User Command Panel
The ultimate power-user renaming feature is available with the user defined commands. A command file
is used to define your own commands. This is a feature intended for experienced programmers.
There are 2 main steps to configuring your own commands. The first is editing the command file,
the second is verifying it.
Edit
After PFrank is first installed, pressing the 'Edit' button will result in the creation of a
sample command file from a template. This command file can be used as a model.
At the same time PFrank will attempt to open an editor so that you can edit the file.
The file is located under the install folder as PFrankUser.py. Once it is created, any re-installs or upgrades
from PFrank will leave it unchanged.
The file is a python program file. If you already have an editor associated with python files, then that
editor will automatically be invoked. If there is no associated editor, a warning message will be displayed.
You will be given an option to continue with Notepad.
The best thing to do in this case is to decline and configure a text editor to associate with python files.
Any editor will work on the file but it is recommended to use a python aware editor like gvim or crimson.
To associate an editor with the command file, to to the directory with the file (siaplyed in the summary panel),
right click on the file and follow the
'open with..' menus to the editor program of your choice.
An alternative way to edit the file would be to use the editor that comes with installing
a python interpreter on your PC.
A python installation file can be obtained from
here. After installing, then right clicking
on any python file will provide an option to start IDLE. IDLE is a python development environment
used to edit files,
run them, and debug them.
An excellent tutorial for learning python can be found at:
here
Sample command classes are available in the initial template file that is created and can be used
as models for the commands that you really want. There are instructions within the file
outlining the interface and the key parts that can and cannot be modified.
You can make use of any python library by importing it. If it doesn't import properly from within PFrank then
you will have to provide the library yourself. All you have to do is copy it into the PFrank folder and
it will be found when PFrank runs.
Verify
The 'Verify' button is used to find all the command classes in the command file and verify their
interfaces to ensure that they can be used for renaming. After verification, you will be prompted
to load the commands into PFrank. Once done, the commands will appear at the end of the pre-defined
command list and can be inserted into the custom list like any other command.