Executing a fast crawl over a computer-executable application

Abstract

Technologies related to crawling computer-executable applications are described. A full crawl is executed over an application, where executing the full crawl includes causing the application to output a plurality of pages. The application retrieves content from the World Wide Web when generating the pages for output. Thereafter, a fast crawl is executed over the application, where executing the fast crawl takes less time when compared to the time needed to execute the full crawl.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computing system comprising:
 at least one processor; and   memory that comprises instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform acts comprising:
 using a query, searching over a computer-readable index, the computer-readable index comprises content extracted from applications that are executable on client computing devices; 
 based upon the searching over the computer-readable index, causing search results to be displayed on a display of a client computing device, the search results comprise a selectable graphical object that is representative of a an application in the applications; and 
 in response to receiving an indication that the graphical object has been selected, causing the application represented by the graphical object to be downloaded and installed on the client computing device. 
   
     
     
         2 . The computing system of  claim 1 , the client computing device being a mobile telephone. 
     
     
         3 . The computing system of  claim 1 , the acts further comprising:
 prior to searching over the computer-readable index, causing a graphical user interface to be displayed on the display of the client computing device, the graphical user interface being for an application store; and   receiving the query from the client computing device, the query received by way of the graphical user interface.   
     
     
         4 . The computing system of  claim 1 , the search results further comprise content extracted from the application displayed in relation to the graphical objects. 
     
     
         5 . The computing system of  claim 1 , the search results comprise a plurality of graphical objects that are respectively representative of a plurality of applications that are installable on the client computing device. 
     
     
         6 . The computing system of  claim 1 , the search results further comprise data that identifies at least one web page identified as being relevant to the query. 
     
     
         7 . The computing system of  claim 1 , further comprising constructing the computer-readable index, wherein constructing the computer-readable index comprises:
 executing the application; and   extracting the content when the application is being executed.   
     
     
         8 . A method executed by at least one processor of a computing system, the method comprising:
 in response to receipt of a user query from a client computing device, searching over a computer-readable index based upon the query, the computer-readable index comprises content extracted from an application that is executable on the client computing device;   identifying the application based upon the searching over the computer-readable index;   causing search results to be displayed on the client computing device, the search results comprise a graphical object that is representative of the application; and   in response to receiving an indication that the graphical object has been selected on the client computing device, causing the application to be downloaded to the client computing device and installed on the client computing device.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , the search results further comprise the content extracted from the application, the content extracted from the application presented in relation to the graphical object. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , the search results further include a web page identified by a search engine as being relevant to the query. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the query is received by way of a graphical user interface for an application store on the client computing device. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the client computing device is a mobile telephone. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8 , the search results comprise a plurality of graphical objects that are respectively representative of applications that are executable on the client computing device. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising constructing the computer-readable index, wherein constructing the computer-readable index comprises:
 executing the application; and   extracting the content from the application for inclusion in the computer-readable index.   
     
     
         15 . A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform acts comprising:
 searching over a computer-readable index based upon a user query received from a client computing device, the computer-readable index comprises content extracted from an application that is installable on the client computing device;   identifying the application based upon the searching over the computer-readable index;   transmitting search results to the client computing device, the search results comprise a graphical object that is representative of the application; and   in response to receipt of an indication that the graphical object has been selected at the client computing device, transmitting the application to the client computing device for installment thereon.   
     
     
         16 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , the acts further comprising:
 causing the search results to be displayed in a graphical user interface of an application store on the client computing device.   
     
     
         17 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , the search results comprise a plurality of graphical objects that are respectively representative of a plurality of applications indexed in the computer-readable index. 
     
     
         18 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , the search results further comprise links to a respective plurality of web pages identified as being relevant to the query. 
     
     
         19 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , the client computing device being a mobile telephone. 
     
     
         20 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , the acts further comprising constructing the computer-readable index, wherein constructing the computer-readable index comprises:
 executing the application; and   capturing the content for inclusion in the computer-readable index as the application is being executed.