In this tutorial, we'll automate a simple process: searching for the text you highlight in Google Scholar.
We'll use this PBS page to develop our workflow, but afterward, youβll be able to use this on any website.
1. Configure a Right-click Button
Open the Page Editor
Start by navigating your browser to this PBS article: A Duke Named Ellington. Then, open the PixieBrix Page Editor.
Grant Access
The first time you open the Page Editor on a new webpage, you need to grant PixieBrix access to the page. You can grant permanent access by either:
- Clicking Grant Permanent Access, or
- Granting temporary access by clicking on the PixieBrix extension in the Chrome Extensions dropdown and then refreshing the page
Configure a Context Menu Item
- Click Add in the top left of the Page Editor and choose Context Menu, and select Context Menu
- In the Title field, replace "Context Menu Item" with "%s - Google Scholar"
- To test your context menu configuration:
- Highlight Duke Ellington on the webpage
- Right click to expand the context menu. It should look like this
Configure Where the Context Menu Appears
- In the Sites field, click All URLs. This tells PixieBrix to show the context menu item on any webpage you visit
- Scroll down to the Advanced Configuration. In the Advanced Permission section, click All URLs. This gives PixieBrix access to a page without you first clicking the context menu
2. Search Google Scholar
Define Your Search Parameters
Next we'll figure out how to construct a search URL for Google Scholar.
In a separate tab, go to the Google Scholar homepage and search for "Louis Armstrong"
After you click "Enter" you will be taken to the search results page, which has this URL:
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C33&q=Louis+Armstrong&btnG=
Toward the end of the URL, you will see q=Louis+Armstrong
. Google Scholar uses "q" as the search parameter.
Configure the Search
- We'll first need to add the βOpen a tabβ brick. Click the "Add Button"
- Search "open a tab" and choose it
- In the URL, put
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?
- In the params field, click the arrow next to the βxβ at the end of the row, then select βObject propertiesβ
- Click Add a Property. Delete
property
and replace it withq
, the search parameter we identified in the URL. - In the Value text box type
@input.selectionText
documentUrl
and information about the selected element. In our case, selectionText
will provide the selected text3. Test Your Search
To test your Search, highlight "Duke Ellington" in the PBS article, and click. A new tab should open to the following URL: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Duke+Ellington. Click Save in the Page Editor, and try different searches on different web pages.