Searching for keywords, find and replace in PM6

[Saints]

I am having a problem with searching for keywords and Find and Replace in PM6.  I am finding it impossible to search for or replace strings that contain punctuation or keyword separators.  PM5 works fine for me for this.

An example: I have a series of images of someone at a fun run in a park.  Sometimes they are running, sometimes jogging, sometimes walking, sometimes standing, maybe resting as well.  I want to use keywords "run, runner, running, runs" when running, and corresponding keywords for the other activities (not even the same number of keywords as the replacement, since there is no "stander" or "rester" but there is a runner/jogger/walker).  Also I have "fun run" as a keyword, and "fun runners".

In PM5, I could select "run, runner, running, runs" in the knowledge that that exact string exists and have ready the corresponding set of keywords, so a find and replace would do this for me.  Or I could include all five sets of keywords on export and then search for the four sets I do not need for any particular image and replace them by a blank.  Either works fine in PM5.

But if I try to find "run, runner, running, runs" in PM6, I get a "not found" message, so I cannot do a Find and Replace as I have always done in PM5.

A whole word replacement on a single whole word basis would be terribly cumbersome.  But a string replacement without the whole word replacement option checked does not work, because all occurrences of that string are replaced.  For example, run --> jog would result in a "jogner".  Also my "fun run" event would become a "fun jog", "fun walk", "fun stand or "fun rest".  Imagine if the event had been held in Runcorn (it was not): this would become jogcorn.

I am finding it impossible to use Find and Replace as I used to in PM5.  Am I missing something?  Is there an option I have not been able to find that will restore the PM5 behaviour?  It seems to have become way less useful than it was in PM5.  If there has been a deliberate change, why is this, and will the old PM5 functionality be restored?  I sure hope it will be because I cannot work on my keywords with PM6 now.

Also, is there an option to turn off the PM6 update notification?  I have no choice except to continue using PM5 for the time being, but I often get a message on startup that a free upgrade is available: I would like to be able to turn this off.

Thank you for any help/suggestions.

Rich

[Kirk Baker]

I am having a problem with searching for keywords and Find and Replace in PM6.  I am finding it impossible to search for or replace strings that contain punctuation or keyword separators.  PM5 works fine for me for this.

An example: I have a series of images of someone at a fun run in a park.  Sometimes they are running, sometimes jogging, sometimes walking, sometimes standing, maybe resting as well.  I want to use keywords "run, runner, running, runs" when running, and corresponding keywords for the other activities (not even the same number of keywords as the replacement, since there is no "stander" or "rester" but there is a runner/jogger/walker).  Also I have "fun run" as a keyword, and "fun runners".

In PM5, I could select "run, runner, running, runs" in the knowledge that that exact string exists and have ready the corresponding set of keywords, so a find and replace would do this for me.  Or I could include all five sets of keywords on export and then search for the four sets I do not need for any particular image and replace them by a blank.  Either works fine in PM5.

But if I try to find "run, runner, running, runs" in PM6, I get a "not found" message, so I cannot do a Find and Replace as I have always done in PM5.

A whole word replacement on a single whole word basis would be terribly cumbersome.  But a string replacement without the whole word replacement option checked does not work, because all occurrences of that string are replaced.  For example, run --> jog would result in a "jogner".  Also my "fun run" event would become a "fun jog", "fun walk", "fun stand or "fun rest".  Imagine if the event had been held in Runcorn (it was not): this would become jogcorn.

I am finding it impossible to use Find and Replace as I used to in PM5.  Am I missing something?  Is there an option I have not been able to find that will restore the PM5 behaviour?  It seems to have become way less useful than it was in PM5.  If there has been a deliberate change, why is this, and will the old PM5 functionality be restored?  I sure hope it will be because I cannot work on my keywords with PM6 now.

PM6 treats repeating fields like Keywords as the individual parts that makes up the set.  Same goes for the Caption Writers and Photographers fields.  It was deliberate, but the old functionality could be returned (I have a bug/feature case set for it but have had higher priority tasks to tackle).

Also, is there an option to turn off the PM6 update notification?  I have no choice except to continue using PM5 for the time being, but I often get a message on startup that a free upgrade is available: I would like to be able to turn this off.

You can turn it off or adjust how often it checks.  From the Help menu, choose "Software Update..." and you can uncheck the "Check for Updates:" checkbox to disable it entirely, or change the popup menu to something less frequent if you don't want to disable updates checking entirely.

-Kirk

[Ed Wolfstein]

"Find and Replace" does not work at all for me in PM6. Had a typo in an Object, Filename, and in a Caption, and now I have to make changes individually! Lots of time lost.

[Mick O (Camera Bits)]

"Find and Replace" does not work at all for me in PM6. Had a typo in an Object, Filename, and in a Caption, and now I have to make changes individually! Lots of time lost.

Sorry to hear about the lost time. It appears to be working as expected for me at the moment. Without knowing what steps you took, I can only offer the advice that Find/Replace will work for files in a currently opened Contact Sheet. It does not go through other folders (though you can open multiple folders/subfolders in a single Contact Sheet and do the find/replace there if necessary.

Mick

[Kirk Baker]

Ed,

"Find and Replace" does not work at all for me in PM6. Had a typo in an Object, Filename, and in a Caption, and now I have to make changes individually! Lots of time lost.

I'd sure like to see your Find and Replace settings.

-Kirk

[Graham1]

"Find and Replace" does not work at all for me in PM6.

I had a problem with how Find and Replace worked in version 6, until Kirk put in a checkbox marked "Treat repeating fields as a single string".  With this checked, it now works exactly as it should do, in every instance I have tried.  The name of the checkbox is not exactly intuitive to a non-programmer such as myself, but if you have not tried find and replace with this option checked, I suggest that you try it to see if this solves your problem.

As an aside, would it be possible to give the Keywords panel the same z-order priority as, for example, the Find and Replace panel? As it stands, the Keywords panel is always on top: I would prefer (and I think it would be more usual) for the latest selected window to remain on top.  It used to be on top over other programmes, which was fixed, but it still has too high priority within Photo Mechanic. 

Its z-order priority can have some strange consequences: recently I used the Keywords panel to apply some keywords, with the Keywords panel in the same position on the screen (central) as the confirmation dialogue box which pops up once the keywords have been applied.  The confirmation dialogue needs a press of enter to be dismissed, but the Keywords panel was on top and intercepted the keypress, so that the dialogue box could not be cleared.  The Keywords panel could not be moved to allow the use of the mouse to clear the dialogue box, because the dialogue box had focus.  There was no way round this conflict other than to forcibly terminate PM via the Windows Task Manager - hardly ideal!  The practical solution is simple, which it to make sure that the Keywords panel is always positioned away from the centre of the screen and will not cover the dialogue box when it pops up, but it would be better if the z-order could be fixed so that this cannot happen.

Graham

[Kirk Baker]

Graham,

As an aside, would it be possible to give the Keywords panel the same z-order priority as, for example, the Find and Replace panel? As it stands, the Keywords panel is always on top: I would prefer (and I think it would be more usual) for the latest selected window to remain on top.  It used to be on top over other programmes, which was fixed, but it still has too high priority within Photo Mechanic. 

Its z-order priority can have some strange consequences: recently I used the Keywords panel to apply some keywords, with the Keywords panel in the same position on the screen (central) as the confirmation dialogue box which pops up once the keywords have been applied.  The confirmation dialogue needs a press of enter to be dismissed, but the Keywords panel was on top and intercepted the keypress, so that the dialogue box could not be cleared.  The Keywords panel could not be moved to allow the use of the mouse to clear the dialogue box, because the dialogue box had focus.  There was no way round this conflict other than to forcibly terminate PM via the Windows Task Manager - hardly ideal!  The practical solution is simple, which it to make sure that the Keywords panel is always positioned away from the centre of the screen and will not cover the dialogue box when it pops up, but it would be better if the z-order could be fixed so that this cannot happen.

Would you mind reposting this as a new topic?

Thanks,

-Kirk