Advanced Indexing Techniques

A background process called the project server indexes your projects. When you request information stored in the index, Project Builder asks the project server for that information, then relays it to you. By default, Project Builder starts the project server when you first start Project Builder, and indexes a project when it's opened. The project server is kept running and the indexes are kept in memory until you log out of the system. This means Project Builder will start up more quickly the next time you use it.

To fine-tune how the project server indexes your project:

1. Choose Edit > Preferences. Choose Indexing from the pop-up menu at the top of the Preferences panel.
2. Turn on the options in the Indexing group.

   The three checkboxes in the Indexing group control when Project Builder indexes a project. Turning on all three options makes sure your project's index is always up-to-date. Here's what they do:

   • To index your project when it's opened, turn on "Index when project is opened."
   • To delete a project's index when you quit Project Builder, turn on "Invalidate when quitting." If this option is off, the project's index stays in memory until you log out of your computer, and the project is not re-indexed when it's opened, regardless of the setting of the option "Index when project is opened."
   • To update the indexing information for a file when you save that file, turn on "Re-index when file is saved."
   • To run the project server on another computer on the network, enter the computer's name in the Host field.

You can index an individual file manually. Doing so is useful after you've made a lot of changes to a file since you last indexed the project. To index a single file:

• Choose Tools > Indexer > Index File.

You can purge the indexes for all your projects and stop the project server. This might be useful if you're running low on memory or if the project server is slowing down other applications on your computer. To purge the indexes:

• Choose Tools > Indexer > Purge Index.

To view messages from the project server:

• Choose Tools > Indexer > Indexer.

  The Indexer panel is displayed. You can use the buttons on the top of the panel to index a project, index a file, or purge all indexes.