Just wanted to share my little tool with you for searching craigslist.org... The one limitation CL has is that if you want to search in more than your specific city, it takes a lot of effort to go back to the main page, select a new city, etc... I wrote this Mega Search so you can simultaneously search up to 30 cities at once. Dunno about you, but for a good deal on an '88, I'd be willing to drive a couple hours! The link is http://southeastfieros.com/megasearch
Here are some screenshots:
You don't have to input your address, but if you choose to, it will give you a rough estimation of how many miles away that city is from you. Let me know if you like it, want it improved, etc.
Thanks, I'm glad you like it! I offered this to the programmers over at CL, but they weren't interested in integrating it, so here it is as a 3rd party app!
I forgot to mention that it will save your address in a cookie, so if you put in your address, it should still be there next time
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01:12 PM
Xanth Member
Posts: 6886 From: Massachusetts Registered: May 2006
Here's another website with all the goodies from Craigslist and Ebay. It works great, and you can search for parts specifically too. http://www.jaxed.com/cgi-bin/mash.cgi
Hey, no prob guys. I'm a programmer... it's what I do. In fact, take a good look at all of those search tools mentioned above, and tell me what you'd like to see all rolled up into one place, and I'll get it done for ya. Try to keep it simple, but effective... options, but not gobs of crap you'll never use, tell me what it should look like, and I'll do it.
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10:06 PM
fieroboom Member
Posts: 2132 From: Hayden, AL (BFE) Registered: Oct 2008
Looks great but you forgot to add a title to it "Craigslist".
If you look at the screenshots, the title of the main page says 'Craigslist Mega Search' and on the results page, there's a title of 'results for <your search term>'
Or are you meaning something else...?
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10:09 PM
Nov 29th, 2008
Marriard Member
Posts: 28 From: Ft Lauderdale, FL Registered: Nov 2008
When I selected 'Florida' as a state, I couldn't search the Miami/Ft Lauderdale/West Palm Beach area as it wasn't anywhere in the list of cities or areas. This is important to me as it is where I live... Not sure where you are pulling the cities from when the state is selected, however it isn't pulling everything apparently.
Second, you need a result screen when there is nothing to be found (and a back button at the end of the results page to go back to the search page).
you need a result screen when there is nothing to be found (and a back button at the end of the results page to go back to the search page).
Otherwise, looks great and works really well.
I agree with these comments. When navigating back to the search page I would like for it to remember the cities that I have selected if that is possible.
Great utility with or without tweaks. I will definetly use it.
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10:33 PM
Dec 1st, 2008
Larryh86GT Member
Posts: 1757 From: Near sunny Buffalo NY Registered: Jan 2008
When I selected 'Florida' as a state, I couldn't search the Miami/Ft Lauderdale/West Palm Beach area as it wasn't anywhere in the list of cities or areas. This is important to me as it is where I live... Not sure where you are pulling the cities from when the state is selected, however it isn't pulling everything apparently.
Second, you need a result screen when there is nothing to be found (and a back button at the end of the results page to go back to the search page).
M
To keep it running quickly, I grabbed all the cities and stored them in a database. I should've realized that there would be new ones added, and it appears that 'South Florida' is a relatively new section under http://geo.craigslist.org/iso/us/fl There are also sub-sections under that as well, including Miami Dade, etc. It'll take a little tweaking, but I'll get that taken care of, as well as put it on an automatic updater so we always have the full city list.
quote
Originally posted by Jefrysuko: I agree with these comments. When navigating back to the search page I would like for it to remember the cities that I have selected if that is possible.
I already have it setting a cookie in your browser to remember your address, so remembering your cities shouldn't be difficult to add.
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Originally posted by darkhorizon: Any chance it could be upgraded to a "nation wide" search?
The CL main page, http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites lists major cities as well as states. In order to keep the strain on CL servers down, I didn't include outside the US, but if there is enough of a demand, I could. The CL layout isn't super-organized because it was started by a guy that wanted a free alternative to eBay. He started with a few cities, and as more were added, he organized them into states, but to keep the layout similar, he left the city links mixed in with the states. For me, this means that if I grab all the cities on that page, I don't get them all, so my program has to figure out which ones are states, go to each state's page, and get all the cities from that state. International is low demand even for CL, so those areas aren't very well organized at all, because there isn't a complete list, and there isn't always a city/state combination.
But in a simple answer, yes, it can be done.
If Cliff was willing to use my search as an add-on to this domain, then it would be really cool just to use your username cookie he sets in your browser to automatically select your search preferences, such as your address and cities, in my program. It's illegal for me to use those cookies from a different domain, but as a plug-in here on the forum, I think it would be awesome.
If anyone has any 'extra pull' with Cliff, and would like to see that happen, send him a note...
Also, if any of you are looking for a job, check out my Resume Sender: http://craigslist.resumesender.org It's similar to the mega search, except it's a whole lot more in-depth. Basically, you log in, copy/paste your cover letter, upload your resume, select your cities and job categories, and then when you check your job listings, it re-writes the HTML code and puts an 'Apply for this job' button. Then, it's just a simple click to apply for any job on craigslist. But I digress, that's a topic for T/OT.
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10:45 AM
Dec 4th, 2008
fieroboom Member
Posts: 2132 From: Hayden, AL (BFE) Registered: Oct 2008
Ok, so would you rather have a username that corresponds to your searchable cities, or just automagical city saving by way of cookies set in your browser?
Advantage of username would be that it saves them no matter what computer you're on
Advantage of cookies is it fully automatic
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03:31 PM
kyunderdawg Member
Posts: 4373 From: Bowling Green, KY. USA Registered: Aug 2008
Ok, so would you rather have a username that corresponds to your searchable cities, or just automagical city saving by way of cookies set in your browser?
Advantage of username would be that it saves them no matter what computer you're on
Advantage of cookies is it fully automatic
I would think that cookies would be the best.
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05:27 PM
PFF
System Bot
Jun 29th, 2009
fieroboom Member
Posts: 2132 From: Hayden, AL (BFE) Registered: Oct 2008
Just a small update... I finally got around to correcting the URL errors on the megasearch. Hopefully I'll do the cookies soon, if I ever decide to quit being lazy... -Paul
Does this fix the problem of page not found? It seems that as you go down through the list of results you tend to get that but if I go to Craigslist directly and search for the same thing in that city, I get the page.
Does this fix the problem of page not found? It seems that as you go down through the list of results you tend to get that but if I go to Craigslist directly and search for the same thing in that city, I get the page.
Still, a VERY handle tool!
Yes, that's the error I corrected. The reason it came about is because CL implemented their own deal that said something like "Few results found, here are some from nearby areas", and thus the links for those listings changed. Of course, they did this after seeing my megasearch that I pitched to them... Oh well, such is the life of open-source programming... -Paul
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04:47 PM
fieroboom Member
Posts: 2132 From: Hayden, AL (BFE) Registered: Oct 2008
You are by all means welcome to use whatever tool you wish... The megasearch is just something I wrote myself in order to have it exactly the way I wanted. Also, as soon as I can pull the reins in on some of my multiple projects, I can customize the megasearch to whatever anyone wants. -Paul
Yes, that's the error I corrected. The reason it came about is because CL implemented their own deal that said something like "Few results found, here are some from nearby areas", and thus the links for those listings changed. Of course, they did this after seeing my megasearch that I pitched to them... Oh well, such is the life of open-source programming... -Paul
I played with it last night and it works great now! I'd give you another plus but I already did. In that case, I'll give you a plus when you do something really stupid (terms and conditions subject to change without notice).
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07:28 PM
Mar 10th, 2010
CC Rider Member
Posts: 2037 From: Cameron Park, Ca Registered: May 2001
