ACDataSeeker 0.44

[2003 Aug 20]

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Content

• License agreement
  
• Introduction
• What's new
  
• Installation
• Features and settings
• Planned features
• Registration

License agreement

• You are allowed to use this program for testing and evaluation until a next version is available.
• The program, in its current version, may be installed on as many machines as you like.
• You are free to distribute the program provided that you include all the files in the original archive without any modification.
• You are not allowed to sell the program, but can charge a reasonable amount to cover the cost of the distribution media.
• Under no circumstances will the author be liable for any loss or damage that may be derived from the use of the program.
• ACDataSeeker is the copyrighted property of Alessandro Felice Cantatore, Bitonto, Bari, Italy.
  
  

Introduction

Even if the program is far from complete, I decided to make it available in its current stage, as I want to start to get some feedback so I can easily modify it, while working on implementing the still missing features.

What's new

• Version 0.44
  
  • opening files via a double click on the entry in the listbox did not work if the file name contained spaces.
  • searching on files containing NULs (i.e. characters with an ASCII value of 0) stopped at the first NUL. Now, in the search buffer, all NULs are replaced with spaces and so the whole file is searched.
  • the product information dialog has been added.
  • most help menu items now work.
• Version 0.43
  
  • if a folder is dragged on the program icon, the folder path is inserted in the Files to search for:  field and the search pattern "\*" is automatically appended to the path.
    
  • some features of the Selected  menu item (Edit, Open, Settings, Folder, Command line) have now been implemented.
    They can be performed either via the Selected  menu or via the mouse (double click to edit the selected file in a new window, Shift + double click to edit the file in an already opened EPM window, Ctrl + double click to open the folder containing the file, Alt + double click to open the file settings notebook,).
    
  • the View and Options menu attributes have been changed so that the menu is not dismissed once an option has been set (so it is easier to change multiple options).
    
  • the View menu has been reorganized.
  • to change the font of the dialog you can now drop a font on any caption window (i.e. the text Files to search for:, Text to search for (if any): , etc.).
  • when a search operation is performed the wait pointer is no longer used if the mouse moves over the window border so now it is easier to resize the window while searching.
    
  • the problem of the scrambled window layout (on first program execution) has been finally solved.
    
• Version 0.42:
  
  • the wildcard matching routine was buggy. It has now been replaced with a new correct and very fast algorithm.
  • the program settings were not saved if the program was closed via the window list or via system shutdown.
  • the algorithm used for the case insensitive, and boolean searches have been completely rewritten as they were not working properly.
  • in some systems, on the first execution, the program window has an incorrect size. I failed to reproduce the problem on my machine, anyway made some little modifications which I hope will solve that problem.
    
  • an elapsed time indicator showing the time employed to perform a search operation has been addded.
  • some notes about how to use metacharacters (alsko known as wildcards or global characters) in the  names of the files to search for have been added.
    
• Version 0.41:
  
  • a serious memory leak problem has been corrected.

Installation

To uninstall the program just delete DATASEEK.EXE, DATASEEK.INI and DATASEEK.HLP.

Features and settings

• Multithreading
  All disk operations (scanning the disk, reading files, etc.) are performed via a separate thread.
• No drive scan on startup
  Unlikely PMSEEK.EXE you will not see any "Drive not ready" message when starting multiple instances of ACDataSeeker.
  
• Multiple file names
  You can specify multiple file names in theFiles to search for:  field using the an OR symbol (a vertical bar ' | ') to separate the file masks.
  For instance:
  

  D:\*.TXT|D:\*.HTM*|E:\*.TXT|E:\*.HTM*
  

  will find all the files in the drives D: and E: with the extensions TXT, HTM or HTML (and other extension starting with HTM).
  
• Multiple text strings
  You can specify multiple text strings separating them with the OR symbol ( | ) or with the AND symbol ( & ). You can also use the escape character ' ^ ' to make the program interpret |, & and ^ as real characters rather than symbol.
  For instance if you specify int theText to search for (if any):field :
  

  PFNWP|MIA_CHECKED|MIS_SINGLE

  The program will find all files which contain at least one occurrence of PFNWP or MIA_CHECKED or MIS_SINGLE.
  If you instead specify:
  

  PFNWP&MIA_CHECKED&MIS_SINGLE

  The program will find all files which contain at least one occurrence of all the specified words.
  You cannot use mixed or complex boolean logic: the text strings to be searched must either be separated by OR symbols or by AND symbols.
  So in the following search string:
  

  PFNWP|MIA_CHECKED&MIS_SINGLE

  only the first OR character is interpreted as a boolean symbol and the program will look for the strings "PFNWP" or "MIA_CHECKED|MIS_SINGLE".
• File and text to search history
  The data of the searched files and text strings are saved in drop down boxes, so in case you have to make a new search of some text in a different path or of new text in a path you had already researched, you just have to select the data from the drop down lists.
  
• Result history
  A drop down box showing both the details of the searched files and text allows you to recall the result of a previous file search.
  
• Separate file and text lists
  There is a separate list for displaying the file with met the search criteria. Once a file is selected the text list is filled with all the occurrences of the found text.
  Two arrow buttons allow to resize the two lists according to your needs.
  
• Optionally display file date, time and size
  You can choose from the menu what level of details you need.
• Optionally sort the found files list
  You can display them unsorted, sorted ascending or descending. Sorting depends on the full file data, so if the file date are displayed the files are sorted according to the current date, if only the file size is displayed the file are sorted according to their size, if no additional details is displayed the file are sorted by name.
• Optionally display line numbers and hide leading spaces
  You can display line numbers in the list of found text. You can also optionally strip the leadings spaces (but you have to repeat the research to do that).
• Resizeable and customizable interface
  You can use the font palette to change the font used by the main window: drag a font from the palette and drop it on the window border. The window size and layout will change to adapt to the new font size.
  You can also use the font palette to change the font used by the entry fields and result lists.
  In order to get aligned entries in the result windows you should select a monospaced font (Courier, System VIO, etc.) and drop it on any entry field or list window, the other entry field/list windows will automatically adopt the new font.
  You can also resize and move the window where you like. The layout of the inner controls will adapt to the new window size.
  You can also drop a color on the Search, Stop or Help buttons.
  The window size and position, the fonts and the button colors are saved in the DATASEEK.INI file and restored the next time you start the program.
• Subdirectory search
  Like with PMSEEK.EXE you can recursively search throught subdirectories.
• Exclude binary files
  You can optionally exclude files containing NUL characters (i.e. characters with ASCII value 0).
• Case option
  Like with PMSEEK.EXE you can perform case sensitive or case insensitive searches.
• Boolean operators
  See the previous notes about multiple file names andmultiple text strings.
• Settings dialog
  A settings dialog is provided in order to set the default view and search options, the size of the result history and the names of the default editor and command shell (these features will soon be implemented).

Planned features

Registration