Digital Workshop

I have asked for a simple search box on a text page for a long time. I have a program that would be greatly enhanced if one were provided. The answer I always got back was that there is already a search, just rewrite it to do what you want.

One of the reasons I love Opus is because you don't have to know how to write code to create some great multimedia... (long answer for... I don't know how to write code).

Has anyone else solved this problem? Is so, would you please explain how it is done?

This is what I'm trying to accomplish. The one below is what you get when you do a ctrl F in windows. This would be perfect if I could accomplish it in an Opus program

Denn,

Check out the Graphics in Action site and look at the Services section:
http://graphicsinaction.com/forum.htm

have you tried chris jones ?

from what I've seen on his website he seems to be an expert at search tools...

unless I'm mistaken!



http://graphicsinaction.com/forum.htm

edit:

well they say great minds think alike!!!!

Thanks to you both. I've downloaded the search that Chris Jones did and it's very nice... however, once again it's over kill and more than I need. I really need a very simple find box that can be attached to a text file where the single click of a button would open up the search box to look up any word within the text file you have already attached it to. No bells… no whistles… no cigars… just a simple find.

Denn

Have you thought of asking Chris for a quote to make you exactly what you want? I'm sure he would be interested in making it for a fee.

Based on watching the Opus newgroups for almost 5 years, and from memory I can't recall there being a great demand for this feature.

Hi,

Thank you for your enquiry.

Please find attached a sample publication which features a simple pop-up 'Find Text' field. Clicking the Find Next button calls the find() function which uses a series of script actions to search through the contents of the Text object and highlight each instance of the search string.

To use this example in your publication, simply copy all of the objects from the page and paste them into one of your publication pages. Now click Publication > Publication Properties > Variables, click Add and create a variable named inputstring with a default blank text value.

Now simply open the properties of the Text object, select the Text tab and change the file referenced in the 'Automatically read in this disk file' field to point to the text file you wish to display. The publication should now operate as expected.

Kind regards,

Robin,

Thank you... that is most appreciated. I will start on it immediately.

Robin,

Once again I want to thank you for the script. It works great, but does have a quirk that I want to ask you about.

Also there is a difference between what you did and what I was doing so I had to adjust the script. I changed the name of the text file from “Text” to “TextInput1”. There is also a TextInput2 and TextInput3 in the program so I adjusted the script for each.

The one small quirk that I was talking about is this. If you search for something that doesn’t exist, the script highlights the entire text being searched through. Is there anything that could be added to the script to make it pop up something saying “Text not found” instead?

Below shows (in blue) the changes I did.

lastsearch = 0

function find() {
TextInput1.SetSelection(0,-1)
var newStyle = new Object
newStyle.backgroundcolour = "transparent"
newStyle.colour = "000000"
TextInput1.SetSelectionStyle(newStyle)
wholetext = TextInput1.GetSelectionText()
stringexists = String.contains(wholetext,inputstring)
if (stringexists == true) {
searchlength = String.length(inputstring)
lastinstance = wholetext.lastIndexOf(inputstring)
firstchar = wholetext.indexOf(inputstring,lastsearch)
lastchar = firstchar + searchlength
lastsearch = lastchar
TextInput1.SetSelection(firstchar,lastchar)
var newStyle = new Object
newStyle.backgroundcolour = "000080"
newStyle.colour = "FFFFFF"
TextInput1.SetSelectionStyle(newStyle)
linenumber = TextInput1.LineFromChar(firstchar)
TextInput1.Scroll("LineTo", linenumber)
if (firstchar == lastinstance) {
lastsearch = 0
}
}
}

Hi,

Thank you for your reply.

I'm afraid that I cannot replicate the behaviour you describe. When I type a string which does not appear in the text and click Find Next, nothing happens.

Please find attached an updated version of the original sample which now displays an error message (similar to Notepad's) when the search string cannot be found in the text.

Kind regards,

Once again I am in your debt. You have brilliantly shown how the right script can solve a problem. My little program went from being good, to being great thanks to you.

I truly appreciate the help

Dennis