New Spotlight clone

[TomLapp420]

NIGHTLY BUILD #18

Released on June 14, 2005 at 2:30pm Eastern time

Download

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Build #18

New Installer

Fixed bug with setting the maximum search results in preferences

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Build #17

Fixed some more bugs

added the ability for the user to adjust the speed of searches, you can set it to faster for higher processors or slower for slower machines

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Build #16

The progress animation is back, and the speed is adjustable

Thumbnails are back, working on the large thumbnail view now, thumbnails are loaded using the same method of spotlight itself, after the results are displayed and the user is no longer typing to make searches faster

the Spotlight hotkeys are active:

Command + Space (Or WindowsKey + Space) - opens/closes the menu

Command + Option + Space (OR WindowsKey + Alt + Space) - opens the main window

Fixed the problem with the top hit result not updating

added code to make the program go smoother

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Build #15

Added the always on top option for the menu

Added the ability to have the menu close when another window is clicked

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Build #14

added code to truncate entries in the spotlight search menu

fixed problem with opening files

added a dialog to edit the file extensions for the groups

the screen locations scrollbars now toggle

Mail messages do not currently open, I am working on this

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Build #13

New preferences dialog, easier to setup

Fixed problem with mail messages showing up in all groups

Mail messages now show up in their own group, unfortunately they don't open right now but i'm working on it

Fixed bug showing the incorrect number of total results in the Show All () menu item

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Build #12

Fixed problem with opening files (well, I think I did)

Changed the program icon to the spotlight logo

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Build #11 - Fixed

Fixed the runtime error causing the program not to start

Completely dismantled are rewrote 90% of the code

Searches are faster, smoother, and more accurate

the show all dialog is smoother and faster

Fixed the problem with the menu button sitting on top of full screen video/screensavers

Added tooltips to the search menu, gives the full path and filename of the file

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Build #10

Added show all dialog

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Build #9

Fixed installer

Fixed problem with opening files (well, hopefully)

Fixed problem with settings not saving

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Build #8

This is a more stable build that has a lot more features.

Special thanks to Saladin for his help with this project. Himexplaining to me how to pull up the results in xml has greatly improvedthe performance of this program

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Buitd #7

Right now the floating button will float above all windows regardless,I know this is inconvenient for those who use full screen video, I knowhow to fix this problem so it will be in the next release

Also, you have to manually exit the menu (either by re-clicking themenu button, or clicking the close button). Right now the autoclosefeature doesn't work, it will in the future and the user will be ableto turn it on and off

[BaselineAce]

Should be awesome! Good luck.

[Saladin]

this is very good news

god only knows what happened to "Searchlight"

Will this have any sort of exporer-based counterpart?

[AriX]

Cool! Can't wait!

[TomLapp420]

ATTENTION MAC USERS!!!!

I need screenshots!!! Full size if possible. Details!!!, Everything anyone knows about this program no matter how big or small!!!

I have completed the whole search thing, as well as being able to extract the results from the raw html. I only need to polish the interface, SCREENSHOTS!!!

[pwnzrzpat]

toobad apple took down the spotlight movies

when you click the button you get the little search box

then as you search the menu pops down [no animation] and searches [expands and contracts with # of searches]...

if you finish search and click somewhere else the menu closes, but if you click spotlight again it is there until you open a file or click the x in the search box

[TomLapp420]

it searches as you type, or after you press the enter key?

[TomLapp420]

I know what I need, I need a screenshot of the searchbar while it is currently searching. I need to grab that little progress animation from it, all I need is the image, I can do the rest.

[Saladin]

I think the idea behind spotlight is instant searching... therefore, no process animation.

the video hasn't been removed, the link's just been moved to the side. Here it is:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/theater/spotlight.html

[Infinity]

sounds promising Keep it up!

[TomLapp420]

OK, got the progress animator in place, I got frustrated and made my own and amazingly even though I really suck at graphics, it looks pretty good. So far it looks and performs just like the one in the mac os video.

Now I realize that different people have slightly different setups on their computers, for instance some may not have objectbar, and some may. I am going to try my absolute best to set this up so everyone can use it to it's fullest extent. There will be a hidden options dialog to set the exact screen location you want it to show up, also I might set it up to run from the system tray. If you have objectbar you WONT have it in your tray, because we want it to pop up when you press the spotlight button on your bar, in that case you would probably execute the program with some kind of a switch that the program would recognize, keeping it out of the tray. The tray idea is for those who don't have objectbar (which I don't know why you are waiting!!! objectbar is awesome)

I am now working on the final display of the results in the drop down menu, I noticed from screenshots that it doesn't show all of the results in the drop down, is there a limit (for instance, a max of 5 web history, 5 applications, 5 images, etc???) I need to know these things so I can program it how to behave, I do plan on eventually making the extended results window (show all). For now this is starting as a drop down search from the desktop.

If anyone has any more information please post here (MAC USERS!!!!). Please if you have a mac, give me every little stupid detail.

[ji eun]

Search begins and modifies as you type. You can see this behavior in iTunes for Windows, too.

Good luck!

[TomLapp420]

I know what you mean but when I watch the quicktime video for it, it appears to not begin until you press the enter key. That's why I wanted the progress animator, because in the video the user types in "yosemite", then presses enter and the progress animator animates for a second, then the results show up. I'm not 100 percent sure but that's how the video from apple.com appears.

[Ivan]

firstly, thanks for you effort.

secondly, i hope you've considered extending the search options as well. i don't care much for 1:1 osx clone in terms of graphics, but i'd like to be able to search for a specific type of files, search by date, etc.

by the way, it could be activated via avedesk as well, don't forget that option

[Saladin]

is it too early to be asking for screenshots? seen as its supposed to be looking so close to the video, this would be the best way for people to spot anything

[TomLapp420]

Just wanted to keep everyone up to date. Pretty much all of the graphics work is done, I am now working on making it recognize and sort different kind of files (Applicatons, Documents, Folders, PDF's etc). I am not relying on the windows registry to identify files because I don't want and part of windows peeking its ugly head through my prog, so I am defining the file extensions myself.

If anyone could assist me in throwing up extensions for different types of documents, it would be greatly appreciated.

So far I have: .TXT .WPS .DOC .RTF

I want other documents to be included with this, pretty much if there is anyone who has a program that creates any kind of a document that you would like to see in the search, post the extensions here

Thanx

[firecracker6]

Just documents? Or any file types? Maybe this is overboard but, just the usual suspects off the top of my head: (I know this is incomplete but it's a start)

Office Related:

.xls

.ppt

.mpp (ms project)

.pdf

.sxw (open office doc)

.sxc (open office spreadsheet)

.msg

Compression:

.zip

.rar

Image filetypes:

.png

.jpg

.gif

.bmp

video:

.asf

.asx

.avi

.mov

.swf (flash)

.mpg

.wmv

.rm

audio:

.mp3

.wav

.ogg

.m3u

Other:

.iso

.bin

.cue

[TomLapp420]

thanks firecracker, that's a lot of help.

I have been going through the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT area of my registry to get more ideas, there are a LOT of extensions in there. I will probably enable users to add/modify the extensions list to suit their needs

[TomLapp420]

does anyone know if spotlight searches aliases (or in windows language, shortcuts .lnk)?

[steelfist]

i can't believe you forgot the microsoft office stuff like .doc. oh well. i can't remember the others but your list is definetly a good start.

[TomLapp420]

does anyone know if spotlight brings up html documents, i'm sure it does

[TomLapp420]

ok, I have a pretty large list of extensions that I extracted from my registry, I am going to pre-program them into the program, the user will have the option to add/delete/modify the list.

Also I still don't know how many results from each group it displays on the drop down, so I will probably make it user-customizable and everyone else can figure it out.

The first nightly build that i'm going to release will consist of a fully functional searchbar with a drop down menu of the results, the results will be grouped just like the real spotlight. As far as the "extended results" window, I haven't began to work on that yet (it's gonna take a lot more work). So I will put in a temporary little "browser" that will show the google desktop search results page if the user clicks "Show All"

The main reason I am releasing a nightly build is for testing purposes. Please note that you WILL have to install the google desktop search for this program to work. I recommend that everyone who plans on using this prog to download and install it now (since it will take time for it to index your drive).

[Carvetia]

Just a couple that came to mind (+2 really obvious ones nobody mentioned)

.html

.exe

.psd

.pdf

.css

.js

.vbs

.aac

So when can we expect the new nightly?

[firecracker6]

@ steelfist, i saw that TomLapp420 already thought of that one (.doc)

yes please on the .html... will your search algorithm do things such as... if you type in:

htm <- it will return anything with *htm* in it like, results:

~ index.htm

~ index.html

~ somethinghtms <-where htm appears surrounded in a string.

..can't waite..

[fmpuk]

.fla files would be useful!