How do I make a text listing of folder contents?

[Peter Jason]

I totally agree. I have been using Access since Access 1.1
It was a bit buggy back then, but since Access 2 it has been great.
If you have programming skills, you can get Access to do just about
anything.

The only weakness is doing graphs, and that is easy to fix, just link
Excell to the database and create the graphs in excell.

I was advised to use "MsGraph" for charts etc. so that Excel is not
required. This works fine for bar charts etc and are based on
Queries (including Xtab queries.)

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/186855

I started with Access97 and the charts are all working OK in
Access2010.

I never figured out how to use the Excel thing.

 

[Peter Jason]

There's a great (well, somewhat funny) poem by Ogden Nash about the
one-L lama, the two-L llama, and a punchline which I won't spoil.

I looked it up....

The one-l lama,
He's a priest.
The two-l llama,
He's a beast.
And I will bet
A silk pajama
There isn't any
Three-l lllama.*

...... but I don't get it.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

On Thu, 15 Mar 2012 18:05:41 -0700, Gene E. Bloch

I looked it up....

The one-l lama,
He's a priest.
The two-l llama,
He's a beast.
And I will bet
A silk pajama
There isn't any
Three-l lllama.*

..... but I don't get it.

But you posted a spiler...

Try Three-alarmer, as in a big fire.

Or notice that z spelled Excel with an extra l.

(I can't tell which idea you had the problem with.)

 

[Char Jackson]

There's a great (well, somewhat funny) poem by Ogden Nash about the
one-L lama, the two-L llama, and a punchline which I won't spoil.

I had to look it up.

He also apparently wrote, "If called by a panther / Don't anther".

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

On Thu, 15 Mar 2012 18:05:41 -0700, Gene E. Bloch

I had to look it up.

He also apparently wrote, "If called by a panther / Don't anther".

I haven't read much Nash recently, which is a pity. He was funny as
Hell

 

[DanS]

Presumably because it's the best tool for whatever he wants
to do. Nothing wrong with Access. More folk should use it
instead of always trying to do everything in Excel or other
spreadsheets (spreadsheets are perfectly designed for
almost nothing, are hard to use and prone to errors which
are hard to trace.)

I hate Excel with a passion.

I've worked with and programmed database apps in dBase4, Paradox, and Access, with
tons of cross-linked tables, forms, SQL queries built in code using dropboxes, and other
calculations and input entries, saved queries, etc........

I can barely write a simple equation in Excel.

 

[Char Jackson]

I hate Excel with a passion.

I've worked with and programmed database apps in dBase4, Paradox, and Access, with
tons of cross-linked tables, forms, SQL queries built in code using dropboxes, and other
calculations and input entries, saved queries, etc........

I can barely write a simple equation in Excel.

I've always found Excel very easy to work with, from a programmatic
perspective. A few years ago I spent about 18 months automating all of
the recurring reports and other Excel-related tasks for my team, in
addition to my normal job requirements. I primarily used VB6 and a
little bit of VBA and was impressed with how straightforward
everything was.

Now, put me in front of some of the other tools you mentioned above
and I'd be completely lost. Access is fine, but dBase and Paradox
would be a mystery.

 

[Peter Jason]

There's also Karen's Directory Printer, free from:
http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptdirprn.asp

Kenny

"Smiles" wrote in message

http://www.spadixbd.com/freetools/jdirprint.htm

I use this program which works nice and you do not have to remember any
coding

Thanks, this will be great for my 400GB eBooks library. I'd despaired
of making a catalogue.

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

On Fri, 16 Mar 2012 20:19:53 -0500, DanS

That's because Excel is a spreadhseet, not a database. (And, as I've
said in another post, it isn't a table editor either.)
Which is what it's for. And adequate for the task (I won't say
excellent, good, or bad, because I've not tried any other spreadsheets
for a decade or two. I manage to do what little I need a spreadsheet
for, in Excel, without much difficulty.) Access is far better for
databases (and Word for tables).

The problem comes, of course, when someone - including me - doesn't
really realise what they need (database, table, spreadsheet) when they
start, and then tries to keep using whatever they started with; this is
mainly because even within Office, changing horses in mid-stream isn't
that easy.
[]

Now, put me in front of some of the other tools you mentioned above
and I'd be completely lost. Access is fine, but dBase and Paradox
would be a mystery.

(I'd even be rusty on Access: I was actually sent on a course to use it,
but that was years ago and I've probably forgotten a lot of it, not
having had occasion to use it. But I can understand the _concepts_ of a
database - lots of linking, basically - and see how spreadsheets are not
the best way to achieve them.)

 

[Johnbee]

If you click the start button and type CMD in what I call the run box, you
will be presented with the command screen. When I do that it is a black
square window with white letters. Old timers would refer to this as the DOS
prompt but don't do that round here because they are a bit snooty. They
will even get snooty about that comment. But that will mostly be because
they did not think of what I am going to tell you. . Only joking mates.

Now you can use windows in command mode. It is exceptionally useful. In
this case for example you can use the CD command to set the default
directory to what you want.

Then you can type DIR to show a lisring of all the files in the current
directory.

I'm getting there.

Now you can also send the output of the DIR command to a file, using >

Like this:

DIR > myfile.dat

This will put the directory listing into the specified file.

Now type exit. The window will vanish. Use Notepad to read in the file and
edit it a little to remove junk. An Access user will now be able to read
that file into Access (or in fact anything you like) with ease.

Now a little lecture: In general, always remember that in Windows you can
do anything you want very easily as long as you know how, and if you think
that you really can not do what you want using the GUI, instead get out to
the command prompt and force Windows to do it with commands.

 

[Gene Wirchenko]

If you click the start button and type CMD in what I call the run box, you
will be presented with the command screen. When I do that it is a black
square window with white letters. Old timers would refer to this as the DOS
prompt but don't do that round here because they are a bit snooty. They
will even get snooty about that comment. But that will mostly be because
they did not think of what I am going to tell you. . Only joking mates.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
You get to live.

Actually, as an oldtimer, I use the CLI a lot. A very useful
tool. I also use the GUI. I switch at the drop of a... well, who
really needs to have something drop first?

Now you can use windows in command mode. It is exceptionally useful. In
this case for example you can use the CD command to set the default
directory to what you want.

Then you can type DIR to show a lisring of all the files in the current
directory.

I'm getting there.

Now you can also send the output of the DIR command to a file, using >

Like this:

DIR > myfile.dat

This will put the directory listing into the specified file.

The DIR command has various parameters. You should read up on
them. With the right ones, you might not have to edit the resulting
file after all. Try these examples:
dir a* (filenames starting with A)
dir /b (filenames only)
dir /oe (in file extension order)
dir /ad (directories only)
dir /a-d (non-directories only)
These will display in the window. Add

myfile.dat

to put the output in a file.

Now type exit. The window will vanish. Use Notepad to read in the file and
edit it a little to remove junk. An Access user will now be able to read
that file into Access (or in fact anything you like) with ease.

Instead, now type
notepad myfile.dat
and edit the file to your needs.

Now a little lecture: In general, always remember that in Windows you can
do anything you want very easily as long as you know how, and if you think
that you really can not do what you want using the GUI, instead get out to
the command prompt and force Windows to do it with commands.

^^^^^ ^^
"enjoy having" and delete.

You can save sequences of commands in a batch file. This can be
very useful for automating frequently-executed sequences.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

 

[Peter Jason]

If you click the start button and type CMD in what I call the run box, you
will be presented with the command screen. When I do that it is a black
square window with white letters. Old timers would refer to this as the DOS
prompt but don't do that round here because they are a bit snooty. They
will even get snooty about that comment. But that will mostly be because
they did not think of what I am going to tell you. . Only joking mates.

Now you can use windows in command mode. It is exceptionally useful. In
this case for example you can use the CD command to set the default
directory to what you want.

Then you can type DIR to show a lisring of all the files in the current
directory.

I'm getting there.

Now you can also send the output of the DIR command to a file, using >

Like this:

DIR > myfile.dat

This will put the directory listing into the specified file.

Now type exit. The window will vanish. Use Notepad to read in the file and
edit it a little to remove junk. An Access user will now be able to read
that file into Access (or in fact anything you like) with ease.

Now a little lecture: In general, always remember that in Windows you can
do anything you want very easily as long as you know how, and if you think
that you really can not do what you want using the GUI, instead get out to
the command prompt and force Windows to do it with commands.

I threw out my Windows DOS commands long ago along with an old NEC HO2
computer just before Windows came in. But I found some on:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_DOS_commands#more

 

[DanS]

The problem comes, of course, when someone - including me -
doesn't really realise what they need (database, table,
spreadsheet) when they start, and then tries to keep using
whatever they started with; this is mainly because even
within Office, changing horses in mid-stream isn't that
easy.

......and what makes that even more frustrating, is when subordinate after subordinate
keep telling the boss that Excel isn't the right tool, this should be a database
application, but since he makes the decisions, you are forced to continue on the wrong
path.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

.....and what makes that even more frustrating, is when subordinate after
subordinate keep telling the boss that Excel isn't the right tool, this
should be a database application, but since he makes the decisions, you are
forced to continue on the wrong path.

Circumstances vary, but I have been known to disobey when I (thought I)
could get away with it

In one situation, people asked me how they could get to use the drivers
I had created against orders.

In another, I heard the boss praising me as the guy who created the
emulator I had created against orders.

In other cases, however, I sometimes got into trouble

 

[DanS]

Circumstances vary, but I have been known to disobey when I
(thought I) could get away with it

In one situation, people asked me how they could get to use
the drivers I had created against orders.

In another, I heard the boss praising me as the guy who
created the emulator I had created against orders.

In other cases, however, I sometimes got into trouble

Ya win some, ya lose some........

 

[Philip Herlihy]

If you click the start button and type CMD in what I call the run box, you
will be presented with the command screen. When I do that it is a black
square window with white letters. Old timers would refer to this as the DOS
prompt but don't do that round here because they are a bit snooty. They
will even get snooty about that comment. But that will mostly be because
they did not think of what I am going to tell you. . Only joking mates.

Now you can use windows in command mode. It is exceptionally useful. In
this case for example you can use the CD command to set the default
directory to what you want.

Then you can type DIR to show a lisring of all the files in the current
directory.

I'm getting there.

Now you can also send the output of the DIR command to a file, using >

Like this:

DIR > myfile.dat

This will put the directory listing into the specified file.

Now type exit. The window will vanish. Use Notepad to read in the file and
edit it a little to remove junk. An Access user will now be able to read
that file into Access (or in fact anything you like) with ease.

Now a little lecture: In general, always remember that in Windows you can
do anything you want very easily as long as you know how, and if you think
that you really can not do what you want using the GUI, instead get out to
the command prompt and force Windows to do it with commands.

That's certainly the way I'd do this (using DIR /B), but I've just tried
out the Snagit utility from Techsmith and I've discovered it's really
good at doing this.

Snagit (like its free younger brother Jing) is a 'screenshot' capture
utility. It can grab still screenshots, or video, and can edit stills
with all sorts of agreeable fancy effects.

Snagit also has a 'text' mode, in which you draw out a rectangle to
process, and then it performs Optical Character Recognition ("OCR") and
invites you to save the results as editable text. Neat!

 

[Peter Jason]

That's certainly the way I'd do this (using DIR /B), but I've just tried
out the Snagit utility from Techsmith and I've discovered it's really
good at doing this.

Snagit (like its free younger brother Jing) is a 'screenshot' capture
utility. It can grab still screenshots, or video, and can edit stills
with all sorts of agreeable fancy effects.

Snagit also has a 'text' mode, in which you draw out a rectangle to
process, and then it performs Optical Character Recognition ("OCR") and
invites you to save the results as editable text. Neat!

I have been using the Win7 "Snipit", mainly for labeling DVDs, though
the OCR seems a good idea.

 

[binaryman]

Peter Jason wrote on 03/11/2012 16:55 ET

I have Win7 SP1

I have a 1TB HDD now full of downloaded TV movies

There are over 250 movies

I want to make a list of these for my movie database and this wil
involve importing the titles into Access2010

How do I convert the titles in the right side of Windows Explorer int
a text list that can be imported into Access

Pete

You should try Directory Repor
http://www.file-utilities.co
It can print AVI propertie
and generate reports into a .csv file which can be imported into Excel

 

[charlie]

Peter Jason wrote on 03/11/2012 16:55 ET :
You should try Directory Report
http://www.file-utilities.com
It can print AVI properties
and generate reports into a .csv file which can be imported into Excel

From the CMD commands reference

dir > prn

When you specify prn, the directory list is sent to the printer that is
attached to the LPT1 port. If your printer is attached to a different
port, you must replace prn with the name of the correct port.

You can also redirect output of the dir command to a file by replacing
prn with a file name. You can also type a path. For example, to direct
dir output to the file dir.doc in the Records directory, type:
dir > \records\dir.doc

 

[badgolferman]

You can also redirect output of the dir command to a file by
replacing prn with a file name. You can also type a path. For
example, to direct dir output to the file dir.doc in the Records
directory, type: dir > \records\dir.doc

This works nicely! The only thing I would add is that you must
navigate to the desired directory (Records) first.