ScanTFS - History

ScanTFS is a redesigned version of ScanDir, based on the code of ScanDir Version 1.3.5.

Functions less frequently used are removed and internal processing is optimized. Various parts of the user interface have been updated. ScanDir will be maintained for those who prefer it above ScanTFS.

Build 5630 updates:

- output delimiter '|' (pipe) added;
- fixed number of history entries (no longer customizable);
- internal processing optimized;

Functions that are new or changed in ScanTFS:

Themes updated
ScanTFS supports three themes: Dark (Cobalt XEMedia), Medium (Onyx Blue) and Light (Windows).

Item List with columns
The Item List layout now has separate columns for Path, Filename, (file) Size, (date) Modified and (date) Created.

Sort options for Item list
Sort options are removed from the Item list PopUp menu and from the Configuration dialog. Items are sorted by clicking the column header in the Item list (Path, File, Size, Modified or Created). Click again to sort in reversed order.

Date Created added to Item List.
In addition to the Date Modified, Item List entries now also contain the File Date Created.

Set Attribute(s) dialog.
The Set Attributes dialog has additional options. Set date modified and Set date created can be changed indepently. Unconditionally Copy Date modified to Date Created (v.v.)
-or-
Check [v] if date modified is before date created before copy.

Or / And / Not - have been added to custom Scan string configuration.
In addition to one or more custom strings, the relation between the strings can be specified. Goto (Options | Configuration | Scan | Scan String 1..5) and select Or/And/Not for each custom string.

And, Or, Not radio buttons replaced
The radio buttons that specified the relation between multiple Scan arguments have been replaced by a drop-down selection and can now be configured and saved for each custom Scan string.

SHA256 and SHA512 added to checksum algorithms.
SHA256/SHA512 gradually starts replacing the (less secure) MD5 checksum. ScanTFS supports SHA256/SHA512 file checksums in addition to CRC32 and MD5.

PopUp menu added to Checksum window.
The [Copy] button on the checksum window has been replaced by a PopUp menu. Copy All or Copy Selected checksum(s) to the clipboard.

AutoScan button removed (AutoScan is mandatory)
Not sure if anybody ever turned AutoScan off, at least it was confusing. AutoScan was implemented to skip scanning of large directories when navigating through the (old) directory tree. With the new directory tree structure this function is no longer needed.

UTF8 selection removed (UTF8 is mandatory)
To prevent future character set incompatibilities, ScanTFS always uses UTF8 encoding.

Drop-down Item list removed from the Main menu
The options available on the Main menu drop-down Item list were the same as those on the Item list PopUp menu. Use the Item list (right-click) PopUp menu instead.

HTML Help has been replaced by Online Help
Where ScanDir used built-in HTML Help, all Help information for ScanTFS is published Online. Online Help is more accurate.

Functions that have been removed in ScanTFS:

Volume
The Volume name has been removed from the Item list, Configuratio Dialog and Save Dialog. A drive letter already uniquely identifies the drive. The Volume name is still displayed on the Drive info PopUp.

Join/Split files
Join/split files was useful for floppy disks with limited capacity (typically 720 kB or 1.44 mB). Now that USB sticks have a capacity of more than 512 GB join/split seems superfluous.

File favourites
File favourites could be used to bookmark files (instead of folders) but is only useful if files are never moved.

Directory (include) List
Directory list was implemented to allow scanning of multiple drives. Since all drives have been grouped under "This PC" this function has become (almost) obsolete.

Directory (exclude) Skip
Exclude list was implemented to skip large folders and thus speed up the scan process. It also caused some confusion because it was not always clear that folders were skipped (and thus not scanned).

Play, Copy and Find in preView
Copy and Find have been removed from the Preview to cleanup the interface. The Media Play function has been removed. Preview only supports text or image files.

Print functions
There are much better ways (spreadsheet- or word processing software) to print the Item list after it is been saved as a text or CSV file.

-ns command line option
The -ns command line option was introduced to suppress the splash screen when ScanDir is invoked from a script file. Although the command line version of ScanDir has been available for a few years, it has never been used (downloaded).

Scan to File option
The Scan to File option (-sf and menu selection) has been removed. Use File Scan followed by File Save instead.

Create directory range
The create directory range function was complicated and had limited use.