FetchIt is an INIT that, when placed in your system folder, will allow several useful functions in the standard Open and Save dialog boxes. FetchIt will popup a menu when the volume name is clicked on. FetchIt's most powerful feature is its Look'fer feature which allows a user to specify a text string which will be used to search all the files within a folder for a file which contains that specified text string. FetchIt's unique capability is that it will only find a file if and only if that application which you are in can open that file. For instance, if you are in Microsoft Word and you are opening a file, FetchIt will only Fetch files with the matching text string that Word can open; Word files, text files, MacWrite files and any other files Word can open. FetchIt also provides a Get Info function which will show the Get Info text found in the Finder's Get Info box. In the past, Get Info was not used because it was not available at the most critical time, when opening a file. Now you can Get Info when you are just about to open a file.
Here is a description of the features contained in FetchIt.
• Up a Level
Up a Level simply moves the current folder up one level. You will notice if you click on the volume name, the FetchIt popup menu appears and disappears but does not move you up a level as would happen if FetchIt was not installed. You can now do this by holding the command key and clicking the volume name.
• Δ Volume (Change Volume) -'1' thru -'9'
This menu item shows a hierarchical menu with a list of mounted volumes. Selecting a different volume from the current one will place you in the root (topmost) folder of that volume. If you happen to select the current volume, nothing will change and you will remain in the current folder. FetchIt 2.0 now contains command key equivalents for up to nine mounted volumes, -'1' through - '9'.
• New Folder… -'N'
By Popular demand, FetchIt 2.0 now contains a New Folder… option which will allow the creation of a new folder when in the standard Save dialog box.
• Look'fer File… -'L'
Look'fer File… will select a file either in a selected folder or in the current folder which contains a given text string in it. Look'fer File… properly filters only files which the application you are currently in can open and will only select such a file if a match occurs. Prior to issuing a Look'fer, you can either click on a folder to indicate a search within that folder or click on a file to indicate a search within the current folder. If nothing is selected, Look'fer File… will assume you wish to search within the current folder.
After selecting Look'fer File…, a dialog box will appear indicating if it will search the current folder or the selected folder. You can issue a Look'fer by typing the search text and clicking the OK button or by hitting the return or enter key. You can dismiss this dialog box by typing command - period (-.) or by clicking the Cancel button.
For example, if you have a Folder called “Letters” with 100 Microsoft Word docs in it, you might want to find a letter you wrote to "Mr. Jones". Simply do an “Open…” in Microsoft Word and select "Look'fer File..." from FetchIt's menu and type in “mr. jones”. Press return and *PRESTO*...the document with that string in it is selected and ready to be opened. Simply hit return to open that file. Finding files will never be the same on the Mac!
While the search is progressing, a dog bone will appear as the cursor and spin around indicating FetchIt is looking for a file which contains the specified text. You can stop the Look'fer at any time by typing command-period (-.). If you chose to stop the search by typing command-period, the cursor will change to a stop sign for a moment and the search will halt.
If the search is left to look for a file, FetchIt will select the first file it found containing the indicated text or beep if it did not find any files that matched the search criteria.
FetchIt 2.0 has been greatly enhanced and now allows compound searches. FetchIt will now allow you to find a file which contains either one of two text strings(OR) or both two text strings(AND). To enable compound searching, click the Double Search checkbox or type - 'D' for double search. Then type in both your text strings and select the desired compound operator (OR or AND). Notice that FetchIt will not allow you to issue a compound search unless both text edit entries are filled. This is indicated by the dim OK button when only one or none of the text boxes have been filled. Only if both text boxes have at least one character will a Look'fer be allowed to be executed.
FetchIt 2.0 now allows the search to be Case Sensitive by clicking on the Case Sensitive checkbox. The default is case insensitive.
The most impressive Look'fer feature is its ability to display the area of text in which the indicated text was found. After a successful Look'fer, a small lever similar to the one in the Alarm Clock DA will appear in the lower right hand corner of the standard Get dialog box. Clicking on this lever will display the Context window which contains the filename and the text where Look'fer found its match. Clicking on the lever again will close the dialog box. The Context window can show up to 3 lines of text and a maximum of 120 characters.
• Look'fer Next File -'A'
Look'fer Next File is similar to a Find Again command found in many word processors. Look'fer Next File will repeat the identical search previously executed starting where it left off. This is useful if Look'fer File… found a file with the text but you know that is not the file you were looking for. Or if Look'fer File… found a file, you opened it and discovered it was not the file you were looking for, simply select the open command from the application and select Look'fer Next File. Look'fer Next File will also beep if no files were found that match the search criteria. Note that Look'fer Next File is only available when a successful Look'fer File… was previously executed.
If you Look'fer Next File and FetchIt does not come up with any matches, in addition to beeping once, FetchIt 2.0 will remove the lever from the bottom right-hand corner of the dialog box and close the Context window if it happens to be open.
It is certainly up to the user to keep the Context window open or closed during a sequence of Look'fers and the user is certainly not required to keep it open or close at any one time. In fact, if it is already open and a Look'fer Next File command is issued and a match is found, the Context window will be updated to reflect the new match.
• Find… -'F'
FetchIt 2.0 now contains a new Find… command which will begin a search starting either from the root directory or from the current directory and search for a file, a folder or both. The Find… command allows the user to search for a file, a folder or both but will not allow the user to select none (this of course would be meaningless). Unique to FetchIt's Find… is the ability to start from the current directory. Hence if you are in your Letters folder which contains several folders categorizing your types of Letters and you do not wish to search your entire directory, simply select the 'Only Search in Current Folder' checkbox. This will tell FetchIt to search for your file or folder in the current folder and any folders that are nested within the current folder. FetchIt actually searches everything within the current directory so if you have several nested folders in your Letters folder, FetchIt will do a complete search of your Letters folder.
Find… is not case sensitive and will find a file or folder which matches the name even though the filename may not have been typed in the identical case (upper vs lower) as it appears on the Desktop.
• Find Next -'G'
FetchIt 2.0 also contains a Find Next command which will find the next file or folder which matches the previous Find command. If a file is found it will be selected, if not FetchIt will beep.
• Get Info… -'I'
Get Info… displays a dialog box similar to the one seen when one chooses Get Info from the Finder. This feature is an effort to be able to provide timely information about a file. In the past, Get Info… was not very useful because you had to be at the Finder but now, right before you are ready to open a file, you can select Get Info… and get timely information about the file. This is of course assuming you already typed in some information on the file prior to this.
The Get Info… command in FetchIt 2.0 has been enhanced and in addition to the Finder comment, it now will show both the creation date and the modification date of a file or folder. If a file is selected, it will show what type of document it is, mainly its creator application. For example, if the file selected is a document created by Microsoft Word, it will show "Microsoft Word document". FetchIt will also recognize if the selected document is a Startup document, Chooser document, a System document or a Control Panel document and will state if it is one of these types. If the selected item is a file it will show you the size of the document and the space it takes up on disk else if it is a folder, it will show how many files and folders are contained with in it.
• Utilities
FetchIt 2.0 now contains three useful utilities which are available when a file or folder is selected in the standard Open dialog box. Both Rename and Delete are active for either a file or a folder while Klone File… is only available if a file is selected. When a file is selected, the menu item will read Rename File… and Delete File…. If a folder is selected, the word File will be replaced by Folder. Rename… will allow you to rename a file or folder and will prompt you for a new filename. The Delete… command will allow you to delete a file or a folder. Delete Folder… however will not allow you to delete an non-empty folder. Klone File… will duplicate a complete file and allow you to name the new file. Rename…, Delete… and Klone File… are all available under the hierarchical Utilities menu but they are more conveniently executed by their command key equivalents which are, - 'R', - 'D', and - 'K' respectively. FetchIt will inform the user if an error occurred while attempting one of these operations by beeping twice. Common errors which occur during these operations are "filename already exists", "Cannot delete folder, it is not empty", and "Disk is locked". For example, if you tried to rename a file to a filename which already existed, FetchIt would simply beep twice and then allow you to reenter your filename.
FETCHIT's UNSEEN SPECIALTIES
There are still some undocumented specialties contained in FetchIt which will left to the user to find but there is a item which should be noted. FetchIt 2.0 now contains the Context window which can be made to appear when the user has successfully found a file using the Look'fer command. The user simply clicks on the lever in the lower right-hand corner to show the Context window. The known specialty arose when not all applications left enough room to allow the Context window to fit. So, it was necessary to sometimes move the standard Open dialog up higher than its stated position. I do not think this will cause anyone any problems but if it does, let me know.
Since FetchIt 2.0 added this additional window beneath the standard Open dialog box, you may wonder if you are required to open or close it before or after certain operations. The answer is absolutely not. The user is not required to worry about any of those types of items. For example, if the user cancels from the standard Open dialog box and the Context window happens to be open, it will be closed at the time the standard Open dialog box is closed.
COLOR SUPPORT
FetchIt 2.0's only support for color is the color icon that appears at boot up time. Check it out!
INSTALLATION
FetchIt will automatically be installed if it is placed in the System Folder and after the machine has been restarted.
FetchIt 2.0 allows the user to not install FetchIt at startup time. This is accomplished by holding down the space bar when FetchIt is being loaded. It will be known that FetchIt was not installed when the dog icon appears with a 'X' through it.
In the case of some error at startup, the familiar dog icon will appear with an 'X' through it indicating FetchIt was not loaded. If this X-ed icon appears when clearly the space bar was not held down while it was loading, contact CRA Z Software at (508) 521-5262 for help.
FetchIt 2.0 is only a Demo version and will work for only twenty minutes after each restart of your machine. After that, clicking on the volume name will popup a dialog box stating this fact.
HOW TO GET A COMPLETE VERSION
The version you have now is a demo version which will only work for about twenty minutes after a machines is started up. If you like FetchIt and wish to have a complete working version and be notified of updates, send $25 to CRA Z Software at the address below. If you have any questions regarding FetchIt, please feel free to call the number below.
CRA Z Software
PO Box 6379
Haverhill, MA 01831
(508) 521 - 5262
CompuServe: 74007,2303
Bug reports and suggestions are welcome.
I reserve all rights to FetchIt.
Many thanks to Howard Berman for all his help. MOOF!
