FileManipulator

• FileManipulator
  • Overview
  • Purpose
  • Features
  • Getting Started
    • Requirements
    • Installation
    • Configuration
  • Usage
  • How It Works
  • Project Structure
  • Development Notes
  • Planned Improvements
    • Code Architecture
    • Feature Additions
    • UI Enhancements
    • Performance Optimization
  • Technical Reference Appendix
    • .NET Core Method Links
      • Directory Class
      • File Class
      • Path Class
      • DateTime Struct
      • Cryptography
      • JSON Handling
      • Configuration builder
  • Licensing Terms
    • 🔓 Personal Use: GPL v3
    • 💼 Commercial Use: Proprietary License
  • Contributing
  • Acknowledgments

Overview

FileManipulator is a C# application designed to organize and categorize media files (photos, videos, and RAW images) based on their metadata. It is a more robust, user-friendly evolution of a PowerShell script previously used for similar tasks.

Purpose

This application solves the common problem of organizing large collections of media files by:

• Analyzing file metadata (EXIF data, file system creation/modification dates)
• Creating structured folder hierarchies based on date information
• Generating CSV and JSON reports
• Storing file information in a SQLite database for future reference

Features

• Multiple date source options: EXIF, file creation, or modification time
• Support for various image and video formats, including RAW
• MD5 hash generation for file integrity and duplicate detection
• CSV export and JSON console output
• SQLite database integration
• Fully configurable via JSON

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Getting Started

Be warned, this code may not be functional as is

I started this project a few years ago and stashed it in Git, I only picked it back up in 2025 because some of its bones became relevant for a new project. I will be updating this with a working version shortly.

Requirements

• .NET 6.0 or higher
• SQLite (bundled or installable)
• Windows OS (tested environment)

Installation

1. Clone this repository or download the source code.
2. Build the solution using Visual Studio or the .NET CLI.
3. Ensure that a valid SQLite database file is accessible (or will be created at runtime).

Configuration

Edit the appsettings.json file to set:

{
  "ConnectionString": "Data Source=.\\FileManipulator.db;Version=3",
  "ProviderName": "System.Data.SqlClient",
  "CSVExportPath": "C:\\ExportPath\\",
  "DateSource": "EXIF",
  "DestinationBase": "C:\\DestinationPath",
  "SourcePath": "C:\\SourcePath\\"
}

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Usage

1. Edit appsettings.json with your desired paths and settings.

2. Run the application via terminal or from Visual Studio.

3. Choose from the following options in the main menu:

   • 1: View file info in JSON format
   • 2: Export info to CSV
   • 3: Import data into the database
   • 4: View database contents
   • 0: Exit

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How It Works

The core processing steps are:

1. Configuration Parsing – Reads from appsettings.json, validates paths.
2. File Discovery – Recursively finds supported files (e.g., .jpg, .raw, .mp4).
3. Metadata Extraction – Pulls EXIF and file system dates, and generates MD5 hashes.
4. Destination Calculation – Builds folder paths using a structure like: Year/Month-Year/Day-Month-Year. RAW images are sorted into a RAW/ subfolder.
5. Output Options – Export to CSV, view data as JSON, or write to SQLite database.
6. (Planned): File movement based on calculated structure.

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Project Structure

For full class, service, and interface documentation, refer to docs/PROJECT_FILES.md.

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Development Notes

Each source file contains a structured comment block detailing:

• Purpose and functionality
• Inputs and outputs
• Planned improvements
• Dependencies used

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Planned Improvements

Code Architecture

• Expand interface-driven design
• Introduce dependency injection
• Add structured logging
• Improve error handling

Feature Additions

• Duplicate detection
• Batch/incremental processing
• File previews
• Enhanced metadata extraction

UI Enhancements

• Basic GUI frontend
• Progress indicators
• Visual reporting

Performance Optimization

• Async and parallel file handling
• Stream-based metadata parsing
• Improved memory efficiency

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Technical Reference Appendix

.NET Core Method Links

Directory Class

• Directory.Exists
• Directory.GetFiles
• Directory.CreateDirectory

File Class

• File.Exists
• File.GetCreationTime
• File.GetLastWriteTime
• File.Move

Path Class

• Path.GetExtension
• Path.GetFileName
• Path.Combine

DateTime Struct

• DateTime
• DateTime.Parse

Cryptography

• MD5.Create
• BitConverter.ToString

JSON Handling

• JsonSerializer
• JsonSerializerOptions

Configuration builder

• ConfigurationBuilder
• AddJsonFile

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Licensing Terms

See LICENSE.md for full license details.

🔓 Personal Use: GPL v3

• Free to use, modify, and distribute
• Requires source disclosure and attribution

💼 Commercial Use: Proprietary License

• Contact [email protected]
• Allows closed-source and commercial distribution

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Contributing

Pull requests and issues are welcome. Please:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Submit a detailed pull request

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Acknowledgments

Created and maintained by Joshua Porrata