Feature Request

[MATADOR]

I don't know if this is the right place to ask for feature requests - nor do i know wether it is the right time (since x2 is alpha) but there just came a nice feature in my mind that is _REALLY_ simple yet usable:

an option to create a folder wich is named right by the current date (and maybe time)

when i download pictures from my camera (of course the easy way through x2) it would be a gentleman-like gesture of x2 to offer a special shortcut that instantly generates me a folder named: "2004-03-04\" for example.

(i thought about shift+F8 or alt+F8)

maybe even customizable to add current "time" or even with the option to customize the style for the ones that don't like standards: "4-2-2004" or something.

any opinions on that? is that an old idea?

[nikos]

i have recently added a $D token which does just that
it can be used from scripts and a rename command

[MATADOR]

i don't know what a token is, nor how to run scripts

does that mean that there will never be such a feature natively?

[nikos]

you can always learn new tricks
it isn't too hard

[fgagnon]

i have recently added a $D token which does just that
it can be used from scripts and a rename command

Did you add this to product, or just to your TODO list?
(I want to use it to rename my digicam pics, too.)

[nikos]

it's going to be in the next update

[0squo]

i have recently added a $D token which does just that
it can be used from scripts and a rename command

I have the same question and can't figure out how the $D token fulfills the original request.  I am new here, evaluating the pro version, so hopefully I am missing something, or perhaps someone can help with a script.

The $D token seems to always return the modification date (and time) of each file.  I can't figure out a way to insert the current date, which was the original request.

$D works for renaming files from my camera (except that I can't get yyyy-mm-dd... but that's another story).  But you can imagine what happens when I use $D as a folder in the path: I end up creating a new folder for each and every original file.
(copy "picture_001.jpg" "c:\pictures\1-8-2008 1.56.48 PM\1-8-2008 1.56.48 PM.jpg")

Using $d (lowercase) I can get just the date (no time), but what I really need is today's date (preferrably in yyyy-mm-dd format, so it sorts correctly).

Am I missing something here?
...

[fgagnon]

Hi 0squo,

Welcome to the board!

You are not missing anything re: $D (or $d) being the modification date&time (or date) of the item being renamed.  The original request was for a situation where a newly created folder is being renamed, so its modification date IS the current date (for that case).

You can get the date to show in yyyy-mm-dd format (which I also use) by setting the registry key szCustomDateFormat to "yyyy-MM-dd" (without the quotes).  ... But it requires using regedit from the windows Start | run... box.  The key is located in HKCU\software\Zabara...plc\xplorer2_UC
It is easy to do, but if you are not familiar with editing the registry you are advised against it for risk of damaging your system configuration if you change the wrong keys by mistake.

HTH

[0squo]

Thanks very much for the quick response.  The registry change will solve the date format issue, but I'm still not quite sure how to get x2 to do what I need.

Could I ask you or another helpful person to post a sample script or point me in the right direction to create a new folder named using $D and then copy a file (renamed using $D?) to it?  It sounds like my problem is mainly lack of expertise with DOS and shell commands, so any help will be much appreciated.

Thanks again.

[nikos]

the short answer is that there's no token to insert the current date/time

$D serves a purpose since it isn't easy to grab individual file dates. The system clock on the other hand is something you can manually type. If you need some help, open an editor2 window and use Edit > Insert date and copy that text

[loyd]

A token for the current  date and time gets my vote, with perhaps a registry key to specify the format.

Id like to use it to create directory listings of disks I compile for friends. I have a user command such as
$ dir "$F" /w/o/s > "D:\Documents\Michael\My Documents\family_friends\Dir_Listings_of_stuff_sent\$?.txt"

I was going to make do with $D, but if I've selected say "S:\", it returns <n-a>
If a current date/time token existed (say $T) I'd use  something like  ..\Dir_Listings_of_stuff_sent\$?\$T.txt"

P.S.  xplorer^2 is awesome.

[Kilmatead]

Not to hijack the thread or anything (sorry), but this originated here...

You can get the date to show in yyyy-mm-dd format by setting the registry key szCustomDateFormat to "yyyy-MM-dd" [...] HKCU\software\Zabara...plc\xplorer2_UC

Ah, imagine my glee in trying to resurrect the timing conventions of the old DEC PDP-11 or VAX systems only to discover everything (I assume for sorting purposes) defaults to the time following the date.  Is there some manner to have it precede the date as in "15:25 Thurs 20-Oct-08"?

I happily achieved the date format, but for the life of me can't get the string precedence reversed.  Possible?

(And it's a pity all fixed-width fonts are rubbish... )

[fgagnon]

@ is there some manner to have [time] precede the date ...? -
I am not aware of a way to do that.  :(

@ pity all fixed-width fonts are rubbish... -
ALL fonts that I know of are rubbish for one consideration or another  
Looks aside, FWIW, my preferred fixed-width font for readablility & lack of ambiguity (I, l, |, 1, i, 0, O, Q, G, g, q, B, 8, a, o, ', `, ... ) is Lucida console.  

[nikos]

if you want dates why don't you use ${modified} to get the date from the column? see how this works in a similar situation:
www.zabkat.com/blog/15Apr07.htm