[bonnyr]

Would it be possible to have more than one job token?
I've got several situations where I need to place files in folders under
one central folder for which I use the Job token.
I can of course use the preferences, but I'm trying to avoid this (being lazy, of course :) ).
Alternatively, why isn't it possible to specify a job token containing directory
separators? surely when this is appended to the complete download path
it either makes for a valid directory name or not - same api call to verify anyway.

Thanks for a great program.

[Chris Breeze]

Would it be possible to have more than one job token?
I've got several situations where I need to place files in folders under
one central folder for which I use the Job token.
I can of course use the preferences, but I'm trying to avoid this (being lazy, of course :) ).
It's a trade off between making the app flexible without making the interface too complicated or confusing. I'll give this some thought.

Alternatively, why isn't it possible to specify a job token containing directory
separators? surely when this is appended to the complete download path
it either makes for a valid directory name or not - same api call to verify anyway.
It can't contain \ because you can use the job code for the filename and \ is not allowed in filenames.

[bonnyr]

Chris,


It can't contain \ because you can use the job code for the filename and \ is not allowed in filenames.

I accept that having '\' in file names may be confusing for some (ok, most), but perhaps this could be indicated using a warning, rather than an error
message, kind of like a 'power user mode'. This is somewhat akin to regular
expressions and other kind of searches: once you master the syntax and can
realise the power, you'll never go back, but the learning curve is not without
it's price.

Anyway, just a thought

[Chris Breeze]

Actually Windows does not allow \ in filenames or /:*?"|

[bonnyr]

Chris,

I realise that path seperators are not allowed in file names, but I thought
that to make up each candidate target file name you append the file name
to the directory name and get an absolute path, at which point a file names
with path separators in them would be simply treated as part of the path
leading to the desired directory.
I further assumed that at this point this absolute path is being broken into
its consituent parts, leaving the last bit as the file name, so for example:
dn: c:\Images\%Y\%m
fn: %J\ABCD%r8
J: Client\Job1

the resulting complete path is: c:\Images\2005\12\Client\Job1\ABCD15111.CR2

This is still a valid absolute path and at the end of it is a valid file name.

[Chris Breeze]

It's possible it might work but DLPro wasn't designed to work this way. I also think that being able to specify a filename that is partly a directory pathname would confuse most users.

[bonnyr]

Chris,

It's possible it might work but DLPro wasn't designed to work this way. I also think that being able to specify a filename that is partly a directory pathname would confuse most users.

OK, I almost give up :).

What about adding a second job related token, which can be used in directory
names only? Again, the reasons for wanting this are that sometimes the same
event may have multiple segments which I would like to store in separate directories
and also, since my camera (1D II) formats all the cards with the same directory
name, I cannot use the name of the directory on the card as a distinguishing
token, and time based tokens mean that the same card can be split across two
folders, again an undesired effect.

Again, perhaps this could be a 'power user' kind of option that is disabled by
default but when enabled would allow users to specify Job/Event values.

[Nill Toulme]

Couldn't you accomplish that just by using the multiple job tokens you're asking for, and make your download path, e.g., \pix\%J1\%J2? That could parse to, e.g., \pix\Smith Wedding\Reception. Unless you use different cards for each segment of the event none of this is going to work anyway. Is it?

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

[bonnyr]

Nill,


Couldn't you accomplish that just by using the multiple job tokens you're asking for, and make your download path, e.g., \pix\%J1\%J2? That could parse to, e.g., \pix\Smith Wedding\Reception. Unless you use different cards for each segment of the event none of this is going to work anyway. Is it?

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net


I could if these tokens were defined, but there's only one %j token as far as I know.

[Chris Breeze]

Chris,


OK, I almost give up :).

What about adding a second job related token, which can be used in directory
names only? Again, the reasons for wanting this are that sometimes the same
event may have multiple segments which I would like to store in separate directories
and also, since my camera (1D II) formats all the cards with the same directory
name, I cannot use the name of the directory on the card as a distinguishing
token, and time based tokens mean that the same card can be split across two
folders, again an undesired effect.

Again, perhaps this could be a 'power user' kind of option that is disabled by
default but when enabled would allow users to specify Job/Event values.


Sorry, I'm a bit confused now. If the different segments of the job are not date related and all the images are stored in the same folder how would DLPro know how to apply multiple job codes to them if it did support this?
You can select a group of images, define a job code, download them and then select the next group of images and repeat the process.

[bonnyr]

Chris,

Sorry, I'm a bit confused now. If the different segments of the job are not date related and all the images are stored in the same folder how would DLPro know how to apply multiple job codes to them if it did support this?
You can select a group of images, define a job code, download them and then select the next group of images and repeat the process.

First, let me say that it is possible to do what I wish to do simply by going to
the preferences dialog every time a card is inserted and specify a download
path that ends with a %j\. It just seems that since
the dialog being popped up prompts for a single job code and it is a matter
of clicking a few more buttons and me being lazy and all :), it would be nice
to have something along the lines of Nill's suggestion. Please consider :)

As to the date related folder creation - I would sometimes shoot an event
with multiple segments that may span the midnight time point. I am aware
of the tokens that allow you to allow for up to 3 hours past that point to
still be considered as the previous date. However, the segments need to be
somehow separated and as an initial separation, the card sequence number
(simply the ordinal representing the order of shooting) is sufficient and is
better than a time marker since I would replace cards with each segment
to ensure I start with a new, empty card. In any case, using the time does
not correspond to this arbitrary sequence and would not capture these
segments. Add to this the fact that the downloading happens during the
shoot, without a lot of time to play around. This would mean that another
job code, the one I would change more ofen during such shoot will be very
useful.

Hope this sheds more light on what I would like to achieve and why I think
that a second job code would be really useful.

[Chris Breeze]

I think the simplest solution is to allow \ in the job code and if it is used in the filename replace it with another character such as _

[bonnyr]

Chris,


I think the simplest solution is to allow \ in the job code and if it is used in the filename replace it with another character such as _

That would be superb! When can I have it ;) ?

Merry XMas and a happy new year.

[Chris Breeze]

It should be ready for release in January. I'm still waiting for Canon to release the new PowerShot SDK so that DLPro can download from Canon's latest PowerShot cameras.

[bonnyr]

It should be ready for release in January. I'm still waiting for Canon to release the new PowerShot SDK so that DLPro can download from Canon's latest PowerShot cameras.


Thanks! Looking forwards to using it when it comes out.

[bonnyr]

Chris,

Thanks for implementing this in 1.81. I know this will be very useful.