Vimium: Multi-word custom search with + separator breaks some engines

[dagerikhl]

Issue

I've discovered the issue while using a custom search engine, Prisjakt. The issue persist on the UK version Pricespy. When replacing %s with the search terms provided, Vimium inserts a + (encoded: %2B) between all words. This is fine for many engines, but some, such as this, provides different results when using a space /%20 versus using a plus +/%2B.
And for this site, using spaces provides better search results than using plus-signs.

A similar issue has been raised previously in #1334, but the fix introduced in #1384 introduced the + that's creating this difference.

Steps to reproduce

1. Add custom search engine Pricespy: p: https://pricespy.co.uk/#rparams=ss=%s Pricespy
2. Search with p playstation 4 in the vomnibar
3. Observe that the resulting search-query becomes playstation+4.
4. Observe that changing it to playstation 4 changes the results (for the better).

Suggested solution 1

Use spaces (%20) as separators for search terms. Not sure how this will affect other search engines.

Suggested solution 2

Allow users to choose between tow searchterm variables: %s and %S, where one inserts plus-signs and the other spaces as separators.

Suggested solution 3

Allow users to specify a custom separator for their custom search engine, i.e. as p: https://pricespy.co.uk/#rparams=ss=%s ( ) Pricespy, where ( ) specifies the separator (here, spaces).

System information

• OS: Windows 10 Pro 64bit v. 10.0.15063
• Browser: Google Chrome 64bit v. 59.0.3071.115
• Vimium: v. 1.59

[smblott-github]

Suggested solution 1 is probably a non-starter; for sure it would break stuff for other users.

Solution 2 is an interesting idea.

Solution 3 seems most general.

Let's leave this for a bit and see if anybody else reports the same or similar issues.

[gdh1995]

You may try my Vimium++ (renamed to Vimium C) (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/vimium-c/hfjbmagddngcpeloejdejnfgbamkjaeg), and it support %s or %S (aka $s, $S) to use + or (space) - %S means to concat URL using raw spaces.

Besides, it supports a simple "template" syntax:

• $S{_} means to concat query words using _, and so does $S{/}
• $S{$1/$2} means only to concat the first word and the second one using raw /, and $11, $12, ... are also OKay
• $S{ + } to concat using (space)+(space)

For example, an engine of v.sum|sum\:: vimium://eval\ $S{\ +\ } re= Calculate allows you to get sum of all words by typing v.sum 1 2 3 4

[dagerikhl]

@gdh1995 Yes, this might be exactly what I'm looking for! Thank you. I will give this a try, it seems to solve this particular problem perfectly.
I would prefer to use the official Vimium client, but if this becomes an issue I frequently run across I will consider a change.

[Beasta]

I vote for Solution 2

[smblott-github]

Fixed in #3136.