Author Topic: Thumbnail Properties, tab #4, Database  (Read 4680 times)

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dht1@bellatlantic.net

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Thumbnail Properties, tab #4, Database
« on: 2015-12-22 11:49:02 »
Under Properties, tab #4, Database, you can type in virtually unlimited info or narrative about a photo.  This is especially useful for photos taken on trips or vacations, etc.  For example, you might type in narrative about the locale, your activities while there, etc.  Or for groups of people, you could type in each person's identity, etc.

But, migrating the info to a new PC, or to a new Operating System, is very problematic.  For the most part the typed info simply does not transfer.  Cerious' technical support has worked extensively with me on this issue, but without satisfactory results.

I would welcome comments from others who have encountered this issue, especially if they solved it.

Daan van Rooijen

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Thumbnail Properties, tab #4, Database
« Reply #1 on: 2015-12-22 12:39:04 »
You are referring to the Annotation field (Ctrl-E to edit). This is stored in the database (in that particular image's thumbnail record).

If ThumbsPlus can no longer link this thumbnail record to the image file for which it was made, it is 'orphaned'. This may happen when you move files using a different program, so that ThumbsPlus is unaware of the files' new location.

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When ThumbsPlus loads a folder, it looks for thumbnail records that belong to the image files that it finds there. If no record is found, a generic 'red cross' thumbnail is shown for that image file (or, if 'make thumbnails automatically' is on, a new thumbnail will be produced). In the most common scenario, with files stored on local harddrives, ThumbsPlus looks at these properties to match thumbnail records to image files:

 

So, if you move files to a new system, and the new drive that holds your images has the same volume name and folder structure, you can usually continue to use your database without problem. But if the drive has a different volume label or you use a new folder structure, ThumbsPlus can no longer match the files to its thumbnail records and your annotations won't show.

When images are stored on a different machine (or NAS drive), the server name is also used to identify images. With images stored on CD/DVD, the serial number may be used.

Anyway, the key to preserve your data and keep it matched up with your images is to not change any of these identifying data. When you want to move image files within the same system, use ThumbsPlus to do so, so it can update its thumbnail records while it is moving the files. If you want to move files to a new system or network drive, be sure to replicate the old volume label and folder structures on the new system.
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dht1@bellatlantic.net

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Thumbnail Properties, tab #4, Database
« Reply #2 on: 2015-12-23 18:46:43 »
Daan van Rooijen,

   Thank you for such a quick response, both well-written, and clear.  While I have followed the procedures in your first response carefully before this, the tab #4 Database still omits the typed info.  I have begun to suspect that it must happen when I have to first copy the photos on the old PC, and then paste them onto the new PC.  Since this cannot be done directly via a cable, but via an intermediary device (flashdrive, DVD, etc.) the data locations must get lost in transit.

   Cerious has suggested paying a computer guy to create a local network via a direct cable between the old and new PC's, so that ThumbsPlus can be used at both ends.  I have not yet tried that process, as it is rather expensive. And none of my many other software packages require it for a successful transfer between PC's.  But perhaps that is now my only option.

                                                                          David T.

Daan van Rooijen

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Thumbnail Properties, tab #4, Database
« Reply #3 on: 2015-12-23 20:49:26 »
Hi David,

Could you explain the situation in some more detail? In particular:

Do you intend to move all photos permanently to the new PC or do want to keep using both PC's?
Do you currently use ThumbsPlus on both PC's, each with its own database?
On which PC do you enter the annotations?
Which Windows and ThumbsPlus versions do you use on the PC's?

There may be different solutions to transfer the files, such as an external harddisk or a Belkin Easy Transfer Cable (less than $10 on eBay). The latter works great with the Windows Commander file manager (fully functional 30-day trial version at www.ghisler.com).
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dht1@bellatlantic.net

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Thumbnail Properties, tab #4, Database
« Reply #4 on: 2015-12-28 16:58:27 »
Hi, Daan,

     Thought I would give you a rest during the holidays before responding to your posting from the evening of Dec.23rd.  First, I'll answer your questions as best I can.  Then I will detail some consistent errors in the transferred Database.


     Currently I have both ThumbsPlus v9 and v10 running on both my older desktop PC, which uses Windows XP (yes, I know it is no longer supported), and my newer Windows 7 laptop.  Both versions of the program run smoothly on both PC's, although I have stopped using v9 and actually use v10 on both.

     My annotations in tab#4 Database are always entered on the XP desktop.  I would like to have them periodically transferred/copied successfully and completely onto the laptop, as my secondary machine.

     Early in 2016 I will purchase a new Windows 10 desktop as my primary machine.  At that point I will have to transfer everything from the Windows XP PC to the Windows 10 PC.  In one sense, I suppose that my attempts to get the Database annotations onto my existing Windows 7 PC laptop is sort of a dry run.

     So far, no luck.  I have tried transferring from Win XP to Win 7, using Copy and Paste; no good.  As an experiment, I even had my PC guys use PCMover (including its transfer cable) to transfer from one Win 7 PC directly to another Win 7 PC; still no good.  (All my other software transferred okay; only ThumbsPlus is a problem.)

That concludes my answers to your questions.



     Now for the details of results of the transfers, which have been consistent on every attempted transfer so far.  (By the way, transfers of both TP v9 and v10 exhibit the exact same problems.)

    The thumbnails' "Properties" for the photos in their original folders are complete insofar as all 7 tabs are properly displayed (i.e., all 7 tabs (#1-Physical, through #7-Galleries)  Tabs #'s 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, & 7 contain the proper info.  But Tab #4-Database is blank in each and every thumbnail.

     But the Galleries' thumbnails "Properties" tabs (as accessed from the thumbnails in the galleries) are completely missing tabs 1, 2, and 3.  Tabs 4, 5, 6, and 7 are there, and the info that should be in tab #4, Database, is indeed shown properly in each and every thumbnail.

     My only workaround so far is to laboriously "Copy" and "Paste" the tab #4 info from each Gallery thumbnail into the tab #4 of the original thumbnail displayed in each photo's original source folder.  Then I "Remove" the defective thumbnail from the Gallery, and "Add" the now complete thumbnail from the original folder into the Gallery again.  Voila, the tab #4 Database info is now complete in both the original photo folder thumbnail and the Gallery thumbnail, and all 7 tabs are properly displayed as well.

     If I had only a few hundred photos, perhaps this would suffice.  But I have too many photos to continue using this workaround;  it just takes too long.

     Sorry to be so long-winded, but that is about as complete a description as I can muster.

                                             David Tocher

Daan van Rooijen

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Thumbnail Properties, tab #4, Database
« Reply #5 on: 2015-12-28 20:38:02 »
Hi David, that's considerate about the holidays, thank you :-)

I think this problem may have arisen from confusion between thumbnails for local files and thumbnails for files on network drives. You mention that you have copy-and-pasted files from the desktop to the laptop, which suggests that the machines were networked together. This is a bit too complicated to explain in a short message, but what it boils down to is that you'll have to make a choice between using a single shared database for both machines (which I would not recommend), or letting each machine have its own database (which may be a frequently updated copy of the database on the other machine).

Assuming you pick the latter (a database on each machine), you only have to take care that the drive volume names (the labels of the drives on which images reside) are the same for both computers, and that the images are stored in the same folder structures. So, if your desktop has images on a drive named "DATA" in a folder named "\MYPICS\2015", that should be the same on the laptop. Note that drive letters (D:, E: etc) don't matter. From then on, you can simply enter the annotations on your desktop, and every once in a while use Explorer or a drive synchronisation tool (any tool BUT ThumbsPlus) to copy any new images, and your database, to the laptop (and you may well do this over the network). You will then see the same information on both machines. However, you'll always have to use the desktop to add new annotations or edit existing ones, and this information will only travel to the laptop when you next copy your database and the image files involved to the laptop.

The benefit of this setup is that you can use your laptop anywhere (also when not on the home/office network) and that it uses a fast, local database. The drawback is that you can't use it to add or edit annotations (they'd be lost when you overwrite the database with its newest iteration from the desktop) and that you have to regularly synchronize your files (images and database) with those on the desktop.
If that is not what you want, please let me know!

BTW, for your new 2016 desktop, you can use the same method: Install ThumbsPlus on it, make sure that your new drive (that will hold the images) gets the same volume label as the old one did, and transfer your image folders and your database to it. Launch TP and verify that it is using the database that you just copied to it. As a precaution, go to Options | Preferences | Thumbnails and turn "make thumbnails automatically" and "auto-remove orphans" both off before you start browsing your image folders.
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