jExifToolGUI: A java/Swing Windows/Linux/MacOS graphical frontend

[hvdwolf]

(I did not have a screen recorder on my Mac)

Quicktime player --> new screen recording

Yes, thanks. I found it by now. After my post I googled for a screen capture app and then it turned out to be so simple

[hvdwolf]

Version 1.7.0 released  Release page; Changelog

[hvdwolf]

Version 1.8.0 released Releases page Changelog

[Megabyte]

I only found out about jExifTool Today and tried it as soon as I could. I have read many posts in this forum, and read everything I can find online. Yet I am confused and perhapos disappointed! I assumed it would be an updated version of ExifTollGUI, but it's so different. I am so very dependant on seeing files listed vertically on the left and metadata columns listed horizontally at the top so basically everything is sideways for me. I have not yet figured out if it's even possible to view things the way I need to - similar to File Explorer or Directory Opus.
Perhaps this application meets other people's needs very well. I wonder if I am missing somethinmg basic!??
Are they just very different deliberately for some reason I don't know?
Thank you.

[hvdwolf]

I am sorry to hear this, but exiftoolgui and jExifToolGUI have no relation whatsoever, apart from the fact thay they both try to offer a graphic user interface for exiftool.

exiftoolgui was written as closed source for windows.
jExifToolGUI is an open source cross-platform java application and the successor of my previous open-source cross-platform program pyExifToolGUI which started in 2011 or so. (Being a MacOS/Linux user I did not even know about the existence of exiftoolgui until I came here for my pyexiftoolgui)
As jexiftoolgui and exiftoolgui are both graphic user intefaces on top of Phils ExifTool, they both have a lot in common in functionality.

exiftoolgui and jexiftoolgui(and pyexiftoolgui) have a completely different design basis. Just like many other image programs like shotwell, digikam, etc. more or less look the same, but have a different UI and user experience as well and require some adaptation.
So you either need to adapt or find something else that better suits your needs.

And even if jExifToolgui was somehow an update for exiftoolgui: Don't blame the open-source developer for something you yourself didn't do. If they don't make Windows 3.11 anymore, don't blame another for creating something completely else like Linux or MacOS.

Note with regard to design principal for my jtg: Unlike exiftoolgui and fastfototagger, my intentions were always to show as much and detailed metadata as the image had to offer. You watch (and enjoy) your images in a viewer and metadata edit your images in a tool that shows as much metadata as possible. That requires a different ui setup especially in 2011/2012 where screen resolutions were varying from 1200x800 / 1366x768 to max. 1600x900 for macbook pros.

[Megabyte]

Thank you for clarifying. I am grateful fut the work you've done. My assumption was obviously wrong.
I'm not sure if this is the correct place to post more questions, but there doesn't seem to be a better place! Where should I post my questions?
If I want to see the metadata of several photos at once, the only way I've figured out how to do that is by selecting them in the left panel, then clicking 'Compare'. Is that the only way?
Thank you.

[hvdwolf]

Hi,

Yes. That is how it should be done.
I want to expand this function further "at some time" to also display the differences between the images for the displayed Tags.

[Birdman]

... What would people think if I moved it to the ExifToolGUI board and somehow broadened that board description to encompass other GUI's?

Yes, this really would be a good idea. I am afraid, special questions to this GUI would get lost in this single thread.

[Birdman]

I just installed the GUI on Win 10 and started exploring it. Nice GUI! One question about modifying the metadata: Is it correct, that all metadata fields are empty when I select a picture? Wouldn't it be more convenient, if the filled metadata fields of the picture would be displayed? This would it make much easier to see which fields need to be modified and which are already correct.

Martin

[hvdwolf]

Is it correct, that all metadata fields are empty when I select a picture? Wouldn't it be more convenient, if the filled metadata fields of the picture would be displayed? This would it make much easier to see which fields need to be modified and which are already correct.

Yes, you are correct that the fields are empty. You can display the metadata in the view tab.
But I like your idea, especially if you want to modify your images one by one.
And if you want to bulk modify your images with the tags fn one of your images (that was my design), you can still copy from one image, select 10 (or 30 or 50), and save to all at once.

But there are some complications here:
If you select a number of images, should the program display the metadata from the first or the last image or not at all?
And if you have 30 images selected (or so), how do you decide/select from which image to copy?
Or should you first select one image and copy the metadata from it, and then select the images you want to "save to selected images" from your first selected image. This 3rd one is the current flow and how I do my modifications.
(my previous pyExifToolGUI had a right-click option where you could copy from one image, then select any number of images, and copy the metadata from that one right-clicked image to your selected images. Combinations of selection options in tables work different in java swing and right-click still doesn't work).

I want to release a new version in 2~3 weeks, and this will not be part of it.
But I will think about it. It should lso be very clear to the user what he/she is actually doing.

[PersistentPacifier]

Thanks for your work. I just downloaded the application to try it but it has some difficulties when there are more than one item in path that contains exiftool.
I have -besides the path where exiftool is located- the path to Advanced Renamer too and that app also comes with an exiftool executable bundled so it seems (by the logs) that your app is trying to execute exiftool by combining both paths, this is what I have in the log:

Code Select Expand

java.io.IOException: Cannot run program "C:/Programs/Exiftool/exiftool.exeC:/Programs/Advanced Renamer/exiftool.exe": CreateProcess error=2, El sistema no puede encontrar el archivo especificado

I guess the app should just use one of the paths (the first one) when it detects more than one item.

[hvdwolf]

Hi,

This is an issue with windows security. An app that has not been downloaded from the app store, can't execute a program from c:\Programs (c:\Program Files or c:\windows) . This "could" be a serious attack on your system. That's why.
I will not add my app to the store. The fact that you see 2 entries (or 10) is not that it tries both (or 10) at the same time, but that it can't execute either of them.

By now this becomes a serious issue as more and more users use the alternative installer, or copy exiftool in c:\programs or c:\windows, as Phil suggests (and that is easier if you use exiftool only as command line tool). And next to that you also have programs that also come with exiftool.
In the next release I will incorporate exiftool as well to overcome these issues. Then JTG will first check in it's own folder for exiftool and use that one, unless you specify something else in the preferences.

[obetz]

This is an issue with windows security. An app that has not been downloaded from the app store, can't execute a program from c:\Programs (c:\Program Files or c:\windows)

I can't believe this. Would you mind to provide more information?

And you don't answer PersistentPacifier's observation about concatenation of two path entries. BTW: "El sistema no puede encontrar el archivo especificado" means "The system cannot find the specified file" which is obvious for "C:/Programs/Exiftool/exiftool.exeC:/Programs/Advanced Renamer/exiftool.exe".

By now this becomes a serious issue as more and more users use the alternative installer

Please explain how my installer causes "problems" to enable me fixing it if necessary.

or copy exiftool in c:\programs or c:\windows, as Phil suggests

Phil, may I ask you to reconsider the installation instructions in this regard? c:\windows is really not the right place.

Oliver

[hvdwolf]

This is an issue with windows security. An app that has not been downloaded from the app store, can't execute a program from c:\Programs (c:\Program Files or c:\windows)

I can't believe this. Would you mind to provide more information?

This has been tested by a user who filed a ticket. He mentioned that it did work if he used JTG with admin rights. But that was indeed on c:\windows, not "C:\Program Files\..." (see below). I did not dive into the details. I just follow the user who tested it, but I guess that a user using exiftool directly from c:\windows is different from a "non-appstore, possibly malicious third-party program" trying to execute exiftool. On my (windows) work laptop we use group-policies doing the exact same things to some functionalities. Another user mentioned in a ticket that he himself had set restrictions (suggested by windows 10) which prevented him from executing programs (both exiftool and JTG) outside the normal locations (Program Files(x86)). He reversed that the moment he found out (and again: please don't ask me as I did not ask him).

And you don't answer PersistentPacifier's observation about concatenation of two path entries. BTW: "El sistema no puede encontrar el archivo especificado" means "The system cannot find the specified file" which is obvious for "C:/Programs/Exiftool/exiftool.exeC:/Programs/Advanced Renamer/exiftool.exe".

I did answer that:

The fact that you see 2 entries (or 10) is not that it tries both (or 10) at the same time, but that it can't execute either of them.

However, my observation was wrong. The app searches the PATH and lists all found exiftools. I do a string split on line endings, but windows and unixes have different line endings and the split doesn't work on windows. I need to fix and improve that. So indeed: On windows this delivers a concatenated path with "all" the exiftools found. On unix/linux alikes it works correct (although this "multiple occurrences in the PATH" does not happen on unixes/linuxes unless done on purpose, and MacOS separates this by using the app bundles).

By now this becomes a serious issue as more and more users use the alternative installer

Please explain how my installer causes "problems" to enable me fixing it if necessary.

Not your installer needs to be fixed, but my my program. On every call of exiftool (actually only a few standardized calls), I "escape" spaces in the PATH, apart from the very first "where is exiftool and check it" call where I forgot to that. Already fixed in the development tree.
(Windows is my weak spot. I don't have windows at home, only linuxes, chromebooks (using linux beta) and an old Macbook.)

or copy exiftool in c:\programs or c:\windows, as Phil suggests

Phil, may I ask you to reconsider the installation instructions in this regard? c:\windows is really not the right place.

Agree

===
I am currently working on a Version 2.0 which contains many bug fixes (and probably new bugs) and new functionalities. (And version jump to 2.0 as I drop support for java 8 (Support from Oracle was already dropped March 2013!) and include exiftool in relevant releases (to overcome other issues, whether or not my (programming) fault(s)). Of course it will still be possible to select your own version of exiftool via the preferences.

[obetz]

(Windows is my weak spot. I don't have windows at home, only linuxes, chromebooks (using linux beta) and an old Macbook.)

then please double check before posting about Windows.