New button to the IE5 toolbar (W98)

[omuralievemil]

I have posted the following message to the Internet Explorer forum:
"I have created a new button to the IE5 toolbar wich has "Find" written on it and has the standard find icon (with a magnifying lens and a paper). I was intended to use it the same way as clicking Ctrl + F while the IE window is opened. In order for the button to appear on the toolbar, I had to create a string value Exec and set it to the full path of .exe file (I set it to c:\windows\command\Find.exe). The button did appear on the toolbar as was intended, but clicking on it does not bring up the Find window (it brings up a DOS screen with something different).
I would appreciate if somebody can help me to make this new "Find" toolbar IE5 button work."

Mr/Ms Mosaic1 (Advisor) kindly responded with the following:

"Find.exe is a Dos command to find a text or string in a file in DOS. It won't work for your purposes.

I do not know scripting, but post in that Forum and see if there is a script you can use to do it. Then change the name of the Exec String Value to
Script and modify it to the path of the script. "

Would be thankful for any help in this matter.

[james3mg]

OK...here's how to do it.

Open up Notepad. Type in the following line:

WScript.SendKeys "^f"

Now Save it somewhere as find.vbs (or any other name you want...just make sure it's *.vbs), and drag that file onto the IE Links Toolbar. Rename it and change the icon if you'd like, and you're done!

What it does:
The ^ symbol tells the computer to behave as if the control button were pressed, then it sends the key "f" as well...so it's pretty much just simulating you actually pressing CTRL+f.
Enjoy!

[james3mg]

um...well, I really did try that before I posted...honest. It worked once, but I must have done something wrong...doesn't appear to work anymore. Sorry...forget the above post

[omuralievemil]

Thanks for your responce to my request James,

You are right. The script doesn't work. I have the button (FIND) on the IE toolbar ready for the action, just need the script to go with it and it will work. I use "Ctrl+F" lots to find words within the webpage and would be nice just to click and get the same result.

[james3mg]

OK, I realized what I forgot...you have to set up a shell whenever you want to access the system like that. Here's the lines to copy into Notepad:

set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.SendKeys "^f"

NOW save it as find.vbs and set it as the target, and you're done. I got a "virus-like activity" warning when I ran it, but all I had to do was authorize the script and it won't warn me about this script anymore. :-)

Sorry for the confusion there...hope this helps you.

[omuralievemil]

WOW,

It works perfectly. Many, many thanks to you, James. I am new to scripting and know nothing in it. I am trying to use the registry to customize different things on my PC (like changing background of the IE toolbar into a Bitmap image, or changing IE logo, the globe rotating around the Windows sign, into my own logo, etc.). But then I came across customizing my own buttons and with your help I now don't have to push the buttons, just keep clicking and clicking.

Just one little question. Where did you get this script? I have been battling with this problem for a while, posted it in several other forums without much success. Could you please recommend a webresource for scripts that I might use as a totally new person to scripting?

[james3mg]

unfortunately, I've got a question posted right now asking for good tutorials and guides...no responses yet. I've just had to search for WSH tutorials online, and not come up with anything substantial yet. Microsoft has general information on it at
<a target="_blank" href=http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/script56/html/wsoriWindowsScriptHost.asp>http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/script56/html/wsoriWindowsScriptHost.asp</a>
Hope it helps...it's just a lot of digging to me.

[omuralievemil]

Thanks,

Very interesting webresourse. If you like playing with Windows, registry etc, follow this link

http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/73/

Try to add your custom folder to the desktop and see what happens (I hope you have time for that). I run W98 on my PC, and after following everything in that link, I got funny result.
See, what you come up with.

[james3mg]

I've done that to add a custom folder to My Computer (in ME)...does that do the same thing? seemed to work for me...I'll try the desktop later and tell you what happened.

[omuralievemil]

I have posted the following message in the registry questions forum some time ago:
"I have followed exact instructions to add custom folder to the Desktop, that are published in this Windows Registry Guide. The folder indeed appeared after rebooting PC, but clicking on it brought up a window, saying"Windows cannot find My.exe. This program is needed for opening files of type 'My Folder'. Location of My.exe: "
Then you have a choice of browsing to find it. Can anybody help me to solve this problem, that I have the custom folder on the desktop that works like My Documents folder?
Thanks"

Mr BertImmenschuh replied:
"The part about my.exe is throwing me off. I can't get it either. I haven't yet figured out why it's looking for an executable file."

I then wrote to the webmaster of the this website, explained the situation, but they never got back to me, even it was their suggestion.

Hope you can come up with a solution.