NAMEMASTER version 052100:

Purpose:
To rename files, of course.

License:
This program, as is all of my code, is my gift to God, for giving me the knowledge, ability, and drive to write programs. You are free to use this program anytime, anywhere, anyplace, and for any reason you desire, for as long as you desire, except you may not sell this program for any amount, and you may not use this program as part of another program for the purpose of gaining money or other assets, no matter what their value.
If you wish to make money with this program, whether in stand-alone form, or as part of another program, contact me by email: scatatacs@hotmail.com, and be prepared to pay alotta money ! I do not want this program sold.

If you want to distribute this program, you may do so. All I ask is that you include in the distribution ALL of the documentation that accompanied it,that you remember where you got it from, and that you do not modify the program in any way.

DISCLAIMER:
Use this software at your own risk. I will not be responsible for any damage caused by using it. This includes, but is not limited to, Operator Headspace errors (user mistakes). 

LIMITATIONS:
NAMEMASTER has few limitations. 
First being, it cannot generate numbers greater than 9999. This is not a system limitation, it's limited because I have not coded a "Numbering 5" option. Maybe I will, another day, but for now, just don try to rename more than 9999 files at a time using a numbering option.

Next, you can only perform renames in one directory at a time. I have considered changing this, but that idea is WAY on the back-burner...
NAMEMASTER cannot force illegal characters into filenames (like ">" and "/", etc...). It does a pretty good job of making sure none of these exist in the new filename, and if it misses one, it will simply skip that file upon attempting to rename. The action will be logged and reported to you in the "Files not renamed" window.

I am under some confusion about whether or not NAMEMASTER will rename read-only files. In some tests, errors occurred. In others, the files were renamed without a hitch. Until I get to the bottom of this, suffice it to say that NAMEMASTER will rename some read-only files.
It won't, however, rename hidden or system files. 100% of the tests (and there have been alot) have generated errors on these filetypes. I'm not going to change this, because I don't think you should rename a system file. Let the system rename it, if it wants, huh ?


HOW TO USE NAMEMASTER:
Well, it's really pretty easy. First, of course, start the program. Then use the drive, directory, and file lists to select the files you want to rename. Then select the renaming convention you want to use, and click the "Rename" button. 
As I said, it's pretty easy.

MAIN WINDOW\BUTTONS: 

MAIN WINDOW\RENAME: This button is to be clicked after you have selected a file, or files, to rename, and after you have selected the renameing convention. Once you click this, the "Shownew" window will open, displaying a list of the files you selected, and what they will be renamed to (seperated by a " > "). You can remove items from this list by selecting the appropriate items and clicking the "Remove from list" button. You can do this as many times as you like (long as there are files to remove). If you click the button and no files are selected, no files will be removed (natch). If you click the "Remove..." button and there are no files in the list, nothing will happen (natch..again)
If you click the "Rename" button, and have not selected files or an appropriate naming convention, you will be prompted with an error message, and will have the opportunity to try again. NAMEMASTER can do many things, but cannot read minds. (yet...)

MAIN WINDOW\UNDO PREVIOUS: This button is an interesting feature which will allow you to "Undo" a previous rename process , provided you saved the "Undo" list after that process (see "SAVE UNDO" below). Clicking this, you will be faced with an explorer dialogue, with which you can select the saved undo. Upon selecting the undo, the program will list the appropriate path in the file list on the main window, then will open the "Shownew" window showing you how the files will be renamed. You can manipulate this in the same way as mentioned above, removing any files you do not want renamed.

MAIN WINDOW\UNDO: This button will not appear until after you have renamed some files. It is available to allow you to undo the rename you just did, and will not be available to you otherwise. Clicking this will open the same "Shownew" window, allowing you to manipulate as you desire. 

MAIN WINDOW\SAVE UNDO: This button will not appear until after you have renamed some files (like the "UNDO" button). It is available to allow you to save the undo list for later use, if you desire. Clicking this will open an explorer dialogue, with which you can select a file to save the info to. NAMEMASTER will automatically give this file the extension of ".und", even if you type in your own extension. For instance, if you type in "undo.txt", the file will be saved to "undo.txt.und". Keep this in mind please.

MAIN WINDOW\EXIT: Please, this is self-explanatory. It will close the program. You can execute this button several ways. Click it, of course, or use the keyboard "alt-X" command, or use the "Esc" key. 


MAIN WINDOW\LABELS: 

There are several labels on the main window. Holding the mouse over them momentarily will allow the tool-tip to display. The label tool-tips can be informative, or just a pain in the ass. Why write a tool-tip for a label ? Cause the option was available. Explore these interesting features, as you might learn something.

MAIN WINDOW\TEXT BOXES:
3 text boxes grace the main window with their presence.
 
MAIN WINDOW\FILE PATTERN: The first I'd like to point out allows you to chose an extension pattern to display in the file list. For instance, if you type in "*.jpg", only files with that extension will be displayed. Typing in "*.*" will display all files (default). Please be advised that the file list is unaware of the file attributes, excep for hidden files. In other words, it will display "Read-only", "System", and "Archive" files, without discrimination. There is supposed to be a way to fix this, but it doesn't seem to work. When I fix it, I will let you know. For the time-being, be satisfied with knowing that NAMEMASTER will not rename "Hidden" or "System" files (see "UNNAMED\LIST" for details). I will not change this, cause as sure as I do I will get emails: "Your software sucks ! I renamed files, and now my computer doesn't work !". B4 sending me emails like this, please refer to the "DISCLAIMER". 
Oh surprise ! (duh ? I really just discovered this) the "File pattern" supports the "?" boolean, as well as the "*" boolean, and is not limited to extensions. You can specify filenames, or parts of filenames, etc... Experiment with this a while, and see how it works. 

MAIN WINDOW\NEW NAME: This text box allows you to specify a new name for the files you've selected. Please do not type in a name, then select "0" for numbering. This will not work, and you will be prompted with an "OOPS !". You can, however, use a boolean operator ("*" and "#" are the only ones available at the moment. Later versions will incorporate the use of "?"). 

"*" boolean: This simply specifies that you'd like to keep the original name, along with any new name or #s. Location of the "*" specifies the location in the new name, of the original name. For example, let's say you've selected to rename a file called "test.jpg", and in the "New name" box, you've typed "1*". The new name would come out to "1test.jpg". Another example is, lets say you've selected the same file, and typed "*1-" and selected the numbering convention "2" (see "MAIN WINDOW\NUMBERING" below). This would produce a new name of "test1-01". Feel free to experiment with this. Don't forget to save the "Undo" list after each rename !

"#" boolean: This specifies to NAMEMASTER where to put the number in the name. For instance, using "test.txt" as our selected file, if we entered "#test" in the "New name" box, the result would be "01test.txt". You can place the "#" anywhere in the name box you want (long as there's something in front of it) Try it with an "*" for interesting results ! Please note that if you enter the "#" in the "New name" box and select "Numbering 0", there will be no number ("Numbering 0" returns a nul string, instead of a number, to NAMEMASTER).

MAIN WINDOW\NEW EXT: This text box allows you to specify a new extension for the files you've selected. You can either use this alone (if you only want to change the extension), or in conjunction with the "Numbering" options and "New names" option. EXAMPLE: Say you've selected "test.txt" to rename, and you've typed in ".JPG" in the "New ext:" box ('.' unnecessary. NAMEMASTER will add if if need be). This will produce "test.JPG" Future versions may or may not allow the use of booleans ('*', '?', and '#'), but none of these are available as of this writing.

MAIN WINDOW\NUMBERING: This little "combo box" allows you to select the amount of digits to use in numbering the files you've selected. First of all, selecting "0" here disables the numbering, and can only be used if the "*" is in the "New name" box, or if you are just changing extension. Otherwise, set it appropriately. Selecting "4" will rename "test.jpg" to "0001.jpg". If you put into the "New name" box "*_", and select the number 4, the result will be "test_0001.jpg". If you have selected 100 files, and only selected the number 2, NAMEMASTER will prompt you, and will add an extra digit to the numbering. Far as I know, there's no way around this, since I ntentionally set it up this way to avoid naming errors. The same rule applies to allof the numbering options, except the "0" and the "4". The "4", being the maximum, will result in a general error if you have selected more than 9999 files to rename. Please don't keep 10000 files in one directory. Make some sub-directories. Organize yer stuff man ! hihihi...

SHOWNEW WINDOW:
This window will appear after you have either clicked the "MAIN WINDOW\RENAME" button, the "MAIN WINDOW\UNDO" button, or the "MAIN WINDOW\UNDO PREVIOUS" button. It's prupose is to generate a list of the files you've selected, show the new names for each of the files, and allow you to remove undesireables from the list, or cancel the action. At this point, no files have been renamed until you click the "OK" button. 


SHOWNEW WINDOW\LABELS: Again, there are some labels on this window which can be informative, and some can be a pain !. Explore the tool-tips for the labels.


SHOWNEW WINDOW\LIST: In this list, you will see the old fileames and the pending new filenames, seperated by a " > ", and preceded with "Rename ". You can select one or more of these items and click "Remove from list" if you don't want them renamed.

SHOWNEW WINDOW\OK: This button executes the actual renaming, according to the files listed. Only the files in the list will be renamed, so if you've removed some, don worry bout em anymore. If NAMEMASTER encounters an error when renaming, it will create a list of all the items which caused an error. Upon completion of the process, you will be shown a list of items which produced errors (you will have the option to save this list).
General causes of errors are: NAMEMASTER tried to rename a hidden or system file, the file was moved/deleted after the rename list was created, or a file with the new name already exists in the directory. (NAMEMASTER will not move/delete anything it's not supposed to). 
As I said before, NAMEMASTER will not rename hidden or system files. This is primarily for your protection, and I will not change this. Imagine the consequences if I were to enable NAMEMASTER to rename your registry files (not that you would be foolish enough to do chose this opition). 
BTW: If you receive errors upon attempting to rename read-only files, please let me know. During testing, I was unable to generate errors on this. I really don't want NAMEMASTER renaming read-only files. Personally, I think it's a bug with VB5 (my prog environment), because I told the damned file list not to display read-only files, but it does it anyway.

SHOWNEW WINDOW\CANCEL: This button allows you to cancel a rename action, before it begins. It will not be available to you after the "OK" button is clicked, but the "MAIN WINDOW\UNDO" button will. 

SHOWNEW WINDOW\REMOVE from list: Clicking this button will remove any items in the list that you've selected. If you have not selected any items, or if there are no items, nothing will happen.

That's about it for the readme. Check out "Examples.txt" for some examples on renaming methods.

Comments, suggestions, bitches, and/or $$$ should be sent to scatatacs@hotmail.com subject: NAMEMASTER

EOF