[R] Firefox keyword searches for R & S-Plus

[kwright@eskimo.com]

If you've 'rediscovered the web' with Firefox (http://getfirefox.com), you
might find this tip handy.  Suppose you want to search the (local) R
documentation for information about the lme function.  Wouldn't it be nice
to just type into the browser address bar:
  r lme
and have the search performed?  Here's how (on Windows):

Click on this link: 
file:///C:/Progra~1/rw2000/doc/html/search/SearchObject.html?%s

Bookmark the page and name the bookmark something like: R 2.0.0 doc search

Edit the properties of the bookmark (by right-clicking on the bookmark)
and in the keywords field enter: r

Click OK.


That's all there is to it except for a couple of notes:

1. The first time the local search is performed (during a browser
session), the java search applet has to be loaded.  This takes several
seconds.

2. If you use a different operating system, a different version of R, or
install R in a different location, change the bookmark path to the
"SearchObject" file as appropriate.

3. By default this only searches Help page titles.  You may prefer a more
comprehensive search that includes Keywords and Object names.  Edit the
SearchObject.html file and change 'false' to 'true' in the following line:
  line = line + document.SearchEngine.search (searchstring,true,true,true);



Here are my R and S-Plus bookmarks.  I'll just give the link, my bookmark
name, and my bookmark keyword.

http://www.google.com/u/newcastlemaths?q=%s
R mail archive search
rh

http://www.google.com/search?q=site:www.biostat.wustl.edu+[S]+%s
S-news archive search
sn

file:///C:/Progra~1/rw2000/doc/html/search/SearchObject.html?%s
R 2.0.0 doc search
r


Happy searching!

Kevin Wright