The projects section of my web site has been neglected for too long, so I decided to update CopyUnique and JC LineCount today.

CopyUnique is a utility I wrote to made it easy to copy a set of files into a single folder using sequential numbers as the new filenames. I use this all the time to put a series of ripped audio book MP3s into a folder on my MP3 player. Today's update adds the \m option to move files instead of copy them.

JC LineCount is another utility I wrote that counts the number of lines of source code in a directory tree. Today's update ended up being nearly a complete re-write that added a number of usability improvements. The folder text box now features autocompletion and all settings are remembered between uses, for example. It counts lines faster, too.

I updated both projects to use the 2.0 .NET Framework.

My latest audio book, Kilo Class by Patrick Robinson, required me to add a new sorting feature to CopyUnique. I was using Windows Media Player 10 to rip the CDs to MP3s, but the CD info Windows Media Player downloaded was completely wrong for several of the discs. To make matters worse, sorting the files by name no longer resulted in the correct sequence.

I ended up adding the ability to sort the files by the creation date or last modified date since that guarantees they will be renamed in the same order they were ripped from the CDs. This preserves the correct file naming sequence and works even if the title and album info for the CDs is wrong and/or inconsistent.

Download CopyUnique here.

I just released a little utility I wrote called CopyUnique that will copy all the files in a directory tree using sequentially numbered filenames. Ok, but why would someone want to do this? Well, I primarily use it to number all the ripped audio tracks from a set of audio book CDs. CopyUnique fixes up the filenames so they can be burned to an MP3 CD and played sequentially on my car's MP3 player. CopyUnique could also be used to copy several directories worth of digital pictures into a sequentially numbered slideshow directory. A better description as well as a link to the download is on my web site's CopyUnique project page.

I've added a new script to my collection of Windows scripts that will disable the useless Windows file association web service dialog. Instead of being prompted to "Use the web service to find the appropriate program" when you try to open a file with an unknown extension, Windows will go straight to the Choose Program dialog -- saving you approximately 7 minutes per day!

Download my collection of Windows scripts here. The collection also includes scripts to disable simple file sharing and to disable hiding file extensions for known types.

There are a few features in Windows that aggravate me to no end so I thought I'd share the scripts I use to disable them in case you feel the same way.

The first evil feature is simple file sharing in Windows XP. Simple file sharing is on by default for systems not on a domain and turning it off is hidden all the way at the bottom of the View tab in Windows Explorer's Folder Options dialog. This feature hides all the Security tabs in Explorer, wreaks havoc when trying to use authentication in IIS, and basically makes it impossible to share files with anyone that has the setting turned off. Save yourself a lot of headaches and confusion by disabling simple file sharing.

The second evil feature is called hide file extensions for known file types. This brilliant feature makes it so half your files (the "known file types") have extensions and half of them don't. For the half that don't, you're expected to look at the little icons to figure out what kind of files they are. Someone working on Windows must have thought having ".doc" on the end of document files was too confusing. This feature is especially concerning since a malicious person can send you a file with double extensions and Windows will actually help them hide the real file extension. Thus, a file that looks like "budget.xls" could actually be "budget.xls.js" which, when opened, could run code to install spyware, delete your My Documents folder, or anything else. I can't understand how hiding file extensions could be useful to anyone and I'd be more than happy if this "feature" was eliminated in Longhorn.

Click here to download a zip file containing scripts that disable these two evil features.

If your RSS reader is telling you I updated a bunch of entries it's because I changed the download links for my software projects. Now I'm only keeping the most recent versions available for download.

JC LineCount now keeps a count of non-blank lines in addition to the total number of lines. That's about it for this release! I'll be adding the ability to count lines that match a given regular expression in the next release. Any other ideas?

Download JC LineCount here.

This release adds the ability to resample/resize when saving image files. I also changed the toolbar control I'm using so CropMonkey now looks a bit more modern.

Download CropMonkey here.

JC LineCount is a simple utility I wrote to count the number of lines of source code in a directory (including subdirectories). The list of source code file extensions is configurable. Let me know if you find this useful.

Click here to download JC LineCount

CropMonkey 1.1 is a relatively minor release that I wanted to get out the door before I start making the big changes I have planned. This release fixes several bugs, greatly improves performance of selecting/sizing an area to crop, improves the 32x32 icon for better visibility on the desktop, and the installer now will add a "Crop with CropMonkey" item for when you right click JPG and BMP files.

Click here to download CropMonkey.

It's time for the 1.3 release of HttpGuillotine. This release now uses the .NET Framework 1.1 and the UI has been updated to use XP themes. HttpGuillotine is a utility I wrote to view the HTTP headers for any URL.

Download HttpGuillotine here.

I have created an installer for CropMonkey 1.0, so all you have to do now is open the MSI file and it will be installed automatically. There are no differences between this version and the zip version I posted earlier, just download whichever one is easier for you. Have fun cropping your digital photos!

Click here to download the installer for CropMonkey.

Click here to see the original post for the CropMonkey 1.0 release.

CropMonkey is an application I've been working on for quickly and easily cropping digital photos to standard proportions. It lets you select a proportion such as 4x6 or Panoramic and resize a selection box that keeps that proportion. Once you're satisfied with how the photo looks you press the Crop button on the toolbar and save the cropped version of the photo.

Click here for a screenshot and click here to download CropMonkey. Note: You must have the .NET Framework 1.1 installed.

This is the first release and it contains the following features:
*Save as JPEG with variable quality level
*Save as Bitmap
*Unlimited undo/redo
*Copy cropped image to clipboard for pasting into other applications
*Easy to use interface

I really want some feedback if you find CropMonkey useful. If you have any feature suggestions or find any bugs, PLEASE let me know in the comments on this post.

A while back I was trying to debug an ASP.NET site and I needed to view the HTTP headers the server was sending. Even with the power of Google, I couldn't find a decent utility that would let me enter a url and view the response headers that came back. So, like any decent developer, I wrote a simple WinForms app that would do just what I needed.

It's called HttpGuillotine and I'm making it available in case anyone else might find it useful. Let me know (in the comments) if you do and if you have any suggestions for making it better. Download HttpGuillotine here. (Requires .NET framework 1.0 or higher)