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.
Also you may want to store an index number, or perhaps a list of the original file names.

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:

FileWriteContent( "FileName" , "Content" );
FileAppendContent( "FileName" , "Content" );

FileReadContent("FileName");
FileCountLines("FileName");
FileReadLine( "FileName" , LineNum );

For "FileName" you can just use a name without a path to store the file into the ReNamer folder.
Example:

FileWriteContent( "FileName.txt" , "Content" );
FileWriteContent( ".\FileName.txt" , "Content" );

To use an full path to your ReNamer folder use the ReNamer PascalScript function "GetApplicationPath"
Example:

FileWriteContent( WideExtractFilePath(GetApplicationPath) + "FileName.txt" , "Content" );

You can use your private temp (temporary) folder in your profile
by using the ReNamer PascalScript function "WideGetTempPath"
Example:

FileWriteContent( WideGetTempPath + "FileName.txt" , "Content" );

Also you can access all system environment variables by using "WideGetEnvironmentVar"
Example:

UserName := WideGetEnvironmentVar('USERNAME');

script examples

Store one value to one dedicated file

First rule in rule list:
(GET stored variable 'LastFolder')

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.

Other rules here in between
-
-
-

Last rule in rule list:
(SET variable 'LastFolder' to stored for later reuse)

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.

Store more then one value into a common file

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

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

Here just as proof of concept:

Last rule in rule list:
(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
-
-
-

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

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

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