A few features request

[hsaphoto]

Hello Kirk,

I'm a regular user of PM since 2004 or juste about. In my ever "evoluting" workflow I would suggest a few things.

* an upload/ingest section right above the contact sheet in the toolbar. This could become an option to choose in the pref. dialog so we could maximize the real estate of the window (see screen grab). I often feel it's to cumbersome to have separate windows for Ingest and Upload Status. On most wide format screens (MacBookPro for ex.) there's unused real estate space in the middle right toolbar. I often think we only need to see basic info (ingested or not) and feel we could see that info in real time without the need to have a separate window.

* have a new variable (uploaded status). Once uploaded a little green square appears in the contact sheet picture box (great idea) but if the contact sheet is closed by accident or crash, this info disappears. A new variable could be IMO an easy way to display that info in a custom way according to different needs.

Thanks for considering thoses requests.


Keep up the great work !

Best regards,


Hugo-Sebastien Aubert

La Presse newspaper, Montreal, Canada
www.lapresse.ca



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[Kirk Baker]

Hugo,

I'm a regular user of PM since 2004 or just about. In my ever "evolving" workflow I would suggest a few things.

* an upload/ingest section right above the contact sheet in the toolbar. This could become an option to choose in the pref. dialog so we could maximize the real estate of the window (see screen grab). I often feel it's to cumbersome to have separate windows for Ingest and Upload Status. On most wide format screens (MacBookPro for ex.) there's unused real estate space in the middle right toolbar. I often think we only need to see basic info (ingested or not) and feel we could see that info in real time without the need to have a separate window.

There really isn't much room there and many people hide the toolbar on the Mac version.  That's why we created the Tasks pane in PM 5 which appears below the Favorites and Navigator.  It shows both Ingest tasks and Upload tasks.  There is an additional Tasks pane in the Preview window as well.  The tasks show only the most pertinent information and by double-clicking a task, one can bring up the window that manages the task.

* have a new variable (uploaded status). Once uploaded a little green square appears in the contact sheet picture box (great idea) but if the contact sheet is closed by accident or crash, this info disappears. A new variable could be IMO an easy way to display that info in a custom way according to different needs.

That information is not tracked anywhere permanent so creating a variable to expose that status is impossible.  The upload status, if it were to be permanently tracked, could then be exposed in a variable.  But remember that one can easily upload a single image to multiple destinations so a log would be necessary.  What would a simple {uploadstatus} variable produce then?

-Kirk

[Sven]

Hugo,

I second the 2nd idea of the variable.

* have a new variable (uploaded status). Once uploaded a little green square appears in the contact sheet picture box (great idea) but if the contact sheet is closed by accident or crash, this info disappears. A new variable could be IMO an easy way to display that info in a custom way according to different needs.

That information is not tracked anywhere permanent so creating a variable to expose that status is impossible.  The upload status, if it were to be permanently tracked, could then be exposed in a variable.  But remember that one can easily upload a single image to multiple destinations so a log would be necessary.  What would a simple {uploadstatus} variable produce then?

-Kirk

Kirk,

What about having a general value for the variable?
Meaning a value of "TRUE" for the upload / any uploads have been OK
"FALSE" for one or more uploads failed.

Sven

[Kirk Baker]

Sven,

What about having a general value for the variable?
Meaning a value of "TRUE" for the upload / any uploads have been OK
"FALSE" for one or more uploads failed.

Sure, it could evaluate to that when used for sorting (many variables return different information if they're used in the context of sorting).

The real problem is making the upload info persistent.  Some people would be OK with adding it to the photo's metadata and others think this would be horrible.  But putting it anywhere else would be fragile since it is unlikely that the data would be moved properly if the photo was moved or renamed.

We don't like fragile solutions.  They cost us in support for the problems they create.

-Kirk

[Sven]

Make it an optional feature to write it into the metadata.

[Kirk Baker]

Sven,

Make it an optional feature to write it into the metadata.

But then it doesn't work all the time and people who don't read manuals will call us to complain.

What I'm thinking of doing is giving each image a unique ID number in its metadata that would happen whenever PM is called upon to change metadata and then this ID number would be tracked in a database along with various things that have been done to it in Photo Mechanic.  Then it doesn't matter if the file is moved or renamed as long as either the metadata is imbedded or in the case of XMP sidecar files, they're moved/renamed accordingly.

It's not a trivial task however and Cataloging comes first.

-Kirk

[holthaus]

yeah for Cataloging...that is what I want to hear!

[ron_hiner]

What I'm thinking of doing is giving each image a unique ID number <snip>
It's not a trivial task however and Cataloging comes first.

-Kirk

By this point I'm sure you've already identified your means of  image identification in the database of the catalog system, but using a UUID would be a great way to do it.  Any other atribute (with the possible exception of capture time) should be changeable.  Correction:  even capture time changes.  I just shot a 600+ images in a different time zone and (thankfully) PM has a tool to cover me for lack of setting my cameras to the correct time zone before the shoot.   UUID also makes possible painless the merging of catalogs.

[Luiz Muzzi]

Sven,

Make it an optional feature to write it into the metadata.

But then it doesn't work all the time and people who don't read manuals will call us to complain.

What I'm thinking of doing is giving each image a unique ID number in its metadata that would happen whenever PM is called upon to change metadata and then this ID number would be tracked in a database along with various things that have been done to it in Photo Mechanic.  Then it doesn't matter if the file is moved or renamed as long as either the metadata is imbedded or in the case of XMP sidecar files, they're moved/renamed accordingly.

It's not a trivial task however and Cataloging comes first.

-Kirk

Hi, Kirk
I think that would be a nice solution...I myself only upload pictures to one site and sometimes I forget completely whether I have done it or not.
Regards,

-Luiz Muzzi