HIDING SEARCH BOX BASED ON SEARCH PROVIDER SETTINGS

• US 20100306237A1
• Filed: 05/29/2009
• Published: 12/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: WESTPHAL, SHANNON KATHERINE, CHANDLEY, ADRIAN MARK
• Granted Patent: US 8,185,825 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/769
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results

Abstract

The display of a search box within a toolbar is controlled based on the search provider settings of search box native to an application or operating system, such as a search box natively provider by a web browser. The search box is maintained within the toolbar when the search provider for the native search box differs from the toolbar search provider. The search box may be removed or “hidden” from the toolbar when the search provider for the native search box is the same as the toolbar search provider.

Claims

1. One or more computer-storage media storing computer-useable instructions that, when used by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method comprising:

displaying a search box within a toolbar when a search provider set for a native search box differs from a search provider for the toolbar; and

allowing the search box to be removed from the toolbar when the search provider set for the native search box matches the search provider for the toolbar.

2. The one or more computer-storage media of claim 1, wherein the native search box comprises a browser search box native to a web browser.

3. The one or more computer-storage media of claim 2, wherein the toolbar comprises a browser extension.

4. The one or more computer-storage media of claim 1, wherein the native search box comprises a desktop search box for searching files and folders stored on the computing device.

5. The one or more computer-storage media of claim 1, wherein the search provider set for the native search box comprises a default search provider for the native search box.

6. The one or more computer-storage media of claim 1, wherein allowing the search box to be removed from the toolbar when the search provider set for the native search box matches the search provider for the toolbar comprises:

determining that the search provider set for the native search box matches the search provider for the toolbar;

presenting a user-selectable option to remove the search box from the toolbar;

receiving a user selection of the option to remove the search box from the toolbar; and

removing the search box from the toolbar.

7. The one or more computer-storage media of claim 6, wherein presenting the user-selectable option to remove the search box from the toolbar comprises:

receiving a command to present settings information for the toolbar; and

presenting the settings information for the toolbar, wherein the option to remove the search box from the toolbar is presented within the settings information based on determining that the search provider set for the native search box matches the search provider for the toolbar.

8. The one or more computer-storage media of claim 1, wherein allowing the search box to be removed from the toolbar when the search provider set for the native search box matches the search provider for the toolbar comprises:

receiving a command to remove the search box from the toolbar;

determining that the search provider set for the native search box matches the search provider for the toolbar; and

removing the search box from the toolbar.

9. The one or more computer-storage media of claim 8, wherein receiving the command to remove the search box from the toolbar is received via a context menu for the toolbar.

10. The one or more computer-storage media of claim 8, wherein determining that the search provider set for the native search box matches the search provider for the toolbar comprises:

initially determining that the search provider set for the native search box differs from the search provider for the toolbar;

displaying an indication that the search box may be removed from the toolbar only if the search provider for the native search box matches the search provider for the toolbar; and

determining that the search provider set for the native search box has been changed to match the search provider for the toolbar.

11. The one or more computer-storage media of claim 1, wherein displaying the search box within the toolbar when the search provider set for the native search box differs from the search provider for the toolbar comprises:

determining that the search provider set for the native search box differs from the search provider for the toolbar; and

preventing the presentation of a user-selectable option to remove the search box from the toolbar.

12. The one or more computer-storage media of claim 1, wherein displaying the search box within the toolbar when the search provider set for the native search box differs from the search provider for the toolbar comprises:

initially displaying the toolbar without the search box when the search provider set for the native search box initially matches the search provider for the toolbar;

determining that the search provider set for the native search box is changed to differ from the search provider for the toolbar; and

displaying the search box in the toolbar based on determining that the search provider set for the browser search box differs from the search provider for the toolbar.

13. One or more computer-storage media storing computer-useable instructions that, when used by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method comprising:

receiving a command to remove a search box from a toolbar, the toolbar being provided by a particular search provider as an extension to a web browser application;

determining that a search provider set for a browser search box matches the search provider for the toolbar, wherein the browser search box comprises a search box natively provided by the web browser application, and wherein the browser search box is configured to allow a user to select from a plurality of search providers for performing a search on a search query entered in the browser search box; and

displaying the toolbar without the search box based on determining that the search provider set for the browser search box matches the search provider for the toolbar.

14. The one or more computer-storage media of claim 13, wherein receiving the command to remove the search box from the toolbar is received via a context menu for the toolbar.

15. The one or more computer-storage media of claim 13, wherein receiving the command to remove the search box from the toolbar is received via an options dialog box for the toolbar.

16. The one or more computer-storage media of claim 13, wherein determining that the search provider set for the browser search box matches the search provider for the toolbar comprises determining that the search provider set as a default search provider for the browser search box matches the search provider for the toolbar.

17. The one or more computer-storage media of claim 13, wherein determining that the search provider set for the browser search box matches the search provider for the toolbar comprises:

initially determining that the search provider set for the browser search box differs from the search provider for the toolbar;

displaying an indication that the search box may be removed from the toolbar only if the search provider for the native search box matches the search provider for the toolbar; and

determining that the search provider set for the native search box has been changed to match the search provider for the toolbar.

18. The one or more computer-storage media of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

determining that the search provider set for the browser search box is changed to differ from the search provider for the toolbar; and

displaying the search box in the toolbar based on determining that the search provider set for the browser search box differs from the search provider for the toolbar.

19. One or more computer-storage media storing computer-useable instructions that, when used by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method comprising:

displaying a toolbar without a search box when a search provider set for a browser search box matches a search provider for the toolbar;

determining that the search provider set for the browser search box is changed to differ from the search provider for the toolbar; and

displaying the search box in the toolbar based on determining that the search provider set for the browser search box differs from the search provider for the toolbar.

20. The one or more computer-storage media of claim 19, wherein determining that the search provider set for the browser search box is changed to differ from the search provider for the toolbar comprises determining that the search provider set as a default search provider for the browser search box is changed to differ from the search provider for the toolbar.