Indexdirectory file structure

Description files

If your directory structure starts like this:
\
  Downloads
    Installed
      Office
        openoffice.exe
      Crypto
        pgp.zip
        pgp.asc
      Mail
        backup.html        

you can choose 'Create blank description files' in
step 4, and run the program.  It will create the 
indexes as normal, but it will also create a new
set of directories:

  Downloads
    .descriptions
    index.htm
    styles.css
    Installed
      .descriptions
      index.htm
      Office
        .descriptions
          openoffice.exe.description.txt
        openoffice.exe
        index.htm
      Crypto
        .descriptions
          pgp.zip.description.txt
          pgp.asc.description.txt
        pgp.zip
        pgp.asc
        index.htm
      Mail
        .descriptions
          backup.html.description.txt
        backup.html
        index.htm

As you can see, the program did several things:
 - Created the index files index.htm - This is obviously
   the main feature of the program
   
 - Created a stylesheet - edit this to change the style of 
   ALL the directory listings

 - Created a set of .description directories - These are
   not listed by IndexDirectory, but used to store descriptions.
   
   (hint: any directory name starting with a . is not indexed)

 - Created a set of blank text files, based on the names of files 
   in each directory.  These are the files which you need to
   edit if you want to add notes to any program

Recreating the description files

If you run IndexDirectory again with the 'Create blank 
description files' option, the directory structure will not
change.  Your existing description files will not be overwritten,
although new ones will be created if new files are discovered.

The .description directories will not be indexed - no need to
worry about recursive indexing.

Description files will not be created for the index.htm files.

Managing the descriptions

If you want to delete description files and start again, just
use windows' Find command (Start-Find-Files) and search for
".descriptions" or "*.description.txt".  Highlight all the
results (Ctrl-A) and delete (Del)

You can do this on a subdirectory: for example, if you're not
interested in descriptions for the /Downloads/OpenOffice area,
simply restrict the find operation to this directory.

Creating indexes which use the descriptions

Run the program, specifying 'use descriptions' in step 4. The 
indexes will be created and displayed as before, but with your
descriptions below each file.

Currently the program only uses descriptions for file-listings,
and not for photo galleries.  Select 'full-listing' as your 
report type to see the descriptions.

Compatibility

If you're using this directory structure for anything, 
extending it, etc. then do let me know.  I'd like to keep 
a modicum of compatibility with linux projects which use 
similar conventions for storing information about a directory.

I do know the nautilus convention of storing thumbnails in 
a .thumbnails directory, and this is one feature I hope to 
incorporate into the program. For example, you could browse 
the files in nautilus or konq, wait for the thumbnails to 
be created, then create the indexes with IndexDirectory.
...later. See below

Things to do

If anyone knows of a good thumbnail-image-creator program which could
be bundled with IndexDirectory, do let me know.  It would need to be
 (a) Free software, GNU-GPL license
 (b) Few or no dependancies.  Don't require that people download the GIMP first
 (c) Easy to install and run.  For windows users.  Perl scripts might be okay, 
      but no compiling and linking.       

Questions

indexdirectory.questions@blibbleblobble.co.uk

Thanks for reading! Hope you find the program useful.

Oliver White

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