Allowing access to Newsbin's KNOWLEDGE a file has been DL'd

[UPdown]

Quade,

I hope I am being polite enough on this. I've asked before without much in the way of a response, about creating a filter that will filter OUT files that have been downloaded (or have an error condition). When I look at my grid, I see the files that I have downloaded in my maintained newsgroups. I understand that getting access to this filter condition would ONLY be available in maintained newsgroups rather than general Internet searches. But it would be a boon to add a filter condition that says Reject If Downloaded in a newsgroup filter.

I'd be more than happy to make this a user option condition since it would inevitably slow down the current very fast filtering system. If I had to click a box to give me use of the DL Rejecting filter line (greyed out until I TURN IT ON), I will have to live with the resulting slower displays. I'm a big boy with worn out thumbs from scrolling, looking for those occasional files that weren't there when I last downloaded groups of files. But they are there now and I either scroll and scroll and scroll and scroll and .... well you get the idea ... and scroll, until I find a flash of a different coloured line indicating I have found a file I didn't address before. I STILL might decide not to DL it, but I like being able to do that with a minimum of effort on my part to start the decision-making process.

Is there a technical reason that means I will NEVER get the filter condition? Are there workarounds that you or any lurker might now about to resolve this for me? I'm no expert, so some regex that I haven't fathomed yet might be the solution.

Thanks for your hard work.

[Quade]

I'm unclear what you're asking for. You want it to not DISPLAY the already downloaded files or you want it to prevent DOWNLOAD of already downloaded files?

Right now, if you "Shift-Delete" the downloaded files, they'll be removed and never displayed again. In the groups anyway.

[UPdown]

Quade,

MOSTLY these days, I use NZB files I have obtained elsewhere. The marriage between that site and Newsbin's download capabilities has been more than pleasing. I'm quite happy.

BUT there are three sites I still download to a local database so that I can have local lookup. When the updates are finally downloaded, my grid show new, undownloaded entries in white. Downloaded files appear in green and problem files are in fuchsia. GENERALLY speaking, I then apply a filter that reduces the displayed files FROM my newsgroup to weed out the things I'm not interested in. In one newsgroup, the filter is about 200 entries long!!! in the others, maybe 16. But those filters allow me to choose what to download fairly quickly and definitely easily (click on the top entry, go to the bottom of the white coloured block and shift click and then click on the download button). So I do. I watched the checkmarked lines go by and the grid display turn from white to green. Done. But a week later, I'll do another update of the newsgroups and I'll download the newer ones once again. BUT if I scroll through the entries, I will see the odd white line show up that indicates a file I either missed the time before, or was added after I did my Newsgroup update. I suspect the latter. So, I double-click on that straggler and it downloads.

The issue I would LIKE to accomplish through filtering is to eliminate the already downloaded files from Newsgroups Group view (I have a half-dozen alt.whatever newsgroups in a single Group). Then, I simply highlight all the white entries my filters have shown for me and hit download. Job done. Scrolling reduced to a mere piffle.

The PROBLEM with the Shift-Delete button is that it ... DELETES the files from my local database. The hoarder in me occasionally SCREWS UP, and it's nice to just go back to the local database and hit download again. It's alright if it is a single file screwup on my part (not a rare thing). It's worse if it's several hundred files. So, I'm hoisted on my own petard of incompetency. It might very well be that my niche ask is not worth your time and effort since there is no hue and cry for it. At the point where you make that decision, I'll accept it and decide if Shift-Delete makes my world better.

Hope my long ramble has cleared things up for you. Enjoy the holiday season.

[Quade]

Yeah, I have to think about it.

[UPdown]

Quade,

Very much appreciate the consideration. My routine in that newsgroup and the other two, is that I apply my filter, which is pretty good at getting me what I want narrowed down. I then do the top to the bottom selection of the white block and download. THEN I switch the filter to None and examine the entries to see what came in that escaped my inclusion filter. I'm still learning the filtering regex language. I do as best I can, but inevitably once or twice a month, I discover a new condition I could have had an Accept If for and make the filter better. THEN, I scroll through the files I DID download, looking for undownloaded stragglers. I prune back to three months about once a year, but the files do pile up. In the world of having Reject If DOWNLOADED filter, I could apply that along with my regular conditions and then that would leave me with an all-white block to download. I'd select them all and download. Easy peasy. I THINK I'd still have to go to the None Filter, but if I added a Reject If DOWNLOADED to THAT ONE, I'd be pretty much in easy pickins' world.

Still, as I've pointed out, there's not much need for this filter condition or you'd have heard from others. All I've seen is crickets. So, don't spend a lot of time on this. Just let me know it's a no-go and I will trepeditiously start deleting green files.