History of FileOrganiser

Programmed in Delphi 7, I have been working on this program for some time now (Since 2003!?)

This program was originally developed for use by teachers (tws version), but since ;leaving the school, I now improve this mostly for me which I use a LOT!

1st attempt: Using the Standard Delphi ShelltreeView component. This was unbelievable. no support, no real examples and totally bug ridden, unless it was me using it wrong!

2nd attempt (2005): LMD Shellpack components. Stopped almost immediately as you couldn't specify the root folder.

3rd attempt: Plasmatech. This looked good, but again little support, no examples and lots of features missing which is soon found out when trying to use. Maybe the next version will include this.

4th attempt (2005): ShellShock, I thought this was going to be the answer and spent 12 months trying to get it working, but similar to the Delphi components there were bugs, or 'undocumented features'!! All the problems were centered round the SheeTreeView component. This was a shame as this is what I was really aiming for! A total Explorer look-a-like! (but better!). To get FileOrganiser functioning reliably, I discarded the tree component and had only the ShelllistView. This seems to work much, much better and was just about "acceptable".

5th attempt (and FINAL): Dec. 2006 : Now, using JAM components is MUCH more stable, Win98 was a little flaky, but now VERY, VERY good!!! At last a component that dosnt crash for no good reason! AND excellent support from JAM.

One year on....

Yes, JAM has proved to be unbelievably better. I use it a lot more now, home and work! Jan 2008.

Left Thomas Wolsey School April 2008, but still work on this program, as it is so useful. (to me at least!)

Jan 2009: Thomas Wolsey Webmaster (who ever that was!) stopped me using their site. So updates are only available on this site or from Sourceforge.

Mick

Thomas Wolsey School (TWS) or Administrator Version. No longer supported, but if somebody else REALLY wanted it, I could bring it back!

Pupils to use: Configurable (configuration saved to H drive and hidden), but default is limited.

Staff to use: Can configurable for each teacher. Detected if access to file at: T:\temp\organiser.ini This folder can be hidden! The "Info" button is very useful as this allows how much space on their H drive is used and which folder is using it!

Admins: Full Access, e.g. Network neighbourhood, Server folders like drivers and install programs. (access must be granted on the server as well!). Detected if access to file at: ServerName + UserPath + \ad\organiser.ini e.g. \\Server\c$\users\ad\organiser.ini

TWS/ Network version

The main criteria for this version was to fully control access to the network, e.g. set read/ write access top drives, allow following of short cut links, allow specific drives and disallow others, etc. This of course means limited or NO access to the configuration menu!

Server-name and user path needs to be set.

The Organiser.ini in the H drive (for each user), under the [Options] needs to have SN='YOUR SERVER NAME' set Also PathName='YOUR Users path' By default this is \C$\Users. This will be added to the servername. eg. SN + PathName.

One of the most useful features is the 'Info' button, where the user can check how much space he is wasting, err, I mean using!

Network version NOTE: If you require this version, let me know your requirements and I will be glad to re-check it works as expected/ required! As it used to do prior to V1.15.

The organiser.ini file can be merged from update.ini Each startup, the update.ini file is checked and if update is valid, then the parameters are copied in to the organiser.ini file. Useful to supply new and more valid links to teachers. Can be copied into specific 'Favourite Sets'. TWS version ONLY