BMS Manual Search
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There is a new version out now with improvements on non-standard locations for the BMS docs.
@mjones The new version (Beta-v.5) should handle custom paths better - also as part of launch so you don’t have to build the index each time.
@Wingedsky That is so great to hear - I was a bit worried if that was too difficult to figure out.
As a sidenote, I have become impressed with what browsers can do in the pdf reading department if you choose to use them.
For instance, double-clicking this unpacks the entire Outline system which @Micro_440th and his team keeps updated so that we can easier find sections we want.
And if you are way down in a document on some page and want to figure out where you’re at, press this :
The above works in Firefox (not Edge or Chrome). I have compared these features (that I personally appreciate) up against Acrobat Reader and SumatraPDF. In my opinion, the browsers are quite good and more light-weight in use.
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@jayb
Just wondering if it’s even possible…To link directly to the “BMS Wiki Manuals” page to pull the latest, updated docs (ie. https://cdn.falcon-bms.com/docs/4.37/to_1f-16cmam-1_bms.pdf), by somehow adding to the Browser or Manual.cfg files?
OR is it only possible via the local machine?That way, you could always have the latest updates from Micro440th and the BMS team, and/or from personal, “customized or highlighted” versions or docs on our local machine folders?
If not, this is still an AWESOME app!
I’m constantly looking stuff up (especially acronyms), so I’ve truly needed something like this since… FOREVER!
Thanks! -
I appreciate the feedback. For now it is local machine only, either the PC with BMS installed, or some laptop without BMS but with all the Docs.
Thing is that the online docs do not change between releases (as far as I understand it), so each time a new release or hotfix comes out we just need to rebuild the index once to be up-to-date and in perfect sync with the online docs until next release.
As for custom edits to the manuals, that should work. So if you add something to “TO 1F-16CMAM-1 BMS.pdf” and leave the edited version under the Docs tree, the indexing will pick that up. That enables you to search for your own custom text afterwards in the app.
Another approach could be to make a copy of, say, “TO 1F-16CMAM-1 BMS.pdf”, edit it and rename it to “TO 1F-16CMAM-1 BMS Custom.pdf” and leave it somewhere under the Docs tree. Then just add that new filename to Manual.Cfg and you should be good to go.
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Nice tool, thank you! I do not use any of the 3 browsers listed and as such cannot select any, so the Open in browser link doesn’t do anything. Any way to just have the ‘Open in Browser’ use the default browser or specify a custom path?
Also, since the date of the index is important, possibly add the date it was built added to the ‘Index read OK’ message?
@jayb said in BMS Manual Search:
It is nothing fancy, but I have come to use it a lot myself so thought I would share it.
This philosophy will soon fade as the feature requests stack up…it’s you’re own fault for building something so useful.
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@foxster Improved browser set is planned and definitely something the app should handle better.
If you haven’t been to the Github Wiki, the gist is to edit the Config\Browser.cfg. For now, you can just hijack one of the suggested three with a path to your own executable. So for instance, just change the highlighted part (not the Firefox name) to whichever browser executable you’d like.
It will still say Firefox on the radio button but will point to your browser. Which browsers would you like to use ?
I could put an index timestamp somewhere, that is a great idea, thanks
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@jayb Thanks…will do.
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My browser setting is default Edge. I use Chrome, but I am unable to select it, only Edge.
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@Icarus Your Chrome install is probably not in the default location, which is “C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe”
My app looks for browsers in the locations listed in the file “Config\Browser.cfg” but you can change that.
If you locate where chrome.exe is located on your PC then you can change the path for Chrome in that file. If you look a couple of posts up, I have a picture of the Browser.cfg file for reference
(Edit: And I will fix that as soon as I figure out how to locate where browsers are installed)
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@jayb Thanks
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@jayb Not able to install beta 5 on an older 32-bit laptop with Windows 7. Apparently I need to upgrade to Windows 10 on this device?
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@mjones Yes unfortunately, I would not think it could work on Windows 7. There are some new versions of .NET between 7 and 10/11
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A new version is out, Beta-v6.
As from Beta-v6, the app detects installed browsers and sets them up for use with deep-links to manual pages. It will always include the system default browser and up to 2 other browsers.
The Config\Browser.cfg can be used if you would like to add and use an additional non-installed browser that could not be detected by methods relying on install check. In that case, add a line in the Browser.cfg with information for the extra browser.
Also from Beta-v6 the app writes events to a log file in the Log\ subfolder. The file can be useful for troubleshooting any issues.
Finally, the app now shows a timestamp for when the index was built.
The Wiki page now explains how you could go about searching through docs that come as part of a theater install.
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@jayb Thanks! Awesome job!
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Great!
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@jayb after dl’ing via your link and extracting directly to C:\ in its own folder, why am I directed to install the .net Desktop framework (screenshot below).
TIA as this tool seems very useful to located specific instances of keywords.
D_Lourdes
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@D_Lourdes That is strange, which Windows version are you running ?
I am not getting that error myself, but again that could would be unexpected. I have re-uploaded Beta-v6 to Github together with a larger standalone version.
Could you check if the new small upload works (BMSManualFinder_beta6.zip)?
If not, then maybe the new larger version ( BMSManualFinder-Beta.v6.Standalone.zip ) will work, it should require less dependencies on your end.
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Windows 10 Home Edition!
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Dl’ed the smaller … no-joy. Went for the larger and extracted … works just fine!
Thx for the quick turn! Much appreciated…
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@D_Lourdes Dotnet 6 is not part of Windows… presumably you’ll need the larger ~65Mb “standalone” build
or download and install Dotnet 6 runtime, separately
https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet/thank-you/runtime-desktop-6.0.25-windows-x64-installer(.NET Framework 4.8.x was the latest that’s part of Windows and installed-by-default – because 2 VPs at MS can’t agree to play nice with one another, and they prefer to see their customers suffer … anyway, for this reason Alt Launcher will remain on NetFx 4.8)
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@airtex2019 Thanks for the explanation, being on a developer machine it can be difficult to exhaust all possible Windows permutations. In hindsight I should have targeted 4.8 in that case.
I wonder if it is rare to not have .NET 6 installed since this is the first complaint for the app - or if people just shrugged and gave up
Anyway, I will make sure to include both types of published versions with any future releases.