FileSearchy Pro 1.3 (for searching NAMES & CONTENTS of files & folders)

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FileSearchy Pro 1.3 (for searching NAMES & CONTENTS of files & folders)

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Started 9 years ago by harpo2448
Latest reply from graylox

harpo2448
Member

#3 & #14 XP-Man (and #13 Roland):

Per your "conversation" on Nov. 3, 2014 on the page for "Giveaway of the Day - PDF Compressor Pro 3.0" :

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/pdf-compressor-3-0/

...regarding the earlier GOTD offer for FileSearchy 1.3 of a few days earlier:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/filesearchy-pro/

Did you figure out a way to contact each other? I've often wanted to be able to do that (private conversation) after reading GOTD comments, although I suppose the forums are for that purpose. I'll check the forums after submitting this -- maybe there's a FileSearchy Pro thread started you're already using!

Anyway, I too, am very interested in good file-search programs. Are you talking about something that fast-searches the CONTENTS of files (and hopefully the file/folder names as well in the same package), possibly using indexes to speed the results?

For the last couple of years I have been VERY satisfied to use Locate32 for file and folder NAMES. After proper setup of the database of drives to process (local, detachable, networked), and enabling/disabling of the extensive features, I find that it works great, very fast, thorough, low system impact and is easy to use. When I last tried for support the friendly developer responded quickly. Sad, however bug-free and well it still works, to see it is no longer being developed -- I hope he might change his mind.

(Working with computers since before the PDP and later VAX days (OK, actual punch cards -- wow, now that taught me to type carefully!), I don't need a cartoon-like "modern" interface. Filling in well-laid-out blank fields on a simple form works just fine.)

Also, for file CONTENTS I have been using dtSearch for nearly a decade; but, amazingly, it does not work for the file or folder names themselves -- duh -- at least not the edition I'm still using. For that I had scheduled the generation of a directory-dump file containing all filenames/folders for each indexed drive... or more recently simply use Locate32 since discovering it a couple of years ago!

dtSearch (.com) is a mid-priced (for many years $200 for the desktop edition), very mature commercial/industrial-strength program that is VERY powerful with many search options (expressions, binary & fuzzy searching, near-within, etc.) and features, and can index most ANY type of file most anywhere accessible on or by a network -- binaries, documents, XML, OCR, media file meta-data, e-mail PST, etc.

For as long as I have used it, it has been worth every penny for the time saved in finding stuff no matter where it lurked. My initial challenge was to rule out what it should NOT index for search!

A copy of dtSearch running on a local machine can search indexes generated remotely on other machines to reduce network traffic and speed results (pretty amazing to see in action on my own LAN on my old machines), and also includes "spider walking" the online content of websites to the page depth or other linked websites as you desire.

However, dtsearch has a fairly non-friendly "professional" mostly-text-based user interface that takes a while to explore and get used to. I've been hoping for years that someone would write a general purpose "public" GUI front-end for it (now THERE's an opportunity!) as many custom-tailored ones have been professionally written by consultants for specific industries and/or clients.

One last plug (I know, I sound like I work for them, but I don't!): Whenever I've contacted dtSearch for support (email, Yahoo! Group forums, a phone call to actual people!) they have been very responsive and friendly.

I have yet to try X1 search which, from my own "research", I understand strikes the best balance between price ($50 dollars?), features and performance among those applications in the class alongside Google Desktop Search aka GDS (no longer supported, and I found too intrusive and slowed my PC a lot), Copernic (free version obsolete, stripped down and with issues), etc.

So if you have released a similar application (or plan to), I'd be happy to know about it -- Thanks!

Posted 9 years ago #
XP-Man
Member

For a number of reasons it is not possible to make any changes to this 32-bit Delphi program so anything you consider a bug is a feature.
Approximately 2.5 MB uncompressed, 1 MB when compressed by UPX
Portable and copyable, nothing written to registry by the program.

Basically designed to quickly search content and to limit the number of returns.
Searches disk using folders and file types selected by the user.
Searches the drive for exact content input only, this means will find part words, can search for phrases and binary code also.
Search can have multiple spellings of the same word, for example Smith, Smyth and/or Smythe
Then searchers within the results if requested using include or exclude statement, this can be repeated as many times as required.
Statements automatically built by program and can be saved as macro.
Has an adjacent word search.
Has many more features not well documented at the moment.
Enough problems with day-to-day living because of my age and health, if someone could host this would be a great help if anyone still interested.

Posted 9 years ago #
harpo2448
Member

Thanks for responding! Perhaps some of the other people who expressed interest over the past few days will also join in the conversation (Roland, Wayne, and the usual daily suspects).

The features you describe for your software sound interesting enough to warrant a tryout. How do I/we get a copy? And do you intend to limit your release to only directly-contacted people, or to post a public link for anyone to try later on?

However, I am not a programmer/coder, so do not know how to compile under Windows; but am otherwise pretty comfortable messing around with a system.

Is it installed using an EXE or MSI installer file, or is an archive file containing a Windows executable and supporting files merely un-zipped to any folder and run from there?

Since you mention there are no registry entries, does it run the same under any 32-bit version of Windows OS (95/98/Me, 2000, XP up to 8.1?), or can it run on 64-bit as well?

Does it matter if the disk(s) volumes accessed are FAT, FAT32, NTFS, or ___? Local-only, or detachable (USB, firewire, etc.), or networked (either by drive letter or network name), or remotely shared folders on other systems?

(BTW, I am still happily running only 32-bit XP or older systems -- wouldn't you agree, "XP-man"?!? Although I am hoping Santa will seriously consider bringing me a new 16GB, quad-core, HD touch-screen laptop with graphics accelerator and SSD drives...)

As far as "hosting" your creation, are you hoping to make it an open-source project on, say, SourceForge.org for further development (although you said "...it is not possible to make any changes to this 32-bit Delphi program..."), or...?

I, myself, have no website or online pages to post a link on. Would posting a link in this thread to your own copy work (if "public access" is OK)?

I'm guessing you more likely want to copy your software to somewhere online on a public software page where you won't have to maintain access yourself. Maybe this GOTD website has such a feature -- I'll look around later on.

Again, thanks for your offer!

Posted 9 years ago #
harpo2448
Member

Posted 9 years ago #
XP-Man
Member

Hi harpo2448,
If you send me an e-mail I will pass you my program as an attachment it is just less than 1 MB as a zip file.
Use the following e-mail address:-

....................Moderator comment......................

sorry guys, no emails allowed, though you could PM your email.

Posted 9 years ago #
Roland-z
Member

Thank you very much, XP-Man for your proposition to try to find a way to contact you, in the Giveaway discussion of yesterday. I would be very glad to try your Search program, having much interest in this field. What I read here above from you about your program seems to be very promising and of high interest.

I am using Copernic Desktop Search (paid version), but it does not fulfill all my needs. About searching files & folders, I am using the wonderful "Everything" program and also "HDDB".
About searching files content, I am using mostly "Total Commander" search function.

One thing I think would be a nice feature in a search program, is searching within 1 file, the sentence or paragraph containing say 2 words separated by a few words, or among many files, the file(s) having 2 words (or more) separated by a few words (number to be chosen), thus eliminating all the other files from the search result.
Thank you also to harpo2448 for opening this thread.

Posted 9 years ago #
harpo2448
Member

Roland,

We should try out XP-Man's software and see what it's about.

But since you have previously been willing to actually pay for good software (wow, how apparently non-typical for a GOTD visitor! Just kidding...) you may want to check out the X1 desktop search I mentioned:

http://www.x1.com/products/x1_search/

It mentions:

Best in class indexing speed
Unified search across multiple data types
Boolean, proximity and keyword search
Preview over 500+ file types

...but only a 14-day trial, not too generous. I think it is a result of their recent strategy to become a more enterprise-oriented company (they used to be more personal software oriented), or maybe they are confident that it is really effective and that the features do not have a steep learning curve (unlike the dtSearch I mentioned which is great but a bit cryptic to set up).

Anyway, let me know if you try it and like it.

Posted 9 years ago #
XP-Man
Member

Hopefully you have both got copies of my program and you find it useful, if you do please let me know otherwise be kind to an old man. ;-)
Roland Gmail does not allow EXE's as attachments so I renamed the two I sent you to xxxexe if you still have problems please let me know and I'll send it as a RAR file and encrypt the filenames along with the password obviously, this tends to fool Gmail.

Posted 9 years ago #
CraigD
Member

XP-Man, From reading this thread, your search program seems really interesting. Can you tell me how to send you a personal message - I see that I am not allowed to give my e-mail address here.
Thanks

Posted 9 years ago #
CraigD
Member

Whoops! it was right in my face under each members name. Sorry for the blunder

Posted 9 years ago #
Roland-z
Member

The program made by Xp-Man is a pure jewel. Many thanks again.

Posted 9 years ago #
Roland-z
Member

To harpo2448. thank you for your message. I did not know this x1 desktop search program.
If I try it, I'll let you know what I think about it. But for the moment, I am quite happy with Copernic Desktop Search. It searches even inside de pps, pdf files etc!

Posted 9 years ago #
harpo2448
Member

First impressions of SearchWizard by XP-Man:

First and foremost: THANK YOU!

Next, bear with me: I'm not used to writing software reviews and tend to be somewhat "wordy" in my descriptions.

I'm sort of comparing SearchWizard with my most-used-daily search utility, Locate32. Contrasting the two, Locate32 is geared primarily towards locating/listing file and folder NAMES, which it does very well and very fast, for all drives it is set up to pre-index. It creates a database file for each drive added; e.g., I chose "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Locate32\files.dbs" as the default database file location for my C: drive. They are fairly small since only file/folder NAMES and their paths are being stored. I have it set to search every folder on my entire disk.

A limited set of results begins appearing immediately in Locate32 as you type -- this is helpful for refining the search terms before eventually clicking on "Find Now" to generate the complete results list.

The results list displayed can be sorted by clicking on headers of columns for name, folder, size, type, date, etc. (many other attribute columns can be added); and a selected file's properties can be displayed or it be renamed directly from within there. Using the CTRL key, multiple selections can be made simultaneously, and then all will be highlighted when the "real" Windows Explorer folder(s) are opened. It is more "Explorer-like" in that regard.

As a secondary function Locate32 can look within those files for text CONTENT; i.e., string(s) of text. Assuming the NAME-search results in a limited, reasonably-small list, the search within those files proceeds at a normal file-by-file pace which is more-or-less tolerable depending on your system; i.e., file CONTENTS are NOT pre-indexed.

SearchWizard appears to be primarily for searching file CONTENT. It does NOT create any "index database" files, but does appear to update some initially-small search-term-list storage files within it's own executable directory. That means it is more "portable" since, if used, say, from a USB FLASH memory (or "thumb") drive, no traces are left on drive C: when finished.

On the first tab (I'll call it the "NAME" list; the actual title is "Where and What to Search") you specify which folders/sub-folders are to be processed. They get added to a list. I chose to restrict my list to "C:\Documents and Settings" (and all sub-folders). File names (for searching within) appear to be selected either by manually typing in the expression (e.g., *find_me*.*) or by using a pull-down list of popular file extensions (*.avi, *.txt, etc.). This list grows with each new search term you choose to add so as to help speed up repetitive selections.

On the second tab (the "CONTENT" list, titled "What to Search For") you specify the text term/string to search for within those file contents. As you type, SearchWizard attempts to help by matching/completing the term with some that are preloaded from a default list. This list grows with each new term searched-for so as to be more helpful if repeated the next time.

TIP: To selectively clear any newly-added terms stored in either the NAME or CONTENT list (so as to leave no traces), right-click on the term to display a choice for deleting it.

TIP 2: On the first tab there is an option box to check for search file/folder NAMES-only, if desired. Unless this box is checked, SearchWizard assumes you wish to search for contents as specified on tab 2.

OK, this is what I've found out so far in my non-extensive, subjective, un-timed testing conducted on my older/slower Windows XP Home system, an Atom-powered Acer netbook (so I could better "feel"/emphasize any speed differences):

I chose to look for what I thought were somewhat-obscure text files (*.txt, containing a certain word) that were scattered under "C:\Documents and Settings\..." among five user accounts (this is actually a fairly-heavily-used "kitchen counter computer" with several years of crap -- applications, pictures, documents, etc. -- on it).

Locate32 is REALLY fast at file/folder NAME-only searching and popped out results for the entire drive (this I already knew and is why I use it!). Specifying only text (*.txt) files for searching, and adding the special word to find within those results slowed it down. It found files all over the drive, including the 10 under "C:\Documents and Settings" that were expected.

SearchWizard similarly found the same 10 files with text; and, for the limited portion of the disk folders it was checking, they appeared as fast or perhaps faster than Locate32. It is MUCH faster than using the built-in Windows Explorer search function. Results appear on a third tab named "Wizards Answer".

On an early run it also appeared to find an additional file containing the target text, and I confirmed that the file contained the text string by opening it in Notepad (I think it was a temporary "recent" shortcut for one of the intended target/test files I had opened earlier named ".txt" which may have fooled the program?), but I could not repeat that "find" on another run. Perhaps I was getting better at understanding how to properly use the program.

SearchWizard has additional tricks which I haven't really gotten into yet, but these include saving and re-loading search lists, comparing text files, refining your search within initial results, and as stated in the support documents, "...'Adjacent Word Search' is available. The function of this search is look for two words separated by an unknown number of characters...". All are really nice features.

However, it was while trying out these advanced features that SearchWizard become non-responsive: I could change tabs (responded slowly) and my CPU cycle usage went way up, as though it was stuck in some sort of loop. I clicked on both the program's own EXIT button and the window-pane "Close" button (the upper-right-corner "X") -- both seem unresponsive -- but after a couple of minutes it finally did close on its own (the Windows "...is not responding..." warning never popped up). The author admitted that although very serviceable as it exists, this program could use further refinement.

SearchWizard has some powerful features that are not found in most other similarly-intended applications, and probably works just fine once a user knows what they are doing (I do not yet). Apparently it is not foolproof to someone like me noodling around and abusing it. But this would also be the case of an inexperienced driver throwing a top-heavy SUV fast into sharp curves and not expecting it to roll over (versus a well-handling sports car) -- it works great for its purpose and within its known limits (which I am learning).

It is a nice piece of work and represents a lot of thought and effort -- Thanks, XP-Man! This is now in my arsenal of useful utilities.

Posted 9 years ago #
XP-Man
Member

Thanks for the write-up; regarding the apparent lock-up of the program.

The search component, particularly the file search where it is most noticeable, is passed the information to search for and once this happens as a programmer I have no control as there is nothing in the component that allows me to stop the process.

For example let's suppose we look for a file with an extension that doesn't exist and we tell it to search the whole of a large drive, the component will take this information and become totally independent of my part of the program until it has finished the search, hence whichever buttons such as the Exit will not be responsive and the only way to stop the program is with the task manager.
You may wonder why I kept this component, quite frankly I tested many and non-came even close to the speed that this component can achieve with its priority set to high, but it does mean you need to avoid situations such as that those described above.

Posted 9 years ago #
harpo2448
Member

In searching around the Internet, I've come across an interesting indexing-type newcomer (relatively speaking).

However, it only runs on 64-bit Windows (Vista, 7, & up) which means I cannot try it for now (Santa, I need a new computer with hardware that supports the latest OS).

Currently it is priced at $50 like so many others intended as business productivity tools (it seems to be the magic pricepoint). If you find the right search tool that you like, I can vouch for spending that much money for the time and aggravation saved over the course of using one repeatedly:

Aikin Desktop Search - by Grapple Data Technology

grappledata.com/aikin/News.aspx

Their "news" release on that page titled "Why Desktop Search Sucks" is interesting for its user-centric observations about prior products.

Among other modern features, they claim it has an online-Google-search-like ability to match misspelled words as you type that "sounds like" what you are trying to find (e.g., people's names you can't quite remember). That would truly be useful.

I'd really like to see what you folks think about this if you do try it out.

Also, the other day I actually missed out on installing FileSearchy Pro 1.3 itself during the GOTD offer (of all days to miss). For those of you that are still trying it out, how do you like it so far (and as compared to what you normally used beforehand)? Is it the best tool you've encountered? If not, why not (briefly)?

Also, for those of you who contacted XP-Man, have you tried out his freeware SearchWizard yet? Should we urge him to release his source code for future community development (if he can)?

Posted 9 years ago #
harpo2448
Member

(For some reason a previous attempt to post this reply does not show up in the thread unless I am logged in -- all others seem to be visible before I log in... strange...)

In searching around the Internet, I've come across another interesting indexing-type newcomer (relatively speaking).

However, it only runs on 64-bit Windows (Vista, 7, & up) which means I cannot try it for now (Santa, I need a new computer with hardware that supports the latest OS).

Currently it is priced at $50 like so many others intended as business productivity tools (it seems to be the magic pricepoint). If you find the right search tool that you like, I can vouch for spending that much money for the time and aggravation saved over the course of using one repeatedly:

Aikin Desktop Search - by Grapple Data Technology

grappledata.com/aikin/News.aspx

Their "news" release on that page titled "Why Desktop Search Sucks" is interesting for its user-centric observations about prior products.

Among other modern features, they claim it has an online-Google-search-like ability to match misspelled words as you type that "sounds like" what you are trying to find (e.g., people's names you can't quite remember). That would truly be useful.

I'd really like to see what you folks think about this if you do try it out.

Also, the other day I actually missed out on installing FileSearchy Pro 1.3 itself during the GOTD offer (of all days to miss). For those of you that are still trying it out, how do you like it so far (and as compared to what you normally used beforehand)? Is it the best tool you've encountered? If not, why not (briefly)?

Also, for those of you who contacted XP-Man, have you tried out his freeware SearchWizard yet? Should we urge him to release his source code for future community development (if he can)?

Posted 9 years ago #
graylox
Moderator

(For some reason a previous attempt to post this reply does not show up in the thread unless I am logged in -- all others seem to be visible before I log in... strange...)

I'm sorry that the spam filter messed about with this thread, but I can't do anything against it, just restore posts when somebody informs me.

graylox

Posted 9 years ago #
harpo2448
Member

Thanks, graylox.

And for anyone else that may have attempted to post a reply here and it didn't show up in the "public view" (as I call it when you are not logged in), please repost so we can continue discussing on this topic.

Posted 9 years ago #
graylox
Moderator

And for anyone else that may have attempted to post a reply here and it didn't show up in the "public view" (as I call it when you are not logged in), please repost so we can continue discussing on this topic.

There are no more lost posts. You need to log in for writing, but reading is "free" for everyone.
Only the deleted or spammed replies are hidden for the user, but administrators can see them.

graylox

Posted 9 years ago #

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