History of Siren's versions
3.14 : 2013/12/27
  • New features
    • File type "auto detection" for wrong or unknown file extensions
      • New column : "Detected Type" (not displayed by default)
      • New variable "Detected Type" : %yd
      • New options in Preferences/General
    • Monitor changes in current directory
      It even takes in charge the modifications done by Siren. The directory tree is not monitored
    • Support of some new file types
      • fon : font file (Windows only)
      • snd : sound file
    • Minor modifications
      • "Insert into expression" option added in the right-click menu of completion windows
      • Better first placement of the completion windows
      • The toolbar buttons and menu options associated to completion windows are now "checkable"
  • Bugs correction
    • All platforms
      • Display of the image after modification of Display/Image preferences
    • GNU/Linux
      • Position of the file list column header right-click menu
      • Horizontal bar under main menu
      • At first start, the "First contact" window is not active
    • Windows
      • Stricter management of the ':' character in new filenames
      • In the directory tree the "backspace" key generates a two levels jump back
3.13 : 2013/07/31
  • Correction of a bug in the computation of mp3 duration
  • New variables
    • %Adh : Audio duration in hours, minutes and seconds
    • %Adm : Audio duration in minutes and seconds
    • %Ads : Audio duration in seconds
    • %Vdh : Video duration in hours, minutes and seconds
    • %Vdm : Video duration in minutes and seconds
    • %Vds : Video duration in seconds
  • Use of the wxWidgets 2.9.5 library (fixes a file date/time problem under Windows)
3.12 : 2013/04/17
  • Bugs correction
    • File copies can remain after a failed rename operation
    • Crash during the "expression testbed" window opening if the "immediate recomputation" preference is set
  • Other modifications
    • New option in the "View" menu to specify the visualisation window placement
    • Change in : Preferences/New name computation/Characters/Replace characters
      If "From" is longer than "To" the last character of "To" is used
    • Expression testBed : new button to replace "current names" with the ones of the selected files
3.11 : 2013/03/03
  • Bugs correction
    • Automatic text file format recognition used for %T
    • Crash when right clicking in the file list on the column header after the last one
    • Audio/video data storage for some qtf files
  • Minor modifications
    • For %T and %C, empty file lines are kept
    • Contextual menus
    • Help
    • New Siren png icons
3.10 : 2013/01/09
  • New modifier : Group renaming
    By default a variable content always belongs to the file currently treated. This modifier allows to change this behaviour and use the information from another file of the "group" it belongs to. A group is a number of consecutively selected files.

    The usage is : < p, i >
    • p : group size
    • i : file indice in the group

    Examples :
    %<2,1>b.%e : the base names will be set to the one of the first file of the group
    %<2,2>b.%e : the base names will be set to the one of the second file of the group
    %b - %<3,2>Xdo.%e : append to the base names the exif date of the second file of the group (of three files)
  • Contextual help
    • In the completion window (F1 and contextual menu)
    • In the tag visualisation tab (F1 and contextual menu)
    • In the file list (contextual menu)
  • Bugs correction
    • A crash can happen during the extraction of the metadata from some flv files
    • Problem with the extraction of image data embedded in flac files
  • Minor modifications
3.01 : 2012/09/14
  • Correction of a bug in the date modifier "add time to date" part
  • New information extracted from png files
  • Minor modifications
    • Remove some useless error messages
    • Main window size and position on multiscreen systems
    • Siren icons
    • Help
    • Use of the wxWidgets 2.9.4 library
3.00 : 2012/06/10
  • Open source
    Starting with the 3.0 version Siren is distributed under the GPLv3 license.
  • Multiplatform
    Thanks to wxWidgets Siren is available under Windows and GNU/Linux.
  • Unicode characters
    All types of characters and writings handled by your operating system are supported by Siren too.
  • Translation becomes independent of the executable
    You can even participate and translate Siren to the language of your choice.
    Consult this page for more details.
  • New file types taken into account
    • Image : tga, xpm, pnm, webp, svg
    • RAW Image : sr2, arw, raw, erf, x3f, kdc, 3fr, nrw, mef, mop
    • Audio :
      • Flac : flac
      • APE : ape
      • Matroska : mka
      • Real audio : ra
      • AAC : aac
    • Vidéo :
      • Ogg/Theora : ogg
      • Flash video : flv
      • Matroska : mkv
      • WebM
      • Real video : rv, rm, rmvb
      • other : f4v, 3gp, wm
    • Installation package :
      • Mozilla : xpi
      • Chrome : crx
      • Android : apk
      • Debian : deb
      • RPM (very limited support)
    • Other :
      • Open document : odf, odt, ods, odp, ott
      • Electronic publication : epub
      • E-mail : eml
      • Flash "interactive" : swf
      • Disk image : iso
      • Link : lnk (under Windows only)
      • Font : ttf, otf
      • Freedesktop.org "desktop" : desktop
      • "zip" compressed files : zip, jar, war, htb ...
      • Translation file "gettext" : mo
  • Improvments of file types support
    • pdf, torrent, mrw, html, jpg ...
    • iTunes information extracted from mov and mp4
    • pdf encrypted without password
  • Expression syntax and grammar
    • New string modifier : "tr" (transliteration).
      For example : %b(tr/aeiouy/AEIOUY/).%e
    • Environment variables
      They can be directly used in an expression. For example : ${HOMEPATH}\\%uf
      A new tab in the completion window shows all the available ones
    • A favourite expression can be "included" in an expression : #{"exp"}
    • Variables can be used as a expression parameters : %f("Text",%uAt(1,5))
    • New columns/variables :
      • Checksum : CRC32 (%cc), MD5 (%cm) and SHA1 (%cs)
      • Random value : numerical (%Rn), alphabetical (%Ra) and alphanumerical (%Rs).
        They can be followed by a modifier indicating the number of chars to generate : {length}
        For %Rn it can be completed with minimal and maximal values. For example : %Rn{5,10,50}
      • Siren's executable path : %Pe
      • Audio tag : Disk (%AD) for the types mp3, qtf, asf, mpc and flac
      • Document : ID (%OI), destination (%Od), number of files (%OF), number of lines (%OL) and number of words (%OW)
    • New syntax for the "[]" modifier
      The old one ([i,"sep"]) has been completed with [i,nb,"sep"]
    • New character modifier : #
      It replaces the "percent strings". For example, for bb%41cc.txt, %#f gives bbAcc.txt
    • New character modifier : &
      It is suposed to correct some utf8 character conversion problems
    • The quote (') can be used as string delimiter too
    • The regular expression library "boost.org" has been replaced by wxWidgets's one
  • User interface
    • New help
    • Directory tree
    • Wizard : help to create a simple rename expression
    • Tools : execute a program on the highlighted files
    • Tab to display file tags
    • Expression testbed
    • Check for new version availability
    • Preferences
      • "Apply" and "Reset" buttons
      • Consider that directories can have extensions
        For examples, for the directory "dir.ext", the variable "%e" will be empty or will contain "ext" ?
      • Compute and display the size of the directories
      • Use alternate colors for lists
      • Image "high" quality manipulations (rescaling etc.)
      • Stretch image to fit the available space
      • Date format in the file list
      • Force copied files timestamps to the original ones
    • Create examples in the "Favourites" and "Tools" menus during the very first start
    • Display new image file types : tif, png, tga ...
    • Two or three toolbars layout
    • Show/hide the status bar
    • Show/hide the column group toolbar
    • New information in the status bar : the sum of durations of the selected files
    • Size units changed from GB, MB and kB to GiB, MiB and KiB
    • Improvment of the error messages displayed during rename/copy operations
    • Improvment of file search : first, last
    • Path typed in the directory "combo" can contain environment variables (~ etc.)
    • Sub directories loading (recursion) disabled after the current directory has changed
    • Command line option to list (or not) the hidden directories and files
    • "Future name" column renamed to "New name"
    • Modification of the GPSExif latitude and longitude format
  • Command line
    • Options are now case sensitive and most of them have to used lowercase
    • Under Windows, "-" or "/" can be used as option prefix
    • Replacement :
      • "I" (configuration file) has been replaced by "p"
      • "A" (favourite name) has been replaced by "F"
      • "F" (filter) has been replaced by "f"
      • "?" (command line help) has been replaced by "h"
    • Added :
      • "v" to get the version
      • "x" to list or not hidden files
      • "l" to select a language
  • Removed
    • Preferences
      • Start in Explorer's current directory
      • Use the local decimal separator
      • Extended Infotip on the file name
      • List system files
      • Empty variable if data format is invalid
      • Exif division symbol
    • Monitor current directory modifications
    • Drag and drop columns
    • "Executable" columns group (integrated in the "Document" group)
    • Show FCC audio and video code (except for unknown code)
    • %R (replaced by %Rn)
    • The file attributes become a little less accurate
  • Bugs correction
2.01 : 2010/06/29
  • Correction of a compatibility problem with the 64 bits versions of Windows
    Under Vista 64 bits and 7 64 bits Siren "crashed" during the opening of the completion window
2.00 : 2007/07/02
  • New data extracted from files
    • Video: mov, m4v, mp4 (uncompressed header)
    • Video DV AVI: date and timecode (to be validated due to lack of test files)
    • Executable: exe, dll, com, ocx, cpl, tlb, vbx, olb, cnv, rll (a new group has been created)
    • Torrent: The information is stored in the "Document" group
    • EXIF: ImageUniqueID
    • IPTC: ProgramVersion
    • HTML: "date-creation-yyyymmdd" and "date-revision-yyyymmdd"

    • Lines extracted from the clipboard
      %C: line number relative to the file selection number
      %Cn (%C1 ... %C9): absolute line number
      A new example uses this feature to rename "associated" files (avi/srt, crw/thm, raw/jpg ...).

    • Lines extracted from text files
      The file name is specified between '{' and '}', the '\' have to be doubled.
      If a "%T" is not associated to a filename it makes reference to the last previously named.
      %T: line number relative to the file selection number
      %Tn (%T1 ... %T9): absolute line number
      Example: File_%T{"C:\\List.txt"}.jpg
  • Date and time format
    A new entry in the options ("Dates") enables to define:
    • The default formats for the variables: date, time and date/time. It is the "strftime" syntax which is used. A specific help has been added.
    • An eventual time value to add (positive or negative)
      It follows the format already used for the durations: +999h99m99s
  • New modifier "{}"
    Its action, parameter list and their types depends on the variable it is associated to. Some parameters were already present in the options but not definable directly in the expression. By default, the values defined in the options will be used.
     
    • All date and time variables: { f, t }
      f: format, it is the "strftime" syntax which is used
      t: time to add (positive or negative)
      Example: using "%D" being equal to 01/02/2007 03h04m05s
      %D{"%Y-%m-%d"} gives 2007-02-01
      %D{"%jd %Hh%Mm%Ss"} gives 032d 03h04m05s
      %D{"%Hh%Mm%Ss",-2h} gives 01h04m05s
      %D{"%Hh%Mm%Ss",10h1s} gives 13h04m06s

    • Selection numbers (%n, %np ...): { p, s, i }
      p: number of digits
      s: start value
      i: step
      Example:
      %n %n{5,10,2} %n{4,100,-1}
      1 00010 0100
      2 00012 0099
      3 00014 0098

    • Numbers in names (%N1..%N9): { p, v, n }
      p: number of digits
      v: value to add (positive or negative)
      n: position of the number. If negative the extraction is done from the end.
      Example:
      %N{5} %N2{3,5} %N2{1,-3} %N{3,0,-1}
      Fic5_of_10.txt 00005 015 7 010
      DSC15-20.jpg 00015 025 17 020

    • Non numeric strings in names (%NN1..%NN9): { n }
      n: position of the string. If negative the extraction is done from the end.
      Example:
      %NN %NN{-1} %NN{-2}
      Fic5_of_10.txt Fic _of_ Fic
      DSC15-20.jpg DSC - DSC

    • %ns and audio track number: { p }
      p: number of digits
  • Move/copy files to another directory
    If necessary the missing directories are created. The '\' delineating the path elements have to be doubled. Examples:
    C:\\Video\\%f Move files to the "C:\Video" directory
    C:\\Video\\%ub(5).* Move and change the name
    C:\\Music\\%Aa\\%f Move the file in a subdirectory named with the Artist name defined in the audio tag
    %b[1]\\%b[2].%e Move in a subdirectory corresponding to a part of the name
    C:\\Photo\\%Xdo{"%Y\\%m\\%d"}\\%f Move of the images in a directory tree corresponding to the date they have been taken

    Add copy to rename:
    It is possible to copy the selected files and name them with their associated "Future name". A new command line option "/C" enables to do this in "batch" mode.

    Induced modifications:
    • New option in the "Action" menu (Ctrl+G): Go into the current file's directory
    • The operations done by filter: selection, unselection, highlight and search are done on the full file name (including the path). Before, the filter was not applied on the path
    • All the paths "returned" by variables (%pa, %P ...) end with a '\'
  • Sub-expressions
    Separated by ';' and evaluated one after another on all the files.
    Any reference to the file name is done to the "Future name" composed by the preceding sub-expression.
    A specific example has been added.
    Examples:
    %lf;%f(s/^dtj /DTJ /)
    %AT.%e;%N{4,10} - %At.%e
  • Force case of some words
    In the options it is possible to specify a list of words whose case has to be forced.
    This only applies to variables content.
    Two new character modifiers: '+' and '-' enable to force or prevent the use of this feature directly in an expression.
    Examples: if "AbbA" is part of these words, on "abba - waterloo.mp3"
    %b.%e gives AbbA - waterloo.mp3
    %Ub.%e gives AbbA - Waterloo.mp3
    %-Ub.%e gives Abba - Waterloo.mp3
  • New variables
    %fa: file name with the absolute path
    %fc: the file name as displayed/computed
    %pa: the absolute path to the file (ending with a '\')
    %pr: the relative path to the file (ending with a '\')

    %ncf and %ncfs:
    Their principle is identical to the ones of %nc and %ncs except that the collision test doesn't take the path into account.

    Modification of existing variables:
    %F becomes %fd
    %B becomes %bd
    %E becomes %ed
    %P was "absolute path to the file" and becomes "Siren's current directory", an eventual last '\' is added to its end
  • Modification of the combos behavior: Expression, Directory and Filter
    • The add of a directory to the list of the "Directory" combo becomes "manual".
      A '+' button on their right has to be used
    • The "Del" key enables to delete elements from the lists
    • The maximum number of elements in a list has been increased to 15
  • Search in text windows
    "Ctrl+F" enables searching text in the windows "Help", "Examples" ...
  • New options
    • Default date/time formats and default time to add (Options/Dates)
    • Value to add to "number in names" (Options/Numbers)
    • Use of the regional decimal separator (Options/Numbers)
    • Sort files "à la" XP (Options/Display)
    • Extraction (or not) of the files meta data (Options/Display)
    • Lock the toolbars (Option in the "Display" menu)

    Some elements go into the options
    • Choice of the language (Options/General)
    • The toolbar buttons "Automatic group selection" and "Display of empty columns" (Options/Columns)
  • Minor modifications
    • Vista compatibility
    • New option in the "Edit" menu: Highlight the selected files
    • Video codecs information improvement
    • Keyboard shortcuts
      • Most part of the keyboard shortcuts become usable too when the cursor is in a combo (Ctrl+R, F5 ...)
      • In the main window, where text is modifiable, "Ctrl+Shift+E" displays information about the current editing operation
      • In the "Expression" combo:
        • F1 displays the help window
        • Ctrl+I becomes Ctrl+Shift+I
        • Ctrl+P disappears (included now in "Ctrl+Shift+E")
        • Add of Ctrl+Shift+B which double the '\' in the current selection
      • Ctrl+Y launches "Redo"
      • Ctrl+W causes the exit of Siren
      • Alt+W starts Window's explorer
    • The "Create DOS batch file" feature has been deleted
    • Favorites
      • Edit favorite by Right Clicking on its entry in the "Favorites" menu
      • The expression associated to "Favorites" menu option is displayed in the status bar
    • Column header contextual menu
      Copy of the selected files data to the clipboard
    • In the filter operation windows (search, selection, unselection, highlight) a new option enables to specify if the directories have to be taken into account.
    • The step value for the "selection numbers" can be <= 0
    • By default the columns size and modification date of the files are displayed
    • Add/modification of examples
    • and many others ...
  • Bugs correction
    • Data extraction of some files: raw images, Exif UserComment, pdf
    • Start of the program associated to some file types
    • Modification monitoring "lost" if answered "No" and "Don't ask again"
1.90 : 2006/04/13
  • New information extracted from files
    • html: tags "title", "base" and some "meta"
    • url: address of the internet shortcut
    • au: audio
    • crw: FNumber, Exposure Program, Flash and Orientation
  • New modifier: Regular Expression
    Its format follows the standard: (s/exp/fmt/gi)
    The library used is Boost's one.
    Examples:
    Image_%dmd(s/..(..)(..)(..)/$3-$2-$1/).*
    %b(s/^S/#/i)(1,20)[1,"_"](s/\d+/@/g).%le
  • New variables
    • %nc: selection number relative to a name collision (same beginnings)
      Even if its main purpose was to rename images taken in the same second, it is perfectly usable in any context.
      For example:
      Name Date of the shot %Xdo_%nc.%le
      IMGAAAA1.JPG 01/01/2005 00:00:00 20050101_000000_001.jpg
      IMGAAAA2.JPG 01/01/2005 00:00:00 20050101_000000_002.jpg
      IMGAAA45.JPG 12/12/2005 11:11:11 20051212_111111_001.jpg
      IMGAAA50.JPG 01/01/2005 00:00:00 20050101_000000_003.jpg

    • %ncs: same principle as "%nc" except that it is empty for the first element of the "collision group" and prefixed by a "_" for the others.
      For example:
      Name Date of the shot %Xdo%ncs.%le
      IMGAAAA1.JPG 01/01/2005 00:00:00 20050101_000000.jpg
      IMGAAAA2.JPG 01/01/2005 00:00:00 20050101_000000_001.jpg
      IMGAAA45.JPG 12/12/2005 11:11:11 20051212_111111.jpg
      IMGAAA50.JPG 01/01/2005 00:00:00 20050101_000000_002.jpg

    • %NN: non numeric string extracted from the base name
      For example for: File.12jan06_host.txt
      %NN corresponds to "File.", %NN2 to "jan", %NN3 to "_host" ... %NN9 to "" (empty string)
       
    • %ns: number of selected files
       
    • %R: a four digits pseudo random number
       
    • %Ou: associated to the new column of the "Document" group: URL
  • Display images according to their Exif/Ciff orientation
  • "Directory" toolbar improvements
    • Navigation history
    • Choice of the disk
    • All the "explorer" windows are taken into account
  • Copy the names of the selected files to the clipboard
  • New options
    • During the loading of a directory, the subdirectories have to be filtered ?
    • Display images according to their Exif/Ciff orientation ?
  • Cleaning
    • The Karaoke group disappears: its metadata are transferred to the groups "Audio" and "Audio tag"
    • Deletion of redundant variables: %d, %dd, %dt, %t, %tc, %ta, %tm, %T
    • The "%M" prefix doesn't exist anymore, it had an equivalent: "%A"
    • The "%m" prefix doesn't allow access anymore to the "audio" variables group

    The expressions using these deleted elements will have to be modified.
  • Bugs fixes
    • Rename if the "Future name" is empty
    • Duration of MPEG files bigger than 2 GB
    • and some others ...
  • Minor modifications
    • Improvement of the monitoring of the current directory modifications
    • Maximum size of an expression is now 1024 characters
    • The colour of the text of information windows is now the default value
    • The group "Office&pdf" becomes "Document"
    • Modification of the text associated to the Exif column "Orientation"
    • The starting value of the selection numbers can be lower or equal to 0
    • Infotip in the file list
      • By default the display option is deactivated
      • Add of the file modification date
    • User interface improvement
    • Three new examples
    • and many others ...
1.80 : 2005/04/07
  • Support of new information extracted from files
    • Image info and tags: raw images (nef, cr2, crw, orf, pef, mrw, raf, srf, dng)
    • IPTC: jpg, tiff, ...
    • Exif:
      • Extracted from tiff files
      • SubsecTime, SubsecTimeOriginal, SubsecTimeDigitized
      • Thumbnail: offset and size
    • Audio info and tags: mp3 id2v2.2
  • Thumbnail display
    A new toolbar button enables you to visualize the main image or the thumbnail associated to the active file. An icon at the top left of the window indicates which one is displayed.
  • File drag
    The standard operations "Copy/Move/Create link" are available
  • Highlight with a filter
    Useful for file management operations (drag, delete, execute ...)
  • Rename from command line
    New parameters make it possible to automate the renamings. A specific help window has been created.
  • Favorites
    • "Add to favorites" opens an initialized edit window
    • Button to copy the main expression
  • Options
    • List system/hidden directories and files
    • Copy file list in the clipboard: replacement character of the column separator if it is present in the data
  • Miscellaneous
    • Focused and highlighted files keep these attributes after a sort or a directory reload
    • If a loading is interrupted, it's the partially loaded part which is kept
    • "Example" window modeless. This allows to access it while using Siren
    • Audio track number <= 0 supported
    • GPS Exif variable "%Xts" becomes "%XTS"
    • During startup:
      • If the last used directory is not reachable, Siren climbs back down the tree
      • The invalid directories are deleted from the directory combo
  • Bugs fixes
    • Sort on Exif date columns
    • Crash under XP SP2 during intensive reloads (F5) on an overloaded computer
    • Problem with the "/I" command line parameter if the associated ini file is stored in the root directory
    • Exif UserComments
    • and others ...
  • Minor modifications
    • "History of the versions" menu option deleted
    • Putting a value at the first place in a combo box only occurs after a choice made by opening its list box
    • In "Options/Columns", the choice of a group is done with a combo
    • and many others ...
1.70 : 2004/03/10
  • Support of new information extracted from files
    • Document info and tags: pdf ( information grouped with the office document ones)
    • Audio info and tags: mpc (MusePack. Ape1, ape2 and id3v1 tags)
  • Favorites
    You can now keep and access easily to your preferred rename expressions (except combo)
  • DOS rename commands file
    This ".bat" file will contain the DOS commands that Siren would have executed
  • Exif
    14 new data extracted, dates in system format ...
  • Replacement string modifier completed
    An optional parameters has been added: search case sensitive (upper/lower)
    For example for the file "AA_aa.txt":
    %f("AA","BB",1,2,0) gives "BB_BB.txt"
    %f("AA","BB",1,2,1) gives "BB_aa.txt"
  • New options:
    • Display file size in bytes or most appropriate unit (byte, Kb, Mb, Gb)
    • Empty variable if the associated data is invalid (dates)
    • Display infotip in the file list
  • New variable "%sb" size in bytes
    %s gives now the size in the most appropriate unit
  • Many user interface improvements
    • button to recompute the "future names"
    • "don't ask again" option during reload confirmation
    • 2 new examples
    • etc ...
  • Bugs fixes
  • Minor modifications
1.60 : 2003/11/06
  • Image visualization
    If the active file is a valid "jpg", "gif", "bmp", "ico" or "cur" file, its image is displayed in the bottom part of the main window.
  • Image in the tag of a mp3, wma, wmv or asf file
    You can view it and see or use all its associated information (even Exif).
  • New columns/variables: attached image format (jpg, bmp ...)
  • Column drag & drop
  • Column contextual menu
  • New completion window
    It uses tabs, one per variable group. It is movable, resizable and isn't closed anymore after selection.
  • Accented characters taken into account during sorts and case modifications
    "è" and "È", "À" and "à" etc ... are equivalent.
    For example, for the file "copia ÁÉÍÓÚ_áéíóú.JPG":
    %uf gives "COPIA ÁÉÍÓÚ_ÁÉÍÓÚ.JPG"
    %f("é","#") gives "copia Á#ÍÓÚ_á#íóú.JPG"
  • Accented characters to standard ASCII conversion
    With the new character modifier '@', the accented characters can be automatically converted to standard ASCII.
    For example, for the file "copia ÁÉÍÓÚ_áéíóú.JPG":
    %@f gives "copia AEIOU_aeiou.JPG"
    %@Lf gives "Copia aeiou_aeiou.jpg"
    %@ub.%le gives "COPIA AEIOU_AEIOU.jpg"
  • Column width to default value
    You can easily come back to default widths. Globally through Options/Columns or individually through the column contextual menu.
  • Bugs fixes
  • Minor modifications
1.50 : 2003/06/26
  • Support of new information extracted from files
    • Audio info and tags: wma, ogg (compatible with the last Tag&Rename betas)
    • Audio tags: wav
    • Video info and tags: asf, wmv
    • Image info: png
  • Prefixed variables "%M" have a "%A" equivalent
    After adding support for many new audio formats other than MP3, the prefix of variable "%M" had lost a little of its significance.
  • Call of the shell contextual menu
    Through Siren's contextual menu or by pressing the "Apps" key (key on the left of the right "Ctrl" key).
  • Copy the value pointed by the mouse to clipboard
  • Option to limit file name length
    In Options/Modifications you can specify the maximum length a file name can be.
    Siren will try to preserve intact its extension.
  • Negative parameter "number of characters" for the extraction modifier "()"
    This permits to specify a number of characters to extract relative to the length of the string.
    For example, to rename "ABCDEF_123.txt" and "ZY#789.txt" to "ABCDEF.txt" and "ZY.txt"
    use the expression: %b(1,-4).%e
  • "[]" modifier completed
    An optional parameter has been added: substrings list separators to use in place of the one defined in Options/Modifications.
    For example: to rename the file "garden_house.jpg" to "house - garden.jpg"
    Use the expression: %b[2,"_"] - %b[1,"_"].%e
  • Delete heading and trailing spaces
    By passing "0" as parameter, "[]" will give now the complete associated string after having deleted its begining and ending spaces (full trim).
    (this work was already done on the extracted substrings)
  • Undo/redo rename info in infotip
  • Moves between combos/list with tabulation key
  • Bugs fixes
  • Minor modifications
1.40 : 2003/04/24
  • Support of many new information extracted from files
    • Video info: avi, mpg
    • Video tags: avi
    • Exif tags
    • Audio: wav
    • Images: jpg, tif, gif, pcx, bmp, dib, ico et cur
    • Karaoke: mid, kar
    • "Office" documents: doc, xls ...
  • Paste the variable/value pointed by the mouse
    By a right click on a displayed data, you can directly insert the associated variable or the value in the current expression.
  • Buttons for automatic columns selection
    You can let Siren choose automatically the groups of used columns and eventually display only the non empty ones.
  • Add mp3 info: mono/stereo
  • Modification of the Options/Columns interface
    It's now possible to "manipulate" many columns simultaneously after a multiple selection (click -> shift+click, ctrl+click ...). Then you can move, unselect ... all of them.
  • Replacement string modifier completed
    Two optional parameters have been added: the starting occurrence and the number of replacements to do. If the starting occurrence is negative the replacement is done from the end.
    For example for the file "autoexec.bat":
    %f("e","E") gives "autoExEc.bat"
    %f("e","E",2) gives "autoexEc.bat"
    %f("e","E",1,1) gives "autoExec.bat"
    %f("e","E",-2,1) gives "autoExec.bat"
    %f("e","E",-2) gives "autoExEc.bat"
    ...etc ...
  • Modification of variables %d and %D
    To be more coherent, all "date" variables containby default the date and time in format: "YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS". To "extract" only the date just add a "d" to it and a "t" for the time.
  • Parameters for variable %p: %pn
    %p corresponds to the name of the "parent" directory (the directory containing the file). By adding a digit to "%p" you can choose the level.
    Let's take, for example, the file: \image\house\garden\img1.jpg
    %p gives "garden"
    %p2 gives "house"
    %p3 gives "image"
  • Parameter for variable %n: %np
    %n corresponds to the selection number, but as some users made me the remark, it was "judicious" that this selection number could be relative to the file path.
    For example:
    File %n %np
    \Dir1\Img1.jpg 001 001
    \Dir1\Img2.jpg 002 002
    \Dir2\Img3.jpg 003 001
    \Dir2\Img4.jpg 004 002
  • Parameters for variable %s
    If %s gives the size in bytes, %sk gives it in kilo, %sm in mega et %sg in giga bytes.
  • Selection filter in command line parameter list
    You can access the command line parameter list by starting Siren with the parameter "/?" or "/help".
  • "Examples" window
    To facilitate the learning of expression syntax, a new window, accessible through the "?" menu, gives some detailed examples.
  • Support of Fraunhofer MP3 VBR headers
  • Bugs fixes
  • Minor modifications
1.30 : 2002/12/18
  • Load sub-directories (recursion)
    It's possible to work on a complete directory tree, all previous operations are allowed.
  • Directory loading in thread
    The loading of a directory (and eventually his sub-directories) is done in a "thread". This keeps the main window accessible to any other task, especially to stop the loading.
  • Display/hide groups of columns
    Group of columns have been defined: base, mp3 v1 and mp3 v2. Toolbar buttons allow or not to display "active" columns (checked in options) associated to them.
  • Replace/delete strings
    The modifier "()" has been completed. His usage is very near of the standard "replace": 
    ("string to replace", "replacement string")
    For example, with the file "autoexec.bat":
    %f("auto","automatic") will give "automaticexec.bat"
    It's possible to concat as many modifiers "()" and "[]" as necessary
    %b("auto","au-to")("ex")[1](2).bat will give "u.bat"
  • Select/unselect with a file filter
  • Search in the list with a file filter
  • Set current position on first/next selected file
  • %N variables: number contained in the base file name
    For example, with the file "File12_15zzz784.txt"
    %N corresponds to "12", %N1 to "12", %N2 to "15", %N3 to "784" ... %N9 to "" (empty string)
  • 'L' modifier
    It modifies the case of a string: first character uppercase, the rest lowercase.
  • Negative parameter for "[]"
    Like for substrings, this allows "right" extractions.
    Let's take, for example the files:
    "Jean Jacques - Album - Title 1.mp3" and "Jean-Jacques - Album - Title 2.mp3"
    Knowing that the separator '-' isn't present between "Jean" and "Jacques" in the first name, what expression can extract album and title ?
    %b[-2] - %b[-1].%e will give the expected result.
  • "ini" file name in parameters list
    By default Siren uses the file "Siren.ini" to keep all options values and his state at the end of the last execution. It is possible to specify a specific file name on the command line and so be able to use different Siren "configurations". You can access the command line parameter list by starting Siren with the parameter "/?" or "/help".
  • New options:
    • Directories are loaded in the list
    • They appear at top of list. (directories and files are sort separately or not)
    • File list displayed using a fixed font
    • Expression combo displayed using a fixed font
    • Filter combo displayed using a fixed font
  • File filter to UNIX standard
    The dos/windows filter standard has been extended to UNIX standard ("[!-]" meta characters)
  • Add management of other shortcuts to Siren
    The shortcuts management has been moved and new ones have been added.
  • XP themes support
  • Key sequences usable while writing an expression
    • Ctrl-I: "Paste" current file name
    • Ctrl-P: Current cursor position in status bar
  • Modeless help window
    This will allow you to access the help while using Siren.
  • Bugs fixes
  • Minor modifications
1.20 : 2002/09/10
  • Monitor directory modifications
    Siren can detect modifications made by other programs into his current directory.
    Two options are available:
    • Enable or not this monitoring
    • Ask for confirmation before refresh
  • Drop files / directories
    You can "drop" files onto Siren. This will eventually load the concerned directory and select chosen files. A "dropped" directory will be loaded if the "drop" is done on the "Directory" combo.
  • Siren's "Send To" shortcut management
    The Windows Explorer's contextual menu contains a "Send To" sub-menu in which Siren can appear. You can create, modify or delete this shortcut through the options. The "Sent To" files will be automatically selected.
  • Strings as arrays, modifier "[]"
    You've noticed that many file names are in fact the concatenation of strings generally separated with '-'.
    For example, a "mp3": 01 - Artist - Song Title.mp3
    The modifier "[]" allows you to split a string into array elements. This operation will be done "around" a character (the list can be modified in the options), in our case, the '-'.
    The expression: %b[1] - %b[3].%e
    will give: 01 - Song Title.mp3
    All other modifiers can be used, so: %b[1] - %ub[3](1,4).%e
    will give: 01 - SONG.mp3
  • Negative starting position for "()"
    "()" can extract a substring, knowing "left" structure of the source. The "right" extraction was missing, it's now done using a negative "starting position".
    Let's take, for example, the files: AA_AA_B21.txt, CCC_C32.txt and ZZ_ZZZ_T18.txt,
    only the last 3 characters interest us.
    the expression: %b(-3).%e
    will give: B21.txt, C32.txt et T18.txt
    and the expression: %lb(-3,1).%e
    will give: b.txt, c.txt et t.txt
  • Add command line parameters
    You can access the list by starting Siren with the parameter "/?" or "/help".
  • Improve MP3 analyze
  • Calls to "Explorer" and "Properties"
  • Current file name in status bar
    This will allow you to know the current file even if the column "Name" can not be seen.
  • Word separators list
    The words can now be separated by something else than a "space", you can specify yourself the list.
  • Bugs fixes
  • Minor modifications
1.10 : 2002/07/12
  • V2 MP3 Tag
  • Add columns Bitrate, Sampling and Duration
  • Add buttons for columns selection and order
  • History of the versions
  • FAQ, Credits
1.00 : 2002/06/14