Problems using POST search engine

devployment

Hello, I configured a POST search engine in Vivaldi. Specifically, searXNG running locally.

Generally, searching from the address bar works using POST requests. But doing so from the "command bar" just opens a new blank tab.

If I repeated the search in the new tab, it would work. Other search engines work without problems like this.

So, it must be somehow related to using POST for the query.

Known issue? Anything I can do about that?

Pathduck

@devployment Hi - searching from the Quick Commands, and especially using POST requests, have always been kind of buggy.

How are you searching, are you always searching in a new tab with Shift+Enter?

What are the parameters of your search engine?

I have a SearXNG instance saved, but not set as my default search.

It works, but when I do a Shift+Enter on the search, a new tab opens with about:blank, then it quickly redirects to the search results. This also happens when searching from the address field.

So there's a bug there, but IMO a minor cosmetic issue as the search still works, it just flashes a about:blank page first. It also only happens when doing a Shift+Enter to open the search in a new tab.

Here's a video: https://0x0.st/X6Xw.mp4

devployment

@Pathduck said in Problems using POST search engine:

How are you searching, are you always searching in a new tab with Shift+Enter?

Yes. But for me this is Cmd + T, to open the command bar and do whatever I need. but that should not matter. Mostly trying to use Vivaldi as Arc replacement. In terms of UI and "workflow". Got addicted to how Arc works, and Vivaldi can be at least kind of close to it via its configuration.

then it quickly redirects to the search results.

In your video I see a noticeable delay as the new tab opened from the quick commands. For me, it just does not do anything there. Just stays put on the white screen (about:blank). No redirect. No, nothing.

The other search interactions seem to work fine, though. It's only from the command bar that is completely broken, but is unfortunately my main workflow.

Will try the instance you used, but already tried another public one instead of my local one.

So there's a bug there, but IMO a minor cosmetic issue as the search still works

Well, for me it's quite not cosmetic, as the search does not work at all.

Thanks for the elaborated answer.

Pathduck

@devployment For me, it looks like the about:blank page shows during the initial connect to the site. Once it gets data, it redirects to the results. If your instance is slow, it might take a while to get going, possibly.

Difficult to reproduce as I don't have a local instance and I don't see it stopping on the about:blank on the public instance.

If the same happens for you using a public instance it might be worth investigating further why it happens and potentially create a bug report.

POST searches was a "big thing" some years ago, but it's not really a privacy silver-bullet. All it does is:

Stop search terms showing up in the URL in browser history, as it's not part of the URL.
Potentially avoids web servers logging search terms tied to your IP. But the search terms are still sent as the data part of the HTTP request, and could potentially be logged if the server owner wants to.

devployment

Same effect for me, with the instance you used. Not getting over the about:blank. No matter how long I wait.

@Pathduck said in Problems using POST search engine:

If the same happens for you using a public instance it might be worth investigating further why it happens and potentially create a bug report.

Can I create that report? Or how does reporting work?

POST searches was a "big thing" some years ago, but it's not really a privacy silver-bullet

Not saying or expecting it being a silver-bullet. But at least it might hide some information from being tracked without any effort. And if it is supported and configurable, I might expect it to work. Just trying out searNGX, and as it is the default, I wanted to give it a try.

Pathduck

@devployment said in Problems using POST search engine:

Can I create that report? Or how does reporting work?

Vivaldi has a bug reporting Jira at:
https://vivaldi.com/bugreport/

However, as I can't reproduce the issue you're having, chances are a developer or internal tester can't either and the case will be closed as Cannot Reproduce.

But, I think the flashing about:blank in itself is annoying enough, even though I don't really use POST searches nor search in a new tab.

So I reported:
VB-110305 POST searches in new tab flashes about:blank

Here are the steps I wrote in the report:

Clean profile of:
6.9.3447.54 (Stable channel) (64-bit) 

* Open browser and close welcome page
* Go to Settings > Search
* Create a new POST search engine:
      Name: Test (or whatever)
      Nickname: sx (or whatever)
      URL: https://searx.envs.net/search
      POST Params: q=%S, safesearch=0
* Open a new tab, enter search term using nickname, for instance: "sx testing"
* Press Alt+Enter (the default shortcut for "Open Address in New Tab")

=> A new tab opens, about:blank flashes until the connection is made and the search results page appears.

This also applies when:

* Using the Search Field and having "Always search in new tab" enabled
* Using Quick Commands in the same way

This only happens on POST searches.
Using for instance a GET URL of https://searx.envs.net/search?q=%S&safesearch=0 will not trigger the issue.

Hopefully once a developer looks at the flashing about:blank they'll also fix your issue in the process.
I also updated the report about the address field having focus after the search completes, which is not the expected behaviour.