Pre-sales Q's PDF security and Customization

[nicker]

I am working with the free version for testing and have a few questions.

For searching in PDF files with the Pro version, what security settings can the search deal with. E.g. if a PDF hs copy/paste disabled and screen reader disabled through security settings can you still scan them? I saw the FAQ about this, but I am still not clear on this. Can the system scan the PDF's assuming the same password is used for all of them even if copy is disabled?

My site uses PHP and I use includes in the templates for the menu, footer, etc. and I want to use your search_template.html file I cannot use includes. Is there a way to set this up so that when I re-index I do not have to re-do the search page every time? Something like the ability to have the system reference my modified search_template.php file instead of the search_template.html file.

I would like to heavily customize the design of the search and results page and would like to only do this once. Can I customize the search_template.html and search.php files once and then when I re-index just upload the at .zdat files?

Overall a very good program that is intuitive to use.

[WizardFusion]

I would like to heavily customize the design of the search and results page and would like to only do this once. Can I customize the search_template.html and search.php files once and then when I re-index just upload the at .zdat files?

I am currently customising the search.asp page (similar to the .php one). you need to change the PHP file that is in the ZoomSearch folder (usually C:\Program Files\...), not the resulting file that is produced after indexing.

Obviously make sure you also have a backup.!

I too would like an answer to the search_template.html file using includes, as I want to do this.

[Ray]

For searching in PDF files with the Pro version, what security settings can the search deal with. E.g. if a PDF hs copy/paste disabled and screen reader disabled through security settings can you still scan them? I saw the FAQ about this, but I am still not clear on this. Can the system scan the PDF's assuming the same password is used for all of them even if copy is disabled?

Yes, you can specify a password to be used for extracting content from your protected PDFs. This assumes of course, that your PDF contains content which can be extracted and searched (eg. it does not contain only images). If you are unsure of this, you can e-mail us for a time limited trial version to test with your documents.

My site uses PHP and I use includes in the templates for the menu, footer, etc. and I want to use your search_template.html file I cannot use includes. Is there a way to set this up so that when I re-index I do not have to re-do the search page every time? Something like the ability to have the system reference my modified search_template.php file instead of the search_template.html file.

This is answered in this FAQ:
Q. How can I add server-side scripting (eg. PHP, ASP) to the search template?

I would like to heavily customize the design of the search and results page and would like to only do this once. Can I customize the search_template.html and search.php files once and then when I re-index just upload the at .zdat files?

The "search_template.html" file in your output directory is never overwritten by Zoom when you re-index. So this means that changes to this file will remain and you will not need to re-apply your changes here. By default, it will re-upload this file however (just to ensure that if you have made any changes, it is in sync with what's on the server), but if you wish to save a few bytes of traffic, you can turn this off by checking the box on the "FTP" tab of the Configuration window labelled, "Do not upload search template (requires existing file on server)".

The "search.php" file in your output directory however, is overwritten when you re-index. This is by design to ensure that changes to the script from newer versions/updates will be carried over. If however, you wish to make permanent changes to the script, you should do so by either:

(a) Clicking on "Templates" in the menu and selecting "Edit search script source (Advanced)". [Note: This method changes the script globally, which means that should you be indexing multiple sites, they will all attain your modifications to the script.]

(b) Modify the source code files in your Zoom program files folder (usually "C:\Program Files\Zoom Search Engine 5.1\scripts\PHP or ASP\search_src.php"). [Note: This method also changes the script globally.]

(c) Make a copy of the file in the above folder, put this somewhere else (eg. "C:\Program Files\Zoom Search Engine 5.1\myscripts\") and change the setting in the "Advanced" tab of the Configuration window for "Custom script source path". This will ask Zoom to use your own copy of the script, as opposed to the default one in the Program Files folder. [Note: This method allows you to use different scripts per configuration/site.]

Warning: We do not recommend or provide support for customizing the search script. This is only suitable for advanced users who are experienced with scripting in PHP or ASP. Although the scripts are purposely left clearly documented and not obfuscated, modifying the code may break functionality if you are not careful. We cannot debug your scripts for you, so if you have any problems, you will have to revert back to the factory default script before contacting us with questions.

Another disadvantage to modifying your script besides the risk of breaking it, is that you may need to re-apply your changes should we update the script in future versions or builds, with either new features or bug fixes. It will be up to you to maintain your changes and port them over to our new scripts.

And finally, perhaps most importantly, you should note that in most cases, you would not need to modify the search script (ie. "search.php") at all. Most customizations can be made by either:

(a) Use of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) for display/layout customizations as described in this FAQ

(b) The supported method of creating your own search script which embeds our search page/results described in this FAQ as linked above.

(c) Modifying the ZLANG Language files to change any of the text that appear as part of your search results.

(d) Creating or modifying your search form as described in this FAQ

Having said that, we leave it possible for advanced users to modify the search script, if they are willing to accept the risks and complexity involved, and have requirements such as functionality changes or enhancements that they would like to make.

I hope that makes things clearer!

[nicker]

Thanks Ray for the in-depth answers. I will go through all of them and see what works best for my situation. I am sure one of the options will serve me well.

Yes, you can specify a password to be used for extracting content from your protected PDFs. This assumes of course, that your PDF contains content which can be extracted and searched (eg. it does not contain only images). If you are unsure of this, you can e-mail us for a time limited trial version to test with your documents.

I assume that if I can copy and paste text out of the PDF files and into another text document, then there is text that is searchable and not just images. Is this correct?

[Ray]

I assume that if I can copy and paste text out of the PDF files and into another text document, then there is text that is searchable and not just images. Is this correct?

Yes, this is a good way to confirm that there is a searchable text layer in the PDF file. Some documents may be scanned in from a paper copy, but it can contain a searchable text layer if it has been OCR'ed by something like Acrobat Paper Capture. More information here.

[nicker]

Just to let you know, I used the method of including the search in one of my site templates using the method described in the link you posted using the code:

<?php include ("search/search.php"); ?>

Everything is working and it now looks like a part of the site. One follow-up question on this comment.

The "search_template.html" file in your output directory is never overwritten by Zoom when you re-index.

Does this file only get output if one does not exist in the output directory? I just want to understand how this works.

I will send an email to take you up on the time limited trial as the main reason for upgrading would be the PDF search functionality, so if it doesn't work with the PDF files we have, then there is not reason to upgrade considering the site is small at this point.

Thanks again for your help.

[Ray]

Does this file only get output if one does not exist in the output directory? I just want to understand how this works.

That's correct. The "search_template.html" file only gets created in the output directory if one does not already exist.