1{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg10000\cocoartf102{\fonttbl\f0\fswiss Helvetica;} 2{\colortbl;\red0\green0\blue0;} 3\cf1\pard\tx0\tx560\tx1120\tx1680\tx2240\tx2800\tx3360\tx3920\tx4480\tx5040\tx5600\tx6160\ql\f0\fs24 \uc0 This is a metadata indexing and searching system similar to the various Spotlight, Beagle, etc. All the names actually used (for example for the MDFinder application) must be considered provvisional; I\rquote d need a single name for all the system and some good icons...\par 4\par 5\cf0\fs36\b \uc0 Extracting metadata \par 6\fs24\b0 \uc0 \par 7To be searcheable, the metadata of your files must be \cf1 \uc0 first \cf0 \uc0 extracted and indexed. \cf0\cf1 \uc0 \par 8\cf0 \uc0 Launch SystemPreferences and click the\b \uc0 Indexing\b0 \uc0 icon. \par 9The \b \uc0 indexable paths\b0 \uc0 view shows the directories that can be indexed; the default values are your home directory and the GNUstep Documentation and Headers directories. In the \b \uc0 excluded paths\b0 \uc0 view you can add subdirectories of the indexable directories that you don\rquote t want to be indexed. \par 10Also all the file with a path extension listed in the \b \uc0 excluded suffixes\b0 \uc0 will be excluded by the indexing process.\par 11To begin indexing select the \b \uc0 enable indexing\b0 \uc0 switch and press the \b \uc0 Apply \b0 \uc0 button.\par 12This will start the \b \uc0 mdextractor\b0 \uc0 daemon, that is, the process that will first extract and then keep updated into the database the metadata contents of your files. Clicking the \b \uc0 Show status\b0 \uc0 button will show a window where you can see the status of the indexing process.\par 13To extract text contents and other metadata attributes \b \uc0 mdextractor \b0 \uc0 uses a set of extractor bundles that actually understand these kinds of files: Abiword, Application (GNUstep application), Html, Jpeg, OpenOffice (writer), Pdf, Rtf and Xml. A generic "Text" extractor is provided for the other files (if they \i \uc0 are\i0 \uc0 text files).\par 14\par 15 \cf0{{\NeXTGraphic pref1.tiff \width9600 \height7840} \uc0 \u-4 }\uc0 \par 16\fs20\cf1 \uc0 T\cf0 \uc0 he "Paths" tab of the \cf0\cf1 \uc0 SystemPreferences \cf0 \uc0 "Indexing" \cf0\cf1 \uc0 module.\cf0 \uc0 \par 17\cf0\fs24\cf1 \uc0 \par 18The first time you run it, \cf0\b \uc0 mdextractor\cf0\cf1 \uc0 \b0 \uc0 will take some time to extract and index the contents of your files; this time can vary from a few minutes to some hours depending on the number and the size of the files; for example: if you limit the indexable paths to the GNUstep Applications, Headers and Documentation, the indexing time will be only one or two minutes; on the other hand, indexing about 2GB of sources - as I\rquote ve done for testing - needs about two hours.\par 19The database is available for searching from the beginning of the indexing process.\par 20When the indexing is done, \cf0\b \uc0 mdextractor\cf0\cf1 \uc0 \b0 \uc0 will continue to update the database in background.\par 21\par 22\fs36\b \uc0 Searching\cf0\fs24\b0 \uc0 \par 23\par 24\cf0\cf1 \uc0 To perform a new search you must start the \b \uc0 MDFinder\b0 \uc0 application and choose \b \uc0 New \b0 \uc0 from the \b \uc0 File\b0 \uc0 menu.\cf0 \uc0 \par 25\par 26 \cf0{{\NeXTGraphic mdf.tiff \width9600 \height8080} \uc0 \u-4 }\uc0 \par 27\fs20\cf1 \uc0 A MDFinder search window.\par 28\cf0\fs24 \uc0 \par 29A search can be saved to a file and loaded again into the \cf0\b\cf1 \uc0 MDFinder \cf0\b0 \uc0 application\cf0\cf1 \uc0 .\par 30A\cf0 \uc0 ll the open windows will be updated automatically when the contents of the database change.\par 31\par 32\cf0\cf1 \uc0 Choosing "\b \uc0 Other..."\b0 \uc0 from any of the attribute popup menues displays the \b \uc0 Attribute Chooser\b0 \uc0 window where you can view a description and select an attribute that is not present in the popup.\cf0 \uc0 \par 33\par 34 \cf0{{\NeXTGraphic attrs.tiff \width8400 \height4900} \uc0 \u-4 }\uc0 \par 35\fs20\cf1 \uc0 The Attribute Chooser window.\cf0\fs24 \uc0 \par 36\par 37In the \b \uc0 Search Results\b0 \uc0 tab of the SystemPreferences \b \uc0 Indexing\b0 \uc0 module you can choose the order used to show the results.\par 38\par 39 \cf0{{\NeXTGraphic pref2.tiff \width9600 \height7840} \uc0 \u-4 }\uc0 \par 40\fs20\cf1 \uc0 T\cf0 \uc0 he "Search Results" tab of the \cf0\cf1 \uc0 SystemPreferences \cf0 \uc0 "Indexing" \cf0\cf1 \uc0 module.\cf0\fs24 \uc0 \par 41\cf0\cf1 \uc0 \par 42\par 43}