Search results

I just noticed that there are files on OS4Depot that I've never found before. The search results default to 20 files and there is no indication that there are more files. For example, I couldn't find the AmiCygnix base installation because it falls above the default 20 file display (file 22?). Shouldn't there be some indication that there are more files found in a search than the number displayed on the search results page? Aminet provides page numbers at the bottom of the search results display so you can view the next set of results. If there is some indication that there are more results for an OS4Depot search it certainly eludes me. I think OS4Depot needs a slight update on the search results page.

@xenic

Can agree with that. Some time search found nothing, but files are present. There is how easy to detect the problem:

Type "game" in the search filed. It will found only 20 (i think first) links. And then nothing. If i set "Number of files" to 200, and press search again, it's again switch back to the 20 number of files, and again, show only 20 files.

I think that this "number of files", must be rewriting as "number of files on one page". And then, found all the files which possible to find, and show pages count (just like on aminet).

@xenic

Try the SQL search instead. The normal search uses a basic file system search that would require it to check all files every time someone does a search if it were to display page numbers or some such, even just finding out how many search results there is would require a complete search through all files. What is does now is to search until it finds a set number of matching files and then stop to reduce the strain on the server.

So I suggest that you use the SQL search which uses a mysql database instead of files.

@orgin
The SQL search seems a little quirky too. Entering data into more than one search field can limit the scope of the search instead of expand it. For example, if I enter "amicygnix" in the "Description" field I get 35 results but if I also enter "amicygnix" in the "Filename" field I only get 8 results. I expected to get the results for Descriptions and Filenames with "amicygnix". Instead I only got the results for filenames containing "amicygnix". I get the most results by entering "amicygnix" in the "Text" field with all other fields left blank. I don't think the SQL search is any more intuitive than the simple search. At least I now know that I need to do more extensive searching to find what I want.

@xenic

The fileds are clearlt ANDed, that's quite a common default for search engines (google for instance) but maybe a note to that effect might make the form more obvious to use.

@broadblues
Yes it appears that the entries are ANDed which is good for finding a specific file but not for finding a group of related files. There probably should be a note to that effect but it would be even better to have some OR capability.