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I was browsing the extensions gallery for the Mozilla Firefox browser when I
came across something interesting. There was an extension that would add a
"track package" option to the right-click menu, automatically recognizing what
courier the tracking number was from. As I order things from time to time
(mainly free(!) samples of electronics parts), I saw the usefulness of it. I
posted this to .market.shipping because of its general usefulness. However,
upon examining it, I came across another use: looking up Lego part numbers. The
extension uses Regular Expressions
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions) to recognize the patterns of
different couriers' tracking numbers. I realized that you could just as easily
get it to recognize set and part numbers, and query Peeron for them.
Here's how: (if you don't understand Regular Expressions, don't worry - you can
just copy it down)
(note: all quoted sections are to avoid ambiguity - take out the quotes when you
type it)
*if you don't have Firefox -- get it! (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/)
Trust me - once you use it for a little while, you'll never want to go back to
IE (shudder!)
*install the Track Package Extension
(http://trackpackageextension.com/latest.php)
*restart Firefox
*go to Tools|Addons (menu)
*find Track Package, and click "options"
*Click the Regex tab, and then click "Add new Regex"
*a set of empty textboxes will appear; type "Peeron General" in the leftmost
one, and "[0-9]{1,7}(-[0-9]{1,2}){0,1}" in the rightmost one. This sets it up
to recognize set numbers
*click "Add new Regex" once more, this time entering "Peeron Parts" and
"x{0,1}[0-9]{1,5}([0-9]{0,3}|[(px)|(cx)|c|b|a|p|(bpx)|(apx)|(old)|(oldpx)|(pt([a-z]{0,1}))[0-9]{0,3}[a-z]{0,1}"
respectively.
*almost done; click the "URL" tab, then click "Add new URL" twice. Two rows of
textboxes appear.
*in the first row, type "Peeron General" (important: make sure this is exactly
the same as what you typed on the other tab), then
"http://peeron.com/cgi-bin/invcgis/psearch?query=", and finally "&limit=none"
*in the second row, type "Peeron Parts", then
"http://peeron.com/cgi-bin/invcgis/psearch?query=", and finally "&limit=parts"
*click OK, and you're done!
Now, whenever you see a Lego part or set number, rather than looking up Peeron
and typing it in, etc., just highlight the number (without #, if applicable),
right-click, and select "track package". Peeron will open, and bring up the
results/info page on the set or part.
For the record, I am no Regular Expressions expert, and if someone sees a flaw
in my regexp, or a way to make it better, please reply here with your
correction. However, it has worked for me so far.
I hope you all find this a handy trick, and thanks for taking the time to read
this (rather long) post ;).
~Jeffery MacEachern
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In lugnet.db.inv, Jeffery MacEachern wrote:
> I was browsing the extensions gallery for the Mozilla Firefox browser when I
> came across something interesting. There was an extension that would add a
> "track package" option to the right-click menu, automatically recognizing what
> courier the tracking number was from. As I order things from time to time
> (mainly free(!) samples of electronics parts), I saw the usefulness of it. I
> posted this to .market.shipping because of its general usefulness. However,
> upon examining it, I came across another use: looking up Lego part numbers.
Or you could just install the Peeron Firefox extension:
http://news.lugnet.com/announce/peeron/?n=28
(Still not updated for Firefox 2 though :()
ROSCO
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On Fri, Mar 16, 2007 at 02:43:06AM +0000, Ross Crawford wrote:
> In lugnet.db.inv, Jeffery MacEachern wrote:
> > I was browsing the extensions gallery for the Mozilla Firefox
> > browser when I came across something interesting. There was an
> > extension that would add a "track package" option to the right-click
> > menu, automatically recognizing what courier the tracking number was
> > from. As I order things from time to time (mainly free(!) samples
> > of electronics parts), I saw the usefulness of it. I posted this to
> > .market.shipping because of its general usefulness. However, upon
> > examining it, I came across another use: looking up Lego part
> > numbers.
>
> Or you could just install the Peeron Firefox extension:
> http://news.lugnet.com/announce/peeron/?n=28
>
> (Still not updated for Firefox 2 though :()
Whoops! You should remind me these things :) Check for an updated
version now, it should be there and working, I hope!
Dan
--
Dan Boger
dan@peeron.com
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In lugnet.db.inv, Dan Boger wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 16, 2007 at 02:43:06AM +0000, Ross Crawford wrote:
> > In lugnet.db.inv, Jeffery MacEachern wrote:
> > > I was browsing the extensions gallery for the Mozilla Firefox
> > > browser when I came across something interesting. There was an
> > > extension that would add a "track package" option to the right-click
> > > menu, automatically recognizing what courier the tracking number was
> > > from. As I order things from time to time (mainly free(!) samples
> > > of electronics parts), I saw the usefulness of it. I posted this to
> > > .market.shipping because of its general usefulness. However, upon
> > > examining it, I came across another use: looking up Lego part
> > > numbers.
> >
> > Or you could just install the Peeron Firefox extension:
> > http://news.lugnet.com/announce/peeron/?n=28
> >
> > (Still not updated for Firefox 2 though :()
>
> Whoops! You should remind me these things :)
http://news.lugnet.com/off-topic/geek/?n=5159 8?p
> Check for an updated
> version now, it should be there and working, I hope!
Woohoo! It's back! Thanks mate 8?)
ROSCO
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