Finishing Touches

Rename Master v2.9.7 is getting closer to being complete. In the last upload, the Skip/Execute step was updated with new functionality. This step can make any other step conditional.

The new conditions are 'matching', 'containing', or 'changing'. Matching let you test the filename using a filemask, like "*.jpg", or a literal string. Containing lets you test for a phrase in the name. Changing lets you test the result of the previous step.

While most will not need this step, those that do can use it to make some very detailed and specific scripts. Tasks that may have required two or more scripts to perform can be combined into a single script. This adds the ability to perform "if-then" logic and even "if-then-else" logic. This also can be used for more flexible filtering of filenames.

A New Step

One of the things that Rename Master doesn't do well is moving parts of the filename. To do this, a Remove Step is combined with an Add step and a special ?temp? variable. While it's very flexible because of the possible number of Remove and Add combinations, it's not very intuitive or easy to do.

I've had ideas before about trying to implement a "Split" style step, but I never thought of a good way to do it. The splitting portion would be easy to do, but using special temporary variables and an Add step was just as unintuitive as the Remove and Add procedure.

Recently, I had some feedback from a user showing how he used to perform expression style renaming using an abandoned freeware program. I, long ago, added full Regular Expression support to the program but very few people understand it, even programmers. While the example he showed me was complicated for a new user, it would have taken at least 8 steps in RM to replicate the same behavior.

Unless I could automate it somehow, I'd never add it to the program. It, however, was such a powerful method that even if only partially automated, it would likely be easier to learn than any other moving methods I've tried.

In the current Public Beta, I've included a new Split and Move step that has an Auto-Split button that will automatically generate example expressions. The program will automatically detect the most used file extension and use it as part of the filemask. Next, the program will detect spaces and symbols and use those as separators.

The bottom section is very similar, but it is used to re-order those parts in the new filename. The '$1', '$2' and '$3' variables represent the characters found for the first, second, and third asterisk in the above example picture. Those are the parts of the filename separated by spaces and dash. For example, a file named 'Artist - 01 - Song.mp3' would replace $1 with 'Artist', $2 with '01' and $3 with 'Song'. The expressions are simplified down and only use two special variables, [*] and [$x]. I may end up replacing the [*] variables with [$x] variables, if it makes this step a bit easier to learn.

ArsClip Tweaks

The External Editor routine has been re-worked. This is the default 'Edit Clip' action in newer versions of ArsClip. It now works asynchronously and doesn't freeze the program, but it still able to wait and detect when the program is closed. On close, the clipboard is updated if the file was saved and this item is also saved to the popup.

Any user set "Open With" file-type associations will be used over the system-wide settings. The "Edit" option is the default context menu item run, but it will default to "Open" if edit is missing. Current .txt and .bmp file types are supported with the Edit Clip options.

ArsClip and the Clip Menu

Long ago, I had an idea to show a menu next to the popup to edit clips. I had no idea how to get it to work and all experiments failed to produce something manageable.

In Windows, a popup window (context menu) is very specialized and extremely fickle. It only reports a very small amount of events and requires many dirty tricks to do thinks like detect a right click. Before, to show the 'item popup', it required holding down a keyboard modifier key to show this popup. In later versions of ArsClip, I found a sneaky way to detect a right click and used this for showing the item popup. Both methods, however, required closing the main popup.

In the current Public Beta, I've added a new Clip Menu that's shown when the Popup Clip or Permanent Clip icon is hovered. Showing the menu does not close the popup, but clicking on it does. While I'd like to use this menu to replace the right-click menu eventually, there are currently some issues that prevent this.

ArsClip's Scope and Feature Freeze

What I mean by "scope" is the minimalist definition: 'the purpose, end, or intention' of the program. When ArsClip (AC) was created, it was simply a program used to remember clipboard items and paste them. Anything that doesn't fit into the scope of the program was not added to the program. This is still the rule I use for adding features to the program.

Since that time, the scope of AC has been changed slightly because of practical reasons. For the program to specialize in pasting, it needed to be able to simulate keystrokes. While this is normally the job of a keyboard macro program, there was an intersection of functionality that both share. I definitely don't want to turn AC into a full-fledged macro program, but I also don't want to omit functionality that makes AC easier to work with. Permanent Clips grew from only simple static text items to also supporting flexible templates with optional global hotkeys.

I recently broadened the scope of AC to include copying to the clipboard. The clipboard only supports copying and pasting, but my program didn't do anything for helping users copy. As a true clipboard manager, I felt it needed to also support both. To do this, I've updated the Permanent Clip's already existing Keystrokes and Commands functions with new features. Once again, Permanent Clips has grown from supporting flexible template to also supporting text automation.

Most of the functions that works for text editing also work for copying and pasting. This functionality includes several methods of highlighting, copying, cutting, deleting, and pasting. There are several keystrokes available to perform these functions, so instead of adding every single combination, the Custom Key Combination takes care of anything not directly supported in the program. I also created an Examples section that shows how to do a few of these editing tasks.

---

The current Public Beta is now in feature freeze until the official release of version 3.2.2 of ArsClip. Only very minor changes and bugfixes may be released until that point.

Breadcrumbs - Rename Master

The breadcrumb-like functions added in version 2.9.6 were a stop-gap solution. Double-clicking on a text path at a specific location to display was very unintuitive. The method exposed on the Folder Tools button was much better, but still required 3 actions to perform. To navigate deeper, the path itself required either double-clicking in the "correct" location, or clicking on the drop-down button. This required working in a completely different section of the path to activate. With the controls available, this was about the best I could do -- unless I invested a large amount of time and created a custom control.

In the latest Public Beta upload (shown in the picture above), I've replaced the clunky drop-down path with a breadcrumb style control. It works very similar to the paths in Explorer in Vista (and above). Each part of the path is a click-able control, with one button for the path and one button for a drop-down list of folders. Clicking in a blank area of the path turns it into a text control for manually typing or pasting locations and Enter or clicking on another control closes it.

Last Changes in Rename Master v2.9.6

While I always disliked adding so much Explorer-like functions to Rename Master, but a program that works with files needs some common functionality. The two buttons next to the file path didn't do the job.

For the last interface change, I've created a single button for Folder Tools to replace the previous buttons. Currently, it currently supports navigation and context menu operations. The "up one folder" is a common operation, but to supplant a one-click button, I've added breadcrumb style navigation to surpass it. This is shown on the Folder Tools popup menu as "Change to Parent" -- that also documents that double-clicking the path performs the same task. What it doesn't show that double-clicking on the name of any parent folder in the path will activate the new menu. This isn't very intuitive, but it's very convenient.

Like previous changes to the Scripting tab, the Folder Tools logically gathers functions next to the control without cluttering the interface with seldom used controls. It also adds a section that can be expanded later with new functionality.

Permanent Clips Identity Crisis - Part 2

I've come up with a solution to the ArsClip problem, mentioned in the post below, that seems reasonable.

The Permanent Clip edit window still shows a little as possible in default mode. Visual cues exist to show that there are advanced options in the form of a 'More' button and two disabled buttons. Once the advanced options are enabled, the description is altered to show the 'Clip to Paste' has advanced functionality. This, however, only solves part of the problem.

A picture is worth a thousand words, or in this case an Example is worth a thousand words. I took an idea from MouseWrangler and added an example submenu to the Keystroke and Command menus. Both show the description of a task and insert the variables used to complete that task. One of my favorites examples shows how the [RUN] variable is used to do a Google search using the clipboard contents as the search term.

These new Keystroke examples show off a few basic Windows text editing shortcut keys that some may not know about. While not an exhaustive list, it's a good starting point to show off some highlighting and editing shortcut keys. The new Command examples show off using the clipboard contents in external programs and formatting the contents of the clipboard. These examples show some basic ideas that can be extended to create very elaborate actions. The all around goal is to introduce functionality without using an external help file.

The only thing that's not really addressed in this update is the idea that all these clilps can be activated with global hotkeys - bypassing the popup. I'm not sure there is a non-intrusive way to introduce that concept.