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Chapter 7, Help and Research
#61 Redirect Help to Google
HACK
To use this power toy, you should first select a piece of text in the text edi-
tor and then right-click and select the search engine you would like to
search. The power toy will then pass the selected text to the search engine
you chose and open the page in the built-in browser, as shown in
Figure 7-12.
Because the source is also available online (follow the same link as before),
you could add your own searches to the menu if you were so inclined. (I
would love to see a Google groups search item.) The VSOnlineSearch power
toy is simple to install, easy to use, and makes it very easy to search for
something without leaving the IDE.
HACK
#61
Redirect Help to Google Hack #61
Supercharge Visual Studio’s help by hooking up a macro to Google and other
search engines.
In “Search the Internet from Visual Studio” [Hack #60], you saw a way to high-
light text and then query a search engine using that selected text. This hack
is similar in that it allows you to select text and then search Google with that
text. The difference between these hacks is that this hack uses a macro. This
makes it easier to wire up to a shortcut key and to change the search engine
to use.
Figure 7-11. VSOnlineSearch right-click menu