An Overview Of SampleSearch™ 

SampleSearch allows you to search mounted and unmounted drives for matches with several criteria. All matches are then displayed in a list, allowing selection of one or more files for further processing. Possibilities include Auditioning of audio samples, launching of files into their original application, or into a different application. Renaming, or deletion of files, and special functions for certain files, like the ability to query SampleCell files as to their contents. 

Global list features include the ability to LOAD and SAVE lists, sort them in several ways, display information about files, archive entire lists to backup devices and many other useful utilities.

FIND DIALOGUE BOX

NAME
Type the full or partial name of the file that you are looking for in here.

COMMENT
By typing in the Comment field in the find page, you can opt to search for files whose comments contain arbitrary text. Note: it is also faster to specify other parameters such as file name or type, to limit the number of files whose comments are to be searched. SampleSearch™ uses file specific embedded comments for : SDII, SDI, AIFF, SCell II Inst, SCell II Bank,  DAWN Samples, but uses Finder Get Info comments for other file types.

FILE TYPE
This allows you to select the FILE TYPE if you wish to narrow down your search criteria.

SEARCH ON DRIVE
The SEARCH ON DRIVE function allows you to define which mounted drive you wish to search on.  If you select ALL DRIVES SampleSearch will search all drives simultaneously so that your found list could comprise of files which exist on more than one drive.  SampleSearch can also search mounted file servers.

SEARCH ON GHOST
You may also search on GHOST DRIVES with or without SEARCH ON DRIVE selected.  A GHOST FILE is a copy of a drive’s directory. For example you can create a ghost of a CD ROM and with the CD ROM removed you may search for files which were on the CD ROM.  This is useful if you have more than one CD ROM and wish to search your whole library. This means that your list could comprise of files which are not actually present on a mounted drive.  If you try to run or load a file which is on a ghost drive, a dialogue box will appear asking you to mount the drive, i.e.. insert the particular CD ROM or optical.  After mounting the correct drive SampleSearch will automatically load the selected file.

CREATOR
This button presents a dialogue (see below) asking you for a four character Macintosh CREATOR type. Each Macintosh file has two attributes; a file type, and a CREATOR type, both of which have a four character symbol. The file type describes the type of file in terms of its content (e.g. an AIFF sample has the file type 'AIFF' which means that it contains audio data in the format associated with the Audio Interchange File Format. The CREATOR type on the other hand tells the Mac which application program created the file. The same file types can be produced by different applications. 
EXAMPLE: both Digidesign Sound Designer II and Passport Designs Alchemy can create AIFF files, which both have the file type 'AIFF’. However the CREATOR types would be 'Sd2a' and 'ALCH' respectively. Hence, to find all AIFF files, you would use the file types pop-up menu to select AIFF files and ignore the CREATOR type. 
To find AIFF files created only be Sound Designer II, you would select AIFF file type and also Select Sound Designer II ('Sd2a' ) in the CREATOR dialogue.
If you know the CREATOR type you need, simply type in the characters. if you do not know it, press BROWSE and you will be presented with a standard file dialogue box. Select the application who's files you wish to search for (or a file created by that application) and SampleSearch will extract the file type from the file and insert into the dialog box.

SEARCH BY DATE
Searching by modification date can be achieved using the two date entry fields and check boxes. The date format is dd/mm/yy (e.g 6/11/94). The first check box will only include files modified on or before the date you type in to its text field. The second check box will search for files modified on or after the date specified. To find files in a range of dates, check both boxes and ensure that the two dates do no overlap. (e.g. searching after 3/4/93 AND before 1/3/93 will not find anything)
Pressing the TODAY button will insert today's date into the search after field. Selecting the SEARCH after check box and pressing SEARCH will find any files modified today.

CATEGORY
If a File Type has been selected, you may also search by category. This pops up a list of pre-defined categories (2 for each file) you may search for either or both by choosing from the pop up menu. Categories are defined and assigned in the Edit Category menu item in the Item menu.

SKIP
This function is useful if you do not wish to search before using SampleSearch, it bypasses the find dialogue and automatically loads your Favourite List (see later).

OPEN
Open allows you to load a GHOST, a RESOLVED BANK (see later), or a previously saved list.

QUIT
QUIT exits SampleSearch and returns to the Macintosh Finder.