Images Acidsearch One of the features I love about [LaunchBar][] is it’s *Search Templates*: They allow you to define query templates for Search Engines, Amazon, Dictionaries … whatever service that takes the search arguments as a `GET` request. [QuickSilver][], on the other hand, does not do that *natively* — but fortunately, there’s a great solution to that problem: [AcidSearch][]. In the words of its developer: > [AcidSearch][] is a search enhancement for Safari. It adds unlimited “Search Channels” to the Google search field. In other words: You’re not limited to a “Google Search” in Safaris Search field anymore. This alone is just great, I was always a little bit envious towards Firefox for their choice of search engines in the Search box. But the better part of this is, that someone programmed a [Quicksilver Plugin][] that takes these AcidSearches and makes them available in Quicksilver as well: Hit `⌘-Space`, followed by `Goo`, hit `Space` again and type your query, followed by `Enter` and you’ll get Googles results. It might sound complicated but it’s a lot faster than activating Safari, selecting the Search box by any means and then entering that query — especially if Safari’s not launched yet. * * * Of course, this whole thing has a drawback: AcidSearch knows nothing about the LaunchBar Search templates and entering all by hand can quickly become an annoying task. Luckily, these queries are stored in `Configuration.plist` in the `~/Library/Application Support/LaunchBar 4/` folder. Luckily again, AcidSearch can import `plist`s in some well defined formats as well. With the following short snippet of XSLT, you can convert your LaunchBar Search Templates to an AcidSearch compatible `plist that can be imported. This makes your entire collection of searches available to Quicksilver as well and will save you a lot of work: 
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<xsl:stylesheet version='1.0' 
               xmlns:xsl='http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform'>

<xsl:output indent="yes"/>

<xsl:template match="/">
<plist version="1.0">
    <array>
        <string>ROOT</string>
        <array>
            <string>LaunchBar Import</string>
            <xsl:apply-templates 
             select="//dict[child::string='ODLBSearchTemplatesRule']"/>
        </array>
    </array>
</plist>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="dict">
    <xsl:for-each select="array/dict">
        <xsl:variable name="prefix">
            <xsl:value-of 
             select="substring-before( 
              child::string[preceding-sibling::key='templateURL'], 
              '*')"/>
        </xsl:variable>
        <xsl:variable name="suffix">
            <xsl:value-of 
             select="substring-after( 
              child::string[preceding-sibling::key='templateURL'], 
              '*' )"/>
        </xsl:variable>
        <dict>
            <key>key</key>
            <string></string>
            <key>name</key>
            <string>
            <xsl:value-of 
             select="child::string[preceding-sibling::key='name']"/>
            </string>
            <key>prefix</key>
            <string><xsl:value-of select="$prefix"/></string>
            <key>shortcut</key>
            <string></string>
            <key>suffix</key>
            <string><xsl:value-of select="$suffix"/></string>
        </dict>
    </xsl:for-each>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
If you download [lb2acid.xsl][], you can convert your own `Configuration.plist` and import it in AcidSearch. The imported SearchChannels will be available under “LaunchBar Import”, this way, you can more easily find and change/remove them if needed. You’ll have to execute the following command in the Terminal, in the directory where you downloaded `lb2acid.xsl`: xsltproc -o ~/Desktop/LaunchBar.plist \ lb2acid.xsl \ ~/Library/Application\ Support/LaunchBar\ 4/Configuration.plist Or, if you don’t want to download the XSL file and just be lazy: xsltproc -o ~/Desktop/LaunchBar.plist \ http://mycvs.org/wp/wp-content/lb2acid.xsl \ ~/Library/Application\ Support/LaunchBar\ 4/Configuration.plist (You’ll have to enter the command on *one* line, obviously!) If you do not have the `xsltproc` tool on your Mac, you might want to dowload it from the Mac OS X [LibXSLT][] port page. It’s available for free and makes a good addition to your system if you plan to tinker with XML/XSLT :) [Ölbaum]: http://ölbaum.ch [Ecto]: http://www.kung-foo.tv/ecto/index.php [PulpFiction]: http://freshlysqueezedsoftware.com/products/pulpfiction/ [NetNewsWire]: http://ranchero.com/netnewswire/ [WordPress]: http://wordpress.org [El Reg]: http://theregister.co.uk [Job]: http://mycvs.org/archives/2004/08/16/problem-solver-for-hire/ [AcidSearch]: http://www.pozytron.com/?acidsearch [Quicksilver]: http://quicksilver.blacktree.com “Quicksilver” [Quicksilver Plugin]: http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/plugins.php “Quicksilver Plugins” [LaunchBar]: http://obdev.at/products/launchbar/ “LaunchBar” [lb2acid.xsl]: http://mycvs.org/wp/wp-content/lb2acid.xsl [LibXSLT]: http://www.zveno.com/open_source/libxml2xslt.html