I'll tell you what I do and I don't believe I'll upset anyone... well, I hope not.
I mirror the entire FTP site locally. The VA doesn't have to worry about a backup because I'm sitting on 3.29 GB of files for them. I use WS_FTP but you can use any application that does a good job of syncing (like rsync) - you don't want to waste time and bandwidth on bringing down everything everytime, just the changed files. Then I use one of the most useful tools ever - MSN Desktop Search. Type in your search criteria and bingo - it pops up. Both Yahoo and Google also have similar desktop searching tools but I find MSN fits me best mainly due to the results screen. Personal Taste: The Google results are always HTML return and you see the results in a web browser. The MSN results consist of the files themselves. It's hard to explain, but if you right-click on the item in the result list - you'll see the right-click context of the file itself. If you drag it to a folder, it will copy the original item. If you double-click it, it'll open up Adobe or Word, etc. It IS the file and not just a [poor] HTML representation of it. I highly recommend you try them all and see what fits you - I ran each for 2 full weeks and went back to MSN. (I also use Spotlight on OSX Tiger which will deliver similar results). Added bonus: This helps a lot when searching the internals of the patch notes and not just the clinical documentation (I'm a developer so I'm usually looking thru the patch notes and KID files). *The Adobe PDF plug-in for MSN Desktop Search, should be included but oh well, I'm not the PM. http://g.msn.com/8SEENUS020100/AddinsHome_addin1_downloadURL http://desktop.msn.com http://desktop.google.com http://desktop.yahoo.com I'm seeing a trend on the third-level domain naming convention... weird. /David. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Ismet Kursunoglu, MD Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2005 6:14 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Hardhats-members] Searching VistA documentation Jim, David, Nancy and Bhaskar, Thanks for bringing me up to date with 21 century technology - these solutions are very helpful. I still can't see beyond the few lines that the Google results present without downloading the whole document or HTML translation. For example using this in a Google search session site:http://www.va.gov/vdl/ zsystem yields, [DOC] BCMA V. 2.0 and This Guide File Format: Microsoft Word 2000 - View as HTML CLOSE EXECUTE: U IO K IO(1,IO) C IO ZSYSTEM "lpr -r "_IO. Network printer:. From the Linux menu:. select System Settings then Printing ... www.va.gov/vdl/VistA_Lib/Clinical/Pharm-Bar_Code_Med_Admin_(BCMA)/ BCMA_Backup_System_Installation_Guide.doc - Similar pages Is there a way to extend the context of the search results? I don't see that as part of the extended or advanced features at Google search. I also tried alltheweb.com but that didn't support his feature, nor on Yahoo. Finally What tool would you recommend to create a fast lookup index of all the documents (hopefully one that is part of the Debian distribution), including the PDF files i.e. on a locally created mirror of the vdl? For that matter how does Google accomplish this? I was looking at Glimpse but apparently it won't index PDF files. Could I use Fileman or some utility from VistA to do this? Thanks. Ismet > You simply have to restrict to a specific site. > > For Google, put "site:www.va.gov/vdl" in the search box with your term. > Search term: > fileman site:www.va.gov/vdl > > http://www.google.com/search?as_q=fileman&as_sitesearch=www.va.gov%2Fvdl > > For MSN Search, put "site:www.va.gov" in the search box with your term. > (Msn and Yahoo don't like folders, only specify the domain) > Search term: > fileman site:www.va.gov > > http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=fileman+site%3Awww.va.gov > > > And most of your other search engines will do the same. (Note: Yahoo > will take the expression in the search box but the Advanced Search > "builder" won't place it there for you to easily see how it works. The > MSN Search Builder adds it in while you build out your query so you can > mess with the query while building it.) > > > /David. > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jim > Self > Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2005 8:40 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [Hardhats-members] Searching VistA documentation > > What about google? > > for instance: > http://www.google.com/search?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.va.gov+cprs > > Ismet B. Kursunoglu wrote: > >>As I get into the nooks and crannies of VistA I find that it's as vast >>and rich as the Pacific ocean. What's more the old adage (which I won't >>repeat here) about reading the documentation surely holds true in that >>the VistA Documentation Library (VDL) http://www.va.gov/vdl/ has the >>answers to many of my questions. >> >>The problem is that the answers are often contained across many MB's >>worth of PDF (total of 625 documents) or html files. I have >>read/searched many of these documents but the going is pretty slow. >> >>I am using shell scripts (like pdfgrep http://blog.rompe.org/pdfgrep) >>and other *NIX tools to speed this process up but was wondering if > > there > >>was some "Google like" interface to all this documentation? I know that >>some of this is available on the Hardhats site, but I haven't seen any >>comprehensive search links - however I could easily have missed them. >> >>I have also been searching this mailing list archive >>http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ and >>generally find them extremely rich in good content but there are no >>advanced search functions to be had there. Maybe there is a capability >>to download the entire archive of the list, but I don't see it. I also >>tried the Sourceforge mail site directly but found it pretty tedious to >>use. >> >>Do such search-able sites exist for all the VistA documentation and/or >>the Hardhats mailing list? > > > --------------------------------------- > Jim Self > Systems Architect, Lead Developer > VMTH Computer Services, UC Davis > (http://www.vmth.ucdavis.edu/us/jaself) > > >-- Ismet B. Kursunoglu, MD, FCCP Medical Director Alaska Clinic, LLC 3750 Country Field Circle, UNIT B Wasilla, Alaska 99654 [EMAIL PROTECTED] (907)357-7240 ------------------------------------------------------- SF.Net email is sponsored by: Discover Easy Linux Migration Strategies from IBM. Find simple to follow Roadmaps, straightforward articles, informative Webcasts and more! Get everything you need to get up to speed, fast. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=7477&alloc_id=16492&op=click _______________________________________________ Hardhats-members mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members ------------------------------------------------------- SF.Net email is sponsored by: Discover Easy Linux Migration Strategies from IBM. Find simple to follow Roadmaps, straightforward articles, informative Webcasts and more! Get everything you need to get up to speed, fast. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_idt77&alloc_id492&op=click _______________________________________________ Hardhats-members mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members
