Your five biggest feature requests...

[Andrea]

Hi mrdna!

yes, I remember the thread... not sure about the feasibility as it would require a db merge (which we're already doing with the export/import functions...). You're right about it anyway.

This brings up 2 things I can see; OR functionality in the rules panel (mp4 OR mov > Video tabble. Could have 1 rule instead of bunches, perhaps), and importing structures.

Well, this is *kinda* not true anymore: in the latest release we introduce the chance to use regular expressions in the rules (that was Maurizio's idea... hats off to him!). While regular expression seem to be impossible to understand, the point is that we don't really need to do complex stuff, therefore once we get 3 or 4 useful ones working, we can play around and change them to get more of them out. As they keep coming, we could put them in the wiki?

Some resources about regular expressions:
- Page on Codeplex
- Download Expresso, a regular expression editor
- The reference page on MSDN
- Regular expression library (warning: the syntax could be different... the one on the MSDN page is the one that should work)

===> YES IT WORKS!!!

Well, I just got my first one working (with some help from Maurizio...hehe)! Here you go:

.*\.avi$|.*\.mov$|.*\.mpg$

This one matches .avi OR .mov OR .mpg. A little explanation:
.* = matches any character
\. = matches the character "." (the dot)
avi = matches the pattern "avi" (and also mov and mpg)
$ = end of the pattern to be matched (append this at the end of the thing you want to match)
| = plain and simple logical OR

So, if you want to add anothe extension, like .mp3, you append |.*\.mpg$ to the previous expression.

Other interesting stuff:
\b = matches backspace
^ = beginning of the line to be matched, the opposite of $
Well, the rest is in the msdn reference...

I can see someone (mrdna) starting to toy around with this, isn't it?

Hint: I got it to crash once already... since this is the first time we release this complex feature, of course it's not bug-free!!! Therefore, make sure you backup your db when making experiments - you've been warned.


[EDIT]: our new friend Renicuente just posted he successfully used the regular expression:

.+\.(?:doc|pdf|chm|ppt|xls|rtf|docx|xlsx)$

[EDIT 2]: check this out http://www.tabbles.net/wiki/index.php?title=Regular_expressions

(excellent!)
P.S.: soon there will be a page in the wiki and one on the main site on this topic... you're all welcome to contribute!

A.

[Jfw]

I remember that threat... I even wonder if I was not originator...
I still believe that option to import DB structures or rules is great...
I understand that you now are able to import/export structures which are replacing the current structure...adding a structure is not possible..correct ?

Would it be a great work ?

Other option describe on the wiki some regex rules for these regular resquests

BR,
Jf

[mrdna]

MOST excellent, Andrea. Super-kudos to Maurizio! Will play with that. (Primary DB is getting huge and sprawling. Considering redoing the thing and starting by writing a full rule-set to automate most of the process. This will help ALOT!)

Don't know how the append thing would be built in code, but I kind of envision it having 4 parts; 1 is adding tabbles to the current structure, 2 is adding the rules, 3 is adding the exclusions (probably not nescessary but...), and 4 adding the file entries. Adding the files would be adding them as tagged and not nescessarily attaching them to other tabbles as I'd imagine that would force a search process and I don't know if that's feasible.

best regards!

[staley]

TERABYTES of data....

Wow... and I thought my hard drive had a lot of documents.

[UBIK]

I love the concept, but the implementation is too limited for my purposes.

There is 1 make or break feature for me:

1.) Integration with windows explorer & other file explorers: Being forced to use the Tabbles interface means that I can not use my existing workflow & preferred file manager (Total Commander in my case). Integrating the program features closely into windows, will be beneficial for the widescale adoption of the application, since it would be more likely that a lot of people would start using the program (and buy it of course).

[Andrea]

Hi UBIK, and welcome to the forum!
We know this already: the fact is that the development cost would be unbearable for us right now...

Plus, using Total Commander, you can still use the auto-tagging feature of Tabbles (you tell Tabbles to listen to a folder and to auto-tag everything gets moved into it).

B.R.

Andrea

[shundalov_vv]

Hi there from Russia
Using Tabbles for few months now, found it's concept very useful (many web sites should take this too, imho). Yet I got some ideas I really like to have

1. Make one more type of list view - arranging files in a "mind map", like for example in Mindjet MindManager (not a promo here:) - just I use it heavilly)
Simply - a cenralised map (cloud?) of nested tags.
Seems great for me.

2. Ability to "recognize" tagged files moved in new location (duplicates?), even if the name was changed (md5 or something similair, like in local tracker software like DC++, emule). Right now (maybe I missed smth) it hurts.
Yes, 'indexing" takes a lot of CPU, so probably it may be an switchable option.
This will allow reorganize files easily, use external hdd, etc without loosing tags


Thanks for a nice software once again

[Andrea]

Hey there,

welcome to the forum! And thanks for the hints, but please read the stuff previously posted - the 2 things you wrote are somewhere in this thread already

Anyway:
- list: maybe (you can live without it)
- tracking file movements: we did it before but not in a reliable way due to the FileSystemWatcher problems. Unfortunately we couldn't yet find a solid technical workaround to this - any hints?

Cheers,

A.

[Viking]

I know that some of the items below have been requested before, and I know some of these request have been answered. I include them simply to show that these items are important to me too. (So I'm not trying to give you extra work, Andrea. I've read most of the forum, and there's no need for you to repeat your answers )

Here goes:

1. Make tabbles interface more like a file explorer
Thinking big: Partner up with one of the developers of Windows Explorer replacements, like Total Commander.
Thinking not so big: Give us an expandable folder tree in Tabbles, so that I can move files around using drag&drop (currently the list in the folder tree only shows the root folder (disks), and I rarely want to move files into these folders) and have the files retain their tabbles.

2. Track files moved by other applications
I know it's a pain to implement, but it would make a world of difference. How to solve it technically, I have no idea, but I know Livedrive does it and is completely reliable.

3. Make the tabbles a part of each individual file
I have no idea if this is even possible. But imagine hooking up an old external drive to your new computer, hitting "Scan" in Tabbles, and have Tabbles identify every tabble previously assigned to the files on that drive.

4. Tabbles as an option in every "Open file..." dialogue
What a great idea!

5. Make "Ignored locations" a tick-off folder tree
There are lots of folders that I don't want Tabbles to monitor. Adding all these folders one by one is a hassle, compared to just ticking them off in a folder tree. (I really like that ignored folders are color-marked in the Tabbles main window.)

6. (oops) "OR" funcionality when combining tabbles
The use of regular expressions in rules is great, but I also want to be able to search for e.g. "Pictures + Mom OR Dad - Me"

Let me just add:
You guys are doing an amazing job!
Think big, get sponsors, partner up with other developers, etc. Ain't much I can do to help you, but I'll try to be an active user, give Beta and bug feedback and possibly do some translating to Norwegian when I have the time.

That's it for now

[Andrea]

Hey Viking!

Thanks for your input and your understanding!

Btw, all of those have been on our to-do list for a loooong while... (read: if we had 10 developers and some money to pay them, all those would have been implemented already )

A.