Thanks James, and I just tried it using Bobby's instructions to add customized searches and it worked! Eureka!!
Now I just need to understand a bit more about GETS and POST. And who said family history was boring - you learn so much every day - and not always just about family history. Thanks very much for this information. Kathy Jones Flying Needle Machine Embroidery http://www.flyingneedle.ca mailto:[email protected] -----Original Message----- From: James Cook [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: February-24-11 5:52 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [LegacyUG] FYI: Custom Search URL for FindMyPast To Kathy Jones and any interested, you should be able to play around with this URL to customize your search. I am not a user of the site, so am not familiar with all that is available there. I found a search form with four fields - first, last, birth year, death year, and a couple of check boxes for doing variants. I can see all those options in the URL below. You can paste this into a browser, and it seems to work. This should be all you'd need to make Legacy do what you want it to, right? http://www.findmypast.co.uk/XdbSearchCountServlet?forename=Issac&surname=Mixer&includeForenameVariants=Y&fromYear=1320&toYear=2006 Some technical speak for any interested... I used FireBug, a FireFox plugin, to see what was being POSTed to the http://www.findmypast.co.uk/XdbSearchCountServle url. HTTP requests can either be done via POST or GET, and the FindMyPast is using POST. This keeps the parameters from appearing in the URL. I copied the parameters out of the FireBug window and pasted them on the URL (making sure to include the '?' for proper syntax), which then issues the same command as a GET. This could have failed if their servers prevented the use of GETs, which is possible, but rare. Anyway, this idea should apply to most any site using POST. I'm surprised so many use GET actually, form a coding point of view, POSTs are cleaner. Good Luck Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
