I am a bit tired, because I've been reading loads of stuff on synthetic characters, but I managed not to sleep last night and finally code something I found very, VERY useful.

Because I am sleepy, I'll cut as many corners as I can, with the promise that a tutorial on how to build this kind of functionality, will happen someday.

95% of my work on the search engine, was done in ANSI C, so the engine can be compiled to run on both MS Windows (that I use at home) and Unix (that runs the server that serves these pages). Basically, this simple engine - written in a matter of hours - does nothing more, than interfacing with the browser, via CGI, then does some runtime file searching, and writes the HTML that links to the results. That's it.

The other 5% of the job, took as many work hours... because it was aesthetic / artistic work, namely designing a fine looking Flash movie, to link to the engine. If you CAN NOT see a new Flash movie replacing my old bouncing theme, then PLEASE RELOAD the site, until your crap Internet Service Provider decides to serve the ACTUAL version of the site.

If you are using a portuguese ISP, beware that the free services cache pages ALL THE TIME - you probably need to insist on refreshing your browser contents...

I also designed a conventional web form, available from the new search page, that allows searching without using the Flash movie. But I do recommend the Flash movie! Really (it is faster).

Here is a bit of "copy & paste", from the new search page that explains how the search engine works. PLEASE READ IT! It is important, if you really want to enjoy this new function.

I would also REALLY appreciate some input on the search engine results. Check my e-mail from above and below.

HOW TO USE THE SEARCH ENGINE, FROM THE FLASH MOVIE:

#1) type your search text on the bottom of the Flash movie, where it says "type local search below";

#2) drive the mouse pointer over the "Go!" button, notice how it gives feedback, then just click it and WAIT.

PLEASE BE PATIENT while the search happens - it should happen very quickly, but it is a PERFECT search (not index stuff), that will read all the site.

The search is NOT case sensitive. This means that "Art" is equal to "ART".

If you can't see the Flash animation, make sure you reload the site, from one of the reload links, above and below.

ONE FINAL NOTE: the engine will deliver ALL perfect match(es) to your search, INCLUDING pages that might include the word(s), but NOT display them. For example, most pages on this website have a meta description, which is something you DO NOT see... The words used in the meta descriptions are considered as valid, as the ones you can indeed read, as rendered by the browser. This means that, sometimes, you'll see listed files that seem not to match your query. Rest assured that, that is NOT an error.

AT LAST, (AND LEAST): this website is being served by APACHE. As with any website, *if* an internal server error message happens (the error is on MY side, not in your computer), your only chance to get back using the search engine, is to close the browser on your computer, and launch another session. This is a security measure of most web servers, to prevent bad intentioned uses of the CGI interface. Sometimes, an internal server error happens "just because", and while you are innocent, if wanting to use CGI features of the site, you'll have to restart, as a client.