Import/export features

[AndrewD]

The configuration tab "Recommended Links" has the option to import and export the entries; "Categories" tab can import but not export; and "Synonyms" can do neither. Any chance of making these consistent in a next release, please?

On a related matter, the manual says that Category patterns are always case sensitive. I think this is not true during the indexing stage on a windows server - "(My) Documents" is matching "documents" - took me a few minutes to understand why things were being wrongly classified. Also, is the match (in)sensitive to whether one uses forward or backward slashes in the pattern - I noticed that Zoom seems to replace forward slashes (documents/) with backward slashes (documents\) - but does it actually care?

thanks.

[Ray]

An Import feature for Synonyms is already on the list of things we're considering for a future version.

At the moment, one possible alternative is to open up the ZCFG file in an Unicode capable text editor and manually copy+paste the entries.

A Categories export hasn't appeared to be necessary and we have not had any requests for it, although we'll keep it in mind.

You're right that the category patterns are actually case insensitive. This is an error in our documentation - it was case sensitive originally, but this has since been changed upon user requests for it to be case insensitive. We will need to update the manual and help files accordingly.

Slashes in the category patterns are automatically swapped to forward or backward slashes accordingly, depending on whether you are in Offline or Spider Mode. So no, they should not matter.

[AndrewD]

An Import feature for Synonyms is already on the list of things we're considering for a future version.

At the moment, one possible alternative is to open up the ZCFG file in an Unicode capable text editor and manually copy+paste the entries.

A Categories export hasn't appeared to be necessary and we have not had any requests for it, although we'll keep it in mind.

You're right that the category patterns are actually case insensitive. This is an error in our documentation - it was case sensitive originally, but this has since been changed upon user requests for it to be case insensitive. We will need to update the manual and help files accordingly.

Slashes in the category patterns are automatically swapped to forward or backward slashes accordingly, depending on whether you are in Offline or Spider Mode. So no, they should not matter.

I don't know if you will want to answer this, given that the SDK is for sale - I also assume that a simple perl script can automate filling in the category/synonym and recommended links sections into a standard config file, provided this produces unicode output?

[Ray]

Yes, you should be able to create/modify ZCFG files with a Perl script. It does need to be in Unicode. The SDK provides more detailed documentation that can help if you have trouble.

[AndrewD]

Yes, you should be able to create/modify ZCFG files with a Perl script. It does need to be in Unicode. The SDK provides more detailed documentation that can help if you have trouble.

In case you or others need this information.

To read/write the ZCFG file correctly on Windows using Perl 5.8, you need:

open (FHI, '<:raw:encoding(UTF-16LE):crlf:utf8', 'input.zcfg');
open (FHO, '>:raw:encoding(UTF-16LE):crlf:utf8', 'output.zcfg);

Simply passing the files through the standard UTF-16LE interfaces does not quite do the job. It's a bug/feature in the Windows implementation of the Perl Unicode modules.

[Ray]

UPDATE

We added the Import/Export Synonyms feature to Zoom in build 5.1.1006.

You can download the latest build from here:
http://www.wrensoft.com/zoom/whatsnew.html

This is from the Help file:

You can also Import and Export your list of synonyms to and from a text file. This should be a text file containing a synonym entry per line, in the form of:
word=synonym1,synonym2,synonym3, etc...

You can create this text file in any text editor (such as Notepad). An example text file which can be imported into the Synonyms list would be as follows:
question=inquiry,enquiry,query,questions
problem=trouble,issue,problems,bug,help
rat=mouse,mice,rats
dog=dogs,puppies,puppy,canine

[AndrewD]

UPDATE

We added the Import/Export Synonyms feature to Zoom in build 5.1.1006.

You can download the latest build from here:
http://www.wrensoft.com/zoom/whatsnew.html

This is from the Help file:

Thanks for this