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I was browsing the extensions gallery for the Mozilla Firefox browser when I
came across something interesting. There was an extension that would add a
"track package" option to the right-click menu, automatically recognizing what
courier the tracking number was from. As I order things from time to time
(mainly free(!) samples of electronics parts), I saw the usefulness of it. I
posted this to .market.shipping because of its general usefulness. However,
upon examining it, I came across another use: looking up Lego part numbers. The
extension uses Regular Expressions
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions) to recognize the patterns of
different couriers' tracking numbers. I realized that you could just as easily
get it to recognize set and part numbers, and query Peeron for them.
Here's how: (if you don't understand Regular Expressions, don't worry - you can
just copy it down)
(note: all quoted sections are to avoid ambiguity - take out the quotes when you
type it)
*if you don't have Firefox -- get it! (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/)
Trust me - once you use it for a little while, you'll never want to go back to
IE (shudder!)
*install the Track Package Extension
(http://trackpackageextension.com/latest.php)
*restart Firefox
*go to Tools|Addons (menu)
*find Track Package, and click "options"
*Click the Regex tab, and then click "Add new Regex"
*a set of empty textboxes will appear; type "Peeron General" in the leftmost
one, and "[0-9]{1,7}(-[0-9]{1,2}){0,1}" in the rightmost one. This sets it up
to recognize set numbers
*click "Add new Regex" once more, this time entering "Peeron Parts" and
"x{0,1}[0-9]{1,5}([0-9]{0,3}|[(px)|(cx)|c|b|a|p|(bpx)|(apx)|(old)|(oldpx)|(pt([a-z]{0,1}))[0-9]{0,3}[a-z]{0,1}"
respectively.
*almost done; click the "URL" tab, then click "Add new URL" twice. Two rows of
textboxes appear.
*in the first row, type "Peeron General" (important: make sure this is exactly
the same as what you typed on the other tab), then
"http://peeron.com/cgi-bin/invcgis/psearch?query=", and finally "&limit=none"
*in the second row, type "Peeron Parts", then
"http://peeron.com/cgi-bin/invcgis/psearch?query=", and finally "&limit=parts"
*click OK, and you're done!
Now, whenever you see a Lego part or set number, rather than looking up Peeron
and typing it in, etc., just highlight the number (without #, if applicable),
right-click, and select "track package". Peeron will open, and bring up the
results/info page on the set or part.
For the record, I am no Regular Expressions expert, and if someone sees a flaw
in my regexp, or a way to make it better, please reply here with your
correction. However, it has worked for me so far.
I hope you all find this a handy trick, and thanks for taking the time to read
this (rather long) post ;).
~Jeffery MacEachern
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