AsoSort
An automated sorting and merging program.
1. Introduction
Why
If you're a usenet lurker, you probably have a single download directory from which you
manage your donwloaded files. This directory can become very large at times and you can therefor
loose the overview. I also had this problem, so I decided to write an automated sorting tool
that moves a bunch of files from the same series into a subdirectory. Once all series have their
own subdirectory managing your download directory suddenly becomes more efficient.
What can it do
The most basic thing it does (without any configuring) is move a series (for example 10 files
with the same prefix) to a subdirectory that is named as the prefix (for example all files
starting with 'seriesX' are moved to a subdirectory called 'seriesX').
Before sorting and moving files in subdirectories, multipart files like 'video.mpg.001',
'video.mpg.002' etc. can be merged into one file. Multipart files are common for video-files.
After using this for a while, I noticed that some series were actually subseries
and that the contents of certain directories were always moved to other directories.
Therefor I created 'Special series'. For a special series, you can define a set of filters a file
must meet in order to be moved to a specific directory (for example '*.mpg' should be moved into
directory 'Video' and 'sX*' or 'serX*' should be moved into 'seriesX').
Then I noticed that some series have numbers or dates to define subseries. In order to move
a series of a certain date into a subdirectory I created subdir functionality in which you can
refer to specific numbers or characters from the found filenames (for example the files 'ab2003-78.jpg'
and 'ab2004-23.jpg' can be placed in seperate subdirectories 'ab2003' and 'ab2004' by specifying a
filter 'ab$$$$-*.jpg' with subdir 'ab{2}{3}{4}{5}' in which the numbers between the brackets refer
to characters at specified positions in the found files). This may sound complicated, but it
will explained more specific further on in this document.
2. Manual
Configuration
Before using the tool, you should config it to your specific needs.
Main configuration example |
Basic Configuration
First, you should specify where you want you configuration to be saved. Default,
the configuration is saved in "C:\Windows\AsoConfig.conf", but you may store it
where ever you like by pressing the Browse button.
The Required filecount specifies howmany files are needed to make them a
series and create a subdir for them.
The Nameless files directory is a directory for files that don't have a
prefix (they start with non-alphabetical characters). I find this usefull because this
directory usually contains crap. If you don't think it will help you, disable it.
You can choose to disable the automatic merging of multiparts if you have you own
tool for this with the Automerge multipart files option.
Sometimes when you have merged your multipart files into one and you find out that
one of the parts is corrupt. For this occasion you can choose to move your multipart
files into a directory called 'merged'. If this option Keep merged parts is switched off, the multipart
files are deleted after merging.
From this window, you can also create, edit and delete special series. For the
specification of special series, a new window is shown.
|
Special Series Configuration
First you may specify the Seriesname, Directoryname, and series specific
Required filecount. I think these options speak for themselves.
If you want certain files to be moved to this series's directory they must meet one
of the specified filters. You can add a new filter by typing the filter in the textfield
above the Add button. In the filter you can use wildcards. Use '*' for an
unspecified number of any characters. Use '?' for one unspecified character. Use '$'
for one alpha nummeric character ('0'-'9').
For each filter you can specify a directory within the series's directory to place the
files in with the Subdir field. If this field is left blank, the files are moved into the series's root directory.
In the Subdir field you can use '{1}' to refer to the first character of the found
files, '{3}' to refer to the third and so on. In the example, a file named 'ab9-01de.jpg' is
moved in a subdirectory called 'ABDir9'.
The 'Video' series shown in the Main Configuration example has a series of filters like
'*.mpg', '*.avi', '*.rm' etc. This will move all video files into a directory called 'Video'
|
Special Series Configuration example. |
AsoSort
There is nothing to explain about the sorting program itself, it is fully automatic. Once you
have installed it, you can start the sorting by clicking on a directory with your right mouse button
and selecting 'AsoSort' from the context menu.
3. Download
Feel free to use AsoSort in any way you like.
The configuration runnable class is aso.tools.asosort.Config. The AsoSort runnable class is
aso.tools.asosort.AsoSort with one argument specifying the directory to sort.
4. Installation
Java class files (jar)
First, make sure you have Java installed on your PC and have 'javaw.exe' in you path. Place
this jar file in a directory that is in your classpath.
Download this shortcut for the configuration program.
Download this registry file and merge it into your registry by
right-clicking on it and select 'Merge' from the context menu. Now you can configure by executing
the configuration shortcut and sort a directory by right-clicking on it and selecting 'AsoSort'
from the context menu.
Back to javapage