Messages

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ThumbsPlus v7-v9 Questions / File date not changed when file modified

« on: 2013-06-23 07:41:48 »

> ... A still better solution, I think, would be to make the default value dependent on the setting for "Retain original file date/time when quick process turning or editing IPTC".

I tend to agree, Daan, although I don't ever select that option (for the same reasons discussed earlier in this thread).  Please pass your suggestion on to Laura and Phillip.

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ThumbsPlus v7-v9 Questions / File date not changed when file modified

« on: 2013-06-22 23:32:45 »

I contacted Laura Shook with this issue, who replied,

"You are absolutely correct.  I just left Phillip in his office fixing this troublesome code."

So, I would expect the default to be changed as I requested in some future version of Thumbs Plus.

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ThumbsPlus v7-v9 Questions / File date not changed when file modified

« on: 2013-06-12 08:05:56 »

That's interesting, laser2sail, but it does not address the subject of this thread.

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ThumbsPlus v7-v9 Questions / File date not changed when file modified

« on: 2013-06-08 00:03:02 »

> There is no such option that I know of and I have explained why the default is not to change the timestamp. If you still think that's wrong, you'll have to take that up with Phillip.

I would like to do that.  I had hoped that this Forum would be a way to report such a problem to his attention, but I guess not.  I'll e-mail him privately.

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ThumbsPlus v7-v9 Questions / File date not changed when file modified

« on: 2013-06-02 10:33:39 »

> No. You would sync your files between PC and notebook using XCOPY, which would leave the archive bits alone, and then run the backup software, which would reset them.

With what XCOPY options?

Presently, I use the /d (date) option, which copies newer files, to sync the laptop.  That does exactly what I want except in the case where Thumbs Plus fails to change the modified date when it modifies file comments.

If I switched to /a (archive bit), then every laptop sync would copy the same files over and over again until my next backup.

I infer that you are presuming to expect a notebook sync and then a backup in that order.

Daan, while I get your intention to be helpful, I am troubled that what started out as my requesting a simple change of the default behavior of Thumbs Plus to comply with expected operating system behavior (any change to the content of a file changes its OS modification date) resulted in your taking on telling me to change the way my laptop synchronization and backup scripts operate.  And you still have not answered my original question, which was how to make "Set to current date/time" be my default each time I start Thumbs Plus.

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ThumbsPlus v7-v9 Questions / File date not changed when file modified

« on: 2013-06-01 09:45:47 »

> It shouldn't affect the filenames at all.

On re-reading your suggestion, I see you're right.  I had misunderstood the first time through.

> I believe that's what XCOPY /A is for. It reads the archive bit to see which files need backing up, but doesn't reset it, so that another program can use the archive bit too.

And of course that would work only the archive bit indicated which files had modified comments since the last XCOPY, which would require that the last XCOPY had had cleared it.

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ThumbsPlus v7-v9 Questions / File date not changed when file modified

« on: 2013-06-01 03:08:16 »

Daan, thank you for taking the time to reply.

> Most users like to preserve the original timestamp that their camera assigned to the file because it allows them to view the files in chronological order.

In that case, I am not "Most users".

My camera, like most, assigns file names to the images, so a filename sort places them in the order taken, and I have no problem viewing them in the order taken regardless of the file modification date.

If I really want to get fancy, I user an external utility to rename the files according to their EXIF dates.

But again, any modification to any file should set the file modification date accordingly, in order for my file synch and backup to work.  I understand that some users (I disagree with you, not "most users") might not want this behavior, but breaking the OS should not be the default.

> If it should happen again: Turn on the setting that copies image comments into database annotations, re-thumbnail the files, and sort them on annotation (for this, annotations must be made visible in the thumbnail view) to figure out more quickly which files have a comment.

Two problems with this approach:
(1) These commented files were spread across dozens of folders, not all in one.
(2) It destroys the file names the camera had assigned.

> Well, ThumbsPlus does offer you the option of updating the timestamp -you just have to remember using it-

I appreciate that the option "Set to current date/time" is soomewhat sticky: once applied, it remains in effect when commenting other photos during the same session.  Unfortunately it is cleared when I quit and later restart Thumbs Plus.  Is there any chance of making it's stickiness be durable across a quit and restart?

> and it does properly update a file's archive bit when it modifies it (regardless of whether the timestamp is updated), so that should accomodate most backup strategies.

I synchronize my laptop and desktop via file modification dates via a batch script that uses:

  xcopy source target /D

I can't imagine how to safely use the archive bit for this without interfering with a backup system which also used the archive bit.

> BTW, the Modify File Info dialog that you used deals with oldfashioned image comments from before IPTC and EXIF were introduced:

These comments work better for me because they are preserved across format changes (to TIFF, PNG, etc) even if I check the box to remove EXIF tags.  Also they are displayed in a slide show if I select Options / Viewing / Slide Show / Show: File Comments.

     - Rich

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ThumbsPlus v7-v9 Questions / File date not changed when file modified

« on: 2013-05-31 11:41:48 »

My systems for file backup and synchronization across multiple machines are based on file modification date:  They only transfer files which are newer than their counterparts in the target.

I frequently use the Thumbs Plus "Modify File Info" command (Ctrl-Shift-Q) to add comments (captions) to my JPEG photographs.  Unfortunately by default this command preserves the File Modification date & time unchanged.  As a result, my newly-commented image files do not get backed up or updated between my laptop and desktop.  Of course, I can choose the option to "Set to current date and time" but this choice is not permanent, and is forgotten when the current Thumbs Plus session is terminated, so the problem recurs when I next start Thumbs Plus.



It would seem to me that the default should be to always set the file modification date and time to the current date and time, for any changes to the content of a file, even if just to add or replace the comments.  Indeed, this is the expected operating system default, and for Thumbs Plus to override it without my intentionally requesting such override simply invites disaster.

Today I had to go through a few thousand pictures by hand to identify which ones I had commented, and then explicitly change their modification times, in order to get them to properly get backed up as should have happened automatically.

This troublesome behavior has been noted in TP 7.0-sp2 and in version 9.0.

     - Rich

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ThumbsPlus v7-v9 Questions / Installing Thumbs Plus 9 alongside 7.0-sp2

« on: 2013-01-11 00:04:24 »

Well, maybe an "old style" installation would keep it from stepping on my TP7 data, but it would also share my database and settings with other users, which is certainly not acceptable, either.

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ThumbsPlus v7-v9 Questions / Converting to 7.0 batch files for 9.0

« on: 2013-01-10 10:56:30 »

One valuable aspect of my production TP 7.0 installation is the collection of batch scripts (*.TPB files).  However, TP 9.0 finds none of them (either under Image / Batch Process or under Image/Quick Batch).  How can I convert/import them for use with TP 9?

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ThumbsPlus v7-v9 Questions / Installing Thumbs Plus 9 alongside 7.0-sp2

« on: 2013-01-09 22:01:15 »

If I can't use separate folders for the Thumbs 7 and 9 settings and databases, I can at least try to make sure that there are no file name collisions.  For example, I noticed that TP7 used thumbs.ini whereas TP9  uses Thumbs9.ini.  At least that one file is given different names.

So I threw caution to the wind and forged ahead, invoking "Database/Convert" to import my old database.  I just hope that it doesn't break anything....

     - Rich

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ThumbsPlus v7-v9 Questions / Installing Thumbs Plus 9 alongside 7.0-sp2

« on: 2013-01-09 21:24:26 »

If it matters, this pertains to my Windows 7 64-bit system.

For years, my production engine has been Thumbs Plus 7.0-sp2.  It works well enough for me, and I've not wanted to interrupt my workflow to fuss with a new version.

But tonight I had some spare time, so I thought I'd install Thumbs Plus 9.0 build 3922 into a separate folder, so I could experiment with it without disturbing my production work.  I downloaded and ran its installer, being sure that the programs were installed into separate folders:

  C:\Program Files (x86)\Thumbs7
  C:\Program Files (x86)\ThumbsPlus9

In both cases, I had chosen "separate database and settings for each user."

That, it turned out, was my downfall, because version 9 put its database and settings right into the same folder as my cherished version 7 settings:

  C:\Users\pasco\AppData\Roaming\ThumbsPlus

The first clue I got that something was wrong was when I first launched Thumbs Plus 9.
Before it came up, it gave the error:

  Database error: The selected database is not a ThumbsPlus database.  If you
  are connecting to a client/server ThumbsPlus database ... (I'm not.)

The next screen offered to create a new database, which I certainly would have done if not for the awareness that I was working in the same database and settings folder as my production TP7 system, whose settings I did not want to disturb.  The last thing I'd want to do would be to jeopardize the functioning of my TP7 system.

Is there any way to install TP9 so that it uses a different folder for its database and settings than the one already used by TP7?

  C:\Users\pasco\AppData\Roaming\ThumbsPlus

Thanks in advance for any help.

     - Rich