+******************************************************************************+
*                    File List Creator v 1.0 (9/1/99)                          *
*                                                                              *
*                       Copyright (C) 1999 W. Zheng                            *
*                                                                              *
*                          fortunewz@fcmail.com                                *
*                                                                              *
*               http://skyscraper.fortunecity.com/coding/934                   *
*                                                                              *
+******************************************************************************+


I. Disclaimer

Since this is a freeware, I accept absolutely No Responsibilities whatsoever of 
what this program may or may not do to your computer and your data. So please 
read the following instructions carefully. 

You are welcome and free to distribute it in it's unmodified form. Suggestions 
and criticisms are welcome.


II. Introduction

File List Creator is a little utility that can help you keep track of your files.
You specify a file extension and locations, it will create a list for you. You can 
output list as text or html. It allows you to add, delete items to and from your 
list by selecting disk or dive. It also comes with a MP3 rename utility and a ID3 
Tag editor. It's very handy for people who collects MP3s. 


III. System requirements and Installation

It has been tested on Win95/Win98/Win NT 4.0, if you get run time error at
start up. You might need Visual Basic 5 runtime libraries. You can get it at:
http://www.winfiles.com/apps/98/required.html

To install File List Creator, create a folder (for example: C:\File List Creator), 
the unzip "creator.zip" to that directory, that's it. To run it, just double 
click on the "exe" file. A Data folder will be created the first time you run
File List Creator.


IV. Quick Start

1. From menu, click Settings -> Options. Select list style and other options by 
   checking the corresponding check boxes, enter file type you want to create the 
   list for. Click OK to save your settings and exit the Options window.

2. Click on ADD button to add drives or directories to path box.

3. From menu, click File -> Create List. File list will be saved as "list.txt" 
   in the installed directory by default. If you want to save the list to a 
   different name, click File -> Save A copy As, enter new file name, click OK 
   to save. A copy of the list will be saved to the file name you choose. 
   That's it!

4. To open a list, from menu, click File -> Open A List. Choose file you want 
   to open, click OK.


V. The Tools Menu

1. Delete Selected Item

   Open a list, select the file you want to delete. From menu, choose 
   Tools -> Delete Selected Item. File will be removed from the list and disk. 
   List will be updated automatically.

   Warning! This operation will actually delete selected file from you computer. 
   It will not delete item from your list unless the file actually exists on the 
   disk.

2. Rename Selected Item

   Open or create a list, select the file you want to rename. From menu, choose 
   Tools -> Rename Selected Item, enter new name. Click OK to rename the file. List 
   file and file on disk will be updated.

   Warning! This operation will actually rename selected file on you computer. It 
   will not rename file from your list unless the file actually exists on the disk.

3. Update Hard Drives

   Open a list. From menu, choose Tools -> Update Hard Drives, File List Creator 
   will update files on all your hard drives and keep all your files on removable 
   disks untouched. A updated list will be created.

4. Add A Disk to List
   
This option allows you to add removable disks (CDs or ZIP disks) individually to your 
list. From menu, choose Tools -> Add A Disk To List, enter the drive letter when asked, 
enter a label for the disk. Please make sure keep a record or just use whatever you 
write on your disk label. In the future, if you want to delete this disk, the label 
will be used to identify the disk.

5. Delete Item by Drive Letter

You can delete a drive from the list by it's drive letter.
From menu, choose Tools -> Delete Item By Drive Letter. Enter the drive letter you want 
to delete from the list. Click OK to update the list. This operation will not delete 
files on your computer, it only updates you list.

6. Delete Item by Disk Label

This option let you delete a individual disk from your list.
From menu, choose Tools -> Delete Item By Disk Label, enter which drive the disk is in, 
enter the disk label. Click OK to update your list. This operation will not delete the 
files on your disk, it only updates your list.


VI. The View Menu

1. To Search the list

Open a list first.
From menu, choose View -> Search List, enter word(s) to search. Matched files will be 
displayed. Choose View -> Refresh List to reload the list.

2. To View Duplicate Files

From menu, choose View -> View Duplicate Files (exact, not so exact, any possible math), 
less exact will give you more matches.

3. To Search for a Disk

From menu, choose View -> Search For A Disk, enter the disk label, click OK. All files
in that disk will be displayed.


VII. MP3 Rename Utility
    
File List Creator also comes with a MP3 renaming tool. To rename MP3 files, from menu, 
choose File -> MP3 Rename Utility. To use it I recommend that you move all files that 
you want to rename into a temp directory (You don't have to do that of course). For 
example, create a directory for the album you want to rename. The Get File button only 
gets you the files in the folder you choose. It does not show files in the sub folders. 

Don't worry, files on your computer will not be renamed until you click the [Rename] 
button. I know it looks confusing, but it pretty much has all the tools you need.
All these tools are just for you to manipulate the file names.

    Personally I prefer the following format: 

    " Artist Name - Their Album Title - 01 - Song Title.mp3 ",
 
so this tool is designed to achieve that. It's great for renaming albums. I do this a 
lot and that's why I design the tool for it.
    
To start:

1. Click on [Get File] button, browser to the folder where the files are located. Select 
   and remove unwanted files from the Old File Name Box by using the [Delete] button. 
   Click on [==>] button to copy the files (names) to the New File Name Box.
   
2. In Option box, select Apply to All or Apply only to selected. If you just want to 
   change one of the files, click on Apply only to selected option. All changes will be 
   done to that single file.

3. Before you try anything, click on the [Try This First] button, it might just get you 
   the result you wanted.

4. If you prefer all lower case, click [AA -> aa] button.

5. If you prefer the first character of every word to be upper case, click [aa -> Aa] button. 

6. Click [" aa " -> "aa"] to trim off leading and trailing space(s).

7. To insert text, select a song, it will be displayed in the song name text box on top 
   of the window. Click on the file name in the text box at the location where you want to 
   insert the text to, type in insert text in the box above the [Insert Text] button, click 
   on [Insert Text] button.

8. The [Trim Method 1] button.

Type in anything you want to trim in the box above it. This button will trim All 
Occurrences of the user input in all names and replace them with a space.

9. The [Trim Method 2] button.

Type in anything you want to trim in the box above it. This button will trim All 
Occurrences of the user input in all names. 

10.The [Replace] button.

Type in the text to be replaced in the upper box and  type in the text to replace 
with in the lower box. This button will search ALL matched text and replace them.

Rules: you CAN NOT replace nothing with nothing or replace something with nothing or. 
       Use the two Trim buttons for that.

11.The [Replace Once] button.

Type in the text to be replaced in the upper box and  type in the text to replace with 
in the lower box. This button will search FIRST matched text and replace it.


12.The [Artist<-->Title] button.

To use this button, Artist and Title MUST be separated by "-", for example, 
"Artist - Title" or "Artist-Title". The button will swap them.

13.The [Oops!] button

Simply undo the last action. Only one step though. Also it will not undo 
[Try This First] button.

14.The [Start Over] button

Well, start over!

15.The [Last Trick] button

If all the tools provided above still can't do the trick for you. select a song and 
edit it in the top text box, and click it to rename manually.
   

16.The [Rename] button
   
Rename all files on disk to their new names. Please double check before you click it.


 *******************************     EXAMPLE !    ***************************************

 From:"@longbook_disc_2_-;_^02^+_-_if_you_could_read_my_mind%_-_#gordon_lightfoot$.mp3"
   
 To:  "Gordon Lightfoot - Songbook Disc 2 - 02 - If You Could Read My Mind.mp3"


 Step 1: Copy Old file name to new file name box.

 Step 2: Click [Try This First] -> 
         "Longbook Disc 2 - 02 - If You Could Read My Mind - Gordon Lightfoot"

 Step 3: Click [Artist<-->Title] -> 
         "Gordon Lightfoot - Longbook Disc 2 - 02 - If You Could Read My Mind"

 Step 4: Type in "Lo" in the replace box, type in "So" in the with box, 

         Click [Replace] -> 
         "Gordon Lightfoot - Songbook Disc 2 - 02 - If You Could Read My Mind"

It really depends on how you do it, and in what sequence. So you just have to 
experiment a little bit.
*****************************************************************************************
   

VIII. MP3 ID3 TAG Editor 

1.  Click on [Get Files] button, browse to the folder where files are located. It will get 
    files in it's sub folders too.

2.  Select file you want to edit, if ID3 Tag exists, it will be displayed in their 
    corresponding boxes. Edit and click [Save] to save tags. Click [Remove] to remove tags. 
    Click [Remove All] to remove tags in all files listed.

3.  Click [Cancel] to exit editor.



=====================================================================================
Known Issues:

1. It will not read bit rate correctly for anything lower than 96kbps, because you have to 
   actually open the mpeg file and read a few frames in order to get correct information,
   and then it compares with a table in the program. I didn't include anything lower than 
   96k in the table because the process is slow and I don't want to sacrifice speed. If you
   keep low quality stuff, you are not a serious collector anyway. Please don't put that 
   kind of stuff on the internet either.

2. Also it will not read VBR correctly, if you know how to read it, please let me know. If 
   you have the information, please send me a copy. I'll add that feature in the program.

3. When you add a disk to the list (only on separated by folder style), the list is not sorted 
   properly. The added disk shows up on top. It'll will be sorted correctly if you do an 
   update hard drives.



   
