SlipBox

Would it be possible to store and index SlipBox files in EF? Seems that DEVONThink is able to do so. Thanks.

You can store the .slipbox files in EagleFiler, but it won’t index them. As far as I can tell, this is a custom file format, and SlipBox does not provide a Spotlight importer for it.

Here is the response from SlipBox’s developer:

Well, SlipBox generates cache files, which have the extension .sbxcache (located under ~/Library/Caches/Metadata). There is one file for each slip. SlipBox’s Spotlight importer works on these files. So that would be the way to go.

.sbxcache files are XML files that contain the key kMDItemFSName, which specifies the .slipbox file, which contains the original slip.
Does this help?

I’m aware that the Spotlight importer (and, thus, EagleFiler) works with .sbxcache files, but I don’t think that’s terribly useful. You don’t want to put a cache file in your EagleFiler library, do you?

I am not knowledgeable enough to recognize the disadvantages. I was hoping EF could index these, but that brings up back to the issue of indexing files external to the database. So, I assume this is not doable?

EagleFiler can index the cache files, but you would need to let it manage them in its library folder (it doesn’t store files in a database). And that’s probably not what you want, since SlipBox is already managing them in a different folder.

I realize that EF does not store anything ‘internally’ except its indices. I was trying to say that the only solution appers to depend on EF indexing files (or reading indices) that are maintaned outside its lIbrary structure. And I think I understand why this is a wise design decision. Thanks for your input!