Opus now supports integrated Windows Search (or Windows Desktop Search under XP). This lets you use the functionality provided by the Windows Search system, including indexed search and Advanced Query Syntax.
Windows Search can be accessed in three ways:
A toolbar field similar to Explorer
The Find-As-You-Type field
Queries stored in a File Collection
The Search field can be added to a toolbar from Customise (it will also be in the default configuration). With this field on your toolbar, to perform a search of the current folder all you need to do is start typing. Search results are displayed in a File Collection and so you can use the full functionality of Opus on matching files.
Note that the File Collection used for this is not the same as is used by the Opus Find tool; instead a “temporary” File Collection is created to display the results for the current folder, and this collection will disappear again when not needed. You can edit the folder format used for Search Results collections from the Folder Formats page in Preferences.
To search from the Find-As-You-Type field, simply press the = (equals) key in the File Display, and start type. The same syntax can be used as in the Search field – you can either enter keywords to search for, or use Advanced Query Syntax to specify the query.
You can also run a query programmatically using the QUERY argument to the Find command.
You can also store Windows Search queries in a File Collection for later or repeated use. The easiest way to do this is to run a query using either the toolbar field or Find-As-You-Type field. When the results collection appears, right-click the File Display background (or right-click the Search Results item in the tree), and choose Save as Stored Query. This will create a new (permanent) File Collection in the Stored Queries File Collections folder.
Browsing to a Stored Query collection by default shows you the saved results from the last time the query was run. To re-run the query and refresh the results, simply press F5 to refresh the folder display as normal. If you edit the collection properties (right-click on its item in the tree and select Properties), you can also choose to have the results refreshed automatically. With this option enabled, the query will be re-run whenever you browse to the collection.
You can also edit the query from the Properties dialog, and change the folders that are searched (Stored Queries allow you to define multiple folders to be searched).
The old standalone Find window has been removed; Opus Find is now exclusively accessed via the Utility Panel, and results are now exclusively displayed in File Collections.
The Find Panel has a new Refine option that lets you refine the results of an existing search. If you use the Find Panel to perform a search as normal, and then edit the search parameters and click the Refine button, the new search will be run on the results of the previous search.
It is now possible to use the Opus Find tool to search File Collections and Libraries.
A number of new Find clauses have been added, including:
Type matching for Junctions, Links and Shortcuts
Target to search based on the target of a shortcut
Codec and Release date for Music files
Full path to search based on the full path (including filename)
Folder sizes (Empty folders can now be searched for by combining a Type [Folders Only] clause with a Size is equal to 0 bytes clause).
Label searches for labels assigned with the new File / Folder Label system
Tags
There is a new Filter Bar that can be displayed at the bottom of the File Display that lets you quickly and easily filter the files displayed in that folder. Note that this does not affect the filters that can be defined through Folder Options, or the new global hide filters – it simply lets you temporarily filter the current folder.
The Filter Bar appears when you press the * key in the Lister– so to filter the current display, simply press * and immediately type your filter. Note that in Opus 9 this used to display the Find-As-You-Type field – this can still be used for Filtering if desired, but the Filter Bar provides a far better interface. You can change this hotkey through Preferences.
The filter bar displays statistics related to the currently entered filter – the number of files and folders shown by the current filter, as well as the number of files and folders hidden by the current filter. Again, this only relates to the filter entered into the Filter Bar and does not include any files or folders hidden by Folder Format or global filters – this information is provided in the status bar as before.
The icons displayed alongside these counts can be clicked to quickly show or reveal all files or folders. You can also click the filter icon to the left of the filter text field to quickly disable and enable the filter without clearing it. The filter field also has a drop-down that lets you select one or more file types from the current folder to filter on.
In Flat View, folders are normally not subject to filters, but the Filter Bar has a checkbox that can temporarily enable filtering of folders when in Flat View.
By default the Filter Bar will appear when you press * and remain while there is a filter in force, whether it is active or not. The Filter Bar page in Preferences lets you configure it to always be visible, or to only appear when invoked by the hotkey and to disappear again once the filter has been entered. There is also an option to prevent the filter from being cleared automatically when changing folders. You can quickly clear the filter manually by pressing the Escape key.
The Filter Bar can be controlled using the Set QUICKFILTER command (with the optional QUICKFILTERFLAGS and QUICKFILTERCLEAR arguments):
Set QUICKFILTER by itself opens the Filter Bar and gives it focus
Set QUICKFILTER <pattern> sets the current filter pattern – acts as a toggle if that pattern is already set
Set QUICKFILTERFLAGS lets you toggle on/off the hide/show files/folders options
Set QUICKFILTERCLEAR clears the filter
Set QUICKFILTER=!prev restores the previous filter once it has been cleared.
The Folder Display Preferences page now has several options to configure global hide filters. These are filters that are applied globally, in all folders, and allow you to hide files or folders that you know you never want to see anywhere. For example, desktop.ini and thumbs.db are files that occur commonly in Windows, and being able to specify a global filter means you do not need to configure Folder Formats in order to hide them.
You can specify global filters using wildcard patterns for both files and folders. There is also a global option to hide hidden files, and one to hide operating system files.
These filtering options can also be controlled using the Set GLOBALHIDEFILENAME, GLOBALHIDEFOLDERS, GLOBALHIDEFILTER and GLOBALHIDEHIDDEN commands.