Previous | Next | (P-PDF) Acrobat 6.0

Topic: Search feedback - please comment on version 6 Search!
Conf: (P-PDF) Acrobat 6.0, Msg: 89164
From: mczajka
Date: 6/6/2003 07:53 AM

If you open a PDF with an attached index, by default it works like a wildcard search. Ie, the word "test" in one of my indexes nets me results of test, tested, testing, greatest. This is referred to by default as "Match Exact Word or Phrase."

There are some differences in the Search, including the Javascript Search object. Also, some characters which were ignored in 5, seem to mean something in 6, such as a "(" or ")". I believe the "()" allows you to do something with form field searching, but I believe this is undocumented - perhaps "fieldname (search item)" does something, if inserted into the search box under a boolean search?

If you use the Search object in 5 to perform searches on an attached index, in 6 you need to use the new parameter in search.query to specify the index you are searching, otherwise the dialog will come up waiting for you to do something. So, legacy CDs that use the javascript Search object, need to be updated to work with Reader 6.

You can search doc info fields with Acrobat 5 indexes and Reader 6, as before using this syntax "title~Star Wars" (nice for field searches), but this syntax does not work with indexes built with 6. You need to use the manual advanced dialog to search fields, or using some new Javascript properties, you can turn on field searching and turn off text searching to accomplish a general doc info fields search (I believe - haven't tested yet).

There is no way to sort search results by title in Acrobat 6 - ugh... I wish the sort could be set using Javascript.

If your document titles are very long (not sure the exact length), they get cutoff by the new dialog (ouch).

Acrobat 5 indexes opened from the Mac (OSX under Reader 6) generate an error which says "index not available" - not good for novices, because the index.pdx is there. CD developers may go crazy with support calls on this one.

The Reader Search/Results window can only be docked left or right. It should be like Word 2002 and allow you to undock and resize.

The new Results/hit list which shows words surrounding hits, does not let you specify the number of words to the left or right (perhaps when Cataloging this could be specified in a future release), so its arbitrary. If you do a search for a word that appears "a lot", it takes time for the hit list to build. This process was immediate in 5, but all of the hits were highlighted on the page, so it worked differently.

Proximity, which was limited in 5 indexes to the page level, is still limited in 6. It needs to allow for targeted searching (find xyz and pdq within a proximity of x number of words, etc.).

In 6, Search and Find were merged together. If you are just trying to do a quick Find, like in Word, you may be surprised that it takes a little longer, since you have to rely on the arbitrary words presented next to your hits in the new hit list. You need to use hot keys to get from one hit to the next - there are no next hit or previous hit buttons anymore. You can also use the hit list to look at the various hits.

I don't think people who used search for CD/DVD development are going to accept some of these changes, so I expect some improvements.

So, personally, I think it needs some work.