FilelistCreator

Main Window

On this page you will find an overview of all parts and functions of the main window of the FilelistCreator with a description of the respective function. An explanation of the functions of other program parts of the FilelistCreator can be found in the function overview.

This list is sorted by the occurrence of the functions in the program. If you are interested in the first steps in dealing with this program, you should read the help section, because this compilation is very specific and responsive to every detail.

The collection is divided into six general areas: general, files, preview, columns and design as well as saving. You can click on one of these points in order to directly jump to the appropriate location in the text.

General

The Filelist Creator is divided into four major areas. On the top left of the main window, there is the input field where you can add or delete the files for your list. Below, there is the preview pane. Here you can see how the file list looks like according to your current settings. On the right side of the window in the box "Columns and Design", you can specify what columns will be used for the table and how the table should look like. Among that, you dan see the small saving area. Here, you can specify the output format of the table.

• Save (CTRL+S): At the bottom right, there is the "Save" button. When you click on this button, the files that are currently in the list (input) are written according to your settings (columns and design) to a list that will be saved in your specified format (saving area). It opens a save dialog, where you can specify where the file should be saved.
• Clipboard (Ctrl+C): In addition to the "Save"-button there is the button "Clipboard". With this button, the same table is created, but this time, it is copied to the clipboard and not saved as a file. This function has the advantage, that you can use the result directly in any other application.
• Refresh (CTRL+W): The last button in the lower right corner is the "Update" button. This button is necessary, if the preview function is disabled. With this function you can update the preview area in the bottom left according to your current files and settings. If the preview is enabled, there is no need to use the "Refresh" button, becuase in the preview, there should always be the current list.
• Button X in all areas: All areas located in the main window, so the areas input, columns and design, preview and saving options, have a small X in the upper right corner. By using this button, it is possible to minimize the respective areas so that there is more space available for the other areas. This makes it possible to work comfortably even on small screens with the Filelist Creator. In the lower right corner of the main window you will see the minimized window as small buttons. When you click on one of these buttons, the corresponding area is maximized again.

Files

The input area for files is loacated at the top left of the main window. This area is used to manage the files that should be written into your table. The adding can be done either through the menu, you can search folders for files, or you can simply drag files from any folder to the list.

• Files > Open Folder..: Click this button to select a folder from your computer. The files from that folder will automatically be added to the list. If you only want to find files of a particular format, use the "Filter" button next to this button to select appropriate formats.
• Files > Enter Key in Folder-Box: You can also write or copy a folder in this box manually. By pressing the Enter Key, this folder is searched for files according to the filter settings.
• Files > Filter..: Click on "Filter" to limit the search in a folder on certain formats. It opens a new window, where you can either search for all formats or you can select only some formats, you want to look for. In the lists you can already find some extensions of file types. Of couse, you can also delete some extensions from the list or add own ones. Please not, that these extensions are seperated woth a comma and that there are no spaces between them. The filter settings are not related to adding files that are dragged from a folder in the list manually.
• Files > Search all Subfolders: With this option selected, the search is not only limited to the given folder. All the files in subfolders of the given folder will be found, too.
• Files > Watch Content of Folder: If you enable this option, your file list is continuously updated as changes occur in the specified folder. Such changes are possible when a file is deleted, changed or added. Then your file list will be updated and the corresponding files are deleted or added. Please note that for the use of this function, a real folder must be specified and the option have to be activated after the folder has been specified. Of course, this feature also works well for subdirectories, if you have selected the option to also search in sub directories.
• Files > List: This list contains all files that will be included in the current list. You can add any file to or delete any file from the list, depending on your needs. In addition to the normal file name, the list gives some further information about the file format, windows type, file size, creation date, access date, modification date, file attributes, the associated program and the file path. You can sort the files by any of this information or move files manually in the list up or down. In your table, the files are written exactly in the order they occur in the input field. You can set the sorting algorithm used by right-clicking on the file list under Columns > Settings > Sorting.
• Files > Double Click on List: Opens the Dialog to open one or more Files.
• Files > List > Right Mouse Button on Item > Open: Opens the corresponding file with its associated application.
• Files > List > Right Mouse Button on Item > Open corresponding Folder: Opens the parent folder of the file.
• Files > List > Right Mouse Button on Item > Show File Information: Displays the standard Windows file information of the appropriate file.
• Files > List > Right Mouse Button on Item > Copy selected Files to Clipboard: Copies the selected file or the selected files to the clipboard so that they can be stored with Paste (CTRL+V) into any folder on your computer.
• Files > List > Right Mouse Button on Item > Delete selected Files from List: Deletes the selected files or the selected files from the list. The files are not deleted from your computer, but only from the list.
• Files > Delete Selected: Deletes all the selected files from the list. The files are only deleted from the list, but not from your computer
• Files > Delete All: Deletes the entire list, so you can add new files. It only removes files from the list, of course, the files are still present on your computer.

Preview

Unten rechts befindet sich das vor Schaufenster. Ist die Vorschau aktiviert, so wird hier immer das Endergebnis nach den aktuellen Einstellungen und hinzugefügten Dateien präsentiert. Ist die Vorschau nicht aktiviert, können Sie auf "Aktualisieren" unten rechts klicken, um dies manuell für die aktuellen Einstellungen zu übernehmen. Je nachdem, in welchem Format die Liste erstellt werden soll, ergibt sich eine Vorschau als Text, Bild oder Web-Dokument. Das Bild und das Web-Dokument kann auch als Text beziehungsweise Quelltext angezeigt werden.

• Preview > Preview (F7): Enables or disables the preview. If the preview is diabled, settings can be made without viewing the changes in the preview box. When it is activated, all changes are immediately visible. Alternatively, you can click on the "Refresh" button during a disabled preview, to show a preview of the current settings and files.
• Text, Image, Web: Depending on the output format (saving options), the preview can be done in the format of text, image or web document. Use these buttons to change the preview. For example, the HTML document can be shown as source code (text) or considered as a finished document (web). If a view is not possible at the moment, the corresponding button is disabled. For example, it is not possible to display a web document as an image.

Columns and Design

On the right side of the main program, there is the box "Columns and Design". In this box, you can make all important settings for the look and the columns of the table. The upper part is about the columns and their format, the lower part about the appearance and design of the table in general. Behind all points, there is a button called "Options". This button opens all corresponding additional settings.

You can activate each column like file name, format or file path by checking its corresponding check box. If a column is selected, it will be written into the table. In the options for each individual column, there is the ability to specify an individual column header, that is used in the table. It is also possible to right align the column. If this function is not activated, the column is left-aligned.

In the design options, the order of the columns from left to right, a grouping of the table in accordance with some criteria and some general options (for example whether to use headings or not) can be made.

• Columns > File Name: Enables or disables the column with the filename of each file. In the options you can specify whether the file name should be written with or without the extension. Furthermore, it is possible to link your files in an HTML document.
• Columns > File Format: Enables or disables the column with the format of each file. As the format of the files the file extension, written in capital letters, is used.
• Columns > Windows File Type: Enables or disables the column with the windows file type of each file. The windows file type is the description of the file as it is mentioned, for example, in the Windows Explorer in the column "Type". For example, the file type of TXT file is "Text Document". This column is often used for grouping the table.
  
• Columns > File Size: Enables or disables the column with the size of each file. In the options you can specify in which unit (bytes, KB, MB, GB or TB) and with how many decimal places the file size should be written. You can enable or disable the function "Show Unit Notation". If this option is enabled, the file size will be displayed with the unit (for example "37 KB"), otherwise only the value will be written to your list (only "37" in this example). Another options refers to thousand separators which can be shown or hide. If the function "Use Thousand Separators" is enabled, the values will be displayed with separators (for example "1.231.289 KB"), if the option is disabled, the values will be displayed without these separators (in the example "1231289 KB").
• Columns > Date: Created: Enables or disables the column with the date, the respective file has been created. In the options you can specify whether the datum and or the time should be used.
• Columns > Date: Accessed: Enables or disables the column with the date, the respective file has been accessed for the last time. In the options you can specify whether the datum and or the time should be used.
• Columns > Date: Changed: Enables or disables the column with the date, the respective file has been changed for the last time. In the options you can specify whether the datum and or the time should be used.
• Columns > File Attribute: Hidden: Enables or disables the column with information about whether the file is hidden (the file is invisible by default) or not. In the options you can specify which word or character should be written into the table when the file is hidden or not.
• Columns > File Attribute: Read Only: Enables or disables the column with information about whether the file is read only or not. In the options you can specify which word or character should be written into the table when the file is read only or not.
• Columns > Associated Application: Enables or disables the column with the information about which program is associated with the appropriate file according to Windows. In the options you can specify whether the file path of the associated program and or the name of the associated program should be written to the table.
• Columns > File Path: Enables or disables the column that contains the file path of each file. In the options you can specify whether the file name and file extension will also be written. It can be stated that only the direct folder (exactly the folder, the file is saved in without any specific path information) should be used and the path can be shortened. By shortening the path, some folders in the middle of the path are usually replaced by dots, so that the path is slightly shorter. If you enable the option "Link File in HTML Format", the files will be linked whenever you are creating an HTML list of your files.
• Colums > Checksums: If you would like to include a checksum for the files in your list, you can activate this option. Available are the checksums MD5, CRC32, SHA1, SHA256 and SHA512. You can select one or more of these checksums for your list by using the checkboxes. In the box with the file size, you can specify a size, over which, no check sums will be calculated, because calculating check sums of large files take a lot of time. Because the calculation of check sums is time intensive and can extremely slow down the file adding process, only those check sums will be calculated that are activated. So, if you want to list some check sums of files, please first activate the option and than add the file.
• Design > General Options > General Header: Enables or disables a general title above the file list. The header can be specified in the box.
• Design > General Options > Hyphen with: Enables or disables dashes between some information in the table. Dashes are for example between the column headings, the table itself and the information under the table. In the box, you can specify which character (for example, the sign "-") should be used as a hyphen.
• Design > General Options > Use Column Header: Enables or disables the column headings. If this feature is enabled, column headings like file name, size, and so forth are written on the top of the respective column. The headings can be customized in the column options.
• Design > General Options > Information about Number of Files at the End: Writes to the end of a table information about how many files are in this table.
• Design > General Options > Information about Size of all Files at the End: Writes to the end of a table information about how much disc space is needed for the files in the table.
• Design > General Options > Padding with: Enables column padding. This means that a column is filled with so many spaces or other characters that the column behind it is a straight edge. At an output as web document, where ready-made tables are used, this option is unnecessary. But in a normal text file in which no tables can be used, this option can be used for creating tables artificially in this way. In the box, you can specify any character (default is space) as an element for filling.
• Design > General Options > Delimiter: As an alternative to column padding, at which a table is creating by filling spaces with characters, there is also the possibility to use characters or stings as delimiter between columns (for example the comma). The delimiter can be specified in the box behind the option. If you want to have delimiters also at the end of each line, you should enable the option "Delimiter at the End of each Line". Otherwise, delimiters will only be used between the columns and not at the end of a row. The delimiter at the end of the lines must not be the same like the others. You can define another one in the box behind the option.
• Design > Grouping: In this box, you can specify whether the result should be grouped or not. The result can be grouped according to any column, simply select the column in the box "Group by". A grouping means, that many seperate tables are created, one table for every distinct differentiation of a type. For example, if you group your table by the windows type, and if your list consists of text documents and videos, two groups will be created with an own table: one for text documents and the other for videos. If you group by the date and in the column settings, the datum is enabled and the time is disabled, it is created a seperate table for each datum, if there are files for this datum in the list. It should be noted that the settings of the columns refer to the grouping. That means, in the example with the date, that if both time and datum is enabled in the column settings, there will be a seperate table for each time a file is created, accessed or changed.
• Design > Grouping > Header over each Group: With this option, you can write a header over each group. As a header, the specificity (for example "Video", "Text Document") of the grouping variable (for example "File Type") is used.
• Design > Grouping > Column Header over each Group: With this option, you can add column headers (for example file name, file size) to the top of every single grouping table.
• Design > Grouping > End Information (Number, Size) after Groups: If this option is activated, information about the total number of files and the total file size of the files in the group will be written at the end of each single grouping table.
• Design > Order of Columns: Use this option to set the order of the columns from left to right in the table. In the box, all available columns are listed. Columns that are not activated are grayed, columns that are chosen above are black. The columns can be moved up and down using the mouse or you can use one of the two buttons to move the columns. The more one column is on the top of the list, the more this column is in the left of the created table.
  

Saving

At the bottom right of the main window, there are the memory options. Here you can specify whether the current table should be created as a text file (*.txt), Comma Separated Values (*.csv), picture (*.gif, *.jpg or *.bmp) or as a web page (*.htm). Depending on which format is chosen, the preview is adjusted and there is another action when using the "Save" or the "Clipboard" button. Accordingly, if the saving format is set to image, the image is copied to the clipboard or saved as a file.

In the menu "Settings > Output Settings", you can find several possibilities to adjust your saving results. For example, there you can set the format of the text file, the used characters in the CSV files or the format of the image files.