Autodate

A Windows system tray application that automatically monitors a directory and renames invoice files using a configurable date format based on the current date.

Features

• Automatic monitoring: Watches a specific directory for new files
• Configurable date format: Customize the file naming pattern (e.g., 2025-10.pdf, 2025-10-19.pdf)
• System tray icon: Runs in the background with visual status indicators
• Auto-start: Option to run on Windows startup
• Lightweight and efficient: Minimal system resource usage

Technologies

• Rust - Core programming language
• winit - Event loop and system event handling
• tray-icon - System tray icon management
• notify - File system monitoring
• chrono - Date manipulation and formatting

Requirements

• Windows 10 or higher
• No external dependencies required

Installation

From source

# Clone the repository
git clone <repository-url>
cd invoices-name

# Build in release mode
cargo build --release

# The executable will be located at: target/release/autodate.exe

Configuration

The application requires a .env file in the same directory as the executable with the following environment variables:

Required Environment Variables

Create a .env file with the following configuration:

# Required: Directory path to monitor for new files
WATCH_PATH=C:\\Users\\YourUser\\Documents\\Invoices

# Required: Date format for renaming files (uses chrono format specifiers)
# Examples:
#   %Y-%m       -> 2025-10
#   %Y-%m-%d    -> 2025-10-19
#   %Y%m%d      -> 20251019
FILE_FORMAT=%Y-%m

# Required: Regex pattern to validate if a file already has a valid date in its name
# Files matching this pattern will be skipped (not renamed)
# Examples:
#   ^\d{4}-(0[1-9]|1[0-2])$              -> Matches YYYY-MM format (2025-10)
#   ^\d{4}-(0[1-9]|1[0-2])-(0[1-9]|[12]\d|3[01])$  -> Matches YYYY-MM-DD format
#   ^\d{8}$                              -> Matches YYYYMMDD format (20251019)
# Note: Do not use quotes around the regex pattern
DATE_VALIDATION=^\d{4}-(0[1-9]|1[0-2])$

# Required: Delay in seconds before renaming a file (allows file to finish writing)
DELAY_SECONDS=5

Format Specifiers

Common chrono format specifiers for FILE_FORMAT:

• %Y - Year with 4 digits (e.g., 2025)
• %m - Month as a zero-padded number (01-12)
• %d - Day as a zero-padded number (01-31)
• %H - Hour in 24h format (00-23)
• %M - Minute (00-59)

For more format options, see the chrono documentation.

Usage

1. Create a .env file with the required configuration
2. Run autodate.exe
3. The application will appear in the system tray
4. Right-click the icon to access the menu:
   • Open folder: Opens the monitored directory
   • Start with Windows: Enable/disable automatic startup
   • Exit: Close the application

Status Indicators

• Green: Application is running correctly
• Red: Monitoring or configuration error

Development

# Run in debug mode (with console)
cargo run

# Run in release mode (without console)
cargo run --release

# Clean build artifacts
cargo clean

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.