Is it possible to edit the attributes listed for a file in XP?

I don't mean just the timestamp attributes. XP lists dozens of file
attributes

For most of these attributes I've never seen show any info (eg bit
rate, comments, etc).

Am I right in thinking many of the attributes Windows Explorer can
show are from inside the "data" part of the file such as an MP3's
tags? In other words, some attrbutes can only be edited for certain
types of file.

Is there any more info to be found about these obscure file
attributes?

"Sandi" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Is it possible to edit the attributes listed for a file in XP?
>
> I don't mean just the timestamp attributes. XP lists dozens of file
> attributes
>
> For most of these attributes I've never seen show any info (eg bit
> rate, comments, etc).
>
> Am I right in thinking many of the attributes Windows Explorer can
> show are from inside the "data" part of the file such as an MP3's
> tags? In other words, some attrbutes can only be edited for certain
> types of file.
>
> Is there any more info to be found about these obscure file
> attributes?

As you poke around in various folders, you see that the list of attributes
varies from one folder to the next. Just because there is a column for an
attribute doesn't mean that there is a valid value for that attribute for
every file in the folder. The recycle bin folder has about the largest
number of attributes because it is likely to contain a wide variety of
files. Through VBScript and the Shell.Application object, you can access
the attributes, but I believe they are mostly or all 'read only'.

You might try the script I posted here:
http://groups.google.com/g/78d7fef5/...197677e7a7e4c3
to see the attributes of the files in your recycle bin. Be sure to run the
script under CScript or you will have a huge number of message boxes to deal
with.

If you are specifically interested in modifying MP3 file tags, I don't think
the shell.application object can do it, but there may be free scripts that
can, by carefully modifying the file containing the tags.

-Paul Randall

"Paul Randall" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> You might try the script I posted here:
> http://groups.google.com/g/78d7fef5/...197677e7a7e4c3

Nice code!

The proper name is "Metadata". You can edit some of the metadata by
right clicking on the file and selecting "Properties and then clicking
on the Summary tab. Click on the Value column to edit the metadata.

John

Sandi wrote:
> Is it possible to edit the attributes listed for a file in XP?
>
> I don't mean just the timestamp attributes. XP lists dozens of file
> attributes
>
> For most of these attributes I've never seen show any info (eg bit
> rate, comments, etc).
>
> Am I right in thinking many of the attributes Windows Explorer can
> show are from inside the "data" part of the file such as an MP3's
> tags? In other words, some attrbutes can only be edited for certain
> types of file.
>
> Is there any more info to be found about these obscure file
> attributes?

Sandi <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Am I right in thinking many of the attributes Windows Explorer can
>show are from inside the "data" part of the file such as an MP3's
>tags? In other words, some attrbutes can only be edited for certain
>types of file.

Some file formats have space for attributes (MS Office files, JPGs),
some don't (*.txt) files. In XP using NTFS, you can generally edit
this kind of attributes on any file by using
right-click|Properties|Summary.

XP uses NTFS Alternate Data Streams to store attributes on files that
have no place to store them. Vista dropped this ability. Look here:
http://members.cox.net/slatteryt/Streams.html for a discussion.

--
Tim Slattery
(E-Mail Removed)
http://members.cox.net/slatteryt

"Pegasus [MVP]" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Paul Randall" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
>> You might try the script I posted here:
>> http://groups.google.com/g/78d7fef5/...197677e7a7e4c3
>
> Nice code!

Thanks!

On 19:46 7 Oct 2009, Paul Randall wrote:

>
> "Sandi" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Is it possible to edit the attributes listed for a file in XP?
>>
>> I don't mean just the timestamp attributes. XP lists dozens
>> of file attributes
>>
>> For most of these attributes I've never seen show any info (eg
>> bit rate, comments, etc).
>>
>> Am I right in thinking many of the attributes Windows Explorer
>> can show are from inside the "data" part of the file such as
>> an MP3's tags? In other words, some attrbutes can only be
>> edited for certain types of file.
>>
>> Is there any more info to be found about these obscure file
>> attributes?
>
> As you poke around in various folders, you see that the list of
> attributes varies from one folder to the next. Just because
> there is a column for an attribute doesn't mean that there is a
> valid value for that attribute for every file in the folder.
> The recycle bin folder has about the largest number of
> attributes because it is likely to contain a wide variety of
> files. Through VBScript and the Shell.Application object, you
> can access the attributes, but I believe they are mostly or all
> 'read only'.
>
> You might try the script I posted here:
> http://groups.google.com/g/78d7fef5/...952f1cd6185/d/
> 27197677e7a7e4c3 to see the attributes of the files in your
> recycle bin. Be sure to run the script under CScript or you
> will have a huge number of message boxes to deal with.
>
> If you are specifically interested in modifying MP3 file tags,
> I don't think the shell.application object can do it, but there
> may be free scripts that can, by carefully modifying the file
> containing the tags.
>
> -Paul Randall

Thank you for the info. The script stuff is too advanced for me!

On 21:09 7 Oct 2009, Tim Slattery wrote:

> Sandi <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>Am I right in thinking many of the attributes Windows Explorer
>>can show are from inside the "data" part of the file such as an
>>MP3's tags? In other words, some attrbutes can only be edited
>>for certain types of file.
>
> Some file formats have space for attributes (MS Office files,
> JPGs), some don't (*.txt) files. In XP using NTFS, you can
> generally edit this kind of attributes on any file by using
> right-click|Properties|Summary.
>
> XP uses NTFS Alternate Data Streams to store attributes on
> files that have no place to store them. Vista dropped this
> ability. Look here:
> http://members.cox.net/slatteryt/Streams.html for a discussion.

Thank you. I'm going to try and read that but it looks quite chewy!