Question

Making all words on a web page searchable links.

Asked by: baubcadt

I want to make each word on a web page searchable by an online dictionary.  I know there was a browser that would do that, but I am trying to embed something so that everyone who views that webpage will also have the ability.  
I know I can, and have, created a javascript bookmarklet that will allow me to highlight a word, then click on the bookmarklet link and the dictionary page will come up with that word.
But again, I don't want users to have to use anything that is not available right on the page.
Any suggestions?

I would prefer that each word have a built in link (maybe this can be done with CSS).
2nd Choice would be to have a button on the page that would allow them to select text and then click the button.

Also, there will be a huge number of dynamic pages that need to be automatically searchable, so any manual creation of links wouild not be feasible.

Server side stuff is okay, if it is automatic, but better if it's done on the client side as the overhead could get big.  

Thanks in advance for all your expertise!

Baub

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2007-08-30 at 09:20:12ID22797775
Topics

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)

,

JavaScript

,

Dynamic HTML (DHTML)

Participating Experts
2
Points
200
Comments
10

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. Searchable databases
    I was wondering what the most appropriate program is for searchable, web-based, databases, in other words, posting a database that users could search on-line. I am sure that many programs offer ways to do that, but I believe programs like MS Access require the users to have ...
  2. create a searchable CD
    Hi gurus, I would like to create a searchable CD and an interface (from a browser like IE if possible) to go with it, in VB6. Has anyone any ideas how I could start on this? I know the first thing I probably have to do is create an index file of contents. TIA!!
  3. custom scrollbar with searchable text
    I'm working on a site that is created with tables. in one cell, i have a div with scrollable text. the default scroll bar is just not acceptable for my client. she wants something really clean and sleek. is there a way to do this with html or do i need to use flash and if i u...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: ellandrdPosted on 2007-08-30 at 09:27:12ID: 19801652

>>Any suggestions?

it will not be done using client-side scripting.  If you are using server-side scripting such as PHP, read the contents of the page into an array, stripping out all non-alpha/numeric data.  I would then remove duplicates from this array so im left with a list of unique words that exist on your webpage.  once you have got this far, then allow your dictionary to search this array.

what kind of online directory have you got - have you programmed your own??

>>I would prefer that each word have a built in link (maybe this can be done with CSS).

OK your not going to get a complete solution coded for you - you are aware of this right?

>>2nd Choice would be to have a button on the page that would allow them to select text and then click the button.

most if not all browsers these days allows the user to search within the page for words - why are you trying to reinvent the wheel?

ellandrd

 

by: baubcadtPosted on 2007-08-30 at 10:46:48ID: 19802431

"most if not all browsers these days allows the user to search within the page for words - why are you trying to reinvent the wheel?"

That wheel is one I am not trying to reinvent.  Everyone knows you can just hit ctrl-F to search within a page.

I've already figured out how to do the second choice with javascript.  So the first choice would be really nice.  I will be surprised if it cannot be done on the client side with CSS.  
What I envision is every word on the page being hyperlinked and, when clicked, it brings one to some already existing online dictionary with that word as input,
say http:\\MasterEllandrdsHelpfullPhpManual?keyword-preg_match_all$lang=czech

 

by: basicinstinctPosted on 2007-08-30 at 15:22:04ID: 19804650

well it would be hard...
let's say you took all visible text and made each word a hyperlink...

easy in theory, but in practice what is a word?  it would be impossible to write an algorithm that knows what a word is... if you say a word is w string separated by spaces then it would account for "webpage" and "web-page" but would treat "web page" as two different words...

so you'd need to reference a dictionary of known terms just to build the links... could be done with ajax i guess, but i'd say it's better done serverside given how much to-and-fro there would be...

 

by: baubcadtPosted on 2007-08-30 at 18:16:38ID: 19805286

Thanks BasicInstinct,

I would be fine with all things separated with whitespace as being considered a word, so no dictionary needed.  I saw some css which capitalized each word's fist letter, so I thought it woiuld not be too much to put a style or hyperlink on each word, but I could be wrong.  

 

by: ellandrdPosted on 2007-08-30 at 23:51:09ID: 19806391

so you want to create a javascript that reads the contents of your own page, or another page?

if your own page, then try something like this:

cont = document.all.tags("HTML")[0].innerHTML
//alert(cont)

This will return complete content of the document you want with exception of <html> tags.

So you can simply add : cont = "<html>"+cont+"</html>"

and that will be it.  after that, you can use some regular expressions to strip out all the non A-Za-z0-9 chars/numbers.  then add each word into an array, splitting at a space.  then like i said above, remove duplicates.  i would probably rebuild my page after, place <a></a> tags around each word in the array...

however you can not read pages from another domain.  This is somethoing that browser not allowed for security reasons.

here is a previous question on createing links using javascript, however i have created my own script in the past, this version should get you by:

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Programming/Languages/Scripting/JavaScript/Q_10292499.html?sfQueryTermInfo=1+creat+hyperlink+javascript+us

this might also come in handy:  http://www.mozilla.org/editor/midas-spec.html

ellandrd
 

 

by: basicinstinctPosted on 2007-08-31 at 03:35:37ID: 19807018

hi baubcadt

i think it's a bit more tricky than it seems... at the very least you need to:

not replace text in: script tags, style tags, existing links, you can probably think of others...

only replace text, ie not the html itself (so you can't just get innerHTML and split it, you need to search for textNodes)...

anywho, i have made a bloody good start on it for you, certainly get your 125 points worth i reckon (but that's up to you to decide)... here you have it:

<html>
<head>
<script>

 function textToLinks(obj)
 {
      for(var i in obj.childNodes)
      {
            if(obj.nodeName != 'a' && obj.nodeName != 'script' && obj.nodeName != 'style')
            {
                  if(obj.childNodes[i].nodeName == "#text")
                  {
                        var newChild = makeLinks(obj.childNodes[i]);
                        if(newChild.hasChildNodes())
                        obj.childNodes[i].parentNode.replaceChild(newChild, obj.childNodes[i]);
                  }
                  else
                  textToLinks(obj.childNodes[i]);
            }
      }
 }
 
 function makeLinks(textElement)
 {
       var newspan = document.createElement('span');
      var text = textElement.nodeValue;
      test = trim(text);
      var words = text.split(" ");
      for(var i=0; i < words.length; i++)
      {
            words[i] = trim(words[i]);
            if(words[i] != null && words[i].length > 0)
            {
                  var anchor = document.createElement('a');
                  var space = document.createTextNode(' ');
                  anchor.href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=" + words[i];
                  anchor.innerHTML = words[i];
                  newspan.appendChild(anchor);
                  newspan.appendChild(space);
            }
      }
      return newspan;
 }
 
 function trim(s)
 {
       s = s.replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, "");
      return s;
 }
</script>
</head>
<body>
      <p>This is a bunch of text</p>
      <p>This is a bunch of bananas</p>
      <p>This is a bunch of grapes</p>
      <p>This is a bunch of gorillas</p>
      <a href="http://www.experts-exchange.com">some text in  a link</a>
      <input type="button" value="test" onclick="textToLinks(document.body);"/>
</body>
</html>

 

by: basicinstinctPosted on 2007-08-31 at 03:42:09ID: 19807043

just a minor change, but important, better change the "textToLinks" function to this:

function textToLinks(obj)
 {
      for(var i in obj.childNodes)
      {
            var nodename = obj.nodeName.toLowerCase();
            if(nodename != 'a' && nodename != 'script' && nodename != 'style')
            {
                  if(obj.childNodes[i].nodeName == "#text")
                  {
                        var newChild = makeLinks(obj.childNodes[i]);
                        if(newChild.hasChildNodes())
                        obj.childNodes[i].parentNode.replaceChild(newChild, obj.childNodes[i]);
                  }
                  else
                  textToLinks(obj.childNodes[i]);
            }
      }
 }

 

by: baubcadtPosted on 2007-09-18 at 10:56:14ID: 19915109

You are GREAT!  That looks really good on the test case. I am very impressed.  I tried it on mine and it did not fare so well as far as formatting goes.  I am using <PRE> </pre> tags and a bunch of text  with needed returns.  It ends up being one long line.  
If you have any suggestions on getting around this I would appreciate it.  I thought maybe putting in a div name  might work but haven't found a solution yet.

Thanks and TIA

 

by: baubcadtPosted on 2007-09-18 at 12:57:51ID: 19916080

BTW, it keeps the <pre> formatting in Firefox, but not in Internet Exploder.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...