Folder-RSS: Monitor folder changes via rss

[justice]

Folder-RSS generates an newsfeed containing changes within a folder. Use it to see what files are new in a particular folder by subscribing with an newsreader such as Opera.

17 October 2007 -Righty a long awaited update to Folder-RSS
changes for version 0.9

Code

* repacked with the latest autohotkey - no more false positives from certain virus scanners
* support for Mouser's DcUpdater (let me know if this works well for you - folder-rss checks for updates on start, will make this an option
* new options thanks to donationcoder member requests:
  -only:files|folders = Only include files (-only:files) or folders (-only:folders) (Default is both)
  -only:*.ext = Only include *.ext files (eg. change to *.mp3 to include mp3 files only). (default = *.*)
  -maxage:`<number`> = Only show results last modified within the last `<number`> days (default=14)
  -maxitems:<number> = Only show up to <number> feeditems (default = 100)
* started work on graphical user interface for next version.

Download

Example:
folder-rss.exe "c:\browser downloads" d:\temp\latest.xml

(get the complete syntax by running the file)



You can only monitor specific files using wildcards. Put paths with spaces in quotes. Run it as a scheduled task once a day to generate a new feed! Defaults list the last 100 items that have been modified /are added within the last 14 days. Read-only, System and hidden files are not monitored unless specified.


AHK source + compiled .EXE provided. Your suggestions and comments are much appreciated  

There are bound to be bugs, but I am happy to squash them.

incompatible newsreaders

Sharpreader does not support local files

[2stepsback]

Folder-RSS generates an newsfeed containing changes within a folder. Use it to see what files are new in a particular folder by subscribing to the feed with an RSS reader like SharpReader:
Syntax: folder-rss.exe c:\temp > d:\temp\test.xml

               
People talk of (including my own yappity yap) moving from desktop to web. The reverse, it now seems, is even more interesting.
I was going to sit down and complete some programming tasks. But, you've succeeded in disrupting my schedule 

File filters should work, put paths with spaces in quotes. Run it as a scheduled task once a day to generate a new feed. Defaults list the last 100 items that have been modified /are added within the last 14 days.
AHK source + compiled .EXE provided. Your suggestions and comments are much appreciated  

Feature-packed and open source! drool drool droooooool.....

Also the software is really beta stage (first public appearance), so there's bound to be bugs, but as it's not doing much harm so safe to use. RSS2.0 validated feeds.

How about "Patent-pending standards-compliant webdesk(TM) technology"?

[cthorpe]

Does it monitor down into subfolders?

[justice]

yep, but in the AHK souce you'll find an option to disable subdirectories. (edit: now as a parameter)

I am using the following configuration atm:

Code: (autohotkey)

maxAge = 14	; only process files that are modified within x days (default=14)
maxItems = 100	; maximum items in rss feed (default=100)
includeSubFolders = 1 ; Monitor Subfolders (1=true (default), 0=false )
excludeFiles = R,H,S ; Skip any file that is either H (Hidden), R (Read-only), or S (System) Note: No spaces in "H,R,S"

[cthorpe]

Ok, so obviously I have no idea what I am doing, but I cannot figure out how to actually read the feed.  I tried Opera, and it's blank.  SharpReader says: "The specified cast is not valid."  Feed Demon says that the feed cannot be added.

[justice]

There's a known issue with Folder-RSS not generating valid feeds if one or more files have ampersands and other characters that should be carefully escaped in their filename.edit: now fixed. I suspect if you copy the contents of the result file into http://www.validome.org/rss-atom/ and validate it, it will say it fails?

Fixing this is a high priority! 

[jgpaiva]

justice:
Here's part of the code i used in one of my scripts, to solve that problem with '%' ',' '&' and ":

Code

  stringreplace,replaced_,replaced,`%,```%,replaceall
  stringreplace,replaced,replaced_,`,,```,,replaceall
  stringreplace,replaced_,replaced,`&,```&,replaceall
  stringreplace,replaced,replaced_,`",```",replaceall

I hope it helps!

[justice]

Oh thanks! I found an Xpath parser so I will soon generate real xml, but if i get stuck I'll try that approach too.

[cthorpe]

The validator says valid RSS 2.0.

If I have the xml file located at C:\rss\test.xml what should I put for the address in SharpReader?

[justice]

Ok I thought any RSS reader could open local links, it seems SharpReader rejects them. I guess I will have to test with other software and keep a list of which software is capable. You can run a mini-webserver like HFS or SimpleWWW if you don't mind this -- set up a site with the siteroot being the folder which contains the xml file, then you can browse to http://localhost/test.xml or similar and subscribe to the feed, or ask the developer(s) of Sharpreader to support the file:// protocol, I am unsure what else can be done about it 

However I have success with Opera 9.20:
If you just right click on the rss feed and do Open with -> opera you will get a url like:
file://localhost/C:\rss\test.xml

Now go to the menu bar Feeds -> Manage Feed -> Add -> enter file://localhost/C:\rss\test.xml as the url and it should load. I'll update the opening post!

[cthorpe]

Yay!  Got it in Opera!

Thanks.

[justice]

Released a new version tonight, thanks for the feedback it really inspires!

NEW version: May 2007 Alpha-2:

• Now generates valid XML through Xpath parser made by Titan; http://www.autohotkey.net/~Titan/dl/xpath.html
• commandline parameters added for exclusion of subfolders and inclusion of files with specific file attributes
• removed trayicon

[mouser]

Justice has been writing some very cool utilities here in the coding snacks section..
Please show him some support by sending him a few donationcredits along with a nice little message when you do

[alexk7110]

What a brilliant idea F-rss is..
One small suggestion though. I believe there should be a way to suppress the message boxes since scheduling the task and having the xml file sent automatically on an ftp server is only stopped by them. So for a full unattended run consider giving a -nomsg option.
Thanks again for this great app.. 

[justice]

Oops I left some debug msgboxes on by mistake 

NEW version: May 2007 Alpha-3:

• Switched off debug messages

[alexk7110]

Version alpha-3 works like a charm , now on to some more feature suggestions if I may..
- Exclude folder names from the compiled rss feed
- Either monitor specific file types or exclude file types ( I am using it on a downloads folder and all sorts of stuff ends up there and I was thinking of the possibility of monitoring only podcasts (.mp3) for example ..)
- possibility of posting feed on ftp server ( this is just lazy thinking since I complete this process through a simple batch script, but I guess more lazy or less savvy users might find this useful )
- Having the subfolder name where the changed file resides on the message text ( under the modified date )

I think I should stop now..
Your app is amazing, it's one of those "how come no-one thought of this before". It also gives me this warm fuzzy feeling of posting my own rss feed, for something useful too. Keep up the great work and thanks again..

[alexk7110]

A few hours later I realize that feedreader actually does most of the stuff I suggested earlier on the Rss reader endpoint.
I have created a smartfeed that displays only news with certain extensions and voila, I get only the video and audio podcasts on a news folder.
I guess sometimes I am looking at the finger instead of the moon that it's pointing to.. 

[justice]

Thank you for your suggestions Alexk! I'll consider them all, I don't want to add as many parameters as robocopy, but they're definately worth looking into.

[alexk7110]

I should mention that since using version 0.3 AVG Free antivirus reports folder-rss.exe as having a trojan in it, to be more specific it reports "Trojan horse Generic4.IRO". I did a full system scan just to make sure and I think it's pretty safe to say that it's a false positive but in any case I think you should look into it..

[justice]

AutoHotkey uses the new UPX executable compressor that was only recently released. Apparently AVG mistakenly reports this as the Generic4.IRO trojan. This is not just in my executable but with any executable produced by AHK. See the detailed explanation here. Updated definitions will probably fix this.

It is not a trojan, the anti-virus provider does not recognise the UPX compressor properly.

http://virusscan.jotti.org/
Scan taken on 16 May 2007 23:13:47 (GMT)
A-Squared Found nothing
AntiVir Found nothing
ArcaVir Found nothing
Avast Found nothing
AVG Antivirus Found Generic4.IRO
BitDefender Found nothing
ClamAV Found nothing
Dr.Web Found nothing
F-Prot Antivirus Found nothing
F-Secure Anti-Virus Found nothing
Fortinet Found nothing
Kaspersky Anti-Virus Found nothing
NOD32 Found nothing
Norman Virus Control Found nothing
Panda Antivirus Found nothing
Rising Antivirus Found nothing
VirusBuster Found nothing
VBA32 Found nothing

[alexk7110]

I've recompiled the ahk script with Autohotkey Version 1.0.46.15 and all is back to normal ( no AVG complaints  ).

[justice]

I'm working on some changes for Folder-RSS
I've got the following things working:

* -only:filename.ext = A single wildcard such as *.mp3 to include mp3 files only. Multiple wildcards will be more diffucult to implement. Default is *.*
* -only:files|folder = only include files or only process folders to the feed. Depending if things are organised into their own folder or not this can be handy. Default is both files and folders
* improved gui to make the syntax more maintainable and to point people to my support website. Also this could grow into a GUI Wizard for Folder-RSS is there is enough interest from you

Todo:
* Planning to make the other defaults changeable as well.
* Displaying the folder-structure in the feed; possible working file:// links if it can be done.

Regarding FTP support there are good products already on the market including AutoFTP to do this for you, it will require setting up ftp details etc. I see Folder-RSS more as a quick tool as part of a bigger command sequence. Let me know what you think.

Thanks for all your feedback so far it's very rewarding 

[alexk7110]

The "-only:files|folder" feature is the one I am expecting the most. Can't wait to try it.. I guess that if an easy to use gui comes later on, a Lifehacker.com feature is most likely to happen.

[TucknDar]

BUMP, but what an extremely cool script! I've hooked the RSS feed up to Website Watcher and can then remind myself of any new downloads and stuff

Had a bit of a problem downloading this though, since Avast! apparently didn't like the compiled AHK script , but disabling the resident scanner for a moment worked around it (as needless to say, I'll trust you won't spread virii through DC )

[justice]

Thanks a lot! the scanner is flagging a particular version of the executable processor Folder-RSS is using, it is fixed in the newest version of AHK but I never released an updated download. In this case its not a virus. I'll do that in the coming days.