Thanks for all the work you have done on v5.x, but one big wishlist item I have hoped for since I first discovered ExifToolGUI is a drag and drop target to be able to drop a photo in the browse panel and have ETG jump to the working directory of that file and select the file.
An alternative (or preferably a compliment) to this functionality would be a textbox containing the path of the current working directory so that a path can be copy/pasted, or quickly edited from the keyboard without having to browse using the mouse. If you feel extra bored, I know Windows provides API calls to provide path auto-completion like when you type in the "run" dialog or into the path/address bar in (the file) explorer.
Thanks for the work you do, and that is the only thing that I find somewhat "painful" when using the GUI. It is a pain to change between directories. I know I can copy all my files into a working directory, process them, and them copy them back, but if I can just have a folder open and 'drop' a pic onto ETG and have it update the work dir that would be 100x better :)
Thanks ;D
Hi,
Quote from: cryptobear on April 13, 2012, 06:35:05 PM
..since I first discovered ExifToolGUI is a drag and drop target to be able to drop a photo in the browse panel and have ETG jump to the working directory of that file and select the file.
As it is, the only way to do something similar is, to define ExifToolGUI as "Send To" item. In this case, you can select image file in Win Explorer and use Explorer's "Send To ExifToolGUI" menu -when this happens, ExifToolGUI opens target directory (as working directory), with target file selected.
Quote
...It is a pain to change between directories. I know I can copy all my files into a working directory, process them, and them copy them back..
Maybe I don't understand, but, why would you do this? I mean, why would you copy files somewhere, just to process them? Why not processing them there, where files already are?
Bogdan
Quote from: BogdanH on April 14, 2012, 01:24:16 AM
Maybe I don't understand, but, why would you do this? I mean, why would you copy files somewhere, just to process them? Why not processing them there, where files already are?
Hi Bogdan. To clarify, the only reason I would *temporarily* move folders into one directory rather than processing them where they are, is to make it easier to batch process many files from different directories without having to jump all around the file system using the mouse and the browser panel.
Going from D:\first\very\long\path\to\images\example1.jpg and then to D:\second\very\long\path\to\images\example2.jpg and then to D:\third\very\long\path\to\images\example3.jpg is tedious using the GUI (it requires clicking thru 6 folders every time to change the directory). If it was possible to paste or edit the path from inside ETG directly (editing the path directly instead of clicking to it), it would be easy to change directories quickly.
I was only mentioning the option of temporarily moving files to a temp working directory, batch editing them, and moving them back as a *possible* workaround to having to do all that clicking to change directories. It is *not* an ideal solution (hence this request).
The idea of adding a "send to" shortcut in the context menu is a good one. That makes changing directories much less painful. The only minor tweak I would request is if it would be possible to add a commandline switch to ETG to reuse the existing instance rather than create a new one.
Using "send to" launches a new process/instance of ETG. If it would be possible to launch ETG with something like "ExifToolGUI.exe --single_instance" (or whatever) so that the shortcut defined in the "send to" submenu causes ETG to simply change its working directory, instead of launch a new process, that would be great ;D
If you ever make an update to the GUI, having an editable field for the workdir path above the browser panel would be great too :)
Thanks again!
Hi,
Thanks for explanation. Now, I have few more questions, before I glue some additional field somewhere:
Quote from: cryptobear on April 14, 2012, 12:39:51 PM
...Going from D:\first\very\long\path\to\images\example1.jpg and then to D:\second\very\long\path\to\images\example2.jpg and then to D:\third\very\long\path\to\images\example3.jpg is tedious using the GUI (it requires clicking thru 6 folders every time to change the directory)...
If I get that right: first you copy, say, 20 files from various directories into common temp directory, you modify files there in batch, and then you copy all those 20 files back to each directory from where they originate? How do you remember where to copy each file back?
And even if you somehow(?) do remember... returning each file back into origin directory takes a lot of time (not to mention possible mistakes).
Could be I still miss something, but in GUI's Browse panel, you can have simultaneously open as many directories as you wish. Meaning, once opened (expanded), you can switch between any directory with just one click. On the other hand, even if there would be "working path" field, you would need to copy/paste path for each directory switch -which simply can't be faster than single click. I tag my photos too, of course, and I never had a problem working with directories.
I must say, I'm not convinced and as said, maybe I still don't understand. There's another possibility: if your tagging workflow really needs that much switching between directories, then you should either think about reorganizing directories (content), or get a DAM software, which is not dependant on directories -it works on metadata basis.
Bogdan
Hello again Bogdan.
Perhaps the best way to clear up why I am making this feature request is with the actual workflow/usage example where a desire for something like this comes up a lot.
The idea of copying folders into a subfolder is only something I *occasionally* do when I want to batch process many images in the same way (either stripping metadata, or editing some tag across several projects).
The way I actually do this is not to move folders, I use an extension called Link Shell Extension (http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html) that allows you to easily create junctions/hardlinks, and I create junctions to image folders in a single root work directory (for instance I might create junctions to the "images" folder of several website projects) and then do batch processing on the workdir, and then I just delete the workdir when I'm done, and there is nothing to remember/move back.
Now that above scenario is not very common for me (it really was just an example that I was using for why not having a way to quickly change workdirs without clicking thru folders is tedious and requires strange workarounds sometimes).
In general what I find myself using ETG for most often, is when I am going thru images and want see more detailed metadata on something. That being the case, I do not want to start ETG and then have to navigate to a picture I already have open in explorer (or whatever other software I happen to be using).
Launching ETG from the send to menu solves 90% of the problem. I just did not like to have to drill down into a folder I was *already* in, in a different application.
The only reason I would ask for a path field is as an *alternative* to having a "drop target" functionality in ETG. By "drop target" I mean being able to keep an instance of ETG open, and just drag/dropping an image onto it, and having ETG go to that path (the same as if you use the "send to" function to launch a new process of ETG).
The reason for wanting to do this is to be able to keep a single instance of ETG open/running, and when the need to review the detailed metadata on an image comes up, simply dropping the image on ETG without having to launch a new process. The startup time of ETG is fairly negligible, but there is no reason to launch a new process each time if there was any easy way to quickly change the workdir of a running ETG process for an image you have already navigated to in explorer (or whatever image browser/dam you use).
The reason I was thinking of an editable path field, is because if you shift+right click an image, you have the option to "copy as path", and then it is just a matter of ctrl+v, enter ... to paste the path and change to the new workdir without having to launch a new process of ETG and wait for it to pop open.
Like I said, the launch time of ETG is negligible, but if you have tweaked some settings, or adjusted something in ETG and have ETG positioned on your screen where you want it, having to continually relaunch a new window every time you want to see metadata on an image vs simply being able to quickly drag an image over ontop of the ETG window and have ETG "change" to that work dir/image is like having to take 3 lefts, instead of just going right if that makes sense :P
Hi,
Now, that was clear. You know, I don't like to make something, what only one user on planet (thinks to) need -that's why I suggested you should perhaps change your workflow or tool. I'm glad you came back with more exact explanation, which made me thinking seriously about this. That is, I will try to realize that... hopefully, my programming knowledge will sufice :)
Bogdan
Well, I have tried and... I have a problem with preventing to load multiple GUI instances and passing parameters at the same time. Not that this wouldn't be possible (everything is)... the thing is, this requires quite a lot of changes inside GUI -and I'm not ready to risk new bugs right now.
So, I've decided to implement drag/drop feature instead, which will be in GUI v5.10: if file is dragged i.e from Win Explorer and dropped onto GUI's Preview panel, GUI will act accordingly.
Bogdan
This drag and drop feature sounds useful. I'll have to dust off the PC and try it when 5.10 is released. :) I too find it painful to navigate through directories with the browser (not only in ExifToolGUI, but in any application).
- Phil