how to execute a search by a click on a custom button (without the find dialog)

[SusiSorglos123]

Hello.

Yesterday I've tried to create a custom search-dialog in a tabbed palette for Adobe Bridge.

I need this custom dialog in a tabbed palette because I use Bridge as an image-database where I often need to search for keyword-combinations.

It is not efficient for me to open the find dialog for each search and add a search-criteria for every keyword.

So I want to create my easy custom search.

In this custom dialog I have my keyword-list where I can select the keywords I want to search for and the search-option "match all of the keywords" or "match one of them".

The creation and selection of the keywords and search-option works.

Now I want to click on a button in my tabbed palette (like clicking "find" in the find dialog), give the data to the Bridge search and execute it. But I don't know how.

It seems to me that I need the function getBridgeUriForSearch from the ExtensionHandler. But I don't understand how to do this (I didn't create the dialog as an extension) and I think there must be an easier way.

I use only information which you can insert in the normal find dialog - there are no new or unknown information for the Bridge search. So there must be a way that I can call the Bridge search with this information.

I would be very happy if somebody could help me...

Thank's Susi

[Muppet Mark]

I don't think you can create scripted search criteria… I only have CS5 so that may have changed… I recall looking and having NO luck with something similar…

[SusiSorglos123]

That would be bad for me

I thought to execute the search will be the easiest thing o the whole scripting-thing...

I have CS5.1.

In the SDK-examples I found a Custom search but this script extends only the find-dialog...

Can I implement this small custom search in another way? I read about flex but I've never used this. Would that help me?

I'm normally programming websites with php and javascript... ^^

[Paul Riggott]

Like Mark I've had no success at using search. Flex is not going to help as it does not have access to Bridge.

If I was doing something like this  I would find the relevant matchs on the keywords and put each find into a Collection.

[Muppet Mark]

Yeah, I used some of the links in the documentation PDF… And ended up looking at things that you can't access from script ( and wasted my time ouch )…

[SusiSorglos123]

Hm looks like I have to give up...

If the kewyords in the filters would be presented in a hirarchical structure - that would also be ok, but it seems that this is not possible, too.

I think I will source this search out to a lokal web-script. It won't be so fast as bridge but I think this is the only solution to get the images by selecting keywords in a hirarchical structure...

I hope Adobe will implement more interfaces for JavaScript to access Bridge in later versions...

Thank you for your efforts and sorry if I wasted your time.