Recent Posts

1526

Site/Forum Features / Re: Updating the Quotes page

« Last post by Target on March 24, 2009, 01:20 AM »

that's actually a pretty cool page - I liked that you didn't just add the glowing comments

1527

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Find filenames/folders above certain length and offer to rename them

« Last post by Target on March 23, 2009, 11:34 PM »

for a coding snack this is turning out to be quite an excercise

Be nice if:
one could expand the window horizontally.  Believe it or not some file names here are longer than will fit without scrolling.
highlighting on selected files could be adjusted on the fly, to match the value in the trim left/right spinners.
there were a 'trim between'.
one could select/copy directly from file names to paste into the 'custom replace' box.
there were an undo.
the tax man knocked on my door tomorrow to hand me a full, cash refund

-cranioscopical (March 23, 2009, 09:01 PM)

• I'll have a think about this one - I actually anticipated the question, but i was more concerned with getting it functional before worrying about anything like that
• are you asking for a 'real time' preview here?
• should be doable
• see above
• in my todo list.  I need to think about this some more though
• the cheques in the mail...

Good work so far.  This is probably one scenario you want to handle:

Files named:

file_01.jpg
file_02.jpg
file_03.jpg
...

If you trim right two places, and keep overwriting, you will end up with a single "file_.jpg" file.

-skwire (March 23, 2009, 11:09 PM)

many thanks, that's high praise indeed.

actually, this is pretty cool, not only have I written a file renamer, but it does compression as well!!

While I hadn't thought of this exact scenario, I knew there was always going to be a risk (hence the name).  At the end of the day we can't be protected from ourselves so there is implicitly a high level of responsibility on the user to take some care when carrying out these sorts of operations.

Having said that the idea is intriguing, but I can't quite see a strategy for dealing with it at this point 

1528

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Find filenames/folders above certain length and offer to rename them

« Last post by Target on March 23, 2009, 08:11 PM »

many thanks, I'm enjoying the excercise

and much as I enjoyed the reference, I'm not sure I want to produce something called crusties - that sort of thing that can follow you around (for years...)

contextually it's also a little confusing as the fellow was apparently either a minor deity (I'm somewhat used to this already) or a bandit.  It may be that there is sometimes little difference but I'd prefer the former rather than the latter

at the end of the day he came to a sticky end regardless which is also something I'd rather avoid if at all possible...

1529

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Find filenames/folders above certain length and offer to rename them

« Last post by Target on March 23, 2009, 06:24 PM »

I wondered if that would go past...

1530

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Find filenames/folders above certain length and offer to rename them

« Last post by Target on March 23, 2009, 05:35 PM »

OK, I'm pretty sure this has to be getting close...

I wasted a lot of time chasing a non existent bug (who knew '000' and '00' would evaluate to 0... ) - on the upside I found a couple of other errors that were masked by the (non-existent) bug

added a couple of extra's, a new name (Maim That File!), and a limitation (it will only load a single folder (and it's child files/folders) at any one time)

let me know if this works for you (actually, any feedback is good)

1531

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Find filenames/folders above certain length and offer to rename them

« Last post by Target on March 19, 2009, 10:34 PM »

new update -

changed the sort order which allows for folder renaming at the same time as files

EDIT - removed old attachment

1532

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Find filenames/folders above certain length and offer to rename them

« Last post by Target on March 19, 2009, 09:13 PM »

an update -

• added a 'folders only' checkbox - for limiting your add files actions to folders only...
  
• all functionality now, umm, functional...
• fixed hotkey (now back to F2 for editing a single entry)
• blocked folder renaming when files are also added to the listview (as changing folder names would change file paths as well...)
• added a replace field - this is something of an experiment.  Where the find field will accept comma separated strings, the replace field will only accept a single entry (be that a character or a string).  Net effect is that if there is an entry in the replace field ALL characters/strings in the find field will be replaced with that character/string (it will accept white spaces so you could easily get caught)

todo -

• do something about the trim functionality to trap requests to trim more than the available number of characters in a file name

I have been doing a bit of testing but i would greatly appreciate it if you (or anyone else for that matter) could do some for me (the more the better!!)

and if you have any feedback, please let me know...

I saw the other thread, I'll have a think about it and see if I can come up with anything...

EDIT - removed old attachment

1533

General Software Discussion / nice portable wiki

« Last post by Target on March 19, 2009, 05:58 PM »

maybe of interest to some, ran across this one this morning - <a href="http://wiki-in-a-jar.sourceforge.net/">Wiki In A Jar</a>

some nice features (see the screencast <a href="http://wiki-in-a-jar...tagtrees.htm>here</a>)

1534

Developer's Corner / Re: Frustration with User Feedback

« Last post by Target on March 19, 2009, 05:54 PM »

sounds like something that should go in a Wiki

tagging would provide the opportunity to quickly find related apps

1535

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Find filenames/folders above certain length and offer to rename them

« Last post by Target on March 19, 2009, 05:44 PM »

egads Skwire, you sure know how to motivate a guy...

-Target (March 19, 2009, 01:27 AM)

Beg pardon?

-skwire (March 19, 2009, 02:08 AM)

Majkinetor's a very capable AHK coder (I can only dream...), and seeing his app kind of makes my meagre efforts look, well, a bit sad...

1536

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Find filenames/folders above certain length and offer to rename them

« Last post by Target on March 19, 2009, 01:27 AM »

egads Skwire, you sure know how to motivate a guy...

1537

Developer's Corner / Re: Frustration with User Feedback

« Last post by Target on March 18, 2009, 10:30 PM »

I think it's unreasonable to expect feedback on an app just because you put it out there.

It's a fact that most people only do this if there's problem.  And I mean a serious problem (your darn program X made my monitor explode... ) 

Unfortunate, but it's human nature.

Likewise, download volumes don't necessarily mean anything.  As already stated many people (myself included) will D/L stuff just to see what it does (it sure sounds interesting), or if it's useful.  If not, it gets deleted without comment (or in my case, stored forever just in case... ).  If it does work, the user may quite happily use it at the exclusion of all else without ever letting you know how good it is - but they will tell their friends and colleagues

The important thing here is that this isn't a reflection on you as a developer or on the app in question.

If you want feedback you should probably ask for it in an appropriate forum (I won't limit that to DC, though it's probably an excellent place to start) before you release it into the wild

Perhaps we could even establish a pool of willing crash test dummies, or a new forum (test and feedback?) to do this for developers on an ongoing basis?

Having said all that -- I do think DC should take *extremely* seriously our responsibility to be a site where authors can get useful feedback and encouragement for their work (especially freeware authors since commercial authors have other resources and rewards at their disposal).  So I think we (and I) have let you down a bit

-mouser (March 18, 2009, 01:09 PM)

I don't think this is a 'failing' of DC, I think many here already take the opportunity to assess and offer feedback when asked

 

1538

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Find filenames/folders above certain length and offer to rename them

« Last post by Target on March 18, 2009, 09:44 PM »

actually i don't know. i'm afraid that both scripts - your's and skwire's will end up as identical twins. it'd be nice if there was a different approach, maybe in addition to trimming some rules-based renaming suggestions could be added.

-lanux128 (March 18, 2009, 07:44 PM)

haven't even looked at Skwires app - work impinges (how inconvenient...) - but it was inevitable that there would be similarities

predefined or rule based changes were suggested early in the piece, but how to decide which ones (so many choices, such a small gui...).  Make some suggestions...

I would like to finish this but if it's going nowhere there's not much point - while I enjoy the learning exercise and the opportunity to help out it's a waste if no ones going to use it.

Please give more feedback.  the more you give the better the final result will be...

1539

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Find filenames/folders above certain length and offer to rename them

« Last post by Target on March 18, 2009, 05:10 PM »

yes, i can see that trimming can cause certain files to have the same truncated file-names. it's a good idea that you are testing all possibilities before committing to the actual renaming.

-lanux128 (March 18, 2009, 03:36 AM)

anything else, or should i work on converting it to a a functional app?

and would you like me to try and include any of the suggestions you made for Skwires response?

1540

Living Room / Re: the (d)evolution of hardware

« Last post by Target on March 17, 2009, 11:58 PM »

building a case is one thing, but this guys taken it to whole new level...

1541

Living Room / Re: the (d)evolution of hardware

« Last post by Target on March 17, 2009, 09:03 PM »

yes, a rather cool project I thought

I was most amused by the various backhanders (Chris#, Linaxe, etc)...

1542

Living Room / the (d)evolution of hardware

« Last post by Target on March 17, 2009, 06:04 PM »

some people have w a a a y too much time on their hands...

from slashdot this morning...

<a href="http://chrisfenton.c...n.com/diy-laptop-v2/<a>

1543

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Find filenames/folders above certain length and offer to rename them

« Last post by Target on March 17, 2009, 05:58 PM »

further update...

• F2 Hotkey - not fixed, but changed to WIN+F2 in the interim (this gives F2 back to your other applications)
  
• sample functionality for Trim AND custom

the script now loops through the selected items and performs whatever actions you have checked on the right hand side. Some care is needed with the custom function as it initial actions may create unintentional matches for subsequent actions.  NOTE - the actions you specify do not have any impact on the actual files at this point.  The functionality is intended for testing and evaluation purposes only

todo -

• recognises overlapping trims, ie where the total characters trimmed exceed the number of characters in a given file name
• fix the hotkey issue
  
• convert the sample functionality into something useful
• clean up/rationalise the gui
  

over to you...

1544

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Find filenames/folders above certain length and offer to rename them

« Last post by Target on March 17, 2009, 12:59 AM »

[Apologies, Lanux128 and Target.  I've been busy with Trout code, PlayTime code, both daughter's soccer games and my own hockey games.  =]  It looks like Target has you well in hand.

-skwire (March 17, 2009, 12:52 AM)

no apologies necessary, you gotta do what you gotta do!!

not sure if I'd say I had this in hand though, it's more like a tenous grip on one edge...

I was kinda looking forward to your solution though (I have no doubt it would be both more elegant and more capable than mine)

1545

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Find filenames/folders above certain length and offer to rename them

« Last post by Target on March 17, 2009, 12:53 AM »

yeah, folders might be a bit of problem (if you change a folder name, all the filepaths are changed as well...)

sorry, thought that was what you were asking for as a feed for adding folders (the messagebox was for debugging so it can safely be ignored).  Thinking about it a bit more though I can see a number of problems with this approach (so out it goes... )

1546

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Find filenames/folders above certain length and offer to rename them

« Last post by Target on March 17, 2009, 12:08 AM »

the apply button works but only in a limited fashion, ie I've added some sample functionality to the trim functions. 

To play with it just check a box (both at once if you like) and hit apply.  The results are displayed in the list only so you can't do any damage...

quite a bit more work to do with that side of things yet...

added an edit box to paste a path AND drop file functionality (drop a folder on the gui to load it - you need to set your string length first, or set it and refresh it afterwards)
 
haven't had a chance to look at the hotkey issue (I may be able to get to it later on tonight, or in the morning) 

1547

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Find filenames/folders above certain length and offer to rename them

« Last post by Target on March 16, 2009, 10:53 PM »

try this then...

• fixed (?) the issue with editing the first entry
• added a refresh button (doing this automagically for a spinner isn't going to work)
• added some sample functionality to the trim functions (it changes the values in the list, but that's all).  This isn't complete as it doesn't loop through the list yet (i'm getting there...)

 

Not sure about confining the hotkey to that app (I usually try and pick unique keys), it must be doable but I'll have to see what I can find out

1548

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Find filenames/folders above certain length and offer to rename them

« Last post by Target on March 16, 2009, 05:54 PM »

not sure if there's been a solution or not (it's vewy vewy quiet out there...) but here's my work on this so far - apologies if the code is untidy, but it is a work in progress

Basic functionality only so far, ie you can only edit a single file at a time. 

Select a folder using the add files button.  Files are filtered by the number of characters in the file name (excluding the xtn) using the spinner at the top.  Multiple folders can be added (folders are included in the list)

F2 or double click to edit the selected item (only)

ToDo -

capture single click (x2) editing

Preconfigured rules - I thought about the suggestions for this and it seemed they could be distilled down to a couple of basic rules, ie Trim Left, Trim Right, and replace custom.  I envisage Custom as being a comma separated list of characters/strings to remove from a file name (each character/string would be removed sequentially) - this is potentially problematic as the initial actions may create unintentionial matches for subsequent actions

any thoughts/suggestions/feedback (am I on the right track here??)

EDIT - removed old attachment

1549

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the proper way (etiquette) of replying to emails?

« Last post by Target on March 15, 2009, 09:01 PM »

seems like this has less to do with etiquette, and more to do with clear communications

And like Deozaan says, the method you use will depend on the subject, the context, and the audience

1550

Coding Snacks / Re: [Request] Consolidate files in the parent folder

« Last post by Target on March 12, 2009, 09:13 PM »

you're most welcome Carol!!

i did consider what Mouser said, but you'd already said the filenames were all unique (I could change it to cater for that if you want...)

and thanks for the credits (not necessary, but appreciated)