Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Clean out unused media items from Umbraco media folder

When uploading some new media items for a client today we noticed that if you selected "Remove" before saving, it doesn't actually remove the file from the FileSystem. Having a quick look around the forums I saw there are a few posts already pointing this out so I thought I'd fix it.

This is a little application that simply checks the media items in the database and then compares it against a folder you select on your machine. If the file is in use according to the database then it's ignored otherwise it will remove it.

To use:

1. Enter your server's login details
2. Click "Test Connection"
3. Select the relevant database from the drop down
4. Check the "Media Folder Name" matches your Umbraco's installation
5. Locate your Media Folder on your computer
6. Click "Check Media Folder" -this will then list all the orphan files
7. If it looks right, click "Delete" -with caution
8. Job done

There are a few checks in place to avoid mishap but it's not 100% foolproof as I needed something rough and ready to sort a couple of installations out. If this is something that's seen as useful I'll extend it a touch, some ideas I've got already:

• Check that the selected media folder matches that of the database
• Check that the media id's are the same (to avoid wiping another installation)
• Save config settings for easy re-use
• Use webservices rather than a direct connection to the database
• Enable FTP useage

Please note: I accept no responsibility if anything was to go horribly wrong with this. I would backup your folder first just in case!

You can download the MediaFolderCleaner application here

Clean out unused media items from Umbraco media folder

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Tags: C# | Development | The Site Doctor | Umbraco

Thursday, October 23, 2008 5:46:20 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Very nice. Any chance of getting the source? I'm mainly interested in your SQL to find out if the file is in use. :-)

Thanks!

Mark Burnham

Tuesday, November 25, 2008 2:18:03 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Hi Mark

The SQL is actually fairly simple:

SELECT [content] FROM [umbracoContentData] WHERE [alias] = 'umbracofile' AND [Content] IS NOT NULL

I'll dig up the source at some point if you like :)

HTH

Tim

Tim Gaunt

Wednesday, January 21, 2009 8:03:05 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Hi Thomas,

I don't think so, Doug had a similar issue a while ago which I think he sorted. I'll add some debugging info if I get a moment and we'll find out what's going on.

Tim

Tim Gaunt

Tuesday, March 24, 2009 11:23:48 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

When i select a database i get this error:

An item with the same key has already been added.

Dan

Sunday, April 19, 2009 5:32:52 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Interesting, thanks for that Dan, without checking I'd hazard a guess at the fact that I'm not clearing the list of database names or something silly like that. I'll look into it and post and update ASAP.

Tim

Tim

Wednesday, December 02, 2009 7:53:40 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Hi Tim

Any chance you've fixed the bug in my post above? Or can i get the source code for this project please?

Thanks

Dan

Dan Evans

Wednesday, December 02, 2009 10:44:28 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

I've just updated it, looking at the code that should have only happened if you changed your db string without reloading the form.

Let me know how you get on

Tim

Tim Gaunt

Thursday, December 03, 2009 2:30:53 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

I think there is a problem with my DB. Using the SQL above i get some duplicate files (possibly different versions?). Would that be why it's erroring?

Also, it wants to delete thumbnails when it shouldn't unless the main file isn't used.

Thanks

Dan

Dan Evans