Métamorphose (renamer)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Métamorphose | |
|---|---|
 Main panel on Ubuntu 7.04 |
|
| Latest release | 1.1.0 / 2007-10-27 |
| OS | All major operating systems |
| Genre | Batch renaming utility |
| License | GPL v3 |
| Website | http://file-folder-ren.sourceforge.net/ |
Métamorphose or Métamorphose file -n- folder renamer is an open source batch renamer. The focus is on legibility, usability, and power - there are no codes or formats to remember and all controls are shown, yet rather complicated operations can be done. Because it is written in wxPython, it is very portable, and can run on all major operating systems.
Contents |
[edit] Features
- Renames files and folders simultaneously.
- Recursive selection - loads files in directory and in subdirectories.
- Undo an operation.
- Wide use of regular expressions: when selecting items, for search/replace, etc..
- Reading of metadata such as ID3 and Exif tags, or creation/modification/last access time.
- Change length of names.
- Change case in various ways.
- Add counting sequences: numerical, alphabetical, and Roman numeral.
- Extensive multilingual and platform support (see below).
[edit] Language and OS support
From the beginning, Métamorphose was conceived to be as widely usable as possible. As a result of this, there has been extensive testing and adjustments done to ensure all portions of the application are displayed and function properly across different platforms. Here are the fully tested and supported operating systems:
- MS Windows, versions: 2000, XP, 2003 server, and Vista.
- Linux and FreeBSD: using GNOME, KDE, Blackbox, and Fluxbox.
- Mac OS X
Likewise, language choice has been important since inception. The GNU gettext system is used, allowing for easy translation of the application. Additionally, a custom help section loader will also show localised help files if they are available. Here are the currently available languages:
- Interface and all help files: US English, French, Italian
- Interface, some help files: Brazilian Portuguese, German, Hungarian, Japanese, Polish, Spanish, Turkish
- Interface only: Chinese (Simplified), Russian
[edit] History
The author was tasked by his employer to create a renaming program suitable for the specifics of the microform industry. While this program worked well for its specific application, it is unusable as a general purpose renaming tool, which the author needed for both work and play. Using the knowledge gained from developing and user feedback of the first application (but none of the source), a more ambitious project was started: a general purpose renaming program that could do most day-to-day tasks as well as more advanced things and run on most platforms. This was initially done in the author's spare time, and was not funded by the employer. After several early public releases the program was installed and used at work by several employees, some of which contributed ideas and problems. At this point certain portions of the program were paid-for coding time, although the vast majority of time spent on the project has been pro bono publico. The original program is still in use, as Métamorphose was never meant to replace it.
As the project grew, and more people started downloading it, more features were requested through Sourceforge.net's feature request system, as well as bug reports. This was of great help in fine tuning and improving the application in a way that would be much more difficult for a closed source program. Because of this, the program has improved and matured quickly, and development has now ceased, save for language additions and bug fixes. All of the languages, save for English, French, and some Spanish (which were done by the author) were also done through the Sourceforge system, and there is no doubt the project owes a great deal to these contributors.
The program has gone through several names. It was originally called 'Sloop', but after one or two releases it was found there is already an open source project with that name. It was then changed to 'Fargi file and folder renamer' (from Harry Harrison's West of Eden), then to 'Métamorphose file -n- folder renamer', and is now just 'Métamorphose'. The Sourceforge project name is 'file-folder-ren'.
[edit] Métamorphose 2
With the first version now completed, work for the next stage of the project has begun. More specifically, the focus is on fixing the following shortcomings of the current version:
- User has no control of order of operations.
- Only one operation type per rename.
- Main interface can be confusing to a new user.
- No way to make 3rd party add-on modules.
- Adding more user-requested features.
