Difficulties with WWW::Search (code)

[deprecated]

sub test_sub {
  my ($thischan, $thisuser, $thismsg) = (@_); 
  return "test_sub" if @_ == 0;
  return unless $thismsg =~ /^:google /;
  use WWW::Search;
  my $search = new WWW::Search('Google');
  $search -> maximum_to_retrieve(5);
  $search -> native_query(WWW::Search::escape_query("osama"));
  $search -> seek_result(2);
  my $result = $search -> results();
  use Data::Dumper; print Dumper \$result;
  carp "cycling";
}

I took the above code, most of it, from WWW::Search::Google's pod, and some of it from one of merlyn's columns. I get the following output:

:google bleh # this was my input
Found Total: 1,110,000
$VAR1 = \undef;
cycling at test_harness.pl line 31
        main::test_sub('#bleh', 'alex', ':google bleh') called at test
+_harness.pl line 17

This seems to be totally contrary to what the docs say will happen, and also the results merlyn got. If i switch results to next_result like the supplied POD, i still have the same situation. I'm confused. Has anyone successfully worked with this module? And I cant seem to find it in Super Search.

Oh, and there is a user, google, which is rather irritating when searching for google. alas.

brother dep

update:

i have used several of the search modules including Excite and hotbot to no avail.

--
Laziness, Impatience, Hubris, and Generosity.

[drfrog]

Heya:

I was having probs with the hotbot modules
i contacted the authors and they updated the hotbot module

contact them directly about your issues

the prob with this modules is it directly relates to how the search engine is used
every time a search engine makes a change these modules must be updated as well


back in the day we didnt have no old school

[$code or die]

Hi,

I just tried installing and getting this module to work. I had the same problems.

I insterted a die $response->content() into the native_retrieve_some method. This was the response from the search:

Your client from the IP address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx does not have
permission to get URL /search?num=100&q=perl from this server.

Please see Google's Terms of Service posted at
http://www.google.com/terms_of_service.html

Those terms restrict "automated querying". So, possibly, this is the same problem you are experiencing.

I am not going to go into how one might be able to get round this limitation on a public forum like this, but recommend that users contact Google requesting permission or sign up for one of their services. However, I am really surprised that the module doesn't die or warn that a valid search results page was not returned. It might be worth contacting the WWW::Search::Google author.

Simon Flack ($code or die)
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