# Google Bookmarks Accelerator for IE8



## machinesmith (Apr 8, 2010)

...At least thats what I thought I'd give the world! First a quick introduction about what they are: IE8 now comes with built in support for Widgets (or really small plugins, if you want) that they call 'accelerators'. 

That's not the exact definition but for example say you want a block of text translated to another language, in IE8 all you have to do is select he text, you'll automatically get a little blue clickable button, and once you click it you'll get a list of accelerators like Live translator, its basically designed so that you dont have to leave the webpage you're on while still using functions found on other sites (e.g. Digg, looking up maps, Shortening urls etc.)

*The Details:*
Of all the accelerators out there I noticed that Google Bookmarks wasn't one of them, baffled & intrigued I looked into how an accelerator was made, turns out you can whip them out in 20 min. since its really simple XML files with a very limited and easy to use syntax, based on that I thought "cool I'll make one then!" Guess which service I decided to 'accelerate'...go on, guess!

*The issue:*
I've done pretty much whatever I could think of to get this working but no matter what I do I keep getting: "Internet Explorer could not install this accelerator. There was a problem with the Accelerator's information." I've checked every resouce, even the MSDN pages had some similar issues reported but the solution provided hasn't worked for me.

*The lowdown:*
So I turn to you guys to help realise this goal...this was going to be shared with the world anyway, so why not get the world involved! Below is the code I coughed up along with all the references I used to get where I was, hopefully you guys can do what I could not:


```
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> 
<os:openServiceDescription xmlns="http://www.microsoft.com/schemas/openservicedescription/1.0"> 
  <os:homepageUrl>http://www.google.com/bookmarks</os:homepageUrl> 
  <os:display> 
    <os:description>Add this page to GoogleBookmarks</os:description> 
	<os:name>Add to GoogleBookmarks</os:name> 
    <os:icon>http://www.google.com/favicon.ico</os:icon> 
  </os:display> 
  <os:activity category="Bookmarks"> 
    <os:activityAction context="document"> 
     <os:execute method="get" action="http://www.google.com/bookmarks/mark?op=add&output=popup">
		<os:parameter name="bkmk" value="{documentUrl}" />
		<os:parameter name="title" value="{documentTitle}" /> 
		<os:parameter name="annotation" value="{selection}" />
		
	</os:execute>
    </os:activityAction> 
  </os:activity> 

</os:openServiceDescription>
```
*References:*
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc289775(VS.85).aspx <-- developers guide
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc304163(VS.85).aspx<--format specification
http://lnkr.mobi/bm/google_bookmarks_api/ <--Unofficial Google API (used as a look up so far)

*Requirements:*
Internet Explorer 8 (duh!)
a webserver (you can run it locally too using localhost - however I still needed an IIS server or a Visual Studio ASP.NET test server, screw that!)

*A Thing I know:*
Document variables are protected from potential misuse. You cannot send document variables between schemes (HTTP -> HTTPS, for example) or between servers in different security zones (Intranet -> Internet, for example). Document variables cannot be sent to the localhost server from a server on the Internet. (from MSDN Dev guide page)

*The Conclusion:*
I'm sure I'm making a rookie mistake since this is my first XML attempt..ever. Most probably someone will pop up and point out: 
<nelson> you forgot to use &amp and ; properly Haa Haa!!</nelson>. By all means laugh away, but fix the blamed thing first! 

Whoof! Whatta 1st post! Thanks for reading and let me know your thoughts!


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## Starko (Apr 28, 2010)

I have the same problem. Could not find a solution. If you do, please post it here!

Cheers


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