add ability to search by string in address bar

[apicellaj]

This fix is for #165 that allows strings typed into the address bar to be searchable by default search engine.

There is also a small fix to prevent the browser search button from always searching for urlText.substring(1).

[hrj]

Thanks @apicellaj, very much appreciated!

I have a slightly different idea of how to implement this. As described in #165, it would be nice if there was a drop down menu entry for searching, so that the user explicitly selects the search. This is to avoid accidentally sending a request containing sensitive data to the search engine. This has happened to me quite often: I paste some sensitive text (such as password) into the url bar and instinctively press enter, imagining that I have pasted a link.

An alternate to the menu entry would be to open an about:confirmSearch page, which has links to the various search engine queries, the default search engine being prominent. The user can then just click the link (or tab to the link and press Enter) to start the search.

[apicellaj]

Thanks for clarifying, @hrj. One more question: would an implementation of both methods be okay? For example, clicking the drop down menu initiates a search for the string but hitting enter defaults to an about:confirmSearch page.

[hrj]

would an implementation of both methods be okay?

Would be perfect 👍

[apicellaj]

I've been having quite a few problems getting the JComboBox to work smoothly with the drop down search menu so I have only implemented the about:confirmSearch page so far.

Does this implementation of the search page match what you had in mind?

[hrj]

@apicellaj Sorry for the late response. It works great, thanks!

I am looking forward for more contributions from you; would you mind signing the CLA here? If you have any doubts or questions about it, please raise an issue there or hit me up on the gitter chat room.

[apicellaj]

No problem and thanks for the feedback. The CLA is signed and I'm looking forward to contributing more as well.

[hrj]

If I am not mistaken, the above changes are not required anymore.

[apicellaj]

This change prevents the Search Button on the browser from dropping the first character in the string; since the other way to call the search function is by starting the query with a question mark.