File Distribution Problem!

English support forum

Moderators: white, Hacker, petermad, Stefan2

Post Reply
User avatar
pdavit
Power Member
Power Member
Posts: 1529
Joined: 2003-02-05, 21:41 UTC
Location: Kavala -> Greece -> Europe -> Earth -> Solar System -> Milky Way -> Space
Contact:

File Distribution Problem!

Post by *pdavit »

[face=arial]
Dear friends,

I’ve been facing the following problem and I would really appreciate your support or any suggestions you might have on how to tackle it.

Well, I have this folder called MUSIC with a variety of audio files from mp3s to wavs. The content of this folder consists of over 50 directories into different categories and artists/albums. Frequently I need to convert large files into smaller either by down-sampling them or by converting wavs to mp3s. These files though are usually spread into different folders and sub-folders.

What I usually do is to Branch View the whole contents of MUSIC directory then short the list either by size or by extension (wavs tend to be large) and then I drag and drop the desirable files into my audio converter. My conversion application asks for a specific single destination folder for the outcome of the conversion. As a result of that I now have a relatively large list of converted files, which I need to distribute to the corresponding folders overwriting the original audio files and here’s where the problems start.

I cannot copy them easily back to the Branched View list as this list is in a way a logical display of files and some TC actions cannot be performed. If I normally compare the two lists (total music base in Branch View with converted files) the comparison is successful but coping the converted files to the Branched list will just duplicate the files (the original files will not be overwritten) and the files will be stored in the directory where a initially executed the Branched View command.

Synchronizing is not possible as the converted files are now stored in a single folder and TC doesn’t know the path each and every individual file used to belong!

I don’t know if I’m missing a useful trick with TC with which I could tackle this rather logical problem. There are many solutions I guess but so far I could think of a straightforward one to speed up the file distribution. I’m looking for an automated (fast) solution rather than the manual (you know what I mean) I’ve been using so far.

Any suggestion would be welcome. Thanks in advance for any help and thanks for taking the time to go through this lengthy post.

Kind regards,
Panos
[/face]
"My only reason for still using M$ Window$ as an OS is the existence of Total Commander!"
Christian Ghisler Rules!!!
VadiMGP
Power Member
Power Member
Posts: 672
Joined: 2003-04-05, 12:11 UTC
Location: Israel

Post by *VadiMGP »

...My conversion application asks for a specific single destination folder...
If I don't mistake this is a point. Do not use single directory. What about creating destination directory structure corresponding to source? After convertion you can copy all files back (doesn't matter into branch view or not) and all files with the same filename and location will be overwritten.
User avatar
djk
Power Member
Power Member
Posts: 1651
Joined: 2003-03-17, 11:33 UTC
Location: Poland
Contact:

Post by *djk »

I understand you very well. I also have similar problem. It's a bit different situation, but problem the same.
I think it could be satisfied for both of us if TC could copy the chosen files from Branch View to another place saving the structure of the subdirectories. Then you would get the same structure of directories but only with selected files. After converting them you could use synchronization option.
If nobody find any existing solution it's a new request for Christian... :-)
DJK
Totally addicted to Total Commander
totalcmd.pl
en.totalcmd.pl
User avatar
pdavit
Power Member
Power Member
Posts: 1529
Joined: 2003-02-05, 21:41 UTC
Location: Kavala -> Greece -> Europe -> Earth -> Solar System -> Milky Way -> Space
Contact:

Post by *pdavit »

VadiMGP wrote:
...My conversion application asks for a specific single destination folder...
If I don't mistake this is a point. Do not use single directory. What about creating destination directory structure corresponding to source? After convertion you can copy all files back (doesn't matter into branch view or not) and all files with the same filename and location will be overwritten.
[face=arial]

Well, this is not straightforward at all! And I haven’t found so far an audio conversion software with good file managing abilities built-in so that I can multiple select files that belong to different folders. Lets assume (although this should be an assumption but it’s the reality in most cases) that out of these 50 folders I have 15 folders with mp3s in 256kbps that I want to down-convert to 160kbps. If I follow your advice I will have to convert folder no1 then copy the outcome back, then convert folder no2 and copy it back and so on until I reach no15! This is time consuming and any way I’m already following this approach since so far I couldn’t find a workaround with TC. Even if I use the converter’s option to immediately overwrite converted files I still need to go through each of the 15 folders to select the files and drag and drop them from TC to my converter or use the file browser built-in with the converter. This is the approach I follow up until now.

In Branch View I get the advantage comparing to the above approach that I can just grab in one go all the files I need within these 15 folders and let my conversion software do its job in one go without my interaction and without loosing time by file managing actions. But then I go back to a time-consuming file distribution to each individual folder, which I would have done anyway by converting files in individual folders as I have described above. The branched view approach is slightly faster comparing to the converting and automatically overwriting. But when the task is so repetitive as we are talking about 15 folders any of the above methods becomes unhandy!

Maybe a macro tool can do the job for the time being until macros are supported (if ever) by TC! ;-)
[/face]
"My only reason for still using M$ Window$ as an OS is the existence of Total Commander!"
Christian Ghisler Rules!!!
chasbas
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 52
Joined: 2003-02-06, 16:01 UTC
Location: New Jersey

Post by *chasbas »

Does your audio conversion software have a command line interface, or could you find another package that *does* have one? If you did, you could select all the files at once and feed them (by creating a batch file or using lst2str) one by one in the converter specifying the proper subdirectory for each output file.
User avatar
pdavit
Power Member
Power Member
Posts: 1529
Joined: 2003-02-05, 21:41 UTC
Location: Kavala -> Greece -> Europe -> Earth -> Solar System -> Milky Way -> Space
Contact:

Post by *pdavit »

chasbas wrote:Does your audio conversion software have a command line interface, or could you find another package that *does* have one? If you did, you could select all the files at once and feed them (by creating a batch file or using lst2str) one by one in the converter specifying the proper subdirectory for each output file.
No! :(

As you all know audio converters are not really flexible in that bit.

But I will give lst2str a try and see if it helps. Thanks for the tip.
"My only reason for still using M$ Window$ as an OS is the existence of Total Commander!"
Christian Ghisler Rules!!!
User avatar
Hacker
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 13052
Joined: 2003-02-06, 14:56 UTC
Location: Bratislava, Slovakia

Post by *Hacker »

Panos,
Does the software accept . (a dot) as the destination dir?

djk,
I think it could be satisfied for both of us if TC could copy the chosen files from Branch View to another place saving the structure of the subdirectories.

I think Valentino's TreeCopy plugin does this. http://members.lycos.co.uk/maxwish/tc_wcx.html

HTH
Roman
Mal angenommen, du drückst Strg+F, wählst die FTP-Verbindung (mit gespeichertem Passwort), klickst aber nicht auf Verbinden, sondern fällst tot um.
VadiMGP
Power Member
Power Member
Posts: 672
Joined: 2003-04-05, 12:11 UTC
Location: Israel

Re: File Distribution Problem!

Post by *VadiMGP »

pdavit wrote: If I follow your advice I will have to convert folder no1 then copy the outcome back, then convert folder no2 and copy it back and so on until I reach no15!
No! It is misunderstanding there! I told about recreating whole directory structure as 1st step (as djk and Hacker wrote) and after converting all files copy them back!
VadiMGP
Power Member
Power Member
Posts: 672
Joined: 2003-04-05, 12:11 UTC
Location: Israel

Post by *VadiMGP »

djk wrote:I understand you very well. I also have similar problem. It's a bit different situation, but problem the same.
I think it could be satisfied for both of us if TC could copy the chosen files from Branch View to another place saving the structure of the subdirectories. Then you would get the same structure of directories but only with selected files. After converting them you could use synchronization option.
If nobody find any existing solution it's a new request for Christian... :-)
What is the problem? It is easily can be done with xcopy command. In the worst case use lst2multi program too. :)
Last edited by VadiMGP on 2003-04-28, 18:41 UTC, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
djk
Power Member
Power Member
Posts: 1651
Joined: 2003-03-17, 11:33 UTC
Location: Poland
Contact:

Post by *djk »

2pdavit
Sorry, I have NOT notcie you need "single destination folder" :-(

2Hacker
I think Valentino's TreeCopy plugin does this. http://members.lycos.co.uk/maxwish/tc_wcx.html
Thanks! I've never used the plugin before. That's execatly waht I need. Thanks a lot. :)
DJK
Totally addicted to Total Commander
totalcmd.pl
en.totalcmd.pl
User avatar
djk
Power Member
Power Member
Posts: 1651
Joined: 2003-03-17, 11:33 UTC
Location: Poland
Contact:

Post by *djk »

VadiMGP wrote: What is the problem? It is easily can be done with xcopy command.
I think it's not so easy if I want to choose only some files form the subdirectories. Sometimes the best way to select the files is just using the Branch View and then copy them.
DJK
Totally addicted to Total Commander
totalcmd.pl
en.totalcmd.pl
VadiMGP
Power Member
Power Member
Posts: 672
Joined: 2003-04-05, 12:11 UTC
Location: Israel

Post by *VadiMGP »

I didn't new about treecopy plugin. It is exactly what i mean!. Excelent tool! :) And exactly what i always do with xcopy.
I think it's not so easy if I want to choose only some files form the subdirectories. Sometimes the best way to select the files is just using the Branch View and then copy them.
Of course, in this case you'll need lst2multi. :)
User avatar
djk
Power Member
Power Member
Posts: 1651
Joined: 2003-03-17, 11:33 UTC
Location: Poland
Contact:

Post by *djk »

VadiMGP wrote: Of course, in this case you'll need lst2multi. :)
Next tool I've never used. Next tool which seems to be... very useful. :-)
Thanks VadiMGP :-)
DJK
Totally addicted to Total Commander
totalcmd.pl
en.totalcmd.pl
User avatar
pdavit
Power Member
Power Member
Posts: 1529
Joined: 2003-02-05, 21:41 UTC
Location: Kavala -> Greece -> Europe -> Earth -> Solar System -> Milky Way -> Space
Contact:

Post by *pdavit »

Thanks all of you guys for the help. Now I have to think a way to combine the 3 suggested tools and/or apply them on my needs. Lets hope that the solution won’t be more complex than the problem itself! ;-)
"My only reason for still using M$ Window$ as an OS is the existence of Total Commander!"
Christian Ghisler Rules!!!
User avatar
pdavit
Power Member
Power Member
Posts: 1529
Joined: 2003-02-05, 21:41 UTC
Location: Kavala -> Greece -> Europe -> Earth -> Solar System -> Milky Way -> Space
Contact:

Post by *pdavit »

Heh! I found a workaround. SCHMaster’s CD-Ripper plug-in for TC stores converted files directly where the original ones belong while converting in branched view! Cool!

I have now posted a wish for CD-Ripper where we could also have the ability to automatically delete the initial files after the conversion is finished. If that’s implemented the whole process would be a few clicks or keyboard shortcuts! :)
"My only reason for still using M$ Window$ as an OS is the existence of Total Commander!"
Christian Ghisler Rules!!!
Post Reply