New Spotlight clone

[steve.bullock]

Hey, nice one.

Got it kinda working - a few issues:

1. Clicking sniff URL in config window freezes up program

2. Results come up fine in config browser, but I get different results in search bar

3. If I do another search in the same spotlight window, the results get added to the end of the previous search (also if I repeat the previous search)

4. Occasionally I get no results in search bar when there are results in config window

5. Number of results in config window is usually much less than I have set to display

Is there any difference between using the 'sort by date' and 'sort by relevance' options? If I search by one then change to the other, the URL seems to be unique to that search term, but if I don't change the 'sort by' for either, the search terms are interchangeable. (That make any sense at all...?) - Haven't a clue if there's an easy way of interchanging so that an option for date/relevance can be added to the bar.

If you want any results code I'll post it, otherwise I think I've cluttered up the board plenty... keep it up!

[mafo]

after clicking "sniff" it comes to a "runtime error 5 - invalid procedure call or argument"

[roycifer]

i was getting the sniff = runtime error 5 as well. but if you are able to find the appropriate urls yourself, the app will run w/o error (i.e. follow the steps rather than use the sniff).

[TomLapp420]

I am still working on things right now. I have been adding some features to the program and I ran into some problems. I added a feature that allows those who don't want the program running all of the time, from objectbar you can add a switch called /OBSTART when running it, this will tell the program to load the menu immediately, and then closes the program when all is done. If you run the program without the switch, it will load the floating menubutton on the screen and spotlight will stay running. I am also figuring out a solution to the problem with the floating button appearing above all windows (except the one we want).

As far as the error message people are getting when trying to open an image, that FULLSCREEN message. This is because the shell command for those files is for windows to open it using the windows picture and fax viewer. If you change it to open with paint or some other program, you shouldn't have any problem. I am trying to put something into place that will override the picture viewer in windows so nobody has to be bothered. I also added the ability to change the images used for the menu button (up and pressed states), you can open these images directly from your current objectbar skin (or use the predefined ones built into the program). This will ensure that the program locks in smoothly with your theme.

Expect to get something by tomorrow (I have off all day)

[Larsen2k4]

This sounds pretty amazing - I'm very excited for what's coming ... keep on working Tom

[mafo]

i was getting the sniff = runtime error 5 as well. but if you are able to find the appropriate urls yourself, the app will run w/o error (i.e. follow the steps rather than use the sniff).

uhh..you're right - it works !! thank you!

[MPAMPoULAs]

Hey Tom.Exept the buttons can you make and the popup menu image customizing?

If you can do that, it will be perfect.(I have allready make images for the porgram).

Here what i mean: Image

[AndreasV]

The link in the first post is expired on yousendit - anyone wanna send me this application?

got it, thanks maububua (poster above me )

[TomLapp420]

AS promised, build #7 is now available on the first page, all the details are there

PLEASE UNINSTALL THE OLD VERSION FIRST, JUST TO MAKE SURE THERE IS NO CONFUSION. THE NEW PROG SHOULD INSTALL IN THE SPOTLIGHT FOLDER IN YOUR APPLICATIONS FOLDER

[Saladin]

well, this looks very nice.

1 problem: searching doesn't actually work most of the time. For exmaple, when i search '"aqua" in GDS web client, I get 3 emails, 820 files.... with SL, i get none (the searching animation is going on forever, tho (and taking 24mb ram while doing it!!).... this also happens with most other queries (in fact, "test" is the only one with results... and 3 of them at that). All these used to work before, which leads me to believe that this is because of the search-as-you-type feature.

oh, and if you wouldn't mind changing "project 1" to Spotlight... it just makes it so much easier to find in task manager and makes it a lot cleaner

EDIT:

OK, been investigating this a little, and it seems that its a memory thing. It seems that SL is taking all the results and parsing them, which means queries with a lot of results will clog the program. If you search for something which returns LOADS of results, you cannot search for anything else until you reopen the search menu (thereby cleaning the memory SL used). The icon also, at its highest, is something like 1-2px lower than the taskbar (Grenier's Tiger WB theme), and a few px skinnier (leaving a blue outline).

EDIT2:

Realised I was using the BETA GDS... there's a new(ish... since May 13th 2005), version which works a lot better with SL. I can get searches a lot faster now, but the problem of older searches causing new ones not to respond is still there.

[Larsen2k4]

I also have got the problems, which Saladin mentioned - but great update Tom - this is gonna be a revolution

//edit: I found out something that might help finding the problem:

If you enter the beginning of the filename like "Rammstein", it doesn't find anything. But if you type some words wich are within the filename (like in this case "Amour" from Rammstein - Amour.mp3) it's found instantly.

Another example:

If I want to search for the "Reshacker.exe", it doesn't find anything with "reshacker" ... if I type "reshacker.exe", it finds it.

I hope this may help you, Tom

[MPAMPoULAs]

I just install the build7 and its works beatiful.

Just one thing.21 MB is too much when I don't using it.Can you do something for that.

[ultimate540]

I find that I get results, but they flash before I can see them and then dissapear...I enter the text into the spotlight window and I see the results change for half a second before they dissapear...any ideas?

[ultimate540]

All I see is this: for a sec and then it dissapears (image attached)

[danny5025]

Most of the time I have the same problem as ultimate540 and sometimes it works but i get wierd and totally unrelated results.

Overall however this program seems real promising. Keep up the great work

[TomLapp420]

as far as the program being 21mb in memory, the only way to rectify that would be to remove funtionality from it making the code smaller (which would mean we would be going backwards), besides 21mb isn't that much, is it?

I am working on some of the other problems now, it's very difficult because the google desktop search is not designed for find as you type. We probably won't be able to expect the same results as from the real spotlight program.

And yes, I will remove the project1 thing. I think the thing that would really make sense would be for it to not show up in the task list, only in the process list so that topdesk doesn't expose the menubutton (like on my computer)

[MPAMPoULAs]

Hi Tom. No 21mb isn't so much for this program.

Especially if you make and the search menu customable, 30 MB wouldn't be too much.

[TomLapp420]

the reason why it takes up 21mb is it has to allocate a lot of space to feed all of the raw html from the desktop search. At first I had it load into an invisible textbox, but I found that this was way slower. I figured out how to have it display folders. Technically gds doesn't search for folders themselves, but if you type in the name of a folder, it gives you all of the files in that folder. So I am actially extracting folder names that match your search criteria, they will appear soon. I also figured out the problem with running files, I needed to put quotes around the file to be opened when running it. I also myself have experienced some difficulty with some results from showing up, I don't know what it is but I will find it.

Expect another within the next couple of days

[TomLapp420]

I just wish I could figure out how to make the results show up smoother, i noticed as your typing sometimes the results will be garbled for a quick second, no big deal but i'm a stickler for detail

[Larsen2k4]

Maybe something like a fade or roll-effect? This would look really smooth

[Saladin]

You know that you can cut off the HTML at a certain point. Just define a fixed-length variable and feed it into there... or even better, use the GDS XML feed!

If we assume that, after 25 results, there will be nothing of any real value (or make it user-configurable or something), then we can set up a search that produces 25 results, jot down the byte length of it and create a variable of that size. That, or do a search for the string/tag which specifies an end to a result, and search for the 25th one. Then feed everything from beginning->that point into a new variable, discard the old one, and display the new one.

One thing you may like to try is clearing the currently loaded results HTML when the user pressed a key. For exmaple, when I now search for "britain", I pause at "br", and then quickly type the rest. I get a loop case. Now, if i paste britain into the box, it comes up quickly. If the user presses another key, its not worth continuing to try display the search.

[eiladin]

The XML feed is definately the way to go. You can limit the result set to a set number (&num=X) and the XML result will only contain X entries. The variable for seeing the xml data is &format=xml. A search against it would looks like http://127.0.0.1:4664/search&s=[securtiy hash]?q=[search terms]&format=xml

Using the xml feed should not only lower the mem used, but should speed up execution as well, depending on the language you are writing in and what tools are available to deal with xml.

[Chad K.B.]

TomLap420 I am wondering if you will put it on osx-e for osx-e users.

[TomLapp420]

Chad - Yes, when the final first release is done, it will go on osx-e, right now it is still in development, the purpose of this forum topic is for everybody to download nightly builds and give me error reports so I can improve the program

Now about the xml thing, I don't know hardly anything about html or xml, but I am very interested in this, if someone knows how I can use this xml thing it would be awesome, is there some kind of vb control for it?

Right now the way the program is designed, when you press a key the current search stops and a new search starts, there were other things making the program hang. I am working on a problem that the transparency is causing me. For the program to work properly I have to have a timer running that constantly resets the transparency of the window, if I don't the program will respond very very slowly. I can't figure this out, I think it might be a bug in vb or something.

[TomLapp420]

is this xml?

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Window controls.bmp
C:Tom's ProjectsWindow controls.bmp
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spotlight.png
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group expanded =1 "title &gt;<b>Tom</b>%27s
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lesson 1 ï½¥Lesson initiated at 05/24/05 19:26:39 ï½¥05/24/05 19:27:33 Presentation Mode
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[email protected][1].txt
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com/ 1536 759922048 29762412 3007498144 29688986 *firstname <b>Tom</b> www.pats-pizza
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<b>Tom</b> &amp; Casey.png
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This looks alot easier to analyze!!!!!!!