About using the comment/descript.ion function from external script

[Stiltzkin]

is there any way of using the totalcmd comment function from an outside script (without any gui or further confirmation)?
or is there any fast way of settings descript.ion comments (which handles all the linebreaks, existing comments and all that stuff)?

[Horst.Epp]

There is no problem to write anything into descript.ion
as long as your script follows the rules.
Of course its not a good idea to do that while Tc is updating the contents
because of file operations.

[Stiltzkin]

jeah, i have scripts that work "good enough", but i usuallycall them from inside totalcmd anways.
so i was wondering if i couldn't just use an existing function instead of implementing my own buggy one in every language i happen to be using.
calling a powershell/batch script from a totalcmd button which then calls a java app which modifies a descript.ion file is kinda silly when totalcmd has that functionality already inside.

[NotNull]

Another workaround suggestion:

The descript.ion format was introduced by 4DOS, a command prompt alternative. It's successor - TCMD - has a free version, TCC/LE.

With that, you can:

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tcc.exe /c describe "c:\path to\filename.txt" /D"some description"

[Stiltzkin]

jeah, that's something i was looking for. shame it's not just a standalone *.exe.
and i think it doesn't have the same extended functionality as totalcmds comment feature has now (comment length, line breaks,[char]0x04 [char]0xC2)?

would be great if you could use those parameters for the totalcmd.exe.

[tuska]

... or is there any fast way of settings descript.ion comments ...?

One(!) TC comment can also be assigned to several files/folders, e.g. as follows:

• Mark files
• Menu "Files" - "Change Attributes..."
• [✓] Change plugin attributes:
  Plugin Property Value
  tc comment Click on ">>"
• Enter TC-comment, "F2 OK", OK (so you can also delete TC-comments by deleting the comment and pressing F2...)
• The TC-comment was assigned to the files and the hidden file "descript.ion" was created in the same folder
• Attention1: If a file already has a TC-comment and this file has been marked again for example with other files,
  and then a new/different TC-comment is entered, the previous TC comment is overwritten without a message!
• Attention2: If you try to enter 2 or more TC comments via the "tc" plug-in, only the last TC comment will be assigned to the file(s)!
• It is recommended to save the setting for TC comments: "F2 Load/save settings" -> "Save settings".
• Don't forget to backup your 'descript.ion'-files

[Stiltzkin]

... or is there any fast way of settings descript.ion comments ...?

One(!) TC comment can also be assigned to several files/folders, e.g. as follows:

• Mark files
• Menu "Files" - "Change Attributes..."
• [✓] Change plugin attributes:
  Plugin Property Value
  tc comment Click on ">>"
• Enter TC-comment, "F2 OK", OK (so you can also delete TC-comments by deleting the comment and pressing F2...)
• The TC-comment was assigned to the files and the hidden file "descript.ion" was created in the same folder
• Attention1: If a file already has a TC-comment and this file has been marked again for example with other files,
  and then a new/different TC-comment is entered, the previous TC comment is overwritten without a message!
• Attention2: If you try to enter 2 or more TC comments via the "tc" plug-in, only the last TC comment will be assigned to the file(s)!
• It is recommended to save the setting for TC comments: "F2 Load/save settings" -> "Save settings".
• Don't forget to backup your 'descript.ion'-files

jeah, i'm using that (with OPENATTRIBUTES from the buttonbar) since it was implemented (viewtopic.php?f=14&t=57060).

but i need a quick way to set a comment for a file/folder without gui interaction from any source (buttonbar, batch, powershell, python,...)
like tcc.exe's describe feature but with totalcmds feature set.

[NotNull]

like tcc.exe's describe feature but with totalcmds feature set.

I did a *very* quick test. Line breaks are a simple \n, like first\nsecond. Special characters are possible too.

This should work:

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tcc.exe /c describe "c:\path to\filename.txt" /D"some description\nsecond line%@char[0x04]%@char[0xC2]"

But all will depend on how you integrate it, because typing all this is more work than any alternative.

[Stiltzkin]

it works fine with ansi filenames, true.

i was testing it with "大 Test ✔ Tęśćt ✗ “Test” (Test) [Test].ext"
calling from AHK with:

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Run %ComSpec% /c "`"tcc.exe`" /c describe `"%FilePath%`" /D"%UserInput%`%@char[0x04]`%@char[0xC2]""

result with tcc.exe: (DESCRIPT.ION is ANSI)

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"? Test ? Tesct ? "Test" (Test) [Test].mp4" This is a comment¶

result with totalcmd gui: (descript.ion is UTF-8-BOM)

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"大 Test ✔ Tęśćt ✗ “Test” (Test) [Test].mp4" This is a comment

but it's a lot faster than any other implementation i've used so far.

[NotNull]

Too bad it doesn't work with unicode ...

The (somewhat) good news: you can impove the speed even further as at the moment you start ahk, which starts cmd, which starts tcc.
Running cmd is not needed; you can start tcc directly from ahk.

[Stiltzkin]

ran into some parameter escaping problems without the start from cmd.

i found out that you can set the codepage if you create a "TCSTART.BTM" next to the tcc.exe file.
for example:

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CHCP 65001

then you get a UTF-8 DESCRIPT.ON with proper unicode characters from tcc.

but totalcmd doesn't recognize the DESCRIPT.ON until you change the UTF-8 DESCRIPT.ON to UTF8-BOM.
so jeah...

[hi5]

Any reason you are not simply using AutoHotkey and the FileAppend option? Works with your "test file"
( I do it here viewtopic.php?f=6&t=73131 - using AHK to start another program to write something to a file is overly complicated if you ask me, just skip that step )

[Stiltzkin]

Any reason you are not simply using AutoHotkey and the FileAppend option? Works with your "test file"

jeah, i'm toying around with a lot of languages. java, python, powershell/batch, ahk, c#. so i don't really want to implement that function over and over again (i did a few times - but it's noticable slow).

tcc.exe is basically something the thing i wanted - a fast *.exe callable from every type of script. but it's not 100% compatible with the totalcmd-generated descript.ion files.

[Vochomurka]

I've written at least 4 scripts for PowerPro that handle TC comments.
Left column, chapter "File Comments (descript.ion)"

[Stiltzkin]

I've written at least 4 scripts for PowerPro that handle TC comments.
Left column, chapter "File Comments (descript.ion)"

can i call them from another program/script to set comments? never worked with powerpro before.