Messages

1

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / iTunes Orphan Finder

« on: April 13, 2013, 05:45 PM »

Hi all,

I've written a program which finds files that have been orphaned by itunes. I'm looking for beta testers for some feedback.

It loads your iTunes library xml file and verifies it can find all the referenced files. Conversely it finds files in the iTunes directory which aren't referenced in the iTunes library xml.

cheers,
Fidel

2

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« on: November 23, 2009, 02:45 PM »

Uh-oh... I thought upgrading to Windows 7 (Ultimate w/ Federation) would solve my problems, but no dice.

I have a HUGE collection of HTML, MHT, doc, rtf, PDF and djvu research articles, papers and even books on my hard drive.

I've tried the built-in Windows 7 feature, but it is sorely lacking on the following features:

 1) No clear search interface to input multiple search criteria. I hate learning a new query language (AQS) - yes I'm old, nothing I can do about that. Why oh why did Microsoft remove the older XP style search interface?

2) For some reason it fails to index all files, regardless of read/access rights and iFilters/settings active. Can't figure out why.

3) Appears to cut off indexing at some predefined limit for large files (?)

4) When searching for CONTENTS with preview pane open, the preview shows the first page of the file, not the first page with the search word occurring. How dumb is that? I want specificity and context for my search results. MS really blew this one up, imho.

5) Actually fairly slow to search/find (I don't mind index speed). Sure, it has a 150GB of files worth in the index, but I'm on a 4GHz quad-core, 12GB RAM, fast Intel SSD system. I'd appreciate a bit faster implementation of the algorithms for basic query.

6) Not sure it does stemming properly.

I'd be willing to pay up to $200 for a contents indexing/searching software that does the following:

 1. fast in searching, doesn't have to be a lightning fast indexer
 2. reliable: works without faults. no crashes. doesn't miss files
 3. can index files up to 100MB in size
 4. supports contents indexing/searching for pdf, doc(x), rtf, txt, htm, mhtm, djvu - if not natively, then via iFilters
 5. preview function shows the actual location hits for my content keyword queries, not just the 1st page
 6. works with Windows 7 (64bits, doesn't have to be 64bit version though)

Is there anything out there that fits the bill? I can't get Copernic, Google and other free try-outs to work properly.

Can X1 be made to work like this? How about the others. Many almost get there, but the DJVU content support seems to be a a miss for many.

If you've tried out and solved this issue yourself, I'd really like to hear what your solution was.

-halcyon (November 23, 2009, 10:54 AM)

Hi Halycon, I've never tried to search DJVU files using hound, but it fits the rest of your bill. Could you please give it a try and let me know how it goes? It's at jimmythefork.com

3

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« on: November 17, 2009, 05:40 AM »

thx guys

4

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Hound: a grep-alike that searches inside PDFs

« on: November 17, 2009, 03:46 AM »

Yep, that's why there's the check box at the bottom right of the window. The reason that I turn associate on by default on first run was because I found it more convenient whenever I lent it to a friend

5

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Hound: a grep-alike that searches inside PDFs

« on: November 17, 2009, 02:30 AM »

My two cents... How about a "Browse" function for the folder(s) that one can search rather than having to type the correct path?

-cemole (November 17, 2009, 02:14 AM)

yep - good idea. I'll add that too. Keep in mind you can right-click any folder and press "Hound 3"

6

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Hound: a grep-alike that searches inside PDFs

« on: November 17, 2009, 12:33 AM »

Fidel, I have a question about File Hound's registry entry HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Jtf\Hound3 which evidently sets the "Associate with Folders" context menu entry...

Is there a way to use a config file (.ini) or some other way (I have no idea ) to implement that value so File Hound can be 100% portable? If so, I could put File Hound on a flash drive and use it on my friend's computer without touching the registry.

Just curious about this portability issue--regardless I will continue to use File Hound.

-sajman99 (November 16, 2009, 07:21 PM)

Thanks Saj That's definitely do-able. I'm a big fan of portable software myself - so expect the change to happen soon. I'll make it an ini file so it's nice and easy to maintain.

7

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Hound: a grep-alike that searches inside PDFs

« on: November 16, 2009, 04:00 PM »

haha thanks Saj Glad you appreciate it. I want to add more of a personal touch to the programs.

and Superboyac, I know what you mean! Some people very much prefer the command line tools but my personal preference is for the windowed approach (for this at least)

8

General Software Discussion / Re: File Hound 3.08 released

« on: November 16, 2009, 07:06 AM »

It seems it relies on .NET.  I'll try it on my Vista PC...

-MerleOne (November 16, 2009, 07:01 AM)

Well spotted, it does indeed require .Net 2.0.

Cheers,
Fidel

9

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« on: November 16, 2009, 06:28 AM »

How about file hound? Not to blow my own horn but I actually use it all the time at work...

10

General Software Discussion / File Hound 3.08 released

« on: November 16, 2009, 06:26 AM »

Hello,

I've just put the finishing touches on File Hound 3.08. It searches for text inside any file. Please find it over at jimmythefork.com and let me know how it goes.

Kind regards,
Fidel

p.s. it's free

11

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Hound: a grep-alike that searches inside PDFs

« on: November 16, 2009, 06:14 AM »

Hi Fidel, aside from the leftover temp issue I really like your search app Hound. I'm definitely looking forward to its continued development.
Good Luck.

-sajman99 (November 02, 2009, 11:06 PM)

Thanks Saj I'm pleased to announce that the latest version is online. It's over at jimmythefork.com
If you enjoy using it, please show your workmates who might find it useful

Cheers,
Fidel

12

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Hound: a grep-alike that searches inside PDFs

« on: November 02, 2009, 03:49 PM »

Some people have discovered that Hound leaves behind some text files when searching through PDFs. So a few questions for you...
 
(1) Have you ever heard of this issue ?
(2) Do you have plans to update Hound 1.0 ?
 
Thanks very much, sajman99

Hi sajman99, thanks for info. I have noticed that hound can leave behind some temp files, but I couldn't pinpoint why. I've got a couple of options - update hound 1.0 or release hound 3.0 (the .net version). I'll post it here once it's done

Cheers,
Fidel

13

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for a AutoSave program

« on: September 26, 2009, 08:18 PM »

Thanks rjbull.

But 'Helmet' doesn't have the option to specify save time interval to less than a minute.

-sri (September 26, 2009, 03:09 AM)

Hi sri, that's true. I only wrote it for a min of 1 minute. If you're looking for lower than that I think you may have an extremely unstable computer ;-)

Alternatively, you can use an autoit script (which doesn't require the program to be in focus)

[Select]

;WinTitleMatchMode
;1 = Match the title from the start (default)
;2 = Match any substring in the title
;3 = Exact title match
Opt("WinTitleMatchMode", 2)

while (true)
if WinExists("FlexBuilder") Then
if not WinExists("Save As") Then
WinMenuSelectItem("FlexBuilder", "", "&File", "&Save")

;or.....
;you could send a ctrl+s command to the edit box
;ControlSend("FlexBuilder", "", "[CLASSNN:Edit1]", "^s")
EndIf
EndIf

Sleep(1000)
WEnd

14

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Hound: a grep-alike that searches inside PDFs

« on: July 07, 2009, 06:53 PM »

thanks rj

For sure an over-enthusiastic false positive. What does it say is wrong with it??

15

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Hound: a grep-alike that searches inside PDFs

« on: May 08, 2009, 05:28 AM »

hey guys - jimmythefork is actually my website! I'm glad that you liked hound! and yep that is dolly the cloned sheep.

I've made a new version of hound in c# and I'll put it online soon

Cheers,
Fidel

16

General Software Discussion / Re: multi string search in file

« on: January 25, 2009, 08:43 AM »

thanks mouser there's lot of great stuff to read here, I've been on the site for hours!

17

General Software Discussion / Re: multi string search in file

« on: January 25, 2009, 07:42 AM »

you could try hound (freeware) which is a program I wrote. [moderator removed bad link]

cheers,
Fidel