View source for ReNamer:Pascal Script:Reuse variable

== --- This page is work in process! --- ==

currently i just collect here a few information and POC proof of concept code.

I want to clean up this page later.

If you want to help please do so.



== Set/Get or Write/Read or Save/Load variable values ==


If you want to store a variable to reuse the value later you can read here a few tips.


For examples you can store the last used path, folder or file name or parts of them.<br>
Also you may want to store an index number, or perhaps a list of the original file names.
<br>
<br>
<br>


There are two main techniques to store variable values: use the registry or use a temporary file on disc.



== the file approach ==

First we take a look on the file approach.

We use simple plain text files to store the variable.

=== utilized function ===

The ReNamer PascalScript functions to write and read text files are:
<source>
FileWriteContent( "FileName" , "Content" );
FileAppendContent( "FileName" , "Content" );

FileReadContent("FileName");
FileCountLines("FileName");
FileReadLine( "FileName" , LineNum );
</source>


For "FileName" you can just use a name without a path to store the file into the ReNamer folder.<br>
Example:
<source>
FileWriteContent( "FileName.txt" , "Content" );
FileWriteContent( ".\FileName.txt" , "Content" );
</source>



To use an full path to your ReNamer folder use the ReNamer PascalScript function "GetApplicationPath"<br>
Example:
<source>
FileWriteContent( WideExtractFilePath(GetApplicationPath) + "FileName.txt" , "Content" );
</source>



You can use your private temp (temporary) folder in your profile<br>
by using the ReNamer PascalScript function "WideGetTempPath"<br>
Example:
<source>
FileWriteContent( WideGetTempPath + "FileName.txt" , "Content" );
</source>


Also you can access all system environment variables by using "WideGetEnvironmentVar"<br>
Example:
<source>
UserName := WideGetEnvironmentVar('USERNAME');
</source>



=== script examples ===

==== Store one value to one dedicated file ====

First rule in rule list:<br>
(GET stored variable 'LastFolder')
<source>
var
  LastFold:string;

begin
 if(GetCurrentFileIndex=1)then
    if(WideFileExists(WideGetTempPath +'\den4b_LastFolder.txt')) then
        LastFold := FileReadContent(WideGetTempPath +'den4b_LastFolder.txt');

  //check if it works:
  ShowMessage(LastFold);
end.
</source>


Other rules here in between<br>
-<br>
-<br>
-<br>


Last rule in rule list:<br>
(SET variable 'LastFolder' to stored for later reuse)
<source>
var
  ParentFold:string;

begin
 if(GetCurrentFileIndex=GetTotalNumberOfFiles)then
   begin
       ParentFold := CalculateMetaTag(FilePath, 'File_FolderName');
       FileWriteContent(WideGetTempPath + 'den4b_LastFolder.txt', ParentFold);
   end;
 
  //check if it works:
  ExecuteProgram('notepad ' + WideGetTempPath + 'den4b_LastFolder.txt',false);
end.
</source>


====Store more then one value into a common file====

Note this approach is to cumbersome for real use. <br>
Better use dedicated file for each var/value (see above).



We can also use   FileAppendContent();  to add "NAME=VALUE" pairs to an single file<br>
and a routine to read the lines of that common vars.txt.


Here just as proof of concept:

Last rule in rule list:<br>
(add a line with "NAME=VALUE" pair)
  FileAppendContent('den4b_vars.txt','LastFolder=' + ParentF + #13#10);



This 'den4b_vars.txt' could look now like:
 LastIndex=10
 LastString=Vacation 2013
 LastFolder=Translits




Other rules here in between<br>
-<br>
-<br>
-<br>


To get the wanted value i would use a code like this:

First rule in rule list:<br>
- read the vars.txt<br>
- split into lines<br>
- split line into 'name' and 'value'<br>
- check if 'name' is a wanted var name, if yes get the value<br>

 var
   vars,v:string;
   Lines,CurrLine:TStringsArray;
   i:integer;
   
 begin
  if(GetCurrentFileIndex=1)then
  begin
    if( WideFileExists('.\den4b_vars.txt') ) then
    begin
       vars := FileReadContent('.\den4b_vars.txt');
       ShowMessage('complete content:'+#10+vars);
       Lines:= WideSplitString(vars, #13#10);
       if( length(Lines) > 0 ) then
         begin
             for i:=0 to length(Lines)-1 do
             begin
                CurrLine := WideSplitString(Lines[i],'=');
                v := CurrLine[0];
                //ShowMessage(v);
                if ( WideCompareText( v, 'LastIndex' ) =0) then
                    ShowMessage( v + ' has value ' + CurrLine[1] );
                if ( WideCompareText( v, 'LastFolder' ) =0) then
                    ShowMessage( v + ' has value ' +  CurrLine[1] );
                if ( WideCompareText( v, 'LastString' ) =0) then
                    ShowMessage( v + ' has value ' +  CurrLine[1] );
             end;
         end;
    end;
  end;
 end.







== the registry approach ==

=== Not recommended ! ===

Not recommended !

 var
  ECAreturn:string;
   
 begin
   // Add your code here
   
   //Store/Write/Set:
    ExecuteProgram('reg add  HKCU\Software\den4b /v TestName1 /t REG_SZ /d "Test value 1" /f', true);
     
    //Load/Read/Get: 
    ExecConsoleApp('reg query  HKCU\Software\den4b /v Test6', ECAreturn);
    ShowMessage(ECAreturn);
    //  
    //  ! REG.EXE VERSION 3.0
    //  
    //  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\den4b
    //      Test6       REG_SZ  gut
    //  
    //>---more code needed here to extract the value---<
end.




== the clipboard approach ==
=== no tested yet ===
 SetClipboardText( "content" );

 varClip := GetClipboardText;


-# end