Add "Author" field to the file selection list

[ppass]

Is this program development dead or do you still take into account the input of your user base?

I wondered if you could add some columns to the file selection list. Especially, an "Author" column would be extremely helpful to find files created by the same person.

[seanw]

Is this program development dead or do you still take into account the input of your user base?

Version 2.2 is still in development. I've been extremely busy lately with personal-life issues, and haven't had much time to work on it, but v2.2 will be out sometime. And I still read the forum, when I can.

I wondered if you could add some columns to the file selection list. Especially, an "Author" column would be extremely helpful to find files created by the same person.

Displaying the "Owner" of the file is quite possible --- and easy --- but that's usually not the information you want.

The problem with most of the "special" attributes like "Author" and "Company" and "Playing Time" and "Artist" is that they're utterly nonstandard. When you install the respective programs onto your computer, they add their own hooks into the Windows Explorer so that Explorer can display that information, but those hooks are compatible with no other software, and often not even compatible with different versions of Windows: They're usually Explorer-only for WinXP.

Every program stores that data in its files in a different way, so for SM to support those, I'd effectively have to write code for every possible way that that information can be stored. Some formats use OLE metadata, some use alternative data forks, some embed it as records in their own metafile format... it's a long list of possibilities. Even narrowing it down to supporting the "Author" fields in just, say, the Microsoft Excel/Word formats is a daunting task, since there are hundreds of versions and subversions and revisions of those formats alone, and each one stores that kind of data differently.

In short, sure, I'd love to add it. But it's hundreds of hours of work just to support Word, much less any other file formats.

[ppass]

Version 2.2 is still in development. I've been extremely busy lately with personal-life issues, and haven't had much time to work on it, but v2.2 will be out sometime. And I still read the forum, when I can.

OK, no problem. It is just good to know from time to time how things are going for you. Good to know that you still read the forum.

The problem with most of the "special" attributes like "Author" and "Company" and "Playing Time" and "Artist" is that they're utterly nonstandard. [...] those hooks are compatible with no other software, and often not even compatible with different versions of Windows: They're usually Explorer-only for WinXP.

I don't know about Explorer as I never use it. I use xplorer2 lite (freeware) instead, and I guarantee you that all fields that you can think of are in there (see screenshot). I am interested in the name of the person who created the document. This may be called "Owner" for Explorer, but in xplorer2 lite, there is no such thing as "Owner", the closest I got is called "Author". In plain English, "Author" makes more sense by the way than "Owner" (you could be the owner of a document whose author is someone else).

Even narrowing it down to supporting the "Author" fields in just, say, the Microsoft Excel/Word formats is a daunting task, since there are hundreds of versions and subversions and revisions of those formats alone, and each one stores that kind of data differently.

Well, xplorer2 supports all fields for all file formats, the task may be daunting, but at least it is possible. If it involves hundreds of hours of work for you, forget about it and concentrate on much more needed features.