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[info]Batcher User's Guide

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Introduction

Changable Attributes

Subfolder Scanning

Filter System

Undo

Examples

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Changable Attributes

[info]Batcher can change a number of attributes connected with the files. This chapter explains exactly what these attributes are and what they are used for.

 

• Type and Creator

MacOS uses these four letter identifiers to identify what type the file is, e.g. JPEG picture, MP3 file, text document etc. And what application should be launched to open the file.

The Type code is common to all files of the same type. For example, all jpg-pictures have the Type code of "JPEG" and mpg-movies the code of "MPEG". Usually the Type code should not be changed, because it can cause the programs to be unable to recognize the files corretly and therefore being unable to read it correctly. However, it is useful to change the Type code if you have files that you know are pictures, but have been incorrectly given Type codes of text files, for example. NOTE: Just changing the Type code doesn't actually change the file format, i.e. just by changing the Type code of a jpg file into the Type code of a gif file will NOT make that file a gif picture, rather you will just end up with an unreadable file!

The Creator code on the other hand can be different for files that are of the same type. This means that a number of jpg files having the same Type code can all have different Creator code. The Creator code is used to determine what application should be launched when the file is double clicked. It is not uncommon to have two MP3 files, one launching iTunes when double clicked and the other launching Audion for example. This can be annoying and in many cases you will want all the similar files to have the same Creator code. If you do not know what the creator code is

Type apply Type and Creator changes to the files, tick the box next to the title. Fill in the new Type and Creator codes manually, or by selecting a saved one from the list, or by copying them from a file. If you only want to change one of these, leave the other one blank.

 

• Erasing Custom Icons

  Some programs add custom icons to the files that they process. These icons will stay even if you change the Creator code of the file. Only way to get rid of them is to erase them from the file's resource fork. Luckily [info]Batcher can do this too automatically for you! Just tick the 'Erase Icons' box in the Options tab.

• Renaming Files

  [info]Batcher has a functionality to change file names in a sequential manner. The name is made up of three parts: a prefix, a running number and a postfix. In other words the new file name is [prefix][0000][postfix]. For example, setting the Name field to "image" and Extension field to ".jpg" would result in the files to be renamed in the following way:

  image0001.jpg
  image0002.jpg
  image0003.jpg
  …

  It is also possible to leave either one, or both, of the fields empty, but the running number will always be included in the name.

   

• Extra Attributes

  The 'Extras' tab contains a number of various file attributes that [info]Batcher can change. These attributes are: visibility, locked status, label, comment, as well as the Finder Flags, hasCustomIcon, nameLocked and hasBundle. The values of Visible, Locked and the Finder Flags can be set, cleared or toggled (the value reversed).

  The Visible attribute can set whether the file is visible or invisible in Finder. If a file is invisible it does not appear in the standard file listings and cannot be seen or modified through Finder, however, there are many applications that can display invisible items. This value can be used to hide sensitive items. NOTE: MacOS as well as some other applications store invisible files at the root level of the harddrive, if you are applying changes at the root level of the disk, make sure to use the Filters to exclude invisible files, otherwise unpredictable results might occur!

  The Locked attribute can be used to deny any changes to the file. Once the attribute is set the file is write protected and it's name can't be changed. The locked status is indicated by a small lock graphic at the bottom left corner of the icon. Set this attribute if you want to protect your files from changes.

  The Label attribute refers to the standard Finder label of the file. You can assign files with different labels such as 'Important', 'Urgent' and 'Personal'. The label is indicated in Finder by different colors assigned to the labeled files.

  The Comment of a file can be seen in Finder through the Get Info dialog. The comment is a 190 characters long text string that you can assign to each file. [info]Batcher can replace existing comments with new ones or append (add to the end) further comments to the existing ones.

  The three changable Finder Flags are extra attributes that Finder assigns to files. The Custom Icon value signifies whether the file uses a custom icon or not. Setting the Name Locked value to true will make it impossible to change the name of the file in Finder, and vice versa. The last Flag is mainly for developers and you shouldn't change it unless you know what you're doing.

  

  In order to change these extra attributes of the file you need to tick the 'Apply Extras' box in the 'Batcher' tab before starting the batching.