If you really need help, you should load up the Acorn !Help application. Hunter 3 supports it extensively (in Deutsch and English). Also, you can skip straight to the chase if you scroll down to 'Documented features'.
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Crude beginnings
This is perhaps one of the last in the third line of Hunters. Only minor revisions are likely to be made to this stable product, and is likely to provide more functionality and stability than the proposed fourth line for quite some time.
Hunter 1 for RISC OS 2 was a single tasking application developed during 1990 as an extension to the Progister project for the BBC series. The initial design was to produce a program which produced a list of prohibited material from user accounts on a Level III Econet fileserver. The related !Destruct application destroyed these files.
Hunter 2 (variously called Hunter Plus) was a multitasking version which bypassed NetFS. It was considerably faster and much more reliable than Hunter 1. The routines for dealing with fileservers directly are essentially unchanged today, because much time was spent in perfecting and optimizing them.
Hunter 3 was intended as a more general project where the design changed to encompass file searching on all media. The original Hunter 2 code was used as a basis, but it was considerably enhanced to use the user-friendly features of RISC OS 3 and to overcome the restrictions of static storage. Hunter 3 was much more interactive, verbose, and control was moved from menus to a dialogue window.
Traditionally, Hunter has never been well documented, though the reasons differ. Hunter 1 was never considered to be good enough for general release (unlike Progister) and was fairly easy to grasp anyway, being prompt driven. Hunter 2 took so long to perfect that I didn't have time to document it. It was growing like topsy, and was rarely static enough to document. Hunter 3 was born out of Hunter 2, and was always written with a release in mind. However, like Hunter 1, it was painfully easy to grasp, and I just never got around to documenting it. Now... well, I can't remember half of the things it actually does.
This version of Hunter 3 is finally complete, and now meets its original specification. It is very stable, and this year (1997) I have fixed a few long-lasting bugs and made some enhancements, mostly aesthetic, but more recently I added some of the missing functionality. Hunter 3.75 is geared for RISC OS 3.50 and later and is largely style guide compliant while still being perfectly usable on RISC OS 3.10. Hunter 3 still works on RISC OS 2.00 (I think), although the new Pipe option won't work, as that OS doesn't have PipeFS or the extended TaskWindow module.
Hunter 3.75 also supports FiletypeExtend, to a degree*, in that you can search for extended filetypes. It is a precursor to Hunter 4, which is a prototype Filer_Action replacement that is fully FiletypeExtend aware. Hunter 5 is on my mind as well...
(* Turn typed directories off using *NoTypedDirs, or you'll have trouble.)
Hunter 4 will be out soon, but 3.75 will still have a place for a while. That's because Hunter 4 will not share any of the code that was in Hunter 2, nor will initial versions actually be able to 'hunt'. In fact, Hunter 4, oddly enough, may never hunt, because Hunter 5 may come first.
Of course, Hunter is Kasoft's longest standing project for RISC OS, and other programs will always dizzy to the amazing heights of it's version number. Curiously, the version numbers closely match RISC OS thus far:
0.00 Ran on BBC micro
1.00 Would run on Arthur
2.00 Ran on RISC OS 2
3.00 Based on RISC OS 3 Filer_Action
4.00 Arriving as rumours of RISC OS 4 are kicking about
5.00 Later versions will probably run on Galileo
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Documented features
Hunter always manages to surprise me with just how many contingencies it can cope with. So I hope it surprises you as well.
WARNING: Beware the Delete option. It is red for a reason. If you never intend to use it, and you have a window editor, you might like to grey it out.
To get Hunter going, run the application, and click on the icon bar icon. Set up your options for the hunt, drag the directories to be searched to the leftmost bin, and the "key" files to the next one along. (Alternatively, you may drag directories to be searched to the icon bar icon. You can also click on the key bin to enter "alphanumeric keys" (see below).)
If you want to restrict the filetypes or load and execute addresses valid in the search, drag prototype files with the corresponding catalogue information to the third bin. If you want a report, drag the report file icon to a directory viewer and you're off and racing. Otherwise click on the OK button.
What is a key? Well, a key is a portion of a file that allows it to be matched. A key can be up to 256 bytes of binary data (longer keys up to 16K are possible, but matches are not guaranteed). If you are simply searching for text, click Menu over the Hunter window and enter an "alphanumeric key"* from the 'Add new key' dialogue box. You can also "start again" from this menu (should you make a mistake), by clearing the bins.
The long lost alphanumeric key option, which is the final stage in the transition from a "seek and destroy" Hunter of prohibited material on a network FS to a fully-fledged general file search, was added in version 3.60. In version 3.75, case insensitivity and wildcard support was introduced, but it should be be noted that turning this option off does makes things go faster. The case insensitivity is proper internationalized case sensitivity based on the alphabet currently in use. The wildcards are:
# match any single character
* match any string of characters not including a LF (ASCII &0A)
Although keys of one kind or another are central to the way Hunter works, you don't need to use them. And the simplest kind of search Hunter will do (apart from the exceedingly boring 'null search' you get if you click OK before setting any parameters) is a search for all files of a particular filetype. Simply drag a files having the required filetype to the filetype bin, and specify no keys. You might use this to find just how much space is taken up by (say) soundtracker music on your hard drive.
Another couple of long lost features are now also implemented (since 3.70), so that you can do searches by exact contents, filename, exact time or same day. Personally I don't find these very useful, but you might.
Because Hunter 3 uses a heap and maintains dynamic lists, it is not restricted to a maximum number of directories or parameters. Keep feeding it subdirectories and keys, and it will merrily accept. One downside is that, because the heap only grows automatically, when Hunter is finished with your massive task you may find its slot has grown. However, as the heap is empty after a hunt (even one which was aborted), you can shrink its dynamic slot allocation in the Task Display. Usually this won't be necessary as usually the heap won't grow by much anyway. Well. unless you fed it hundreds of keys or a very complex directory structure.
Hunter 3 looks a bit like Filer_Action, eh? Well, apart from being a clue to Hunter 4's direction, it also makes the interface intuitively easy to grasp. Anyway, there is a difference with Hunter's window: (a) it has a hat and (b) you can click on the remaining object counter to toggle between that and a matched object counter. (Oh yeah, if you blink, you might miss it. In which case, read the report file to see what happened.)
The 'Reload' option on the icon bar menu is useful if Hunter gets into a "bit of a state", which it doesn't seem prone to anymore (years of development prove fruitful). Programmers experimenting with different Message and Template files will also find this feature a boon. (By the way, please send any successful translations to me so I can release them.)
See also the Examples file.
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Kasoft Software maintains copyright in this software, but explicit permission is hereby given for this particular version to be freely distrubuted (as Freeware). It may be included in any release, commercial or otherwise, as long as the entire application directory is included, wholly and unaltered. The copyright in the international resources belongs to the respective authors.
IMPORTANT (Disclaimer of Liability): The software described in these notes is subject to continuous development and improvement. Kasoft cannot be held liable for any loss or damages arising from the use of this software, or the information given in these notes, even if Kasoft has been advised of the possibility of such loss. The software is supplied without any promise or warranty (express or implied) of its fitness for any particular purpose whatsoever. The use of this software is entirely at the user's own risk.
Suggestions for future versions of the software are welcomed. All correspondence should be addressed to:
Kade Hansson
Kasoft Software
4/73 Alexander Street
Shearwater 7307
AUSTRALIA
Telephone (International): [61] 3 64287448
Telephone (Australia): (03) 64287448
e-mail: kade_fh@postoffice.utas.edu.au
The application Hunter was programmed by Kade Hansson. The German resources were kindly donated by Richard Atterer. This application is suitable for use with all ARM-based computers running Acorn RISC OS version 2.00 or later. These notes document version 3.75 (Nov 1997). This !Help file or the software it documents has no connection with Acorn Computers Ltd.
Kasoft is a registered trademark of Kasoft Software, and owned by Kade Hansson. Acorn is a trademark of Acorn Computers Ltd.
Special thanks are due to Richard Atterer, Iain Truskett, David McBain and Geoff Lane for feedback, support and international resources.
