v 3.7
NEW FEATURES:
* Vista & Windows 7 Compatibility: The help file has been converted from the “HLP” format to the “CHM” format.
* Vista & Windows 7 Compatibility: A different installer is being used which recognizes newer Operating Systems as well as 32/64 bit.
* Added a Refresh button above the Files List to make it quicker and easier to refresh the list if you move files using Windows Explorer while Name Dropper is open and that folder is selected.
* Added support for 3GP video files. Name Dropper will attempt to play them now (QuickTime Alternative Plugin recommended – See web site).
BUGS SQUASHED:
* If a <hidden> file was dropped onto the Folder Browsing button (to change to that folder in Name Dropper), it sometimes caused an error & application crash. This should no longer happen.
* If a file was moved, renamed or deleted using Windows Explorer while Name Dropper was displaying that file then it would cause an error & application crash if you tried to right-click on the file to display the file’s Info.
* If the Files List was refreshed and the [External Preview] button had been displayed for an unsupported file, that button should have disappeared after the file refresh.
* The ‘Files in folder’ count didn’t always get updated when the files list was refreshed.
v 3.6
NEW FEATURES:
* Improved the appearance of the media control buttons visible when playing audio/video files.
* The demo version now allows users to use all 9 “custom buttons” instead of only 3, and the startup delay has been changed from 15 seconds to 5.
BUGS SQUASHED:
* Sound problem when playing some MP3s has been addressed. This is a known problem with Microsoft DirectShow that affects certain MP3s with extended meta data (ID3 Tags) and a temporary work-around has been made. If you experience no sound when playing a small number of your MP3s, you can just click on the Forward Seek (>) button after the file starts playing to get the sound to “kick in”. If you are experiencing no sound when playing most or all of your MP3s, you may wish to enable the work-around. To do so, open the Program Options window and press F12 to toggle the work-around on or off (The default setting is off/disabled, and Name Dropper will remember your last used setting next time you run it). Now all MP3s should play fine (with sound), but the first second of the file may be cut off. This does not indicate a problem with the MP3 file, but rather it is the result of the temporary work-around.
* When dropping a folder onto the ‘Browsing Mode’ button while in Simple Browsing mode, if the new drive letter was different from the previous drive letter, the new drive letter wasn’t automatically selected in the Drive List box. This made it difficult to change back to the previous drive using the Drive List box. The user had to first choose a different drive, then choose the previous drive again in order to switch back.
* DEMO VERSION: When more than 10 files were selected, Name Dropper initially failed to engage Batch Mode although it did get engaged once the user de-selected some files.
* DEMO VERSION: When more than 10 files were selected, the user was asked to deselect some files. If the files were deselected one at a time, the message box repeatedly appeared as each file was deselected by the user. This behavior was not intended, and I apologize for any inconvenience.
v 3.5
NEW FEATURES:
* Name Dropper now displays more information in the ‘File EXIF Info window’ (F3): File Size (KB/MB), Read Only status, and a few ID3 v1.1 MP3 Tags (if available).
* You can now insert a few different ID3 (v1.1) tags into filenames of MP3s. They can be inserted via the [EXIF+] button. Available ID3 variables are %ARTIST%, %TITLE%, %ALBUM%, & %TRACK%. These only work with MP3s that contain the ID3 v1.1 tags (Press F3 to find out). This option is only available when an MP3 is selected.
* You can now insert a “Serial Number” into the filename. This Serial Number is a unique number that *some* cameras store (it is derived from the EXIF ‘ImageNumber’ value), and it can currently only be extracted from JPGs or TIFs that contain them. It can be inserted via the [EXIF+] button. In Batch Mode, it inserts a variable (%SERIAL%) into the filename which will be changed when the file is renamed. Please ensure that your images contain this information before relying on it to keep the filenames unique, as very few cameras currently write this data. To find out if your camera supports it, select an image then press F3 to view the EXIF information stored in the image and check to make sure there is a number for the Image Number (Serial) field. SERIES Numbers are still the recommended way to number your images when renaming them in groups.
* You can now view the File Info window by right-clicking on the file list box. This shows the info for the last file clicked (same as pressing F3). If no files are selected in the list, it doesn’t do anything. This is just an additional way to bring up the file info (pressing F3 or using the [EXIF+] button’s pop-up menu).
* Added link to the Name Dropper Online Forum at the website. The link is located on the Help menu in the program.
BUGS SQUASHED:
* When extracting EXIF date & time from some RAW images, Name Dropper was showing the correct date & time in the EXIF Info window (F3), but when actually inserting the date & time into the filename, it was using the oldest of the file’s ‘created’ or ‘modified’ time stamp instead. In most cases, the difference was negligible (under 2 seconds), but under some circumstances (i.e. the image was edited and resaved) the time difference could be substantial.
* Problem with JPGs without a modified date giving EXIF error that was fixed in previous version still occurred in batch mode.
* Name Dropper didn’t always recall the last specific folder used when starting up, particularly if it was not on the ‘C’ drive.
* When manually typing a new base filename, a Quick Tip said it was a DEMO version even if it was the full version.
* Added a system file to Setup that two users reported wasn’t already on their machine with a fresh install of Windows (should be rare).
v 3.4
NEW FEATURES:
* Name Dropper can now preview most audio and video files internally. In order for the files to appear in the File List, the File Filter must be set to ‘All Files’ in the Options Menu. The following audio and video files are supported: AVI, MID, MP3, MPEG (MPE/MPG/MPEG), WAV, Windows Media (ASF, WMA, WMV). Note: Depending on other software installed on your computer (specifically, DirectShow Filters), Quicktime MOV files as well as Real Media Files (RA, RM, RAM) might play. Name Dropper will try to play them. If they do not play, or play incorrectly, you can use the other new feature listed next to load it with an external program.
* You can now choose to open a file ‘externally’ (using the associated program on the computer) even on a file that Name Dropper can preview internally. To do so, right-click on the preview window and choose ‘Open with external viewer’ from the pop-up menu. For example, if JPGs are associated with a graphics editor, doing an external preview of a JPG file will cause the selected file to be opened with the graphics editor. This can be handy if you need to see a larger preview (more detail) or wish to edit the file in question. When previewing a file externally, you should close the file in the other program before attempting to rename it with Name Dropper. Failure to do so could cause a duplicate file to be created with the old filename or a ‘File Access’ error, meaning the file is in-use by another application. Note that when the [External Preview] button is visible, right-clicking on the preview window does nothing.
BUGS SQUASHED:
* On rare occasion Name Dropper would show a message box stating “Error showing file preview: Error # 0” when clicking on a non-image (unsupported) file. As error # 0 is essentially ‘no error’, funnily enough the error message itself was an error. 🙂
* Fixed strange problem reported by one user: On certain JPG files in his possession, Name Dropper would report an error that the file couldn’t be found when attempting to extract EXIF data from it. The file in question had no “modified” date, and the EXIF date was from 1980. It is unknown whether the problem stemmed from an old EXIF format or the missing “modified” date (Until seeing his sample, I have NEVER seen a file with no “modified” date). The good thing is that the error no longer occurs, and Name Dropper can still extract the EXIF date & time from the file.
* After renaming the last file in the file list, if the user pressed the [Enter] key to rename the file instead of clicking the [Rename / Done] button, Name Dropper would display ‘No file selected’, as if they clicked the [Rename / Done] button without selecting a file first. Not a major issue, but may have been confusing.
v 3.3
NEW FEATURES:
* Added support for Adobe Photoshop “.PSD” image files.
* Added support for most proprietary RAW image files created by many high-end digital cameras.
* Name Dropper can now extract EXIF Date & Time from most RAW digital camera files. Only the EXIF DATE & TIME can be extracted from RAW files at this time (compared to full EXIF support for JPG and TIF files).
* Name Dropper recognizes that Canon “.CRW” and “.THM” files are a “set”. When extracting EXIF Date/Time for a CRW file, it gets it from the THM file (if it resides in the same folder). Also, when these files are renamed the new filenames are automatically kept identical, even during batch renaming with series #s, providing that both files in the set are selected from the list.
* You can now quickly choose a different drive or folder to work with in Name Dropper by dragging drives, folders, or files from Windows Explorer or the Desktop and dropping them onto the ‘Folder Browsing’ button (with folder icon on it). This works no matter which Folder Browsing mode you are currently in. If a valid drive or folder is dropped onto that button, that drive or folder is selected in Name Dropper. If you drop a FILE, then the FOLDER containing that file is selected in Name Dropper. As should be expected, this does not work correctly with special system items such as My Computer, My Network Places, etc.
* When the File List has the focus, pressing CTRL-A will now select all files in the list. Because it is handier to keep the focus on the New Filename box (so you can begin typing a new filename without having to click the text box first), the File List only has the focus immediately after a folder is chosen.
* In Batch Mode, if the Original Filename variable (%ORIGFN%) is inserted into the new filename, Name Dropper no longer warns you that ‘duplicate filenames can occur since no time or series # was found in the new base filename’. This was changed because if the original filename is inserted into the new filename, this automatically ensures that duplicate filenames cannot occur. Therefore, the message is not necessary.
* Improved warning messages shown when a duplicate filename could exist and when asking to overwrite an existing file.
* Several other minor enhancements.
BUGS SQUASHED:
* Added more code to prevent behavior similar to the “closed when minimized” problem which can occur if window coordinates are off-screen to the right or bottom (can occur if screen resolution is lower than it was when Name Dropper was last ran).
v 3.2
NEW FEATURES:
* You can now toggle between simple and advanced folder browsing methods. Simple browsing is the original method of choosing a drive and folder. Advanced browsing allows you to choose a folder using the Choose Folder dialog, which makes it easier to choose system-type folders or folders over networks. The default is Simple, and you can toggle between the two methods by clicking the small button located next to the Drive List box (in Simple Browsing mode) or the [Choose Folder…] button (in Advanced Browsing mode). Name Dropper will remember which method you last used the next time it is run.
BUGS SQUASHED:
* If a custom or temp button contained the %SERIES% variable and Name Dropper was in single-file mode, it did not convert the variable to the actual series # as it should have. Instead, it inserted the variable. Also, if text in the new filename was highlighted, the highlighted text was not replaced with the variable, but rather the variable was inserted before it.
* Not so much a bug but rather an annoyance: When the Filename Search & Replace window came up, the first Search Term text box did not have the focus, therefore you had to click on it first before you could start typing.
* If the [External Preview] button was visible when the folder was changed, the button should have been hidden.
v 3.1
NEW FEATURES:
* Interface now uses Windows XP style buttons and controls (where available).
* Name Dropper now allows you to rename ANY type of file (if the new ‘File Filter> All Files’ option is enabled)! This also allows you to rename proprietary RAW image formats created by some digital cameras, such as Nikon “.nef”, Canon “.raw”, and Olympus “.orf” files.
* Any files that Name Dropper does not directly support can now easily be previewed externally. Just click the ‘External Preview’ button and the file is opened using the application registered to that filetype.
* The number of files in the selected folder is now shown above the File List.
* Renaming files only by changing the case of one or more letters is now fully supported.
* New function: Transfer File(s) [Transfer] button. This new function allows you to quickly and easily move or copy files from one drive or folder to another, and retains a history of the last 15 folders used. Included is an option called SmartName, which dynamically adjusts the filename being moved/copied if a file by the same name already exists in the destination folder. Never again worry about overwriting existing files or failed file-moving/copying operations caused by existing files with the same name!
* The [Delete File(s)] button has been changed to [DEL] to make room for the new [Transfer] button.
* New function: ‘Filename Search & Replace’ (found under Tools menu). This powerful new feature allows you to search for words or phrases in the selected filenames and replace them with text you specify. You can use up to 6 different search/replace terms in a single search.
* New function: ‘Map Network Drive’ (found under Tools menu). This allows you to assign a local drive letter to a drive or folder on a networked computer, which makes it easy to work with in Name Dropper.
* Added new button, ‘Select All’, which selects all files in the current folder for renaming.
* New option: ‘Force lower-case extensions’. When enabled, Name Dropper automatically changes the extension (such as .JPG) to lower-case letters (.jpg). This option was added for those who feel upper-case extensions look unbalanced with mixed-case base filenames. This new option is turned OFF by default.
* New option: ‘Main Window Resizing: Resize fonts too’. When enabled, the font sizes for all of the controls (buttons, text boxes, etc) will be increased as the main window size is increased. When disabled, the font size will remain the same, thus allowing you to see more text in buttons, boxes, and particularly the File List box (handy for very long filenames).
* If variables (%DATE%, %TIME%, %DATE TIME%, %ORIGFN%, or %SERIES%) are assigned to Custom or Temp buttons, the variable is immediately replaced with the actual date, time, or series when the button is clicked in normal (single file) mode. In version 3.0, the variable wasn’t replaced until the file was actually renamed. This change does not affect how variables work in batch mode.
* Variables are no longer required to be in upper-case, for those who may type lower case variables manually into buttons. Note though that they either must be all lower-case or all upper-case (i.e. %Series% will NOT work).
* If EXIF date and/or time is to be inserted but there is no EXIF data in the file, Name Dropper now uses the file’s ‘Created’ or ‘Modified’ date & time, whichever is oldest, instead of not inserting anything at all.
* Added many more formatting options for date & time.
* Pressing [Enter] key now renames the file(s), whether in Batch Mode or regular (single file) mode.
* The [Go!] button in Batch Mode has been changed to [Start Batch Renaming].
* In Batch Mode, there is a new option to ‘Randomize Series #s’. This option will generate random series #s (starting with the number in the ‘Next Series #’ box) while renaming the selected files. Depending on where you placed the Series # into the new base filename, this will result in random file order which may be desired for slideshows, screensavers, or picture CDs. This option is available in the Batch Mode pane, and must be reset every time it is used.
* Image preview can now be rotated by pressing F2. Each press rotates the image clockwise by 90 degrees. Rotation is reset each time a different file is previewed.
* Image preview is now automatically rotated if the “Orientation” variable (EXIF) is set to anything other than Normal. Requires that the file contains EXIF data and the camera has ability to detect camera orientation.
* EXIF data can now be viewed on an individual file. Three ways to do it (after clicking on a file): Press F3, Menu: ‘Tools|View EXIF Data’, or [EXIF+] then choose ‘View EXIF Data’.
* Improved error handling and messages to better convey the cause of the error.
* Templates and Options menus have been moved to the new ‘Tools’ menu.
* New menu item: ‘Tools|Refresh…’. This allows you to quickly refresh the Drive List, Folder List, or Files List.
* Minor changes to Help File to reflect changes.
* Several other minor enhancements made to the interface.
* Previously undocumented feature that has been around since the beginning: You can mix & match filetypes without limit (for example, JPG and TIF) when doing batch renaming. Although the ‘New Filename’ box will retain the extension of the last file chosen to rename, the original extension of each file is preserved when the files are renamed.
BUGS SQUASHED:
* If Name Dropper was closed while the main window was minimized, the main window would no longer appear when subsequently trying to run the program.
* If the ONLY difference between the original filename and the ‘new’ filename was changes to the case (upper/lower case letters), Name Dropper would warn you that the file already existed and ask if you wanted to overwrite it. If you chose ‘Yes’, the file would be inadvertantly deleted. This no longer results in a lost file, and now it just renames it without warning (after, of course, you click the [Rename] button), as no warning is needed because it is obviously the same file.
v 3.0
NEW FEATURES:
* New “Quick Tips” added to help people learn how to use Name Dropper even faster. Though they can be very helpful in learning to use Name Dropper, some may find them extremely annoying… however, they can very easily be turned off from any Quick Tip window.
* More information has been added to the Help File, making it even more informative. If you don’t like the Quick Tips, you may find the “Interface” section of the Help File almost as helpful.
* ‘ & ‘, ‘ at ‘, and ‘ with ‘ were consolidated into a single button with a pop-up menu (Insert+), and added more insertable words/characters (SPACE, -, &, at, with, on, in).
* Added ‘-Cancel-‘ to all pop-up menus to make it easier to cancel the menus if you change your mind.
* EXIF Date & Time (stored by the camera when the picture is taken) can now be inserted into the filename. You can also adjust the formatting of the date and time.
* The original filename can now be inserted into the new filename (especially handy in batch mode if you wish to “add something” to the original filename).
* When using Series # spacing, you can now use a dash (-) instead of a space if desired (Options window).
* New option to automatically reset the ‘Next Series #’ to 1 after performing a batch-renaming operation. By default, this new option is OFF.
* The Series # can now be placed anywhere in the filename that you choose. The downside is that in batch mode, the series # is NOT automatically inserted anymore… you must first tell Name Dropper WHERE to put the Series # by clicking the ‘Series #’ button while building the base filename. This may sound inconvenient (especially to users of previous versions), but the new way offers much greater flexibility, and it still auto-increments the number for you. This method also allows you to rename files without series #s at all, provided you at least insert the EXIF time (otherwise duplicate filenames could occur).
* Added non-conventional JPG file extension to the file filter (*.JPEG).
* Added non-conventional TIF file extension to the file filter (*.TIFF).
BUGS SQUASHED:
* Fixed problem with resizing code that caused the main Name Dropper window to be HUGE when ran after installing for the first time.
* Fixed error that occured when minimizing the window.
* Fixed ‘Invalid Property’ error when selecting multiple files by dragging the mouse in the Files List immediately after starting Name Dropper or changing folders.
* When the window was resized, the ‘New Filename’ font size did not change.
* Cleaned up the window resizing code to fix flickering when attempting to resize beyond minimum size allowed.
* When opening a template, the first template in the list was always opened, regardless of which template was chosen to be opened.
v 2.4
NEW FEATURES:
* If text in the ‘New Filename’ is highlighted, Name Dropper now replaces the highlighted text when clicking on a button. When files are first chosen from the file list, the main portion of the filename is now automatically highlighted.
* When clicking a button, Name Dropper now inserts text at the cursor, instead of always appending the text to the end of the filename (when clicking the ‘Series #’ button though, it still appends that to the end, as it should).
* Added faint border around the ‘New Filename box’ and the ‘Rename/Done’ button to help those two key parts of the interface stand out better.
BUGS SQUASHED:
* Changed Name Dropper ‘Setup’ to prevent a DLL problem on some Win95/98 machines.
v 2.3
NEW FEATURES:
* Name Dropper window is now resizable, and it remembers the last size & position used.
* The filename for the Preview Window also shows the image size now.
* Added support for Kodak Picture CD file format (*.PCD).
* Added non-conventional JPG file extension to the file filter (*.JPE).
BUGS SQUASHED:
* When an ampersand (&) was in the filename, it wasn’t showing it correctly in the Preview Window caption.
* When using a higher than normal DPI setting for the display, the Preview Window was not moving itself correctly to compensate.
v 2.2
NEW FEATURES:
* Changed registry location for certain items that may cause “permission” problems on multi-user computers, when the user does not have administrative permissions to access that part of the registry.
* Once the trial period is over, Name Dropper will now continue to run, but access to templates is cut off, batch-renaming is disabled, and you must wait 45 seconds for each file renaming. All of these limitations will be lifted once registered.
* Added support for many more filetypes. The complete list of supported filetypes is now: ART, BMP, CUR, CUT, DIB, EMF, GEM, GIF (still & animated), HRZ, ICO, IFF, IMG, JPG, LBM, MAC, MSP, PBM, PCX, PGM, PIC, PNG, PNM, PPM, RAS, RLE, TGA, TIF, WMF, and WPG
* Added new option to adjust the Preview Window size. Large (same as before), and Thumbnail, which shows the preview in true proportions (height & width), but produces a smaller preview image.
BUGS SQUASHED:
* None
v 2.1
NEW FEATURES:
* Added new option where the user can decide whether or not a space is inserted between the filename & the series #.
* Using “Batch Mode” no longer disables / blocks the Preview Window.
* When in “Batch Mode”, the ‘New Filename’ is no longer changed as you click on more files. This prevents an edited filename from being wiped out if you choose more files after typing in the new base filename.
* If the ‘Rename / Done’ button is clicked but the filename hasn’t been changed from the original, a message box now pops up stating this.
* Added more information to the Help File.
BUGS SQUASHED:
* When Name Dropper was run, AND the folder that you last used was no longer available, Name Dropper would crash with a “Path not found” error. This has been fixed.
v 2.0
NEW FEATURES:
* Added some ‘Tool Tips’ to buttons that didn’t have any before.
* Added a new ‘Options’ window, where you can now set some options (see below).
* Option: Automatic Preview can be toggled on and off.
* Option: Tool Tips can be toggled on and off.
* Option: You now have the option to choose to have placeholders in the Series #. This will help to prevent Windows Explorer from showing pictures in a longer series out of order.
* If you double-click on the ‘Next Series #’ textbox, it will reset it to ‘1’ (or ’01’, etc, depending on how you have the new placeholders option set up).
* Added new ‘batch mode’. This allows you to rename several files with just a few simple steps! To activate “Batch Mode”, simply select more than one file from the files list.
* When clicking on buttons other than ‘Custom’ or ‘Temp’ buttons, the filename probably shouldn’t have been cleared, even when editing a “fresh” file. It made more sense to leave the filename alone, in case the user is editing a filename that was previously edited, and, for example, just wanted to append a series # or something. Clicking on the ‘Custom’ or ‘Temp’ buttons on a “fresh” file will still clear the filename first, as it did before.
* Name Dropper now checks for invalid characters in filenames, and warns you if it finds any.
* Several other minor enhancements.
* Re-wrote parts of the Help File and added new information.
BUGS SQUASHED:
* If a file was being renamed to a filename that already existed, Name Dropper would crash. It now asks you if you want to overwrite the file.
* Fixed bug where part of the filename was being “erased” when clicking on a button after manually typing in a filename.
v 1.0 – December 1st, 2002
* Initial release to public