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!FileFind
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»»»» !Help file for !FileFind 2.11
Written by Andrew J. Cawte - public domain version
This version of !FileFind is public domain - you can copy and distribute it
freely, via any media, as long as:
i) You do not sell this program for a profit, or include it on a disc for
which you are charging (a small charge to cover media and postage is OK).
I retain the exclusive copyright on this application.
ii) The application is supplied complete and unaltered, including this file.
=============================================================================
What is !FileFind?
------------------
!FileFind is a utility to search for files buried down many directory levels.
Given some information about the file and somewhere to start looking, it will
recurse throughout the directory tree, searching for files which fit the
description. Such files can be listed, have directory viewers opened for them,
or can be acted on by a '*' command.
Using !FileFind - setting up
---------------
Start !FileFind by double clicking - it will install an icon on the icon bar.
Clicking on this icon brings up a large dialogue box.
The top writeable icon is where the filename is entered - click on it, then
type in the name to search for. Below this are two radio buttons labelled
'Exact' and 'Containing'. Click on 'Exact' if you want to match that name only
(although searching is not case-sensitive), or 'Containing' if you want to find
all files whose names contain the name given. For example, if you entered
'!Run' as the name to search for, then 'Exact' would match the name !Run only,
whereas 'Containing' would match !Run, !RunImage, Old!Run etc. If the filename
is not important, don't type in a name, and select 'Containing'. All filenames
will be matched.
To the right of the filename are two option buttons, 'Files' and 'Dirs/Apps'.
These select what type of item is searched for - if 'Files' is on then files
will be searched for, and if 'Dirs/Apps' is on then directories will be
searched for also. If neither button is on (ie. neither directories nor
files are being searched for) then nothing will be found (obviously!),
although you may still start the search.
Below these options are two more radio buttons, 'Fast' and 'Background'.
These allow you to choose the method of searching - if 'Fast' is selected,
then nothing else can be done while !FileFind is searching for a file.
Choosing 'Background' makes the search fully multi-tasking (ie. you may
continue to use the machine while !FileFind is busy), but is not as fast.
Background mode searching is highly recommended unless you need to quickly
find something buried deep on a hard disc.
If 'Files' is on, then a further option is ungreyed. This is the 'specific
filetype' option, and it allows the search to be restricted to files of a
certain type only. If you know the file type number, then type it into the left
hand icon and press <RETURN>. If you only know the textual filetype, then type
it into the right hand icon and press <RETURN>. Clicking on the small right
pointing arrow next to these icons brings up a menu of some of the available
filetypes - these can be selected by clicking on them.
Below these is another group of icons, which allow files of a certain length
to be searched for. If you want to search for files which are longer than a
certain length, select 'Longer'. Similarly, to search for files which are
shorter than a certain length, select 'Shorter'. To search for files which
are approximately, or exactly, a certain length, select 'To within'.
Selecting any of these will ungrey the 'length' icons - type the length in
here. Clicking on the small grey box cycles the units between bytes, kbytes
and Mbytes.
If you selected 'To within', then another pair of icons becomes accessable.
The writable icon on the left allows you to specify an allowable difference
between the length you entered and those that will be matched. Clicking on
the other icon cycles the units for the error in a similar way to the units
for the general length to search for, but with the added unit 'percent'. If
this unit is selected then the error is taken to be a percentage of the
length.
For example, if the length is specified as 1000 bytes, and you entered the
allowable error as being 25 percent, then any file with a length between 750
and 1250 bytes would be matched (subject to name and filetype being correct,
of course). Similarly, if you entered the error as being 250 bytes, the same
limits would apply.
Below these are three more option buttons, 'Open viewer', 'List' and
'Command'. These determine what action will be taken when a file is found.
If 'Open viewer' is on, then a Filer window will be opened for the directory
containing the file. If 'List' is on, then the full pathname of the file
will displayed on screen in a window when it is found (background mode) or
stored and displayed in a window when the search is over (fast mode). If
'Command' is on, then the OS '*' command in the writeable icon below will be
executed whenever a file is found. The system variable 'Item' is set to the
full pathname of the file before the command is executed. This allows
!FileFind to be used for more than just locating files. For example, you
could lock all !RunImage files on the disc by typing '!RunImage' as the
filename, turning 'Command' on and typing the command 'ACCESS <ITEM> LR'
into the writeable icon in the middle of the window.
If 'List' is on, then a further facility becomes available when the search
is finished. Clicking <MENU> over the list-of-files window brings up a menu
option leading to a standard 'save' dialogue box, allowing you to save the
list of files found as a text file. This file can be saved to disc or
dragged straight into a !Edit window.
Under the 'Command' writeable icon are three more option buttons. 'Search in
application directories' allows you to choose whether or not to look for
files inside such directories - not searching them can save a lot of time!
If 'Beep when item found' is on, then the computer will beep (VDU7)
whenever a file is found. 'Search many floppies' allows you to do just that
- each disc will be searched in turn, then you will be prompted to insert
another. If using this method of searching, then the path window (see
below) is not used - instead, use one of the radio buttons marked 'Drive'
to choose which floppy disc drive to search. Icons for drives not fitted
will be greyed out.
The path window is used to tell !FileFind where to start searching for a
file. To specify a path to search, drag an object (a file or directory)
from a Filer window into the path window. The pathname of that object will
appear in the window. When the search is started, that path will be
searched in recursively. Up to 20 paths may be searched in one go by
dragging each to the path window in turn.
For example, suppose you want to look for a file, and you know that it's a
text file of some kind. You might drag items from directories
'adfs::HardDisc4.$.TextFiles' and 'adfs::HardDisc4.$.1WP.Documents' to the
path window, then start the search. You would, if you tend to keep files in
their proper directories, have a good chance of finding the file by
searching just these two paths, and it would be quicker than searching
through the whole disc.
Clicking MENU over the path window brings up a menu with three options on it
- 'Remove', 'Clear All' and 'Save >'. Choosing 'Remove' forgets the path
that you clicked MENU over, 'Clear All' forgets all the paths, and 'Save'
leads to a standard save dialogue box, which allows you to save a list of
paths to disc for future reference - this may save you the bother of
dragging items from each of 15 or 20 directories every time you want to
search a specific part of your hard disc. For example, you may well save
time by setting up !FileFind to search your whole hard disc except for your
!Fonts directory, and then save the list of paths. To re-load a path list,
just drag it into !FileFind's main window. The paths in the file will be
added to those already there withot erasing them first. This does, of
course, mean that if you drag a path file from a directory, that dire