xMassRenamer : a Mass File Renamer in C# (.NET 1.0)

[DarkZell666]

Well, I didn't know were to post this, of even if it has a place in Doom9's forum ... but knowing that people (at least I do xD) often fight with huge file collections, I thought this would be a good place to post my app in a first place ;)

I've been fed up for a while not being able to rename a bunch of files without overheating the F2 key ... so I got down to writting this mass file renaming app. (in C#, uses .NET 1.0 Framework)

Link here : http://tpechoc.free.fr/xMassRenamer/xMassRenamer_20060414.exe

Quick guide :

1. Open a directory
2. Check the files you want to rename
3. Choose "Absolute digit calculation" (or not)
4. Choose "Keep Extension" (or not)
5. Choose number of digits (1 to 99999)
6. Choose "Start At n°" (-999999 to 999999)
6. Read the Pattern ToolTip (hover mouse over textbox for a reminder) and enter your new filename pattern.

The available identifiers are the following :
* : the generated digits
<ex> : the old filename (without the extension)
<d> : the date in yyyymmdd format
<t> : the time in hh'mm format

7. Move some files up or down if they are in disorder
8. when you are satisfied with the new filenames, click on Proceed !

Note : Any modification in the options or moving files up/down refreshes the new filenames, so you can see in realtime what your new filenames will look like :)

BIG FAT WARNING : I'm not responsible for lost filenames !! Another big fat warning will popup when you click on proceed so you have no excuse :p

Please submit any bugs you encounter !

Things to be added soon :
- Multilanguage Support (I can do French and English, anyone willing to translate to other languages will be welcome when I'm ready ;))
- Anything you might want to add, just ask for it, if I can add it I'll do it.

http://tpechoc.free.fr/xMassRenamer/XMR_Screen1.png

PS : If you are wondering about the name, the x was just introduced for the fun of it xD (sounds xmassy doesn't it ? ^^)

[DarkZell666]

New version : 2006-04-14
Updated Link in the first post.

Fixed bugs :
- Unchecking a file didn't always erase the corresponding new filename.

Added :
- Replaced the comboboxes with numeric up/down controls. "Start at N°" can be anything between -999999 and 999999. (Sometimes needed for gaming footage, when it generates thousands of .bmp or .tga files). "Nb. Digits" can be anything between 1 and 999999 (I think, but it doesn't make much sense, just like that for the fun of it ;))


TODO :
- Fix moving up/down multiple files at a time (moving single file works fine)
- Start multilanguage support
- Maybe revise the UI (allow the application to be resized and automatically replace the controls on the Form)

[DarkZell666]

So, 130+ views and not a word ? Is this tools considered as useless ? Or is it that nobody found any problems with it ? ;)

I remind you that you can use this tool to rename many files at a time, using a common pattern.

Consider you have dirty filenames like :

whatever_garbage.something.like._01_this.avi
whatever.garbage`something.l!k3._02.mkv
whatever][garbage.something.like._003_blahhh.mp4
...

You can have a nice :

File 01.avi
File 02.mkv
File 03.mp4 (neat huh ? it can keep the actual file extensions ;))

Better : you can rename dozens of files to something like :
filewhatever.part01.rar
filewhatever.part02.rar
filewhatever.part03.rar ...

You can even select which ones you want to rename, if they aren't all messed up.

Taken dozens of photos in a day, and want to add the date to them ? Easy (with Keep Extensions enabled) :
Pattern : Holiday in France * <d>
<d> will give you for ex: 20060414

Need to add a token in front/at the end of a batch of encoded files to recognize them from the next batch session ? (Keep Extensions enabled)
Easy Pattern : Session1 <ex>
<ex> will give you the oldfilename (without the extension)

I can find so many circumstances in which you simply would have refused to overheat that F2 key and left those files in a mess ... just try it ;)

[Tuesday]

Not to rain on your parade or anything, but there's already a few tools, including this one:

http://www.rlvision.com/flashren/about.asp

Which can do these things and more.

Although i do realise developing stuff is fun just for the hell of it :)

[tekNerd]

Good for you! It seems a nice app, but I use Lupas Rename (http://www.azheavymetal.com/~lupasrename/news.php)!

[siddharthagandhi]

I don't really have a use for it. If I wanted to develop something what computer language would I have to know?

[bratao]

Try to remove this backgroud.
The app become so unprofissional !

Nice app, i will try later !

[DarkZell666]

Well, for sure I've learnt something while developing this :

.NET Framework 1.0 sucks xD

Fancy the checked state of the ListView items not being refreshed before the handler is finished executing ? Pretty useless imho ...

Actually I didn't know of any mass renaming apps, and I was just too lazy to download and try dozens of them. So I just got down to writting mine :)

@siddharthagandhi : If you are a beginner, stick with VB.NET, C# or Java (more advanced). For C# use VS 2005 not 2003, since the intelligent code corrector sucks in 2003 (only the one for VB has been well finished). For simple apps like this any of these 3 languages will suffice. C++ is for very time-critical apps.

@tekNerd : LupasRename looks great ! But I can't find how to move files up/down to reorder them how I want. I'll keep it and maybe implement some similar functions (or competely different ones, I'll see). Still, to do what I can do with xMassRename, I need too many clicks to do the same in LupasRename.

@ Tuesday : I don't have the money for FlashRen ;) But the picture preview I saw from the screenshots on the site looks brilliant. I thought of implementing something like that when I was writting about how to rename pictures from holidays in France xD

@bratao : Well, ok I'll remove it soon, it makes the .exe 60kb bigger after all :p

Thx for your comments anyway, all of you :)

[DarkZell666]

Just for your information, I've made a new build (which hasn't been uploaded yet, I'll edit this post with the new link later) in which the following changes have been made :

- Removed the background picture
- Added an option to show "xMassRename" in the Directory Contextual Menu (you won't need to open xMassRename and go looking for the dir. that is already staring at you ;))