DataMystic

Suppose you have specified a group of files in the Files to Process tab. e.g. by using a wildcard filespec, such as path\*.txt

Suppose you have made quite a complex TextPipe filter,
but there are one or two files in the input stream that require special workarounds,
because they have some feature that differs somewhat from the others,
and you want to be sure that how you process them has no unintended side effects on the other files.

Would it not be really useful if you could isolate a subset of the Files to Process by a suitable Restrict filter?

i.e. Restrict to Filespec.

Filespec could be either an operating system file pattern such as 00*.txt - or even a regular expression such as (00[35])(.+)(\.)txt

David

Hi David - you already can - Filters\Restrict\Restrict to filenames matching pattern list

Simon,

I don't see such a filter in the Restrict branch. There's one called Restrict to File name, but the help for that is clearly for something other than what I was suggesting.

This filter uses sub filters to operate on the filename (drive + path + filename) itself. Using this filter, you can rename files, change their folders, UPPERCASE or lowercase the filenames, search and replace parts of the filename and much more!

So again, are you pointing me to something only available in the Pro version?
And if so, where is it described in the Help File?

Or did you perhaps misunderstand the main point of my posted topic?

David

Simon,

The help file does describe a filter called Restrict to lines matching pattern list, so how is that related to what I suggested?

This filter is only available in Pro, and does not even appear in Standard.

Again, this underlines the ongoing inconsistency between the Help and the GUI.

I'd like to see ALL possible filters that are only in Pro at least listed in the Filters to Apply pane for someone who bought TextPipe Standard.
Then the users would know what they are missing by not having upgraded to Pro. As it is, this is a cause of repeated confusion & frustration.

David

Simon

The Help describes a filter called Restrict to Files.

Found under Filters\Restrict

This filter applies its subfilters only to files with filenames (ie drive + path + filename) matching or not matching a pattern or list of patterns. This is very handy for only applying a Convert Word Documents to Text filter only to files matching the pattern

\.DOC$

With the appropriate pattern, this filter can also be used to control subfilters based on filename, folder and drive.

Note that this filter uses case-insensitive perl patterns, not DOS wildcards.

It's not shown in the GUI for Standard, yet the Help does NOT state that this filter is one for Pro only!

The confusion is thus further compounded.

David

Thanks David,

We're aware of the discrepancies (thank you for reporting them), but at the moment we are concentrating on a bug fix release. After that we will attend to the manual.

I believe a good way forward would be to show the unavailable filters as you have suggested (dimmed(, but move them to the end of their respective menus with a divider and explanatory text to accompany them (stating why they are dimmed). I believe that covers your desire to see the unavailable filters as well as my desire to not complicate things for users with the simpler TP Lite (or TP Standard for that matter)

Simon,

Greyed out filters is a good idea to denote which ones only work in the higher or highest product grade.

I don't see any real need to have them in a different order.
cf. Menus that have greyed out options rarely change the order in other Windows apps, nor in Windows itself.

David

Ok, thanks for your feedback!

Would it help to have the text 'Pro only' prepended or appended to the title?

The filters being greyed out should suffice. Any more detailed information might be done as mouseover tooltips.

David