Media Depot 5/mediadepotvolume51993.iso/FILES/16/FINDX.ZIP/FINDER.DOC

Text File | 1996-07-11 | 8.0 KB | 159 lines

                              F I N D E R  V1.6

                              by John Augustine

               Finder was written in Assembly for MS Dos Systems.

                   Now with DUAL AND/OR (Option) SEARCH!

  Requires Color Graphics (CGA) or better. Runs on 8086 to Pentium Computers.
Needs little memory to operate.  See below for History of changes.

  Have you ever wanted to Find information in a Text file, but did not know
which Text file has that information?  Of course there are many Text file
programs that allow you to View and Search for a Pattern, but I have not
found one that will do MULTIPLE files with one "Pass". You have to enter
or Tag each File's Name in turn, to View or Search it's contents. FINDER
eliminates this Hassle. You can have hundreds of files and automatically
Search or View all of them.  Simply enter *.* for all files in Current
Directory, or *.DOC for all .DOC files, etc.  Of course you can enter the
complete File Name for just one file too.  Finder allows you to View or Search
Multiple files easily.  Press Enter during a Pause, to Skip the Current
File, and go to the next file, whether you are in Search Mode, or just Viewing
files.  To View files, select View File/s at the Main Menu.  Select Search...
at the Main Menu to Search File/s for Pattern/s.  In Search mode, Finder will
pause if the pattern is found anywhere within the Screen Page. You can resume
Search by pressing F1, or press Enter to go to the next file.  After a pause
occurs (Pattern found) during a Search, you can browse using the Up, Down,
Page Up or Page Down Keys, the highlighted patterns will remain highlighted so
you don't loose track of their locations.  Press F1 at anytime to resume
Search.

  IMPORTANT NOTE: When Searching several Files for a Pattern/s, and a pause
does not occur (Pattern/s not Found or next Pattern/s not Found), if you press
the ESC Key to Abort, it will take effect when the End of the Current File is
reached.  This is one of the V1.6 improvements.  Older versions, Abort only
took effect if a Pattern is Found.

   Introducing DUAL (OPTION) AND/OR SEARCH Feature, added in V1.4

   I have been using Finder a great deal.  A Major Hassle still exists.  If
the Pattern you are Searching for, is common under different categories.  I
guess the best way to explain it is to give you some of my own experiences.

1.  I was Searching through a group Files, with listings of Files from
different BBSs, for Source codes on Sound Blaster Utilities.  I entered "Sound
Blaster" (without quotes) for the Search Pattern.  Do you know how much Sound
Blaster "stuff" there is?  Most of it did not include Source Code.  On the
other hand, entering "Source" was no better, since "Source" has other
categories too.

2.  Another time, I wanted to see if there was an E-Mail Directory among all
those listings of BBS Files.  Now, if there was "E-Mail Directory" in the
description, that would not be a problem, but "Directory of E-Mail addresses"
or many other possible variations, make it difficult.  Do you know how many
times I found something with "E-Mail" in it?  On the other hand, entering
"Directory" was much worse.  I had many experiences like this with other
Searches.

   V1.4 to the rescue, HALLELUJAH!!!!  The "AND" is the Best part of this
version.  Now I simply enter, "Directory" (without Quotes) for one Pattern,
and "E-Mail" for the Second Pattern.  Note: The order does NOT matter.  If I
enter "E-Mail" first and "Directory" second, the results are the same.  When
both Patterns are within two (line before or line after) regular lines of each
other, Finder will pause.  Both Patterns could be in the same line too.  If
the Document you are searching doesn't end each "line" with a CR (Carriage
Return) but uses CRs to end paragraphs, then the two patterns Must be in the
same paragraph, before Finder Pauses during the Search (I call it "Long Line"
Text because of the effect it has in many Text editors).

  NOTE:  Once in awhile, it is possible during the "AND" Search mode, that a
Pause will occur with only one of the two Patterns showing (in the Last line
of the screen Page).  Simply use the Down Key to move up the Text to reveal
the other Pattern in the next line.

  The "OR" search mode simply means that Finder will Pause at every occurrence
of one Pattern OR the other.

  Of course you can use Finder to search for a single Pattern too.

  Getting Started:

    Type FINDER and press Enter, or

    Type FINDER *.DOC and press Enter (*.DOC is Example) Sets a Default File
Name.


  HISTORY OF CHANGES:


  V1.3 CHANGES:

  Although I have used FINDER many times without a problem, I overlooked the
possibility that there may be non-Text files in the Directory, if you use the
*.* (All Files) in Current Directory for a Search.  V1.2 assumes that "All
Files" will be Text files.  I have a Directory with all my Text Files, but
overlooked the possibility that others may not.  After modifying FINDER, I
tested it in a Directory with all types of files, using the All Files (*.*)
for the File Name.  This version (V1.3) did not Crash in Search Mode, but
version 1.2 did.  While I was at it, I also increased the size of the Line
Buffer from 4000 to 10,000 characters. This Line Buffer is for "Long Line"
Text.  There are documents that don't end each "line" with a Carriage
Return, but only use them at the end of Paragraphs.  In many Text Editors,
those documents appear to have a "Long Line".

  V1.4 CHANGES:

  Optional Dual AND/OR Search modes added.  Also, I discovered a glitch in
V1.3.  Sometimes, if the Search Pattern was in the last screen "Page" of the
file, Finder did not always pause, but moved on to the next file.  I fixed
that in V1.4.

  V1.5 ADJUSTMENT:

  The "AND_FLG" Variable was in the wrong part of the variables in V1.4.  I
found out shortly after I Uploaded it.  In spite of all the testing I did (you
can never do too much testing).  I never once did a single Pattern Search
right after an "AND" Search.  The "AND_FLG", which I thought was in the Clear
Variables area, was not cleared when the "AND" Search was finished.
Afterwards, a single Pattern Search could not find anything.  Being Human, we
are all imperfect.

  V1.6 IMPROVEMENTS:

  I changed the Main Menu and made View File/s a separate selection.  This
may be less confusing.
  I also discovered an Odd Bug recently.  Moving (using Page Up or Up Key) to
the beginning of a File, after a pause occurred (Pattern found) in Search
Mode, and Pressing F1 Key to Resume Search (from the beginning) caused the End
of that File.  That's FIXED now.
  Another improvement involves Aborting while Searching many files for a
Pattern.  Before, if you pressed the ESC Key, it took effect if a Pattern is
found.  Otherwise, you had to wait until all the Files have been Read
(Searched).  For those of you who have older Computers, that could be a real
problem (time).  Now, all you have to do is Press the ESC Key (you don't have
to hold it down), when the End of the Current File is reached, the Abort takes
effect (unless a Pattern is found before the End of the Current File is
reached).
  The "Lines" number display is improved.  Now, it won't "roll over" to 0
after reaching 65,535, but can continue up to near 700,000,000!
  Some Cosmetic changes in the View Screen have been made too.
  The Path change option allows the user to select A to Z drive.  Finder (via
Dos) now checks to see if the Selected Drive is present.

  Any comments, complaints, or SUGGESTIONS are ALWAYS welcomed.  Any questions,
please include a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope.  A small donation is not
expected, but will be GREATLY APPRECIATED.  If you have a question, don't feel
obligated to make a donation.  I made this program because I needed it.


  My address:

                            John Augustine N3AOF
                            3129 Earl St.
                            Laureldale, Pa 19605
                            [phone]