DONE: Create Folder, Give It Name: Current Date and Time

[nkormanik]

Searching the Internet I came across the following PowerShell script:

New Folder Date Time.ps1

$folderName = (Get-Date).tostring("yyyy-MM-dd hh-mm-ss")
New-Item -itemType Directory -Path . -Name $FolderName
Executin

IF this .ps1 file is in the current directory, and executed by PowerShell, an example of the result will be a new folder:

2018-10-17 07-28-52

Here is the challenge, however....

Create in the current folder (subdirectory) the above new folder, current date and time.  From the context menu.  And don't require that the executable script reside in the current folder -- executable script (or program??) should be in some other permanent location.

Seems odd that such does not already exist out there somewhere.

All thoughts, suggestions appreciated!

Nicholas Kormanik

[4wd]

Double-click on the Create Date-Time Folder - Install.reg file and answer Yes to let it merge with the registry.

It'll create a menu item called Create Date-Time Folder in the context menu of folders only, ie. you need to right-click on a folder to use it.

Create Date-Time Folder - Install.reg

Code: (text)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\Create Date-Time Folder\command]
@="C:\\\\Windows\\\\system32\\\\WindowsPowerShell\\\\v1.0\\\\powershell.exe -sta -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -NoProfile -Command \"New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path '%1' -Name ((Get-Date).tostring('yyyy-MM-dd hh-mm-ss'))\""

If you don't want the output window that opens you can add | Out-Null after the two close brackets, ie. )) | Out-Null \""


And to remove it, double-click on the other file and answer Yes to merge it.

Create Date-Time Folder - Remove.reg

Code: (text)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\Create Date-Time Folder]

ADDENDUM: Added two more .reg files, these are to Install/Remove the context menu item for when you right-click on the background from within a folder, (ie. you don't need to right-click on a folder).

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

Code: (text)

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\Create Date-Time Folder\command]
@="C:\\\\Windows\\\\system32\\\\WindowsPowerShell\\\\v1.0\\\\powershell.exe -sta -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -NoProfile -Command \"New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path '%1' -Name ((Get-Date).tostring('yyyy-MM-dd hh-mm-ss'))\""

Code: (text)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\Create Date-Time Folder]

[KodeZwerg]

@4wd cool job!

[4wd]

It actually doesn't need the following parameters -sta -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -NoProfile but it won't do any harm to leave them.

I was just being lazy and didn't remove them when I modified another file 

[nkormanik]

4wd, ya did it again.  Exactly what I was hoping for.

Perhaps other Windows users will find their way here, and download some great little tools to make life a little easier.

Thanks!

[nkormanik]

Curious if anyone else gets the following error when the 'background' reg is used, and attempting to create date-time folder:

"explorer.exe

This file does not have an app associated with it for performing this action. 
(...etc)."


I've been trying to research it, but seem to arrive at dead ends.

[4wd]

More info, Desktop background or the background of a folder in File Explorer?

The image in my original post shows what I mean for the second.

Fwiw, I get that using the context menu for MediaInfo, sometimes it does it, most of the time it works.

[nkormanik]

Both Desktop background and background of a folder.  Both give that damn error message.

Spent hours trying to see what others have done out there.  Tried many suggestions.  No use.

The really weird thing is, I think I remember encountering this issue before, maybe a year or so ago.  Should have documented the solution then, and saved such in a retrievable place.

[nkormanik]

I'm wondering what explorer.exe has to do with it anyway.  It's PowerShell we're using....

[wraith808]

I'm wondering what explorer.exe has to do with it anyway.  It's PowerShell we're using....

That could be because explorer.exe isn't just Window explorer.  It's the shell.

[nkormanik]

If one puts the entire error message into a Google search, gets a ton of hits.

But no one seems to have a definitive answer.

I'm in the perplexing situation now where I've implemented a bunch of the suggestions out there -- none worked -- and now I'm wondering if I should regress to a backup I made just prior to the said implementations.

Go figure.

[4wd]

I found it just stopped doing it for some reason, whether it was an update or something I installed who knows.

[IainB]

@4wd:

I found it just stopped doing it for some reason, whether it was an update or something I installed who knows.

Ruddy heck. I'd speculate that the cause was likely to be the Registry settings had been zapped (changed/deleted) by a Windows update.
Pity. That was a nifty fix too.   
What to do? Presumably reinstall as at 4wd Reply #1 on: 2018-10-17, 22:06:42 »?

You'd never know if/when it had been zapped again though. Might need to do that reinstall each time prior to running the thing (or as a default part of running it) every time, just in case. Belts-and-braces.

[nkormanik]

Regarding the original question above, I discovered (i.e., Google search) that 4wd's PowerShell script also works by calling from a batch file.

Place the two below together into the same fixed folder:

New Folder Date Time.bat:

@ECHO OFF
PowerShell.exe -Command "& '%~dpn0.ps1'"


New Folder Date Time.ps1:

$folderName = (Get-Date).tostring("yyyy-MM-dd hh-mm-ss")
New-Item -itemType Directory -Path "C:\0_SAS_1" -Name $FolderName


In the registry "command" space place the "path+New Folder Date Time.bat":

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\Create Date-Time Folder\command]
@="\"C:\\Windows System Tools\\0 Create Date-Time Folder\\New Folder Date Time.bat\""


From handy context menu in folder background.  Easy peasy.  And no rude error message.

The only remaining fly-in-the-ointment is the specific location where the new date-time folder is created.  In the case above, it's bolded: C:\0_SAS_1.  Only works with respect to that one folder location.  Would greatly prefer that it work in ANY folder background, and create the new date-time folder in that folder.

But, at least....

[nkormanik]

By the way, I ended up regressing to back-up.  All the "fixing" screwed the pooch.  Clear anomalies.  As said, no definitive answers.

[4wd]

You need to pass through the parameter given to the batch file when it's called.

On my phone atm but the batch receives the current folder in parameter %1, you need to pass it through to PowerShell.

At the start of the PoSh script you need:

Param (
  [string]$folder
)

$folder now contains the current path so you can put it after the -Path parameter in the New-Item cmdlet.

[Curt]

64 bit, Windows 10, PC:

"This file does not have an app associated with it for performing this action. (...etc)."

#metoo

[4wd]

64 bit, Windows 10, PC:

"This file does not have an app associated with it for performing this action. (...etc)."

#metoo

Windows 10 is the problem, it happens across different configurations, different programs.

[nogojoe]

Curious if anyone else gets the following error when the 'background' reg is used, and attempting to create date-time folder:

"explorer.exe

This file does not have an app associated with it for performing this action. 
(...etc)."


I've been trying to research it, but seem to arrive at dead ends.

getting the same message Win XP 3

[Tron2024]

Hi all, User (not coder) Time traveller here from 2024! still relevant 14 years later. Through power of AI GPT, it was able advise how to overcome the no programme error for the background version.

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\Create Date-Time Folder\command]
@="powershell.exe -Command \"New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path '%V' -Name (Get-Date -Format 'yyyy-MM-dd hh-mm-ss')\""

Also the time (hh-mm-ss) can be removed.

The click on folder option work first time.

thanks 4wd and you all for this. is create a lot of dated folders and this will be a great help. still relevant 14 years later!