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TM
d t S e a r c h
Document Search and Retrieval Program
Version 1.1
User's Manual
Copyright (c) 1991 DT Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
_______
____|__ | (R)
--| | |-------------------
| ____|__ | Association of
| | |_| Shareware
|__| o | Professionals
-----| | |---------------------
|___|___| MEMBER
2 dtSearch User's Manual
Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
a. Overview of dtSearch . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
b. Types of Searches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
c. Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
d. License and Notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2. Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
a. How to Use This Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
b. Installing dtSearch . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
c. Quick Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3. General Information about dtSearch . . . . . . . . 15
a. How to Use Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
b. Using Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
c. Dialog Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
d. Selecting a Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
e. Selecting Multiple Directories . . . . . . . . 18
f. File Name Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
g. Selecting a File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
h. Function Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
i. Using Document Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
j. Moving the Cursor in a Document . . . . . . . 23
4. Building and Using Document Indexes . . . . . . . . 25
a. What is a Document Index? . . . . . . . . . . 25
b. The Index Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
c. Creating an Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
d. Adding Documents to an Index . . . . . . . . . 26
e. Compressing an Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
f. Deleting an Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
g. Renaming an Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
h. Copying an Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
i. Recognizing an Existing Index . . . . . . . . 29
j. Index Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
k. Verify Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
l. Rebuild Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
m. Index Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
5. Searching for Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
a. The Search Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
b. Index Searches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
c. Unindexed Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
d. Combination Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
e. Indexes to Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
f. Displaying Search Results . . . . . . . . . . 35
g. Search Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
h. Kwic View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
6. Search Requests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
a. Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
b. Search Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
c. Phrase Searches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
dtSearch User's Manual 1
d. Noise Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
e. Search Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
f. AND connector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
g. OR connector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
h. W/N connector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
i. Segment Searches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
j. Date and Filename Searches . . . . . . . . . . 41
7. The File Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
a. The File Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
b. Viewing a File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
c. Viewing a Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
d. The Notepad Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
e. Saving a Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
f. Printing a Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
g. DOS Shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
8. Window Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
a. The Window Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
b. Find Text in Document . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
c. Find Search Term in Document . . . . . . . . . 49
d. Moving and Resizing Windows . . . . . . . . . 49
9. The Applications Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
10. Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
a. The Options Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
b. Monitor Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
c. Screen Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
d. Creating and Editing Macros . . . . . . . . . 54
e. Displaying the Print Queue . . . . . . . . . . 54
f. Setup Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
11. Using dtSearch on a Network . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
12. Program Limits and Requirements . . . . . . . . . . 57
13. Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
14. Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
2 dtSearch User's Manual
1. Introduction
a. Overview of dtSearch
The purpose of dtSearch is to help you find documents quickly.
dtSearch does this by building an "index" of your documents that
stores location of the words in each document. Since you will
sometimes want to search documents that you have not indexed,
dtSearch can also search without an index -- it just takes
longer. A single document index can hold information about up to
15,000 documents, and there is no limit on the number of indexes
you can create. A single search request can scan multiple
directories, disk drives and document indexes. You can search
for:
* Combinations of words, such as "apple and (pear or grape),"
* Words located near other words, such as "apple within 5 words
of pear,"
* Words located in a specific segment of a document, such as
"@ADDRESS contains oak drive,"
* Words that match "fuzzy" specifications, such as "appl*,"
which would match apple, application, apply, etc.
After you have done a search, you can display retrieved
documents on the screen, cut and paste text into a built-in
notepad editor, print a "search report" listing all hits found
with a few lines of context, or edit a retrieved document using
your word processor -- all from within dtSearch.
dtSearch can search, index, and display documents in the
following formats:
* ASCII or DOS Text
* Microsoft Rich Text Format
* Microsoft Word
* Microsoft Word for Windows
* Multimate Advantage II
* Multimate version 4
* WordPerfect 5.0 and 5.1
* WordStar through version 6
* WordStar 2000
dtSearch User's Manual 3
b. Types of Searches
This section compares the different strategies used by the
many search programs available. You may find it useful as
background if you are comparing dtSearch with other search
programs.
Programs designed to perform searches on large collections of
documents usually adopt one of three strategies:
* The "brute force" search, which reads every document in a
collection in turn. This method requires little advance
preparation, but is very slow.
* The "indexed" search, which uses a document index to perform
faster searches. (A document index is a file that contains
information about where in a collection of documents words
occur.)
* A structured-database search. Instead of searching the full
text of documents in the collection, this approach typically
searches a small database that describes the documents. For
example, a letters database might contain fields for the
addressee, author, date, and subject of each letter.
A structured database allows you to perform very specific
searches, such as a search for a letter written by a certain
person (as opposed to a letter that merely contains the
person's name). However, you must prepare the database by
entering the information about each document.
Another way search programs differ is in the level of
precision they allow in search requests.
* "String" searches. The simplest -- and least precise -- type
of search is the search for a string of text. In this type of
search, you enter a string such as "apple," and the program
scans files looking for occurrences of the string. Because
these programs do not break the text into words, a search for
"apple" will also retrieve "applesauce" and "crabapple." Most
DOS shell programs and many small utilities will perform this
type of search.
* Simple word searches. Other programs, will search for
specific words or combinations of words, such as "smith and
jones" or "smith and (apple or pear)". Most of these programs
also allow "wildcard" characters in search words. (This is
sometimes called "fuzzy" searching.) Following the convention
used in DOS, the "*" usually matches any number of letters,
and the "?" usually matches any single character. Thus,
4 dtSearch User's Manual
"apple*" would match "apple" or "applesauce", and "appl?"
would match "apply" or "apple" but not "application".
The major limitation of programs that can only do word
searches is that they cannot perform searches based on the
context of a word in a document. This means that phrase
searches (searches for two or more words in exact sequence)
and proximity searches (searches for a word within a certain
number of words of anther word) are impossible. Thus, you
can search for "North" and "America," but not for "North"
within 2 words of "America."
* Context searches. The most specific type of search specifies
not only the words but their context. This allows you to
search for phrases and for words that occur near other words.
For example, you could search for documents containing "North
America" within 10 words of "climate". The additional level
of specificity that context searches allows can help to reduce
the number of "false hits" you get in a search. If you are
searching a very large text database, this can save you a lot
of time.
c. Technical Support
If you have any questions or comments about dtSearch, please
contact:
DT Software, Inc.
2101 Crystal Plaza Arcade
Suite 231
Arlington, VA 22202
Compuserve: 72607,3323.
Registered dtSearch users can obtain one year of free technical
support by mail or through CompuServe at the addresses above.
Telephone technical support for dtSearch is available from the
Advanced Support Group, Inc. (ASG) at 1-900-88-HELP-8. As of
August 15, 1991, the cost is $2.00 per minute; the first 24
seconds are free. For those who cannot use a 900 number, ASG can
charge support fees to a credit card, and ASG also offers
contract technical support for a fixed annual cost. Call 1-314-
256-3130 for more information about these options.
dtSearch User's Manual 5
d. License and Notices
Shareware Version License
dtSearch is not public domain or "free" software -- it is
copyrighted by DT Software, Inc. DT Software, Inc. hereby grants
you a limited license to use dtSearch for evaluation purposes for
a period not to exceed sixty (60) days. If you continue to use
this software after the sixty (60) day evaluation period, you
must make a registration payment of $59.00 to DT Software, Inc.
This payment will entitle you to receive the current registered
version of dtSearch, a printed copy of the manual, notice of
updates and upgrades, and free technical support (by mail or
CompuServe) for one year. For information about telephone
technical support, please see the "Technical Support" section of
the manual.
You may give (but not sell) complete copies of the evaluation
version of dtSearch to others. Shareware distributors may
distribute dtSearch in accordance with the terms listed in
VENDOR.DOC and SYSOP.DOC.
Registered Version License
If you are a registered user of dtSearch, you may use the
registered version on one computer at a time and make as many
backup copies (for your own use only) as you need.
U.S. Government Information
Use, duplication, or disclosure by the U.S. Government of the
computer software and documentation in this package shall be
subject to the restricted rights applicable to commercial
computer software as set forth in subdivision (b)(3)(ii) of the
Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at
252.227-7013 (DFARS 52.227-7013). The contractor/manufacturer is
DT Software, Inc., 2101 Crystal Plaza Arcade, Suite 231,
Arlington, VA 22202.
ASP Notice
DT Software, Inc. is a member of the Association of Shareware
Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware
principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a
shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the
member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can
help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but
does not supply technical support for members' products. Please
write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442
6 dtSearch User's Manual
or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman
70007,3536.
dtSearch User's Manual 7
8 dtSearch User's Manual
2. Getting Started
a. How to Use This Manual
To get started...
* First, read the section on "Installing dtSearch" and install
the program.
* Second, start the program. (When you run it, all it will do
is display the main menu screen and wait for your input.) You
will find it easier to learn how to use the program if you
have it running in front of you as you read the manual.
* Third, you may want to read the manual section, "General
Information about dtSearch." dtSearch uses a standard pull-
down menu interface that is similar to that used in many other
programs. If you have used other programs with a similar
interface, you can skip most of this section. If not, you
should read it to learn how to operate the menus, help
screens, etc.
* Fourth, read and follow tutorial procedures described in the
"Quick Start" section of the manual, which will show you how
to build and use document indexes.
If you are stuck...
* You can always get help by pressing the F1 key, which
activates the dtSearch help system. If you have not used
hypertext help programs before, you may want to read the
manual section, "How to Use Help." Everything that is in the
manual is also accessible through the help system.
* To get more information about an error message, look it up in
the table in the back of the manual.
* To find out how to use a particular dtSearch feature, you can
find it in the manual using the table of contents or the
index.
b. Installing dtSearch
To install dtSearch on your hard disk, do the following:
* Insert the dtSearch disk in drive A.
* At, the DOS prompt ("C>"), type
dtSearch User's Manual 9
A:INSTALL
and press ENTER.
* Two boxes will appear on the screen: a "From" box showing
where INSTALL expects to find the installation files, and a
"To" box showing where INSTALL will install dtSearch. The
"To" box will show C:\DTSEARCH. If you want to use a different
drive or directory, press TAB to move the cursor into the "To"
box and type in the drive and directory you want.
* Press the F10 key to start installing dtSearch.
To run dtSearch, type
C:\DTSEARCH\DTSEARCH
at the DOS prompt and press ENTER.
NOTES:
1. You can install dtSearch from any disk drive. For example,
if you put the dtSearch disk in drive B, just type B:INSTALL
instead of A:INSTALL.
2. If you are curious, this is what INSTALL does: dtSearch
files are distributed in a "self-extracting archive" file -- a
compressed file that uncompresses itself when executed. INSTALL
locates this file, creates the "To" directory, and executes the
self-extracting archive file. Install does NOT alter the
contents of your hard disk in any other way. It will not change
your CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT files.
c. Quick Start
This section of the manual is intended to help you get started
using dtSearch. It explains very briefly how to search with and
without a document index and how to build an index. Each of
these subjects is covered in more detail in the rest of the
manual. A quick way to get more information about a dtSearch
feature is to press the F1 key, which will pop up a help screen
that describes the feature you are using. See the manual section
"How to Use Help" for more information on how the help system
works.
Before you begin, you should install dtSearch on your hard
disk (see "Installing dtSearch"). You should also have some
documents on your hard disk to index and search.
10 dtSearch User's Manual
dtSearch allows two types of searches: index, and unindexed.
An index search uses a document index to quickly identify
documents that satisfy a search request. A document index is a
type of database that dtSearch builds from a collection of
documents. The database tells dtSearch where each word appears
in each document, so that dtSearch can find documents containing
a particular word or combination of words very quickly.
An unindexed search simply reads each file to be searched and
checks whether it meets the search criteria. Unindexed searches
are very slow.
Searching without an index
* Press 'S' to get into the Search menu.
* Press 'U' to select "Unindexed search". The "Unindexed
Search" dialog box will appear. This dialog box allows you to
specify what you want to search for and where you want to
search.
* Press 'D' to select the directories you want to search.
A diagram of all of the directories on the current disk drive
will appear. To see another disk drive, press CTRL + the
letter of the drive you want. To select a directory, move the
cursor to it and press SPACE. An X will appear indicating
that the directory is selected. Press SPACE again and the X
will disappear. To select or deselect a directory and its
subdirectories, press ENTER. When you are done selecting
directories, press the F10 key.
* Press 'F' to enter filters selecting the documents you want to
search. Type in the filters, with spaces separating them, and
press ENTER. Example: to select all files whose names end in
.DOC or .TXT, enter
*.DOC *.TXT
* Press 'R' to enter your search request. A box will appear in
which you can type in your search request. A search request
consists of the words or phrases you want to search for,
connected by:
AND both words must be present
OR at least one of the words must be present
NOT the next word must not be present
W/5 the words must occur not more than 5 words apart (you
can use other numbers, such as W/10, W/20, etc.)
Examples: apple and pear
dtSearch User's Manual 11
apple w/5 pear
apple and (pear w/5 banana)
When you are done typing in your search request, press ENTER
to get back into the dialog box.
* Press 'S' to begin the search.
Viewing search results
* After a search is complete, a short menu will appear listing
options for sorting search results (sorted by name, sorted by
number of hits, unsorted, etc.). Pick one of the options, and
the results of your search will appear in a window.
* To view a document, move the cursor (the highlighted bar in
the window listing the documents) to the document you want,
press ENTER, and the document will appear in another window,
overlaying the first. To close a window displaying a document
or search results, press ESCAPE.
* To see the hits in a retrieved document, press F3.
* Near the bottom of the screen, the word "Viewing" will appear,
followed by the word "SearchResults" and the name of the file
you selected. You can have up to five windows open at a time,
including the SearchResults window. To move between windows,
use the TAB key (next window) or the SHIFT-TAB key (previous
window). The "Viewing" line will list all of the open windows
and show which one you are in.
* When you are viewing a document or search results, you can:
* Move or resize the window -- press F9. Use the cursor keys
to move the window and SHIFT + the cursor keys to resize
it. Press ENTER to stop moving and resizing.
* Print it -- press ALT-F to get into the File menu, 'P' to
select "Print Window", and 'P' to print the file.
* Copy a block of text into a "notepad", where you can edit
it or combine it with text clipped from other documents.
(See the "Using the Notepad Editor" section in the manual.)
Building a document index
First, create an index:
* Press 'I' to get into the Index menu.
* Press 'C' to get into the "Create Index" dialog box.
12 dtSearch User's Manual
* Press 'N' to enter the name of the index you want to create.
Type in the name and press ENTER.
* Press 'D' to enter the directory you want to hold the index.
Type in the full directory name (e.g., C:\DOCINDEX) and press
ENTER.
* Press 'C' to create the index. After the index is created,
press any key to get back into the menu.
Next, add documents to the index:
* Press 'I' to get into the Index menu.
* Press 'A' to get into the "Add Documents to Index" dialog box.
* Press 'I' to choose the index to update. Move the cursor to
the name of the index you want and press ENTER.
* Press 'D' to select the directories containing the files you
want to index. The directory selection box that appears works
just like the one described above in "Searching without an
index."
* Press 'F' to enter filters selecting the documents you want to
index. Type in the filters with spaces between them and press
ENTER. Example: to select all files whose names end in .DOC
or .TXT, enter
*.DOC *.TXT
* If you want the index to be compressed, press 'O' to change
the "Compress Index" option from No to Yes. Compressing an
index produces a smaller index and faster searches, and is
generally a good idea. However, it can take a long time to
compress an index, since dtSearch creates a new copy of the
index being compressed. Compressing an index typically takes
about half as long as it took to build the index.
* Press 'A' to begin adding documents to the index.
Searching with an index
* Press 'S' to get into the Search menu
* Press 'I' to get into the "Index Search" dialog box.
* Press 'I' to select the indexes you want to search. A list of
all of your indexes will appear. Move the cursor to the ones
dtSearch User's Manual 13
you want and press ENTER to put an 'X' next to them. Press
the F10 key when you are done.
* Press 'R' to enter your search request. See "Searching
without an index" (above) for a brief discussion of search
requests.
* Press 'S' to begin the search.
* "Viewing search results" (above) describes what to do next.
14 dtSearch User's Manual
3. General Information about dtSearch
a. How to Use Help
When you are in a menu, a line of text at the bottom of the
screen will briefly explain the purpose of each menu option as
you move the cursor to it. When you are viewing documents,
directories, help, or search results, this line will list the
function keys available.
If you need more information about a dtSearch feature, you can
access the hypertext help system at any time by pressing the F1
key. The help system provides a comprehensive manual, with an
index and table of contents, that explains all of the features of
dtSearch.
When you press F1, an explanation of the current function or
menu option will appear. You can use the cursor keys and PgUp
and PgDn to scroll through the help message.
Frequently a help message will contain highlighted cross-
references to other help topics. To switch to the cross-
reference topic, move the cursor to the highlighted word and
press ENTER. BACKSPACE will take you back to the previous help
screen.
To move the cursor to a highlighted reference, press the TAB
key. SHIFT-TAB will move the cursor to the previous reference.
At the end of each help message you will find three
highlighted topics listed:
"Help Index" Index of help topics
"Contents" Table of contents of help topics
"Previous Topic" The topic you last viewed
To see one of these help messages, move the cursor to the one you
want and press ENTER.
To exit from help, press ESCAPE.
b. Using Menus
* All menus have a cursor that appears as a bar that moves up
and down or from side to side when you press the cursor keys.
* To select an option, move the cursor to that option and press
the ENTER key.
dtSearch User's Manual 15
* Shortcut: every menu option has a highlighted letter. For
example, in the "Search" option, the "S" will be highlighted. To
quickly select an option, press the letter highlighted in that
option.
* To leave any menu, press the ESCAPE key.
* Sometimes a menu option is in brackets. This means that the
option is unavailable for some reason. For example, you cannot
use the "Window" menu unless you are viewing a document, and you
cannot do an index search unless you have created an index.
Help on Menu Options
* When you move the cursor to a menu option, a description of
what that option does will appear at the bottom of the screen.
* To get more help on any menu option, press F1.
The Menu Bar
* The menu bar at the top of the screen is the main menu. Each
word listed in the menu bar is the name of a submenu.
* If you are viewing a document, you can get into the main menu
in three ways:
* pressing the F10 key,
* holding down the ALT key and releasing it, or
* holding down the ALT key and pressing the letter for one of
the options in the menu.
* To return to viewing a document after entering the main menu,
press the ESCAPE key.
Pull-down menus
Pull-down menus appear in boxes on the screen under the menu
bar, with a cursor that moves up and down. To select a menu
option, move the cursor to the option desired and press ENTER, or
press the highlighted letter for that option.
c. Dialog Boxes
When you select a menu option to perform an action, such as
viewing a document, performing a search, etc., a dialog box will
appear. The top half of a dialog box may offer a list of options
that you can change. The bottom half will contain several
"buttons" that you can select to perform various actions. Select
the buttons in the same way that you would select other menu
options -- by moving the cursor to the option and pressing ENTER,
or by pressing the highlighted letter in the button.
Types of Options
16 dtSearch User's Manual
* Yes/No options. To change a yes/no option, just move the
cursor to the option and press ENTER.
* Text options. To change an option, such as a search request,
that allows you to enter text, move the cursor to the option and
press ENTER. A box will appear containing the current value of
the option. You can edit or replace this text using the usual
editing keys (Ins, Del, and the cursor keys). When you are done
editing the text, press ENTER to save your changes or ESCAPE to
restore the previous text.
* Radio Buttons. Some options require you to select an item
from a list of choices. When you modify these options, a list of
choices will appear, like this:
( ) Red
( ) White
(*) Blue
The dot will appear next to the item that was previously
selected. To move the dot, move the cursor to the choice you
want and press ENTER.
* Check Boxes. Check boxes are similar to radio buttons, and
appear when you can select more than one item from a list, such
as when you are selecting one or more indexes to search. A list
of check boxes looks like this:
[X] Banana
[ ] Pear
[X] Apple
The "X" indicates that the item is selected. To select or clear
an item, move the cursor to it and press ENTER. When you are
done modifying a list of check boxes, press F10 to save your
changes.
d. Selecting a Directory
The Select Directory dialog box displays a diagram of all of
the directories on the current disk drive, displayed as a tree.
To select a directory, move the cursor to it and press ENTER. To
change the disk drive, hold down the control key and press the
letter of drive you want. For example, to switch to drive C,
press CTRL-C.
If you want dtSearch to re-read the tree for a drive, press
control and the letter of the drive you are viewing.
dtSearch User's Manual 17
e. Selecting Multiple Directories
The Select Directories dialog box appears in two situations:
when you are specifying directories to search, and when you are
specifying directories to index.
The dialog box has two parts. On the left is a diagram of all
the directories on the current disk drive, displayed as a tree.
Next to each directory is a check box ("[ ]" or "[X]") that you
can use to select the directory. On the right is a list of disk
drives and the number of directories currently selected in each.
* To select a directory, move the cursor to it and press SPACE.
An "X" will appear in the check box next to the directory,
which means that you have selected the directory. The clear
the "X", press SPACE again.
* To select a directory and its subdirectories, press ENTER
instead of SPACE.
* To change disk drives, press CTRL + the letter of the drive
you want.
* When you are done, press the F10 key.
The Select Directories dialog box remembers the directory tree
for each disk drive. When the dialog box appears, it uses the
directory trees that it remembers rather than re-reading every
drive (reading the directories for every drive can take a long
time). If you want dtSearch to re-read the tree for a drive,
press control and the letter of the drive you are viewing. This
is useful when you view directories on one floppy disk and then
replace it with another, or if you have recently created new
directories.
f. File Name Filters
A file name filter is a pattern, like *.*, *.DOC, or
FILE??10.DAT, that you can use to tell dtSearch which files you
want it to search or index in a directory. For example, if you
have a directory of word processing files, and want to search all
of the files beginning with SMITH and having the extension DOC,
you would use the filter SMITH*.DOC.
A "?" matches any single character, so SMITH?.DOC would match
SMITH1.DOC, but not SMITH123.DOC.
18 dtSearch User's Manual
An asterisk ("*") in a file name filter matches any number of
characters, so SMITH*.DOC would match SMITH001.DOC, SMITHAAA.DOC,
etc.
If you want to use more than one filter, just list the
filters, separated by spaces. Example:
SMITH*.DOC JONES*.DOC *.DAT
g. Selecting a File
Whenever dtSearch asks you to select a file, a "Select File"
dialog box will appear. The box looks like this:
+-----Select File to View----+
Filename --> | C:\WP51\SAMPLE.TXT |
| |
Directory and filter --> | C:\WP51\*.TXT |
| +--------------------+ |
List of files --> | | ABC.TXT | |
| | DEF.TXT | |
| | SAMPLE.TXT | |
| | SUB1\ | |
| | SUB2\ | |
| | [-A-] | |
| | [-C-] | |
| +--------------------+ |
+----------------------------+
The "Filename" section at the top of the box allows you to simply
type in a filename. The TAB key will move the cursor between the
filename line at the top of the box and the list of files. If
you type the name of a directory in the filename section, or type
a name that includes a wildcard character such as "*.TXT", the
list of files will contain all files in the directory you
selected that match the filter you are using. You can then press
TAB to move the cursor into the list of files, which you can
scroll until you see the file you want. The list of files also
contains any subdirectories of the directory you are viewing
("SUB1\" and "SUB2\" in the example above) followed by a list of
disk drives ("[-A-]" and "[-C-]") that you can select to look for
the file you want. You can change the directory by selecting one
of the subdirectories listed in the file list or by typing in a
new directory name at the top.
dtSearch User's Manual 19
h. Function Keys
F1 is always the help key. Press F1 at any time for an
explanation of the current function or menu option.
The following is a description of what the other function keys
do:
1. When you are viewing documents or search results:
F2 Find Text: find a string of text in the document.
F3 Find Search Term: find one of the terms used in your
search in the document.
F4 Find Link: find next link to a retrieved document
(useful in search reports).
F5 Mark text to copy to notepad.
F6 Paste text in notepad editor.
F7 Switch Window: switch to a different window.
F8 This key has two different functions. In a search
results window, it produces a "KWIC" view of the
document that the cursor is pointing to. In a document
window, it launches the application that created the
document.
F9 Move or Resize Window
F10 Menu. When you are viewing documents or search
results, press F10 to get into the main menu. Press
F10 in the main menu to get back into the document or
search results window.
2. When you are viewing a help screen:
F2 Find Text: find a string of text in the help document.
F4 Find Help Topic: Move the cursor to the next highlighted
help topic.
F7 View the help message for the word or phrase that the
cursor is on.
3. At all other times, F10 is a general "exit" key for all menus
and dialog boxes, F1 is the help key, and the other function keys
do nothing.
i. Using Document Windows
When you start dtSearch, you will see a bar at the top of the
screen listing menu options and a bar at the bottom of the screen
that explains the current menu option. The space in between will
be blank. This area is a workspace, like a desktop, that you can
use for searching and browsing documents. As with a desk
surface, you can place several documents on the surface and move
them around so you can see the one that you want to read. Menus
20 dtSearch User's Manual
and dialog boxes will pop up over the desktop, but the underlying
documents will remain until you remove them.
The simplest way to get a document on the desktop is the View
Document option in the File menu. Simply select the file you
want to view, press ENTER, the document will appear in a window.
The top center of the window will display the document name and
the position of the cursor (the current line and page number)
will appear at the bottom left.
When you are viewing a document, the menu cursor (the bar that
moves from option to option) will disappear and a cursor will
appear in the document. You can move the cursor around in the
document using the cursor keys, Page Up and Page Down, etc., as
you do in your word processor. To move the cursor back into the
menu, press F10. Press F10 in the menu to move back to the
document.
There are several ways to create a document window:
* Every time you do a search, a "Search Results" window appears.
This window is just like a document window, except that it
contains a list of documents instead of a single document. To
view one of the documents on the list, move the cursor to it
and press ENTER. The document you selected will appear in a
second window, overlapping the first.
* The View Directory function creates a document window that is
similar to the Search Window -- to view one of the files or
directories in the window, move the cursor to it and press
ENTER.
* When you are in a Search Results window, you can create a
Search Report by selecting the Search Report option in the
Search menu. The Search Report will list all of the "hits"
found by your search, with a few lines of context. The Search
Report is also a document window. As with the Search Results
window, you can view a file by moving the cursor to the name
of the file and pressing ENTER.
* The Edit Notepad function in the File menu creates a "notepad"
window that you can type into. You can clip text from other
windows into the notepad window, edit the text in the notepad
and write notes.
All of these types of windows work in essentially the same
way:
* To move the cursor around, use the cursor keys.
dtSearch User's Manual 21
* To move from one window to the next, press TAB. SHIFT-TAB
moves to the previous window.
* ESCAPE closes a window.
* To move or resize a window, press F9.
You can print the contents of any document window using the
Print Window function in the File menu. Save Window will copy
the text from the window you are viewing to a file that you can
then retrieve into your word processor.
When you have one or more document windows on the screen, a
line near the bottom of the screen will display a list of the
windows. You can have up to five windows on the screen at a
time.
22 dtSearch User's Manual
j. Moving the Cursor in a Document
Moving the Cursor
Top of document Home, Home, UP
End of document Home, Home, DOWN
Start of line Home, LEFT
End of line End
Top of screen Home, UP
or PgUp
End of screen Home, DOWN
or PgDn
Searching
Find text F2
Find search term F3
Find help topic F4
Notepad cut and paste
Start block F5
Cut block DEL
Copy block F5
Paste F6
Other
Exit document ESCAPE
Help F1
Switch Window F7
Move/Resize Window F9
Menu F10
View document at cursor ENTER
dtSearch User's Manual 23
24 dtSearch User's Manual
4. Building and Using Document Indexes
a. What is a Document Index?
A document index is a database that stores the locations of
all of the words in a group of documents, except for noise words
such as "but" and "if." Once you have built an index for a group
of documents, dtSearch can use it to perform very fast
index searches on those documents. A document index is usually
about one fourth the size of the original documents, although
this may vary considerably depending on the number and kinds of
documents in the index.
A document index can contain up to 15,000 documents. If you
try to add more, you will get an "Index is Full" message.
However, you will still be able to reindex documents that are
already in the index. When dtSearch reindexes a document that is
already in the index, it treats the document as a new document
and marks the old version of the document in the index as
"obsolete". When you compress an index, obsolete documents are
removed. If the total number of documents, including obsolete
documents, exceeds 30,000, then you will have to compress the
index before you can update it.
An index library is a collection of up to 25 indexes. Most
people will only need a few indexes and so will not have to learn
about index libraries. By default, dtSearch uses an index
library called "IXLIB.ILB". If you need to use more than 25
indexes, then you can create additional index libraries.
To build an index of a group of documents:
1. Use the Create Index function in the index menu to create
an empty index, and
2. Use the Add Documents to Index function to add documents to
the index.
As a shortcut, you can specify in the "Add Documents to Index"
dialog box that you want to create a new index for the documents.
b. The Index Menu
Press 'I' in the main menu to get into the Index menu. The Index
menu lists options to:
* create,
* update,
* compress,
* delete,
dtSearch User's Manual 25
* rename,
* copy,
* recognize, or
* get information about
a document index.
It also lists options to create or select an index library.
c. Creating an Index
To create an index, you need to specify two things:
* The name of the index. This can be up to 16 characters long
and may include any combination of letters, numbers, or
punctuation.
* The directory to use for the index. This has to be a valid
DOS directory name. The directory should not be one that
already exists -- dtSearch will create a new directory for the
index (using the name that you supply).
If you "create" an index that already exists, you will clear
the previously existing index (the documents will, of course, be
unaffected). dtSearch will ask you to confirm that you really
want to do this.
d. Adding Documents to an Index
To add documents to an existing index, you need to specify the
following in the "Add Documents to Index" dialog box:
* The name of the index to update, which you can select from a
list of all of the indexes that you have created.
* The directories containing the documents to add to the index.
* The file name filters (e.g., *.DOC, *.TXT, etc.) to use to
select documents to add.
* Whether you want dtSearch to compress the index after
updating. Compressing an index can take a while, especially
with very large indexes, but it makes searches much faster.
You can also compress an index using the Compress Index option
in the Index menu.
* Whether you want dtSearch to check all documents already in
the index and reindex any that were modified since they were
last indexed.
26 dtSearch User's Manual
After you have specified this information, select the "Add"
button to start updating the index.
The Add Documents to Index dialog box also contains a section
that allows you to create a new index and add documents to it in
a single step. To use this feature, set "Create Index?" to "Yes"
and then fill in the information needed to create an index (the
directory to contain the index and the name you want to use for
the index). (After you have created an index this way, dtSearch
automatically sets "Create Index?" back to "No" so that the next
time you add documents to the index you do not "Create" it first,
clearing out information about the previously-added documents.)
See the manual section on creating indexes for more information
about the Create Index function.
In most cases, you will not have to worry about the file
format of the documents being indexed because dtSearch will
detect the format of each document automatically. However, some
older word processor formats cannot be detected automatically.
Of the word processors supported by dtSearch version 1.1, only
WordStar versions before version 4.0 fall into this category. To
tell dtSearch how to recognize WordStar files created by versions
1 through 3, you must set up WordStar as an application using the
Applications menu and provide a filename pattern, such as *.WS,
that dtSearch can use to identify WordStar files. See the manual
section on the Applications menu for details on how to do this.
NOTES:
1. You can halt indexing by pressing the ESCAPE key. dtSearch
will stop after it finishes indexing the document it is working
on.
2. If you are indexing documents stored on floppy disks, you may
find it useful to store the documents on each disk in a
subdirectory named after the disk. For example, if you have
disks labelled "SMITH" and "JONES", move the documents on the
SMITH disk into a directory on the disk called "SMITH", and move
the documents on the JONES disk into a directory called "JONES".
This will help you to locate the documents after a search. You
can see which disk has the documents you want by looking at the
directory name in the search results window.
3. dtSearch automatically detects and ignores binary files when
it builds document indexes.
dtSearch User's Manual 27
e. Compressing an Index
Compressing an index does two things: (1) it removes obsolete
information about documents that have been reindexed, and (2) it
reorganizes an index for faster searching. The major
disadvantage of compressing an index is that it can take a long
time, since dtSearch copies the entire index when it compresses
it. Compressing an index typically takes about half as long as
it took to build the index.
You can compress an index by selecting the Compress Index
option in the Index menu. You can also tell dtSearch to compress
an index after it is done updating it, by setting the Compress
Index option in the Update Index dialog box to "Yes".
You can halt compression of an index by pressing the ESCAPE
key. When you halt compression, dtSearch will restore the index
to its uncompressed state.
f. Deleting an Index
The Delete Index dialog box allows you to erase an index. The
original documents will not be affected, but the index will be
destroyed.
To delete an index, select the index to be deleted and then
select the "Delete" button. dtSearch will ask you to confirm
that you really want to delete the index.
g. Renaming an Index
The Rename Index dialog box allows you to change the name of
an index. To rename an index, select the index to be renamed,
enter the new name for the index, and then select the "Rename"
button. The name can be up to 16 letters long. Note that the
name of the directory in which the index is stored will not be
affected.
h. Copying an Index
The Copy Index dialog box allows you to make a copy of an
existing index. To copy an index, you need to specify the
following:
* The name of the index to copy.
* The name of the new index to be created.
* The directory to store the new index in.
28 dtSearch User's Manual
Like the directory specified in the "Create Index" function, the
directory that you copy an index to should not already exist. If
the directory that you specify already contains in index,
dtSearch will ask you to confirm that you want the new index to
overwrite the old index. (A directory can only contain one
index.)
i. Recognizing an Existing Index
Although dtSearch provides a way to copy indexes, you may in
some cases wish to copy indexes using another program and then
use dtSearch to search the indexes. For example, if someone
created an index and gave you a copy, you might want to just copy
the disk or disks using the DOS copy command. However, if you
then tried to search that index with dtSearch, the index that you
copied would not appear in the "Select Index" list because your
copy of dtSearch would not know about the index.
The Recognize Index function solves this problem. In the
Recognize Index dialog box, select the directory in which the
index you copied is stored, enter a name for the index, and then
select the "Recognize Index" button. dtSearch will look in the
directory for the index and then add it to the list of indexes
that you can search or update.
j. Index Information
The Index Information option in the Index menu provides a way
to get the following information about an index:
* When it was created
* When it was last modified or compressed
* How much disk space it occupies
* How many words it contains
* How many documents it contains
The Index Information screen also lists the number of "Obsolete"
documents. When dtSearch reindexes a document that is already in
the index, it treats the document as a new document and marks the
old version of the document in the index as "obsolete". When you
compress an index, obsolete documents are removed.
k. Verify Index
The Verify Index option in the Index menu allows you to check
whether an index has been damaged. As dtSearch examines the
index, it will list every word, filename, and directory name in
the index. When dtSearch is done verifying the index, it will
tell you two things: (1) whether the index has been damaged, and
dtSearch User's Manual 29
(2) if the index was damaged, whether the Rebuild Index function
can reconstruct it.
l. Rebuild Index
The Rebuild Index option in the Index menu allows you to
reconstruct a damaged index. To rebuild an index, you need to
specify:
* The name of the index to rebuild.
* The new name for the index.
* The directory to use for the new index.
dtSearch will create a new index in the directory you specify and
then add all of the documents that were in the old index to the
new index. As with the Add Documents to Index function, you can
tell dtSearch to compress the index after it is done for better
performance.
How Rebuild Works
Each index has a list of the files that it contains. Rebuild
disregards all other information in the index and simply creates
a new index based on the list of files in the old index. Thus,
if the list of files is intact, Rebuild will be able to
reconstruct the index regardless of how damaged the other files
might be. If the list of files is damaged, Rebuild will extract
as many filenames as it can from the list.
After Rebuild Index is done, the old damaged index will still
exist. You can delete it by using the Delete Index function.
m. Index Libraries
An index library is a collection of up to 25 indexes.
dtSearch uses index libraries to record the names and locations
of the document indexes that you create. When you select indexes
to search, or pick an index to update, compress, etc., the list
of indexes displayed comes from the current index library.
If you do not need to use more than 25 indexes, you do not
need to worry about index libraries. (25 indexes will hold a
total of up to 375,000 documents.) dtSearch starts out with a
library called "IXLIB.ILB" that will hold any indexes that you
create.
If you need to use more than 25 indexes, use the Index Library
dialog box to create additional index libraries.
30 dtSearch User's Manual
* To create a new library, give it a name (8 letters or
numbers) and select the Create Library option in the Index
Library dialog box. The new library will be empty. You
can then create and add documents to the indexes that you
want the new library to hold.
* To select an existing library, enter the name of the
library and select the Select Library option. dtSearch
will then load the library you specified and you will have
access to all of the indexes that it contains.
If you want, you can have a single index appear in multiple
libraries. To do this, use Recognize Index, which adds an
existing index to the current index library.
dtSearch User's Manual 31
32 dtSearch User's Manual
5. Searching for Documents
a. The Search Menu
Press 'S' in the main menu to get into the Search menu. The
Search menu offers three ways to search for documents:
* An index search -- searches one or more document indexes.
* An unindexed search -- directly searches files in one or more
directories.
* A "combination" search -- combines both of the above types of
searches.
Other functions in the Search menu are:
* Search Report -- prepare a search report (a list of all search
hits found, in context) based on your most recent search.
* Kwic View -- prepare a summary of a retrieved document,
listing hits found with a few lines of context.
* Display results of previous search -- dtSearch saves the
results of the last 10 searches you have performed. This
option allows you to retrieve the results of any of those
searches.
* Modify display format -- allows you to specify the information
you want displayed in a search results window.
b. Index Searches
An index search is the fastest way to search for documents.
To start an index search, select the "Search" option in the main
menu and then select "Index Search". A dialog box will appear,
listing two options:
* Request -- enter or modify your search request.
* Indexes to Search -- pick the indexes that you want dtSearch
to search.
At the bottom of the box there will be a "Search" button and a
"Cancel" button. Select the Search button to start the search,
or select the Cancel button to return to the main menu.
dtSearch User's Manual 33
c. Unindexed Search
In an unindexed search, dtSearch directly searches every file
that you ask it to search, looking for documents that match your
search request. Unindexed searches are much slower than index
searches.
To start an unindexed search, select the "Search" option in
the main menu and then select "Unindexed Search". A dialog box
will appear, listing three options:
* Request -- enter or modify your search request.
* Directories to Search -- pick the directories that you want
dtSearch to search.
* File Name Filters -- dtSearch will only search files matching
the file name filters that you specify. (See the manual
section, "File Name Filters")
At the bottom of the box there will be a "Search" button and a
"Cancel" button. Select the Search button to start the search,
or select the Cancel button to return to the main menu.
d. Combination Search
A combination search allows you to combine an index search and
an unindexed search in a single search request. To start a
combination search, select the "Search" option in the main menu
and then select "Combination Search". A dialog box will appear,
listing the following options:
* Request -- enter or modify your search request.
* Indexes to Search -- pick the indexes that you want the
program to search.
* Directories to Search -- pick the directories that you want
dtSearch to search.
* File Name Filters -- dtSearch will only search files matching
the file name filters that you specify. (See the manual
section, "File Name Filters")
At the bottom of the box there will be a "Search" button and a
"Cancel" button. Select the Search button to start the search,
or select the Cancel button to return to the main menu.
34 dtSearch User's Manual
e. Indexes to Search
In an Index Search or a Combination Search, use the "Indexes
to Search" option to tell dtSearch which indexes you want to
search.
When you select "Indexes to Search", a list of all of the
indexes that you have created will appear with check boxes ("[ ]"
and "[X]") next to them. An "[X]" next to an index means that
the index will be searched.
* To check or clear a box, move the cursor to the index name and
press the ENTER key.
* When you are done, press F10 to save your changes to the list.
* If you want to restore the list to the way it was before you
started changing it, press the ESCAPE key.
f. Displaying Search Results
After a search is complete, the "Display Search Results" menu
will appear, listing several different ways to display the
results of your search:
* Sorted by name, in alphabetical order
* Sorted by numeric name, in numeric order (that is, so that
"9.TXT" will be before "10.TXT")
* Sorted by number of hits (descending order)
* Unsorted -- displays documents in the order they were found
* Do not display -- return to menu without viewing search
results.
g. Search Reports
A search report lists each hit found in each document and up
to 99 lines of context surrounding it. To create a search
report,
* Perform the search that you want the report to be based on.
* Select the way you want the search results sorted from the
Display Search Results menu. The documents retrieved by
your search will appear, sorted as you requested.
* Press F10 to get into the main menu.
* Press 'S' to get into the Search menu.
* Select the "Search Report" option in the Search Menu.
* In the Search Report dialog box, select the number of lines
of context you want surrounding each hit, and then select
the "Report" button.
dtSearch User's Manual 35
Preparing a search report may take a while since dtSearch has
to scan every document retrieved to get the text to display.
When you are viewing a search report, you can see all of a
document by moving the cursor to the name of the document and
pressing ENTER. The F4 ("Find Link") key will move the cursor to
the next document name. The F3 ("Find Hit") key will move the
cursor to the next hit in each document.
h. Kwic View
The "Kwic" function will display only the part of a document
that contains terms matching your search request. When you are
viewing search results, move the cursor to the name of the
document that you want to see and press the F8 key. dtSearch
will ask how many lines of context you want. This is the number
of lines surrounding each hit that you want to see. Enter the
number of lines that you want and press ENTER.
A file displayed in Kwic mode contains highlighted line and
page markers to show where in the document the text appeared.
These highlighted markers also act as hypertext links to the full
text of the document. For example, suppose that you are viewing
a document in Kwic mode and see a block of text with a marker
"[Page 10 Line 15]". If you move the cursor to the marker and
press ENTER, dtSearch will display the full text of the document,
positioned to line 15 of page 10.
36 dtSearch User's Manual
6. Search Requests
a. Overview
A search request consists of a group of words, phrases, or
macros linked by connectors such as "AND" and "OR" that indicate
the relationship between them.
If you use more than one connector, you should use parenthesis
to indicate precisely what you want to search for. For example,
apple and pear or orange
could mean "(apple and pear) or orange", or it could mean "apple
and (pear or orange)".
dtSearch supports the following connectors:
AND Both words must be present
OR Either word can be present
W/n First word must occur within n words of the second.
NOT What follows the NOT must not be present.
Additionally, the CONTAINS and TO connectors are used for segment
searches.
b. Search Terms
A search term is simply one of the words in your search
request. Some words, such as "if" and "the", are defined as
"noise words" because they are so common. Noise words cannot be
used as search terms.
Connectors, such as "AND" and "OR", also cannot be used as
search terms.
A search term can contain the "wildcard" characters "*" and
"?". A "?" in a word matches any single character, and a "*"
matches any number of characters. The wildcard characters can be
in any position in a word. For example:
appl* would match apple, application, etc.
*cipl* would match principle, participle, etc.
Use of the "*" wildcard character near the beginning of a word
will slow searches somewhat.
dtSearch User's Manual 37
To handle plurals, an "s" at the end of a word is always
ignored. Thus, a search for "cats" would find both "cat" and
"cats".
Punctuation inside of a search word is treated as a space.
Thus, "can't" would be treated as "can t" (two words) and
"1843(a)(2)(ii)" would become "1843 a 2 ii" (four words).
dtSearch uses two built in search words to mark the beginning
and end of a file -- XFIRSTWORD and XLASTWORD. The terms are
useful if you want to limit a search to the beginning or end of a
file. For example, "apple w/10 XLASTWORD" would search for the
word "apple" within 10 words of the end of a document.
c. Phrase Searches
A search term can consist of several words, such as "first
class mail". A search for this phrase would retrieve only files
containing the words "first," "class," and "mail" in exactly the
order specified.
If a phrase contains a noise word, then you cannot search for
it as a phrase, since the noise word will not be found. For
example, you could not search for the phrase "statue of liberty",
since the noise word "of" will not be in the index. Instead, use
the W/N connector to search for "statue w/2 liberty".
d. Noise Words
A "noise" word is a word, such as the or if, that is so common
that it is not useful in searches. To save space and time, such
words are ignored in index searches. You can modify the list of
words defined as noise words by editing the file "NOISE.DAT".
You can use the Notepad Editor in dtSearch to edit NOISE.DAT, or
you can use your word processor. If you use your word processor,
make sure that you save the file as a DOS text file so that
dtSearch can read it.
The words in NOISE.DAT do not have to be an any particular
order, and can include "wild card" characters such as * and ?.
However, noise words may not begin with wild card characters.
Each index has its own copy of NOISE.DAT (called INDEX_N.IX).
Changes you make to NOISE.DAT will be reflected in future indexes
you create but not in existing indexes. If you change the
INDEX_N.IX file for an index, the modified list will control any
updates to the index but will not affect information already in
the index.
38 dtSearch User's Manual
e. Search Macros
A macro is a way to abbreviate a search request that you use
frequently. A macro has two parts: a name, which is what you
type into the "Search Request" box, and the expansion, which is
what the macro is expanded to. For example, if you defined the
macro "@IRC" to mean "internal revenue code", and then searched
for "standard deduction w/3 @IRC", dtSearch would search for
"standard deduction w/3 internal revenue code".
A macro name must begin with the "at" sign ("@") -- this is
how dtSearch distinguishes macro names from ordinary words in a
search request.
A macro may contain anything that may be put in a search
request. To create or edit a macro, use the Edit Macros option
in the Options menu.
Macros can be useful for:
* Abbreviating long names or phrases that you use frequently
* Abbreviating segment definitions in segment searches
f. AND connector
Use the AND connector in a search request to connect two
expressions, both of which must be found in any document
retrieved. For example:
* "apple and pear" would retrieve any document that contained
both words.
* "(apple or banana) and (pear w/5 grape)" would retrieve any
document that (1) contained either the word apple or the
word banana, and (2) contained the word pear within 5 words
of the word grape.
g. OR connector
Use the OR connector in a search request to connect two
expressions, at least one of which must be found in any document
retrieved. For example, "apple or pear" would retrieve any
document that contained apple, pear, or both words.
h. W/N connector
Use the w/N connector in a search request to specify that one
word or phrase must occur within N words of the other. For
example, "apple w/5 pear" would retrieve any document that
contained the word apple within 5 words of pear.
dtSearch User's Manual 39
The following are some examples of search requests using the
w/N connector:
* (apple or pear) w/5 banana: either apple or pear must occur
within 5 words of "banana".
* (apple w/5 banana) w/10 pear: apple must occur within 5 words
of banana, and pear must occur within 10 words of both.
* (apple and banana) w/10 pear: both apple and banana must
occur within 10 words of pear.
Some types of complex expressions using the w/N connector will
produce ambiguous results and should not be used. In general, at
least one of the two expressions connected by w/N must be a
single word or phrase or a group of words and phrases connected
by the "OR" connector. For example:
* (apple and banana) w/10 (pear or grape): both apple and
banana must occur within 10 words of either pear or grape.
* (apple and banana) w/10 orange tree: both apple and banana
must occur within 10 words of the phrase "orange tree."
The following are examples of ambiguous search requests:
* (apple and banana) w/10 (pear and grape): ambiguous
* (apple w/10 banana) w/10 (pear and grape): ambiguous
i. Segment Searches
A segment search is a search request that must be satisfied
within a certain defined segment of a document. The segment is
defined by words or phrases at the beginning and end of the
segment.
The form of a segment definition is: beginning TO end, where
beginning is the word or phrase that defines the start of the
segment, and end is the word or phrase that defines the end of
the segment. The only connector allowed in the beginning and end
expressions in a segment definition is OR. Examples:
* name to address: the segment begins with "name" and ends with
"address."
* name to (address or xlastword): the segment begins with "name"
and ends with "address" or the end of the file.
To search for an expression within a segment, use the CONTAINS
connector. The expression in front of CONTAINS is the segment
40 dtSearch User's Manual
definition, and the expression following CONTAINS is what you are
searching for. Examples:
* (name to address) contains john smith
* (address to phone) contains (oak w/10 lane)
Segment searches work well with documents that are broken into
standardized segments. For example, a group of employee records
might be in a standardized documents formatted like this:
NAME: John Doe
ADDRESS: 123 Oak Lane
PHONE NUMBER: 555-1234
SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER 000-00-000
etc.
You can name segments using macros. In the above example, you
could use the following macros:
@NAME: (name to address)
@ADDRESS: (address to phone number)
@PHONE: (phone number to social security number)
Then you could do a segment search like this:
(@NAME contains John Doe) and (@ADDRESS contains Oak)
If a document contains more than one instance of a segment,
dtSearch will search each instance separately for text matching
the search request.
j. Date and Filename Searches
To search for a file with a specific name, include in your
search request the following:
XNAME "FILENAME.EXT"
The name, like other search terms, can include wildcard
characters, so, for example, you could search for "*.TXT,"
"SMITH??.*," etc. Unlike other search terms, a filename must be
in quotation marks. This enables dtSearch to recognize special
characters in the filename (such as the dot) that are not allowed
in other search words. The filename cannot include a directory
name or disk drive.
To search for a file that was last modified on, before, or
after a certain date, use the XDATE search command, like this:
XDATE IS January 1, 1991
dtSearch User's Manual 41
XDATE BEFORE January 1, 1991
XDATE AFTER January 1, 1991
dtSearch can recognize a variety of date formats, such as:
1/1/91; 1/91; January 1, 1991; and Jan 1 91 (two-digit years are
assumed to be in the twentieth century).
You can combine name and date searches with other types of
searches using the usual search connectors. For example:
(XNAME "*.DOC") and (XDATE AFTER 1/1/91) and (apple w/5 pear)
This would retrieve documents whose names end in .DOC, that were
last modified after January 1, 1991, and that contain the word
apple within 5 words of the word pear.
42 dtSearch User's Manual
7. The File Menu
a. The File Menu
Press 'F' in the main menu to get into the File menu. The File
menu lists options to
* view documents,
* view a directory,
* edit a notepad file,
* save the contents of a window,
* print the contents of a window,
* create a DOS Shell, or
* exit dtSearch.
b. Viewing a File
To view a file, enter the name of the file to view and select
the "View" button. The document will appear in a window. Use
the cursor keys, Page Up, Page Down, etc., to browse in a
document once it is displayed.
c. Viewing a Directory
To view a directory, use the "View Directory" dialog box:
(1) Select the directory you want to see using the "Directory
to View" option. This option allows you to pick the directory
you want from a tree diagram of all of the directories on the
current disk drive.
(2) Specify the file name filter (such as *.*, *.DOC, etc.)
you want dtSearch to use when it lists the files.
(3) Select the "List Files" button.
A list of the files matching the filter will appear in a window.
This window works in the same way that the "Search Results"
window works. You can:
* scroll the list up and down using the cursor keys;
* view any file or directory in the list by moving the cursor
to it and pressing enter; and
* cut and paste from the list to the notepad.
dtSearch User's Manual 43
d. The Notepad Editor
The Notepad Editor allows you to cut, paste, and edit
information collected from any document window, including a
search results window or a search report window.
Editing a Notepad
A notepad file is a standard DOS text file. To edit a notepad
file, select "Edit Notepad" from the File Menu. The Edit Notepad
dialog box will appear. Enter the name of the notepad that you
want to edit and select the "Edit" button. The notepad file will
appear, displayed in a document window.
The Notepad Editor provides limited editing capabilities,
intended mainly for jotting down notes to accompany text clipped
from documents. In the notepad editor, you can move the cursor
around using all of the functions available in a document window.
You can also type new text into the window. The status line will
display "Ins" or "Typ" to indicate whether you are in insert or
typeover mode. The INS key switches between insert and typeover
mode. The DEL key deletes a single character.
When you are done editing a notepad, use the "Save Window"
option in the File menu to save it.
Cutting and Pasting
You can move or copy text between document windows using the
cut and paste feature. You can also use the cut and paste
feature to move text within a notepad file.
Copying text: To copy text, start with the cursor at the
beginning of the text you want to copy. Press the
F5 ("Mark") key to mark your place in the
document. Then move the cursor to the end of the
text you want to copy and press F5 again.
dtSearch will store the text you marked.
Pasting text: To retrieve the text you marked, you need to be in
the Notepad Editor. If a notepad window is
already open, you can move to it with the F7
("Switch Window") key or the TAB key. If not,
select "Edit Notepad" from the File Menu to open a
notepad window.
Move the cursor to the place in the notepad where
you want the text to appear and press F6 ("Paste")
to retrieve the text.
44 dtSearch User's Manual
Cutting text: Like "Paste," "Cut" only works in a notepad
window, since it modifies the contents of the
window. To cut text from a document, start with
the cursor at the beginning of the text you want
to copy. Press the F5 ("Mark") key to mark your
place in the document. Then move the cursor to
the end of the text you want to copy and press
DEL. dtSearch will delete the text that you
marked. You can then "paste" the text into a
notepad using the F6 key.
e. Saving a Window
The "Save Window" option in the File menu will create a DOS
text file containing a copy of the text displayed in any document
window. It is useful in two situations:
* After you are done editing a notepad file, use Save Window to
save your changes.
* You can use Save Window to save a copy of a document retrieved
in a search, a list of documents retrieved in a search, or a
search report.
The Save Window dialog box contains two options and three
buttons.
The options are: (1) the name of the file to write, and (2)
whether you want dtSearch to make a backup copy of the file. If
you have set the automatic backup option to "Yes", dtSearch will
preserve the previous version of the file you are saving in a
file with the extension ".BAK".
The buttons are:
Save Save file
Exit Save file AND exit the window
Cancel Return to menu without saving
NOTES:
1. Save Window does NOT preserve special formatting codes.
If the document you are viewing contains any special formatting
codes, Save Window will not copy these to the file. For example,
suppose that you did a search of WordPerfect files and retrieved
a document, "LETTER.TXT", and then, while viewing the document,
saved it under the name "COPY.TXT". The file COPY.TXT would not
be a WordPerfect file. COPY.TXT would be a DOS text file
containing the text of LETTER.TXT.
2. Protected file types.
dtSearch User's Manual 45
To make sure that you do not accidentally destroy your original
documents with the Save Window feature, Save Window will NOT
overwrite files that it recognizes as having special formats.
For example, if you were viewing the WordPerfect file LETTER.TXT
and tried to use Save Window with the name "LETTER.TXT", dtSearch
would check the existing file LETTER.TXT, discover that it is a
WordPerfect file, and display the message, "Cannot write over
protected file." dtSearch will NOT destroy the existing
WordPerfect file LETTER.TXT.
f. Printing a Window
The "Print Window" option in the File Menu will send the
contents of the current document window to the printer. You can
use Print Window to print documents, search results, and search
reports.
When you select Print Window, the Print Window dialog box will
appear. The Print Window dialog box allows you to set page
length, width, and margins, and to select the printer you want to
use, if you have more than one.
To begin printing, select the "Print" button in the Print
Window dialog box. A "Preparing print job" message will appear
while dtSearch stores the contents of the document window for
printing.
To allow you to continue working while a document is printing,
dtSearch uses a "print queue". When you ask for a document to be
printed, that document is added to the print queue. When
dtSearch is not busy performing a search or building an index, it
checks the print queue for documents that need to be printed, and
prints them. Thus, you can view documents and perform searches
while dtSearch prints documents in its spare time.
If you want to cancel a print job or monitor the progress of
documents that are printing, use the "Display Print Queue" option
in the Options Menu.
g. DOS Shell
The "DOS Shell" option in the File Menu allows you to access
DOS from within dtSearch. When you start a DOS shell, dtSearch
removes itself from memory to leave room for any programs you may
want to run from DOS. The dtSearch screen will disappear and a
DOS prompt will appear.
To return to dtSearch from a DOS shell, type "EXIT" at the DOS
prompt and press ENTER. The dtSearch screen will reappear, as it
was before you entered the DOS shell.
46 dtSearch User's Manual
dtSearch User's Manual 47
48 dtSearch User's Manual
8. Window Functions
a. The Window Menu
Press 'W' in the main menu to get into the Window menu. You can
only get into the Window menu if you have a document window on
the screen. All of the functions in the Window menu are
accessible by using the function keys. The Window menu lists
options to:
* find text or search terms
* cut and paste text using the notepad
* resize or close a window displaying a document
b. Find Text in Document
Select the Find Text option in the View menu (or press the F2
key) to search for any text in a displayed document. dtSearch
will ask you for the text to search for. Type in the text you
want to find and press the ENTER key. (Capitalization is
ignored.)
Since the program will only search for the text after the
current cursor position in the document, you may wish to move to
the top of the document before beginning a search.
c. Find Search Term in Document
Select the Find Term option in the Window menu (or press the
F3 key) to search for words from your most recent search request
in the document that you are currently viewing. For example, if
you had searched for "apple and (pear w/5 banana)", pressing the
F3 key while viewing a document would cause dtSearch to locate
the next occurrence of one of the words "apple", "pear", or
"banana" in the document you are viewing.
Find Term will only find words that match a search request.
In the above example, Find Term would only find instances of
"pear" within five words of "banana".
d. Moving and Resizing Windows
When you are viewing multiple documents on the screen, the
documents will overlap. You can use the Move/Resize Window
function to arrange the windows in a way that is convenient to
view them.
To move or resize a window, press the F9 key in the window.
dtSearch User's Manual 49
To move and resize a window, press the F9 key while you are in
the window. A message at the bottom of the screen will indicate
that you are in move/resize mode.
* To move the window, use the cursor keys.
* To change the size of the window, hold down the SHIFT key and
use the cursor keys.
* To "zoom" a window to the largest possible size, press F9
again.
* When you are done, press the F10 key to save your changes.
* If you want to restore the window to the way it was before you
started moving it, press the ESCAPE key.
You may find that some windows cannot be expanded beyond a
certain number of lines, even though there is still space on the
screen for the window. This occurs when the file that the window
is displaying is too small to fill the screen.
50 dtSearch User's Manual
9. The Applications Menu
The Applications Menu provides a way to run application
programs, such as word processors, from within dtSearch. This is
frequently referred to as "launching" programs. When you launch
a program, dtSearch removes all but 12k of itself from memory and
starts the program you launched. When the program finishes, you
will return to dtSearch and be able to resume working exactly
where you left off. This is useful, for example, if you want to
use WordPerfect to edit a WordPerfect document that you retrieved
in a search.
To set up an application so that you can run it from within
dtSearch, select the "Add Application" option in the Applications
Menu. The "Add Application" dialog box will appear, listing the
following options:
* Name of the application -- After you have added an
application, it will appear in the Applications Menu as a menu
option. The "name" of the application is what will appear in
the Applications Menu. If you want one of the letters in the
name to be highlighted, put a "^" (shift-6) character in front
of the letter you want highlighted. For example, if you
entered the name "Disk ^Backup" for a backup program, the "B"
would be highlighted in the Applications menu and you could
select the Disk Backup program by pressing "B" in the
Applications Menu.
* Execute file -- This is the name, including the disk drive and
directory, of the program to be executed. For example, if you
had WordPerfect in a directory called "WP51" on your C: drive,
you would enter
C:\WP51\WP.EXE
* Directory to use -- This is the directory that you want to be
in when running the program. In the example above, you would
probably want to run WordPerfect from its own "home"
directory, C:\WP51.
* Filename patterns -- This option allows you to tell dtSearch
which files belong with an application. You can list several
filename patterns, separated by spaces. Filename patterns
can, like DOS filenames, include the wildcard characters "?"
and "*". Unlike file name filters, filename patterns can
include directory names and disk drive information, and can
have wildcard characters in any position.
Examples:
dtSearch User's Manual 51
C:\WP51\* would match any file in the WP51 directory,
including any file in a subdirectory of the C:\WP51 directory.
?:\WP*\* would match any file on any drive in a directory that
began with WP.
*XYZ* would match any file on any drive in any directory if
the filename or directory name contained XYZ.
* Command-line options -- Some programs have command line
options, such as "/x" or "-l", that affect the way the program
runs. List any options you want to use for the application
here.
* File format -- If the program being launched is a word
processor, this option allows you to tell dtSearch what the
file format is for the word processor. Although dtSearch can
automatically detect many file formats, some formats cannot be
detected with certainty, such as early versions of WordStar.
If you specify a file format for an application, dtSearch will
know that all files belonging to the application have this
format.
After you have set up the application, select the "Store"
button in the dialog box to save the application. You can later
modify the setup using the "Modify Application" option in the
Applications Menu. The "Remove Application" option will delete
an application from the menu.
Once you have told dtSearch about an application, you can
launch it in three ways.
* First, you can simply select the application from the
Applications Menu.
* Second, you can press F8 ("Launch") while you are viewing a
document. dtSearch will use the filename patterns that you
supplied to determine which application should be launched,
and will run the appropriate program with the document you are
viewing. For example, if you are viewing "C:\WP51\SAMPLE.TXT"
and you specified "*WP51\*" as a filename pattern for
WordPerfect, dtSearch would see that SAMPLE.TXT must be a
WordPerfect file and, after you press F8, would start
WordPerfect editing SAMPLE.TXT.
* Third, you can press CTRL-ENTER while the cursor is on the
name of the file in a search results window. As with the F8
key, dtSearch will determine which application belongs with
the file and will run the application.
52 dtSearch User's Manual
10. Options
a. The Options Menu
The Options menu allows you to:
* Select the type of monitor you have.
* Change screen colors.
* Edit macros.
* Change the tab setting.
* Change the keyboard speed.
* Display the print queue.
* Save your setup to a file.
* Read a setup from a file.
b. Monitor Type
dtSearch keeps a separate table of screen colors for each of
four monitor types: Color, Monochrome, VGA Laptop, and CGA
Laptop. Each monitor type has a set of default colors that you
can change. Use the Select Monitor option in the Options menu to
select the monitor type that you want to use. You will see a
list of the four monitor types and a fifth option, "Automatic".
If you select the Automatic option, dtSearch will decide between
the "Color" and "Monochrome" options each time it is run.
c. Screen Colors
Use the Modify Screen Colors option in the Options menu to
change the way dtSearch displays documents and menus. When you
select the Modify Screen Colors option, a list of the different
screen objects, such as menus and viewed documents, will appear.
To change an attribute, move the cursor to it and press ENTER.
If you are using a monochrome monitor, a list of possible
combinations will appear (e.g., black on white, white on black,
underlined, etc.). Move the cursor to the one you want and press
ENTER.
If you are using a color monitor or an LCD monitor, a box will
appear displaying all possible color combinations. Use the
cursor keys to select the combination you want, and press F10
when done.
dtSearch User's Manual 53
d. Creating and Editing Macros
Use the Edit Macros function in the Options menu to create or
edit a macro. In the macro editor, type macro names under the
"Name" heading and macro expansions under the "Expansion" box.
Use the TAB and SHIFT-TAB keys to move between the "Name" and
"Expansion columns", and the UP and DOWN arrow keys to move up or
down in the macro table.
When you are done editing, press F10 to save your changes. If
you want to exit without saving your changes, press ESCAPE.
e. Displaying the Print Queue
Use the Display Print Queue option in the Options menu to
monitor the progress of documents that are printing or to cancel
a print job. To cancel a print job, move the cursor to it and
press the DEL key. dtSearch will ask you to confirm that you
really want to cancel the print job.
f. Setup Files
dtSearch remembers the macros you have created and other
preferences you have specified (screen colors, tab size, etc.) in
a "setup" file. dtSearch automatically reads this file when it
starts running, and automatically saves it when you leave
dtSearch. The default name of the file saved is "DTSEARCH.SET".
You can create additional setup files using the Save Setup
option in the Options menu. When you select Save Setup, a dialog
box will appear allowing you to supply the name of the setup file
to save. You can change the name "DTSEARCH.SET" to any other
name you want to use. You can then read these setup files using
the "Read Setup" option in the Options menu, and supplying the
new name you used.
54 dtSearch User's Manual
11. Using dtSearch on a Network
dtSearch can use network drives and supports multiuser access
to indexes stored on networks. If an index is stored on a
network drive, any user who has write access to the directory
containing the index will be able to update the index in
dtSearch. Any user who has read access to the index will be able
to search the index or perform other functions (such as Verify
Index and Copy Index) that do not require write access.
Multiuser access is permitted only when no one is modifying an
index. If one user is updating or compressing an index, other
users will be locked out. A message "User XXXX is updating
index." will appear when a user attempts to gain access to an
index that is being updated. (The name of the user comes from
the "User name" option in the Options menu.)
If the second user is also trying to update the index,
dtSearch will ask if the user wants to "Continue anyway?". If
the user answers "yes", dtSearch will attempt to access the index
even though it thinks someone is updating the index. This option
is useful because occasionally an indexing job will be
interrupted abnormally (such as when someone turns off the
computer) leaving the index "locked". "Continue anyway" only
appears when a user attempts to update an index. "Continue
anyway" will NOT override the network's read and write permission
settings. It only tells dtSearch to ignore its own internal
"index in use" flag and try to access the index. If the user
does not have write access to the index, he or she will still be
locked out.
Write access to shared indexes should be limited as much as
possible, preferably to one or two users. This will minimize
locking out of other users while the index is being updated and
will also protect the shared indexes against accidental erasure.
Write and read access to shared indexes is controlled completely
by the network's access permission settings.
Each user on a network who will be using dtSearch needs to
have his or her own copy of the program. This is because
dtSearch uses an overlay manager that does not permit shared
access to the program. The program can be stored on a network
drive; it just cannot be shared.
dtSearch User's Manual 55
56 dtSearch User's Manual
12. Program Limits and Requirements
1. Program limits: Indexes
* A single index may contain up to 15,000 documents
* A single document may contain up to 60,000 words
(about 300 double-spaced pages)
* You can have up to 25 indexes in each index library, and
you can have an unlimited number of index libraries.
* You can have up to 25 macro definitions.
* A noise word list can hold up to 200 words. Words after
the 200th word in a list will be disregarded.
* There is no limit on the number of words in an index or on
the number of words starting with a particular letter.
2. Program limits: Searches
* A single search request may involve up to 100 words,
including wildcard matches.
For example, if an index contained 75 words beginning with
's' and 75 words beginning with 't', then you could not
search for "s* or t*"
* A search word can be up to 32 letters long.
* A search request can be up to 180 characters long.
3. Hardware requirements:
* dtSearch will run on an IBM-compatible computer with at
least 384k of memory available, a hard disk, and DOS
version 3.2 or higher.
* dtSearch can use network drives and supports multiuser
access to indexes stored on network drives.
4. Document Types
dtSearch can read, search, and index documents in the
following formats:
* ASCII Text
* Microsoft Word through version 5.5
* Microsoft Word for Windows
* Microsoft Rich Text Format
* Multimate Advantage II
* Multimate version 4
* WordPerfect 5.0 and 5.1
* WordStar through version 6
* WordStar 2000
dtSearch User's Manual 57
58 dtSearch User's Manual
13. Error Messages
"Application table is full"
You can add up to 15 applications to the Applications menu.
If you attempt to add more, this message will appear. (You
can remove applications that you no longer need from the table
using the Remove Application option in the Applications menu.)
"Cannot copy an index onto itself"
You have asked dtSearch to copy an index, and either (1) the
directory to copy it to is the same as the directory the index
currently occupies, or (2) the name of the index to copy is
the same as the new name for the copied index. When you copy
an index, the name and directory for the new index must be
different from the name and directory of the existing index.
"Cannot write over protected file type"
The Save Window option in the File menu creates a DOS text
file containing the contents of the current document window.
To protect against accidental destruction of original
documents, dtSearch considers all files with special
formatting codes that it recognizes (such as WordPerfect
files) to be "protected". dtSearch will not overwrite such
files.
"Cannot write ".BAK" files."
dtSearch uses the extension ".BAK" to make backup copies of
files. Therefore, a file cannot be saved with a name that
ends in ".BAK".
"Directory xxx already contains index yyy."
A directory can only hold one index. If you try to use Create
Index to create a second index using the same directory name,
this message will appear.
"Error launching program."
dtSearch tried to execute a program and the program returned
an error code. This means that something when wrong in the
launched program.
"Error(s) in search request -- CONTAINS without a TO"
dtSearch User's Manual 59
A segment search has the form beginning TO end CONTAINS
contents. The beginning TO end part defines where dtSearch
should search, and the contents part is what dtSearch should
look for. If you leave out the "TO" part, dtSearch has no way
to know what the segment to be searched is.
"Error(s) in search request -- Illegal use of the TO connector"
The TO connector is used to define a segment for a segment
search. The format is for a segment definition is beginning
TO end, where beginning marks the beginning of the segment and
end marks the end. Both parts of the segment definition may
consist only of words, phrases, and the OR connector -- other
connectors are not permitted in segment definitions. Thus,
"apple or pear to grape or fish" is legal; "apple and pear to
grape or fish" is not.
"Error(s) in search request -- Illegal use of W/N connector"
Some search requests using the W/N connector are ambiguous or
impossible to evaluate. See the manual section on the W/N
connector for more details.
"Error(s) in search request -- Invalid date"
dtSearch will display this message if it finds XDATE in a
search request without a valid date after it. Likely causes
of this error are a misspelled month, a missing year, or a
missing BEFORE, AFTER, or IS connector. A valid date search
looks like one of the the following:
XDATE IS date
XDATE BEFORE date
XDATE AFTER date
"Error(s) in search request -- Missing words"
This message appears when you have left one or more words out
of a search request. Example: "apple and pear and"
"Error(s) in search request -- Parenthesis do not balance"
This just means that you have probably left out an opening
or closing parenthesis in a search request.
"Index already exists"
If you try to create an index that already exists in a
different directory, this message will appear. If you are
trying to create a new index, try using a different name for
the new index, or (if you don't want the old one) deleting the
60 dtSearch User's Manual
old index. If you are trying to re-create an existing index,
make sure the directory you have selected is the same one that
you used to create the original index.
"Index is full"
An index can hold up to 15,000 documents. If you try to add
more than 15,000 documents to an index, you will get this
message. (You can still reindex documents already in the
index.)
Even if you have less than 15,000 documents, you may still get
this message if you have reindexed some documents without
compressing the index. When you reindex a document, dtSearch
adds information about the new document to the index but does
not remove information about the earlier version. For
example, if you have 10,000 documents in an index and you
reindex them several times without compressing the index, you
will get an "Index is full" message because the index will
still contain information about obsolete versions of the
documents. If you want to see how many obsolete documents are
stored in an index, use the "Index Information" option in the
Index menu. Use Compress to clean obsolete documents from
your index.
"Index library is full"
An index library can hold a maximum of 25 indexes. If you try
to create, copy, or recognize an index when you have reached
this limit, you will get this error. Try either deleting any
indexes that you do not need, or creating a new index library
to use for the new index.
"Index too large to fit on drive"
You have asked dtSearch to copy an index and there is not
enough space for the index on the drive where it is to be
copied.
"Invalid disk drive"
This means that you have asked dtSearch to access a disk drive
that does not exist on your computer.
"Macro is circular"
A circular macro is one that references itself, directly or
through other macros. Such a macro would expand infinitely if
used in a search request.
dtSearch User's Manual 61
"Macro not found"
dtSearch assumes that any search term beginning with the "@"
character is a macro name. If it does not find a macro with
this name, this message appears.
"Missing file"
One of the files that dtSearch needs is missing. Try re-
installing dtSearch to restore the missing file.
"No application found for this file"
You have tried to "launch" an application with a file, and
dtSearch was unable to match the file with an application.
When you launch an application with a file, dtSearch checks
the filename patterns that you specified for each of the
applications in the Applications menu and tries to find a
pattern that matches the file. If this message appears, use
the Modify Application function in the Applications menu to
change the filename pattern for the application you wanted to
launch. See the manual section on the Applications menu for
more information.
"No index selected"
You have asked dtSearch to perform an action, such as
deleting, renaming, updating, or copying an index, and have
not selected the index you want to delete, rename, update, or
copy.
"No more search terms"
You have pressed the Find Search Term (F3) key and there are
no more search terms in the document.
"No search terms"
You have pressed the Find Search Term (F3) key in a document
that does not contain any search terms.
"No search results found"
You have selected the "Display results of previous search"
option in the Search menu, and dtSearch did not find any
search results to display.
"No files retrieved"
Your search did not retrieve any documents.
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"Not enough memory"
dtSearch did not have enough memory to perform a requested
action. If you have a relatively small amount of memory
available, you may get this message when you try to do a
search or update an index while you are viewing documents or
search results on the screen. Try closing all document
windows, which should free enough memory to perform the
requested action. Also, try removing some memory-resident
programs to free more memory for dtSearch to use. dtSearch
needs at least 384k of free memory.
"Not enough space to compress or update index"
dtSearch did not find enough disk space available to update or
compress an index. dtSearch requires free space of about one-
third the size of a group of files to index those files. To
compress an index, dtSearch requires free space at least equal
to the size of the index to be compressed. If you get this
message, try removing some files from the disk or moving the
index to a disk drive with more space available. Also, try
indexing smaller groups of files.
"Not found"
You have used the Find Text (F2) key to search for text in a
document, and the text was not found.
"Printer error"
"Printer out of paper"
"Printer not responding"
"Printer not selected"
"Printer timeout"
The printer did not respond correctly when dtSearch tried to
print something. Check the cables and make sure the printer
is turned on, selected, has paper in it, and is not jammed.
dtSearch reports the problem that DOS told it about, but
sometimes either the printer or DOS does not report the
problem correctly. For example, you may get a "Printer out of
paper" error when the printer is not turned on.
"Printer queue full -- try again later"
dtSearch stores print requests in a queue and prints when it
has nothing else to do. If you make a large number of print
requests, dtSearch will run out of space to hold them and
display this message. Use the Display Print Queue option in
the Options menu to see what is in the print queue.
dtSearch User's Manual 63
"Printer queue is empty"
There is nothing in the print queue to display.
"Search request is too long"
It is possible, using macros, to generate search requests
longer than the 180-character maximum. When this happens, you
will get a "Search request is too long" error.
"Too many words retrieved in index"
Your search request contained extremely broad search terms,
such as "(r* w/5 s*) and t*", that matched several hundred
words in an index. Try using more specific search terms.
"Too many windows open"
You can have up to five document windows (including search
results and search reports) open at a time. If you try to
open a sixth document window, this message will appear.
"Unable to access drive"
You have asked dtSearch to access a disk drive and there is
some problem with the disk drive. Make sure that there is a
disk in the drive, that the disk is correctly inserted, and
that the drive latch is closed. If you get this message with
a hard disk, you may have a problem with your hard disk.
"Unable to access executable file"
dtSearch was unable to access a file that you specified as the
file to execute for an application. Select "Modify
Application" in the Applications menu to correct the name of
the file to be executed.
"Unable to access directory"
"Unable to access input file"
"Unable to read notepad file"
"Unable to read index library"
dtSearch cannot find the file or directory you specified.
Check that the file or directory name is correct and that
you are using the right disk or disk drive.
"Unable to create backup file"
"Unable to create directory"
"Unable to write file"
"Unable to write notepad file"
64 dtSearch User's Manual
"Unable to open temporary file"
"Unable to save index library"
"Unable to create index library"
dtSearch cannot create the file or directory you specified.
Check that the file or directory name is correct and that you
are using the right disk or disk drive. These messages may
also appear when a disk is full.
"Unable to access index"
dtSearch was unable to find the index where it was supposed to
be. The most likely cause for this message is that part or
all of the index was accidentally deleted.
"User XXXX is updating index"
This message appears in two situations: (1) On a network,
this message will appear when one user attempts to use an
index while another user is updating it. (2) The message will
also appear if dtSearch was interrupted abnormally while
updating an index (e.g., if someone turned off the computer).
In the latter case, the index may be damaged. Try running
Verify Index to check for errors.
dtSearch User's Manual 65
66 dtSearch User's Manual
14. Index
Adding Documents to an Selecting Indexes to
Index . . . . . . . . 26 Search . . . . . . . 35
AND Connector . . . . . . . 39 Verify Index . . . . . . 29
Applications Menu . . . . . 51 Launching Applications . . 51
Association of Shareware License . . . . . . . . . . 6
Professionals . . . . 6 Limits and Requirements . . 57
Check Boxes . . . . . . . . 17 Macros . . . . . . . . . . 39
Combination Search . . . . 34 Creating and Editing . . 54
Compressing an Index . . . 28 Menus . . . . . . . . . . . 15
CONTAINS connector . . . . 40 Moving and Resizing
Copying an Index . . . . . 28 Windows . . . . . . . 49
Creating an Index . . . . . 26 Networks . . . . . . . . . 55
Date Searches . . . . . . . 41 Noise Words . . . . . . . . 38
Deleting an Index . . . . . 28 Notepad Editor . . . . . . 44
Dialog Boxes . . . . . . . 16 Saving a File . . . . . 45
Directories, Selecting . . 17 Options Menu . . . . . 51, 53
Directories, Viewing . . . 43 OR Connector . . . . . . . 39
Displaying Search Results . 35 Overview . . . . . . . . . 3
DOS Shell . . . . . . . . . 46 Phrase Searches . . . . . . 38
Error Messages . . . . . . 59 Print Queue . . . . . . . . 54
File Menu . . . . . . . . . 43 Print Window . . . . . . . 46
Filename Searches . . . . . 41 Proximity Search . . . . . 39
Files, Selecting . . . . . 19 Radio Buttons . . . . . . . 17
Filters . . . . . . . . . . 18 Rebuild Index . . . . . . . 30
Find Search Term . . . . . 49 Recognizing an Index . . . 29
Find Text . . . . . . . . . 49 Renaming an Index . . . . . 28
Function Keys . . . . . . . 20 Screen Colors . . . . . . . 53
Help . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Search
Index Information . . . 29, 30 AND Connector . . . . . 39
Index Libraries . . . . . . 30 Combination Search . . . 34
Index Menu . . . . . . . . 25 CONTAINS Connector . . . 40
Index Search . . . . . . . 33 Date . . . . . . . . . . 41
Indexes . . . . . . . . 25, 29 Filename . . . . . . . . 41
Adding Documents . . . . 26 Index Search . . . . . . 33
Compressing an Index . . 28 Indexes to Search . . . 35
Copying an Index . . . . 28 Macros . . . . . . . 39, 54
Creating an Index . . . 26 Noise Words . . . . . . 38
Deleting an Index . . . 28 OR Connector . . . . . . 39
Index Information . 29, 30 Phrase Searches . . . . 38
Index Libraries . . . . 30 Search Menu . . . . . . 33
Index Menu . . . . . . . 25 Search Reports . . . 35, 36
Rebuild Index . . . . . 30 Search Requests . . . . 37
Recognizing an Existing Search Terms . . . . . . 37
Index . . . . . . . . 29 Segment Search . . . . . 40
Renaming an Index . . . 28 TO Connector . . . . . . 40
Types of Searches . . . 4
dtSearch User's Manual 67
Unindexed Search . . . . 34
W/N Connector . . . . . 39
Search Reports . . . . 35, 36
Search Requests . . . . . . 37
Search Results . . . . . . 35
Search Terms . . . . . . . 37
Segment Search . . . . . . 40
Setup Files . . . . . . . . 54
Shareware . . . . . . . . . 6
Technical Support . . . . . 5
TO Connector . . . . . . . 40
Unindexed Search . . . . . 34
Verify Index . . . . . . . 29
Viewing a Directory . . . . 43
Viewing a File . . . . . . 43
W/N Connector . . . . . . . 39
Window . . . . . . . . . . 20
Cursor Movement . . . . 23
Find Search Term in
Window . . . . . . . 49
Find Text in Window . . 49
Move and Resize . . . . 49
Print Window . . . . . . 46
Save Window . . . . . . 45
Window Menu . . . . . . . . 49
XFIRSTWORD . . . . . . . . 38
XLASTWORD . . . . . . . . . 38
68 dtSearch User's Manual