The ImageDB program options dialog will be displayed:
Autosave
An autosave feature is provided and by default is enabled with a 30 minute
interval. If enabled the database will be autosaved at the specified interval,
but only if it has been modified since the last save. Note it is ok to put this
down to a very small interval since nothing will happen if the database has not
been modified, effectively giving you a save after every change.
Exclude database images when browsing
When browsing it is perfectly possible that you may browse into a folder
that contains images already in your database. If this option is checked then
any database images in that folder will not be displayed.
Exclude unknown file types when browsing
If this option is selected then only files with a known image file extension
in the selected folder will be displayed. If it is not selected then all files
in the selected folder will be displayed and any unknown file types will be
displayed with an appropriate message instead of a thumbnail image.
Copy EXIF data to image properties on import
If this option is selected then all images being imported will automatically
have their EXIF data (if any) copied to the image properties according to the
field copy options set up in the EXIF data view dialog.
It is not an error if any of the images do not have any EXIF data. This option
may make the import somewhat slower as each image being imported will have to
have its EXIF data read in.
Copy image index to caption and description fields on import
If either of these options are selected the image index is copied to the
caption and/or the description fields in the image properties on import. Note
that if selected the EXIF option (above) will take priority over this option. In
other words if the EXIF option is selected and the caption or description fields
have EXIF fields assigned to be copied to them then this will be done instead of
copying the image index.
Sort Database when opening
Sorting a very large database can take time and for this and other reasons
the database is not always automatically re-sorted after properties have been
changed that may affect the sort order (see
View - Re-Sort Images).
Therefore to be safe the database can be set to re-sort the database whenever it
is opened, though this will slow down the opening of very large databases.
Selection surround strength
This option allows you to control how bright the surround of selected images
is to make them easier to distinguish. Values in the range 0 (black) to 255
(white) can be entered. The default is 220 - light grey. Watch out though,
values around 210 will give a surround almost indistinguishable from unselected
images! This will also effect the brightness of red for selected picked up
images and the green for selected categorised (but un-imported) images.
Printing surround strength
This option allows you to control how bright the image surround
is when printing thumbnails. Values in the range 0 (black) to 255
(white) can be entered. The default is 255 - white. Note that selecting white
will therefore help conserve printer ink especially if printing details with the
thumbnails.
Default date format
Select your preferred date format to be used when displaying or inputting
dates.
Max Width and Height
Specify the maximum width and height dimension for displaying the image
thumbnails. It does not matter whether the thumbnail files are actually this
size nor even that any thumbnails are available. The thumbnail image will be
shrunk to fit these maximum dimensions.
Thumbnail prefix/suffix
If you are storing thumbnails with the
main image you can select whether you want your thumbnail names to use a prefix or
suffix and specify what the prefix/suffix should be. You should make sure that
your prefix/suffix text is highly unlikely to appear at the start/end of a
normal image file name as this will confuse ImageDB! Also be careful when
changing this option. The new choice will also be used by any other ImageDB
database that you might have; when changed all thumbnails in the current
database will be renamed but not those in other databases. To ensure they are
correctly changed as well follow the following steps in strict order.
Repeat this process for any other databases you may have.
Note: using a prefix has the advantage of grouping all the thumbnails and main images separately in folder listings sorted by name in programs like My Computer and Windows Explorer.
Show Index or Caption with Thumbnail
Select whether you wish to see the image index (filename) or the image caption
below the thumbnails in thumbnail views. Note when in browse mode it will only
show the index.
Quality
This is the JPEG compression quality that will be used when creating
thumbnail JPEG images. 100 is the highest and creates the largest image file
whilst 0 is the lowest and creates the smallest image file. For thumbnails a
good value is around 60 which gives reasonable quality whilst making a
relatively small file.
Local Thumbnail Location
All thumbnails selected to be stored
locally will be stored in this location.
Limit loaded thumbnails to those in current view
Very large database can significantly slow the response of the system
(typically in excess of 5000 images or more depending on the memory of your
computer). This is because by default all thumbnails for all images in the
database are loaded into memory and with a very large database this will use a
lot of your system resources. If you have noticed this effect then check this
box and only the thumbnails for the images in the current view will be loaded.
Unfortunately this does mean that each time you change the images in view (eg
changing the current category selection) any thumbnails in the new view not
already loaded will have to be loaded. However as the thumbnail loading process
is optimised for the currently visible images this should not be a very big
problem unless you are scrolling around a lot whilst they are still loading.
Note: if you set up a category selection that results in a very large number of
images being in the current view then you may still slow your system down until
your selection is narrowed. Note this option is saved on a per database basis.
JPEG Quality
This is the JPEG compression quality that will be the default used when
saving saving a JPEG image after doing any transformations.
100 is the highest and creates the largest image file whilst 0 is the lowest and
creates the smallest image file. For main images a good value is around 80 which
gives good quality whilst making a relatively small file.
Use relative path
If this option is selected then all image paths are stored as
"relative" paths to the location of the current database file. For
this option to be allowed all images must be stored in subfolders below the
folder where the open database file is located. This allows the complete
database to be easily moved to a new location (eg a CD) and when the database
file is opened the image paths (and local thumbnail location) will all be
adjusted to the location of the database file. If this option is de-selected
then all image locations will be fixed to their current location. This feature
is particularly useful if you wish to distribute your image database on a CD
with a copy of the read only version of ImageDB - ImageDBReader. Note that
ImageDBReader is free for personal use but a license fee must be paid for legal
distribution.
Display Caption with Image
If selected the image caption will be displayed when an image is viewed full
size. This will be overlaid over the bottom of the image. Note it will also be
displayed when running a slideshow.
Application to run on Open
Use the browse button to browse to the application file (.exe) to run when
selecting the Image - Open option. Leave
this field blank to use the default Windows application. That is the application
that has been set up in Windows to be associated with the selected image file
type.
Slideshow Interval
This determines the pause between each slide display. It can also be set with
the slider or with the left and right arrow keys. Note for the arrow keys to
work the main display pane must have the current focus.
Slideshow Cycle Continuously
If this option is checked the slideshow will restart from the beginning
again when it reaches the end of the show.
View Full Screen
If this option is checked then when a slideshow is run it will take over the
entire screen using a black background suitable for a formal presentation. When
the slideshow ends (or is stopped with the Escape key) it will return to the
normal view mode.
Include Acknowledgement
When creating a web site a small acknowledgement to ImageDB will be displayed at
the bottom of each page. Whilst I have included the option to switch this
acknowledgement off - I would really appreciate it if you left it on. It really
is only very small and I can use any promotion I can get :-)
© 2004 Focus Software Solutions www.focussoftware.co.uk