1. Create a one time BAT file. say SORTFILE.BAT DIR /A-D /4 /ODNE *.PDF | FIND "/" > %1
2. This will create a directory listing of only date, time, [am|pm], filesize (with commas), filename this will be directed to filename passed as parameter 3. Create a .RMD file or better still, once debugged, a STORED PROCEDURE set var tempfile text = (FILENAME(0)) CREATE TEMP TABLE tempdirlist (+ columndefintionsofabovedirlist ) -- if you wish you could include column to AUTONUM LAUNCH 'SORTFILE.BAT|&TEMPFILE|W' LOAD tempdirlist from &TEMPFILE AS FORMATTED USING colname start end, colname start end.. -- do any cleanup and insert into permanent file for your users to process -- note no need to sort file info after loading into rbase as command line DIR has done that for you ERASE .TEMPFILE -- get rid of temp dir file created by command line DIR bat file Please note that I have not fully tested this and you may have to experiment with my code. The object of the game is to use the Windows command line to create a sorted directory list via the LAUNCH RBase command Directory information is loaded into a temporary RBase Table using the LOAD AS FORMATTED syntax. Once the clean up functions are defined and coded the entire process can be a MENU driven command of CALLED as a STORED PROCEDURE. Jim Bentley American Celiac Society [email protected] tel: 1-504-737-3293 >________________________________ > From: Michael J. Sinclair <[email protected]> >To: RBASE-L Mailing List <[email protected]> >Sent: Sunday, March 18, 2012 9:08 PM >Subject: [RBASE-L] - Re: What is the best way to autonumber a column for >sorting? > > >Larry, >That is an excellent question. Perhaps I can describe what I am doing, and >then the list can give me a better idea on how to do it. >I have a few hundred thousand PDF files that are being created from a scanner. > >For the most part, we are scanning oldler documents first. All the scans go >into a single shared folder. Although the files might be from 2005, the file >date, created by the scanning program is the date of the scan, ie the date the >paper was turned into a PDF. So, more or less, older files have older file >dates. > >To get the names of the files into Rbase, I have to capture the output of the >DIR command. As you know, the Rbase version of the DIR command does not >support any sorting. > >So, I load the data from the output of the DIR command into a table. >I extract the file name, file size, file date, file time for each row of data, >ie 1 row per PDF file. > >Now I want my app to show me the oldest file first, and move it to a folder >that makes sense in our office. I would like to imagine that the most recent >files end up "On Top of Pile" in each folder. I call that the MROT system, >(Most Recent On Top). Same as the organization on my desk. > >So now I have to find the oldest file in the table based on the file date and >the file time. Since many of these files were created on the same date by the >scanner, I can't just ask for the minimum date. I need to look at the minimum >time within the minimum date. And if the scanner was working very quickly, >even the file times might be the same, so I use the name of the file which the >scanner creates for me....ie xxxx0001.pdf was scanned before (and is therefore >older) than xxxx0002.pdf > >Now I could do a search for the lowest file date, and then the lowest file >time within that group of lowest file dates, and then the lowest filename >within the lowest file time...but that means 3 searches each time I move a >file from the scanned files folder to the destination folder. Not a bad >solution, but I was trying to be efficient. > >I tried using a cursor to go through the pile of files, but sometimes my girls >skip a few files because they are hard to read, or they don't know what is the >best folder to put them in. So I had to start flagging rows to indicate what >happened to them, ie skipped or filed. I have a next and previous button in >the app. The logic started giving me a headache if they skipped a few files, >then moved a few files, then went backwards a few files, etc. I also have an >"unfile" last button...which moves the file back from the destination folder >and into the unsorted folder. So now I have to unflag that row. I started >getting a really bad headache. > >Further more, when we go back to look at the files, usually we want to look at >the last file that went into the folder first. To figure that out, I would >have to do a triple search, or set up a cursor and move through the pile of >files. Mentally, is is easier for me to wrap my brain around a single value in >a single column. Once the files are in their folder, they are renumbered, >starting with 1. If a file is ever deleted out of the middle of the pile, it >makes it easy to see...there will be a number missing. > >So, my idea was to sort them just once by date, time and name, give them a >number starting with a 1, and then use the numbers to sort the files. > >My solution is far from perfect, but it beats the heck out of file cabinets!!! > >Mike > > >From: Lawrence Lustig <[email protected]> >To: RBASE-L Mailing List <[email protected]> >Sent: Sunday, March 18, 2012 8:41 PM >Subject: [RBASE-L] - Re: What is the best way to autonumber a column for >sorting? > > ><< >I have a table with a few thousand rows. The first column is an integer and >initially it has no data. That is the column I want to use to number my rows. >I want to put a 1 in the column for the row that has the lowest value for the >2nd, 3rd and 4th columns. They all have data that is easy to sort (date, time >and filename). > >>> > > >Why do you need a proxy column if you can sort the data by the existing >columns? What happens if the data in the underlying columns changes, should >the sort order column also change? >-- >Larry > > > >
