FARR v2 Tricks and Tips Clinic

[mouser]

I thought i'd start a little thread for FARR tricks+tips on some of the more unusual stuff in FARR v2.

I'll start with a trick that demonstrates the "dosearch" special alias action.  Although described in the help file its not obvious how you might use this special action.  Here's one way.

You know that FARR2 can do direct browsing of folders, etc.
So you could type "C:\Program Files\Microsoft\..." etc.

Here's an alias that will let you type "pf\" instead of "C:\Program Files\" as a shorthand:

[Select]

1000>>>pf alias search>->dosearch C:\Program Files\$$1>+>^pf\\(.*)$

just select that code and go to your alias file and choose IMPORT menu.

basically it just says that on matching regular expression "^pf\\(.*)$"
treat that as if user typed "C:\Program Files\$$1"

so the dosearch alias action is a way of letting the user type one thing, and making the program think they typed another.

[JennyB]

I thought i'd start a little thread for FARR tricks+tips on some of the more unusual stuff in FARR v2.

I'll start with a trick that demonstrates the "dosearch" special alias action.  Although described in the help file its not obvious how you might use this special action.  Here's one way.

You know that FARR2 can do direct browsing of folders, etc.
So you could type "C:\Program Files\Microsoft\..." etc.

Here's an alias that will let you type "pf\" instead of "C:\Program Files\" as a shorthand:

[Select]

1000>>>pf alias search>->dosearch C:\Program Files\$$1>+>^pf\\(.*)$

just select that code and go to your alias file and choose IMPORT menu.

basically it just says that on matching regular expression "^pf\\(.*)$"
treat that as if user typed "C:\Program Files\$$1"

so the dosearch alias action is a way of letting the user type one thing, and making the program think they typed another.

-mouser (June 06, 2007, 10:41 AM)

I can sortof follow that, but could you back up a bit and recommend a simple reference to regexes as used in Farr for people who are not used to working with them? How does the line of code relate to what you would put in the text boxes if you were defining the aliases yourself?

I'd like to see aliases working more like folders: if you select an alias that takes parameters it presents in the results window a list of those parameters that you have already used. Further typing filters the list as if it were a file list, and you can select-and-launch, or launch with the parameter you have just typed in.

[mouser]

How does the line of code relate to what you would put in the text boxes if you were defining the aliases yourself?

here's the screenshot:

could you back up a bit and recommend a simple reference to regexes as used in Farr for people who are not used to working with them?

http://www.regular-expressions.info/

[cnewtonne]

this should be similar to having an folder alias 'pf' and then typing '+pf \\ microsoft'
right?

[mouser]

no, whats special about using the dosearch action is that it is live as you type.  try it and see.

[JennyB]

How does the line of code relate to what you would put in the text boxes if you were defining the aliases yourself?

here's the screenshot:

-mouser (June 08, 2007, 06:35 AM)

Thanks, that clears things up a bit. I've just checked the "display preformatted aliases for copying" function on "Import and Export"

One entry per line
>>> starts group alias name
>-> starts Result(s)
>n> starts new line in results
>+> starts regular expression pattern

What do you use for Result Filter or Hotkey shold you need to specify them?

could you back up a bit and recommend a simple reference to regexes as used in Farr for people who are not used to working with them?

http://www.regular-expressions.info/

Thanks. Very useful! 

[mouser]

im going to change the import and export format to use xml like the new alias files use, so this import and export format may not be very important to remember, but you can see the hotkey and result filter format simply by "exporting" an alias with those things.

basically its:

SCORE>>>NAME>->RESULTS>+>REGULAREXPRESSION>/>HOTKEYNUMBER>#>REGEXRESULTFILTER

[cthorpe]

I have two program files locations.  One is at C:\Program Files and the other is at D:\Program Files.  Would it be possible to have the pf alias search both locations?

Carl

[mouser]

to "search" in those places, you could add both directories to the search directories tab, and add the "pf" modifier to both.

then if you wanted to search in both places for a file you would do:
"+pf filename"

the dosearch alias example above is for directory BROWSING, not for normal searching (so no you cant combine both folders since its really browsing the directories).

[JennyB]

im going to change the import and export format to use xml like the new alias files use, so this import and export format may not be very important to remember, but you can see the hotkey and result filter format simply by "exporting" an alias with those things.

basically its:

SCORE>>>NAME>->RESULTS>+>REGULAREXPRESSION>/>HOTKEYNUMBER>#>REGEXRESULTFILTER

-mouser (June 08, 2007, 06:26 PM)

<slaps head>
Thanks mouser, I've been out of the testing loop for a while, revising for final BSc exams. The download link seems to have changed - can you send me the new one?

[cnewtonne]

Mouser, I can not understand this behavior ...
I have created 2 search templates here...

lab --> ^lab\\(.*)$ --> c:\lab\$$1
pf --> ^pf\\(.*)$ --> c:\program files\$$1

now, typing lab\exe shows all executable files in c:\lab but NOT anything beyond that level. However, typing pf\exe shows executables in main folder and ALL subdirs recursively.

To show all exec's recursively in lab I have to type 'lab\*\exe'.

Why is it different?

[mouser]

However, typing pf\exe shows executables in main folder and ALL subdirs recursively

are you sure this is true -- or is it the case that there are no exe matching entries in the main folder? my memory is that it works like this: IF matching files are found in the exact directory you specify, then its not going to go into subfolders.  only when you tell it to show you exe matching files in some explicit directory and it doesnt find any will it then try to help you out by searching deeper.

you could of course add the \*\ into your aliases to always look as deep as it can.

[cnewtonne]

This makes sense because it did this recursive find on 2 of my dirs out of 5. When I checked them, none contained the exe I told it to find so it went ahead and continued downwards in the tree. I could not understand why is it behaving differently across dirs. For now, I wanted it to be a greedy as possible by adding \*\ and it works consistently now.

One last question, though, adding '\*\' to my search template now will make these 2 search strings return same results...

lab\exe
+lab exe +sall

The template simply and implicitly did the '+sall' for me. Right?

[mouser]

there is a difference. +sall should show all, without it, it will still show a lot due to the new ability to specify a larger # of results when directory browsing (see options). i think.

[urlwolf]

selecting the create a new alias file option makes FARR dies with an access violation error. v. 2.00.116 here.

[rjbull]

selecting the create a new alias file option makes FARR dies with an access violation error. v. 2.00.116 here.

-urlwolf (June 29, 2007, 05:26 AM)

Same here with v.2.00.108 on Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]:

---------------------------
Find and Run Robot
---------------------------
Access violation at address 00571080 in module 'FindAndRunRobot.exe'. Read of address 40508902.
---------------------------

[edbro]

Not really a FAR trick but just a tip. For OneNote users (and Evernote), you can create hyperlinks to individual pages. For some of my most used notes I use those hyperlinks to create shortcuts which I place in a folder searched by FAR. Now I can go directly to an individual note in OneNote.

[mouser]

The new alias file crash has been fixed in latest version, thanks for the bugreports.

[hamradio]

You can use restartsearch in conjunction with another alias to have recursive aliases...

Ex. You have two aliases named this and that.

So you create another group alias (we will say test for this example) and name it what you want...then you add the following for the results to show...

this | restartsearch this
that | restartsearch that

Now when you type test it will allow you to pick from those 2 aliases.

Enjoy! 

[mouser]

It's a little hard to see how this would be useful until you see it in action in ham's plugin.. basically it let's you simulate hierarchical menus of aliases.