How Robust is Searching?

ewayde · 10-30-2007, 05:30 PM

With the latest iLiad, can I search for a term/string throughout the entire content of my storage? Can I for example, search for a string that looks into the pdf's and mobipocket formatted documents at one time?

Thanks
Wayde....so close to buying something...

tribble · 10-30-2007, 05:42 PM

Simple answer: No.

ig88 · 10-30-2007, 09:20 PM

unbelievably ridiculous, no?

tribble · 10-31-2007, 03:17 AM

Well, fulltextsearch on the whole iLiad is not really what i would expect. But a missing search function inside a PDF is what i am missing most.

Although, a fulltext search would be nice, but it would probably be difficult with the processor and RAM available.

HarryT · 10-31-2007, 04:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ewayde

With the latest iLiad, can I search for a term/string throughout the entire content of my storage? Can I for example, search for a string that looks into the pdf's and mobipocket formatted documents at one time?

Thanks
Wayde....so close to buying something...

The only "Search" facility available on the iLiad is the ability to search for files. There is currently no facility to search for text within a file.

Boris · 10-31-2007, 06:13 AM

Looked for a regulation yesterday which was in one of 4 PDF files each over 1000 pages. Couldn't find it in the 40 minutes I had to look with the Iliad, got back to a PC took me about 30 seconds using a search. Grrrr

Basic search please

Boris

nekokami · 10-31-2007, 08:50 AM

full-text search OUTSIDE of PDF can be done with grep. But we really need the ability to search within PDFs. For a device primarily intended for fiction, like the Sony Reader, full-text search among all files is a frill, but for the kinds of uses an iLiad can support (e.g. manuals, journals), I think it's a mainstream feature, and its absence is bizarre.

wallcraft · 10-31-2007, 11:18 AM

xpdf has text search. It also has a stand-alone command pdftotext, which is actually used by several Linux "filesystem search" packages to handle PDF files. For example, see PDFsearch and RECOLL. I'm not sure either could be made to work on the iLiad (RECOLL needs qt for example). Even so, searching PDFs should be possible on the iLiad, both when viewing a PDF document and as a system wide search (via pdftotext).

What is not possible is a system-wide search of compressed or encrypted e-book formats. I have not looked at what ConvertLIT produces on the iLiad, but "exploded" .LIT e-books may be the easiest to search because the content ends up as uncompressed .html files. Searching individual e-books is already possible with FBReader, and this should also be possible with MobiPocket's Reader (it is already available in the native, not Java-based, MobiPocket Readers on other devices).

astra · 10-31-2007, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wallcraft

xpdf has text search.

Do you mean I can download this software, install it on iLiad and then reading pdf files and seatching text with it?

wallcraft · 10-31-2007, 12:22 PM

It is my understanding that ipdf is based on xpdf, so the capability already exists - it just needs to be "turned on" in ipdf. This might involve a significant amount of work, but at least there is code (in xpdf) implementing the underlying capability.

Speaking as someone with no experience porting code to the iLiad, I assume getting pdftotext working on the iLiad should be relatively easy. Searching PDF's from the command line will then be possible, and then the question is how to make a system-wide PDF text search capability available (via scripts?, run pdftotext in-line or off-line?, use an existing system-wide search system? ...).

tribble · 10-31-2007, 12:28 PM

ipdf was based on xpdf. it is now based on poppler.

astra · 10-31-2007, 12:53 PM

I have no clue how to write software appls. So I can use only finished products. I will not be able to do any tweaking.

yokos · 11-01-2007, 09:06 AM

The command tools [pdftotext is included] which belong to xpdf are attached.
A sample shell script with 2 pdf files and their output is included in zip file.

nekokami · 11-01-2007, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wallcraft

Searching PDF's from the command line will then be possible, and then the question is how to make a system-wide PDF text search capability available (via scripts?, run pdftotext in-line or off-line?, use an existing system-wide search system? ...).

Maybe convert to text with a background process, or an overnight batch?

I don't know much about writing graphical toolkit software, but a very simple interface using find/grep shouldn't be that hard to create. In fact, it seems likely that someone has done it in some open source tool.

ig88 · 11-01-2007, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tribble

Well, fulltextsearch on the whole iLiad is not really what i would expect.

Why not?

If you are an IT guy, I would think you would put tons of manuals on the thing (which is what I have done).

If you were a religuious guy, you might have several version of the bible and bible texts.

A doctor coudl have several medical journals.

Scientists there documents.

A lawyer the case notes, or rules of law.

Just about any field woudl come to this conclusion.

I was sitting next to a pharmacist on the plane the other day, reading my iLiad. She started asking me about it, then she asked if she could put her PDF all-about-drugs documents on it. I said yes. Then she said, and then I could look up info on a xyz, and I said, well "no".

etc etc etc

Now, don't you think you would want to be able to search that content?

With all of the storage space you can put on these things, and I mean come-on, search is hardly a new technology...

Why wouldn't it be expected?

10-30-2007, 05:30 PM	#1
ewayde Member Posts: 14 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: NOVA Device: Kindle	How Robust is Searching? With the latest iLiad, can I search for a term/string throughout the entire content of my storage? Can I for example, search for a string that looks into the pdf's and mobipocket formatted documents at one time? Thanks Wayde....so close to buying something...

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10-30-2007, 05:42 PM	#2
tribble iLiad Maniac Posts: 1,382 Karma: 2369 Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Germany Device: Bookeen Opus (i love that thing) and iPad (what an irony)	Simple answer: No.

10-30-2007, 09:20 PM	#3
ig88 Gadget Guy Posts: 76 Karma: 84 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Minnesota Device: iLiad - iPhone - OSX	unbelievably ridiculous, no?

10-31-2007, 03:17 AM	#4
tribble iLiad Maniac Posts: 1,382 Karma: 2369 Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Germany Device: Bookeen Opus (i love that thing) and iPad (what an irony)	Well, fulltextsearch on the whole iLiad is not really what i would expect. But a missing search function inside a PDF is what i am missing most. Although, a fulltext search would be nice, but it would probably be difficult with the processor and RAM available.

10-31-2007, 06:13 AM	#6
Boris Enthusiast Posts: 33 Karma: 23 Join Date: Aug 2007 Device: Tablet PC, a broken Iliad V2	Looked for a regulation yesterday which was in one of 4 PDF files each over 1000 pages. Couldn't find it in the 40 minutes I had to look with the Iliad, got back to a PC took me about 30 seconds using a search. Grrrr Basic search please Boris

10-31-2007, 08:50 AM	#7
nekokami fruminous edugeek Posts: 6,745 Karma: 551260 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Northeast US Device: iPad, eBw 1150	full-text search OUTSIDE of PDF can be done with grep. But we really need the ability to search within PDFs. For a device primarily intended for fiction, like the Sony Reader, full-text search among all files is a frill, but for the kinds of uses an iLiad can support (e.g. manuals, journals), I think it's a mainstream feature, and its absence is bizarre.

10-31-2007, 11:18 AM	#8
wallcraft reader Posts: 6,975 Karma: 5183568 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Mississippi, USA Device: Kindle 3, Kobo Glo HD	xpdf has text search. It also has a stand-alone command pdftotext, which is actually used by several Linux "filesystem search" packages to handle PDF files. For example, see PDFsearch and RECOLL. I'm not sure either could be made to work on the iLiad (RECOLL needs qt for example). Even so, searching PDFs should be possible on the iLiad, both when viewing a PDF document and as a system wide search (via pdftotext). What is not possible is a system-wide search of compressed or encrypted e-book formats. I have not looked at what ConvertLIT produces on the iLiad, but "exploded" .LIT e-books may be the easiest to search because the content ends up as uncompressed .html files. Searching individual e-books is already possible with FBReader, and this should also be possible with MobiPocket's Reader (it is already available in the native, not Java-based, MobiPocket Readers on other devices).

10-31-2007, 12:22 PM	#10
wallcraft reader Posts: 6,975 Karma: 5183568 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Mississippi, USA Device: Kindle 3, Kobo Glo HD	It is my understanding that ipdf is based on xpdf, so the capability already exists - it just needs to be "turned on" in ipdf. This might involve a significant amount of work, but at least there is code (in xpdf) implementing the underlying capability. Speaking as someone with no experience porting code to the iLiad, I assume getting pdftotext working on the iLiad should be relatively easy. Searching PDF's from the command line will then be possible, and then the question is how to make a system-wide PDF text search capability available (via scripts?, run pdftotext in-line or off-line?, use an existing system-wide search system? ...).

10-31-2007, 12:28 PM	#11
tribble iLiad Maniac Posts: 1,382 Karma: 2369 Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Germany Device: Bookeen Opus (i love that thing) and iPad (what an irony)	ipdf was based on xpdf. it is now based on poppler.

10-31-2007, 12:53 PM	#12
astra The Introvert Posts: 8,307 Karma: 1000077497 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: United Kingdom Device: Sony Reader PRS-650 & 505 & 500	I have no clue how to write software appls. So I can use only finished products. I will not be able to do any tweaking.