manual

Manual for PersonalSearch 4.0
Please report bugs, problems or suggestionsto [email protected]

NB! If you do not disable "parse search", this version only searches html
documents on your own site - You cannot make "parse search" on links to e.g.
yahoo or any other files on other servers. This is due to Java security restrictions.

Content of this page:

Before you start -read this FIRST!

PersonalSearch 1.0 -> 4.0:
Upgrading from previous versions of PersonalSearch
Major changes since PersonalSearch 1.0

Step by step:
    FirstStep: Creating a search file
    SecondStep: Adding Applet-code to the client-page
    Third Step: Upload

Advanced features:
    READ THIS FIRST: Inserting parameters in a html document - a crash course
    Changingthe Colors
    Label to display
    Changing the language
    Disabling fast / parse search

Other:
    Limitations of the programs
    Problems?
    Credits

Before you start - read thisFIRST!

The search applet, "PSearch.jar", which your visitors use, will only work in browsers supporting java 1.1and higher (That means : Netscape Communicator 4.06 and above and Internet Explorer 4.0 and above!). The applet will not load if your visitor uses another browser (as far as I know). It might also run in the HotJava Browser- I haven't testet it.

All programming by Ulrik Magnusson, November 1998 - Mai 1999.NoRights Reserved!!

Upgrading from a previous versionof PersonalSearch

If the old version is less than 3.0:

Download "Formatter.zip" from : http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palladium/1303/java/SearchSite/Formatter.zip
(It's less than 2 kb).

Unzip it and follow the instructions in "README.txt".

Replace the old "search.jar" with the new "PSearch.jar" at your site and upload "help.txt".
Also replace the old "search.txt" with the "search.txt" generated by the formatter.

You will need to change the applet reference in your searchpage to:
<applet CODE='SearchInterface.class' ARCHIVE='PSearch_4.0.jar'
WIDTH='520' HEIGHT='334' ALT="Your browserdoes not support Java 1.1">
Your browser does not support Java 1.1!!
</applet>

You can uninstall the old version (if it's less than version 3.0)- this one does not need to be set up.

Major Changes since PersonalSearch1.0

The applet:

version 2.0 added AND / OR search.

                   Meaning that you can search for, say, "Ulrik" and "Java".
                   Then the applet will only return those entries that contains both "Ulrik"and "Java".
                   The same goes for OR : the applet returns those entries containing "Ulrik"or "Java".
                   To search like this you just put a comma between the words.

version 2.0 added a control of what the maximum of hits the user is interestedin. The Default is 10.

version 2.0 added the possibility of faster search at the expense of slowerstart
version 2.4 added more advanced features :

window control
what to search control
label to display

version 2.4 changed default "case sensitive" to "not case sensitive"
version 2.4 changed "AND search" and "OR search" to "All words", respectively"Any words"
version 3.0 added color parameters and comment support
version 3.0 added a help function
version 4.0 added "parse search"
version 4.0 removed "window control"
version 4.0 removed "faster search"
version 4.0 removed "what to search control"
version 4.0 changed color parameters
version 4.0 added language support

The Application (The Search Maker):

version 2.0 added the possibility of listing the URLs, the Titles or both.The file should be easier to administer now.
version 2.4 added ".asp" file support
Removed in version 3.0

First Step: Creating a searchfile:

BE CAREFUL!!! The search file is not checked by the applet.
NB! If you don't use "Notepad" to edit, please save the file as "textfile" - this will leave out any additional formatting.

This information is also provided in the "search.txt" provided withthe distribution.

Here is the syntax of a search file:

<line><newline><line><newline>.....<line><newline>
<line> = <keywords> "|" <URL> "|"<Title>

<URL> must end with ".html","htm", ".asp" or ".txt"
An example:

These are keywords|http://www.bogus.com/index.htm|Bogus site

Here the title of the page is "Bogus site",
its URL "http://www.bogus.com/index.htm" and
the keywords associated with this URL "These arekeywords"

Here is an example of a "search.txt" file (in a texteditor - word, wordpad,Notepad) with three entries:

Notice that the last one has no keywords - insert 2 "spaces" in stead.
Remember that "parse search" will fail if you list links to other serversor
have files that do not end on ".htm", ".html", ".asp" or ".txt".

NB! If you disable "fast search" you don't need to provide keywords and title, just
put a space instead.

Comments:

In this version you can add comments by starting a line with *, e.g.:
You can add as many as you like and whereever you like - they willbe ignored.

Ulrik Magnusson Menu|http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palladium/1303/index.htm|MainPage
* This is a comment
* The next entry is the info page for the site
info|http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palladium/1303/about.htm|Aboutthis Site
* The next entry is the manual for PersonalSearch
|http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palladium/1303/java/SearchSite/manual.htm|PersonalSearchmanual

Notice that the applet will return the results in the order they areentered in "search.txt". If you have a main
page, it would probably to make sense to put this as the first entryetc.

Second Step: Adding Applet-code to the client-page:

I have created a hypertext document you can use as the search-page foryour site - "searchpage.htm" - feel
free to edit the page.
The essential code in the document is the applet-code:

<center><table BORDER ><tr><td WIDTH="508"><center>
<applet CODE='SearchInterface.class' ARCHIVE='PSearch_4.0.jar'
WIDTH='520' HEIGHT='334' ALT="Your browserdoes not support Java 1.1"
<b><font color="#FF0000"><font size=+2>
Your browser does not support Java 1.1!!
</font></font>
</applet></center></td></tr></table></center>

You are on your own if you edit this!

Third Step : Upload

In the Directory "C:\UMsoft\PSearch\" you will find 4 files you needto upload: "PSearch.jar", "help.txt", "search.txt"and "searchpage.htm". You will need to upload all of these to yoursite, and they must be placed in the same directory!

You also need to upload a language file - the language files are "english.txt","spanish.txt", "italian.txt" and "french.txt"- The applet will use the language you upload. You will also need to set the LANGUAGE_FILEparameter if you dont upload "english.txt".

NB! "help.txt" contains the text displayed when pressing "help" - you can edit this if you like.
NB! "PSearch_4.0.jar" is the compressed applet.

On the 2nd time you upload, you only need to upload the "search.txt" file!.

Testing the applet:

Load "searchpage.htm" in your browser - you need to load the "searchpage.htm"that resides
on a server - testing the local version will fail.

Click "Help" in the applet for instructions on how to search.

"fast search" only loads "search.txt" and searches through this.
"parse search" loads all files specified by their url in "search.txt".It searches through all files.

If you have less than 100 pages:
Try setting the maximum results to 100 and click "Search!"
This should produce a list of all files you specified in "search.txt".
If a file is missing, open the Java console. It should say "Error:unable to read....". If that is the case you
have probably included a non-existing file or a file that does not have the extension ".html",".htm",".txt" or ".asp".

"fast search" should not fail if "search.txt" is correctly formatted as specified above.

If you have more than 100 pages: You need to make a test plan that will return hits on all pages.

Inserting parameters in a html document- a crash course

You can control how the applet works from the html document. If youopen "searchpage.htm" in a texteditor (e.g. Notepad), you will findthe following code somewhere in the file:

<center><table BORDER ><tr><td WIDTH="520"><center>
<applet CODE='SearchInterface.class' ARCHIVE='PSearch_4.0.jar'
WIDTH='520' HEIGHT='334' ALT="Your browserdoes not support Java 1.1"
<b><font color="#FF0000"><font size=+2>
Your browser does not support Java 1.1!!
</font></font>
</applet></center></td></tr></table></center>

If you change this code the right way, you can communicate with theSearch applet. You need to insert parameters.
A parameter has a name and a value, and the code looks like this:

<PARAM NAME=A_NAME VALUE="A VALUE">

In order to set the A_NAME parameter to "A VALUE",you add the code just before the </applet> tag :

You can add as many parameters as you like - here I have added 2 parameters:A_NAMEand ANOTHER_NAME

Label to display:

As a default the "logo" displayed says "Personal Search x.x".
You can change this with the LABEL_TEXT parameter sothat it says e.g. "Search my site":

<PARAM NAME=LABEL_TEXT VALUE="Search my site">

Changing the Colors of the applet.

There are 4 different colors in PersonalSearch 4.0:

BACKGROUND - the Background
FOREGROUND - the Foreground
LIST_BACKGROUND - the background of the box where the results are displayed
LIST_FOREGROUND - the foreground of the box where the results are displayed

The value of these must be 3 numbers determining the red, green andblue values of a color.
White is 255,255,255 and black is 0,0,0.
You can get these values from almost any image editor - e.g. MSPaint- just open the "options menu" and
select "edit colors" and "define custom colors".

Here is an example:

<PARAM NAME="BACKGROUND" VALUE="100,200,100">
<PARAM NAME="FOREGROUND" VALUE="200,100,100">
<PARAM NAME="LIST_BACKGROUND" VALUE="255,200,100">
<PARAM NAME="LIST_FOREGROUND" VALUE="0,50,100">

Changing the language

This version has support for 3 languages: English (default), Spanishand Italian.

To change the language you need to set the LANGUAGE_FILE parameter:

<PARAM NAME="LANGUAGE_FILE" VALUE="spanish.txt">

or

<PARAM NAME="LANGUAGE_FILE" VALUE="italian.txt">

Also remember to upload the appropriate language file.

NB! If you change the language you might consider rewriting the "help.txt"file - I have not
provided translations of that text (will be soon, I hope)..

Disabling fast / parse search:

If you only want one of the search types to be available you can use these parameters:

<PARAM NAME="DISABLE_PARSESEARCH" VALUE="TRUE">
or
<PARAM NAME="DISABLE_FASTSEARCH" VALUE="TRUE">

NB! If you disable "fast search" you don't need to provide keywords and title in search.txt,
just put a space instead.

Limitations of the programs

The applet will only search through files ending with ".html",".htm", ".txt" and ".asp"

If you have any suggestion, please mailme.

Problems?

If you have problems using the product, please mail me at [email protected], and I will try to
help you. The newest info about the product can be found here, where you can also find the newest
version of this manual. I hope you enjoy the product!

Credits:

Thanks to everybody who has mailed suggestions and bug reports to me.

Good luck and thanks again for downloading!

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