User Interface

The user interface of SDLRename is split up into five parts: the top command panel, the file selection panel, the rename conditions, the list of selected files, and the status line.

Command Panel

The command panel provides the following buttons for controlling SDLRename

Button	Explanation
Load Setup ()	SDLRename provides a simple solution to load and store a given configuration. Click the "Load Setup" button in order to load a previously stored setup. This will load all parameters of the renaming tool and display the files which are selected and/or affected by the renaming conditions.
Store Setup ()	Click this button in order to store the current settings. You have to enter a filename for the settings file. Please note that the file extension of SDLRename settings is .rncfg. If you specify a different extension SDLRename will automatically replace it with .rncfg.
Execute Renaming ()	Click this button to perform the renaming action. Before the renaming action is actually carried out you will be prompted to confirm the action. Please have a look at the list of files in the preview window of SDLRename in order to check whether the renaming will result in the expected new file names.
Undo Renaming ()	Clicking this button reverts the file names to the original ones. Please note that the Undo function can undo only the last renaming action.
Refresh File List ()	Refreshes the file list. You may wish to click this button after changing a few file names manually (e.g. by using the windows explorer).
About ()	Displays the about box. You will find there a link to the SDL Web site and the button for the registration of the software.
Help ()	This button will display the help file (this file).

Selection of Files

Item	Explanation
Base Directory	The base directory specifies the directory of the files to be renamed. You may either select from the list of previously used directories (click into the drop down box), or add a new directory (click the button right of the drop down box).
Include Subdirectories	If you check this box, the files in all subdirectories are selected for renaming. If this option is unchecked only the files in the selected base directory will be affected.
File Selection	This drop down box contains the template for selecting the files to be affected. The template uses the standard Windows wildcards.
No. of Selected Files	This box shows the number of files selected for renaming.

Rename Conditions

Item	Explanation
Predefined Actions	SDLRename offers a few often used predefined renaming actions. Selecting one of these actions will automatically set the required search and replace conditions and update the list of files.
Ignore Case	Tick off this box in order to ignore case in the search expression.
No. of Renamed Files	This box shows the number of actually renamed files.
Simple Replacement Mode	This mode offers a simple mode for replacing specific substrings in filenames by other substrings. See the section on the simple replacement mode for details.
Simple Insertion Mode	The simple insertion mode allows to insert text, date, time and serial numbers into the selected filenames.
Advanced Mode	The advanced mode is the most powerful renaming mode based on regular expressions.

Preview Panel

The bottom panel displays the list of files which have been selected by the file selection wildcard (see above). Those files which will be renamed are displayed in blue color and offer a check box in the "New Name" column. Unchecking the box of a particular file will exclude this file from the rename process. The list of files can be sorted alphabetically by clicking the corresponding header of the column to be sorted. If you sort the "New Name" column, all checked files will be grouped together.

Status Line

The status line provides feedback about the current status of the program.