build 1206 released

[nikos]

added option to disable regular expressions from simple search boxes, for those that don't know their non deterministic finite state automata from their elbow
handy for searching brackets and such
use "check for updates" command under the help toolbar button to get yours

[sanferno]

I just have downloaded and installed the new release, I will tell you if I find something weird.

But, actually, my post is due to the fact that I think you have changed the name of this forum to "DeskRule search engine". I could be wrong, in that case forgive me, but in my humble opinion this new name is much more "commercial" than "DeskRule (search) rules", which I think is too complicated.

[astewart]

The special property Contents is available for Advanced search in the Choose property dialog, but not in the same dialog for Desktop detective. Is that an oversight or a limitation?

Alan

[nikos]

i did it on purpose, I can't really remember why, i thought it would be too inefficient. There is a workaround, first define your "detective" part of the search parameter, then start and immediataly cancel the search, then go into ADVANCED panel and add an extra rule for contents

[astewart]

If it doesn't make searches inefficient when the Contents property is not used, I'd request that it be added to the choices for Detective. I'd prefer to use only Detective and not Advanced, as I plan to create AutoHotkey hotstrings to paste in Detective.

I was focused on trying to make some kind of Contents property work in Detective, and the search command was (properly) highlighting at the point of my unknown guesses.

But now, when I tried to use your workaround, I find that I can't run any valid Detective search, such as:

Code: Select all

$System.ItemNameDisplay ~ 'dog'

As soon as I start search, with the button or with Enter in the Detective box, the Detective definition clears, and I get the dialog box:

Code: Select all

Please specify what to search for, e.g. a filename

If there is something defined in the Advanced search box, the Detective clears and the Advanced search runs, but the deleted Detective property is not added to Advanced.

Alan

Edit: I went back to version 1.2.0.4, same problem. Version 1.2.0.1 works correctly, definition doesn't clear, gets added to Advanced box.

[nikos]

keep in mind that desktop detective does not take advantage of fast desktop search, so you don't want to use it unless you have no other option. Are your searches that complex?

ps. now I see what you're saying, desktop detective is completely broken

[astewart]

My searches aren't that complex, but speed is not an issue for me. I have a fast processor and an SSD drive, so it's good enough. I want to use an AutoHotkey script to generate Detective rules from other data and paste them to DeskRule, and that includes Contents sometimes. Driving the Advanced UI with AutoHotkey involves a bunch of simulated navigation.

Regarding the workaround, when the Detective rule gets added to Advanced, the boolean context is AND and can't be changed. It won't accept any change, even to OR and back to AND (continuous error). If I add a Contents rule to Advanced first, the boolean for the rule from Detective is greyed out. After moving the two rules up/down/left/right a number of times, I somehow managed to change the D rule boolean. Version 1201.

Alan

[nikos]

i found the problem, some misplaced if() in release mode anyway a new release is coming soon

the release mode intentionally disables editing of the complex rule in the advanced settings dialog, that's why you cannot change its boolean context.

[nikos]

here's the fixed version 1207 www.zabkat.com/deskrule/deskrule_setup.exe

[nikos]

ps astewart you know that deskrule allows you to save past search parameters so perhaps you don't have to use external hacks to do searches? See the SAVE SEARCH toolbar button

[astewart]

Sure, I already have saved searches for some purposes, but "Save search" saves properties and a set of values/ranges for those properties. In my use, new values/ranges are extracted from a live data set. The AutoHotkey "hack" is to extract that data to generate and run a Detective rule with one keystroke. Very efficient for my fat fingers.

What was more hackish was using AutoHotkey to navigate and edit new values into an Advanced search, but I had already done that. I'd just like to throw that away and simply make Detective strings. 1207 is working well again for me, except I still miss the Contents property in Detective. The workaround blows up my one-click workflow, even if I could edit the boolean context for the complex rule after it's added to Advanced. Sometimes it just needs to be OR.

Anyway, I am nearing Content(ment)

Alan

[nikos]

good, it was a great embarassment having deskrule out for a month half broken... apparently nobody else uses the desktop detective
thing is that in that pane, weird things are possible so you could have $name + $extension, this is a valid string concatenation. But what if you have $contents + $extension? if contents was to be added, it would be heavily exceptional

[astewart]

Agreed, Contents combined with any comparator is probably sufficient. Contents with any arithmetic operator would be a syntax error, unless you were prepared to introduce a substring notation, say Contents{6-9} for a four character substring. I could think of uses for that on the headers or tails of some odd binaries I have without any windows properties. Pretty far off on the edge case, though.

But weird is good.

Speaking of one key workflow, the other rather trivial hotkey I use constantly is to open an Xplorer scrap and copy the DeskRule results to it. No select all, copy, change window, open scrap, paste. You might consider building that into DeskRule for non-AutoHotkey users.

Alan