v1.0.1

Summary

• Remove of unnecessary permission

  If you installed the AWS search extension previously, you might have been asked to allow the extension to "Read your browsing history" or "Access browser tabs". The only tab-access AWS search extension has ever needed was to open a URL in the current tab, which does not require the permission that would also allow for reading browsing history or interact with all tabs.

  As of version 1.0.1 this permission is no longer requested!

If you are coming from an earlier version, you can find the version 1.0.0 release notes here.

About AWS search extension

AWS search extension is a browser-extension compatible with Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge (and probably most Chromium-based browsers). It provides search results for AWS API references and the AWS CloudFormation reference, and opens the official AWS documentation page when you select an item by pressing Enter.

You can start searching by typing the keyword ase into the searchbar, followed by a space (or also tab in Chromium-based browsers), which will select the AWS search extension. Everything you now type will search through the included indices of the AWS CloudFormation and AWS API documentation.

You can find detailed information on how to structure in the official README.

Official extension/add-on store links

• Google Chrome: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/aws-search-extension/plpaphbmolljpgbkjjfkhcffhffobngd
• Mozilla Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/aws-search-extension/
• Microsoft Edge: https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/detail/aws-search-extension/ddokgnahbddokclcciibbpelhjgemihl

Extension packages

You can find the extension packages attached.

How to install the extension package:

• Google Chrome/Chromium
  • Download the attached file aws_search_extension-chrome-v1.0.1.zip.
  • Open chrome://extensions in your browser.
  • Drag-and-drop the downloaded ZIP into the extensions-view.
• Firefox
  • Download the attached file aws_search_extension-firefox-v1.0.1.xpi.
  • Open about:addons in your browser.
  • Drag-and-drop the downloaded ZIP into the extensions-view.

v1.0.0

Summary

• Automatic index updates are now enabled by default

  In previous versions of the AWS search extension, automatic updates of the bundled indices were disabled by default, although you could always enable them in the extension's configuration. Starting with version 1.0.0, automatic updates are now enabled by default!

  (And you can of course still disable them if you don't want them to be active.)

• Added support for AWS SAM template-resources and CLI docs

  Searches for AWS CloudFormation resources now also yield AWS SAM resources (such as AWS::Serverless:Function) and the SAM-CLI docs (such as sam init). They are directly integrated with the CloudFormation search-results, so just using the same query types as for CloudFormation will now also show you the AWS SAM resources.

• Released as v1.0.0

  Given the extension's maturity, AWS search extension has now been released as version 1.0.0. There have been no breaking changes since version 0.4.x, and all other new features and changes are shown above.

About AWS search extension

AWS search extension is a browser-extension compatible with Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge (and probably most Chromium-based browsers). It provides search results for AWS API references and the AWS CloudFormation reference, and opens the official AWS documentation page when you select an item by pressing Enter.

You can start searching by typing the keyword ase into the searchbar, followed by a space (or also tab in Chromium-based browsers), which will select the AWS search extension. Everything you now type will search through the included indices of the AWS CloudFormation and AWS API documentation.

You can find detailed information on how to structure in the official README.

Official extension/add-on store links

• Google Chrome: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/aws-search-extension/plpaphbmolljpgbkjjfkhcffhffobngd
• Mozilla Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/aws-search-extension/
  (The version shown on addons.mozilla.org is 1.0.0.1 due to a mishap during first upload. It is identical to the version 1.0.0 shown here and visible on the other add-on stores.)
• Microsoft Edge: https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/detail/aws-search-extension/ddokgnahbddokclcciibbpelhjgemihl

Extension packages

You can find the extension packages attached.

How to install the extension package:

• Google Chrome/Chromium
  • Download the attached file aws_search_extension-chrome-v1.0.0.zip.
  • Open chrome://extensions in your browser.
  • Drag-and-drop the downloaded ZIP into the extensions-view.
• Firefox
  • Download the attached file aws_search_extension-firefox-v1.0.0.xpi.
  • Open about:addons in your browser.
  • Drag-and-drop the downloaded ZIP into the extensions-view.

v0.4.1 - New trigger keyword, search APIs by default

Summary

This release has two big breaking changes when upgrading from v0.3.0 or earlier:

1. Changed the keyword to trigger the extension from aws to ase.

   After a few weeks of use now I realized that I regularly search for aws ... terms in the Omnibox where I intended to actually perform a search engine search, instead of a search using the AWS search extension. Unfortunately the space character does trigger the keyword and thus drops the user into a search in AWS search extension, even if might not have wanted it.

   To avoid this annoying clash, this release changes the trigger keyword from aws to ase (short for AWS search extension). While not quite as intuitive as aws, it still shares most of the traits that aws had as a keyword:

   • It is as short with only 3 characters in length.

   • It is as easy to type: the characters are all in the left cluster for QWERTY, QWERTZ, and AZERTY keyboard layouts, and they are in the home row for Dvorak.

• Change default search behaviour, searching the API docs by default.

  Instead of searching the (for most of the user base probably more obscure) AWS CloudFormation documentation by default, this release changes that a non-prefixed query will target the API documentation instead.

  You can still search in AWS CloudFormation docs of course, either by prefixing your search query with a : or by having two colons (::) somewhere in your search query.

  Note: a consequence of : being used as the prefix for searching AWS CloudFormation docs is that commands are now prefix by !, i.e. :help turns into !help, :update into !update, and so on.

To help users that get automatic updates for the extension (when they have installed it through a major browser extension store) get important information about updates, this release also includes automatic update notices that open in a new tab when the extension is updated. The current policy for when to show update notices is that they should only be displayed when there are user-facing breaking changes (such as the keyword-change), and that they are only displayed once!

Besides these user-facing changes there were a few internal changes and updates to CI that should make the development and use of the extension more reliable:

• Optimized index generation.
• Implemented basic schema-validation for generated indices to ensure that the unattended index-update process does not break the extension.

About AWS search extension

AWS search extension is a browser-extension compatible with Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge (and probably most Chromium-based browsers). It provides search results for AWS API references and the AWS CloudFormation reference, and opens the official AWS documentation page when you select an item by pressing Enter.

You can start searching by typing the keyword ase into the searchbar, followed by a space (or also tab in Chromium-based browsers), which will select the AWS search extension. Everything you now type will search through the included indices of the AWS CloudFormation and AWS API documentation.

You can find detailed information on how to structure in the official README.

Official extension/add-on store links

• Google Chrome: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/aws-search-extension/plpaphbmolljpgbkjjfkhcffhffobngd
• Mozilla Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/aws-search-extension/
• Microsoft Edge: https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/detail/aws-search-extension/ddokgnahbddokclcciibbpelhjgemihl

Extension packages

You can find the extension packages attached.

How to install the extension package:

• Google Chrome/Chromium
  • Download the attached file aws_search_extension-chrome-v0.4.1.zip.
  • Open chrome://extensions in your browser.
  • Drag-and-drop the downloaded ZIP into the extensions-view.
• Firefox
  • Download the attached file aws_search_extension-firefox-v0.4.1.xpi.
  • Open about:addons in your browser.
  • Drag-and-drop the downloaded ZIP into the extensions-view.

v0.3.0 - Implement manual and automatic index updates

Summary

In version 0.2.0, updates to the indices that are used to provide the search results were only bundled directly with the extension, which means the search results returned by the extension could get outdated relatively quickly.

This release includes two new ways of getting up-to-date indices:

• Triggering a manual index-update by activating the AWS search extension, typing :update and hitting "Enter". The latest indices are then downloaded and imported automatically, within a few seconds.
• Getting updates automatically, for example once a day. This is currently an optional opt-in feature. To activate automatic index updates, click on the AWS search extension icon in your browser's extension area and activating the "Enable automatic index updates" option.

_{Note: this version will most likely become v1.0.0 in the future. I'll take this extension for a test-drive over the next weeks, and maybe get a few more people on board. If you have any suggestions/questions/comments, please go ahead and open an issue!}

About AWS search extension

AWS search extension is a browser-extension compatible with Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge (and probably most Chromium-based browsers). It provides search results for AWS API references and the AWS CloudFormation reference, and opens the official AWS documentation page when you select an item by pressing Enter.

You can start searching by typing the keyword aws into the searchbar, followed by a space (or also tab in Chromium-based browsers), which will select the AWS search extension. Everything you now type will search through the included indices of the AWS CloudFormation and AWS API documentation.

You can find detailed information on how to structure in the official README.

Official extension/add-on store links

• Google Chrome: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/aws-search-extension/plpaphbmolljpgbkjjfkhcffhffobngd
• Mozilla Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/aws-search-extension/
• Microsoft Edge: https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/detail/aws-search-extension/ddokgnahbddokclcciibbpelhjgemihl

Extension packages

You can find the extension packages attached.

How to install an unsigned package

Google Chrome/Chromium

• Download the attached file aws_search_extension-chrome-0.3.0.zip.
• Open chrome://extensions in your browser.
• Drag-and-drop the downloaded ZIP into the extensions-view.

Firefox

• Download the attached file aws_search_extension-firefox-0.3.0.xpi.
• Open about:addons in your browser.
• Drag-and-drop the downloaded ZIP into the extensions-view.

v0.2.0 - Major jump-to-docs improvement

Summary

This release contains a major improvement for the jump-to-docs feature, which arguably is the core-feature next to the actual search.
In version 0.1.1 we relied on very spotty data provided from the JSONs that describe the service APIs, falling back to a full-text search on docs.aws.amazon.com if we couldn't identify the URL.

This release should increase the jump-to-docs coverage to 100%, since it now relies on the same mechanism the official AWS SDK docs use to refer you to the official documentation.

_{Note: this version will most likely become v1.0.0 in the future. I'll take this extension for a test-drive over the next weeks, and maybe get a few more people on board as "beta-testers". If you have any suggestions/questions/comments, please go ahead and open an issue!}

About AWS search extension

AWS search extension is a browser-extension compatible with Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge (and probably most Chromium-based browsers). It provides search results for AWS API references and the AWS CloudFormation reference, and opens the official AWS documentation page when you select an item by pressing Enter.

You can start searching by typing the keyword aws into the searchbar, followed by a space (or also tab in Chromium-based browsers), which will select the AWS search extension. Everything you now type will search through the included indices of the AWS CloudFormation and AWS API documentation.

You can find detailed information on how to structure in the official README.

Official extension/add-on store links

• Mozilla Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/aws-search-extension/ (not yet published)
• Google Chrome: not yet published
• Microsoft Edge: not yet published

Extension packages

You can find the extension packages attached.

How to install an unsigned package

Google Chrome/Chromium

• Download the attached file aws_search_extension-chrome-VERSION.zip.
• Open chrome://extensions in your browser.
• Drag-and-drop the downloaded ZIP into the extensions-view.

Firefox

• Download the attached file aws_search_extension-firefox-0.2.0.xpi.
• Open about:addons in your browser.
• Drag-and-drop the downloaded ZIP into the extensions-view.

v0.1.1 - Initial release

AWS search extension is a browser-extension compatible with Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge (and probably most Chromium-based browsers). It provides search results for AWS API references and the AWS CloudFormation reference, and opens the official AWS documentation page when you select an item by pressing Enter.

You can start searching by typing the keyword aws into the searchbar, followed by a space (or also tab in Chromium-based browsers), which will select the AWS search extension. Everything you now type will search through the included indices of the AWS CloudFormation and AWS API documentation.

You can find detailed information on how to structure in the official README.

Official extension/add-on store links

• Mozilla Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/aws-search-extension/
• Google Chrome: not yet published
• Microsoft Edge: not yet published

Unsigned extension packages

You can find the (unsigned) extension packages attached.