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Understanding “Steps” in Fetchit! (Part Three - The "Rename" Step)

It's difficult to imagine why syndicated programming providers haven't agreed on a standardized way of naming the files they provide for download, but the painful truth is, they haven't. Fortunately, the Fetchit! downloader has a "step" for that.

The Rename feature in Fetchit! can convert most filenames to something completely compatible with AutoCast's GetPlay command, allowing the files to be retrieved and played based on a date in their filename. Let's take a real world example of a filename that needs tweaking, and explain how it's done.

The program Insight for Living has files that look like this: IFL_Daily_NC_10_30.mp2

Our goal is to alter them to look like this: IFL_Daily_NC_10-30-17.mp2

Two problems need to be solved. First, the date in the provided files is separated by an underscore rather than a hyphen, and second, there's no year expressed at all. To fix the problem, go to your download profile and click the "+" at the bottom of the step that does the actual download. As the step type, choose "Rename." For renaming technique, choose "Rearrange." Now, let's create a procedure that will take care of renaming the file. First, paste-in or carefully type-in an example of how the files are supplied, in the "Your Test Name" textbox. Now, do the following:

1. We're going to use the first portion of the text, "IFL_Daily_NC_" just as it is. So click "Add," choose "Text," and type that part in. Hit Tab on your keyboard to enter the change. Your "Renaming Preview" will now say, "IFL_Daily_NC_"


2. Click "Add" again, and select the "Portion" option. We are going to add the two characters that represent the date, which happen to be characters 14 through 15, as you count over from the left. Hit Tab, and your preview should now look like this: IFL_Daily_NC_10


3. Click "Add," and choose "Text." Type a hyphen into the text box and hit Tab, and you will have a preview showing "IFL_Daily_NC_10-"


4. Click "Add," and choose "Portion." Specify the 17 through 18 character positions where the day of the month is located, and hit Tab, giving you "IFL_Daily_NC_10-30"


5. Let's add another hyphen. Click "Add," and choose "Text." Type a hyphen into the text box and hit Tab, and you will have a preview showing IFL_Daily_NC_10-30-"


6. Here's the part where we add the missing year information. Put a checkmark next to "Date Based Name," then click "Add" and choose "Text." Type in %y and hit Tab, which will cause Fetchit! to poke-in the last two digits of the current year, making it now "IFL_Daily_NC_10-30-17"


7. Lastly, let's put the file extension on the end. Add one more "Text" item, type in mp2 and hit Tab. Your Renaming Preview now should look perfect: "IFL_Daily_NC_10-30-17.mp2"


8. Click the "Save" button, and you're done.

The first time you try a rename, you will find yourself working slowly, as you get used to how it works. By the second or third time, you'll not only be doing it quickly, but you'll find the process to be kind of fun and magical!

Like all steps, rename performs its task on all the files retrieved in a download, so make sure the files being downloaded are all named using the same method.

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