FastSearch 4 - Helpfile

[ Configuration Screens | Sample Configuration | Notes | About the Author ]

FastSearch is a powerful mIRC search engine. Sometimes the setup can be complicated, so this helpfile will hopefully help you out.

Configuration Screens

Most likely this is the screen you will encounter when you first set up FastSearch:

This screen configures nearly the whole script. Doubleclick on the line you want to change.

• Enable: This shows if the script is currently disabled or enabled. The proceding window asks wether or not you want to enable the script:
  
• Number of matches to allow: This edits the number of matches that are allowed to be shown. Anything over this amount will recieve an error message for the user.
• Abuse Allowance: This edits the number of uses in the number of seconds you will allow. This is in the format Uses:Seconds, for example 5:60 will allow 5 uses within 60 seconds for one user.
• Message Configuration: This section will edit the messages shown to the user. Any color or attribute code is acceptable. Macros will contain the information. The macros available are:
  • &nick& - returns the target nick (the user)
  • &time& - returns the time it has been since the script started processing the request
  • &uses& - returns the counter of the number of times the search script has been used
  • &matches& - returns the number of matches that were found with the search
  • &matchnum& - returns the current match number
  • &match& - returns the matched text line
  • &times& - returns the number of times the user has used the search within the 'allowed' time
  • &delay& - returns the 'allowed' time
• Message Configuration: here are the strings you can edit:
  • No Matches: returned when the search found no matches - (&nick&, &time&, &uses& allowed)
  • Too many matches: returned when the search returned more than the allowed number - (&nick&, &time&, &uses&, &matches& allowed)
  • Begin Match listing: returned when the search is about to begin listing the matches to the search - (&nick&, &time&, &uses&, &matches& allowed)
  • Match: returned for each of the matches, and it should contain the matched text - (&nick&, &time&, &uses&, &matches&, &matchnum&, &match&, allowed)
  • End of Matches: returned at the end of the match listing - (&nick&, &time&, &uses&, &matches& allowed)
  • Over Usage Limit: returned when the Abuse Allowance value has been matched or surpassed - (&times&, &delay&, &nick& allowed)
• Trigger Configuration: This is where the trigger listing is:
  • ~~DoubleClick this line to add a new #~~: This line will open up the trigger configuration screen:
    
    • ~~DoubleClick to delete trigger~~: This line will only appear when the trigger has some settings, and will delete the trigger from the list
    • ~~DoubleClick to refresh trigger~~: This line will only appear when the trigger has some settings, and will refresh the database for that trigger.
    • Trigger: This line will configure the trigger text, or what is typed in the channel before the search string. This can either be different or the same as any other trigger name.
    • Type: This line sets the type of search it will do. it can be txt (search inside of a textfile), file (search filenames in a directory structure), or dir (search directorynames in a directory structure).
    • Info: This is where you will specify the file or directory to be searched. It will also bring up the text box for the text to replace what is in the first part. This comes in handy when you are trying to match structures on a server.
  • The lines underneath this will list the triggers that are entered into the script currently. Doubleclicking them will edit that trigger's information.

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Sample Configuration

When the script is loaded much of the lines are already filled with default values. This is just so lazy people (like myself) don't have to go and configure everything when the script is loaded. Since these are all relatively easy to figure out, and are already filled with default values, I will not go into the setup of those lines. Instead, we will focus on the setup of a simple system of triggers.

1. DoubleClicking on the 'new #' line will bring up the new trigger config window. In this window I have named the trigger @locate, the type file, and the info as d:\media\ and \media\.
   
2. Upon closing the window you can see that the entry has been added to the trigger list in the main window, showing all of the information.
   
3. Repeating steps 1 and 2 for the name @locate, the type file, and the info as e:\, and \scripts\ I have added another entry to the list. Both of these entries will be used when a user types @locate in a channel.
   
4. Now I will add one more trigger, name @quotes, type txt, and info c:\quotes.txt. This makes three entries in my list:
   
5. Now we will test the triggers from another copy of mIRC, and let the script take care of the database compiling on its own:
    
   
   

Not too tough, eh? I hope this helps.

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Notes

There are a few bugs I'm currently concerned with.

1. Wierd thing where if the database is compiled when a user uses the trigger the first time, it tends to want to return ALL the matches.
2. Some scripts might conflict with the way the triggers are caught in the channel. This is probably not my problem however.
3. Upgrades from older scripts carry none of the variable information, in fact the upgrade from FastSearch 4.0 to 4.1 causes a problem because of a renamed variable. Maybe some compatibility needs to be worked into it.

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About the Author

This is one of OnyxRaven's biggest scripting projects. It is really the first one he has worked on enough to release to the public.

For Bug Reports, Comments, Release information, or anything else you can contact OnyxRaven at onyxraven@netscape.net.

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