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Windows => Third Party Plug-ins, Programs, and Skins => Topic started by: KingSparta on February 28, 2004, 03:16:16 pm

Title: Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: KingSparta on February 28, 2004, 03:16:16 pm: Been Playing With Something ToDay:

Today After I Went And Looked At French Doors, I Am Not Sure Why They Are Called French Doors.

I Came home and after I bribed my son to fix my wife’s internet connection (her not having any did not bother me). and then I started playing with a New Plug-in I am currently calling "Folder Sleuth".

"Folder Sleuth" will allow the user to set a folder path and, a timer to check the folder every so often.

When the program finds new files in the folder it will attempt to Auto Import the new files into MC 9\10.

Right now I am only Planning 2 options.

1. On\Off
2. More Responsive During ImPort (I Had A Extra Check Box Laying Around)
3. Change Folder Path

(http://www2.spartasoft.com:8080/images/Folder Sleuth.jpg)

Any Intrest in This?

I Might Have This Ready For Download Sometime Sunday Feb 28th
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth- Auto Import Folder
Post by: LonWar on February 28, 2004, 03:57:13 pm: Hi King, That sounds really cool...
People have been asking for something like this for a while. I'm sure you'll get some responces...
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: pipsqueak on February 29, 2004, 12:36:39 am: King

Just installed it - this one was nice and simple. i will let you know how it works out.

2 questions:

1) whats the 'more responsive' function involve?

2) looking at your screenshot there seem to be some other interesting plugins eg. genre master, mc hello. current projects?

oh - and congrats for getting out early

pip
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: KingSparta on February 29, 2004, 05:48:47 am: Quote
1) whats the 'more responsive' function involve?

during a first time import it just does a DoEvents, that alows the screen to update and the system to do other things if needed. nothing much really.

Quote
genre master

Something I was working on, And May In The Future

> oh - and congrats for getting out early

Not much code to it really, I let it run all last night importing RipCast Files As It Was Streamed, still running so i guess it is ok.
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: drosoph on February 29, 2004, 11:58:43 am: Sorry King, didnt see this thread before I sent you email RFEs ... But here is my list of requested Feature Enhancements :)

1. Checkbox for Search Sub-Folders
2. Make the left pane a list of Watched Folders ... (Drag from the right to watch folders .. and we could add multiple folders to the mix)
3. Make the import obey the File Types from MC Import tool
4. Add capability to watch Network Drives (ie, \\MP3-Server\RipCast-Files\ )

BTW, If you'd seen my thread from a day or two ago, this is EXACTLY what I'm looking for ... I have a Basic script and some batch files to do auto-importing right now .. (not a pretty interface like you have)
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: KingSparta on February 29, 2004, 01:14:13 pm: Quote
1. Checkbox for Search Sub-Folders

Maybe In the Future

Quote
2. Make the left pane a list of Watched Folders ... (Drag from the right to watch folders .. and we could add multiple folders to the mix)

Maybe In The Future

Quote
3. Make the import obey the File Types from MC Import tool

Not Possible, The SDK does Not allow for this.

I would Need to allow a user to enter them thru the program on another page.

Maybe In The Future.

Quote
4. Add capability to watch Network Drives (ie, \\MP3-Server\RipCast-Files\ )

I take it they do not show up now?

Not Sure

Maybe In The Future, But I Doubt It Since I Don't Have Anything To Test It On.
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: KingSparta on March 05, 2004, 08:25:07 pm: drosoph

Been playing with multi folders.

the user will need to set each one to include sub folders

How many should be max folders to watch?

you would not want to get carried a way with this since this will also slow down things.
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: drosoph on March 06, 2004, 08:30:24 am: Personally ... I think 5 is plenty (if it checks sub-folders) ... 10, if it doesnt !

Does that sound like too many?
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: KingSparta on March 06, 2004, 08:36:11 am: I was already playing with 10 as a limit.

this way the folders also can be saved to the registry.

when you add or delete a folder it also updates the registry, then reads the floder list back in when you start Media center again.

maybe today\tomorrow i will work on it a bit more, but it seems to be working.

I Also changed the layout so you can see more of the folder names.

and currently working on a better timer 1 min to 65,535 mins between imports
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: drosoph on March 06, 2004, 06:24:44 pm: Can you load a build onto your ftp server so I can see where you're headed with this ? I can give you some pre-emptive user-acceptance testing ... before you finalize the feature -set
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: KingSparta on March 06, 2004, 06:43:37 pm: I put 0.0.2 up for you to play with, there may be some problems with saving the paths to the registry.

not sure if i fixed it or not.
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: drosoph on March 06, 2004, 07:41:04 pm: I grabbed, the 3/6/04 file ... it says 0.0.1 on install .. and in the plugin parameters .. and nothing seems different ... even the exe file in the .zip download says 3.6.04 ... Did you load the wrong build ?
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: drosoph on March 06, 2004, 07:43:27 pm: Nevermind .. had to do an uninstall .. then an install and it worked fine ..
im testing now ..
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: drosoph on March 07, 2004, 10:25:19 pm: Bugs...
1. Screen needs a scroll bar .. I cant see the bottom area.
2. Where is SCAN SUB-FOLDERS checkbox ;)
3. The slider for how often to scan goes from 1 min to 310 minutes and upwards .. I like 60 minutes... but I can't manually set it .. from the interface .. maybe just a smaller interval slider or a type-in-value as well
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: KingSparta on March 08, 2004, 01:51:36 pm: Quote from: drosoph on March 07, 2004, 10:25:19 pm
Bugs...
1. Screen needs a scroll bar .. I cant see the bottom area.
2. Where is SCAN SUB-FOLDERS checkbox ;)
3. The slider for how often to scan goes from 1 min to 310 minutes and upwards .. I like 60 minutes... but I can't manually set it .. from the interface .. maybe just a smaller interval slider or a type-in-value as well

Uninstall
Download New Build (0.03)
Slider Min 1, Max 1440 (24 hrs)

you can now adjust the slider control better

Quote
1. Screen needs a scroll bar .. I cant see the bottom area.

I think you seeing somthing you should not see.
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: drosoph on March 25, 2004, 09:36:03 pm: King,
I noticed a new build ... any guess as to what changes were made ?

Thanks,
Andrew
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: cascius on March 26, 2004, 03:29:13 am: Once again great job king!

Man i really love all the plugins you create. These are all features I'd like to have as a user but since I can't program nuts (excuse my french), I'm really glad you're there for us!

Anyway, just a thought. While i realize it would probably take quite a bit of time to add the option to select file type, would it be possible to just have an option to only import audio files/ or not import jpgs and gifs? I'm asking this because thanks to you i have cover art for each albums in their respective folders. Therefore i assume that everytime it would check for new files, it would also import the cover arts to the image database... Which I'd rather avoid obviously.

Let me know if that's possible. Otherwise a quick fix would be to manually delete all those images by using disk location.

Anyway, here's another idea of plugin: (and knowing you, you might already have it)
How about a plugin that would organize all the files in a similar way MC does when using Rename files, but with the option to create #, A, B, C... folders/artists/albums. As far as i've been able to figure out, MC only supports artists/album so far, which means a bit of manual work to finish organizing everything. Let me know if that's possible without too much work.

Thanks,

-Cascius
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: KingSparta on March 26, 2004, 05:42:41 am: Quote from: drosoph on March 25, 2004, 09:36:03 pm
King,
I noticed a new build ... any guess as to what changes were made ?

Thanks,
Andrew

I think it now saves the watched folders correctly to the registry.
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: KingSparta on March 26, 2004, 05:46:10 am: Quote
Let me know if that's possible.

it could be.

about the "A', "B" thing, not going to happen.
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: cascius on March 26, 2004, 03:24:47 pm: Ah ok. Thanks anyway. I'll just keep doing it manually. No biggy.
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: park on April 19, 2004, 07:54:56 am: Hi,
Since I dont know how many system resources this plugin takes up this may or may not be necessary:

how about the ability, instead of a timer, to only check "at media centre startup".

great plugin. thanks.
bri
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: Sauzee on April 24, 2004, 05:06:27 am: Thanks for the plugin KingSparta. Couple of questions;

Why is this a 2.55 MB download? The size of the installed files in my Program Files Directory is only about 200 KB.

Also, is it possible to prevent importing data files e.g text documents etc?

Thanks
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: KingSparta on April 24, 2004, 05:18:46 am: run time files are included, and they take up most of the room.

i will not be making a smaller build without runtime files. it tends to create problems.
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: hades_2100 on May 08, 2004, 02:13:05 am: Hello KingSparta,

This plugin solves one of my biggest problems with MC, that there is no auto-update feature for the directories. Thank you!

Quick comment though, the plugin does not save the folders to memory, I had to track down the registry entries and enter them in manually, no big deal though. I'm mainly curious about the before-mentioned subdirectory feature? How do you access that? My main library consists of maybe 4-6 directories with subdirectories beneath it, can those be updated also? If the setting is supposed to be stored in the registry, please tell me where so I can hard-code that in as well. It would very much be appreciated!

Thanx!
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: KingSparta on May 08, 2004, 07:38:37 am: Quote
Quick comment though, the plugin does not save the folders to memory

mine does, and so does other peoples, don't know why this did not work for you.

Quote
I'm mainly curious about the before-mentioned subdirectory feature? How do you access that? My main library consists of maybe 4-6 directories with subdirectories beneath it, can those be updated also? If the setting is supposed to be stored in the registry, please tell me where so I can hard-code that in as well. It would very much be appreciated!

what?

have no idea what your talking about
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: hades_2100 on May 08, 2004, 10:02:57 am: Quote from: KingSparta on March 05, 2004, 08:25:07 pm
drosoph

Been playing with multi folders.

the user will need to set each one to include sub folders

Maybe I misinterpreted this...

Quote
mine does, and so does other peoples, don't know why this did not work for you.

Regardless of whether it works for others, it doesn't work for me... After about half an hour of trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong (Select folder, add to list, save the list, restart the software, settings are gone), I gave up and tracked the registry keys down. I was looking at them to see if they changed, but they don't...

Right now I had 3 directories manually put in to the registry. I add another folder through Folder Sleuth and ALL the settings are gone upon reload of Media Center (even the 3 dirs I had before).
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: KingSparta on May 08, 2004, 11:37:50 am: when did you install the program recently?

There was some problems with this at one time and I changed some things, and it semed to work now for me and others. no one has reported any problems with this since I made the changes.

what is the date on the Folder Sleuth.ocx file?

if it is not 24-march-04

uninstall it download the program again and reinstall

I may not have changed the version number after the changes (I forget)

If you do the above let me know how it comes out.
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: hades_2100 on May 08, 2004, 05:09:49 pm: Heya...

It is dated: Wednesday, March 24, 2004, 10:00:04 PM

Do not worry too much, I have got it figured out with the registry file, I edit the registry file and import it, no sweat... Thanx for the help.

BTW, I tried it with JRiver MC version 10.0.110 and 10.0.180. Same result.
Title: Re:Folder Sleuth - Auto Import Folder
Post by: KingSparta on May 08, 2004, 05:28:26 pm: well i will look at it some more just the same.