Greg Chapman has done it again! And again, you get to reap the benefits!
Many folks have used and appreciate Greg's free File Cataloger
utility (which you can download from www.mousetrax.com/downloads.html).
But I also hear a lot of folks in the user
groups I help support asking for the ability to print out their directory
tree structure. Granted, you can see the file structure if you open your
Windows Explorer (which you can do by right clicking the Start button
and clicking Explore or hitting the Windows + E keys), but apparently
lots of folks have the need to print lists of files and/or folder structures.
Previously, you had to open a DOS command prompt and run a list of the directories
you wanted to document and have that info passed into a text file that can then
be printed. But who, other than geeks, ever resort to using the DOS prompt?
(Yes, I use it all the time! <smile>) Then Greg created his File Cataloger
and folks were thrilled with the ability to now create a Word document that
not only lists the paths and names of files, but links to them. This allows
you to print the document, thereby printing the names of all the files in any
directory. And you then also have the ability to keep the Word doc handy, such
as on your desktop, for easy access to open files related to the same project
or file type, such as all your music or photo files.
This is a great utility. However, I know folks would still like to be able
to see, print and consider the full directory folder and file structure on various
systems. In fact, just last week one of my auto template clients told me she
was very impressed with Greg's File Cataloger and it will help her in the future.
But she is currently battling trying to get nearly 300 custom templates (for
a legal firm) under control and better organized. So what she really needed
was a way to view all the server directories and files so she could study what
was there and decide how best to restructure the files she had.
Okay, Debra, this one's for you—no charge!
I mentioned Debbie's request to Greg and also the fact that I knew many others
have asked for this ability in the past. So one night, after a day of fighting
servers at the office, Greg came home and settled down with his laptop to, ahem,
relax and do a little coding! The result is a new version of the File
Cataloger—the Directory Cataloger!
With this new utility, you can just toss the Word template on your desktop.
Then when you need to see a directory structure, you simply double click to
open it. A directory browser will open prompting you to pick a directory to
catalog.
Pick a directory and click OK. Now go get some coffee. In a few minutes,
depending on the size of the directory and all the subdirectories you have under
it, as well as the number of files you have in all those directories, you'll
soon get a Word doc that not only shows you the file structure of your directories,
but also hyperlinks the files within those directories so you can easily view/run
the files by clicking on them!
Here's the output from a sample I ran against my Microsoft Office directory.
Realize, however, that a listing of just this one directory created a document
that was 73 pages long. If you have a ton of files you need to list, you can
end up with a huge document.
But then again, Greg has thought of that issue, too. Which is why he's also
created an industrial strength version!
If you just want to be able to keep up with the changing structure of a project
directory that isn't too large, this Directory Cataloger Word template version
should do the job quite nicely for you. The result is a Word doc that you can
keep handy to quickly click on a hyperlink to open a file and the document listing
the files can then also be printed. Or, if you want the ability to also add
file descriptions or add helpful keywords for sorting, then you should use the
original File Cataloger utility.
But, if what you need to do is something like Debra needs, to view a pile of
directories on a large system or server, then it's time to pull out the big
guns. Greg created a Windows Scripting version of this same code. It'll run
much faster in a DOS prompt and the results will be an HTML file, which can
be more universally accessed.
To use the WinScript (WSH) version of Directory Cataloger, you download the
file, unzip it and can then also keep it handy on your desktop to run when needed.
To use it, you'll need to open your Windows Explorer and resize it a bit so
you can also see the DirCatHTML.wsh icon on your desktop. Then you can
just drag a directory from Windows Explorer over to the Cataloger icon
on your desktop and drop the directory on top of the icon. (Or you can
run it ([script name] [filename]) from the DOS prompt.)
The results will be an HTML page that opens in your browser and displays the
same type of directory tree structure as the Word document with hyperlinks to
the files.
Greg ran a test on the WSH version against his entire laptop, containing
several gigabytes of files. Sure, it took quite a few minutes and the resulting
HTML file was a whopping 75 meg in itself! But it worked. My guess is that Word
would have been pushing up daisies had you attempted this same thing with the
Word template version. But the Word template version is easier for many users
to understand and use, although the WSH version is very simple. You just have
to venture into that strange world of the DOS prompt!
So now you have a choice of weapons. If you want to list your files and have
the ability to add descriptions, use the File Cataloger. If you prefer
to link the files in a directory structure list, use the Directory Cataloger
DOT file in Word. And if you need to review tons of files, shoot for the DirCatHTML
WSH version of Directory Cataloger.
By the way, while we're on the subject, don't forget about Greg's Image
Cataloger! if you have a pile of graphics on your hard drive that you'd
like to easily see, download Greg's award winning Image Cataloger. Again, just
point it to the directory you want to check and all those images will be put
into an HTML file for viewing. And it'll list the directory path so you can
find the file you need. Since it runs in your browser, all the animated files
will work, too.
To download any of these files, see www.mousetrax.com/downloads.html
or click the Library
link on the above menu here in TechTrax.
Thanks for all these cool utilities, Greg. We'll try to think up harder challenges
for you in the future! <grinning, ducking and running>
Important System Requirement Note!
Be sure you carefully check the minimum requirements for each downloadable
utility! And understand that the Windows scripting version is dependent on the
version of Windows you have, whereas the Word templates are dependent on the
version of Word you are running. Two separate code sources and two separate
subjects. So if you decide to run the WinScript version, you need to be using
Windows NT, Windows 2000 or Windows XP. It will not work with Windows 98 or
ME. When it comes to using the Word template versions, you need to have a minimum
of Word 2000.
In other words, if you are running a minimum of Windows 98 and/or Word 97...sorry,
but this stuff won't work for you!
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