New File Types Supported
3.30
| .CEX |
Multiple-image JPEG files distributed
by Walmart and Fujifilm. These files are handled as multi-page
files within ThumbsPlus. You can also split them into individual
files. Note: I only have a few samples of CEX files.
If you have any that do not work, please send them to us or upload
to our FTP site. |
| .PIC |
BioRad Confocal PIC files |
| .PIC |
SoftImage PIC files |
| .FPX |
Kodak FlashPix. This is a read-only
implementation. (FlashPix was designed as a whole philosophy of
image storage and processing that clashes with the support for
dozens of formats and the methods of image processing in ThumbsPlus.
I have provided FlashPix Support in ThumbsPlus mainly for compatibility
with digital cameras that produce FPX files. Write capability
will likely be added in a future release; however, support for
storing and modifying the image transforms is unlikely.)
ThumbsPlus reads the transformed
image data; rotations and adjustments stored in the FPX file
are applied. If you want to read the original image instead,
add the following to the THUMBS.INI file:
[FlashPix]
NoTransform=1
|
File Support Improvements
3.30
- ThumbsPlus will now read digital camera (APP12)
markers in JPEG files and display the information in the image
comments.
- Several problems with ATM font recognition
and loading were fixed.
- Fixed a problem with some unusual SFW files.
- Fixed a problem reading grayscale DCS files.
- Fixed a problem in GIF animation painting.
|
Miscellaneous New Features
3.30
- When assigning keywords from the View window,
the keyword dialog is positioned to the side or below the
view window if possible.
- ThumbsPlus will no longer allow a JPEG quality
less than 20, and performs some additional checks when using
the original quality.
- ThumbsPlus now retains the original case
of the extension when generating file names, such as during
Batch Processing. (For example, conversion from ABC.BMP will
result in ABC.JPG rather than ABC.jpg).
- In all places where ThumbsPlus accepts a
file mask (Edit|Select by Mask, Options|Preferences|File List,
Options|Which Files|By Mask), ThumbsPlus will accept multiple
masks separated by a semi-colon; for example: "*.jpg;*.gif;*.bmp."
- The menu item for toggling between showing
Selected Types and By Mask has been split into separate items
for clarity. Additionally, selecting "By Mask" now
allows you to enter a new file mask without having to open
the File List preferences.
|
Problems Fixed 3.30
- Fixed a resource leak when thumbnailing or
viewing icon (.ICO) files.
- Eliminated a memory leak when thumbnailing
or viewing raster PICT files.
- Autocrop did not work properly with bi-level
(monochrome) bitmaps.
- Fixed a paint problem with the selection
rectangle in the view window.
- Print Catalog no longer prints a blank page
if the last page is completely full.
- Made the file recognition routines less likely
to incorrectly identify a MacPaint file.
- The maximum values for number of columns
is adjusted properly in Print Catalog and Contact Sheets.
- A problem writing TIFF 48-bit palettes was
corrected.
- ThumbsPlus now zeroes the buffer for reading
TIFF data, which works around problems reading some files
that were stored with incomplete strips (especially some invalid
CCITT group IV files.)
- The "Category" drop-down in New
Filter and Edit Filter is now properly filled in.
|
- You may now select for animated GIF files
to loop in Options | File Loading | GIF. Only one GIF animation
may be active at a time.
- CMYK TIFF files with alpha channels are now
loaded properly.
- Support has been added for BioRad Confocal
.PIC files.
- Support has been added for Olympus Confocal
.TIFF files
- FLC files will now automatically thumbnail
from the first frame.
- New versions of DCS (Kodak Professional Camera)
files are now supported.
|
- Fixed a filename display problem on Win32s
(the filenames displayed with path information).
- L*a*b color space conversion in TIFF and
PSD files is now much more accurate.
- Support provided for BMP files with BI_BITFIELDS
and more than 8 bits per pixel.
- "Customize toolbar" now remembers
"office 97 style" toolbar setting.
- Options | File Loading | PhotoCD now saves
your selected PhotoCD resolution and format so you don't have
to reset each time you start ThumbsPlus.
- When saving a GIF file, the GIF type (87a,89a)
option was not set appropriately.
- ThumbsPlus will now read JPEG files with
invalid COM marker lengths (i.e., some Accusoft-generated
files).
- The Equalize Histogram command was not available
from Batch Conversion.
- Slide show (-s) and some DDE commands didn't
change to the indicated directory.
- ThumbsPlus now shows any defined alias when
asking you to insert an offline volume.
- The File | Open Database and File
| New Database commands now default to current database's
location.
- The Web Page Wizard shortcut key has changed
to Ctrl+Shift+F8 (the previous shortcut key conflicted with
multi-file keyboard select).
- ThumbsPlus no longer needlessly builds a
palette when batch converting images to Truecolor (RGB) mode.
- Some WPG files that reported "out of
memory" because of extremely complex Bézier curves
now render properly.
- In a view window, the Next File and
Previous File options were disabled after reloading
a file.
- Import filter names were not evident because
of long paths (now shows name at start, followed by the full
path).
- ThumbsPlus now forces a space between the
font sample text and the font name
- Combine keywords (Options | Database | Edit
Keywords) didn't work unless you entered one of the selected
keywords.
- The slide show became the "slide slow"
after a while, and would sometimes consume unnecessary system
resources.
- I changed the background color for histogram.
ThumbsPlus now uses the Tool Tip color from Control Panel,
unless it is a shade of gray, in which case blue is used as
the default.
- "Match by share name" now disables
matching network volumes by serial number.
- The view window scroll bars are now proportional
to the size of the viewable portion of the image (Windows
95/98/NT 4 only).
- Fixed problem where thumbnails did not always
move when moving files (overwrite). Any old thumbnail is now
properly overwritten when the file is overwritten.
- Movies (AVI, MOV, MPG, etc.) now appear in
the Slide Show, and on Windows 3.1/Win32s.
- Other minor fixes.
|
| .IPL |
IPLab images. Image files generated
by versions 2 and 3 of IPLab. ThumbsPlus supports 8-bit grayscale,
16-bit grayscale, 32-bit grayscale, and 32-bit color images. Multi-frame
files are also supported. 16 and 32-bit graycale images are scaled
to 8-bit when loading. |
| .FIT, .FITS, .FTS, .LBL, .HDR |
NASA FITS images. ThumbsPlus supports
many variations of FITS images, including various record formats
(VAX, CRLF, fixed). |
| .PBM, .PGM, .PPM, .PNM |
Portable bitmap, graymap, pixelmap
and anymap (popular Unix intermediate formats for converting between
file types using the PBMPLUS and NETPBM utilities). |
| .PDS |
NASA Planetary Data System files |
| .IMQ |
Compressed PDS files (NASA) |
| .255 |
A variant SBIG format (similar to
.ST5). Compressed and uncompressed images are supported. |
| .FLC, .FLI |
Autodesk Animator animation files
(Windows 95/98 only). |
| .AU, .SND, .AIF, .AIFF, .AIFC |
These sound file formats are now
supported, as long as Microsoft ActiveMovie is installed on your
system. |
- Picture | Find by filename - to search
the ThumbsPlus database for specific file names or masks.
- By checking the "Auto view" box
in Image | Color Adjust and View | Assumed Gamma,
you can now automatically view color adjustments as they are
being made. (Not recommended for slow displays!)
- You can now pan view windows (by dragging
with the right mouse button, or CTRL+left button).
- I added an image processing option (Image
| Process | JPEG Cleanup), which smoothes the edges of
JPEG DCT blocks. It won't recover losses from JPEGs compressed
too far, but often makes them prettier.
- The most recently assigned keywords (single
or multiple) are available for quick assignment when using
the right-click context menu to assign keywords in the main
window.
- On startup, ThumbsPlus checks for unlabeled
hard drives and gives you the opportunity to label them.
- The slide show now (again) defaults to all
files if only one is selected. I'll make this an option if
enough people request a "single-file slide show."
- Database import and export, for combining
or splitting databases, and for transferring database information
to other programs.
- Improved external filter support. Many more
Aldus filters work properly, including the ones distributed
with Microsoft Office products.
- ThumbsPlus now properly orients TIFF files
with unusual orientations.
- You can now specify planar-organized raw
RGB/BGR files (Options | File Loading | Raw).
- ThumbsPlus now uses horizontal differencing
(for improved compression) with LZW saves of 24-bit TIFF files.
- ThumbsPlus shows memory requirement for loading
image in Info box, and size of image in the view window status
line.
- The preview in the Color Adjust dialog is
a wee bit larger.
- The file resolution (dpi) for JPEG files
now appears in File | Properties.
- The File context menu now includes the Print
command.
- New splash screen.
- Histogram stretch (contrast stretch) now
available from Histogram and Batch Convert/Edit.
- The help file has been enhanced and updated
(there's still more to do, but it's more up-to-date than it
was).
|
Note: ThumbsPlus version 3.10 does not represent
major changes since version 3.0g; instead, it re-aligns our
version numbers and indicates the enormous amount of development
that has occurred since the original version 3.0.
- Using some display drivers, 8-bit RLE BMP
files would not load with the correct colors.
- Loading a CAM file showed the progress indicator
and brought the ThumbsPlus main window to front.
- Reducing to 8-bit color is more accurate
and faster in some cases.
- The "disappearing toolbar" magic
trick is gone (where the toolbar would occasionally display
blank).
- The volume information and disk drive letter
are properly displayed on Windows 3.1/Win32s.
- A default toolbar can now be stored in the
THUMBS.DEF file for network installations.
- I fixed problems with multiple keyword lookup
dialogs and the "found" list disappearing when pressing
<ESC> in a view window.
- "Save As" would not work properly
on Windows NT 3.51.
- View window accelerator keys work in slide
show again.
- Fonts were sporadically installed during
catalog/contact sheets.
- AVI files in the same folder caused catalog,
contact, and web page problems.
- An IPF occurred in DIBENG when auto-cropping
some metafiles.
- Pasting a screen capture did not work properly
on Windows NT 4.0 with some 16 or 32-bit display drivers.
- The monitor gamma was ignored in the color
adjust preview and view.
- The annotation and keywords would not always
print when printing images.
- Fixed a problem communicating with some incorrect
TWAIN data sources.
- Invalid compressed BMP files that would crash
some display drivers.
- Some invalid KDC files would cause a GPF
or IPF.
- The result of cropping a monochrome (bi-level)
bitmap would often be off by several pixels.
- The Remove Orphan options "Current Drive"
and "All Local Drives" are now operative.
- "Best fit for sizing" now properly
selects "Resample" when reducing and "Bi-cubic"
when expanding an image without rotation.
- Bad or malformed ICO files could cause ThumbsPlus
crashes, especially on NT.
- A "Multi-page" keyword is now automatically
assigned for animated GIFs, multi-page TIFs and DCX files,
if Automatically generate keywords
From image
attributes is checked in Options | Preferences
| Keywords.
- Minolta RD-175 (.MDC) camera files can now
be read and thumbnailed by ThumbsPlus.
- ThumbsPlus can now thumbnail and view Adobe
Type 1 (ATM) fonts (.PFB files) on Windows NT if ATM deluxe
4.0 NT is installed.
- You can sort the file list by numeric file
name. This will correctly sort file names such as "abc1.jpg,"
"abc10.jpg," and "abc2.jpg."
- I moved the file name displayed in the slide
show to the bottom-left corner of the screen, as it is more
likely to be visible there.
- The dates and times DC40, DC50 and DC120
images were taken are now included in the comments and details
for KDC files.
- Web Wizard thumbnail files (tn_*) now include
the original file extension to avoid duplicate thumbnail file
names when multiple originals had the same name but different
extensions.
- I added a "Save and Close" option
to the View Window. This will save the file and close the
window using one command.
- A new DDE command, ExportThumb is available.
This command will extract all selected files thumbnails
as images and save them to files. Its syntax is:
ExportThumb(type;extension;path)
Where type represents the file type
to write, extension represents the file extension to
use, and path provides the output path for the thumbnail
files.
- ThumbsPlus now recognizes GIF files that
contain garbage before the GIF header (such as files saved
by Microsofts proxy server), and GIF files with zero
sizes in the screen header.
- Autocrop now ignores images that are entirely
one color. This produces more visible thumbnails for solid
files (rather than only a vertical line).
- I added a "Save" button to the
Edit Comments window so you can save image comments to a text
file.
- Uncompressed TIFF files with invalid strip
lengths can now be read.
- You can now acquire and save to multiple
files without viewing first (especially useful for auto-document
feeders). The menu option Picture | TWAIN Multiple Acquire
produces a dialog box where you specify the prefix, sequence
number, and file format for the stored scans. To help you
keep things in sync, ThumbsPlus uses the same prefix and sequence
number for single acquisitions.
- ThumbsPlus can save TIFF files with reduced
color information (6 bits red, 6 bits blue, and 7 bits green)
for increased compressibility. To enable this option, select
Skim low-order bits from the Tiff Options dialog while
saving. This option is only useful for saving 24-bit images;
for other image color depths, it is ignored.
- Selecting the "Include Lores" option
in the Web Page Wizard caused ThumbsPlus to crash.
- ThumbsPlus did not position to the startup
directory when a new database was opened.
- The font selected for displaying image comments
was not saved.
- EPS files would sometimes be left open (and
unable to delete) after thumbnailing or viewing.
- Images and metafiles were always cropped
on catalogs and contact sheets, without regard to the option
setting.
- The third view window cursor (Options | Preferences
| Viewing) did not work properly.
- 24-bit RGB Raw images were not decoded properly.
- Metafiles are now copied to the clipboard
to be compatible with Office 97 applications, which do not
follow Microsoft's own guidelines for pasting metafiles! This
should also work around problems with other programs that
were not pasting metafiles correctly.
- Anti-aliasing is faster and more accurate
when converting metafiles to bitmaps, and when making thumbnails
of metafiles.
- Attempting to combine or rename keywords
of exactly 32 characters would cause ThumbsPlus to crash.
- ThumbsPlus would sometimes crash in the Rotate/Resize
dialog, especially when fitting to height or width and entering
numbers directly.
- .MND (Mandelbrot) files could not be loaded.
- The Professional DCS camera library (PDC_API.DLL)
was not distributed in the 3.0g Registered Upgrade.
- Options | Which Files | Child Folders now
works properly for offline volumes.
- I fixed several other small bugs.
|
- You can now specify up to five keywords for
the keyword lookup (Picture | Find), and the keyword search
is somewhat faster.
- The .PMP file type (Sony digital camera)
is now supported.
- There's an "Office 97 style" option
for the toolbar (Window | Customize Toolbar), and the small
toolbar buttons are sharper.
- ThumbsPlus will refuse to delete the Windows
or System folders, and EXE, DLL, SYS and DRV files incur an
additional warning while deleting.
- You can turn on the option for viewing thumbnails
for the entire current tree (child folders) by default from
Options | Preferences | File List. Note that this can be rather
slow, especially for drives with many files or directories.
- A few new THUMBS.INI file options are available:
[KDC]
UseThumbnails |
Set to one (1) to cause ThumbsPlus
to use the thumbnail present in some KDC files. |
[Catalog]
AlwaysCenter |
Set to one (1) for ThumbsPlus
to always center the columns. (The default is to left-justify
when annotations or keywords are selected.) |
[ContactSheets]
AlwaysCenter |
Set to one (1) for ThumbsPlus
to always center the columns. (The default is to left-justify
when annotations or keywords are selected.) |
[Startup]
NetworkAsRemovable |
Set to zero (0) for ThumbsPlus
to treat network drives more like local disks (each drive
will be queried for its label or connection info upon startup). |
[Startup]
NoExpand |
Set to one (1) for ThumbsPlus
to open with all drives collapsed. |
[Autocrop]
Tolerance |
Set to a value between 0 and
255 to set the autocrop tolerance level for truecolor images.
The higher the number, the less similar the border pixels
have to be. This is especially useful for JPEG files. |
|
The following file types are now supported by
ThumbsPlus:
| KDC |
Kodak DC120 native
camera format. I believe that DC25 images are also supported,
but do not have any examples for verifying this. ThumbsPlus
also loads the image information for all KDC files (exposure
time, zoom focal length, f-stop, distance from camera, etc.)
into the image comments, and displays them in Picture
| Properties | Details. |
| SGI, RGB |
Silicon Graphics
Image files. These are the native raster files from Silicon
Graphics workstations. |
| SFW |
Seattle Filmworks
(Mangled JPEG files). SFW files are standard JFIF files
with different codes for the markers and DCT tables removed. |
| DCS (registered
only) |
Kodak Professional
Digital Camera TIFF files. Images produced by the DCS4xx
series of Kodak cameras are now supported. They have the
standard TIF extension, but are not really TIFF files. Unfortunately,
the DCS library requires that the extension be TIF to load
them, so dont rename them! |
| MIC |
Microsoft Image Composer files. ThumbsPlus
loads these files as a single image (all layers are combined). |
|
| TIFF |
16-bit grayscale
TIFF files are now auto-scaled to 8 bits when loading (rather
than simply using the high-order 8 bits). This behavior
can be reverted to the original behavior by adding a line
"AutoScale16=0" to the [Tiff] section of THUMBS.INI |
| PNG |
PNG files may
now be saved. Transparency and interlacing are not yet supported. |
| JPEG |
Saving JPEG files
as grayscale is no longer available. As far as I could tell,
this option only caused problems. To save a JPEG image as
grayscale, just use Image|Color Depth to reduce it to grayscale
before saving. |
| JPEG |
The original JPEG
image quality is now computed from the quantization tables
and used by default for re-saving JPEG files. |
|
The Web Page Wizard, available on the Thumbnail
menu, provides a way for ThumbsPlus to generate web pages of
thumbnails for publishing on the World Wide Web.
The wizard will guide you through the steps
required to make an on-line catalog of images, and several templates
are available for different web page appearances. The catalog
can be a single page, or may span several pages.
If you select more graphics than will fit in
the table, ThumbsPlus will automatically generate multiple pages;
each generated page will have link to the next and previous
pages.
It requires a fair amount of information to
build the web pages; here are the fields that ThumbsPlus requests
on each Wizard page:
|
Web Page Style
| Style |
The style (template)
to use to generate the web pages. |
| Thumbnail
Table Only |
ThumbsPlus will not
use a template, and will build HTML files that contain only the
tables. Such files are intended for inclusion in other pages,
and are not designed to be published (they dont include
HTML header information or tags). |
| File Name
Prefix |
Enter the HTML file
name you want to use. ThumbsPlus will automatically append the
page number to this. So, if you specify "Page" here,
ThumbsPlus will generate "Page0001.html," "Page0002.html,"
etc. |
Table Format
| Number
of Columns |
Number of columns in
the thumbnail tables. |
| Number
of Rows |
The number of rows in
the thumbnail table. If more files are specified than fit in the
table (rows x columns), ThumbsPlus will generate multiple pages. |
| Border
Size |
The width and height
of the table border. To disable table borders, set this field
to zero. |
Thumbnail Format
| Thumbnail
Width |
The width, in pixels,
of each thumbnail. Larger thumbnails require more disk space for
you and more download time for users. The default is 96 pixels,
which is the same as the default ThumbsPlus thumbnail size. |
| Thumbnail
Height |
The height, in pixels,
of each thumbnail. Larger thumbnails require more disk space for
you and more download time for users. The default is 72 pixels,
which is the same as the default ThumbsPlus thumbnail size. |
| Format
(GIF/Jpeg) |
Select the format for
the thumbnails. Generally, JPEG works best for photographic images,
and GIF for line-drawn. You may wish to experiment with your particular
graphics. |
| Jpeg Quality
|
The quality level for
JPEG thumbnails. This option is available only if you select JPEG
thumbnails. Because thumbnails are small, you can usually get
away with a fairly low quality of 60 or so. |
| Include
Lores |
When you select JPEG
thumbnails, ThumbsPlus can also generate low-resolution black
and white GIF images. Some browsers will load these first, giving
the overall appearance of the page, then load the full-resolution
JPEG images. |
| Use originals if smaller
than thumbnail size |
When the original file is smaller than the thumbnail
size (above), ThumbsPlus will use the original rather than make
a separate file for the thumbnail. (However, if you choose "custom
locations" below, ThumbsPlus will still make a copy of the
file in the thumbnail directory.) |
Files to Thumbnail
| All Files
in the current folder |
Select this option to
generate thumbnails for all files in the current folder. The files
will be ordered just as in the current thumbnail list. |
| Selected
files only |
Select this option to
generate thumbnails only for the selected files. If no files are
selected, this option will be disabled. |
| Copy files
to destination folder |
Check this box if you
want ThumbsPlus to automatically copy the original graphic files
to the destination directory. |
| Lower case
file names |
Forces the file names
to lower case. |
| Netscape
compatible names |
Removes spaces and special
characters from the file names. |
File Information
| File Name |
Select to show the original
file name beneath each thumbnail. |
| File Size |
Select to show the original
file size (in bytes, Kb or Mb) beneath each thumbnail. This can
be useful to give users an idea how long it will take to view
the original. |
| Image Dimensions |
Select to show the width
and height of the original image beneath each thumbnail. |
| File Date |
Select to show the original
files date and time beneath each thumbnail. |
| Keywords |
Shows the keywords associated
with each file in the ThumbsPlus database. |
| Annotation |
Shows the annotation
for each file from the database. |
Web Page Text
| Heading |
Enter the title of the
web pages. |
| Comment |
Enter any additional
text to go on each web page. In the templates supplied with ThumbsPlus,
this information goes between the heading and the thumbnail table. |
| Home page
URL |
Enter a "Return
to" URL. Each page contains a "previous page",
"next page" and "home" link; this URL will
be used for the "home" link. |
File Locations
| Same URL/Folder
for Everything |
Select this option to
place all files (HTML, supporting graphics, original images, and
thumbnail images) in the same folder on your system. This is definitely
the simpler option, and especially recommended for new users. |
| Custom
URLs/Folders |
For advanced users,
this option provides the opportunity to place the HTML pages,
original images, and thumbnail images in different folders (and
URLs). |
Select Location (when "Same URL/Folder"
is selected)
| Select
Location |
This is the folder on
your system where you want to place everything. |
Select Locations (when "Custom
URLs/Folders is selected)
| Base Folder
for HTML pages |
Enter or browse for
the folder in which you want ThumbsPlus to place the generated
HTML pages. |
| Folder
for Images |
Enter or browse for
the folder in which you want ThumbsPlus to place the images. (The
images are only copied here if you selected "Copy files to
destination folder." |
| URL |
Enter the URL (relative
or absolute) that corresponds to the Images folder. Assuming that
your HTML pages are in c:\myweb\catalog and your images are in
c:\myweb\catalog\images, the proper URL would generally be images/. |
| Folder
for Thumbnails |
Enter or browse for
the folder in which you want ThumbsPlus to place the thumbnails. |
| URL |
As for the Images URL
above, enter the URL (relative or absolute) that corresponds to
the Thumbnails folder. |
| No Prefix |
ThumbsPlus does not
prefix the thumbnail file name with "tn_". |
Ready to Build
| Launch
Browser when Done |
Select this
option for ThumbsPlus to launch the first page when the thumbnails
and pages have been created. The local file name will be passed
to your current browser, so if you specified custom folders or
URLs, they should match appropriately. If you specified absolute
URLs, or different URL paths than the physical sub-folder names,
youll need to copy your pages and graphics to your Web server
before testing. |
|
If you wish to create your own templates, you
can do so using any text or HTML editor. ThumbsPlus replaces
tokens in the template with the information you provide using
the wizard, and with a table of thumbnails. You should give
your templates different names, as updates to ThumbsPlus may
overwrite the templates provided. Your template file should
have the extension ".tpt".
ThumbsPlus recognizes the following tokens in
the web page template:
|
| {{Heading}} |
The heading for the
web page. This text is used for the HTML title, and also shown
at the top of the page. |
| {{Comments}} |
Comments (general text).
The text may contain HTML directives. |
| {{Thumbnails}} |
The thumbnail table
itself. The wizard includes options to specify the width (in columns),
the height (in rows), and the border size for the thumbnail table.
You can also specify the size of thumbnails, and which information
will be shown for each file. |
| {{Page}}
|
Current page number. |
| {{Pages}}
|
The total number of
pages generated. |
| {{Prev}
|
The beginning of the
link to the previous page. |
| {/Prev}}
|
The end of the link
to the previous page. |
| {{Next}
|
The beginning of the
link to the next page. |
| {/Next}}
|
The end of the link
to the next page. |
| {{Home}
|
The beginning of the
link to the home page. |
| {/Home}}
|
The end of the link
to the home page. |
|
If your template references graphics, you should
either provide references which you know will be valid when
transferring to your web server, or give them names that start
with the template name, so that ThumbsPlus will automatically
copy them to the destination folder. For example, the provided
template "Fancy" has several associated graphics:
FancyLt.gif, FancyRt.gif, FancyBg.gif, and FancyHm.gif. (These
names are short to ensure compatibility with Windows 3.1; yours
do not have to be.)
Here is the "Simple" template provided
with ThumbsPlus:
- <!DOCTYPE HTML
PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML//EN">
- <html>
- <head>
- <meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
- <title>{{Heading}}</title>
- </head>
- <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
- <h1>{{Heading}}</h1>
- <p>{{Comments}}</p>
- {{Thumbnails}}
- <p>{{Home}Home{/Home}}|{{Prev}Previous
Page{/Prev}}|{{Next}Next Page{/Next}}</p>
- <p>Page {{Page}}
of {{Pages}}
- </body>
- </html>
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ThumbsPlus will respond to the following DDE
commands, each of which is covered in detail more detail:
| Close |
Close a view window |
| CopyClipboard |
Copy an image
or metafile to the clipboard |
| Exit |
Exit the program |
| Find |
Find files by
assigned keyword |
| Keyword |
Assign/remove
keywords from files |
| LocateFile |
Locate and select
a file or set of files (by mask) |
| MakeThumb |
Make a thumbnail
for a file or for currently selected files |
| Open |
Open a file and
show it in a view window |
| OpenDB |
Open a specific
ThumbsPlus database |
| OpenDir |
Position the directory
list in a specific directory |
| Print |
Print a file |
| RefreshTree |
Re-reads the directory tree |
| Remove |
Remove thumbnail
from selected files |
| RemoveTree |
Remove thumbnails
from a directory tree |
| ScanTree |
Scan a directory
tree and create thumbnails |
| SlideShow |
Start a slide
show |
| UpdateAll |
Update all thumbnails
in a specific directory or the current directory |
Note:
Most commands accept a file name as a parameter. You may enclose
the name in quotes if you wish, but this is not required. When
the filename parameter is optional for a command, it is shown
in blue.
You should always use the complete path to the file.
If you use a UNC name (i.e., \\PHILLIP\C\TEMP)
for OpenDir or LocateFile, ThumbsPlus will automatically
map a drive letter for you.
Syntax: CopyClipboard(filename)
Abbreviation: B(filename)
Copies the currently-selected file or a specific
file to the clipboard. If a file is specified, the directory
tree and file list are positioned, and the file becomes selected.
Syntax: Close(filename)
Abbreviation: C(filename)
This function closes any view window for the
file specified.
Syntax: Exit()
Abbreviation: X()
This function closes ThumbsPlus.
Syntax: Keyword(keyword-list|filename)
Abbreviation: K(keyword-list|filename)
This command assigns keywords to or removes
keywords from a file.
The keyword list is separated by semicolons;
each keyword may be preceded by a '-' or '+' to indicate that
the keyword should be removed or added. The default is to add.
Examples:
Keyword("+large;+dog;+animal;-cat|c:\images\animals\dog.jpg")
Syntax: Find(keyword-list)
Abbreviation: F(keyword-list)
Finds files associated with particular keywords.
The keyword-list is formatted as follows:
[how]keyword1;keyword2;
'How' is a single character to indicate whether
all ('&'), any ('|'), or most ('*') keywords must match.
For example:
Find("&raster;.jpg;truecolor")
Find("*raster;truecolor;palette")
Syntax: LocateFile(filename)
Abbreviation: L(filename)
This function locates a file. The directory
list is positioned at the files directory, and the file
itself is selected. You can use a file mask to specify a set
of files to select; for example:
LocateFile(C:\Temp\*.*)
Syntax: MakeThumb(filename)
Abbreviation: M(filename)
This function creates thumbnails for a specific
file or a set of files. The filename parameter is optional;
if not specified, thumbnails are made for any currently selected
files. Like #LJdde_locatefile#LocateFile,
this command will accept a mask for the file name. The directory
list will be repositioned if the file is in a different directory
from the current one.
Syntax: Open(filename)
Alternate: FileOpen(filename)
Abbreviation: O(filename)
This command opens a specific file in a view
window. The current directory position and file selections are
not modified by this command, and this command does not
accept a file mask.
Syntax: OpenDB(filename)
Abbreviation: DB(filename)
This command closes the currently-open ThumbsPlus
database and opens another.
Syntax: OpenDir(path)
Abbreviation: D(path)
This command positions the ThumbsPlus directory
list in a specific directory.
Syntax: Print(filename)
Abbreviation: P(filename)
This command prints a specific file. The current
directory position and file selections are not modified
by this command, and it does not accept a file mask.
Syntax: RefreshTree()
Abbreviation: T()
This command causes ThumbsPlus to re-read the
directory tree, allowing updates from other programs to be visible.
It's also useful as a DDE command to initialize the tree when
ThumbsPlus is started minimized (ThumbsPlus does not read the
tree by default until the main window is visible -- this improves
performance when the "simple" DDE commands are used,
such as Open and Print).
Syntax: RemoveThumb(filename)
Abbreviation: R(filename)
Removes the thumbnail from the currently selected
file, or from a specific file. This also removes any associated
keywords.
Syntax: RemoveTree(path)
Abbreviation: V(path)
Removes thumbnails from the current tree, or
from a specific path.
Syntax: ScanTree(path)
Abbreviation: S(path)
This operation scans the current or a specific
directory tree, creating thumbnails.
Syntax: SlideShow(path)
Abbreviation: W(path)
This function runs a slide show from the current
directory (if no path is specified), or in a specified directory.
If a directory is specified, the directory list is repositioned
in that directory.
Syntax: UpdateAll(filename)
Abbreviation: U(filename)
This function updates all thumbnails in the
current directory (if no filename is specified), or in a specified
directory. If a directory is specified, the directory list is
repositioned in that directory.
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This release of ThumbsPlus allows you to add
toolbar buttons that correspond to other applications. When
pressed, these buttons cause the application to execute and
open any selected file(s).
In order to provide this capability, the Customize
Toolbar dialog has a new button, labeled "External Program."
When clicked, another dialog displays, giving you the opportunity
to locate and configure an external program:
When in toolbar editing mode, you can also double-click any external
program icon to modify its behavior.
Either enter the complete path to the Program
to Run, or click on the browse ("
") button
to locate it. You may locate either the program itself or a
shortcut to it.
Then, select the Icon to be shown as
the toolbar button for the application, and enter Toolbar
& Tooltip Text for the application
If the program is capable of opening multiple
files simultaneously, click on the Accepts Multiple Files
check box. If DDE is also used, then ThumbsPlus will send a
separate DDE command for each selected file; otherwise, the
selected file names will be passed on the command line, each
enclosed in double-quotes, separated by spaces.
If the program is a 16-bit (Windows 3.1 program),
or for some other reason does not accept quoted long file names
as parameters, check Use Short File Names.
If the program responds to DDE commands for
opening files, click on the Use DDE Command check box.
In this case, youll also need to fill in the DDE fields
to show information for how ThumbsPlus should conduct a DDE
conversation with the application.
Enter any required command line options for
starting the program in the DDE Options field. Specify
the applications service name in the DDE Service
field. The DDE Topic field should contain the topic for
the DDE conversation (which is almost always System).
In DDE Command, place the command that ThumbsPlus should
send for each file. Use the string %s to represent
where ThumbsPlus should place the file name.
All of these fields are often contained in the
Windows registry for many applications; check the file extension
for the file type in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. If this key has a sub-key
called shell\Open\ddeexec, then the application
is probably capable of opening files using DDE. Sometimes, the
default value for the extension key has an entry itself that
has the shell\Open\ddexec. For example, if the application XYZ
Image Editor uses a default extension of .XYZ, you could
find either of these situations in the registry:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.xyz\shell\Open\ddexec
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.xyz value: XYZ.Image
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\XYZ.Image\shell\Open\ddeexec
In either case, the information in the shell\Open
sub-tree can be used to specify the DDE fields:
\shell\Open\command
Has any DDE Options required for running
the program (often -dde,
/DDE or /N).
\shell\Open\ddeexec
Has the DDE Command to run; i.e., [Open("%1")]
or [FileOpen("%1")].
Note that ThumbsPlus uses "%s" rather than "%1"
to represent the program name.
...\shell\Open\ddeexec\application
Specifies the DDE Service name to use.
\shell\Open\ddeexec\topic
Show the DDE Topic that should be specified
(usually System). If this key is not present, then
you should use System.
Note: A future release of ThumbsPlus
may provide the ability to automatically extract this information
from the registry.
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- When printing images, you can now select
whether to print them at the resolution (DPI) stored in the
image.
- You can now include various textual items
with printed graphics (Picture | Page Setup), including:
Name, Size, Date/Time, Dimensions, Resolution, Keywords, Annotation,
and IPTC/NAA information.
- When printing a catalog or making contact
sheets, you can now include the keywords and annotation.
- Image filters are now directly accessible
from the Filters sub-menu of the Image menu in a view window.
When filters with options (i.e., direction, channels or aperture)
are picked this way, the last settings are used. To bring
up the settings dialog box, press SHIFT when selecting the
menu item.
- ThumbsPlus can now generate a common optimized
palette from multiple images. You can create such a palette
by itself (Edit | Common Palette), or when batch processing
a group of images (select "Common Optimized" from
the Palette drop-down in Picture | Batch Convert/Edit |
Color Depth).
- Resample is available as an interpolation
method when resizing images. This is best for reducing the
size of images.
- Bi-level images may be scaled-to-gray when
reduced for display (Options | Preferences | Viewing).
- ThumbsPlus can dither output to 15 or 16-bit
displays (Highcolor) for improved appearance. You can turn
this on in Options | Preferences | Viewing.
- There are several image processes available
from the Image menu in the view window:
Auto Color Balance
Shift+A |
Attempts to color balance
the image, based on an average of all pixels or an average
of the pixels in the current selection. If you make a selection,
select an area that should appear gray rather than colored. |
Improve Video Capture
Shift+V |
Increases the image saturation
and contrast, and lightly sharpens the image. |
Fluorescent Lighting
Shift+L |
Attempts to eliminate the
color shift caused by fluorescent lighting. Since different
cameras and videos have different responses to the shift,
and because different lights have different effects, this
filter only handles some cases. |
General Enhancement
Shift+G |
Increases image saturation
and contrast, and sharpens the image. |
Contrast Enhancement
Shift+C |
Increases image contrast and
adjusts assumed gamma by 20%. |
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- You can set the minimum time between automatic
directory updates (the default is 5 seconds) in the Thumbs.ini
file. Add the entry "DirectoryScanFreq=5000" to
the [Startup] section. The value is the number of milliseconds
between refreshes.
- You can now assign multiple keywords to selected
file(s) by separating them with semi-colons in the Assign
Keyword dialog box.
- ThumbsPlus now identifies files faster if
their extension matches the file type (i.e., it checks if
a file named "xyz.jpg" is a JPEG before attempting
to identify it as any other type).
- On Windows NT, Windows 95 and Windows 98,
the default "Save As" dialog box is now the new
Explorer style.
- Several file types have been added as shown
by default.
- You can map and disconnect network drives
from within ThumbsPlus.
- Thumbnail|Scan System is now available.
This provides you the opportunity to scan all drives (or categories
of drives) in a one fell swoop.
- You can save the list of errors generated
to a file.
- The font window saves and uses the last size
and position.
- The file list builds and updates somewhat
more quickly. For the fastest updates in directories with
lots of images, you should set these options:
Options|Preferences|General
Show Orphaned Thumbnails is OFF.
Options|Preferences|General
Automatically Remove Orphans is OFF.
Options|Preferences|File List
Order by is Unsorted.
- You can now do a slide show for the files
in the current folder and all its sub-folders (recursive).
- You can specify, in each TDO file, whether
hidden and system folders are shown in the directory tree:
| [Tree]
|
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| ShowHiddenDirs=1 |
The default is
to show these directories (i.e., MS Internet cache) |
| ShowSystemDirs=1 |
The default is
to show these folders (i.e., Windows\Fonts) |
| ShowHiddenSystemDirs=0 |
The default is
to not show these folders (i.e., Recycled) |
- Prettier icons (at least I think so).
- (Beta 3) There are several menu items which
can be modified by pressing ALT or SHIFT when selecting them:
| Picture|Slide Show |
Press ALT or SHIFT to bring
up the Slide Show Options before running the slide show. |
| Image|Filter |
Press SHIFT to bring up the
Filter Options dialog for the specific filter selected. |
| Options|Sort By|
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Press SHIFT to toggle ascending/descending
when picking a new sort order. |
- You can now select that all thumbnails in
sub-folders be included in the current file list (thumbnail
view). The menu option is Options|Which Files|Child Folders.
- You can toggle between selected file types
and a file mask using Options|Which Files|All Files.
- The startup options have been removed from
Options|Save for Startup, and are now available in
Options|Preferences|Startup. This makes saving current
window size, tree, and directory much more convenient.
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- Creating a contact sheet or batch converting
a group of files that includes sounds, cursors, or fonts no
longer causes an IPF.
- Invalid or partial ZIP files no longer cause
spurious message boxes when scanning a drive or tree.
- View while Loading is no longer available
for PhotoCD files (it didnt work correctly anyway).
- A memory leak was fixed when loading PhotoCD
files, and they are loaded considerably faster.
- When Gamma Correction is set, View While
Loading is on, and JPEGs were loaded in 8-bit mode, the colors
were wrong until the view window was resized or modified.
- Page Setup now correctly displays all margins
when.
- Incorrect values for free space were reported
when more than 2GB was free on a drive.
- Blank headers & footers in contact sheets
and catalogs are now properly saved to the INI file, and blank
lines are no longer added.
- The "New page for each directory"
option now works correctly for both contact sheets and catalogs.
- The selection rectangle is now easier to
see and behaves more properly.
- Write errors in TIFF files are now only supported
once.
- Edit|Select All (Ctrl+A) did not work
properly when only a single file was in a folder.
- The "screen background" is eliminated
by default from when saving GIFs.
- Options|Viewing|Zoom-Fit to Width
did not work properly.
- Zip files on CD-ROMs did not work.
- CD-ROMs and removable volumes without volume
labels would not show up.
- Orphan thumbnails no longer disappear when
the file list refreshes because of a change in the folder.
- Folders are colored properly when files are
moved or copied into them.
- ThumbsPlus responds more appropriately when
you change the display color depth on-the-fly.
- Adobe Type Manager font names now appear
in the file list.
- Multi-page DCX images are now handled properly,
and the DCX file type has been added to the file type list.
- The file list is more appropriately positioned
after deleting or moving a bunch of files.
- Many fixes to printing catalogs and making
contact sheets.
- Fonts with 8-bit characters in the font name
are now properly thumbnailed.
- When the TWAIN update is selected during
installation or upgrade, ThumbsPlus now properly forces all
TWAIN DLLs and EXEs to the Windows directory.
- Several other small bugs were fixed.
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Problems Fixed - 3.0f2
- A Win32s problem caused ThumbsPlus to repeatedly
update the file list on Windows 3.x.
- To fix the problem where the mouse could
not sometimes be used in confirmation dialog boxes, ThumbsPlus
no longer updates the file list when a dialog box is shown.
- 256-color icons are now shown and thumbnailed
properly.
- The recycle bin, automatic removal of thumbnails,
and aspect fit in the slide show are now on by default after
installing ThumbsPlus.
- An "Unsorted" option was added
to Options | Sort By.
- When multiple drive letters are mapped to
the same network disk, drive entries no longer disappear when
switching between them.
- File library warnings (which do not affect
the loading of files) are now off by default. You can enable
them using Options | Preferences | Advanced.
- Options | Preferences | File List
now includes an option to disable automatic detection of directory
changes. (Window | Refresh or F3 can still be used
to update the list manually.)
- ALT+Enter is now another keyboard
shortcut for Picture | Properties.
- The pixel position and color were not reported
correctly in the View Window status line. (The pixel below
and to the right of the current pixel was shown instead.)
- Volume | Properties (from the context
menu) now shows additional information about both the physical
volume and how it is matched in the database.
- ThumbsPlus now loads as much as possible
of incomplete TIFF files ("Read Error on strip
").
- Images are now only auto-cropped when printing
if "Autocrop when Viewing" is on in Options |
Preferences | General. (In a future release, printing
will receive its own option setting).
- The keyword drop-down lists can now be turned
off (Options | Preferences | Keywords) to improve performance
when thousands of keywords are in use, or for when the database
is on a network.
- The error messages generated by the ThumbsPlus
Database Utilities are now more meaningful.
- Black pixels in PiNG files were sometimes
rendered as transparent.
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Problems Fixed - 3.0f1
Installation issues:
- Registry utilities combined into a single
utility (which now works).
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