I wasn't aware of the similar Topfield TAP, but I'm certainly willing to steal good ideas from it
Here is a link FYI.
http://oztoppy.wikidot.com/automove. Please note I am not advocating for all these features in the Series2Folder plugin.
Doing a "starts with" name match is easy, but opens the door to requests for other kinds of matches: "contains", "case sensitive/insensitive", even "regular expression".
Matching part of a filename to a folder to me is simply another way of putting a recording into a folder based on the filename. Ultimately it is up to you as the developer if you want to add extra features and if you don't want to then that is your prerogative. I certainly wasn't expecting anything beyond filename matching.
It all runs into problems with short filenames if there are two recordings on the same day, and one is moved into its folder by Series2Folder (or by user action), the other one records with the same filenames, and then when it's moved into the same folder, it replaces the first recording.
See how the Topfield TAP handles that but as you have outlined the BW has far more options in filenames. It sounds more complicated and it is best left up to you. You may have to make a decision on what filename format Series2Folder works with and make that a caveat for its use.
There are performance issue with "scanning subfolders", because it's often not stated where the scan should start from, and what its scope should be. Series2Folder is intended to be small and fast. It won't be if it starts wandering off searching through everything on someone's NAS.
The problem with moving from a single recording directory into a directory structure like the one KGL would like is that for each episode, multiple directories need to be searched in order to find where episodes should go, and if a new directory needs to be created for some new episodes, there's no way the code can tell where it should go.
I don't use a NAS but I appreciate some do. I am not sure how the Topfield TAP works but is seems to keep a historical record. Maybe the Series2Folder needs a mini text file DB on the hdd that filename patterns are recorded to and is used to locate the folder path to move the recorded file to. Maybe to create a new move pattern, a filename could be selected, open the menu, choose create folder, choose where to create and okay the creation. Then the setup is recorded into a DB. Then the plugin could compare filenames with the DB and move the file accordingly. If this setup was used, then probably a delete option maybe necessary also.
In the timer window, timers can be opened and locations specified to specific folders. Unfortunately doing this doesn't set up a pattern that subsequent recordings use the same folder location. It is tedious doing this and currently the simpler option is to move files in the Media window. The Series2Folder does automate this but it would be good if it could handle more levels in a directory tree. 2 levels would be great. (it seems the Topfield TAP only does 2 levels anyway).
Ultimately, my aim is to keep the recordings in some sort of organised structure rather than 100+ recordings in the default directory. Likewise I would like to avoid 20-50 folders in the default directory which could happen with the current Series2Folder setup. However, one advantage that the BW seems to have over the Topfield is that folders with files in them can be moved. I couldn't do this with the Topfield although I did try once using ftp and ended up deleting the folder with its files!
Regards
Greg