Works for me, Thanks António ...

... Well, almost. All my mags are in one folder (except for the Gen2 versions, but I will change that soon)), so I removed the year field prepending on the filename path. I set the default for the base path, so it works for me. I am (as many most likely are using in Windows platforms) the Reader XI (v11), so I modified the app path in the code. The first mag I downloaded was not the "LITE" version, so I modified the filename in the Article table.

As memory serves, there is a way to "Shell" a PDF (in VB 6) without using the specific app path, but I don't know if it would support the page number specification. I'll research this later and post the result.

I'm glad your MDB is Access 2000 (v9) compatible, although I do have Access 2010, I normally use Access 2000.

I had plans to use VB 6 to develop an app (including ODBC) to avoid the MS Access load, but have not worked on it. This may help by seeing how you have approached the task.

Did you Consider...

Antonio;

It's fun to embark on a new challenge, that's for sure. And it's quite a challenge you are embarking on. I know, because I was where you are about 20 years ago. My first index was built for two reasons; to learn VB; and to correct the errors that I saw in the pre-Kalmbach index of the time.

My index is The Railroad Index. It can be found in two of the drop-down menus on the MRH home page. Your friend, Bill Brillinger, doesn't think much of it, but I have had some great compliments from others who have tried it. There is a visitor book on the site. Please give my index an honest try, and then leave me a comment: good; bad; or indifferent.

Also in the menu is an item, "Why This Index Is the Best". That link will take you to  fairly long list of reasons that it IS the best. I suggest you pay particular attention to No. 18, "Tag Expansion Is an ABSOLUTE Necessity". This is all about getting all the relevant items on a search: like "flat car" and "flatcars"; like "boxcars" and "box car"; like "Matt Snell" and "M.R. Snell".

Perhaps you should also consider separate items buried within columns like "Questions, Answers & Tips". And also significant keywords buried within an article. Some articles have a general title and then cover multiple subjects, probably at least some of which should be indexed.

I have played with the spreadsheet some, as you can see from the suggested search words above. I also found that the search string must absolutely match the string in the spreadsheet. If an extra space, for instance, sneaks into either the spreadsheet item or the search string, it's a NO MATCH situation. If you search on "nyc pullman" and find some items, searching on "pullman nyc" miss those same items.

When you have a results list from The Railroad Index up, click on the INSPECT link of any item, and you will see the internal search field. This field is assembled by the AutoTagging feature, which is exclusive to my index. This is what the FIND function looks at, rather than the individual database fields. You might find that interesting.

There is so much to consider. However, if your index is freely accessible online, I will volunteer as a tester. I would probably be a tough critic, but be assured that I will be an honest critic.

Rod Goodwin
IndexGuy

MRH TOC Index

Dear Mr. Goodwin,

I am sorry you seem to feel slighted by the existence of my TOC index. I would like to clarify something that you seem to be missing. The TOC index was not created to replace your index or even compete with it. It was created out of a desire to have a single listing of the TABLE OF CONTENTS of MRH in a single view.

With it you can, at a glance, see what kind of topics have been covered in MRH and do some simple sorting or searching. It was not meant to be a full index of the magazine or the site, only a table of contents.

Your index is great if you know what you are looking for - but it is not good for "perusing the contents" looking for something that might be of interest.

This is the post that spawned the project:

MRH TOC readily available

Bill et al;

I think I understand what you are after now. It looks like what you want is like sitting with a pile of hardcopy magazines, and just going through the TOC pages. If something catches your eye, you can flip the issue open to that page and have a look. For MRH, there are two approaches ready and waiting for you, as follows:

1. On the MRH website. Put the mouse on the Magazine tab and click on Current Issue or Back Issues. Locate the issue you want to scan and click View Online. Locate the TOC page at the bottom of the display and there you are. There is a link on each TOC item to take you right to that item. Simple, and already there.

2. Go to the-railroad-index.com. You will see the Search Control page. Let's say for argument's sake you want to peruse Aug 2012. In the search box, put "mrh 2012 aug" (any order). You will see a listing of all items for that particular issue. NOTE:

   a) I use the actual title and title-text from the article instead of that in the TOC. The info in the MRH TOC is sometimes truncated.

b) I add other keywords from the article, shown to the right of the title in the list. This gives you a little more insight into the article, making it easier to determine if it is an article you might want to read. These are not available on the MRH TOC.

 c) I list as s  eparate items the things in columns like "Questions, Answers & Tips", again making it easier to determine if it is an answer/question or tip that you would like to check out. These are not available on the MRH TOC.    

If you want to actually read the article/item, simple click on the VISIT link displayed as part of the item.

I hope you find this useful,
Rod Goodwin
IndexGuy

MRH TOC thread closed?

There were two threads opened on the subject, which caused some confusion and loss of continuity. I propose that further discussion take place on this thread:

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/mrh_toc_index?page=1

And so one year later

I decided to proceed with the concept I had described in my comment last year this month. I wanted to provide more versatility in the search function as well as bypassing the need for a copy of the MS Office Access Application. This done by (as mentioned) creating the lookup program in MS Visual Basic V6 and using an Access database file for the data table(s) and using the MS Jet database engine via an Open Data Base Connectivity (ODBC) connection. So I have something that now works for me with some slight alteration to the TOC data provided by Bill Brillinger. In launching the PDF, I restrict the PDF file name to the landscape version and I restrict the Issue column content to the actual issue number, not a Volume/Issue format as Bill had used (the later copies of the magazine from MRH have the issue number a prefix delimited with a period ("."). I chose to maintain that format. I use two separate tables, one for the name of the PDF file and the other to provide the URL for the MRH web site.

My effort can be packaged using the Inno packaging utility to include my program and the MS Access database for those wishing to use it. This program will only work on an MS Windows platform (Windows 2000, XP and possibly Windows 7 - the latter I have yet to test - it might also work with Windows 8, but I have no way of testing for that).

Here is what the program looks like:

All the searching is done with "LIKE" statements, including the "Combo" search - the latter has a choice of the AND or the OR functionality. Using the "LIKE" operator in the search statement allows for partial content matching (e.g., "card" in the description field yields car and cardboard containing descriptions).

The Date, Author and Title entry objects include drop down lists for all the instances for that column, but the value entered does not need to be a complete match.

You are aware

That the VB6 compiler will not even load on a Win 7 machine?

@Mycroft

Hi James,

Well, I do not run the compiler on Win7 - I only run the compiler on Win2k. The app I compiled works on Win2k and WinXP. I have yet to try the app on Win7 (I have a few computers in my lab - home office). All I may have a problem with is whether or not the MSVBVM60.DLL and possibly one or more other extensions work on Win7. My app would most likely work on Win98, but who has that nowadays?

Windows 7 compatibility

In my design I chose to use the "easy" path by use of a MS ActiveX control: ActiveX Data Objects Data Control (ADODC). The use of this control simplifies some of the mechanisms in the program. It requires the use of an ActiveX support file, MSADODC.OCX. Unfortunately, when the newbies at MS developed Windows Vista and subsequently Windows 7, they made a major mess of the Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) functionality in Windows; hence, the MSADODC.OCX does not work with my program. I will, most likely, resort to programmatic use of the brother of ADODC: ADODB, which I am convinced (having already tested it) will work in Windows 7. Revamping my program will take some time, so my efforts will not soon be available for those wishing to use it on Windows 7.

Now functions in Win7

I replaced the ADODC control with an ADODB recordset and bound the data display to that recordset. It is now tested to run on Win7. If you wish a copy, contact me through the contact tab on my MRH forum profile. The program appears essentially the same as pictured in my earlier comment.

The Railroad Index is Gone?

While I don't pretend to understand most of what I read above, The Railroad Index concept seemed interesting so I clicked on the link.  If you try and get something useful, please let me know.  All I found was that the domain name is now available for purchase.

Chuck

You need to download the attached file,

,so just click there

Index of MRH

Rod Goodwin's "Railroad Index" is no longer available.

An Excel Based Index of MRH is here: http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/mrh_toc_index

The File posted in this thread is for converting the excel based index to MS Access.