Author Topic: NANY 2017: CSearcher - A simple and fast free non-indexing search program. (Read 78,661 times)

andy19 · « **Reply #25 on:** January 21, 2017, 11:22 AM »

Nice software. On my system I can't reproduce your speeds. Seems that your software needs an initial search before a search for 400.000 files takes about 3 seconds (Windows File Cache + Disk Cache maybe?).

hugo nabais · « **Reply #26 on:** January 21, 2017, 11:36 AM »

Quote from: andy19 on January 21, 2017, 11:22 AM

Nice software. On my system I can't reproduce your speeds. Seems that your software needs an initial search before a search for 400.000 files takes about 3 seconds (Windows File Cache + Disk Cache maybe?).

The times I presented are influenced by Windows file caching. It was hard for me to keep rebooting my computer to test for first time usage, but every version and other softwares I compare are influenced in the same way.
If using for first time on a disk, or using on a network share it will be slower, depending on disk speed.
But on fast SSDs I can get very fast times, almost as fast as "first time usage".

There is a feature planed for a future release where I will read the disk allocation table and parse it, making searches even faster on every run.
There are a couple of software's that already do that. But doing that method only is not enough for me because it is limited to NTFS disks and requires administrative privileges.
My plan in the future is to have both methods, and use the best one available.

mouser · « **Reply #27 on:** January 21, 2017, 02:43 PM »

It's great to see such progress!

hugo nabais · « **Reply #28 on:** January 27, 2017, 01:06 PM »

New release:

Version 1.4.1.0
[new] Improved results filtering speed by a noticeable factor. Around 4-5X faster!
[new] Export feature moved to "File menu". Added XML and TSV format. New export form that adds more exporting options.
[new] Ability to import XML saved results
[new] Feature that allows loading and saving of Search Criteria and Restrictions in "File menu"
[new] New option to clear all results in Edit-> Clear all results
[new] After MD5 calculation if CSearcher shows MD5 column (it was hidden), CSearcher now scrolls right (if needed) to show MD5 column
[fix] On startup when trying to load last searched folders, if a folder is not accessible it is not added anymore
[fix] Layout fixes and improvements
[fix] Don't allow empty directory to be added

Downloads:
·http://www.hnsoft.pt/Repository/CSearcher/CSearcher_1.4.1.0.zip Compressed archive.
·http://www.hnsoft.pt/Repository/CSearcher/CSearcher_1.4.1.0.exe Self-Extracting file.

Screens:

hugo nabais · « **Reply #29 on:** February 04, 2017, 06:37 PM »

I released a new version of CSearcher that improves a lot performance when deleting files:

Version 1.4.2.0
[fix] Results view last state when loaded was not reflected properly
[new] Completely redesigned delete code. Permanently deleting objects is now much faster. Up to 5x faster than Windows Explorer
[new] Before deleting objects a new options dialog is displayed with possibility to skip errors. Shift+delete is now allowed.
[new] While deleting objects there is now a new form with progress details

Downloads:
·http://www.hnsoft.pt/Repository/CSearcher/CSearcher_1.4.2.0.zip Compressed archive.
·http://www.hnsoft.pt/Repository/CSearcher/CSearcher_1.4.2.0.exe Self-Extracting file.

Screens:

I did some speed testing deleting thousands of files:

Permanently delete 14.240 objects on local HDD:
CSearcher version 1.4.1.1: 17 seconds
Windows 10 Explorer: 18 seconds
CSearcher version 1.4.2.0: 4 seconds

Permanently delete 14.240 objects over a network share:
CSearcher version 1.4.1.1: 230 seconds
Windows 10 Explorer: 73 seconds
CSearcher version 1.4.2.0: 59 seconds

tomos · « **Reply #30 on:** February 08, 2017, 11:49 AM »

hi hugo,
a couple of minor queries / requests:

is there any keyboard method of getting to the "Search pattern" field ?
(I know I can tab there but that can take a while) Ctrl+F ?

would it be possible to show the path of found files as a 'tooltip' -- currently the only way of seeing most full filepaths is to resize column which then pushes other info out to right.

tomos · « **Reply #31 on:** February 08, 2017, 12:00 PM »

After messing around with the tab key to navigate, I seem to have broken something:

CS couldnt find anything -- see Everything result showing it on G:

I browsed to add another drive, and see that G: is *not* already selected, even though it was listed in the Search folders box.

If I can reproduce I will let you know.

hugo nabais · « **Reply #32 on:** February 08, 2017, 12:27 PM »

Hi tomos,

Thank you for your feedback.

About your suggestions, I will consider the shortcut key on Search Pattern, seems practical.
About the tooltip with fullpath I think it's a great ideia, I had already in my daily usage felt the need for such information.
I'll add them to my to do list and probably will add them in next release.

The problem of your jpg file not being found is probably related to the fact that you were filtering results:

Maybe you had a "space" in one of the filtering fields?!

About the other question of your drive G:\ not being showed is a normal behavior by design.
The browse form will not load added search folders.
I tried to show this by saying:

Maybe in the future I'll do some code to load already added folders in this form.
I opted not to do so now because you could manually add unc paths ex:"\\myothercomputer\share1" and this could not be loaded on the browse form.

tomos · « **Reply #33 on:** February 08, 2017, 01:07 PM »

Thanks - correct, there was a space in one of the filter boxes. Happened when messing around to see how keyboard navigation was.
That's fine the way adding drives works: I was just trying to find solution, but looking in the wrong place ;-)

And tanks for considering requests

hugo nabais · « **Reply #34 on:** February 24, 2017, 06:33 PM »

I released a new version of CSearcher

Version 1.4.3.0
[new] Completely redesigned MD5 code. Calculating MD5 is now slightly faster (aound 10-20%).
[new] While calculating MD5, there is now a form with progress details and an option to cancel. Avoided "not responding" on main form
[new] The path of result files is shown as a 'tooltip' over the file name. This can be disabled in menu "View->No Results Name tooltip"
[new] New scrollable form to inform about new versions.

Downloads:
·http://www.hnsoft.pt/Repository/CSearcher/CSearcher_1.4.3.0.zip Compressed archive.
·http://www.hnsoft.pt/Repository/CSearcher/CSearcher_1.4.3.0.exe Self-Extracting file.

Screens:

Mouse over a file:

As always any comments or suggestions are welcome.
Hugo

hugo nabais · « **Reply #35 on:** March 09, 2017, 01:25 AM »

I released a new version of CSearcher with a new cleaner layout, lots of tooltips to provide some usage help and regular expression support! (also some bug fixed)

Version 1.5.0.0 (March 9, 2017)
[new] Most controls have now tooltips to provide functional help
[alt] Content restriction has options to search inside files for containing string with case sensitive or insensitive text
[alt] Mainform layout changes and small fixes
[alt] Introduction of search mode, which replaces the old "containing text" with new simple mode and exact modes
[new] Introduction of Regex mode that allows for regular expression searches and exclusions
[new] New Pattern restrictions tab, with a new ability to exclude subfolders from searches
[alt] Name exclusions moved to new Pattern restrictions tab
[fix] Fixed a small layout problem in Delete permanently form
[fix] Fixed a bug while permanently deleting objects. Objects with unicode characters were not deleted
[fix] Fixed some bugs on MD5 time remaining calculation. The current file name is now displayed in MD5 form while calculating hash

Downloads:
·http://www.hnsoft.pt/Repository/CSearcher/CSearcher_1.5.0.0.zip Compressed archive.
·http://www.hnsoft.pt/Repository/CSearcher/CSearcher_1.5.0.0.exe Self-Extracting file.

Screens:

mouser · « **Reply #36 on:** March 09, 2017, 07:18 AM »

Quote

[new] Introduction of Regex mode that allows for regular expression searches and exclusions

nice

AbteriX · « **Reply #37 on:** March 09, 2017, 12:07 PM »

Congratulations and Kudos, Hugo.

Well made tool. I think I will use this a little bit longer.

Some IDEAs I have found while using it, if I may:

Suggestion #1

Options > Tools
Tool to open file: path\to\notepad2.exe "%1"
Tool to open folder: path\to\filemanager.exe "%1" /A /B /c

Context menu
Open file with own tool
Open folder with own tool

Suggestion #2
Add option to use ESC key to exit the application

Suggestion #3
If easy possible, add option to limited search deep (fine for slow networkdrive)
For example, I know that my own files are in the three top level folders only,
but the folder may contain installation sources also with several sub folders, which are needles to include into the search.

Suggestion #4
If you have some free time, add keyboard shortcuts
Alt+N = Name pattern box
Alt+F = folders
Alt+P = Pattern restrictions
Alt+D = Date restrictions
Alt+S = Size restrictions
Alt+C = Content restrictions
Alt+R = Filter results

Alt+N and Alt+P shortcuts from menu could be changed to use CTRL+Alt+ instead?
Also I would miss a "Copy Path ONLY from result" if I didn't would know workarounds.

Idea #5
Double click on editable box to enable them and check the checkmark box,
instead of checking the checkmark box first.

Idea #6
Of course, history for editable boxes (last 25 recently inserted contents)

#7
Content restrictions:
- RegEx support (also fine for -OR-: abc|def|xyz)
- "Whole word" check box

#8
Date restrictions
Drop-Down-Menu: Last [ 3 |v] days

#9
Perhaps a "collect results" feature? Like "[X] Do not clear result on new search"?
Perhaps useful for finding duplicate files

hugo nabais · « **Reply #38 on:** March 09, 2017, 05:54 PM »

Hi AbteriX,

Thank you for your words and your suggestions.
I will try to comment and discuss them here:

#1:
I will try to think what to implement to cover this topic in the future.

#2:
ESC key is used now to stop the search. So I will not bind it to close program. If I did that people could accidentally press twice in ESC to stop search and it would close CSearcher. You can always use Alt+F4 to close programs so...

#3:
I like this suggestion, setting the maximum subfolder depth and maximum number of results are useful options.

#4:
Will consider adding more shortcut keys to access those controls
Adding a Copy Path "ONLY" from result is a good idea, will probably implement it for next version.

#5:
About this subject, I prefer the way it is now.

#6:
I may have misunderstood, but this is already implemented. CSearcher stores last 20 inputs on comboboxes! (you have to start a search to add them)

#7:
The way I implemented the search, it allows you to search in very large files and even in binary files such as executables by reading blocks of bytes. Due to this implementation it's hard to allow for Regular Expressions searches.
But the idea of multiple searches like you said: abc|def|xyz seems a very logical idea. I'll implement it!

#8:
Could be something to do on future versions but at this moment I will leave as it is.

#9:
I like this idea, will try to implement it on next version.

Hugo

BigBadPlayer · « **Reply #39 on:** March 20, 2017, 11:42 AM »

hugo nabais,

Great program! Super fast, lots of searching filters! In some cases, I use CSearcher instead of FARR.

One thing would be beneficial: Favorit (search) Folders.

hugo nabais · « **Reply #40 on:** March 20, 2017, 12:34 PM »

Quote from: BigBadPlayer on March 20, 2017, 11:42 AM

hugo nabais,

Great program! Super fast, lots of searching filters! In some cases, I use CSearcher instead of FARR.

One thing would be beneficial: Favorit (search) Folders.

Hi

I'll see if I can insert favorite folders.

But for now you can use the Load/Save criteria, witch I use when I want to load favorite search folders.
I think it can also do the trick for you.

hugo nabais · « **Reply #41 on:** May 08, 2017, 01:23 PM »

CSearcher has had some relative success, I've had thousands of downloads on my site and until today I only received one donation. It was something I expected but it is still a bit of a disencouraging and leaves me with little motivation to continue to evolve into more complex features.
I need to find this motivation (and some free time) to be able to implement these features.

Despite this I made another version

Version 1.5.1.0 (May 8, 2017)
[new] New option (menu Option) to limit Max number of results
[new] New option (menu Option) to Keep results on new search
[new] New option (menu Edit or shortcut key Alt+F) that copies to clipboard the folder of selected results
[fix] Fixed a couple of bugs in keyboard shortcuts
[fix] Fixed small layout bugs on main form

Downloads:
·http://www.hnsoft.pt/Repository/CSearcher/CSearcher_1.5.1.0.zip Compressed archive.
·http://www.hnsoft.pt/Repository/CSearcher/CSearcher_1.5.1.0.exe Self-Extracting file.

wraith808 · « **Reply #42 on:** May 08, 2017, 01:56 PM »

Quote from: hugo nabais on May 08, 2017, 01:23 PM

CSearcher has had some relative success, I've had thousands of downloads on my site and until today I only received one donation. It was something I expected but it is still a bit of a disencouraging and leaves me with little motivation to continue to evolve into more complex features.
I need to find this motivation (and some free time) to be able to implement these features.

Despite this I made another version

Version 1.5.1.0 (May 8, 2017)
[new] New option (menu Option) to limit Max number of results
[new] New option (menu Option) to Keep results on new search
[new] New option (menu Edit or shortcut key Alt+F) that copies to clipboard the folder of selected results
[fix] Fixed a couple of bugs in keyboard shortcuts
[fix] Fixed small layout bugs on main form

Downloads:
·http://www.hnsoft.pt/Repository/CSearcher/CSearcher_1.5.1.0.zip Compressed archive.
·http://www.hnsoft.pt/Repository/CSearcher/CSearcher_1.5.1.0.exe Self-Extracting file.

From personal experience, you have to find your reasoning to do it for it's own sake, and out of some sort of fulfillment other than money. Whether it's the number of downloads, or the fact that people ask for you to do things (which means that they see value) or something else.

mouser · « **Reply #43 on:** May 08, 2017, 02:24 PM »

Quote

I've had thousands of downloads on my site and until today I only received one donation. It was something I expected but it is still a bit of a disencouraging and leaves me with little motivation

It can be very de-motivating when that happens. I'm afraid you're discovering an unpleasant truth about the world -- that few people will donate for a program if they can get it for free.
(However you may find that those that do are pretty special and interesting people who sometimes become friends).

The good news is that even when people don't donate it doesn't mean they don't really appreciate and like what you are doing -- so your work is still appreciated.

It just means that donating for software is still something that most people don't consider and can't be bothered to do. The situation has been made much worse since so much software is now funded by advertisements, because people have come to believe that everything should be free and funded by delivering advertisements to people, and with the advent of mobile "App Stores" where people don't expect to ever have to pay more than a couple of dollars for a program, etc. If you are curious you can read the article I wrote in 2006 about some of these issues, "When Do Users Donate?
Experiments with Donationware: Ethical Software, Work Equalization, Temporary Licenses, Collective Bargaining, and Microdonations": http://www.donationcoder.com/Articles/One

You will have to figure out how you want to handle this, and where it fits in to how you want to make money and spend your time.

The only thing I can tell you is not to judge the "value" of and appreciation for what you make based on the amount you receive in donations. Decide what goals you want to achieve with your work -- wheter it's to produce good software to share with the world, or make money, or some combination of lots of things. But don't rely on something as fickle as people's donations as your motivation.

I say ll this mostly for others who might be reading this thread, because one can tell already from the work you've done on this program and the enthusiasm you've shown already that you are part of the family of self-motivated real programmers who couldn't stop programming even if you wanted to. To you I say, yes, it sucks that people don't donate more. Take a moment to curse out the world, then shrug it off, find an alternate way to make a living, and keep enjoying programming.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #44 on:** May 08, 2017, 03:22 PM »

Quote from: hugo nabais on May 08, 2017, 01:23 PM

CSearcher has had some relative success, I've had thousands of downloads on my site and until today I only received one donation. It was something I expected but it is still a bit of a disencouraging and leaves me with little motivation to continue to evolve into more complex features.
I need to find this motivation (and some free time) to be able to implement these features.

Despite this I made another version

I downloaded several versions not realizing the program was written by someone on DC. Seeing this thread I think I will put the new release on a USB just to try it out in a portable scenario. Thanks for the software.

Afa the donations my feeling is that one is most likely to receive a steady stream of donations if the software enables the user to get something else either very cheaply or for free. Examples might be News readers or ICQ apps that make it easy to download binaries. Or video conversion programs that squish a BluRay image into a file of more manageable size etc.. It seems like software that does a useful function in and of itself is less likely to provoke a contribution. But this is just my visceral reaction, not the results of a scientific survey.

For me the donation is an unexpected event that makes me feel good that someone liked my software enough to take the time to send the donation and a comment. Mouser makes a good point about the $1.99 - $4.99 "cheap" software Apps available these days. I have to wonder how much they can really pull in at those prices. But in my short experience using Android I could believe the downloads are multiplied by the fact the store search is built in and people know where to look for most things. So if one developed a media player or something similar maybe sales in the thousands and more could be possible. It would be interesting to see some data on how much the most popular Apps actually take in.

Edit: It looks like I may not be able to give the application a fair trial. My Laptop has issues where it cannot update .NET or do other Windows Updates. Many programs that use Windows Installer I have to install/uninstall multiple times to get them to go on the system etc.. So it may not be an issue with others. The symptom is an unhandled exception with some text about "mouse drag" and .NET form code. According to the dialog it loaded .NET 4.0 assemblies.

It looks like I may be due to get a Windows 10 machine as much as I hate the idea of pushed updates. Windows 8.0 is kind of a dog in many ways, at least on this system where I cannot update out of it to 8.1 or newer.

Edit2: If I select Continue in the unhandled exception dialog then do a simple search the program goes away. Likely my system does not play well with any software that requires .NET 4+. So I would suggest not wasting time to trouble shoot it. This Lappy was an "Open Box" purchase and trouble shooting those it a real time thief. Which is why the original purchaser returned it I am sure.

If I get something else Windows to try it with I'll give CSearcher another try then.

hugo nabais · « **Reply #45 on:** May 08, 2017, 05:26 PM »

CSearcher 1.5.1.0 had a bug and I fixed it in a new version:

Version 1.5.1.1 (May 8, 2017)
[fix] Fixed bug that displayed error message on startup

Downloads:
·http://www.hnsoft.pt/Repository/CSearcher/CSearcher_1.5.1.1.zip Compressed archive.
·http://www.hnsoft.pt/Repository/CSearcher/CSearcher_1.5.1.1.exe Self-Extracting file.

hugo nabais · « **Reply #46 on:** May 08, 2017, 05:52 PM »

(sorry about the bug on 1.5.1.0, I should have made a final test)

Thanks for all the answers. I found them all interesting and I will certainly look for motivation to continue, at least as long as I enjoy doing it and being able to do it.

@mouser
Thanks for your article. I found it very interesting and in particular very accurate and true. I'd like to add that most people (users) have no idea of the complexity and time lost to programming.

As for my outburst, I never found, as I said, that I was going to make money or that it would be what would motivate me. I did not even expect high donations, I think that for a program like these it makes sense to donate low values like 2 or 3$. But I confess I set a goal in my mind when I decided to ask for donations that was that one day I could have enough donations and grab that money and take my family to a good lunch on a weekend. I am talking about reaching a total of 100 euros or so (to make up a little of all the time I lose with this project.) And it seemed to me due to what I had received until now that would be impossible.
Creating expectations is never good.

I will follow the advice to continue and motivate myself with the pleasure I have while programming.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #47 on:** May 08, 2017, 06:10 PM »

Quote from: hugo nabais on May 08, 2017, 05:52 PM

(sorry about the bug on 1.5.1.0, I should have made a final test)

I tried the latest update and it does open without the error dialog. One thing I have run into though is dialogs opening behind the main form. Since they are modal and covered by the main form the program will not accept input. Any mouse click generates a "ding" sound. To close the program without using Task Manager requires mouse hover on the Taskbar Button and hitting the close 'x' on the dialog window. In this case I tried to add patterns with the Add Button. The dialog opened behind the main form instead of on top.

In case it makes any difference I am running Windows 8.0 64 bit OS.

mouser · « **Reply #48 on:** May 08, 2017, 06:35 PM »

Quote

But I confess I set a goal in my mind when I decided to ask for donations that was that one day I could have enough donations and grab that money and take my family to a good lunch on a weekend.

Ok fellow DonationCoder members, it seems to me the least we can do is help Hugo achieve this modest goal.

I've sent Hugo a donation -- I hope you others will as well. Just click on the gold coin under his name.

hugo nabais · « **Reply #49 on:** May 09, 2017, 09:11 AM »

Quote from: MilesAhead on May 08, 2017, 06:10 PM

Quote from: hugo nabais on May 08, 2017, 05:52 PM
(sorry about the bug on 1.5.1.0, I should have made a final test)

I tried the latest update and it does open without the error dialog. One thing I have run into though is dialogs opening behind the main form. Since they are modal and covered by the main form the program will not accept input. Any mouse click generates a "ding" sound. To close the program without using Task Manager requires mouse hover on the Taskbar Button and hitting the close 'x' on the dialog window. In this case I tried to add patterns with the Add Button. The dialog opened behind the main form instead of on top.

In case it makes any difference I am running Windows 8.0 64 bit OS.

About this problem, I did some testing and found that if you are running with the "Always on top" option selected on the view menu all other dialog forms (add, button, etc) are not always on top and therefor open behind main form. I think this is the bug you are experiencing. I will fix it in a new release I'm preparing.