[support] Custom search page for specific category

[Steve Edwards]

I haven't actually done this, but there is a File API (http://api.drupal.org/?q=api/group/file/5) in Drupal for handling files. 
Off the top of my head, what you could do in hook_search() where $op == 'search' is use file_scan_directory() to get a list of all 
  of the file names.  This function also handles recursion, so it will also search subdirectories if you specify to do so.

As for reading content from the PDF, the only things I came across doing a quick Google search were the FPDI 
(http://www.hotscripts.com/Detailed/39165.html) and FPDF (http://www.fpdf.org/) PHP libraries.

Once you get your content (file names and doc content), my suggestion would be to use the Drupal indexer using 
hook_update_index().  That way, your searches would be much quicker than if you had to search all of your directories and files 
every time.

Steve

Jody Cleveland wrote:
> How do I get drupal to search files though? And, will it search content of
> those files? Unfortunately, I haven't uploaded them through Drupal. I have
> multiple directories with thousands of pdf files as part of a local history
> digitization project.
> 
> - jody
> 
> 
> On 12/31/07 11:45 AM, "Steve Edwards" <killshot91 at comcast.net> wrote:
> 
>> You would use hook_search() to specify the name of the new tab on the Search
>> page, and then the query to search for the files.  If
>> the PDF files have been uploaded via Drupal, then there should be a record of
>> them in the database and you could search there.
>> Otherwise, you would have to add some code to iterate through the file
>> directory, get the file names, and display them on the
>> screen.  Either way, hook_search() looks like it would work.
>>
>> Steve
>>
>> Jody Cleveland wrote:
>>> Thanks!
>>>
>>> Is there any way to code a search box to search a specific file directory on
>>> the site?
>>>
>>> (I've got several directories of pdf files that I'd like to limit searches
>>> to.)
>>>
>>> - jody
>>>
>>>
>>> On 12/28/07 5:11 PM, "Bill Fitzgerald" <bill at funnymonkey.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Views would do this pretty well -- create a view that returns all nodes
>>>> in a category, and expose the Search: Index filter.
>>>>
>>>> Cheers,
>>>>
>>>> Bill
>>>>
>>>> Jody Cleveland wrote:
>>>>> Hello,
>>>>>
>>>>> Is there any way to code an html page to have a search box that
>>>>> defaults to
>>>>> search a specific category?
>>>>>
>>>>> - jody
>>>>>
>