 2nd 3rd<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Index<br /><br /><br /> [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] <br /> [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] <br /><br /><br /> queries<br /> assembling advanced 2nd 3rd<br /> downloading financial data 2nd<br /> parameters in<br /> spotting trends in 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> query parameter<br /> Quick Add Event form<br /> QuickBuilder tool (Yahoo! Mail)<br /> Quicktime plug-in (Apple)<br /> quotation marks (" ")<br /> keywords and<br /> phrases in<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Index<br /><br /><br /> [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] <br /> [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] <br /><br /><br /> ranking<br /> Google and<br /> Yahoo! and<br /> ratings<br /> about businesses 2nd<br /> about movies<br /> merchant<br /> real estate property<br /> Really Simple Syndication (RSS) 2nd 3rd 4th<br /> REBOL (Relative Expression-based Object Language) 2nd 3rd<br /> .reg files<br /> Relative Expression-based Object Language (REBOL)<br /> Reminders field (Yahoo! Calendar)<br /> Repeating Event field (Yahoo! Calendar)<br /> requests<br /> daily limits<br /> making<br /> research 2nd 3rd<br /> ResearchBuzz: Yahoo weblog<br /> Resig<br /> responses<br /> Ruby script 2nd<br /> REST service<br />