Total Commander extDir v1.8.3 - Extended directory & file creator

[ghisler(Author)]

Yes, just enter the 10 names separated by a vertical line, e.g.
a|b|c|etc.

[Bluestar]

Total Commander extDir v1.7.0

Time for a new release and a little upgrade on our favorite lil' utility after a loooong-long while! (with a new language: Polish - thanks to dmocha).
This version finally not only supports the (batch) creation of directories, but starting from 1.7, files are supported as well (i know, its a much-requested functionality)

( Important: You need to turn it ON in the configuration, if you'd like to use it to create files as well! )

Download | 09-02-2025 | MD5 (exe): 9f6d2fceab43fe561081cc1c0aa87c31

Changelog:

* New: Polish language support (translated by dmocha - thanks!)
* New: File creation functionality! (auto-detect if name contains extension, create file/directory accordingly - widely Configurable)
* New: Added two "UserStructure" examples to ini file (applied after first new run/install) - support for creating complex directory structures, supporting wildcards (press Ctrl + O, or click "Load" flat button on top)
* Change: performed some long-overdue code refactoring and cleanup to enhance readability
* Fixed: {os} variable is now ready to recognize Windows 10 & 11 correctly
* Fixed: fixed a problem with placeholders, where a user could apply the form without filling all of them, resulting in an error while creating directories


All suggestions and feedback are welcome!

Regards,
Bluestar

[Ceras]

Thank you for 1.7.0

I tested it a little bit. I'm currently using a total commander portable. Anyway manual installation is not easy.
The problem is that extDir needs to be in subfolder of %COMMANDER_PATH%.

My plugins and utils are locates other directory (not subfolder of %COMMANDER_PATH%).
The program was only recognized correctly by moving to the subfolders of %COMMANDER_PATH%.

TC\App\TotalCommander\extDir ---> WORK (= %COMMANDER_PATH%\extDir)
TC\Data\Plugins\extDir ---> NOT WORK
TC\Data\Utils\extDir ---> NOT WORK

Is there a solution or improvement to this situation?

[Bluestar]

@Ceras
Thanks for trying it & for the remarks.
The utility has a built-in installer when you run it from any other directory, which needs to somehow detect if the tool still needs to be installed, or its already ready-to-work - hence the check for being inside TC's dir somewhere under the main dir, like most of the extensions as well.
(surely it could be done via registry too but i don't like to spam it, or by saving an extra file somewhere, just this didn't came up as an issue yet =)
I might think of an alternative solution for the future, meantime it can be used in TC's dir.

[Ceras]

@Bluestar

Thank you for reply, I understand what you mentioned.
The problem I mentioned is not really a big problem.

Do you have any plans for Asian text support?
There is a problem that the letters are broken.
(The characters are broken when creating folders with templates.)

[Ceras]

I understood that this problem would occur if there were Asian characters, but it was not.
I don't know what the character ⁄ should call it, but I found that if this character is included, it causes problems.

Maybe all similar types of characters will cause the same problem.

ex) TEST ⁄ TEST.ext
After F7 for rename
---> 癤풲EST ??TEST.ext

It's not a serious problem, It's just a bug report.

[Bluestar]

@Ceras:
Actually the reason for it, that its been built in a Delphi version that doesn't have Unicode support yet, so it can only handle these characters if:
- either the Windows is running in that language that the problematic character is in
- or as an alternative solution, for non-Unicode capable softwares: workaround - to change this setting to Chinese in the Regional Settings (Current language for non-unicode programs), if thats the language you'd usually use anyways - though this is going to affect all possible other softwares on your PC as well, at least the ones not having Unicode support.

It could be done and I'd have the ability with a rewrite and build the tool with a newer Delphi version, but it would also affect the performance of opening the app, which is now almost the same as the native TC F7 dialog - about 0.15/ 0.2 sec. With a rewrite and newer version this would probably be much more, hence it would be somewhat noticable waiting before it would open by pressing F7, so such a rewrite is questionable (though it would really be time for it to support Unicode , so its not completely down the table).

[ghisler(Author)]

Or you could do what I do in Total Commander: "uses windows;" and then call the Unicode file functions like CreateFileW directly. It's not really that hard, you can even wrap them into Delphi-equivalent names.

[Bluestar]

2ghisler(Author)
Thanks for the idea, I'm gonna give it a try! I was previously thinking of converting the inputs to unicode-capable ones as well, but actually as I saw that might work too with TTntUnicode even in D7 - do you have any positive/negative experience with that component?

[Bluestar]

Total Commander extDir v1.8.0

Version 1.8 is out, fresh & crispy - this time with a full Unicode support.

Starting from the previous 1.7 version it supports the (batch) creation of files as well.
( Important: You need to turn it ON in the configuration, if you'd like to use it to create files as well! )

Download | 23-02-2025 | MD5 (exe): 210ce9611618641235bc3fc9dda2554e

Changelog:

* New: Unicode support - complete support for creating directories & files with unicode characters
* New: Italian language support (translated by ErreGi - thanks!)
* Change: after creating a new file, the option also works to "enter" inside the file (open F4 editor on it), in case the "Enter directory after creation" option is checked
* Fixed: set TC's cursor on the created files as well (was working only for directories)
* Fixed: checking if we are inside an archive on startup was not working properly using TC 8.0B10 path detection method - now its properly calling the internal F7 in case like this
* Fixed: languages with special character codes built into extDir are also working properly & unicode-safe (Chinese, etc)
* Fixed: all control and input supports unicode characters as well


All suggestions and feedback are welcome!

Regards,
Bluestar

[petermad]

2Bluestar

Updated Danish translation can be downloaded at https://tcmd.madsenworld.dk/tools/tcextDir_dan.zip

[Bluestar]

2petermad
Thank you for the update, and also for (by your update) reminding me to refresh the ENG file a little bit - because there has been some new strings related to the FileCreation added, thus I'm gonna release a new extDir version soon thats gonna support the translation of them as well.

Meantime for all translators: please download the new ENG file (updated today), containing some new errors and strings about file creation.
I'm gonna update all the languages with the new strings you are submitting to me - thank you for all of your contributions!

[petermad]

2Bluestar
New re-uipdated Danish translation can be downloaded at https://tcmd.madsenworld.dk/tools/tcextDir180_dan.zip

[Bluestar]

Thank you @petermad!

A hotfix version is out (1.8.1), including a fix related to handling Unicode (extDir.ini kept collecting some erroneous characters at the EOF file), and updated Danish language as well.

Download | 25-02-2025 | MD5 (exe): c92e8645ae1f287c527b9fe082832f7d

[TW]

@Bluestar

thanks a lot!