Author Topic: drag and drop file names  (Read 5071 times)

Offline TonyField

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drag and drop file names
« on: April 02, 2007, 11:31:58 AM »
I actually though the suggestion below was implemented in 4.5.  Reply #6 in the 4.5 bug list seems to indicate that the drag and drop below was available in V4.5 and mentioned in: http://forums.camerabits.com/index.php?topic=977.0

If PM is not running and I drop a selected  Windows Explorer thumbnail or file name onto the PM desktop icon, I would expect PM to start running, position the contact sheet to the exact contact sheet thumbnail, select the thumbnail and then display the preview. For example, Adobe Bridge and to a certain degree, even Windows Picture and Fax Viewer (which does not have a "contact sheet") work in this way.  At present, PM will only open the directory as a contact sheet but NOT position to the dropped file.

The expectation is that a single file name is dropped onto the desktop icon - or that a single file name is added to the command line when PM would be executed and that file name would be used for processing.  This is, as far as I can see, the  operation of most programmes such as Microsoft Word, Notepad, and many other programmes.  As another example, if you use the PM option of "Show In Windows Explorer", explorer will display the directory, position the directory to the (last) file selected, and select the (last) file.  (I cannot comment on how apple systems work).

If multiple files are dropped onto the desktop icon (or if multiple file names are added to the command line execution) things can be confusing.   In the case of Adobe Bridge, multiple instances of Bridge are invoked - one for each file name and the image is properly displayed on each of the preview screens.  This multiple activation strategy seems to be operationally incorrect (IMO) for PM.  I would think  one strategy would be to only open the first file on the command line, display the directory as a contact sheet, position the contact sheet to the file, select the file and display the preview.  Maybe a better and more logical alternative would be to open the directory containing the selected file names, select each of the files in the contact sheet, and open the first file in the preview screen.

If PM is already running, dragging and dropping a file name should load a new contact sheet (or activate a previously started contact sheet), position the contact sheet to the dropped image, select the image, and display the image in the preview screen.

If a thumbnail from a PM contact sheet is drag-and-dropped onto the PM desktop icon, the present action of "do nothing" seems to be correct.  It might, however, be more logical to reposition the contact sheet and display the preview.

Tony...
« Last Edit: April 07, 2007, 09:36:20 PM by TonyField »