Subject: Re: [Name Mangler Talk] Is Metadata Mangling on the road map?

From: Rob Griffiths <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 5 May 2012 06:57:33 -0700

On May 5, 2012, at 2:29 AM, Andre Prudhomme wrote:

> I imagine you can't give any specifics, but is there a ballpark estimate on when that feature might be added?

Assuming we can make it work, it will be added to the next major Name Mangler release. However, given we're only two people and need to react to any number of external events, I've stopped putting timelines on our release plans, as they change rapidly -- and I'd rather say nothing than say something and have everyone upset that we missed a date.

regards,
-rob.

---

From: Andre Prudhomme <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 5 May 2012 02:29:54 -0700 (PDT)

Rob,

Glad to hear that the ability to rename based on metadata is on the 
roadmap! I already love name mangler, but that would make it significantly 
more useful for me. A particular use case that comes to mind is renaming 
photos based on their shoot, rather than creation date. 

I imagine you can't give any specifics, but is there a ballpark estimate on 
when that feature might be added?

Thanks!

 Andre

On Monday, December 19, 2011 6:43:06 AM UTC-8, Many Tricks wrote:
>
> On Dec 18, 2011, at 11:43 PM, MangleLover wrote:
>
> > I love Name Mangler. I have been using Automator to handle tasks but
> > it takes a lot more time to solve the simple renaming task that only
> > take seconds in Name Mangler. Great job on this, Rob!
>
> Thank Peter, too (primarily!), as he wrote the code and designed the UI! I 
> just help all of you use it, and make suggestions for future enhancements.
>
> > From your other responses it appears that Name Mangler is not
> > currently capable of changing metadata. I'm very interested in this
>
> True.
>
> > changing metadata on the road map? If so, do you have any rough idea
>
> Changing metadata is probably not on the roadmap. What is on the roadmap 
> -- at least in terms of investigating its workability -- is _using_ 
> metadata in renaming operations.
>
> There are two huge issues with changing metadata. The first is that it 
> really requires a completely different UI than does changing filenames -- 
> every file can have a variable number of metadata fields, instead of only 
> one filename per file. So we'd need an entirely new UI for metadata 
> renaming, not merely some tweak to Name Mangler's layout.
>
> The second issue is the sheer number of metadata formats out there, 
> especially for images. Supporting them all would be a bit of a nightmare.
>
> > suggestions for quickly changing the metadata of images?
>
> ExifTool is the one I've heard of most often, though it's a command line 
> program:
>
> <http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/>
>
> (A quick look at the list of supported metadata formats reveals some of 
> the complexity involved.) There are, however, some OS X GUI resources built 
> on top of ExifTool, listed here:
>
> <http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/#related_mac>
>
> Note that I haven't personally used either the command-line utility or any 
> of the GUI tools.
>
> regards,
> -rob.
>
>

---

From: Rob Griffiths <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2011 06:43:06 -0800

> take seconds in Name Mangler. Great job on this, Rob!

Thank Peter, too (primarily!), as he wrote the code and designed the UI! I just help all of you use it, and make suggestions for future enhancements.

True.

> changing metadata on the road map? If so, do you have any rough idea

Changing metadata is probably not on the roadmap. What is on the roadmap -- at least in terms of investigating its workability -- is _using_ metadata in renaming operations.

There are two huge issues with changing metadata. The first is that it really requires a completely different UI than does changing filenames -- every file can have a variable number of metadata fields, instead of only one filename per file. So we'd need an entirely new UI for metadata renaming, not merely some tweak to Name Mangler's layout.

The second issue is the sheer number of metadata formats out there, especially for images. Supporting them all would be a bit of a nightmare.

> suggestions for quickly changing the metadata of images?

ExifTool is the one I've heard of most often, though it's a command line program:

(A quick look at the list of supported metadata formats reveals some of the complexity involved.) There are, however, some OS X GUI resources built on top of ExifTool, listed here:

Note that I haven't personally used either the command-line utility or any of the GUI tools.

regards,
-rob.

---

From: MangleLover <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2011 23:43:09 -0800 (PST)

currently capable of changing metadata. I'm very interested in this
functionality as it would make this app completely irreplaceable
because I haven't found anything else that will solve this problem. Is
changing metadata on the road map? If so, do you have any rough idea
when it will be out? If it's not on the roadmap, do you have any
suggestions for quickly changing the metadata of images?

Thanks for your help and for an awesome app!