Yahoo! Hacks

Program Yahoo! with REBOL

With REBOL, you can build a graphical interface to Yahoo! with minimal code.

Relative Expression-based Object Language (REBOL) is a technology that provides a lightweight method of distributed computing and communication. REBOL is a messaging language, which means it was built specifically to send messages across Internet protocols. REBOL is available for free, and there are two variations available for download:

REBOL/Core

This is the kernel, the heart of REBOL, with a command-line interface.

REBOL/View

This is a graphical client version, an extension of REBOL/Core for developers who want to work visually.

This hack creates a simple Yahoo! Image search widget with the REBOL/ View variation. The widget allows you to enter a keyword, display the first image in the results, and navigate between other results with Previous and Next buttons. This type of graphical user interface (GUI), which uses buttons in a familiar desktop-style application, is quite a bit different from the scripting, command-line applications in this book.

To begin, download REBOL/View for your platform at http://www.rebol.com/view-platforms.html. Next, you’ll need to download a modified version of Gavin F. McKenzie’s SAX XML parser at http://premshree.seacrow.com/code/rebol/xml-parse.r/view. Place xml-parse.r in the working directory where you’ll create the widget.

The Code

Unlike with most GUI frameworks, creating GUIs is a breeze in REBOL.

Tip

In the following commented code, note that comments ...