File Properties

[mcleano]

I'm looking for a way to access the properties of a file. What i'm actually looking to make is an ipod ripper and I worked out that when you riht click a music file and go to properties > details, amongst the information given there are two in particular that i'm interested in: title and name. 'Title' is the name of the song and 'Name' is what iTunes changes to make manually dragging files off your computer an absolute bitch!

What i've found is: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc36z66a.aspx ... but this is .NET and not preferable.

I also found: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa364946%28v=VS.85%29.aspx, http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa364952%28v=VS.85%29.aspx ... but none of these seem to be quite what i'm looking for. Does anyone know of anything I can use?

[PanGalactic]

The file properties are reading the file's ID3 tag information.

Name       : libid3tag
Arch       : x86_64
Version    : 0.15.1b
Release    : 10.fc13
Size       : 129 k
Repo       : installed
From repo  : anaconda-InstallationRepo-201005130101.x86_64
Summary    : ID3 tag manipulation library
URL        : http://www.underbit.com/products/mad/
License    : GPLv2+
Description: libid3tag is a library for reading and (eventually) writing ID3
           : tags, both ID3v1 and the various versions of ID3v2.

There are a number of libraries that will provide you the same information.

[mcleano]

Is it actually necessary though to use something like MAD? I literally only need access to two particular fields that should be available using windows functions. The fact that I can right click, blah blah blah, and change the file properties makes me think that it is achievable without using external libraries.

[PanGalactic]

This is general C++. Might the Windows programming forum be more appropriate for the answer you seek?

There are open source tools to help manage one's iPod(tm) without using iTunes(tm). My understanding is that it is no easy feat.

[mcleano]

This is general C++. Might the Windows programming forum be more appropriate for the answer you seek?

Perhaps. For some reason whenever I think of the Windows Programming forum I think of a win32 graphical project... don't ask why .?.?

There are open source tools to help manage one's iPod(tm) without using iTunes(tm). My understanding is that it is no easy feat.

I am aware of open source tools available but I would like to do this as a task for myself as I am struggling for ideas at the moment. I'm also not so interested in making a gui so others are able to use it but more about the speed at which I can perform tasks.

I think I have found something: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa364226%28v=VS.85%29.aspx

[PanGalactic]

mcleano wrote:

whenever I think of the Windows Programming forum I think of a win32 graphical project

I tend think of either Unix programming forum or Windows programming forum when the subject extends beyond the scope of C++03, C++0x and platform agnostic C++ libraries such as Boost. My view is that questions about OS-specific compilers or APIs are more appropriate in the platform-specific forums.

Your question seems to boil down to "how do I get my operating system to provide me this information?"

I would be surprised if that gives you the information you are after. That seems to be pretty low-level directory entry information.