Moving files with renamer

DigPeter · September 25, 2015, 03:32:15 PM

I am trying to set up renamer to copy files using the following in the Copy/Move dialog:

G:\Digital originals\{File.Created|format:YYYY}\{File.Created|format:YYMM}\{File.Created|format:YYMMDD}

The attached screen shot shows both the renamer and Copy/Move dialogs. I am trying to copy file shown to the G drive folder. The Copy/Move dialog shows the destination file correctly, but the renamer dialog shows the destination file to be the same as the source file. Consequently remaner does not copy the file to the G drive folder (which does exist already).

What am I doing wrong?

[attachment deleted by admin]

Jingo · September 25, 2015, 03:50:33 PM

This works the same here on my machine so perhaps the destination field is just not updating properly... the Preview clearly shows it will work correctly so must just be a display issue.. perhaps put a bug request in for it..

DigPeter · September 25, 2015, 05:04:08 PM

Quote from: Jingo on September 25, 2015, 03:50:33 PM
This works the same here on my machine so perhaps the destination field is just not updating properly... the Preview clearly shows it will work correctly so must just be a display issue.. perhaps put a bug request in for it..

Thanks - You could be correct. I will wait to see what Mario has to say.

Mario · September 25, 2015, 06:32:12 PM

The file is renamed and copied.
The preview in the dialog shows the name of the file after the rename. The rename you perform is a no-op because you rename the file to the same file name (which is dutifully and silently ignored by the Renamer). But the file is then copied, which is not reflected in this preview, but in the real preview.

DigPeter · September 25, 2015, 07:43:05 PM

Quote from: Mario on September 25, 2015, 06:32:12 PM
The file is renamed and copied.
The preview in the dialog shows the name of the file after the rename. The rename you perform is a no-op because you rename the file to the same file name (which is dutifully and silently ignored by the Renamer). But the file is then copied, which is not reflected in this preview, but in the real preview.

No - that is not my point, which is that the preview does not show the destination file which was set up in the Copy/Move dialog. The attachment shows both dialogs for illustrative purposes. I had of course clicked on OK, but brought it back for the screen shot. The destination file in the preview is not reflecting what was set up in the Copy/Move dialog.

Mario · September 25, 2015, 08:10:48 PM

No, it's alright and works as designed.

The Move/Copy steps are not represented in this small preview. This only considers the rename part. What should IMatch show here when you rename, move and copy, for example?

Use the real preview command (click on the button) to see the effects of additional Move/Copy steps. This full preview can also show multiple destinations, e.g. when you rename, copy and move, which may produce three different output files! ...

DigPeter · September 25, 2015, 09:10:11 PM

Putting it another way. How do I copy a file with its file name to another folder using renamer? The original folder is in the C drive. The new folder is G:\Digital originals\yyyyy\yymm\mmdd, where y,m & d refer to the numeric date which the file was created. Surely the destination file must be visible in the renamer dialog?

Quote from: Mario on September 25, 2015, 08:10:48 PM
The Move/Copy steps are not represented in this small preview. This only considers the rename part. What should IMatch show here when you rename, move and copy, for example?

G:\Digital originals\{File.Created|format:YYYY}\{File.Created|format:YYMM}\{File.Created|format:YYMMDD}

Mario · September 26, 2015, 07:36:01 AM

What is the problem? Error message? File not copied?
What does the preview show? I mean the preview that shows when you click on the Preview button?

DigPeter · September 26, 2015, 12:33:07 PM

Quote from: Mario on September 26, 2015, 07:36:01 AM
What is the problem? Error message? File not copied?
What does the preview show? I mean the preview that shows when you click on the Preview button?

Please see attachment. It fails to copy to the G drive folder as shown in the "Copy file" box, because it is trying to copy to the original C drive folder.

[attachment deleted by admin]

Mario · September 26, 2015, 05:18:16 PM

You have two steps. You rename the file to the same name. Then a copy. The renamer fails because it cannot rename a file to the same name. And then the copy is not executed.

DigPeter · September 26, 2015, 06:17:04 PM

I have just tried this by changing the name by appending 'a'. The same renamer preset changes the name of the file in the original C drive folder (as expected), but does not copy to the G drive folder.

I then deleted the first step (original file name - see attachment to my last post). The same error occurred and the file was not copied to the G drive folder.

Renamer is not copying to the G drive folder shown in the Copy step in the renamer dialog. See attachment to this post. This cannot be right.

[attachment deleted by admin]

DigPeter · September 26, 2015, 08:08:48 PM

Mario - I think that I have found what is happening. I was using the tag File.date created,which copied the files to a folder of today's date, not the date that the image was shot, as I intended and not where I was looking for them. Using File.Date Time, the files are being copied to the appropriate folder. So Renamer does work, however, please could the destination file shown at the bottom of the dialog be made to reflect the folder shown in the Copy step. It is confusing as it is now.

Thank you for patience with this.

Mario · September 27, 2015, 07:47:23 AM

The results of the Renamer when you use Copy/Move steps can be seen in the Preview dialog.
The line in the dialog only reflects the result of the rename operation. When a user combines a rename with a copy and a move, how could this be shown in a single line?

That's what the preview dialog is for. This dialog runs the actual rename in-memory, can show the individual results of the rename, copy and move operations. Plus the outcomes, warnings about duplicate file names, error messages and the like. The small preview below the steps list is only there to give you a quick preview of the file names you create with your steps, it does not look for or consider folders used for copy or move.

DigPeter · September 27, 2015, 10:38:42 AM

In that case the line should be called something different.

Jingo · September 27, 2015, 04:13:03 PM

Perhaps then the results in the preview line should be note like what happens when there is a conflict.. something like: <please use preview window to see the results>

Mario · September 27, 2015, 07:26:57 PM

Quote from: Jingo on September 27, 2015, 04:13:03 PM
Perhaps then the results in the preview line should be note like what happens when there is a conflict.. something like: <please use preview window to see the results>

IMatch will show such warnings when you run a test rename (via the Preview button) and also when you run the final rename. Just keep that in mind.