Feature Request: Generating TC Independent File Merging

[pdavit]

I always used to find the splitting feature of TC very useful and many times life saving. The problem though is the merging side. What I mean by that is that in order to merge the splitted files we need TC installed on the machine. In network configurations and with personal licenses it is some times just not feasible, practical or even legal to merge the files.

It would be nice if TC could, in addition to its current functionality, create a batch file or an executable or whatever so that we can merge files without the need of having TC installed on another machine.

What’s your opinion guys?

Kind regards,
Panos

[VadiMGP]

Good idea! But why we need a batch file? I think better is to add some small exe to first part of splitted file. Like self-exctracted zip.

[JackFoo]

Why not use the simple command:
copy/b file1.f+file2.f+...+fileN.f complete.f

BTW this also supports wildcards (just be careful with correct order).

Cheers.

[pdavit]

Good idea! But why we need a batch file? I think better is to add some small exe to first part of splitted file. Like self-exctracted zip.

Well, I thought of that initially but I wasn’t sure I wanted to see a change in the current behavior but rather an addition. If the first file becomes an executable then the merge feature of TC will not work and that’s why I’ve suggested a batch file also.

[pdavit]

Why not use the simple command:
copy/b file1.f+file2.f+...+fileN.f complete.f

BTW this also supports wildcards (just be careful with correct order).

Cheers.

What triggered my idea for this post was another tool for file splitting and merging that uses exactly this command with a batch file. I didn’t know that it could apply for splitted files generated by TC. Cool! Yet I would love to see this generated automatically by TC; it’s more professional you know. And the coding effort is 10-15 minutes. What do you have to say Christian?

[Valentino]

Automatic batch file creation would be convenient sometimes (one more checkbox in Split dialog) but how about line length limit in batch files (how long is it?) when there are too many parts (100, 1000)? Especially with long filenames. E.g.
copy /b "It's me when I was 3 years old.001" + "It's me when I was 3 years old.002" + ... + "It's me when I was 3 years old.543" "It's me when I was 3 years old.avi"


Wildcards would be OK but how to avoid combining parts with CRC file and with any other file with the same name? E.g.:
bob.001
...
bob.999
bob.crc
bob.txt
bob.description

[pdavit]

Automatic batch file creation would be convenient sometimes (one more checkbox in Split dialog) but how about line length limit in batch files (how long is it?) when there are too many parts (100, 1000)? Especially with long filenames. E.g.
copy /b "It's me when I was 3 years old.001" + "It's me when I was 3 years old.002" + ... + "It's me when I was 3 years old.543" "It's me when I was 3 years old.avi"


Wildcards would be OK but how to avoid combining parts with CRC file and with any other file with the same name? E.g.:
bob.001
...
bob.999
bob.crc
bob.txt
bob.description

The length can be reduces if the batch file makes use of the 8.3 filename format and only the final bit is declared fully.

Another workaround can be to use the copy/b command into segments (if there is a limitation) since the splitted files are in binary form, i.e. TC can produce a batch file with the following format for 30 splitted files (consider the word “file” in each file name to be something long hence the need for a segmented execution of the copy/b command):

copy/b file1.f+file2.f+...+file10.f part1.f

copy/b file11.f+file12.f+...+file20.f part2.f

copy/b file21.f+file22.f+...+file30.f part3.f

copy/b part1.f+part2.f+part3.f It's me when I was 3 years old.zip

Yet even that is not reliable for 100 or 1000 parts as you mentioned but these are very rare cases and I guess under those circumstances someone is “forced” to install TC beforehand on the machine where the merging is to be applied.

Oh, by the way the splitting tool I was talking about is called JR Split. Info can be found at http://www.spadixbd.com/FreeTools/jsplit.htm

On the above link you can find a description of any limitations.

[VadiMGP]

If the first file becomes an executable then the merge feature of TC will not work

But if 1st file is exe, you dont need TC's merging. Just run exe file.

[pdavit]

But if 1st file is exe, you dont need TC's merging. Just run exe file.

True but then this becomes an external feature. And in a way it will look like TC is only capable of merging. But that’s rather a philosophical approach!

Any way, like I said before I would like to keep the current situation but at the same time see an ADDITION to it for those cases where TC is not or cannot be installed on another machine to perform the file merging. That’s why I would prefer the batch file approach. At the end of the day both file types .bat and .exe are treated by us like executables in everyday use. What’s the difference of having to click on a bat file than on an exe file in this case? None I believe. Not to mention that the batch file would be available for editing as well!

[Valentino]

Not to mention that the batch file would be available for editing as well!

... and cannot contain viruses as EXE (at least it can be easily checked visually).

[Hacker]

... and would be smaller IMHO.

Roman

[Maxwish]

Don't forget the Combine tool:
http://clubtotal.free.fr/tc_tools/combine.zip