I've been converting a load of files from 8 character file names to 'lon' file names.
There is a large bunch that when I click on convert, all it does is adds a second extension.
I have tried all sorts of things, renameing etc.
Any ideas?

Roy

“Long” file names?

Could you tell us what program you are using to convert the names? If it’s Windows, please describe the steps. Thanks.

The program is built into BIAB, it's under file, utils (I think), convert to long file names.

Roy

Roy:

I put 2 files in a 'test' directory to play with.

One I named BMR1.sgu and the other I named BMR2.sgu

These were the actual file names on the hardrive. Both had 8.x filenames.

In BIAB, BMR1 I named "Beaumont Rag in C" and saved it, still as BMR1.sgu.

I then opened up BMR2 and named it BMR2 in BIAB.

See the screen shots.

I then used the utility to auto rename both of them to long files names.

The result was that BMR1.sgu was automatically named to "Beaumont Rag - Guitar - " but the other file, BMR2.sgu kept the same name "BMR2.sgu".

I believe in actuality that it was renamed since the utility grabs what is in the Title Box and changed the file name in the computer to match. Since BMR2 was what the 2nd file was named as in BIAB, the utility just renamed the 2nd file to BMR2.sgu again, since that was what it was named in the program.

All that being said, concerning the files that are NOT being renamed, do those have the names populated inside the BIAB program as what you want them to appear as after the utility is run?

Yes I know all that.
I have about 500 files to rename with song title.
For example, it renames them from 2LATBABY.sgu to 2LATBABY.sgu.sgu

I have found if I open the file and re-save it, it works ok, its too many to open/save, is there a utility to open & save all files in a folder?

Roy

Can you supply one of the files so others can test it?

https://www.advancedrenamer.com/

I do remember this problem from a long time ago and started looking in my collection of songs.

Just found something interesting. I have an old collection of jazz songs that have file dates of 1991, about 532 of them. All of them have double extensions. For example:

2LATBA~1.SG4.SG4
2_5_ON~1.SG1.SG1
4STRON~1.SGB.SGB
500MIL~1.SG4.SG4
502BLU~1.SG8.SG8
52NDST~1.SG1.SG1
AFROBL~1.SG8.SG8
AFTPAR~1.SG1.SG1
AF_FLO~1.SG1.SG1
AIREGI~1.SG1.SG1
ALEXRA~1.SG1.SG1
ALICEI~1.SG8.SG8
ALLBLU~1.SG8.SG8
ALLINL~1.SG9.SG9
ALLMYT~1.SG1.SG1
ALLOFY~1.SG1.SG1
ALLTHI~1.SG1.SG1
ALLTHI~2.SG1.SG1
ALOHA_~1.SG9.SG9
ALOMES~1.SG1.SG1
ALONET~1.SG1.SG1
ALONMI~1.SG9.SG9

I will play around with them to see if I can come up with something.

I just renamed all of the files using Bulk Rename Utility to remove the double extension and the ~ from them so they looked like normal file names.

I made sure all of them have long file names in BIAB and ran the File Utility and ALL of them had added extensions to them.

For Example:

2LATBA1.SG4 is named 2-5-1 Progessions--All keys in BIAB and the File Rename utility changed it to 2LATBA1.SG4.SG4 instead of properly renaming it to 2-5-1 Progessions--All keys.sg4 on the hard drive.

Something is truly amiss here at my end also.

I would attach the song file but BIAB will not let me upload a song file. Only lets me upload a graphics file. Tried to rename the extension to make it appear as a graphics file but BIAB rejected it.

Any ideas on how to make the song file available for others to test?

Reply to a post and use the File Manager. It doesn't look like it, but it's a link if you hover. Find it at the top of the Post Options, just below the area where you type a post.

I think one of you should contact PG Music Support directly, and reference this thread.

Not sure if that program will extract the embedded song name from within the BIAB song and transfer it to the filename or not.

Did that but evidently the forum program is looking at the file to make sure it is indeed a graphic. Tried renaming the extension to gif, jpg and tif and even zip, but it rejected it each time.

I just renamed my test file like you did earlier and the File Rename did change that one correctly.

But like you stated, saving 500+ files, one at a time, is not something I am willing to do.

Let's see if someone else can come up with a solution.

If it's the extension being blocked, call it .txt and just tell people to rename the file.

Done this before many times but the forum keeps rejecting this file. Tried renaming it using a .txt extension but it keeps getting rejected.



See Screenshot.

That's a puzzle. Another reason to report this to Support. Sorry.

I put a bunch of the songs I have on Dropbox.

If anyone wants to take a stab at being able to rename these using the File Rename utility, here is the link:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/chphaspwz3maqid/AACjFRsyhBFQLgYQ1HCsibyoa?dl=0

I will keep them up for a week.

I was just corrected by another long-time poster who told me that the text extension tip I gave above, now does not work.

Try using an MP4 extension ..
maybe that will work.
I seem to recall Pipeline getting away with it.

PG Music should look into the upload scenario.

How are we to help fix their problems if we can't upload files to test.

But back to the original problem that Roycol is having that I was able to duplicate.....

Testing .jpg attachment...... Less than 1000x1000 in size. Using the Edge Browser.

A great utility that does batch renaming is iView (IrfanView). It's free but I end up donating from time to time for the time it saves me.

https://www.irfanview.com/

Paj
8^)

Did anyone ever have any success with the problem that Roycol was having, not being able to rename song files via the built-in utility in BIAB?

I put a bunch of the songs I have on Dropbox.

For some reason these old song files exhibit the same problem he is encountering.

If anyone wants to take a stab at being able to rename these using the File Rename utility, here is the link:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/chphaspwz3maqid/AACjFRsyhBFQLgYQ1HCsibyoa?dl=0

These files are still up if anyone wants to take a stab at it.

I don't see anywhere that this program does batch renaming of files. It looks to be just another graphics program.

The batch renaming in irfanview is for graphic files not audio files (BiaB, wav, mp3, etc).

Paj, if you use it for audio files please let us know how you do it. I tried and it will not work audio files. Note that I am using the latest version of irfanview. Maybe a previous version works for audio?

There's certainly a possibility that the renaming issue is a limitation of Windows file names.

I know from experience that Windows doesn't handle all characters in file names as well as it might.

FWIW, I often avoid characters that are not in the normal alphabet and a few others like .-_ to avoid the risk of untoward interpretation as special characters like $ : ! ( ) and so on. In my case that's because I often use scripts like bash or Python to manipulate files, when some special characters can cause mayhem.

I am sure that is not the problem here.

I took one of the files that just will not rename and put it in a directory all by itself. I then renamed it simply 1.sgu on the hard drive.

Now the embedded name of the song was "Off Minor". That is about as simple as you can get. When I tried to rename it via the long filename utility, BIAB simply renamed it 1.sgu.sgu on the hardrive. It if worked properly, the file should have been renamed Off Minor.sgu

That did not happen.

That in essence is the problem. I have over 300 of these song files in my collection, dating back from the very early days of BIAB, that just simply cannot be renamed by the program. I can only assume that they might have been created by one of the earliest versions of BIAB and is just not comparable with being renamed. They open just fine in the program and they do play properly, ya just can't rename any of them using the built-in utility.

Like I said, anyone can go grab the song files I put on dropbox and play with them yourself to see if you can come up with a solution.

Hello jcland,

After testing using the songs you supplied in your dropbox link, it appears that the | File | File utilities... | Auto-rename song files to Long File Names.. | isn't working. I'll be sure to pass this along to our developers so they can create a fix for future update.

Thanks Jerry for looking into this. Feel free to grab all the files on the DropBox link to pass along to the Developers. I will leave them up until they can come up with a fix.

UPDATE: I just tried a little experiment which might get you going in the right direction. I noticed that everyone of the 350 song files had the same style, ZZJAZZ.STY, assigned to them. After BIAB suggested the better RT style (_JAZFRED.STY) I decided to bulk change the style of all the songs using the File-File Utilities-Change all songs in the current folder to a specific style...

Once all 350 songs were changed to _JAZFRED.STY, I then used the Long Filename utility. Lo and behold, everyone of the songs were renamed to the proper long file name on the hardrive.

I am beginning to think that the problem just might not be in the BIAB program but might have been in the song files themself.

Anyways, by changing all the songs to a new style, the Long Filename routine works. On the files where I did not change the style, I am unable to rename them.

The other drawback of using this method is that I also have a directory with 532 songs but those are a mixed batch of old styles such as ZZJAZZ ZZBOSSA ZZCOUNTRY and so on, so I cannot just bulk change those to a single style.

Anyways, the common denominator is that all of the songs that I was never able to auto rename were songs dating back to the beginning of BIAB.

Have fun with this one.

[i][/i]

I haven't found a type of Window file it will not rename, with many options for the process. The file conversion process may be graphics specific but the renaming is definitely not---and there's really no reason it should be. I've been using it for renaming going on two decades or so.

Mario, I hesitate to give a step by step, not only because the info can be garnered in the iView help files, but mainly because some *%^&*@ will follow the directions and permanently loose/screw-up their files. So . . .

DISCLAIMER: DON'T FOLLOW THE FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS WITH IRREPLACEABLE OR UN-ARCHIVED FILES UNTIL YOU HAVE TRIED THEM WITH SCRATCH FILES AND ARE SURE HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY DO THE BATCH RENAME. ESPECIALLY AVOID ANY "REPLACE/RENAME ORIGINAL FILES" OPTIONS UNTIL/UNLESS YOU ACTUALLY KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND ACCEPT RESPONSIBILTY FOR THE RESULTS.

. . . but Mario, since it's you:

(1) Select Batch Conversion/Rename from the File Menu. You'll get this window:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kpeqz8grbrwbs43/BatchRenameScreen1%28Marked%29.jpg?dl=0
(2) Select Batch Rename
(3) Use the "Files of type" dropdown window to select "All (*.*)" files
(4) Navigate to and select (highlight) the files you want to rename in the "Look in:" window, then use the buttons above the "Input files:" window to add them to the input files list.
(5) Set your desired naming pattern in "Batch rename settings: Name pattern" window. Definitely click on the [Options] button to bring up the options window---and then click on the [Help] button to see the renaming patterns/options that are available to you. In my example I rename the files "NewNameForOldnames001...006
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bmqem9lwvw6rufv/BatchRenameScreen2%28Marked%29.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1grgvk3o4aw15io/BatchRenameScreen3%28Marked%29.jpg?dl=0

(6) Select your Output Folder. This could be any existing folder or a folder that is created by/during the renaming process. In my example, I "Browsed" to my original folder, selected that, and added "\Renames" at the end of the line to create a target folder that didn't exist.
(7) Select the [Run test rename] for a non-destructive test run.
If your satisfied with the displayed results, select the [Start Batch] button.

Sorry I didn't reply sooner---life.

Paj
8^)

BTW: iView 4.59 64-bit. Also worked with v4.54 32-bit.

Fantastic, thanx for the info, I didn't know that.

The all file batch procedure is identical to the photograph batch name changing procedure.

OK. there are a few people on this topic who do not understand the problem both Roycol and myself ran into.

It has absolutely nothing to do with renaming existing file names to new file names. Heck I can do that with a myriad of file renaming utilities all day long and in my sleep. Been doing that since the days of DOS 2.2

If you read my posts, the problem is that when using the built-in file renaming utility to convert 8.x names to long file names, on some files it will just not work. The built in utility is supposed to 'read' the name of the song file contained within the SGx or MGx file structure and port that name over as a new file name that is no longer in the 8.x format. It only occurs on a very small sample of files I have in my collection, which Jerry at PG Music was able to duplicate and confirm, following my instructions and sample song files I posted on Dropbox.

Again, this has nothing to do with renaming a file to another name of your choosing. It has everything to do with getting the name of the song that is located inside the actual song file structure. See the graphic. There is absolutely no file renaming utility that can read the internal file structure of the BIAB song file and use that information to rename a file, except as provided by PGMUSIC via the Long File Name Utility....that I am aware of. Not a one of the popular file renaming programs out there will do that either singularly or in batches.

I don't think they do not understand, I think they just got off on the topic of renaming files. You got a good response above from PG Music that they will pass on to the developers and then also we found out it seems to be only with the files with the old standard BIAB styles ZZ etc. All of this while using the programs built in utility for renaming files to long file names. Good find of a problem that will now hopefully be fixed.