* Bulk Amendments to Media Titles

[ADC65]

Could anyone please help me get started with some amendments I wish to carry out in FH6?

I have about 200 media records which are consistently named "THUMB.Ix" where x is the Record ID of the individual the thumbnail relates to. Each file is linked to the appropriate person.

I wish to rename all the titles to "Thumbnail - SURNAME, Forenames" for the person they relate to. I know this information is stored in the Link field of the media record, but I don't know how to start writing a bulk rename utility and leveraging this data.

I do NOT need to change the actual filenames either in FH or on disk.

Thanks for any pointers to get started.

Adrian

[tatewise]

Adrian, you have confused me slightly.

You say: "I do NOT need to change the actual filenames either in FH or on disk."
Those filenames are held in the Media record File/Link field.

When talking about titles you say: "I know this information is stored in the Link field of the media record".
But titles are stored in the cunningly named Title field, not the Link field, so I hope that is just a typo.

The only way to perform such a bulk amendment is to write a custom Plugin.
See plugins:index|> Family Historian Plugins under Developer Guide.
If you need further advice on how to approach the process then ask again after reviewing those articles.

BTW: I suggest retaining the Record Id in the new Title to differentiate people with the same name.
FH is perfectly happy to have two Media records with the same Title but it could confuse you.

[ADC65]

Hi Mike,

Thanks as always for your considered reply, and apologies for my badly worded question.

I thought the way to go would be to write a plugin, and I might give it a go, but as a one-off exercise I'm not sure there would be sufficient pay-off rather than sitting down and doing manual changes for an hour or two.

Below is an example of what I was talking about. This might help illustrate my question. In the first line, I wish to rename the media title from "ADC-TREE.I1027" to "Thumbnail - TAYLOR, Edgar Ernest". However the actual filename does not need to change (it's currently the same as the media title).

(Can't seem to upload an image/attachment, sorry)

Thanks for your tip on keeping the ID in the title. At the moment I distinguish by adding a DoB after the name, e.g., "COOK, Adrian (b1965)".

[tatewise]

See info:forums#posting_topics|> Posting Topics for advice on posting screenshots.

Considering your last point, would the Media title thus become Thumbnail - COOK, Adrian (b1965) ?

Not quite sure what you meant by "adding a DoB after the name" ~ the name of what?
Do you mean the name in the Individual record, or the title of the Media record, or what?
No doubt a screenshot would help. I still think Record Id is better as it is a unique record key easy to search for.

It might not be quicker than amending manually, but a good way of learning how to write Plugins that you may find useful.
I am happy to advise how to get started.

[ADC65]

Thanks for your patience Mike.

The below attachment shows what the Media Records currently look like:

Capture.JPG (51.92 KiB) Viewed 2354 times

And this is how I want them to look like:

Capture2.JPG (40.86 KiB) Viewed 2354 times

For the sake of clarity, it is only the Media Record Title that I want to change. At the moment I don't have any repeat names that I have this type of media for (thumbnails), and I am not changing any other media. It is a bridge I will cross manually when I come to it, although I accept that Record ID is better than a date (which can, of course, not be unique).

I will have a look at writing a plug-in and thank you again for your offer of support, you are very kind and patient.