Searching for files in Filesystems
It is possible to do searches to find files in the mounted directories, based on modification date, file name, text in the file, or any combination of these three. You can also use regular expressions.
To initiate a search for files in Filesystems:
- Choose Tools | Search in Filesystems... from the main menu, or right-click on a folder node in the Explorer or Object Browser and select Find... from the contextual menu.
- Enter search criteria using any combination of the three tabs (Date, Full Text, and Object Name) and then press the Search button.
The Search Results window will then appear and give a tree view of the results of the search. You can use this window much as you use the Explorer. Contextual menus are available for each of the items listed, and you can use the Properties window to display the properties of the selected item. For every search that you initiate, a new tab will appear in the Search Results window with the results for that search.
If you press the Customize Criteria... button, the Customize Criteria dialog box will reappear with the criteria used in the last search. You can modify these criteria to refine your search.
Organization of the Customize Criteria dialog box
The Customize Criteria dialog box box is divided into two panels:
- In the first panel, labeled Predefined , you can choose from and save sets of search criteria.
- In the second panel, labeled Modified (for the Date tab), Text Contains (for the Full Text tab), and Name Contains (for the Object Name tab), you can adjust predefined criteria and create new search criteria.
The Predefined panel has a combo box that lists the options Apply and Do not apply, the empty search criteria for that type, and any sets of search criteria you have saved.
When Do not apply is selected, the criteria entered in the second panel are not applied in the search. When Apply is selected, the criteria in the second panel will be used in the search. When you select one of the predefined search criteria, that criterion will be appear in the second panel.
Doing simples searches
To do a simple search of file systems:
- Select one of the tabs in the Customize Criteria dialog box based on whether you want to search by date of the file, text in a file, or text in the file's name.
- If you select the Date tab, type a number in the During last .... days field or enter a range of dates in the Between and and fields. Date formats are determined by your locale. For the American English (en_us) locale, dates are entered in the format
MMM DD, YYYY
. If you use an invalid date format, your entry will appear in red.If you select Full Text or Object Name, enter a substring (remember that the search engine is case sensitive) or POSIX-style regular expression.
- Press Search.
Searching specific nodes in Filesystems
If you want to search only in a specific part of the hierarchy in Filesystems, you can do so by selecting a node and selecting Edit | Find... from the main menu or using the CTRL+f keyboard shortcut. The Customize Criteria dialog box will appear. After you enter the search criteria, the search will be conducted recursively on all subnodes of the one selected.
Saving search criteria
Once you have entered a set of search criteria in the Customize Criteria dialog box, you can click Save as... and then enter a name for the criterion in the dialog box to save it for use in later searches. Search criteria are saved by search category.
Using saved search criteria
To search with a criterion that you have already defined, select the criterion in the combo box in the panel labeled Predefined and then press Search. You can also recall saved criteria and modify them. By pressing Restore, the newly-entered criteria are changed back to their saved values.
Searching with combinations of search criteria
You can search for files using a combination of the three types of search criteria. To do so, enter a search criterion under one of the three tabs and then switch to another tab and enter criteria.
Note: The predefined search criteria are stored by category. For example, predefined criteria created under the Date tab can not hold any Object Name criteria.
Predefining and modifying search criteria in the Project Settings window
Search criteria can be created and modified under the
Search Types
node in the Project Settings window.To predefine search criteria:
- Open the Project Settings window by choosing Project | Settings... from the main menu.
- Expand the
Search Types
node and select the category you want to add a predefined criterion to and then expand that node.- Right-click the category node and select New SearchCategory Service from the contextual menu.
- To rename the new criterion, select its node and use in-place renaming, right-click and select Rename from the contextual menu, or edit the
Identifying Name
property on its property sheet.
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