FastFind

FastFind is a work in progress! The idea is to rapidly scan all attached WIN(chester) drives in one go for search terms based on name - using wildcards - and/or other criteria. (As an afterthought, I also added scanning of file contents on the resulting selection of files.) To achieve this requires a (somewhat compressed) copy of all filenames to be in RAM. This works fast and well (although there are some bugs!) and I use the program all the time.

As arrays arent used for file names, the program is not limited to 32k items. A lot of interesting experimental techniques came together in this program, which I had not seen anywhere else in the QL world before. That goes for the GUI as well as certain functions of the program. I wont go into details here, but leave it to interested parties to explore.

FastFind

Search win1, win2 and win6 for pattern. Here showing Select To date dialogue


The most annoying thing about this program (apart from the odd crash) is that it has to re-scan all the drives anew at the start of each session. The next stage of the program was to be able to continuously update the file list, using an asynchronous background job, which would only kick in when the machine is idling. The filename data was to be saved between sessions, so no need to scan everything anew. I never found a satisfactory method of doing this, hence I never finished the program or bothered to update it.

Bits and bobs of the "technology" that went into FastFind have been improved over the years in connection with other projects. I guess once certain core bits have reached a level of maturity, I may revisit the program and produce a final base version, which any interested parties can take further, if they wish.

The new FastFind has arrived! Still missing the asyncronous background update, but somewhat faster and more versatile (one hopes).