PreCentral: View or update search keywords for Apps (homebrew)

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You may have noticed that some app can be found using Universal Search / Just Type by using certain keywords, instead of the actual App name. For example, search for “pref” and you will see all the stock preferences apps such as Backup, Bluetooth, Date & Time, Device Info, etc. Application authors have the ability to specify those additional keywords for their apps, but using a little homebrew magic, you can easily update or add those keywords, too, similar to they way that you are able to to hide app icons from both the App Launcher and Just Type

The easiest way to do this is to have Internalz Pro from Jason Robitaille (available in Preware or webOS Quick Install) installed on your device and follow the following steps

• On your device, open Internalz Pro
• If you want to update the keyword for one of the stock webOS apps:
  • Swipe down from the top-left corner to bring down the Internalz Pro Application dropdown menu and select "Preferences".
  • Scroll to the bottom of Preferences and ensure that "Master mode" is turned on. If you need to turn it on, be sure to select "YES" to the warning prompt.
  • On phones, back-swipe or on the TouchPad, swipe down from the top-left corner to bring down the Internalz Pro Application dropdown menu and select "Close" to return to Internalz Pro
• Locate the directory for the app whose keywords you with to edit.
  • Some system apps like Phone, Email, PDF Viewer are usually in the /usr/palm/applications folder, while installed apps are in /media/cryptofs/apps/usr/palm/applications/.
  • However, with the latest webOS 3.0.5 update for the TouchPad, many of those stock system apps may also be found in /media/cryptofs/apps/usr/palm/applications/
• Open the app folder and find the appinfo.json file. Tap on the file and select "Open"
• Look for a line of text that starts with "keywords" (it will look like "keywords": ["keyword1", "keyword2"], ).
  • If the line aready exists, all you need to do is add another keyword to the list.
  • If there is no keyword line, you will need to add it.
  • If this is not the last line of code in the file, be sure that you have that comma at the end of the line!
• If necessary, access the Internalz Pro preferences again and turn off Master Mode
• After he next time you reboot your device, the app will now be searchable using the new keywords that you just added
• Note that if the app gets an update, these changes will need to be recreated after that update is complete

One quick note about search keyword. While a Universal Search/Just Type search will search for an app using just one letter of the actually app name, keywords require at least 3 letters before it will find the application. So, if you add "awesome" as a keyword to Preware, it won't be found until you type in at least "awe". The only exception to this is if you add a keyword with only one or two letters. So, add "Z" to the keywords, and the app will show up in a search just by typing "Z"

 

 

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