I have 1000's of scanned field books as PDF. Each has a unique filename. In a spreadsheet I have metadata for each, where each row has:

index number, filename, info1, info2, info3, info4, etc.

filename is the exact file name of the PDF. info1 is just an example of a metadata field, such as 'Year' or whatever. There are only about 8 fields or so, not ever PDF is relevant to all of them.

I assume there should be a reasonable way to create a database, mysql, or other, reading the spreadsheet (which I can just saves as .csv or .txt or something). This part I am sure I can handle.

I want to be able to lookup/search for a pdf file based on entering in various search items based on the metadata, and get a list of results. In a web interface, or a custom window, and be able to click on the results and open the file. Basically a typical search window with predefined fields you can enter and get results - like at an old school library terminal.

I have decent coding skills in python, mostly math, but some file skills as well. Looking for guidance on what tools and approach I should take to this. My short term goal is to be able to query and find files and open whatever results. Long term want to be able to share this with the public so they can search and find stuff.

After trying to figure out what to search for online, I am obviously at a loss. How do you suggest I do this and what tools or libraries should I use. I cannot find an example of this online. Not sure how to word it.

CodePudding user response：

The actual data stuff could be done with Pandas:

• read the excel file into Pandas
• perform the search on the Pandas dataframe, e.g. using df.query()

But this does not give you a GUI. For that you could go for a web app, using Flask or Django framework. That, however, one does not master over night :) This is a good course to learn that kind of stuff: https://www.edx.org/course/cs50s-web-programming-with-python-and-javascript?index=product&queryID=01efddd992de28a8b1b27d136111a2a8&position=3