Feature - Folder Search

[kfitting]

Hey mouser, with regard to the latest plethora of updates to FindRun, could I throw in a vote for being able to choose which folders and which file extension a search will cover?  We have talked about this before (I orginally got it confused with alias' or groups... the terminology still escapes me!) and just figured I'd bring it up again.  It's one feature I am highly looking forward to!  If it will have to wait... I'll wait!

Kevin

[mouser]

this is coming, and soon.
i'm making my was as you can see through all of the features planned for v2, and i think we now have a clever solution to how the user would interface with this feature.

to recap the method i plan on implementing:
basically they can be viewed as "search modifiers".

in the search folder list tab and pattern scoring tab, each entry will now have a new edit box in its configuration called "search modifiers".

here you can type a list of keywords that indicate when to apply the filter.

so for example you might add a folder
E:\MyMp3s
and set search modifiers to:
mp3 music

and add a folder:
E:\MyWaveAudio
and set search modifers to
wav music

and add a folder:
E:\MyDocuments
and set search modifiers to
* mydocs

and add a score pattern:
*.mp3
and set search modifiers to
mp3 music



ok so now if you want to search for an mp3 file by bob dylan you might type:
"dylan +mp3"

that says
search for 'dylan' and use all search folders and score pattern that match the modified 'mp3'

or just to find dylan wav files
"dylan +wav"

or to find dylan wav and mp3 files
"dylan +music"
or
"dylan +wav +mp3"

or search for dylan mp3s but specifically skip the MyDocuments directory (which you've configured to search by default because of the * above):
"dylan -mydocs"


it seems to me like an elgant keyboard-centric power user solution.. opinions?

[nontroppo]

One issue is a performance one, I'd rather see:

+mp3 dylan

The + triggers FARR into knowing there is a search modifier, so turns progressive find off, then once the text is typed FARR can search directly. Otherwise dylan +mp3 will keep hitting the hard disk on each keypress through all folders until FARR parses the final +mp3 — this is highly inefficient, especially if the search modifier is set to a single folder.

[mouser]

you'll be able to type it either way i think, but your point is well taken, though really it shouldnt slow down the experience, just save you some disk reads.

[kfitting]

One concern I have is the UI (here I go again!): assigning different searches to folders seems rather laborious.  Could you make it so you assign folders to searches?  The difference is subtle but it would make things easier on the user.  I think it's a great idea to allow folders to be a part of multiple searches, but it should be easy to build the search parameters.  Also dont forget file extensions!  I may have misunderstood what you saying, but those are my thoughts!

Kevin

[mouser]

adding file extensions to search modifications is easy because you can associate keywords with not only folders but scoring patterns.
as far as assigning x to y or y to x, i definitely hear what you are saying, i just have to figure out whats cleanest..

[mouser]

Just wanted to point out that you can now specify which file extensions should be found in each configured search directory.  You can also use keyword modifiers to enable and disable these folders on a per-search basis.

[nitrix-ud]

Just wanted to point out that you can now specify which file extensions should be found in each configured search directory.  You can also use keyword modifiers to enable and disable these folders on a per-search basis.

GREAT !
i'm glad you made that addition !

[phitsc]

this is coming, and soon.

-mouser (October 07, 2005, 08:49 PM)

And we now also know what you mean when you say something is coming soon, hahaha. Just teasing, it's cool to have this feature. Still hoping that it won't take three years for you to release the new SDK though (ok, I'll stop asking for it now, it's not actually urgent for me)