(q) vs. %s

[Brian]

Hi Zeke,

Thanks for creating Queriac. I noticed in one place the documentation
suggests using (q) in the query, and somewhere else it says to use
%s. Do both work? If so, what is the difference between the two?

Brian

[Zeke Sikelianos]

Brian,

Thanks for catching that. The proper wildcard is (q), but if you use
%s when creating/editing your command, it will automatically
substitute the (q) when saving the command. I've just now changed the
ambiguous reference to %s on the command creation page, to prevent
confusion.

This opens up a larger question that I've been considering.. Should
Queriac's command structure be modeled after YubNub's? I know the
YubNub style draws inspiration from Unix-style string replacement
techniques, but initially I wanted to implement something a little
more clear for newbie users. For the moment, Queriac just does simple
single replacement of the wildcard, like Mozilla quicksearches, but
implmenting something more flexible is at the top of my priority list.
Anyway, I'd love feedback on this.

Thanks,
Zeke

[Brian]

There's a small group of programmers who put a lot of work into
extending YubNub's features by hosting advanced commands on their own
servers (see the scrape and ifthen commands as examples). I think the
thing that really got that community excited was YubNub's advanced
features such as parameter and pipe support. Those off-site commands
would be more difficult to implement with only a single wildcard
replacement.

If queri.ac could support parameters, people could use the same off-
site commands that YubNub uses, making it more powerful.