GNU Info
(gnus)Web Searches
Web Searches ------------ It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a string, but it, like, totally _sucks_, like, totally, to use one of those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do _rad_, rilly, searches without having to use a browser. The `nnweb' back end allows an easy interface to the mighty search engine. You create an `nnweb' group, enter a search pattern, and then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal group. The `G w' command in the group buffer (Note: Foreign Groups) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion. `nnweb' groups don't really lend themselves to being solid groups--they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact, each time you enter an `nnweb' group (not even changing the search pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (Note: Duplicate Suppression) will help, since `nnweb' doesn't even know the `Message-ID' of the articles before reading them using some search engines (DejaNews, for instance). The only possible way to keep track of which articles you've read is by scoring on the `Date' header--mark all articles posted before the last date you read the group as read. If the search engine changes its output substantially, `nnweb' won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web providers if they were to do this--their _raison d'être_ is to make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the community. Since `nnweb' washes the ads off all the articles, one might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see. You must have the `url' and `w3' package installed to be able to use `nnweb'. Virtual server variables: `nnweb-type' What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types are `dejanews', `dejanewsold', `altavista' and `reference'. `nnweb-search' The search string to feed to the search engine. `nnweb-max-hits' Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is 100. `nnweb-type-definition' Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what `nnweb' should do with the various search engine types. The following elements must be present: `article' Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus understands. `map' Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist. `search' Function to send the search string to the search engine. `address' The address the aforementioned function should send the search string to. `id' Format string URL to fetch an article by `Message-ID'.
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