ContextSearch-Native-App

Native App for use with ContextSearch web-ext

This is a simple app written python that launches external applications from ContextSearch web-ext.

This app only runs when called by ContextSearch web-ext. It does not run when the browser is closed or when ContextSearch web-ext is not installed.

Requires Python 3

Be sure to install Python 3 before using the native app

---

Using With Alternative Browsers and Temporary / Unpacked Extensions

Some browsers provide a different ID for the ContextSearch web-ext extension than what is listed in the browsers.json file. In these cases, you will need to add the alternative IDs to the allowed_extensions or allowed_origins keys and run the installer. In some cases, you may want to create an entirely new browser entry in the browsers.json

---

Using the Installer ( easy way )

Download and run install.py

python3 install.py

To uninstall

python3 install.py --uninstall

---

Manual Install ( not-so-easy way )

Windows

Step 1

Download ContextSearch.py and contextsearch_webext.json

Step 2

Move files to desired location ( where mclovin is your user name )

mkdir "C:\Users\mclovin\AppData\Roaming\ContextSearch-webext"
move ContextSearch.py "C:\Users\mclovin\AppData\Roaming\ContextSearch-webext"
move contextsearch_webext.json "C:\Users\mclovin\AppData\Roaming\ContextSearch-webext"

and update your registry

Chrome

REG ADD "HKCU\Software\Google\Chrome\NativeMessagingHosts\contextsearch_webext" /ve /t REG_SZ /d "C:\Users\mclovin\AppData\Roaming\ContextSearch-webext\contextsearch_webext.json" /f

Firefox

REG ADD "HKCU\Software\Mozilla\NativeMessagingHosts\contextsearch_webext" /ve /t REG_SZ /d "C:\Users\mclovin\AppData\Roaming\ContextSearch-webext\contextsearch_webext.json" /f

Step 3

Edit "path" key in contextsearch_webext.json to point to the python script. For example. if you moved ContextSearch.py to "C:\Users\mclovin\AppData\Roaming\ContextSearch-webext" your contextsearch_webext.json would look like:

{
    "name": "contextsearch_webext",
    "description": "Launch applications from ContextSearch-webext",
    "path": "C:\\Users\\mclovin\\AppData\\Roaming\\ContextSearch-webext\\ContextSearch.py",
    "type": "stdio",
    "allowed_extensions": [ "{5dd73bb9-e728-4d1e-990b-c77d8e03670f}" ]
}

Chrome requires a slightly different manifest.json

{
    "name": "contextsearch_webext",
    "description": "Launches external application",
    "path": "C:\\Users\\mclovin\\AppData\\Roaming\\ContextSearch-webext\\ContextSearch.py",
    "type": "stdio",
    "allowed_origins": [ 
        "chrome-extension://lnojieghgnojlhmnfpmeidigmjpkppep/",
        "chrome-extension://ddippghibegbgpjcaaijbacfhjjeafjh/"
    ]
}

Windows does not always recognize `ContextSearch.py` as an executable, and may not work unless called from a `.bat` file.

Step 4 ( if necessary )

Create a new file named ContextSearch.bat in the C:\Users\mclovin\AppData\Roaming\ContextSearch-webext folder with the following content

@echo off
C:\Users\MYNAME\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python309\python.exe ContextSearch.py

change the Python path to wherever your python.exe is installed

Step 5 ( if necessary )

Change the path in contextsearch_webext.json to "path": "C:\\Users\\mclovin\\AppData\\Roaming\\ContextSearch-webext\\ContextSearch.bat"

---

Linux / MacOS

Step 1

Download ContextSearch.py and contextsearch_webext.json

Step 2

Make ContextSearch.py executable and move to desired location ( where mclovin is your user name )

mkdir /home/mclovin/bin
chmod +x ContextSearch.py && mv ContextSearch.py /home/mclovin/bin

Step 3

Edit "path" key in contextsearch_webext.json to point to the python script. For example. if you moved ContextSearch.py to /home/mclovin/bin your contextsearch_webext.json would look like:

{
    "name": "contextsearch_webext",
    "description": "Launch applications from ContextSearch-webext",
    "path": "/home/mclovin/bin/ContextSearch.py",
    "type": "stdio",
    "allowed_extensions": [ "{5dd73bb9-e728-4d1e-990b-c77d8e03670f}" ]
}

Chrome requires a slightly different manifest.json

{
    "name": "contextsearch_webext",
    "description": "Launches external application",
    "path": "/home/mike/bin/ContextSearch.py",
    "type": "stdio",
    "allowed_origins": [ 
        "chrome-extension://lnojieghgnojlhmnfpmeidigmjpkppep/",
        "chrome-extension://ddippghibegbgpjcaaijbacfhjjeafjh/"
    ]
}

Step 4

Move contextsearch_webext.json to the location required by the browser's NativeMessaging API

Linux

• Firefox:

~/.mozilla/native-messaging-hosts/contextsearch_webext.json

• Google Chrome:

~/.config/google-chrome/NativeMessagingHosts/contextsearch_webext.json

• Chromium:

~/.config/chromium/NativeMessagingHosts/contextsearch_webext.json

Mac OS X

• Firefox:

~/Library/Application Support/Mozilla/NativeMessagingHosts/contextsearch_webext.json

• Google Chrome:

~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/NativeMessagingHosts/contextsearch_webext.json

• Chromium:

~/Library/Application Support/Chromium/NativeMessagingHosts/contextsearch_webext.json