Two-part question: (1) Is there any free software that can search inside the databases created by other software, so that the specific programs that created the databases don't have to be used for the search? Or, (2) is there any free software that will catalog all kinds of files so that only the one program is needed to find the specified information contained in all kinds of cataloged files?
To illustrate: To catalog all my files that I save to CDs I use: Media Monkey for media files (MP3, WMA, MID), CDTree for text files (TXT, PDF, etc.), and Catfish for program files (EXE, CMD, BAT, ZIP, etc.). There is some overlap between these programs' capabilities, but nowhere near 100%.
When the time comes that I want to find all files on my 200+ CDs that _contain_ a specific word or string (not just ones that have a specific file name) on my CDs, I would like to be able to use a _single_ program that can either (a) look through the various databases or (b) use a single database for all occurrence(s) of that word or string and tell me what CD the file(s) is/are on.
I've tried the popular desktop searches (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft), but they don't look inside databases, at least the ones I'm using.
I know this is asking a lot, but they say there is no harm in asking. Is there a simple solution to this problem?
Thanks for any leads.
Frank D
Hi Frank,
The closest thing I found is this:
http://www.minq.se/products/dbvis/
Like you guessed, it's a lot to ask for but if nothing else, there may be a way to use a search tool that looks inside of the databases.
For searching inside files for text strings, I recommend Agent Ransack.
http://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/
Have fun!
.
Clif,
Thank you. It looks like dBVisualizer is most likely the program that would do the job, but its $149 price puts it outside of my range of possibilities. I'm trying Agent Ransack, but I find that unless you know exactly where those database files are located (and unfortunately I don't), searching for a given text string on your hard disk takes hours. I'll look into finding where those files are stored and then give AR another try.
At this point, I'm using a simple workaround: _exporting_ the data from the individual programs and then doing an AR search on those files (csv, html, or txt). This way I can avoid having to search databases directly. The only drawback -- a minor one -- is that the files must be updated manually. Anyway, it's free!
Thanks for your help.
Frank D
I use Outlook Express, and I set it up to sort incoming e-mail into categories (Friends, Business, Junk, and etc.). It would be great to have a program that monitors the individual OE .dbx mail files and sound an audible alert only when new mail arrives in specific categories. That way, I would not be distracted by junk mail, or other, arrival. Thx.
Hi Buddy,
I didn't find an exact fit. There are one or two possible programs that might work for you here:
http://www.snapfiles.com/
Freewar...wmonitor_p.html
Perhaps you'd rather have a POP mail monitor? That way you could see the email coming in and decide whether or not to open it.
http://www.google.com/search?q=e...lient=firefox-
a
Have fun!
Commenting by HaloScan
