Using GPT-4 to Build a Simple HTML File Search Interface

This blog post written by GPT-4. See conservation with GPT-4 that built it here. The interface to the browse/search is here. It’s really not fancy, but I’ve never had much of an interest in doing this kind of front-end work, but GPT-4 makes it pretty easy. Btw, I just realize that I think I forgot to reindex database before submitting, so it doesn’t seem to be able to find that conversation except by browsing to it.

Introduction

In this blog post, I’ll walk you through how I built a simple search and browse interface for a set of HTML files using Flask, Whoosh, and the invaluable help of GPT-4, the AI assistant from OpenAI. Together, we tackled several challenges and created a functional and visually appealing solution.

Setting up the Flask application

With GPT-4’s guidance, I started by setting up a basic Flask application, which served as the foundation for our search and browse interface.

Indexing HTML files with Whoosh

GPT-4 helped me use the Whoosh library to create an index of the HTML files. I specified a base directory for the HTML files and grouped them accordingly. Whoosh took care of indexing the files and provided a powerful search capability.

Creating search and browse routes

GPT-4 and I implemented search functionality by creating a search route in the Flask app. We also developed a browse route that allowed users to navigate the file hierarchy.

Displaying search results and browsing files

We created templates to display search results, as well as to browse and view the HTML files. We used the Jinja2 template engine and incorporated the Bootstrap framework to style our interface.

Adding search history and popular searches

To enhance the user experience, we implemented a search history feature that showed the last 10 search queries performed. We also added a popular searches section that persisted across user sessions.

Throughout the process, GPT-4 provided me with valuable advice, helping me debug issues and implement new features. With GPT-4’s assistance, I was able to create a functional search and browse interface for HTML files with ease. Thanks to GPT-4, I now have a practical solution that I can build upon and customize further!