28. The computer program product of claim 27 , further comprising: computer program instructions, encoded on the medium, for controlling a processor to perform the operation of: creating references in an index to the electronic files in the data store responsive to the indexing data to enable subsequent access to the files by a user application using the index.
27. A computer program product comprising: a computer readable medium; and computer program instructions encoded on the medium, for controlling a processor to perform the operations of: receiving electronic files and descriptions of the files, the descriptions descriptive of attributes of the electronic files and generated responsive to a specification comprising instructions for describing the files and syntax rules for the descriptions; locating electronic files on a storage medium based on location information contained within the descriptions; copying the electronic files into a data store; extracting indexing data about the electronic files from the descriptions of the electronic files; and indexing the electronic files in the data store responsive to the indexing data extracted from the descriptions of the electronic files.