WatchDirectory v4.7 Released

We just released a new version of WatchDirectory. This is a free upgrade for all WatchDirectory v4 customers.

Changes in this release

• New: A new implementation of the System.Mail component which allows secure SMTP connections (SSL or TLS). In case of compatibility issues, you can still use the old (v4.6 and earlier) implementation.
• New: The dynamic function {code{dllname,parameters}} now also allows you to call a batch script.
• New: {isoweek} and {isoyearweek} tags.
• New: A plugin to automatically upload to Amazon's Simple Storage Service (also known as Amazon S3), see the Amazon Upload plugin.
• New: An easier to use Task History Viewer. The original viewer is still included and you can select which one to start in options.
• Improved: The Copy task has 2 advanced options: "Slow Copy" to prevent overloading your network and "Paranoid Copy" that checks each bit after copying.
• Improved: The FTP plugin automatically resumes the upload when it is interrupted.
• Fixed: Better support for Win2000 and Win2003

Download / Install

The download is available here. If this is an upgrade from an older version, just install this new release "on top" of your current install so it will keep all settings and tasks.

French and Spanish language blogs

For some time we have an English Blog and a deutscher Blog.

Today, we have added the Blog en Español by Hans and Blog Français by Jacob ("Jackadit").

Currently, there are only a few posts available, so I recommend to keep reading this English blog for most content.

Free Program - Parse filename into components - WDDirSplit

This may be of interest for bat file programmers out there. This simple command-line tool can be used to split a path ("C:\Some\Path\To\Split\File.txt") into its separate components.

Usage

"C:\Bin\WDDirSplit.exe" "C:\Some\Path\To\Split\file.txt" "C:\temp\uniquefilename.bat"
Call "C:\temp\uniquefilename.bat"
Del "C:\temp\uniquefilename.bat"

The above command will write batch SET statements for all path components to "C:\temp\uniquefilename.bat". Please note that the bat file (2nd parameter) will be overwritten if it already exists.

Output

The contents of the generated bat file for the above command is:

rem How many components were found in path "C:\Some\Path\To\Split\file.txt"
SET WD_DP_COUNT=5
rem WD_DP_1 has the first component ("Some"), WD_DP_2 the second...
SET WD_DP_1=Some
SET WD_DP_2=Path
SET WD_DP_3=To
SET WD_DP_4=Split
SET WD_DP_5=file.txt
rem WD_DPR_1 has the last component ("file.txt"), WD_DPR_2 the one before it..(R=Reversed)
SET WD_DPR_1=file.txt
SET WD_DPR_2=Split
SET WD_DPR_3=To
SET WD_DPR_4=Path
SET WD_DPR_5=Some
rem For conveniance: WD_DP_FIRST and WD_DP_LAST
SET WD_DP_FIRST=Some
SET WD_DP_LAST=file.txt

Download

Download WDDirSplit here (~100kb)

10% (or even 20%) discount on all our programs

Until the end of July August 2013, everyone can get a 10% discount on our programs. Just use the Discount Code SUMMER10POFF in our webshop to get the discount.

Do you want a 20% discount??

Make a donation to the Alzheimer's association (or an Alzheimer's organization in your country) of at least $10 (or Euro) and email me (gert at gdpsoftware dot com) some kind of proof. You will receive a 20% discount code in return for your kindness.

(discounts can not be used with other discount codes)

Automatically Upload your files to Amazon S3

We just uploaded WatchDirectory v4.7 beta 6, see this forum post.

Let WatchDirectory monitor a folder for new or changed files and Automatically upload them to Amazon S3 (Amazon Simple Storage Service). Just enter your AWS Access Key and Secret Key, select the bucket you want WatchDirectory to upload the files to, enter the folder inside the bucket and you are done. Synch to the Cloud!.

Free Program - SlowCopy

For those people who think their computer and network is too fast, here is a little commandline program to slowly copy a file. You typically use it to prevent hogging the network performance when copying large and/or many files.

By default it works by inserting short delays (a few milliseconds) after reading/writing a chunk of the file. Download it here.

SlowCopy [-i 0] [-b 16384] [-p 5] [-e 0] [-o[n]] source-file target-file
-i seconds
   Before doing anything, sleep this many seconds. Defaults to 0 (zero).
-b bytes
   Read/Write files this many bytes at a time. Defaults to 16384 bytes.
-p milliseconds
   Pause this many milliseconds after each write. Defaults to 5 milliseconds.
-e seconds
   Pause this many seconds after the file is copied. Defaults to 0 (zero).
-o
   Will overwrite the target-file if it exists (otherwise aborts).
-on
   Will overwrite the target-file if it exists only if source is newer.
source-file
   The file to copy.
target-file
   The new file to create. Directories are created as needed.

If SlowCopy is called using WatchDirectory you can use {Dynamic Naming} for the
target file http://www.watchdirectory.net/wdhelp/plugins/dynamicname_functions.html

Use GMail with WatchDirectory or WatchFTP

Our programs can send an email when new files are detected. A few years back most people used their own SMTP server to send email, these days webmail is growing more popular than regular SMTP servers.

WatchDirectory

For WatchDirectory you will need to use the v4.7 beta version. Earlier versions did not implement the secure SSL/TLS connections needed by SMTP services like Gmail, Yahoo and Exchange.

WatchFTP has supported those secure connections from its very first release.

Email Settings

SMTP Server:     smtp.gmail.com
Port:            465
Userid:          your gmail username (without @gmail.com)
Password:        your gmail password (but see below if you enabled 2-step verification)
SSL:             enable this option
TLS:             disable

2-step verification

If you have enabled 2-step verification on gmail, programs like WatchFTP and WatchDirectory can not login to your GMail account as they can not prompt you for your verification code. Luckily you can work-around this by creating an application specific password for those programs.

• Open GMail in your browser
• Open "Settings" (see picture)
• Open "Accounts and Import"
• Select the option "other google account settings"
• Select "Security"
• Select "Manage Access" (last button on the "Security" page)
• On the following window you can add an application specific password for WatchFTP or WatchDirectory.

Now use this password on WatchFTP or WatchDirectory's SMTP settings instead of your own GMail password.

More Info...

GMail Settings for SMTP
App specific passwords when using 2-Step verification with GMail

WatchFTP v3.5 Beta 2

A new beta for WatchFTP is available.

New in this beta

We have totally reworked the way WatchFTP detects new and changed files on your FTP site. Previously (version 3.4 and earlier) WatchFTP compared FTP files with previously downloaded files. This new v3.5 beta keeps a list of previous FTP "scans" and compares your site to this list. This gives more accurate results and also allows you to modify or remove the downloaded Windows files. It also allows you to not download the files at all (just send an email about detected changes).

More Information

For more information and download links see this forum message.

An Orange blog

Today Beatrix ("Beatrix, by the Grace of God Queen of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, etc. etc. etc."), Queen of the Netherlands, announced she will be "stepping down". Her first-born son, Willem-Alexander ("His Royal Highness Willem-Alexander , Prince of Orange, Prince of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau, Jonkheer van Amsberg"), will be our King, Koning Willem de 4e (King William IV) Koning Willem-Alexander. This will be the first king of the Netherlands since a long time, I think since 1890. Thank you Queen Beatrix for leading our country through good and bad times. Your people love you and the Royal House of Orange. Thank you also to our new King William IV Willem-Alexander, hope you do a great job too. Our Democracy... The non-Dutch readers might not understand, but yes: The Netherlands (Holland) is a democracy. Our royal house has only ceremonial duties. There are a few relics in our constitution that give them a bit more power than some think is healthy, but we tend to trust the royal family more than our elected politicians ;-)

WatchFTP version 3.4 released

We just released version 3.4 of WatchFTP, our Automatic Download program.

New in this release

• The "filter directories" window now supports wildcards (* and ?)
• The "filter directories" window now also has an option to tell which directories to download. Previous versions only allowed you to tell which directories should NOT be downloaded.
• You can now Copy a task (Right-click the task, select Copy).
• The File menu has a new option to Create Backup of the selected task(s).
• The File menu has a new option to Restore task(s) from a backup.

Free Upgrade

This is a free upgrade for all WatchFTP customers. If you currently run version 1 or 2 you will need a new (free) license key. You can lookup your license info here.

Your disk crashes tomorrow - Do you want to know about it today?

Here is a fantastic program that only reads your disk drives, it never modifies anything (after installing). It reads the low-level S.M.A.R.T. indicators of your disks and warns you when things are about to go bad. Silently running in the background WindowSMART will alert you when your disk is about to fail!

BEFORE your disk crashes, you can get popups, emails and even notifications on your phone! Give you time to make a backup and replace the disk.

Great program, highly recommended!

A very nice discount in the comments below - make sure to read!

WatchFTP v3.4 beta

We have a beta available for version 3.4 of our automatic download tool WatchFTP.

New in this beta

• The "filter directories" window now supports wildcards (* and ?)
• The "filter directories" window now also has an option to tell which directories to download. Previous versions only allowed you to tell which directories should NOT be downloaded.
• You can now Copy a task (Right-click the task, select Copy).
• The File menu has a new option to Create Backup of the selected task(s).
• The File menu has a new option to Restore task(s) from a backup.

Download links

For the English, German, Spanish and French download links, visit our forum.