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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

2

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