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How much backend on a site is needed to support this, or is it as simple as creating a search provider in IE?

I can answer that :) The backend depends on the situation and who 'you' are.

For example in my case with Flickr, because Flickr doesn't natively support this, I had to develop a backend that acts as the middle-man between the RSS2 feed Windows 7 expects and the APIs Flickr provides. If the RSS2 feed was natively implemented in Flickr (bit different to the feeds they have now), then there would be no additional backend.

The actual search connector which users install to their PCs is an XML file, and is as simple as creating a search provider in IE.

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I can answer that :) The backend depends on the situation and who 'you' are.

For example in my case with Flickr, because Flickr doesn't natively support this, I had to develop a backend that acts as the middle-man between the RSS2 feed Windows 7 expects and the APIs Flickr provides. If the RSS2 feed was natively implemented in Flickr (bit different to the feeds they have now), then there would be no additional backend.

The actual search connector which users install to their PCs is an XML file, and is as simple as creating a search provider in IE.

That's interesting. Thanks.

It would have some interesting applications for thinks like VOD content.

I take it the Connector supports different types of rich media and not just photos?

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That's interesting. Thanks.

It would have some interesting applications for thinks like VOD content.

I take it the Connector supports different types of rich media and not just photos?

It supports any file format you throw at it (double clicking a file will launch whatever app usually launches that format), but visually supports image thumbnails.

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It supports any file format you throw at it (double clicking a file will launch whatever app usually launches that format), but visually supports image thumbnails.

You can return a thumbnail for any item type. Basically, the server does the job of extracting the thumbnail for an item, and then returns the thumbnail (in a supported image format) to the client. That image could be a thumbnail for a picture, a video, a document, or it could just be an icon. If no thumbnail is provided, the item will have the icon for that file type, just as if it were on the desktop.

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Could you create one for google or live pictures search and deviantart for example? It would be amazing ! :devil:

DeviantArt already has RSS output for their search results, and they even use MediaRSS which is great.

They have a bug though... their <media:content> elements lack the requires "type" attribute, so Explorer doesn't know to treat the items as images.

There is a workaround since their URLs contain the file extension. Win7 supports a special flag that tells it that the URL's file extension is okay to use for determining the type, though in general it's preferred not to use this and DeviantArt really should fix their feed.

Anyway, here's an OSDX for DeviantArt (I haven't tried it on the M3 build but it should work).

http://brandonlive.com/files/osd/Deviant%20Art.osdx

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Actually, upon looking at their feed, that may not work as I expected on the 6801 pre-beta build :(

Can't be sure until somebody tries it I guess.

It says the server returned invalid data (in a nice yellow information bar, rather than a modal window with a stop sound, which is what I would have expected.)

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It says the server returned invalid data (in a nice yellow information bar, rather than a modal window with a stop sound, which is what I would have expected.)

What did you search for when you got this message?

Glad you prefer the infobar :)

Are there any APIs for developers to customise the experience in Explorer? For example, Deviantart being able to add a context menu item for "Add to Favourites", "Leave Comment" or "Rate"?

If they install some client code they can use the same context menu extension capabilities that have existed in previous versions of Windows.

From the server side they can control what shows up in the list view, in the preview pane, etc. But not the context menu entires at this time.

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What did you search for when you got this message?

Glad you prefer the infobar :)

I just searched for Wallpaper.

If they install some client code they can use the same context menu extension capabilities that have existed in previous versions of Windows.

From the server side they can control what shows up in the list view, in the preview pane, etc. But not the context menu entires at this time.

Sounds good. It would be good though if the context menu could be controlled or added to by server-side code; perhaps even items in the top bar thingy?

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I just searched for Wallpaper.

Ah, yeah I'm getting the same error, seems specific to that query. I'll take a look when I get in the office today.

Sounds good. It would be good though if the context menu could be controlled or added to by server-side code; perhaps even items in the top bar thingy?

Thanks for the suggestion. That's actually on our "wish list" so to speak, but we want to make sure we get it done right and really think through the design and the scenarios where developers would want to use it, so it likely won't happen for this release. That said, feedback like this helps drive what gets prioritized, so it's much appreciated!

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Ah, yeah I'm getting the same error, seems specific to that query. I'll take a look when I get in the office today.

Thanks for the suggestion. That's actually on our "wish list" so to speak, but we want to make sure we get it done right and really think through the design and the scenarios where developers would want to use it, so it likely won't happen for this release. That said, feedback like this helps drive what gets prioritized, so it's much appreciated!

No problem. It's brilliant to be able to be so direct with feedback.

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FYI, the problem with DeviantArt is actually in their feed. They aren't escaping a character that is illegal in XML.

Internet Explorer will give you a similar error if you try to view the feed there:

http://backend.deviantart.com/rss.xml?q=bo...er&offset=1

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FYI, the problem with DeviantArt is actually in their feed. They aren't escaping a character that is illegal in XML.

Internet Explorer will give you a similar error if you try to view the feed there:

http://backend.deviantart.com/rss.xml?q=bo...er&offset=1

I learned to overcome that problem the hard way, a.k.a. tearing my hair out and banging on the table hard.

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