Copyright 1997-1998 by Florent
Pillet, All Rights Reserved.
FindHack Web Site: http://www.teaser.fr/~fpillet/pilot/index.html
E-mail: fpillet@teaser.fr
FindHack is a replacement for the PalmPilot's Find function. It is compatible with all Pilot, PalmPilot and IBM WorkPad units. FindHack brings the following enhancements:
- Remembers the last 6 searches you did
- Lets you preconfigure 4 permanent searches, with their search rules (see below)
- Lets you select where the search will be performed: in all applications, in built-in applications (Memo Pad, Date Book, To-Do List, Mail, Expense) or in the current application.
- Lets you find a text even if it is not at the beginning of a word. For example, to find the word 'transport' you can type 'port'. The PalmPilot's standard Find function does not allow this.
- Lets you use wildcards. You can use the question mark (?) or dot (.) as a generic character. Thus, searching for '?ello' will find 'hello', 'yellow', 'donatello', etc.
- Lets you use '*' as a wildcard for any sequence of characters. For example, searching 'green*paint' would find 'Green Paint' and 'Green Or Blue Paint'. Note that due to the way the PalmPilot performs a Find, the selected text for matches when using the '*' wildcard will be the exact size of the text YOU typed, not the exact size of the match.
FindHack is a HackMaster extension. It is not an application, and can not be run alone. To install it, you first need to install HackMaster from Daggerware. You can download HackMaster from the HackMaster Web Site:
http://www.daggerware.com/hackmstr.htm
Note: HackMaster is shareware. Please support shareware!
If you have a previous version of FindHack installed on your PalmPilot, make sure you first deactivate it by going to the HackMaster application and unchecking the checkbox left to the 'FindHack' line. If you do not deactivate FindHack before installing the new version, you PalmPilot will most certainly crash the next time you try to do a Find.
Install FindHack and HackMaster on your PalmPilot (if HackMaster is already installed, you do not need to reinstall it).
Once you have installed HackMaster and FindHack, start the HackMaster application. You will see a list of installed hacks, including FindHack. On the left, a checkbox lets you activate or deactivate FindHack. On the right, the question mark brings FindHack's About box.
Tap in the + sign to set FindHack preferences. You can now enter up to 4 permanent searches, which will appear at bottom of the recent searches pop-up menu when you do a Find.
You can also preselect where each text will be searched by taping the arrow next to each line: in all applications, in built-in applications (Memo Pad, Date Book, To-Do List, Mail, Expense) or in the current application.
Once you have activated FindHack, the next time you do a Find the standard Find dialog box will be replaced with FindHack's. You'll notice an arrow at right of the text field: tap on it to select a recent search or one of the permanent searches you have configured.
Select where you want to search by tapping one of the buttons: All Apps for all applications, Built-Ins for built-in applications, Current for the current application. This is very useful, especially if you often need to search an address or a meeting and you have lots of applications installed on your PalmPilot.
There are many ways to use FindHack in a productive fashion:
- Set your preferred friends/relations' names as permanent searches in Built-Ins to quickly find their phone number from any application; place keywords in important data in your PalmPilot applications and set these keywords as permanent searches.
- Carefully place keywords in important and interrelated data in various applications in your PalmPilot. Using preferred searches, you can now quickly gain access to your data, whichever applications it is stored in!
- Use the wilcards to quickly find people you don't remember the name details (i.e. enter the first and last parts of the name, with a * in the middle).
FindHack is completely compatible with all other hacks. If you are using TealMagnify, you should take some extra steps to ensure that both hacks will work properly.
Doing so is very easy: go to the HackMaster application. You see a list of installed hacks. The order of the list is important: if you see TealMagnify appear AFTER FindHack, you should uncheck the checkbox on the "TealMagnify" line, then check it again. This will move TealMagnify at top of the list: now you are sure that it is called first.
FindHack has two levels of improvement:
First, it lets users select whether they want to find text in the current application, in built-in applications or in all applications. It also remembers the last searches you did. This is compatible with all applications.
Second, it lets you find text even if it is not at beginning of a word. This functionality will work only if applications use the standard PalmOS services to perform the find. Some applications have a custom, proprietary way of doing a Find because they store data in a specific way. FindHack can not help you find text not at beginning of a word in these applications.
FindHack needs a bit more memory than the original Find function in the PalmPilot. When you tap the Find button, FindHack first checks how much memory remains in the current application, and if it considers it is not enough, it directs you to the original Find function.
The shareware distribution model allows authors to make very cheap software available to users. Also, shareware authors usually update their software as often as needed, and paying for the software you use keeps authors motivated!
If there is any improvement you would like, please send your suggestions to Florent Pillet (e-mail: fpillet@teaser.fr). Registered users are informed by e-mail when a new version is available. Also, please remember to send any e-mail address change to the author if you want to continue receiving update e-mails.
Your e-mail and address and user information is kept as confidential data. It is not given or sold to anyone else.
Have problems accessing special characters in Graffiti? Can't get mathematical symbols? Check out SymbolHack, a nice add-on that gives you easy access to a palette with hard-to-type characters!
Also make sure you give a try to BrainForest from Aportis Technologies, the definitive Outliner, Action Item, Checklist and Project Manager for the 3Com PalmPilot Connected Organizer!
FindHack 2.8 (March 10th, 1998)
- Oopps! Inadvertently crashed the Phone Lookup function in 2.7. This is fixed in this release.
FindHack 2.7 (March 9th, 1998)
- Speed, speed, speed! FindHack's search method has been reengineered. The speed loss due to recent improvements in the software has been eliminated. FindHack now runs at roughly the same speed than the PalmPilot's original Find.
FindHack 2.6 (End February 1998)
- New and improved search systems for even better compatibility with international characters.
- FindHack now detects if the PalmPilot is running J-OS (Japanese language enabler) and uses a different search method that produces accurate results on Japanese language.
- Circumvented a bug in the Phone Lookup function. Starting a Find from the Phone Lookup screen sometimes crashes the PalmPilot, even if FindHack is not installed. This is a bug in the address book. To alleviate this problem, FindHack now closes the Phone Lookup screen before displaying the Find dialog.
- Searching in 'Built-Ins' only does not search the current app anymore if it is not one of the built-in applications.
FindHack 2.5 (February 1998)
- Improved compatibility with international and accented characters.
- Added the * wilcard to match any sequence of characters
- Added a checkbox to disable use of wildcards (this allows you to find a '.', '*' or '?').
FindHack 2.1 (January 1998)
- Bug fixes
- Fixed a sporadic crash problem when displaying the "shareware" alert in the unregistered version.
- Fixed a display problem where after the second page of matches, all application headers had the "cont'd" word, even if they were not continued from the previous page.
- Tapping Stop during a find now pauses Find instead of closing the matches window.
- Improvements
- When tapping the 'Find' icon, the currently selected text is now copied and pasted to the Find field.
- The Edit menu has been reactivated (like in original Find)
FindHack 2.0 (December 1998)
- First release of this complete replacement of the Find function.
FindHack 1.0 (April 1997)
- FindHack 1.0 only improved searches, allowing to find part of a word.
FindHack is Copyright (c) 1997-1998 by Florent Pillet, all rights reserved.