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Google Toolbar Proxy (tbproxy)

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

Sunday, August 20, 2006
17 years ago12,029 views

Anyone seen this before / know what it's for?

http://www.google.com/tbproxy/getaccountinfo

I think the URL will return a "Bad Request" unless you're signed in to your Google Account.

For me, it contains the following (where yourgmailusername[put at-character here]gmail.com is my actual Gmail address):

-- BOF --

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<toplevel>
<email data="yourgmailusername[put at-character here]gmail.com"/><services><service data="gmail"/>
</services>
<services><service data="igoogle"/>
</services>
<services><service data="froogle"/>
</services>
<services><service data="msh"/>
</services>
<services><service data="blogger"/>
</services>
<services><service data="froogle"/>
</services>
<services><service data="orkut"/>
</services>

</toplevel>

-- EOF --

I'm guessing it's used by Google Toolbar to tell what services you're signed up for – although it only shows a selection of them – but that's all I've managed to figure out. I've tried to login and logout of other services but this file doesn't seem to change.

(Note: The "tbproxy" directory isn't new, as googling for it will show:

   http://www.google.com/search?&q=tbproxy

However, I can't find anything mentioning this specific URL. Everything seems to be referring to the spelling / dictionary services served from this directory instead...)

Inferno [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

Do you think GToolbar for Firefox does anything with that data. Maybe its for a future release.

/pd [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

ok what is this ..

>service data="msh> ??

NateDawg [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

odd, I have a different set of nodes

   <?xml version="1.0" ?>
- <toplevel>
   <email data="myusername[put at-character here]gmail.com" />
- <services>
   <service data="gmail" />
   </services>
- <services>
   <service data="igoogle" />
   </services>
- <services>
   <service data="msh" />
   </services>
- <services>
   <service data="blogger" />
   </services>
   </toplevel>

NateDawg [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

And why did it double up the froogle node in Tony's list?

photoactive [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

Mine's the same as Tony's, two Froogles.

Sankar Anand [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

i get a blank page for this url
http://www.google.com/tbproxy/getaccountinfo

and i am signed in .google accounts

Sankar Anand [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

[update] this url doesnt work in firefox for me... i get a blank page

whereas i get like tony in IE and i have not even installed Google Toolbar in IE

Inferno [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

Exactly... in firefox it returns a blank page. I think the page is created upon the request of the Toolbar in IE

Sohil [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

What's MSH ??????????

Sankar Anand [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

but Tony Sohil says that

msh is a formely codename of Windows Powershell (Monad)
http://channel9.msdn.com/wiki/default.aspx/Channel9.WindowsPowerShellWiki

Sankar Anand [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

MSH is My search History of Google

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

I think the reason I've got Froogle twice is because I'm signed up to "Froogle Shopping List" and "Froogle Merchant Center". And I'm pretty sure "msh" is "(My) Search History".

For those getting a blank page in Firefox, check the source code. I think it's returning XML without a correct mime type, so FF is interpreting it as HTML, which results in a blank page since all tags are hidden. (Or at least that's what I'm seeing.)

Firefox Toolbar definitely uses "tbproxy/dictionary" for its translator feature. Not sure about IE though.

BTW, I found the URL in my Temporary Internet Files, so I'm guessing this is used by Google Toolbar for IE. There were a few versions of it, all appended with a "key" parameter which appears to be a random number, probably just so that it doesn't use a cached version.

Sohil [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

What about others ?

I'm signed up for Picasa Web Albums, Spreadsheets, Co-op.

Or is Google only showing Matured Products ?

Tony, you're right. Firefox is rendering the XML as HTML. (Checked the source)

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

<< Or is Google only showing Matured Products ? >>

I'm signed up for all known services. I have no idea why it's only those that are displayed in that file though...

TOMHTML [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

Part of the HTTP answer :
"
Server: Toolbar Gaia User Service Server
"
No result about that in Google

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

TOMHTML: Thanks for posting that. I checked that too and forgot all about it when I started the thread!

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