FindHack 3.7 User's Guide

(Read all of this, please!)

Copyright 1997-2001 by Florent Pillet, All Rights Reserved.
FindHack is a $10 shareware product. Please register!
FindHack Web Site: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/fpillet/
Mirror Web Site: http://fpillet.free.fr/
E-mail: Florent.Pillet@wanadoo.fr
Alternate e-mail: fpillet@kagi.com

Table of contents

1. About FindHack
2. Installing FindHack
3. Upgrading from a previous version
4. Configuring and using FindHack
5. Tips and tricks
6. Compatibility with other hacks
7. Limitations and troubleshooting
8. Pay for your Sharewares!
9. Send your comments and suggestions
10. Other fine products from the author
11. Changes history

1. About FindHack

FindHack is a replacement for the PalmOS® Find function. It is compatible with all handhelds based on PalmOS, and all versions of PalmOS including PalmOS 4.0. This includes all devices from Palm®, HandSpring®, IBM®, TRG®, Symbol®, Sony® and others. 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 Palm's standard Find function does not allow this.
• Wildcards can be used when searching:
  • Use the question mark (?) or dot (.) as a generic character. For example, looking for 'j?m' will find 'Jim', 'james', etc.
  • 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 handheld 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.
  • Use '!' to specify that the next character must be found at beginning of a word. It is very helpful to find sequences of numbers: you can for example use wildcards to search for all entries containing the numbers 50 and 60 using this search string: !50*!60. You can also use it for names, for example searching for '!eric' will find 'Eric' but not 'Frederic'.
• Lets you find the next occurence of a text in the current text field. Very handy when you are editing a long memo and want to retrieve information in it.
• Lets you determine which applications are to be searched. This way, you can exclude applications containing lots of data (like database programs) that you search independantly when running them.
• You can make the search case-sensitive by tapping the 'Case Sensitive' checkbox.
• The results list only shows those apps containing matches for the search string.

2. Installing FindHack

To install FindHack, just HotSync it to your handheld.

FindHack is a system extension. It is not an application, and can not be run alone. To install it, you first need to install an extension manager like X-Master, HackMaster or other system extension managers.

We recommend that you use X-Master, a powerful, compatible and free replacement for HackMaster. In addition to being fully compatible with HackMaster, X-Master has been designed to run on all version of PalmOS (even the most recent) and provides improved and easier user-interface to manage hacks (the casual name for system extensions).

X-Master Web Site: http://linkesoft.com/english/xmaster/ (please point your browser to http://www.linkesoft.com/ for Japanese and other languages localized versions of X-Master).

HackMaster Web Site: http://www.daggerware.com/hackmstr.htm

You can also download X-Master from many Palm-oriented web sites. Most web sites providing software for your Palm handheld also offer X-Master.

Note: you can run your system extension manager of choice, be it X-Master, HackMaster, TealMaster, EVPlugBase, etc. In this manual, we will refer to X-Master as your system extensions manager.

3. Upgrading from a previous version

If you have a previous version of FindHack installed on your Palm handheld, make sure you first deactivate it by going to the X-Master application and unchecking the checkbox left to the 'FindHack' line. If you do not deactivate FindHack before installing the new version, your Palm handheld will most certainly crash the next time you try to do a Find.

Install FindHack and X-Master on your Palm (if X-Master is already installed, you do not need to reinstall it).

4. Configuring and using FindHack

Once you have installed X-Master and FindHack, start the X-Master application. You will see a list of installed hacks, including FindHack. On the left, a checkbox lets you activate or deactivate FindHack.

 

Tap the Configure button 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), in the current application or in the current text field (when applicable).

 

Tap the Apps... button to access the apps selection screen. This lists all the apps on your Palm handheld and lets you select which apps should not be searched. Only apps with a checkmark in front of them will be searched. To set or remove the checkmark, simply tap the name of the 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 for all applications, Built-In 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 handheld.

If you want to use wildcards in your search strings, check the Use Wildcards box. This lets you use '!', '*' and '?' as wildcards in your search string. Otherwise, these characters will be treated as normal characters. You can tap one of the three round buttons to insert the wildcards in the Find text field instead of entering them manually.

Tap the Case Sensitive box to perform a case-sensitive search. Note that this option is not available if you have selected 'Non-Roman Text' in the FindHack preferences.

Finally, if you were editing a text field when you invoked Find, a Text button becomes available. This lets you search the next occurence of the search string withing the current text field, starting from the position of the cursor.

5. Tips And Tricks

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 applications' data and set these keywords as permanent searches.
• Carefully place keywords in important and interrelated data in various applications in your handheld. 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).
• Take advantage of the '!' wildcard to search words "beginning with...". For example, use it to quickly find phone numbers, names, etc.
• Sometimes when you download applications from the web, your Palm suddenly starts crashing when you do a Find. Be smart! Use the handy 'Apps...' button in the FindHack settings panel to exclude the last apps you installed on your Palm and find the culprit. This will save you many hours of blind searching and headaches.

6. Compatibility with other hacks

FindHack is fully compatible with all other system extensions. 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 X-Master application. You will 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.

X-Master also offers a specific dialog to manage the chains of system extensions and the order in which these extensions are called. It is the List All Active item in the Extensions menu. This option lists all system functions that are modified and the system extensions that modify them. You'll see if there are several extensions modifying the same system function.

Learn to use X-Master, it will be very helpful when you have to troubleshoot a potential conflict between system extensions.

7. Limitations and troubleshooting

1. Why FindHack won't improve Find in some applications

   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.
   
   

2. What happens in low memory conditions

   FindHack needs a bit more memory than the original Find function in the handheld. 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.
   
   

3. My handheld crashes after I tap the Find button

   Too often, badly designed applications tend to crash when doing a Find. FindHack itself proved to be very reliable and has never been the cause of the crashes. There are several steps you can take to solve this problem:

   1. Use the "Applications To Search" dialog in FindHack's settings dialog to remove suspect applications when searching, then repeat your Find to see if it still crashes. Repeat this step until you find the culprit.
   2. Deactivate FindHack and check whether the same search crashes your Palm handheld with the built-in Find.
   3. As a last resort, drop me a note so that I can help you solve this problem.
      
      
4. FindHack finds items which are marked 'private' when private items are hidden

   This problem may occur if an application allows you to search in private items when in "Hide Private Data" mode. FindHack cannot prevent an application from doing so because it has no control over which items the application looks into. You should report the problem to the author of the application.
   
   

5. Can I move FindHack to FLASH rom on my handheld?
   
   Yes. FindHack has been tested in flash rom on a Palm V with Palm OS 3.1.1 and several users reported that it works well on other models. There have been some crash reports but it could not be determined that it was FindHack causing the crash (most of the time, it is the application's fault).
   
   
6. I use ActionNames. When searching the "Current Application", FindHack does not find items in Action Names

   This problem occurs because Action Names does not store Todo items, Datebook items or Contact items in its own database, but rather in the Palm's built-in applications' databases. To be able to find an item in Action Names, the user must at least let FindHack search in the "Built-In" databases.
   
   

7. Why is the found text sometimes incompletely highlighted?
   
   In some applications, a "*" wildcard search result will only highlight the same number of characters that were used in the search, not the whole word or those actual digits that were found. This is because some applications do not strictly follow the rules of Palm OS and do not use the information that FindHack reports to them to highlight the found text. I recommend that you contact the application developers and let them know about the problem. This reveals a flaw in their application, not in FindHack.
   
   
8. I am a pedit user. Is there a conflict between FindHack wildcards and pedit wildcards?
   
   Yes. The '!' wildcard, which marks the start of a word in FindHack, indicates to pedit that you want to search only in pedit and not in MemoPad. I am aware of this issue but could not find an acceptable solution in time for the release of FindHack 3.7. I am working with Paul Nevai, pedit's author, so that we can agree on a solution that satisfies both of us.
   
   
9. Why does FindHack not find items in my application XXX?
   
   Each application is responsible for responding to the FIND command that FindHack (and the built-in Find) sends to it. If your application does not, please contact the developers of the application and request that they add support for the sysAppLaunchCmdFind command.
   
   
10. When using MSMount to dynamically mount applications stored on the Memory Stick, I get crashes in FindHack with DateBk3.
    
    This is "normal". MSMount and MSDW seem to be quite buggy, they trigger errors and resets when running debug versions of PalmOS, no matter FindHack is here or not. Please contact the MSDW/MSMount developer to ask for bug fixes :-)

8. Pay for your Sharewares!

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!

You can register FindHack online at the following sites:

• Florent Pillet's Web Store (http://perso.wanadoo.fr/fpillet/store.html)
• PalmGear H.Q. (secure site): http://store.yahoo.com/pilotgearsw/florentpillet.html
• Handango
• KAGI (secure site): http://order.kagi.com/?4Q&S

9. Send your comments and suggestions

If there is any improvement you would like, please send your suggestions to Florent Pillet (e-mail: Florent.Pillet@wanadoo.fr). Registered users are notified 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 nor sold to anyone.

10. Other fine products from the author

You can find links to the products listed below on my main web page, http://perso.wanadoo.fr/fpillet

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!

Want to mount your Palm on your desktop like a disk and do drag-and-drop installs and backups? Would like to drop a text file on your Palm and have it automatically converted to a DOC document? Don't wait! Check out Sync Buddy, the state of the art backup and install companion for your Palm handheld, now running on Macintosh and Windows!

Also make sure you give a try to BrainForest from Aportis Technologies, the definitive Outliner, Action Item, Checklist and Project Manager for the 3Com Palm Connected Organizer! BrainForest is now available with a Macintosh and Windows desktop companion offering the same, uncompromised functionality!

11. Changes history

FindHack 3.7 (December, 2001)

• Added support for HandEra 330 devices
• Compatible with Palm OS 4.1
• Fixed potential bug when searching application containing multiple languages
• Fixed bug that could sometimes trigger an error alert, whereas no error existed
• Fixed bug where find in "text" would not find an occurence at the position of the cursor (Paul Nevai)
• Improved support for nordic diacritics (Karl-Koenig Koenigsson)

   

FindHack 3.6 (July, 2001)

• Added French translation
• Moved the Graffiti Shift Indicator in the Find dialog to prevent conflicts with Paul Nevai's LapTopHack.
• Fixed minor bug where 'Use Wildcards' checkbox status would not always be kept across finds.
• Fixed text highlighting problem when not using wildcards: the selection could be off by one character.
• Fixed character problems on Japanese PalmOS with help texts and "Matches For" string.
• Fixed search problems when at beginning of a string.

FindHack 3.5 (April, 2001)

• The Find dialog's layout has been revamped, thanks to Brandon Zylstra for the new design
• A new option to perform case-sensitive searches has been added
• A new wildcard has been added: '!'. If the search string starts with !, the string must be found at the beginning of a word (after a space, tab, line feed or '-').
• When searching, FindHack now only keeps on display the list of apps which have matches to display.

FindHack 3.0 (May, 2000)

• FindHack can now look for the next occurence of a text in the current text field.
• Added an "Applications To Search" dialog box in the FindHack settings to let the user configure which apps to search in.You can now tune your Find for maximum speed and efficiency!
• New option for users of non-roman extensions to PalmOS: checking the 'Non-Roman Text' box disables FindHack's accent-insensitive/case-insensitive search, letting you search text written in non-roman languages like Japanese, Hebrew, Arabic, etc.
• Fixed a bug where unchecking the 'Use Wildcards' box would not find occurences of words containing accented/european characters.
• Several other minor bug fixes for compatibility with new PalmOS releases (PalmOS 3.3 and PalmOS 3.5).
• FindHack can now run from Flash Rom (use a tool like TRG FlashPro or Brayder JackFlash to transfer the software to flash rom)

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 Palm'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 1997)

• 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) 1997-2001 by Florent Pillet, All Rights Reserved.