checksum 1.5.2.0

There have been a couple of Beta releases since I last posted here.

NOTE: to get version update notifications for beta releases, you need to enable the beta_channel preference (see below).

New features include..

+   Custom Startup Command..

    When checksum is launched with nothing to do, rather than have checksum
    display the "Nothing to do!" dialog, you can have it do something
    /else/. This might be a default checksum command that you use a lot, or
    another program, or something else. e.g..

        startup_command=simple checksum.exe
        startup_command=c:\path\to\some\program.exe /foo /bar
        startup_command=c:\some app.exe  c:\some documents\document.txt


    For checksum commands, send your regular command-line after a "checksum"
    flag; the word "checksum", with a pipe character after it, e.g..

        startup_command=checksum|crtbim(movies) "W:\Completed Torrents"

    And checksum will launch itself with the specified command-line. Simple.

    NOTE: If a DOS command isn't working as expected, use the DOS
    compatibility flag "dos", e.g..

        startup_command=dos|compact.exe /C "B:\hashes\*.*"

    ALSO NOTE: like many prefs, you can use @tokens in this setting.

    There is also a special "shellex" flag, which I will now explain..

    Normally, a command-line is an executable, optionally with some switches
    and parameters required to complete the task. But you may want to launch
    something else, for example a document or URL. For this, you can use the
    "shellex" flag. The "shellex" flag performs a system "Shell Execute",
    which can be used to launch just about any "thing". It goes like this..

        startup_command=shellex|Item|Parameters|Verb|Working Dir

    Only the "Item" is required. All others are optional, for example..

        startup_command=shellex|C:\Users\Cor\Desktop\corz.org.URL

    which will launch an internet shortcut I have on my desktop. Using the
    "shellex" flag, you could also launch the URL directly..

        startup_command=shellex|https://corz.org/

    The default verb is whatever your system would normally do with the path
    you send, usually "Open". But you can (usually, though not always) use
    any verb avalable from your Explorer context menu, e.g..

        startup_command=shellex|C:\Users\Cor\Desktop\page.indd||Print

    NOTE: the double || because in this example, I don't want to send any
    parameters but DO want to send a Verb. In other words, if you want to
    skip a previous flag, leave it blank.

    The many, many uses for this feature should be obvious. Self-contained
    on-disk data checking is but one of them!


+   Added new beta_channel preference. You can set this to true to get
    notified when updated betas become available (as well as the major
    releases). By default this is set to false, so you only get notified of
    major releases. In your ini..

       beta_channel=true

    Major releases supercede all previous beta releases. The beauty of this
    setting is that it will survive switching to a major release when /it/
    becomes the  latest. As soon as a new beta becomes available, you get a
    notification.


+   You can now set the string checksum uses to construct names when
    creating .hash files from files with no names. By default, this is
    "nameless". If you set this to blank, checksum can potentially create
    ".hash" files, which may become invisible on some systems. This may be
    what you want. Though it rarely happens, it is now configurable.


~   Improved relative path handling (again), you can now use .\ and ..\
    constructs to checksum the current or parent directory. This is
    especially useful when using checksum in a stand-alone mode, e.g.
    when burned to a disc for on-disc data checking.


*   checksum will no longer perform a writeability test of the hashing
    location where a custom output directory has been set (it will now
    properly test the custom output directory). Another upshot of this is
    that the original folder's modification time will not change.


*   Fixed an issue where hidden checksum files were not being updated (when
    using the w switch during verify).


*   Fixed an issue where portable relative paths on the command-line were
    being ignored. This means that you can now easily script self-contained
    disk checking mechanisms with checksum on, for example, burned DVDs.

    This was possible before, but not without obscure DOS substitutions.


*   Fixed an issue where using braces in the custom output directory would
    fail (checksums left on desktop, instead).

    Note: You need to put custom output directory switches LAST, after other
    bracketed switches, for (complex) example..

        cr1qnm(movies)j(my-hashes)d("c:\some (dir) here") "D:\My Movies"

Full details in the itstory.

You can grab this latest checksum (and simple checksum) beta from the usual place.

for now..

;o)