Star*Explorer Thread

[HDVideo]

I have just installed the trial version of S*E, which I'm sure will be an invaluable application for uploading large numbers of photos. Thank you for taking the time to create such a program.

My first task was to create a new gallery, and I noticed the following:

1. The Appearance Option did not set properly when "custom" is selected
2. Keywords set in S*E did not transfer at all (I did have some quotation marks around multiple words)
3. Geography, Hide Owner and Default Color options are not available in S*E

Thanks again for an excellent and well supported application!

Ed

[Nikolai]

I have just installed the trial version of S*E, which I'm sure will be an invaluable application for uploading large numbers of photos. Thank you for taking the time to create such a program.
Thank you very much for trying S*E, I'm positive you'll like it:-)


My first task was to create a new gallery, and I noticed the following:
1. The Appearance Option did not set properly when "custom" is selected
Appearance? I don't recall S*E having an option named like that:scratch Can you please provide more info?


2. Keywords set in S*E did not transfer at all (I did have some quotation marks around multiple words)
Hm-m:scratch You're talking about album keywords, not images keywords, right? I'm using this feature all the time and it's been working fine, and I never heard from anybody that it was not working... Can you please double check, and, if it is still happening, give me a specific example of the keywords string you used? Thank you!

3. Geography, Hide Owner and Default Color options are not available in S*E
AFAIK, those fields are not supported but the official production API calls, hence - :dunno. They have been introduced AFTER the production API was released. S*E uses API (for most cases), hence it can only be as good as the API allows.


Thanks again for an excellent and well supported application!
EdThank you for your comments!
I hope all the issues above will be resolved in no time to your satisfaction:-)

Cheers!:1drink

[Nikolai]

Something is not right with the newest version 132. After finishing an upload the statusbar always looks like this:
http://rainforest1155.smugmug.com/photos/46439338-L.gif
As if it's not yet finished. Also the bar flickers as it is updated all the time, I guess that's why S*E pulls 100% CPU in my taskmanager all the time.
Happens after each upload - just tried a tiny gif file after restarting it - the same and the log doesn't show anything unusual even with all logging options turned on. Just 'Finished upload'.

This doesn't apply for getting image infos from the SM server.

Hope you can nail the problem,
Sebastian
Just to have a "confirmed hit" in the "official" thread:):
Cheers!:1drink

[rainforest1155]

Appearance? I don't recall S*E having an option named like that:scratch Can you please provide more info?I have one theme in my account named 'Fall' and this is the one automaticly gets chosen everytime I create a new album instead of the default setting. I guess this is also what HDVideo was referring too. Forgot to mention it all the time. :rolleyes

Sebastian

[Nikolai]

I have one theme in my account named 'Fall' and this is the one automaticly gets chosen everytime I create a new album instead of the default setting. I guess this is also what HDVideo was referring too. Forgot to mention it all the time. :rolleyes

Sebastianbut just in case: In Album settings dialog the check-boxes on the right implement not boolean, binary logic (Set Vs. Clear), but rather "ternary" one: Set Vs. Clear Vs Gray. "Gray" means "default", i.e. whatever your theme, or your account or SM server in general would decide to do.

HTH

[rainforest1155]

but just in case: In Album settings dialog the check-boxes on the right implement not boolean, binary logic (Set Vs. Clear), but rather "ternary" one: Set Vs. Clear Vs Gray. "Gray" means "default", i.e. whatever your theme, or your account or SM server in general would decide to do.I tried it and set all settings to default like this (http://rainforest1155.smugmug.com/photos/46900846-O.gif). It still resulted in selecting the 'Fall' theme as standard.
This is how my theme list looks like:
http://rainforest1155.smugmug.com/photos/46901391-O.gif
The full log contained also no helpfull info, but I can send it to you if it's any help.

Thanks,
Sebastian

[Nikolai]

I tried it and set all settings to default like this (http://rainforest1155.smugmug.com/photos/46900846-O.gif). It still resulted in selecting the 'Fall' theme as standard.
This is how my theme list looks like:
http://rainforest1155.smugmug.com/photos/46901391-O.gif
The full log contained also no helpful info, but I can send it to you if it's any help.

Thanks,
Sebastian
Sebastian, thank you so much for the clarification!
As Andy keeps saying, "one picture worth.." (you know:-)

Well, this is exactly the first part of the problem: the "Fall" theme is the first one in your list, therefore - I think - it is being applied. Interesting fact - I don't have this theme in my list, my top one is "default".

The second part of the problem lies in the fact that the corresponding API for album creation (http://www.smugmug.com/hack/method-smugmug.albums.create) does not support this parameter at all. Henceforth S*E, as any other API-abiding app, has zero control over this particular feature:dunno

I guess that is pretty much it. Until the underlying API is enhanced, no 3d party app (except those that would hack via UI, which is tedious and highly error-prone way, to say the least, I don't know any one performing this task this way) is able to control the theme during the album creation process.
Sorry!:rolleyes

[rainforest1155]

Sebastian, thank you so much for the clarification!
As Andy keeps saying, "one picture worth.." (you know:-)

Well, this is exactly the first part of the problem: the "Fall" theme is the first one in your list, therefore - I think - it is being applied. Interesting fact - I don't have this theme in my list, my top one is "default".You don't have this, because this is one I created on my own - also currently working on it for possible deployment in smugmug in a far, far away future. :D I hope I can manage it much earlier, but we'll see.
My guess is that all themes you created on your own are placed in front of the list - nothing else could explain the odd sorting otherwise. Okay, the themes are all sorted in odd ways following no visible rule except the date of deployment.:rofl

Sebastian

[Nikolai]

You don't have this, because this is one I created on my own - also currently working on it for possible deployment in smugmug in a far, far away future. :D I hope I can manage it much earlier, but we'll see.
My guess is that all themes you created on your own are placed in front of the list - nothing else could explain the odd sorting otherwise. Okay, the themes are all sorted in odd ways following no visible rule except the date of deployment.:rofl

Sebastian
At any rate, this issue is beyond my (or S*E) grasp, so forth we simply have to live with it..:dunno (that is, until the API in question is extended to control themes, too :D :-)

Cheers!:1drink

[Nikolai]

I just realized that Filmstrip in not a hack anymore, so I hurried up and added support for it (and also Smugmug Small) in Album Creation.

Enjoy!:1drink

[HDVideo]

Appearance? I don't recall S*E having an option named like that:scratch Can you please provide more info?In the S*E album settings you have the option "Display Custom Header" which I assumed corresponded to the SM gallery option "Appearance", since no other SM option seemed to fit. Checking "Display Custom Header" does not set the SM option "Appearance" to "custom", as I expected that it would.

Hm-m:scratch You're talking about album keywords, not images keywords, right? I'm using this feature all the time and it's been working fine, and I never heard from anybody that it was not working... Can you please double check, and, if it is still happening, give me a specific example of the keywords string you used? Thank you!Yes, I was referring to album keywords. I did another test this morning and if no quotation marks are used, the words transfer OK. Anything following the first quote is discarded. I think using quotes around groups of words in SM gallery customization behaves the same way, although it *does* work when assigning image keywords. What is the proper way to insert "Las Cruces" for example, so that it does not receive a hit only on the word "Las"?

AFAIK, those fields are not supported but the official production API calls, hence - :dunno. They have been introduced AFTER the production API was released. S*E uses API (for most cases), hence it can only be as good as the API allows.Thanks for clearing that up.

Thank you for your comments!
I hope all the issues above will be resolved in no time to your satisfaction:-)

Cheers!:1drinkI look forward to using your program and since I shot just over 1000 photos yesterday, it will certainly be put to the test soon. Thank you for the prompt response!
Ed

[Nikolai]

You have found a bug (with the quoted keywords). :thumb Didn't happen for a while...:):

At this point I can't tell you whose bug it is (may be mine, may be not), but I would most likely know by the end of today. And if it's mine - it will be fixed today, too:-), so watch the version number:-)

I'll double check the "display custom header/appearance" issue. At this point I can only tell that this API feature would work only for power/pro SM accounts, so unless you have one - it would not work:dunno . You can adjust S*E account settings to match your actual SM account ones, so at least S*E would tell you which options you can and cannot use.


I look forward to using your program and since I shot just over 1000 photos yesterday, it will certainly be put to the test soon. Thank you for the prompt response!
Ed
Thank you for trying S*E and for the great feedback!:thumb

Cheers!:1drink

[Nikolai]

Ed,
I should honestly that I have no idea what controls the "Appearance" feature, let alone there are TWO of them (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=23583), which even internally do not necessarily match. :dunno
All I can say at this point is that API has Boolean "Header" parameter (dubbed as "Display Custom Header"), which, according to the docs, should work only for power and pro SM accounts.

No Appearance parameter or anything resembling it whatsoever:dunno

Unless Don or some other more knowledgeable people pitch in, I'd say we have to live with the status quo. Hope it's not a show stopper for you :rolleyes

I'm working on quoted keywords issue now.

[Nikolai]

Yes, I was referring to album keywords. I did another test this morning and if no quotation marks are used, the words transfer OK. Anything following the first quote is discarded. I think using quotes around groups of words in SM gallery customization behaves the same way, although it *does* work when assigning image keywords. What is the proper way to insert "Las Cruces" for example, so that it does not receive a hit only on the word "Las"?
Ed
Ed,
it's something either on a server or in the documentation.
I submitted an issue (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=207296#post207296) to the bugs thread. Can't really do much myself until I hear back, sorry :dunno

[rainforest1155]

Dgrin made something that I've not seen this thread yet. Was just having a look at the S*E site for the fun of seeing the latest regristration figures as I've read your statement of 200+ in another thread - instead I see the new release that almost passed without my recognition. :huh

Seeing the history makes me not wanting to update...you touched the holy grail of windows by taking over the ctrl-esc hotkey!:yikes Remember not everybody has a keyboard with the winkey to access the start-button without the mouse and even worse, not everybody has this key enabled (one can disable it preventing accidently hitting it and still using the combinations like winkey+e)! How dare you? :humungus
Also this is the only way one can bring up the taskbar while using VNC or other remote control programs which may not recognize winkey's at all.

Make it go away - this shortcut mustn't be touched by anyone!! :gun2

Thanks from the one,
Sebastian

[Nikolai]

You got me! :rofl

I'm lying in shame and dirt and covering my head with dust and ashes.
I do deserve to be severely punished:whip

How stupid can one man be? My only excuse is that we had a nice, long Friday night beer party.:beer

OK, here's the deal - there was no shortcut before anyway. Windows intercepts it first anyway, so no harm done. I'll remove it now, so it will come out with whatever next update I deem to upload. In the mean time use main menu Process|Cancel or secondary toolbar cancel button (the one with Red Light on it).

Thank you for catching that, and watching my back in general! :thumb

[Nikolai]

.. than Filmstrip support will make you less angry, oh hawk-eyed one:wink

[rainforest1155]

Glad you enjoyed your Friday night beer party! Plus - just admit it that this was only a test if I'm actually still paying attention to what you're doing around here. :D

I never missed a hotkey for that - why would I want to stop the transfer anyways - never dared to cancel one as far as I remember - my PC is running as long as S*E's ready. So you might consider a feature to power it down after the task is complete. With full support for the various standby/hiberanation modes, of course.
Actually I haven't mangaged to keep a single hotkey for S*E in mind. :rolleyes I often switch between log and standard view, but still don't remember the hotkey for it. :dunno

Sebastian

[rainforest1155]

.. than Filmstrip support will make you less angry, oh hawk-eyed one:winkAre you referring to the Filmstip thingie that keeps on crashing in one's IE a splitsecond after it has been set in motion? :bash Ok, sometimes it takes a couple of seconds... :D
The interesting part is that this has to been caused by one of the numerous hotfixes one has installed for IE6. A friend of one has a lot fewer hotfixes and it works fine for him...:dunno

Greetings from the one, :fish
Sebastian

[Nikolai]

Glad you enjoyed your Friday night beer party! Plus - just admit it that this was only a test if I'm actually still paying attention to what you're doing around here. :D
I always count that at least one person except me reads the History:-)


I never missed a hotkey for that - why would I want to stop the transfer anyways - never dared to cancel one as far as I remember - my PC is running as long as S*E's ready.
Transfer, yes, but now same action also controls image info download, and in the nearest future, it will be also controlling image download, so...who knows:dunno


So you might consider a feature to power it down after the task is complete. With full support for the various standby/hiberanation modes, of course.
Good idea:thumb , I was thinking of that myself, prolly will do some time soon!


Actually I haven't mangaged to keep a single hotkey for S*E in mind. :rolleyes I often switch between log and standard view, but still don't remember the hotkey for it. :dunno
SebastianYou don't have to remember - they all in menus and button hints.
That one - Ctrl+T:D
And your'e correct - there's not much need for them anyway. F1 can be helpful, though:-)

Cheers!:1drink

[Nikolai]

Are you referring to the Filmstip thingie that keeps on crashing in one's IE a splitsecond after it has been set in motion? :bash Ok, sometimes it takes a couple of seconds... :D
The interesting part is that this has to been caused by one of the numerous hotfixes one has installed for IE6. A friend of one has a lot fewer hotfixes and it works fine for him...:dunno

Greetings from the one, :fish
Sebastian
Although I have al the latest updates on all my XPs and thus far this feature never crashed (finges crossed). The only thing that drives me nuts with it is the counter-intuitive arrows action...

[rainforest1155]

You don't have to remember - they all in menus and button hints.
That one - Ctrl+T:D That's my point - I see this one every time I click on it manually in the menu, but still can't keep it. :dunno
I'm just not the hotkey-kinda-guy. :D
Anyone in for coldkeys? :rofl

Sebastian

[rainforest1155]

Although I have al the latest updates on all my XPs and thus far this feature never crashed (finges crossed). The only thing that drives me nuts with it is the counter-intuitive arrows action...It's probably a Win2000 specific hotfix.
They haven't fixed the atypical scrolling, yet?? I thought so.

Sebastian

PS:Quite a chat we've got going on here? :wink S*E release threads are somewhat private-public chat channels, aren't they? :D

PS2: I like this kind of post count number...777

[Nikolai]

PS:Quite a chat we've got going on here? :wink S*E release threads are somewhat private-public chat channels, aren't they? :D
I agree, not many people read this type of threads, let alone leave some comments. Too nerdy/geeky/techy I guess.. I need to post some shots of homecoming queen to get any additional input:rofl

PS2: I like this kind of post count number...777Congrats:-)

[HDVideo]

Thanks again for the quick response. Don't worry about any of these issues being a "show stopper" for me. I can already see many benefits to using the program and will be purchasing a license when the trial perior expires in a few days.

Keep up the great work!

Ed

[rainforest1155]

Huh!? Seems like Andy did your laundry as all release threads have been merged - so anybody will ever dig up the sin of yours. :D
The tuned history looks really good to me now. Maybe you could try ctrl+break-key as the shortcut for stoping the current action? You almost can't hit it accidently and it makes perfect sense to me and I'm already remembering it even though it doesn't exists yet. :rofl
I'm really wondering why nobody ever uses the break-key for anything even though all keyboards have it. Except for our beloved Billy Boy who used it for opening up the system properties in combination with the famous winkey. But I'm not using this combination as often as ctrl-esc.

How's that for an alternative? :wink

Sebastian

[Nikolai]

Huh!? Seems like Andy did your laundry as all release threads have been merged - so anybody will ever dig up the sin of yours. :D
The tuned history looks really good to me now. Maybe you could try ctrl+break-key as the shortcut for stoping the current action? You almost can't hit it accidently and it makes perfect sense to me and I'm already remembering it even though it doesn't exists yet. :rofl
I'm really wondering why nobody ever uses the break-key for anything even though all keyboards have it. Except for our beloved Billy Boy who used it for opening up the system properties in combination with the famous winkey. But I'm not using this combination as often as ctrl-esc.

How's that for an alternative? :wink

Sebastian
Yeah, Andy is super cool..

As to the break key - it's such a hassle to intercept it at the application level, so no wonder nobody's using it, especially with the new breed of keyboards, where all the special keys are merged together and often require some special "mode" to be functional. That break and the scrolllock keys are just two damn space takers, never saw any app (except msdos or windows, which you mentioned) that would put them to any reasonable use..:dunno

Cheers!:1drink

[Nikolai]

Important bug fix (infinite loop on corrupted files) - many thanks to Kip for assistance!:thumb
"Update Sync Tree" action works
HTH

[Nikolai]

The latest version allows for automatic shutdown after the upload (Sebastian, remember you were asking? :wink )
You can select desired option (Suspend, Hibernate, Logoff, Shutdown) even after the upload starts, since it's checked only upon upload completion.
Cheers!:1drink

[rainforest1155]

The latest version allows for automatic shutdown after the upload (Sebastian, remember you were asking? :wink )
You can select desired option (Suspend, Hibernate, Logoff, Shutdown) even after the upload starts, since it's checked only upon upload completion.
Cheers!:1drinkLooks I've got my personal genie in a bottle! Thanks for the awesome fast implementation!
Now how about some snow over here in Germany?! :lol3 I'm sick of the wet'n'dark weather. :wxwax

You're the man! *hip-hip-hooraay* :clap


Sebastian

[Nikolai]

Looks I've got my personal genie in a bottle! Thanks for the awesome fast implementation!
Now how about some snow over here in Germany?! :lol3 I'm sick of the wet'n'dark weather. :wxwax

You're the man! *hip-hip-hooraay* :clap


Sebastian
Thanks, glad you like it!
And (sh-hhh!) there is more stuff coming soon.
I promise you gonna like it even more:-):):

[docwalker]

Is it possible for star*explorer to store the geography information for photos loaded to SM? SM does not have the bulk geography/location function yet and I would really like to add that information as photos are loaded through SE. Is this available through the API?

[Nikolai]

Is it possible for star*explorer to store the geography information for photos loaded to SM? SM does not have the bulk geography/location function yet and I would really like to add that information as photos are loaded through SE. Is this available through the API?
Unfortunately, API does not provide this capability...:dunno

[rainforest1155]

Is it possible for star*explorer to store the geography information for photos loaded to SM? SM does not have the bulk geography/location function yet and I would really like to add that information as photos are loaded through SE. Is this available through the API?Over at Smugmug Blogs there's a discussion (http://blogs.smugmug.com/baldy/2005/08/16/tagging-photos-with-a-gps/#comments) about getting geography information into the EXIF-data before uploading the pictures. I use the WWMX tool myself to add the location data to my pictures.
Afterwards I just upload the pictures using any uploader I want to - most of the time S*E of course - and *whoop* Smugmug simply imports the EXIF-data and shows my pictures on the map. :thumb
If you've got any questions after reading the little discussion, feel free to contact me and maybe I hopefully help you out.

Sebastian

[docwalker]

I read the discussion. I tried WWMX. But it does not do what I am looking for. I do not want to have to add another program and series of steps to an already complicated workflow.

Granted that the API does not accept this information at this time, it would be a good fit for SE to handle bulk geo loc writing. I know that the SM gang is looking at adding the bulk feature to the web interface in the future but that will probably be a ways off due to the other pending requests. If the API was opened up to allow it, SE could be modified to handle the data.

WWMX appears to be good for people that are using a GPS and creating tracklogs and matching photos up to create the EXIF. Although I am what most would consider a GPS expert and use one quite frequently, I do not want to do that. If I am shooting photos, the GPS is the last thing on my mind.

For me, I go to weird locations, shoot a bunch of photos in probably a 1,000 yard radius. I come home and upload the photos. I want to tag the photos with the general location so I use google maps to get my coordinates. I want to tag all of those photos with the same coordinates.

I have people ask me where I took groups of photos all the time. Being able to use the map this function would really be nice. An example is that I take photos of fire stations. I may put the photos in multiple galleries due to grouping the photos by another topic. If someone clicks a keyword for firestations and then maps the results, it would be nice to see all of them on the map regardless of what gallery they are in. As it stands now I have to geo loc each photo manually.

Any consideration getting this feature added would be appreciated.

[Nikolai]

I read the discussion. I tried WWMX. But it does not do what I am looking for. I do not want to have to add another program and series of steps to an already complicated workflow.

Granted that the API does not accept this information at this time, it would be a good fit for SE to handle bulk geo loc writing. I know that the SM gang is looking at adding the bulk feature to the web interface in the future but that will probably be a ways off due to the other pending requests. If the API was opened up to allow it, SE could be modified to handle the data.

WWMX appears to be good for people that are using a GPS and creating tracklogs and matching photos up to create the EXIF. Although I am what most would consider a GPS expert and use one quite frequently, I do not want to do that. If I am shooting photos, the GPS is the last thing on my mind.

For me, I go to weird locations, shoot a bunch of photos in probably a 1,000 yard radius. I come home and upload the photos. I want to tag the photos with the general location so I use google maps to get my coordinates. I want to tag all of those photos with the same coordinates.

I have people ask me where I took groups of photos all the time. Being able to use the map this function would really be nice. An example is that I take photos of fire stations. I may put the photos in multiple galleries due to grouping the photos by another topic. If someone clicks a keyword for firestations and then maps the results, it would be nice to see all of them on the map regardless of what gallery they are in. As it stands now I have to geo loc each photo manually.

Any consideration getting this feature added would be appreciated.

Doc,
I spent a few hours today looking at the issue. I do not possess any code of my own (or 3d party, for that matter) that would allow me easily implement EXIF modification.
On the other hand, WWMX Location Stamper (http://wwmx.org/Download.aspx) seems to do the job almost perfectly. It's free, it's working, and it's very simple to use (at least once you figured out that you need first to add images to its list and then drop them onto its map). And while its mapping part is not as slick as google's, it does work. I tested it with a few files of my own - no problems.

So instead of

opening google map
clicking "Link To This Page",
manually (!) extracting longitude/latitude data (double round trip via clipboard, 2 times 4 actions: cumbersome select - copy - switch - paste)all you need to do is

open map in Localtion Stamper
drop/add the files to Location Stamper (just as you would for S*E)
drop them to specific location on the map.Three simple actions instead of ten - I'd say it's rather straightforward ! :):

At this point amount of efforts I'd have to spend to add this feature to S*E simply cannot be justified, given the fact WWMX is working the way it does.

If this is not enough and you do want adding gps info to be streamlined more than it is described above, please consider custom programming (http://www.starexplorer.com/SE_services.htm).

HTH

[Shima]

I have a star explorer bug for you

it keeps defaulting to a folder i have for october... even though I've been uploading from december folders for quite a while, whenever I close and reopen it mysteriously goes back to that october folder...

can't find anywhere to change the default folder either...

help?

[Nikolai]

I have a star explorer bug for you

it keeps defaulting to a folder i have for october... even though I've been uploading from december folders for quite a while, whenever I close and reopen it mysteriously goes back to that october folder...

can't find anywhere to change the default folder either...

help?
Never happened to me and I never heard of it before your post.
Please make sure you have the latest version of S*E and the starexplorer.ini file is not on a readonly media and is modifiable by you.
HTH

[John Mueller]

For some reason I can only upload 12 images @ a time.
Never had this problem before?:scratch
And Smugmug wont let me arrange images????
Its gone all haywire today for me.:1drink

[Nikolai]

For some reason I can only upload 12 images @ a time.
Never had this problem before?:scratch
And Smugmug wont let me arrange images????
Its gone all haywire today for me.:1drink
Several people reported similar problem to me, and I experienced this myself several times during this Holiday Season. I suspect it has something to do with servers overload, though I'm not sure.
In my case if some files are left in the queue I just hit upload again. I had to repeat this up to 3 times, it could be more or less.
As to SM not letting you arrange your images - it's beyond my reach:dunno , you might wanna check with their tech support.

Hopefully this all is caused by a holiday craze and will go away...

Happy Holidays!:1drink

[Allen]

I also had to hit upload again to get them all up. I really like
how they're left in the queue if not uploaded, very nice
feature. 3 of 4 uploads today had some not uploaded.

When arranging photos in the galleries make sure you have "position"
checked under "custonize gallery" and not sort by date etc. I ran
into this today, no mater how many times I moved a photo to the
first position it would not stick.

I would love to be able to drop more photos in the queue as the
upload is in progress.

AL

[Nikolai]

I also had to hit upload again to get them all up. I really like
how they're left in the queue if not uploaded, very nice
feature. 3 of 4 uploads today had some not uploaded.

Thanks for chiming in!:thumb


I would love to be able to drop more photos in the queue as the
upload is in progress.
AL

That, unfortunately, would require some serious refactoring:dunno .
I'm planning on doing that, but not tomorrow.
In the mean time S*E is best used as "plan it, launch it, and forget it" tool..
Happy Holidays!:1drink

[Nikolai]

I'd like to wish everybody, and of course, users of Star*Explorer:): , very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!:clap
Thank you very much for your support!:thumb
I'll try to keep S*E up to your requests and needs!
Cheers!:1drink

[Andy]

I'd like to wish everybody, and of course, users of Star*Explorer:): , very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!:clap
Thank you very much for your support!:thumb
I'll try to keep S*E up to your requests and needs!
Cheers!:1drink


:wave and to you, too, Nik!

[Nikolai]

:wave and to you, too, Nik!
I'll drink your health when NY hits NYC:-):1drink

[Nikolai]

One year, 40,000+ hits, 230+ customers..
Not so bad for a one-man army :):
Thank you everybody!

[rainforest1155]

Congrats Nik! Let's at least double it this year! :clap

All the best for the new year,
Sebastian :1drink

[Nikolai]

Congrats Nik! Let's at least double it this year! :clap

All the best for the new year,
Sebastian :1drink

I'll do my best!:):
Cheers!:1drink

[galla47]

Hey,

In #257 (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=206854&highlight=theme#post206854) in this post, there was some questions about how S*E applies themes.

Have themes been opened up in the API?

Also, is there any way to see what theme is set for each album without having to click through each individually?

Thanks,

-Kevin

[Nikolai]

Hey,

In #257 (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=206854&highlight=theme#post206854) in this post, there was some questions about how S*E applies themes.

Have themes been opened up in the API?

Also, is there any way to see what theme is set for each album without having to click through each individually?

Thanks,

-Kevin

Sorry, no, themes have not been surfaced in the production API, as far as I know. This means I cannot help you with them at the time :dunno

[rdlugosz]

Is there any access to Pricing info via the API? Any hope of getting this in S*E? The web interface for changing multiple albums at once is sorely lacking (unless you want to set the price the same for everything at once; I've got just subsets to change).

[Nikolai]

Is there any access to Pricing info via the API? Any hope of getting this in S*E? The web interface for changing multiple albums at once is sorely lacking (unless you want to set the price the same for everything at once; I've got just subsets to change).

Unfortunately, no pricing/shopping cart API is currently availalbe for the production API, and I'm not aware of any plans.:dunno

Using hacking approach, while possible, is very tedious, unreliable and really closes the gap between "creatinve brosing" and the actual hacking fast.:rolleyes

In the mean time I'd suggest to use pricing templates. I used them many times, they work rather nicely.

Thank you for using S*E!
HTH

[wslam]

Your application is great! I am in the middle of uploading my 50k photos when I found your software, needless to say, it saves me SO much time.
But I am having trouble creating a Cat or Subcat. Nothing happens when I click on those functions. For example, I will be at Categories with Album tab, I right click on my smugmug website, then choose Create Categories. What am I missing?

[Nikolai]

Your application is great! I am in the middle of uploading my 50k photos when I found your software, needless to say, it saves me SO much time.
But I am having trouble creating a Cat or Subcat. Nothing happens when I click on those functions. For example, I will be at Categories with Album tab, I right click on my smugmug website, then choose Create Categories. What am I missing?

First of all - thank you for using Star*Explorer (http://www.starexplorer.com)!

As to the creating Cats/Subs: please make sure you
a) have proper smugmug subsctiption (i.e. can do it via Web UI)
b) in your S*E account settings (Alt+F11) you select Professional subscription level (otherwise those are disabled AFAIK). You may need to restart the app for settings to come into play.

If you have any other questions/concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me directly (support@starexplorer.com).

Have a great weekend!

Cheers!:1drink

[rainforest1155]

Have a great weekend!

Cheers!:1drink
Hey Nik,

glad that you're still around. I've somehow missed your S*E releases and posts in the SM API board!! :lust
I guess it's related to the fact that Don hasn't released any new API stuff for quite a long time ago. He's even more busy than ever these days I guess. :dunno

Whatever - hope you're alright!

Have a great weekend too,
Sebastian

PS: You might want to delete all of the few comments you got on your blog as they're all spam. ;)

[Nikolai]

Hey Nik,

glad that you're still around. I've somehow missed your S*E releases and posts in the SM API board!! :lust
I guess it's related to the fact that Don hasn't released any new API stuff for quite a long time ago. He's even more busy than ever these days I guess. :dunno

Whatever - hope you're alright!

Have a great weekend too,
Sebastian

PS: You might want to delete all of the few comments you got on your blog as they're all spam. ;)

Thank for checking on me!:-)
Yeah, both me and S*E are still around:-) I'm adding features, S*E helps others. I've been a bit slow with development lately: work, taxes, family, other stuff. But I hope I can back to it now, so expcet some new nice things soon:-)

And thanks for the blog reminder, I need to clear that spam...

Prosit!:1drink

[wslam]

First of all - thank you for using Star*Explorer (http://www.starexplorer.com)!

As to the creating Cats/Subs: please make sure you
a) have proper smugmug subsctiption (i.e. can do it via Web UI)
b) in your S*E account settings (Alt+F11) you select Professional subscription level (otherwise those are disabled AFAIK). You may need to restart the app for settings to come into play.

If you have any other questions/concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me directly (support@starexplorer.com).

Have a great weekend!

Cheers!:1drink

Hi Nik,
No luck. I have the proper account settings, but when i choose Create Cat, nothing happens. It has happened before, and last time, a reboot did the trick. But not this time.

[Nikolai]

Hi Nik,
No luck. I have the proper account settings, but when i choose Create Cat, nothing happens. It has happened before, and last time, a reboot did the trick. But not this time.
Hmm, strange.
Let's switch to email (support@starexplorer.com), shall we?
In the mean time, go to Preferences, Log & Terminal panel, activate everything you can, hit OK, try to create Cat and then see the log of your attempts, it may shed some light...
HTH

[wslam]

Hmm, strange.
Let's switch to email (support@starexplorer.com), shall we?
In the mean time, go to Preferences, Log & Terminal panel, activate everything you can, hit OK, try to create Cat and then see the log of your attempts, it may shed some light...
HTH

Thanks Nic,
I will email you.
Just to specify, this function (http://www.starexplorer.com/SE_FAQ.htm#I_already_have_my_local_folders_named_a fter_my_categories._Can_I_upload_the_whole_tree_in _one_shot) is what I am having difficulty with.
i will email you.

ws

[Nikolai]

Thanks Nic,
I will email you.
Just to specify, this function (http://www.starexplorer.com/SE_FAQ.htm#I_already_have_my_local_folders_named_a fter_my_categories._Can_I_upload_the_whole_tree_in _one_shot) is what I am having difficulty with.
i will email you.

ws

This function (autocreate albums) does not create categories or subs. It assumes you already got them right.

Anyway, I'm standing by for your email!

[wslam]

This function (autocreate albums) does not create categories or subs. It assumes you already got them right.

Anyway, I'm standing by for your email!

I sent you an email already.
Is there a function that will autocreate SubCat and Albums?
I am SURE it worked before. I am actually uploading over 30k photos over another connection that did just that. And the subcat and albums are all being created...

ws

[Nikolai]

New version has been uploaded. It features some cosmetics, minor improvements, improved upload stability, and ... (drum roll)

Image Download!

This latest feature is fully available for Pro edition license holders. Power users would be able to download one album at a time. Not available in Standard edition, sorry.

Detailed, but hopefully clear dialog allows you to specify the set of image sizes (from tiny to originals) and target file name template (so you can construct unique file names from image id, caption, etc.):

http://nik.smugmug.com/photos/60684168-M.gif

Known issues: at this phase of development I was not able to resolve the issue of downloading Originals (or Larges) IF they are disabled in the gallery properties. Download would simply bring smaller versions. However, the gallery itself can be password protected or even hidden - S*E would still get your stuff right down. In any case I hope to work with Smugmug to resolve this issue (if possible).

Also, movies may not necessarily be handled well. I do not have many, so didn't spend time on that side. I may take a look in the future, especially if it becomes an issue for many of my users.

As always, try it small before deciding to download 100Gb of pictures. And of course, make sure you have HDD large enough and it's not write-protected:-)

Hope you like the new version!
Questions and comments: support@starexplorer.com

Cheers!

[Seamus]

I got star explorer last night. I uploaded 35 pictures, 115mb+, and it worked perfectly:clap . Great stuff Nik:thumb

[Nikolai]

I got star explorer last night. I uploaded 35 pictures, 115mb+, and it worked perfectly:clap . Great stuff Nik:thumb

Welcome to S*E Club!:lust
Next thing you know you'll be uploading them by hundreds and Gbs..:):

Thank you for using Star*Explorer (http://www.starexplorer.com)!:thumb

[docwalker]

Nikolai,

I need some assistance with SE and loading GEO tagged photos to SE.

I took my setup out for a test drive today.

After loading the photos to SM using SE. I find that my photos are mapped 180 degrees on the other side of the globe.

I checked and the camera is recording the Northing and Westing information on the camera. The EXIF data is displaying correctly when I view it in Adobe Bridge. But, when I view it in SM's edit geo tool, the '-' indicating westing is not there. It appears to have been lost somewhere along the way. I tried loading the same photos usig the SM Universal Loader and the photos are appearing in their correct location. So it appears that SE is not passing the information to SM correctly.

Can you take a look at this and maybe see if any others are having similar problems. Once again, thank you for an excellent product.

I have photos available that you can test with and check if you need them.

Doc

[Nikolai]

Nikolai,

I need some assistance with SE and loading GEO tagged photos to SE.
...
Doc

Honest to God, I (I mean, S*E :-) do not touch the EXIF, let alone its GEO part.:rolleyes
The only way S*E *may* modify the file at all before the upload is when it automatically converts "other" file formats (like TIFF) to JPEGs. However, even in this case I don't have much to do with the conversion: I only make an appropriate call to Windows GDI+ API. From what I understand, it should not change the EXIF either.
As to the upload process, I simply issue a POST command according to SM specs, with the filename being one of the parameters. I mean, I load the file as a stream into the memory and such, but no mangling whatsoever. Whatever happens after that is purely and solemnly server business, I have not even a brink of an access to that..:dunno

Not sure if it helped, but that's all I can say on the matter.

[docwalker]

Okay, I guess I will try SM support.

I understand what you are saying. I just need to figure out what is happening to that - sign.

Edit: It does appear to be on the server side. Weird.

Thanks,

Doc

[Nikolai]

Bugfix (Sebastian): downloading long/html caption causes problems. Fixed. New download option added.
Bugfix (Sebastian): problems if the source file was delete after the upload has started. Fixed.
Sebastian: need to include position into download filename. Done.
Download: added possibility to create unique filename if needed.
After upload, log/terminal window now provides dgrin (vbulletin)-friendly list of albums/images names and URLs (up to 99 files).

[rainforest1155]

S*E: new version 143 uploaded

Thanks Nik - looks like an update customized for me! :thumb

Will check it out later this week - I'm a bit busy and tired right now and again some days behind in uploading my daily photos...

Cheers,
Sebastian :1drink

[Nikolai]

Thanks Nik - looks like an update customized for me! :thumb

Will check it out later this week - I'm a bit busy and tired right now and again some days behind in uploading my daily photos...

Cheers,
Sebastian :1drink

If I manage to make S*E better for you, it goes for everyone:-):):
No rush in checking, thank you for those reports and suggestions! :thumb
Cheers! :):

[rainforest1155]

PS: I still see the spam in your blog-comments. :wink

[Nikolai]

PS: I still see the spam in your blog-comments. :wink
I'm tired of cleaning them up..:dunno

[rainforest1155]

I'm tired of cleaning them up..:dunno
Thought you forgot about it the last time I commented on it. I didn't knew they were new, because there's only time displayed.
They're definately a pain in the neck - I also get a couple per day on my sleeping blog. :rolleyes
Guess the captcha stuff is one of the few 'solutions' for this, but it also keeps away people using braille to surf the web. (shouldn't be much of an issue for smugmug as an photo sharing site though)

Sebastian

[foreign-exposure]

trying out the SW... seems pretty amazing.

one small improvement would be much appreciated. My uploads tend to be slow and occasstionally drops with one of those eidsocketerror #0 errors. and I would need me to clean out some files and re-upload. and occasionally I would have to shutdown S*E in the midst of an upload and actually do some work... :wxwax

but when I restart S*E, I would have to reload the files into it with the appropriate albums and etc which takes a bit of time.

Would you be able to add the ability to save the current file list? so that I can just open an upload queue list when I restart S*E?

much appreciated!

[Nikolai]

trying out the SW... seems pretty amazing.

one small improvement would be much appreciated. My uploads tend to be slow and occasstionally drops with one of those eidsocketerror #0 errors. and I would need me to clean out some files and re-upload. and occasionally I would have to shutdown S*E in the midst of an upload and actually do some work... :wxwax

but when I restart S*E, I would have to reload the files into it with the appropriate albums and etc which takes a bit of time.

Would you be able to add the ability to save the current file list? so that I can just open an upload queue list when I restart S*E?

much appreciated!

Thank you for trying S*E!

I will look into this some time soon:-)

Cheers!:1drink

[Nikolai]

New version of Star*Explorer features, apart from minor fixes, a brand new persistent upload queue. :clap
Once the upload is initiated the queue is stored on the HDD, thus protecting user from such major problems as power failures, ISP service interruptions, etc. All you need to do in such case is to launch S*E again, and your "leftovers" will appear in the upload queue in exactly same way they were there.
From now on you don't have to be afraid of large elaborate upload batches:wink

NOTES:

Saving upload queue "at will" is not currently feasible. It is only saved (automatically) when the upload is fully configured and initiated.
Due to its highly volatile nature, the on-disk queue is often cleared as the app deem fit. Its sole purpose is to provide a defence against the abnormal upload process problems, not to be a picture manager.Hope you guys like it!:):

[rainforest1155]

New version of Star*Explorer features, apart from minor fixes, a brand new persistent upload queue. :clap

Sounds great even though I haven't missed this feature much yet as my uploads are structured relatively easy in combination with my image database in IMatch, which provides me with the upload queue.

The result list after uploading looks like a really neat feature especially when posting a lot of screenshots for various purposes...now I don't have to open the gallery (which is fortunately very easy with S*E) and rightclick the picture I want to get the URL anymore! :thumb

Thanks a lot! Wish you a happy Easter Monday if you've got this holiday in the states,
Sebastian

[Nikolai]

Sounds great even though I haven't missed this feature much yet as my uploads are structured relatively easy in combination with my image database in IMatch, which provides me with the upload queue.

The result list after uploading looks like a really neat feature especially when posting a lot of screenshots for various purposes...now I don't have to open the gallery (which is fortunately very easy with S*E) and rightclick the picture I want to get the URL anymore! :thumb

Thanks a lot! Wish you a happy Easter Monday if you've got this holiday in the states,
Sebastian

The persistent queue was in fact my *oldest* todo item in the list - finally I got the time to implement it:-)

The list of URLs - yeah, same here, got tired of going back and forth and adding IMG tags :-)

Glad you like it!:thumb

Cheers!:1drink

[Nikolai]

Previous build (persistent queue) broke the "Send To" functionality. Restored.

Guess not many people is using it, since I didn't receive any complains :scratch

[rainforest1155]

Previous build (persistent queue) broke the "Send To" functionality. Restored.

Guess not many people is using it, since I didn't receive any complains :scratch
Can't recall ever having used the "Send To" option, but thanks for the fix. :clap

Sebastian

[Nikolai]

Can't recall ever having used the "Send To" option, but thanks for the fix. :clap

Sebastian

You should try it, it's pretty cool. You need to activate it first (from S*E Options), but after that ..:-)
Select some files from plain vanilla windows explorer, right mouse click, choose Send To.. menu, seelct Smugmug (via SE) - and it will use existing instance of S*E, or will launch S*E automatically..

Thanks for checking..:thumb

[rainforest1155]

Select some files from plain vanilla windows explorer, right mouse click, choose Send To.. menu, seelct Smugmug (via SE) - and it will use existing instance of S*E, or will launch S*E automatically..
I've actually already had registered the S*E extension in my context menu - that's what I wondered would happen if I use it:
http://rainforest1155.smugmug.com/photos/65576356-S.jpg
I've never reassigned a single picture within S*E and therefore didn't figure out at first how to do it. :dunno
However I found the message informing me about the unassigned picture a bit strange - even though it adjusts with more unassigned pictures to "them. Please assign There are xx unassigned images to some albums."

Guess not many have been using this feature like I did. :D


Sebastian

[Nikolai]

Interesting, I guess I need to look at the error message, huh...
In fact, when you use Send To, S*E has no clue what album you want to upload the newly acquired images. That's why there is Assign Album button on the upload toolbar (and item in the queue context menu).
As always, I appreciate a feedback!

[rainforest1155]

In fact, when you use Send To, S*E has no clue what album you want to upload the newly acquired images.
You're totally right and there's nothing wrong with the assign button / context menu. My comment was more about my lazyness to do anything else in S*E, but what my usual workflow includes. :D That's why I discovered the strange error message, but there's no need to adjust anything else assign-UI-wise. I figured that out by now.

Sorry for the confusion,
Sebastian :1drink

[Nikolai]

Sorry for the confusion,
Sebastian :1drink

You've found the glitch, and that is what counts, not why or how:-)
Cheers!:1drink

[Nikolai]

What's new:

Bugfix (Sebastian): funny error message if not all images are assigned to albums (in conjunction with "Send To..." feature). Fixed.
Image captions are immediately added to cache after the upload
"Dgrin" (after-upload) list now shows captions, if available
Bugfix: multiline image captions we're not processed correctly. Fixed.Thank you for using Star*Explorer!

[Nikolai]

Another threshold has been crossed - S*E stat counter accumulated 50,000 hits! :clap

I'd like to thank all the customers and supporters for helping me making S*E better! :bow :lust

Cheers! :1drink

[Nikolai]

I will be out of town for the period of time since Wed May 17th until Sun May 28th 2006, for the smugmug shootout. Therefore I will not be able to issue any new licenses even if purchased. If your trial of S*E expires within the said time and you intend to purchase S*E after the expiration, please purchase (http://www.starexplorer.com/SE_purchase.htm) it before May 17th - or endure the consequences :dunno .
Contact me via email if you have any questions/concerns.
Cheers! :1drink

[Nikolai]

I will be out of town for the period of time since Wed May 17th until Sun May 28th 2006, for the smugmug shootout. Therefore I will not be able to issue any new licenses even if purchased. If your trial of S*E expires within the said time and you intend to purchase S*E after the expiration, please purchase (http://www.starexplorer.com/SE_purchase.htm) it before May 17th - or endure the consequences :dunno .
Contact me via email if you have any questions/concerns.
Cheers! :1drink

Shootout was great, views was awesome - and S*E online store is now open again:-) :D

[Nikolai]

I just returned back from the shootout and found this in my inbox:


My first upload with the tool was over a wired connection of about 520+
images total over 1.2 Gb. The upload was going great until I had to unplug
the laptop power supply and move the computer to get it away from the kids
(I have a 11 month old and 3 year old). I panicked when the program stopped
responding after the move. Before, I had to manually figure out which files
to upload and with 520+ images it would be very time consuming. But, I
simply ran Star*Explorer, was prompted with a dialog about an interrupted
upload and if I wanted to proceed. I, of course, said yes and another dialog
confirmed the number of files yet to be uploaded. It's great when a tool
does what it claims to do with a minimum of impact to the user. I ran a
smaller upload last night over my wireless network. I have never had any
size upload complete successfully wirelessly, until Star*Explorer. I did not
have any problems or interrupts. Thanks for a great tool!


Kinda gives you that "warm and fuzzy" feeling :-) :):

[ptr727]

I'm a new SE Pro user.

Although SE did download my images already on SM, SE does not display any image information for those images. How can I synchronize my few GB of images with SE (without uploading them all again)?

Pieter

[Nikolai]

I'm a new SE Pro user.

Although SE did download my images already on SM, SE does not display any image information for those images. How can I synchronize my few GB of images with SE (without uploading them all again)?

Pieter


So, you have uploaded some (probably a lot:-) images before you had Star*Explorer and now you want to upload the rest, which is also a ton, correct?

While I can't offer you a "one button solution" right now, there is a relatively simple workaround.

You've said you have already downloaded the SM-stored images to you hard drive. What you can do is to mark those files read-only, copy your whole collection over to the same sync root at your HDD (those R/O files remain untouched:-). Now search the sync root folder for those ReadOnly files again and delete them (or move them some place else). This will give you a sync root folder full of your unuploaded files. Now all you have to do is to make sure your folder structure matches your smugmug category/subcategory structure, after which you can use AutoAlbum creation feature (essentially, drop "category" level folders into your S*E root). S*E will parse the tree structure, auto create proper album and ready the queue. Validate the match and hit upload. It's all a matter of a few seconds (or a few minutes, depending on how fast you HDD is:-).

Drop me an email if confused.

And welcome to DGrin!

Cheers!:1drink

[ptr727]

So, you have uploaded some (probably a lot:-) images before you had Star*Explorer and now you want to upload the rest, which is also a ton, correct?
Correct, but what I would like to know is; when I drop pictures into SE to upload, SE shows info for those pictures, what I would like is for SE to also show info for pictures I uploaded before I started using SE?

Pieter

[Nikolai]

Correct, but what I would like to know is; when I drop pictures into SE to upload, SE shows info for those pictures, what I would like is for SE to also show info for pictures I uploaded before I started using SE?

Pieter

S*E would not show it in the same way as for the upload, but it will allow you to download image info (or images themselves) into the local database, which you then can explore using MS Access or any other ADO/OLE/ODBC compatible software.
I know it sounds nerdy, but this what I have for a moment. I have solid plans to make the whole thing simpler in the future, but they are not for tomorrow (family and day job kinda cut in, too)...:dunno

[cmason]

Nikolai: Does S*E have any integration with Photoshop or Bridge? I would love to choose the photos from within Bridege and rt click to "send to smugmug". I can do this now, sort of, with the Universal Loader: I can drag and drop a selection from Bridge onto the DnD window within my browser. Only problem is, I have to set up the gallery first from the loader.

[Nikolai]

Nikolai: Does S*E have any integration with Photoshop or Bridge? I would love to choose the photos from within Bridge and rt click to "send to smugmug". I can do this now, sort of, with the Universal Loader: I can drag and drop a selection from Bridge onto the DnD window within my browser. Only problem is, I have to set up the gallery first from the loader.

As of now, the only thing you can do between Bridge and S*E is to drag and drop your selection from Bridge into S*E (you gotta have S*E open for this :dunno ). I plan to add more integration some time soon to allow direct send of Bridge/PS files into S*E, whether it's launched or not, kind Send To functionality I currently have with Windows Explorer.
Not tomorrow, but soon enough.

HTH

[cmason]

As of now, the only thing you can do between Bridge and S*E is to drag and drop your selection from Bridge into S*E (you gotta have S*E open for this :dunno ). I plan to add more integration some time soon to allow direct send of Bridge/PS files into S*E, whether it's launched or not, kind Send To functionality I currently have with Windows Explorer.
Not tomorrow, but soon enough.

HTH

Thanks, will patiently await the feature :D.

Another question: the website says "System Shutdown upon Upload Yes, user-configurable: none, suspend, hibernate, logoff, shutdown"

I can not find this configuration setting anywhere in the menus....

[Nikolai]

Thanks, will patiently await the feature :D.

Another question: the website says "System Shutdown upon Upload Yes, user-configurable: none, suspend, hibernate, logoff, shutdown"

I can not find this configuration setting anywhere in the menus....

It's a combobox (pulldown) on an upload toolbar, next to the bandwidth cap. It's a non-persistent per-session setting.

HTH

Nik

[cmason]

It's a combobox (pulldown) on an upload toolbar, next to the bandwidth cap. It's a non-persistent per-session setting.

HTH

Nik

Odd, I finally found it when I made the app full screen. Until then, it was hidden from view, thus my confusion. runnng 1024x768

[Nikolai]

Odd, I finally found it when I made the app full screen. Until then, it was hidden from view, thus my confusion. runnng 1024x768

I guess sometimes size does matter :wink

Cheers!:1drink

[Cammo]

Hi,

Haven't encountered a problem before when uploading using Star Exploror. I am trying to upload images now and it is reporting "RPC-XML: systemerror (galleryclosed) (5)". The images are being uploaded but are rejected.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Cammo

[dmc]

Hey, I've used starexplorer before with no problems.... fired it up today, uploaded 4 pics... no errors, but only 2 showed up!

My Smugmug "upload log" show that 2 had errors:
<TABLE width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=center align=middle></TD><TD vAlign=center>_ML_6628e.jpg</TD><TD vAlign=center>http://www.smugmug.com/img/1x1-gray.gif</TD><TD vAlign=center>73011775</TD><TD vAlign=center>http://www.smugmug.com/img/1x1-gray.gif</TD><TD vAlign=center>Error</TD><TD vAlign=center>http://www.smugmug.com/img/1x1-gray.gif</TD><TD vAlign=center noWrap>2006-06-02 01:57:28</TD><TD vAlign=center>http://www.smugmug.com/img/1x1-gray.gif</TD><TD vAlign=center>0s</TD><TD vAlign=center>http://www.smugmug.com/img/1x1-gray.gif</TD><TD vAlign=center>n/a</TD><TD vAlign=center>http://www.smugmug.com/img/1x1-gray.gif</TD><TD vAlign=center>File had errors and could not be processed. : Non-JPEG/GIF/PNG/MPG : Non-JPEG/GIF/PNG/MPG</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=center colSpan=14>http://www.smugmug.com/img/1x1-gray.gif</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=center align=middle></TD><TD vAlign=center>_ML_6553e.jpg</TD><TD vAlign=center>http://www.smugmug.com/img/1x1-gray.gif</TD><TD vAlign=center>73011758</TD><TD vAlign=center>http://www.smugmug.com/img/1x1-gray.gif</TD><TD vAlign=center>Error</TD><TD vAlign=center>http://www.smugmug.com/img/1x1-gray.gif</TD><TD vAlign=center noWrap>2006-06-02 01:57:17</TD><TD vAlign=center>http://www.smugmug.com/img/1x1-gray.gif</TD><TD vAlign=center>4s</TD><TD vAlign=center>http://www.smugmug.com/img/1x1-gray.gif</TD><TD vAlign=center>n/a</TD><TD vAlign=center>http://www.smugmug.com/img/1x1-gray.gif</TD><TD vAlign=center>File had errors and could not be processed. : Non-JPEG/GIF/PNG/MPG</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

I uploaded all 4 pics again via Universal uploader with no probs!
http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/1519814/

The starexplorer log looked fine... what's up?

0:20:46: Started Uploading
0:20:46: Upload files: 4, 5.23 MB
0:20:46: Started Upload files: 4, 5.23 MB
0:20:46:
0:20:46: 1 out of 4: _ML_5647e.jpg
0:20:46:
0:20:46: Started Uploading C:\Documents and Settings\dmc\My Documents\My Pictures\2006\20060318 Track day - Stephen\_ML_5647e.jpg to album 1519736
0:20:46: Started Uploading C:\Documents and Settings\dmc\My Documents\My Pictures\2006\20060318 Track day - Stephen\_ML_5647e.jpg to album 1519736
0:20:55: Multipart Post result: 73011735
0:20:55: Finished Uploading C:\Documents and Settings\dmc\My Documents\My Pictures\2006\20060318 Track day - Stephen\_ML_5647e.jpg to album 1519736 (0:00:08)
0:20:55: Finished Uploading C:\Documents and Settings\dmc\My Documents\My Pictures\2006\20060318 Track day - Stephen\_ML_5647e.jpg to album 1519736 (0:00:08)
0:20:55:
0:20:55: 2 out of 4: _ML_6553e.jpg
0:20:55:
0:20:55: Started Uploading C:\Documents and Settings\dmc\My Documents\My Pictures\2006\20060318 Track day - Stephen\_ML_6553e.jpg to album 1519736
0:20:55: Started Uploading C:\Documents and Settings\dmc\My Documents\My Pictures\2006\20060318 Track day - Stephen\_ML_6553e.jpg to album 1519736
0:21:02: Multipart Post result: 73011758
0:21:02: Finished Uploading C:\Documents and Settings\dmc\My Documents\My Pictures\2006\20060318 Track day - Stephen\_ML_6553e.jpg to album 1519736 (0:00:07)
0:21:02: Finished Uploading C:\Documents and Settings\dmc\My Documents\My Pictures\2006\20060318 Track day - Stephen\_ML_6553e.jpg to album 1519736 (0:00:07)
0:21:02:
0:21:02: 3 out of 4: _ML_6628e.jpg
0:21:02:
0:21:02: Started Uploading C:\Documents and Settings\dmc\My Documents\My Pictures\2006\20060318 Track day - Stephen\_ML_6628e.jpg to album 1519736
0:21:02: Started Uploading C:\Documents and Settings\dmc\My Documents\My Pictures\2006\20060318 Track day - Stephen\_ML_6628e.jpg to album 1519736
0:21:13: Multipart Post result: 73011775
0:21:13: Finished Uploading C:\Documents and Settings\dmc\My Documents\My Pictures\2006\20060318 Track day - Stephen\_ML_6628e.jpg to album 1519736 (0:00:11)
0:21:13: Finished Uploading C:\Documents and Settings\dmc\My Documents\My Pictures\2006\20060318 Track day - Stephen\_ML_6628e.jpg to album 1519736 (0:00:11)
0:21:13:
0:21:13: 4 out of 4: _ML_6659e.jpg
0:21:13:
0:21:13: Started Uploading C:\Documents and Settings\dmc\My Documents\My Pictures\2006\20060318 Track day - Stephen\_ML_6659e.jpg to album 1519736
0:21:13: Started Uploading C:\Documents and Settings\dmc\My Documents\My Pictures\2006\20060318 Track day - Stephen\_ML_6659e.jpg to album 1519736
0:21:22: Multipart Post result: 73011792
0:21:22: Finished Uploading C:\Documents and Settings\dmc\My Documents\My Pictures\2006\20060318 Track day - Stephen\_ML_6659e.jpg to album 1519736 (0:00:09)
0:21:22: Finished Uploading C:\Documents and Settings\dmc\My Documents\My Pictures\2006\20060318 Track day - Stephen\_ML_6659e.jpg to album 1519736 (0:00:09)
0:21:22: Finished Upload files: 4, 5.23 MB (0:00:36)
0:21:23: Finished Uploading (0:00:36)

[Nikolai]

Hey, I've used starexplorer before with no problems.... fired it up today, uploaded 4 pics... no errors, but only 2 showed up!

My Smugmug "upload log" show that 2 had errors:
<TABLE width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=center align=middle></TD><TD vAlign=center>_ML_6628e.jpg</TD><TD vAlign=center>http://www.smugmug.com/img/1x1-gray.gif</TD><TD vAlign=center>73011775</TD><TD vAlign=center>http://www.smugmug.com/img/1x1-gray.gif</TD><TD vAlign=center>Error</TD><TD vAlign=center>http://www.smugmug.com/img/1x1-gray.gif</TD><TD vAlign=center noWrap>2006-06-02 01:57:28</TD><TD vAlign=center>http://www.smugmug.com/img/1x1-gray.gif</TD><TD vAlign=center>0s</TD><TD vAlign=center>http://www.smugmug.com/img/1x1-gray.gif</TD><TD vAlign=center>n/a</TD><TD vAlign=center>http://www.smugmug.com/img/1x1-gray.gif</TD><TD vAlign=center>File had errors and could not be processed. : Non-JPEG/GIF/PNG/MPG : Non-JPEG/GIF/PNG/MPG</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=center colSpan=14>http://www.smugmug.com/img/1x1-gray.gif</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=center align=middle></TD><TD vAlign=center>_ML_6553e.jpg</TD><TD vAlign=center>http://www.smugmug.com/img/1x1-gray.gif</TD><TD vAlign=center>73011758</TD><TD vAlign=center>http://www.smugmug.com/img/1x1-gray.gif</TD><TD vAlign=center>Error</TD><TD vAlign=center>http://www.smugmug.com/img/1x1-gray.gif</TD><TD vAlign=center noWrap>2006-06-02 01:57:17</TD><TD vAlign=center>http://www.smugmug.com/img/1x1-gray.gif</TD><TD vAlign=center>4s</TD><TD vAlign=center>http://www.smugmug.com/img/1x1-gray.gif</TD><TD vAlign=center>n/a</TD><TD vAlign=center>http://www.smugmug.com/img/1x1-gray.gif</TD><TD vAlign=center>File had errors and could not be processed. : Non-JPEG/GIF/PNG/MPG</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

I uploaded all 4 pics again via Universal uploader with no probs!
http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/1519814/

The starexplorer log looked fine... what's up?


Thanks you for the feedback, I apologize for the inconvenience.

The info you have provided can mean one thing only: at the time of the upload SM servers made a decision to reject the file. However, since the error was not returned to S*E (as you can see, all four files recieved a valid ID, which means they were officially accepted), there was no earthly reason for S*E to raise an alarm. There is only so much a 3d party application can do, checking SM server's internal logic is definitely not one of them...:dunno
I'm pretty sure that if you have had repeated the upload with S*E (when you used Universal uploader) it would go just fine.
Once again, I'm sorry, but there are limits in what I can do with the API we were given...

Thank you for using Star*Explorer, I hope this glitch does not spoil your overall uploading experience.

HTH

[Nikolai]

Hi,

Haven't encountered a problem before when uploading using Star Exploror. I am trying to upload images now and it is reporting "RPC-XML: systemerror (galleryclosed) (5)". The images are being uploaded but are rejected.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Cammo

Thank you for trying Star*Explorer!

During the last few days I was personally getting similar messages and get the reports from other users about similar ones. This is an error smugmug servers return. The only thing I can do is to acknowledge it and inform the user. Normally it means some glitch in the server's work. Possibly the servers still didn't recuperate from the troubles they had on Memorial Day.

There is not much we can do about it except to wait for the SM crew to fix it. To their merit, this kind of mishaps is an extremely rare phenomenon, I guess it was just our turn to be unlucky..:scratch


I can assure you that the S*E code is well tested and practice-proven by hundreds of users, so as soon as the servers are completely fixed you will continue to enjoy trouble-free upload, download and all the nice things that Star*Explorer already has and will have in the very near future (like a full-text search accross all the text fields - coming soon:-)

HTH

[rainforest1155]

The info you have provided can mean one thing only: at the time of the upload SM servers made a decision to reject the file. However, since the error was not returned to S*E (as you can see, all four files recieved a valid ID, which means they were officially accepted), there was no earthly reason for S*E to raise an alarm. There is only so much a 3d party application can do, checking SM server's internal logic is definitely not one of them...:dunno
Okay, this seems to getting an issue that I wasn't aware before having the SM upload log. Actually I haven't really checked every single picture I uploaded. Especially when I haven't uploaded in a while and dump a large batch in a gallery.
With the new upload log I actually also experienced one of the
"File had errors and could not be processed. : Non-JPEG/GIF/PNG/MPG : Non-JPEG/GIF/PNG/MPG" errors and wonder if this has happened before.

The only explanation for this I can think of is that the upload server accepts it as a valid file and puts it in the processing queue where later on the processing server realizes that the file somehow doesn't work.

What about using the upload log to prevent S*E from reporting everything been uploaded correctly? After the batch is through S*E could scan the upload log for the image IDs it just uploaded and check if there are any errors, missing image IDs or still pending images and report this / offer an instant re-upload. This would verify that every image has been actually processed correctly.

Another possibility to check if all image IDs are valid would be to access the tiny thumb (smugmug.com/photos/id-Ti.jpg). If no Jpg-data is returned, the ID should be invalid. It shouldn't matter if external linking is on or off, because if the browser's logged in I can access all of my images, even if they are in a gallery where external linking is off. As S*E is logged in too, this should also work there. :wink

What do you think Nik?

Thanks,
Sebastian

[Nikolai]

Okay, this seems to getting an issue that I wasn't aware before having the SM upload log. Actually I haven't really checked every single picture I uploaded. Especially when I haven't uploaded in a while and dump a large batch in a gallery.
With the new upload log I actually also experienced one of the
"File had errors and could not be processed. : Non-JPEG/GIF/PNG/MPG : Non-JPEG/GIF/PNG/MPG" errors and wonder if this has happened before.

The only explanation for this I can think of is that the upload server accepts it as a valid file and puts it in the processing queue where later on the processing server realizes that the file somehow doesn't work.

What about using the upload log to prevent S*E from reporting everything been uploaded correctly? After the batch is through S*E could scan the upload log for the image IDs it just uploaded and check if there are any errors, missing image IDs or still pending images and report this / offer an instant re-upload. This would verify that every image has been actually processed correctly.

Another possibility to check if all image IDs are valid would be to access the tiny thumb (smugmug.com/photos/id-Ti.jpg). If no Jpg-data is returned, the ID should be invalid. It shouldn't matter if external linking is on or off, because if the browser's logged in I can access all of my images, even if they are in a gallery where external linking is off. As S*E is logged in too, this should also work there. :wink

What do you think Nik?

Thanks,
Sebastian

The whole upload log thing is relatively new, as well as the said upload problems/error message. I'm not sure how stable its format is. From a standard interfacing point of view, I'd much rather prefer API not to return a valid ID in case it decides to through the file away (especially if it's going to OK the same file later on).
However, if the situation with the API-based upload problems prevails well outside the limits of the Memorial Day Glitch, I think I'll have no other choice but to parse the darn log on a regular basis... :uhoh

As to the accessing -Ti image... This opens the whole new can of worms. Lately I've experienced hours of delay before ANY image was processed. This mean S*E would have to wait for that, too.. :dunno

All in all, it looks like SM has been busy updating its internals, which, unfortunately, affects all us poor API users. I would really like to wait until the update is complete and the dust settles...:wink

Cheers!:1drink

[technocraft]

Sales Download not working?

Thanks for SE. It just made my uploads *so* much easier.

But I really want to use the sales download tool, but it doesn't seem to work:

0:08:46: Started Getting sales data
0:08:46: Started Getting http://technocraft.smugmug.com/homepage/prosales.mg?UserID=20444
0:09:00: Finished Getting http://technocraft.smugmug.com/homepage/prosales.mg?UserID=20444 (0:00:14)
0:09:00: Started Getting order details
0:09:00: Order #0 (1 out of 203
0:09:00: Started Getting http://technocraft.smugmug.com/homepage/prosales.mg?UserID=20444
0:09:15: Finished Getting http://technocraft.smugmug.com/homepage/prosales.mg?UserID=20444 (0:00:15)
0:09:15: Started No customer info found
0:09:15: Attempt #1 (out of 3) failed, pausing for 3 sec
0:09:18: Attempt #2 (out of 3)
0:09:18: Started Getting http://technocraft.smugmug.com/homepage/prosales.mg?UserID=20444
0:09:28: Finished Getting http://technocraft.smugmug.com/homepage/prosales.mg?UserID=20444 (0:00:10)
0:09:28: Started No customer info found
0:09:28: Attempt #2 (out of 3) failed, pausing for 3 sec
0:09:31: Attempt #3 (out of 3)
0:09:31: Started Getting http://technocraft.smugmug.com/homepage/prosales.mg?UserID=20444
0:09:38: Finished Getting http://technocraft.smugmug.com/homepage/prosales.mg?UserID=20444 (0:00:07)
0:09:38: Started No customer info found
0:09:38: Failed to obtain details for order #0
0:09:38: Finished No customer info found (0:00:00)
0:09:38: Finished No customer info found (0:00:10)

[Nikolai]

Sales Download not working?

Thanks for SE. It just made my uploads *so* much easier.

But I really want to use the sales download tool, but it doesn't seem to work:



Thanks for the info!
I just verified - same result for me:-( :cry
Apparantly, SM guys changed the something of the Sales page, effectively causing my parser to stop working :dunno
I will check it asap. Looks like something simple, hopefully get it fix this week the latest..:rolleyes
Thank you for using Star*Explorer! :1drink
HTH

[Nikolai]

As I suspected, there was HTML page format change. I wish I knew earlier...:dunno
Anyway, please get the new version, it's fixed now.

HTH

[Nikolai]

Due to the sales html change on the server, my Sales Download feature stopped working. Fixed.

Coming soon:

full-text search
upload log usage to avoid upload gaps :winkHTH

[technocraft]

Thanks Nik. Don't you love relying on text parsing? :D

[Nikolai]

Thanks Nik. Don't you love relying on text parsing? :D
Story of my life :):

[Nikolai]

:clap Congratulations to Paul Deines (http://The-Blue-Rose-Gallery.smugmug.com), S*E Pro Customer #300 (http://www.starexplorer.com)! :clap
Another nice milestone for my little app :D

[rainforest1155]

:clap Congratulations to Paul Deines (http://The-Blue-Rose-Gallery.smugmug.com), S*E Pro Customer #300 (http://www.starexplorer.com)! :clap
Another nice milestone for my little app :D
Way to go Nik! Congrats to you and Paul!! :clap

Cheers,
Sebastian

[Nikolai]

Way to go Nik! Congrats to you and Paul!! :clap
Cheers,
Sebastian
I knew I'd hear from you on this one:-):thumb

[rainforest1155]

I knew I'd hear from you on this one:-):thumb
Sure thing! Also haven't forgot the LinkedIn entry - hope I'll manage to write it before I'm hopefully leaving for Ecuador in October. :wink

Sebastian

[Nikolai]

Many of use were caught by surprise when a couple months ago Smugmug changed the internal upload procedure.

Originally a file was brought to the Smugmug server, immediately analyzed upon delivery and then either rejected or accepted. That allowed for a file-by-file synchronous (immediate) response analysis and feedback. Both 3d party tools and SM web tools were prepared to handle this type of response.

At some point in May 2006 (I'm not sure about the exact date since I kinda missed the memo - if there was one) Smugmug changed the workflow (I think, to optimize the workload and general system responsiveness).

Now any file (valid or not) is immediately issued a valid ID upon delivery - and that's it. You can think about it as a ticket number in a triage line. This number does not guarantee your case will be accepted. It only establishes your position in the queue. Depending on the backlog, your wait time can be any from 0 sec to a few hours. In my account the longest wait was about 2.6 (!) hours, however such outrageous wait happened only once during one upload on May 29th, and only about two dozen files suffered from it.

After the wait is over, file is analyzed, sometimes rejected without a reason (again, in my case all the "erroneous" files were successfully re-uploaded later, thus making SM server a culprit, since MD5 hash should guarantee the delivery).
Then it's processed - usually almost instantly, but sometimes it may take a minute or two.

All in all, the new upload workflow essentially became asynchronous, rendering any previous file-by-file check routine useless. You upload your images and then have to wait unknown amount of time for the servers to finally get to them and issue the verdict.

The only information available to analyze is the Upload Log. It can be rather large, and looking for upload mishaps can be a very tedious task, leaving a lot of room for the operator errors. Imagine a pro with thousands and thousands of uploaded images (and many of us have way more). Say, 10,000 x 1K per image - you'd need to download 10Mb each time (!) just to see the log. Of course, the Internet cache helps and you can temporarily switch off image showing, but this is also a hassle.. Unfortunately, the log also grows with every upload :dunno

With the new version of S*E this is not gonna be an issue anymore.:clap

You'll get two new main toolbar buttons (and two correspondent Online menu items).

One provides a direct link to your server's upload log, so, at least, you don't have to look for it the control panel.

The other - and this is the primary treat for S*E users - allows you to download the server upload log info locally (without the pictures, hence much faster:-) and then lets you view, sort, filter, export, save and, most importantly, re-upload the files that were (mistakenly) rejected by the smugmug servers.

http://nik.smugmug.com/photos/78936318-L.jpg


No more manual searching for errors! Filter by Date, sort by Status or Message, or simply check Snow Errors Only - and your data will be instantly in front of your tired eyes!

Moreover, S*E even caches the last log download for you and allows you to look at it later without waisting your time to download the same info over and over again.

And since the latest versions of S*E store some upload-related info in the cache, you don't have to locate albums, retype the captions, etc. Just hit Reupload, verify that your original files are, in fact, OK, and hit green Upload button :D

This feature is provided for all S*E editions, from Trial to Standard to Pro.

I hope you will enjoy the new version!

As always, let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Cheers!:1drink

[ExposeTheMoment]

Why is there an upload limit? (FILE SIZE)<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
I wanted to upload 1,010 pictures and some where shot with a 20D and some with a 5D, the 5D files were over the limit, so instead of using Star Explorer I had to use “Send to SmugMug”
<o:p></o:p>
Took me 23 hours to upload all the pictures J

[Nikolai]

Why is there an upload limit?<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
I wanted to upload 1,010 pictures and some where shot with a 20D and some with a 5D, the 5D files were over the limit, so instead of using Star Explorer I had to use “Send to SmugMug”
<o:p></o:p>
Took me 23 hours to upload all the pictures J
Gary, this is probably some misunderstanding.
There is no, never was and never will be "an upload limit". SM servers can "act up" (in fact, they were slow this weekend), but it's not up to me...:dunno
And if you're talking about per-file limit... Well, you can control it yourself. S*E sets default to 8Mb (since it has been a common gound for all SM subscriptions), but for Pro account you can set it to 16Mb. Just check out S*E Preferences. You can set it even higher, it's just a screening filter, but AFAIK SM only allows for 16Mb...

You can remove it (by setting it to some outrageous value, like 99Mb), only to find out that your huge files were uplaoded and later rejected. Luckily, with the Upload Log Viewer you can find it out quickly...

Please let me know if you have other issues/concerns/questions.

Thank you for using Star*Explorer!

PS
I wish you knew about this setting, it would probably take you less than that :-)

[ExposeTheMoment]

Gary, this is probably some misunderstanding.
There is no, never was and never will be "an upload limit". SM servers can "act up" (in fact, they were slow this weekend), but it's not up to me...:dunno
And if you're talking about per-file limit... Well, you can control it yourself. S*E sets default to 8Mb (since it has been a common gound for all SM subscriptions), but for Pro account you can set it to 16Mb. Just check out S*E Preferences. You can set it even higher, it's just a screening filter, but AFAIK SM only allows for 16Mb...

You can remove it (by setting it to some outrageous value, like 99Mb), only to find out that your huge files were uplaoded and later rejected. Luckily, with the Upload Log Viewer you can find it out quickly...

Please let me know if you have other issues/concerns/questions.

Thank you for using Star*Explorer!

PS
I wish you knew about this setting, it would probably take you less than that :-)

Thanks I was not aware I could change the value myself. Well when I get thru editing my other 1,000 pics for the other wedding I shot, I will be sure to let you know how long the upload took.

[Nikolai]

Thanks I was not aware I could change the value myself. Well when I get thru editing my other 1,000 pics for the other wedding I shot, I will be sure to let you know how long the upload took.

Glad you found it! :thumb

[rainforest1155]

[UPLOAD LOG]This feature is provided for all S*E editions, from Trial to Standard to Pro.

I hope you will enjoy the new version!

As always, let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Cheers!:1drink
Sounds great! Thanks for the implementation! I'll check it out soon.

Cheers,
Sebastian

[Sergey Shevchenko]

Hi everybody! I'll try posting here first, although my question is also related to Smugmug, not just SE.

My problem consists of three parts:

1) When I'm uploading an image (including with Star*Explorer) with the IPTC caption already set, it gets copied to the Smugmug caption. I would expect this to work the other way, too: when I edit the Smugmug caption and then download the image (at least the original!), I get the edited caption back into the IPTC. But that's not the case, regardless of the downloading method (directly or with Star*Explorer). Is it by intention? Isn't it a design flaw then?

2) When I add files to Star*Explorer upload list, the 'Caption' field remains empty even if the IPTC caption is set. In the 'Edit caption' dialog, there's three tabs - 'Caption', 'IPTC' and 'EXIF' - the last two are filled in correctly. I now understand that Smugmug treats its own and IPTC's captions as separate entities, but since Smugmug copies IPTC when uploading, I would expect Star*Explorer to behave in the same vein, or at least provide some easy way to auto-fill 'Caption' from 'IPTC'. I haven't found such a way so far - only manually copying one tab to the other.

3) Can somebody explain to me what 'Get Images Info' feature in Star*Explorer does? I was hoping that I would be able to point the tool to my local storage, then link it to a Smugmug gallery, and then have it download the captions into my local images' IPTC or EXIF or whatever. That's was actually the main reason I bought SE, and bought the Power edition. However, I can't even figure out what kind of information this feature downloads, let alone where. Even if I pre-download the images using SE, then modify some captions online at Smugmug, then do 'Get Images Info' - nothing changes on my disk.

My workflow is usually like this: 1) Do some shooting 2) Quickly post-process if necessary 3) Upload to Smugmug for my relatives and friends to see 4) While they are looking, edit the captions online 5) Download the edited captions back to the originals on disk. So actually I would be more than happy if somebody just told me some easy automated way to perform the step 5 here.

Thanks!

[Nikolai]

Hi everybody! I'll try posting here first, although my question is also related to Smugmug, not just SE.

Welcome to DGrin!


My problem consists of three parts:
1) When I'm uploading an image (including with Star*Explorer) with the IPTC caption already set, it gets copied to the Smugmug caption. I would expect this to work the other way, too: when I edit the Smugmug caption and then download the image (at least the original!), I get the edited caption back into the IPTC. But that's not the case, regardless of the downloading method (directly or with Star*Explorer). Is it by intention? Isn't it a design flaw then?

SM always keeps your original intact. Modifying IPTC is a violation of that primary rule. I'm not even speaking of the fact that it's a highly non-trivial process (considering the fact that both SM and S*E should deal with all possible camera and scanner manufacturers, as well as all possible photo editing/managing software). So I guess the this is "an intention by design". I would not personally call it a flaw.


2) When I add files to Star*Explorer upload list, the 'Caption' field remains empty even if the IPTC caption is set. In the 'Edit caption' dialog, there's three tabs - 'Caption', 'IPTC' and 'EXIF' - the last two are filled in correctly. I now understand that Smugmug treats its own and IPTC's captions as separate entities, but since Smugmug copies IPTC when uploading, I would expect Star*Explorer to behave in the same vein, or at least provide some easy way to auto-fill 'Caption' from 'IPTC'. I haven't found such a way so far - only manually copying one tab to the other.

Since SM takes care of the IPTC-based info, there is no need to auto-fill anything. Just leave Captions empty, and SM will use IPTC ones. "Auto-fill" means more work for everybody: for you to deal with an extra UI element, for me to program it (as I mentioned, dealing with IPTC is not as trivial thing as it may seem), for your Internet connection to carry duplicate info both in IPTC and in Caption...


3) Can somebody explain to me what 'Get Images Info' feature in Star*Explorer does? I was hoping that I would be able to point the tool to my local storage, then link it to a Smugmug gallery, and then have it download the captions into my local images' IPTC or EXIF or whatever. That's was actually the main reason I bought SE, and bought the Power edition. However, I can't even figure out what kind of information this feature downloads, let alone where. Even if I pre-download the images using SE, then modify some captions online at Smugmug, then do 'Get Images Info' - nothing changes on my disk.

"Somebody: sure can:-).
"Get Images Info" delivers SM-specific info to your local MDB database, so you can use MS Access or some other ADO/ODBC tool (e.g. Crystal Reports) to run a nice sales/whatever report on your data.
The data obtained includes file name, caption, keywords, position, album, etc. Complete description can be found here (http://www.smugmug.com/hack/method-smugmug.images.getInfo).
The same info is also obtained along with actual image download, so if you do download, the info gets there along the way.


My workflow is usually like this: 1) Do some shooting 2) Quickly post-process if necessary 3) Upload to Smugmug for my relatives and friends to see 4) While they are looking, edit the captions online 5) Download the edited captions back to the originals on disk. So actually I would be more than happy if somebody just told me some easy automated way to perform the step 5 here.

Thanks!

Well, since all the data is now local, it is possible to enumerate the files, locate them on your HDD, find the new captions and try to put them back to IPTC. However, as I mentioned before, it not an extremely trivial process. I do not currently have a ready-to-go solution. :dunno
My only suggestion - set captions in your IPTC prior to download. Yes, you will upload a few minutes later, but at least you will have your data in sync.

HTH

Thank you for using Star*Explorer!

[Sergey Shevchenko]

Hi Nikolai,

Thanks a lot for the detailed explanation and for the great tool!


SM always keeps your original intact. Modifying IPTC is a violation of that primary rule.


Agreed. I just didn't think of this rule, and it's a good rule indeed. But it still would be nice to have at least some button for copying the Smugmug captions back to IPTC. Perhaps it would issue ten warnings before allowing you to do that, but it's better than not having anything.

On the other hand, I realize that I'm probably asking too much from an already excellent site (I didn't choose it for nothing, right? ;-).


I'm not even speaking of the fact that it's a highly non-trivial process (considering the fact that both SM and S*E should deal with all possible camera and scanner manufacturers, as well as all possible photo editing/managing software).


But isn't Smugmug already successfully dealing with this, since it can *read* IPTC captions from whatever you throw at it? I also thought that IPTC format was very rigid, unlike EXIF that has a free section where the camera/software maker can put their proprietary information.


Since SM takes care of the IPTC-based info, there is no need to auto-fill anything. Just leave Captions empty, and SM will use IPTC ones. "Auto-fill" means more work for everybody: for you to deal with an extra UI element, for me to program it (as I mentioned, dealing with IPTC is not as trivial thing as it may seem), for your Internet connection to carry duplicate info both in IPTC and in Caption...


Yes, I'm more or less ok with it once I got to know exactly how it works: 'Caption' field takes priority over IPTC if explicitly entered. It's just that there's some element of surprise: you have your IPTC's in the images; upload them to Smugmug and you see them copied to 'Caption'; open them for uploading in SE and the 'Caption' field remains empty, although you'd think it is virtually mapped to Smumug's 'Caption'. Not a big deal though.


"Get Images Info" delivers SM-specific info to your local MDB database...


Just one question: how do I get a hold of that database? SE doesn't ask for a file name and I don't see any new files in the sync tree.


Well, since all the data is now local, it is possible to enumerate the files, locate them on your HDD, find the new captions and try to put them back to IPTC. However, as I mentioned before, it not an extremely trivial process. I do not currently have a ready-to-go solution. :dunno
My only suggestion - set captions in your IPTC prior to download. Yes, you will upload a few minutes later, but at least you will have your data in sync.


Yeah, I sort of did this manually, simply copying the captions from online to my images in ACDSee. Perhaps there's a way in ACDSee to somehow automate this using the mentioned MDB database. I'll take a look. Does anybody know a tool that can do that for sure?

Regarding pre-filling IPTC before uploading - yes, it's the best I can do as it seems. I tend to want to edit those captions online after uploading, or sometimes revise them on disk (because in my case they usually are like short stories), so they will get out-of-sync from time to time I'm sure. But that the lesser of the two evils.

Thanks again!

[Sergey Shevchenko]

Nikolai,

I have one more problem: both Smugmug.com and Star*Explorer have an inconsistent support for local alphabets, particularly cyrillic. I'll describe SE's part here, Smugmug's part will go to another thread: when obtain the list of my albums from the server, any cyrillic characters in their names get converted into something like unicode sequencies, I think. Something like "&# 1073;&# 43;&# 1085;..." without the blanks (actually, DGrin automatically converted the codes to proper cyrillic the first time I entered this message and didn't insert extra blanks!). Naturally, this coded name also appears everywhere else - in the right-click menu, on disk when doing 'Update sync tree' etc.

I have some suspicion that this problem will come down to Smugmug API eventually. If that's not so, are there any plans to fully support local alphabets in SE?

Thanks!

[Nikolai]

Hi Nikolai,
Thanks a lot for the detailed explanation and for the great tool!

You're more than welcome. That's what I'm here for :wink
And if Smugmug's techsupport is the best on the planet, I sure do hope to be a close second :D


Agreed. I just didn't think of this rule, and it's a good rule indeed. But it still would be nice to have at least some button for copying the Smugmug captions back to IPTC. Perhaps it would issue ten warnings before allowing you to do that, but it's better than not having anything.
[quote]
I actually have this feature on my list, but it's a low priority item due a an extremely low demand (out of 300+ registered S*E users you're the second person to ask, the first one was me :-) and certain technical difficulties (such as it's not always obvious what field to use).
However, if I get some extra time on my hands I may come back to it...

[quote=Sergey Shevchenko]
On the other hand, I realize that I'm probably asking too much from an already excellent site (I didn't choose it for nothing, right? ;-).

It's a free market - never hurts to ask :D


But isn't Smugmug already successfully dealing with this, since it can *read* IPTC captions from whatever you throw at it? I also thought that IPTC format was very rigid, unlike EXIF that has a free section where the camera/software maker can put their proprietary information.

Yes and no. There are certain ambiguities. I'm not saying that it's a rocket science, but.. see my comment above about low priority :wink


Just one question: how do I get a hold of that database? SE doesn't ask for a file name and I don't see any new files in the sync tree.

Look in C:\Documents and Settings\%your user name here%\Application Data\StarExplorer\Data\Cache. And since Application Data is a system folder, standard search usually does not go "below" it, hence you could not find it.


Yeah, I sort of did this manually, simply copying the captions from online to my images in ACDSee. Perhaps there's a way in ACDSee to somehow automate this using the mentioned MDB database. I'll take a look. Does anybody know a tool that can do that for sure?

I tried to work with ACDsee, especially since I was a devoted user myself, until I got enough horsepower to switch to Adobe Bridge.
Unfortunately, they change stuff from version to version, and all recent version use some proprietary database. I was trying to get ahold of their SDK several times during the last 18 months (on their website they say it's open and free for everybody), but didn't get a single reply. Probably worst customer service on the web..:dunno


Regarding pre-filling IPTC before uploading - yes, it's the best I can do as it seems. I tend to want to edit those captions online after uploading, or sometimes revise them on disk (because in my case they usually are like short stories), so they will get out-of-sync from time to time I'm sure. But that the lesser of the two evils.


Yes, I can understand this. Unfortunately, no easy solution at the moment.

In general, I honestly don't think it's a good idea trying to manage one's data in two (or more) completely different places and then try to sync them reciprocally.. One can get enough issues even with one-way sync, and two-way is definitely asking for troubles due to a high collision probability... Come think of it, only few most powerful database engines have replication capabilities - and that until you try to replicate cross brand (e.g. from MS SQL to Oracle and back)


Thanks again!

My pleasure, thank you for using Star*Explorer!

Cheers! :1drink

[Nikolai]

Nikolai,

I have one more problem: both Smugmug.com and Star*Explorer have an inconsistent support for local alphabets, particularly cyrillic. I'll describe SE's part here, Smugmug's part will go to another thread: when obtain the list of my albums from the server, any cyrillic characters in their names get converted into something like unicode sequencies, I think. Something like "&# 1073;&# 43;&# 1085;..." without the blanks (actually, DGrin automatically converted the codes to proper cyrillic the first time I entered this message and didn't insert extra blanks!). Naturally, this coded name also appears everywhere else - in the right-click menu, on disk when doing 'Update sync tree' etc.

I have some suspicion that this problem will come down to Smugmug API eventually. If that's not so, are there any plans to fully support local alphabets in SE?

Thanks!

Hmm, interesting.. Funny, I guess I don't have a single album in cyrillic:rofl
My bad... OK, consider it a formal request... :wink

HTH

[Sergey Shevchenko]

Hmm, interesting.. Funny, I guess I don't have a single album in cyrillic:rofl
My bad... OK, consider it a formal request... :wink

HTH

Yeah, I probably wouldn't have them either (I never intentionally use cyrillic in file names), but some of my audience don't speak English, so I had to...

[Nikolai]

Yeah, I probably wouldn't have them either (I never intentionally use cyrillic in file names), but some of my audience don't speak English, so I had to...

I will check this thing out.
BTW, what's your default (system) locale?
Mine actually *is* 1251, so maybe that's the reason I don't see a problem (apart from that I probably never tried;-)?

[Sergey Shevchenko]

Nikolai,

I have one more problem: both Smugmug.com and Star*Explorer have an inconsistent support for local alphabets, particularly cyrillic. I'll describe SE's part here, Smugmug's part will go to another thread: when obtain the list of my albums from the server, any cyrillic characters in their names get converted into something like unicode sequencies, I think. Something like "&# 1073;&# 43;&# 1085;..." without the blanks (actually, DGrin automatically converted the codes to proper cyrillic the first time I entered this message and didn't insert extra blanks!). Naturally, this coded name also appears everywhere else - in the right-click menu, on disk when doing 'Update sync tree' etc.

I have some suspicion that this problem will come down to Smugmug API eventually. If that's not so, are there any plans to fully support local alphabets in SE?

Thanks!

Nikolai,

I was able to locate the image info database where you indicated, and guess what: the cyrillic captions are 'broken' in there, too! Just to complete the picture...

[Nikolai]

Nikolai,
I was able to locate the image info database where you indicated, and guess what: the cyrillic captions are 'broken' in there, too! Just to complete the picture...
I guess I need to parse received data...:scratch
It will definitely slow down the process, however..
Hence, need to make it optional, etc...

Anyway, Sergey, thanks for the info! :thumb

[Sergey Shevchenko]

I guess I need to parse received data...:scratch
It will definitely slow down the process, however..
Hence, need to make it optional, etc...

Anyway, Sergey, thanks for the info! :thumb

Nikolai, I think you might find useful this other discussion (http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=338423&postcount=530) initiated by me. It might be a Smugmug's own problem, after all.

[Nikolai]

Nikolai, I think you might find useful this other discussion (http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=338423&postcount=530) initiated by me. It might be a Smugmug's own problem, after all.

Thanks, I'll check it out! :thumb

[Nikolai]

Apart from minor bug-fixes and some performance optimization, this version features a major boost in some underused area of the application: Auto Album Creation.

The whole thing is about convenience. You already have your folders matching your categories and subcategories. All you want is to drop the whole tree into S*E and let it figure out which albums need to be created and whatnot and then upload all the images accordingly.

While this feature was originally introduced more than a year ago, I could definitely sense it was not used alot. I, for one, did not use it much. That was kinda bothering me, and lately I finally figured out the reason.

Originally it only looked into the "first" level of folders at "album" level. What was needed is to give a user control over how he wants to hande more than one level of nesting.

Let me explain.
Assuming you have a folder "Family", which matches your "Family" category. You created "Kids" folder, with "Jack's 12th BD" and "Sara's first tooth" under it (and probably a couple dozen more:-).
Now, imagine you have highlighted "Family" category in the S*E tree and dropped the "Kids" folder into it (or added it some other way, which are plenty).

Originally S*E would recognize the need to create "Kids" album. That was nice, but that was definitely not enough, since Jack and Sara pictures would end up in the same album - and this is not what you probably wanted.

With the new behaviour (controlled via separate tab in Preferences dialog) you can tell S*E to look for the individual folder and create album for each one. Besides you can instruct it either to use pure folder names (e.g. "Jack's 12th BD") or to create "compound" names (e.g. "Kids::Jack's 12th BD"), thus carrying the information about parent folder(s). And, surely, you can use your own custom separator instead of default "::" :wink

Along with the newly introduced ability to rename the autocreated albums before they are uploaded or delete some of them from the upload queue in case you added too much, I hope this powerful and underutilized feature become more useful.. :):

To me, it most defnitely did :D

[Nikolai]

Bugfix to auto album creation capability.
Renaming and removing from the queue did not work properly.
Fixed.

[chn]

I'm trying to evaluate the value of star explorer for my usage and have a few questions:

- While in trial should I be able to see the images listed with their file name when selecting an album? (see attached image)

- Without going to smugmug's website, is it possible to see and alter the image, album, and category options with star explorer?

- Should albums be sorted alphabetically when clicking on the "Album" column heading (because it does not appear to do so all the time)? (see attached image)

http://niesen.smugmug.com/photos/91443447-L-0.jpg

[Nikolai]

Thank you for trying Star*Explorer!

I'm trying to evaluate the value of star explorer for my usage and have a few questions:

- While in trial should I be able to see the images listed with their file name when selecting an album? (see attached image)

No. S*E is not an image manager, it's an uploader/downloader. You can only see the images in the queue (which you have to drag-n-drop/send/add to it first).

Next version (not build, hence not tomorrow:-) will have some more features, but that's a very long shot...

- Without going to smugmug's website, is it possible to see and alter the image, album, and category options with star explorer?

Not currently, no. Please use the image manager (picasa, adobe bridge, acdsee, irfanview, etc.)


- Should albums be sorted alphabetically when clicking on the "Album" column heading (because it does not appear to do so all the time)? (see attached image)

Whenever you're click on a column header. this column *is* sorted (case-insensitive). If you click second time on the same column the order is reversed.

If you have any more questions/concerns, please do not hesitate to ask them here or email me (support@starexplorer.com) directly.

HTH

[chn]

Thank you for trying Star*Explorer!
Not currently, no. Please use the image manager (picasa, adobe bridge, acdsee, irfanview, etc.)

None of these programs will support smugmug specific settings such as featured photo of the album, privacy and password settings, and things like that. I really would like to verify that the albums have the correct settings and that the pictures are in the right places. Now, I'm wondering how hard it is to write a little reporting tool that would list all the albums, images and their settings.


Whenever you're click on a column header. this column *is* sorted (case-insensitive). If you click second time on the same column the order is reversed.
Well, the screen capture above is done after I clicked on the "Album" column header. In that album the sorting doesn't seem to work. In the other albums it does.

[Nikolai]

None of these programs will support smugmug specific settings such as featured photo of the album, privacy and password settings, and things like that. I really would like to verify that the albums have the correct settings and that the pictures are in the right places. Now, I'm wondering how hard it is to write a little reporting tool that would list all the albums, images and their settings.

Star*Explorer allows you to download all the album/image related info surfaced by the production XML-RPC API (http://www.smugmug.com/hack/xmlrpc-overview). Just highlight a branch in the tree on the left and choose File|Get Images Info... command. Info will be downloaded to your local .MDB database which you can access then with any Jet/OLEDB/ADO compliant reporting tool, (MS Access, Chrystal Reports, etc.)
If it's not there - well, this can be a subject for a custom programming (http://www.starexplorer.com/SE_services.htm) :-)



Well, the screen capture above is done after I clicked on the "Album" column header. In that album the sorting doesn't seem to work. In the other albums it does.
Oops! Got it! Looks like a mistake in comparison/sorting code (Mistake? Me? :rofl ).
Will be fixed in the nearest release, sometimes soon. Hope it does not stop you from continuing your evaluation :-)

Thank you very much! :thumb

[photogmomma]

Just a thank you! I know what I was looking for was a little confusing (dual license, one pro and one power), but you were patient helping me out! And when I typed my email address wrong, I can't believe how fast you got me a new code for my S*E!

Oh, and a HUGE thanks for this product. You've truly made my life so much easier! Having two sites and trying to get everything up to them was a complete pain, but not anymore....

Anyway, just wanted to say that you rock! :clap

[Nikolai]

Just a thank you! I know what I was looking for was a little confusing (dual license, one pro and one power), but you were patient helping me out! And when I typed my email address wrong, I can't believe how fast you got me a new code for my S*E!

Oh, and a HUGE thanks for this product. You've truly made my life so much easier! Having two sites and trying to get everything up to them was a complete pain, but not anymore....

Anyway, just wanted to say that you rock! :clap

Thank you very much, you've made my month :-) :D :clap :lust

[Nikolai]

Bugfixes.

Chn reported a problem with sorting. Fixed.
Download of a large amount of images could be occasionally interrupted by server's timeout. Fixed (several attempts added)Thank you for using Star*Explorer (http://www.starexplorer.com)!

[ExposeTheMoment]

:thumb An Idea that would save me time.

I shoot raw, then use bibble to process raw to jpeg. After I have the jpegs I use Star Explorer to upload. Heres what I would like the program to do.

Have star explorer set up to read from an empty folder, and as my raw program converts images to jpegs, I would like to see star explorer find those images(in the folder I setup within my raw program where my jpegs will convert to) and upload them to a gallery on smugmug that I setup.

[Nikolai]

:thumb An Idea that would save me time.

I shoot raw, then use bibble to process raw to jpeg. After I have the jpegs I use Star Explorer to upload. Heres what I would like the program to do.

Have star explorer set up to read from an empty folder, and as my raw program converts images to jpegs, I would like to see star explorer find those images(in the folder I setup within my raw program where my jpegs will convert to) and upload them to a gallery on smugmug that I setup.

I agree, it's a good idea. :thumb
In fact, it's in the plans. :D
Not tomorrow, but hopefully this year :wink
Thank you for using Star*Explorer! :lust

[Nikolai]

New version now follows the recent changes to Smugmug's Upload Log functionality and has similar Day-Week-Month logic.
In addition to this simple yet handy scope selection, S*E also allows you filter, sort and export the data, see errors only, etc.

[technocraft]

I agree, it's a good idea. :thumb
In fact, it's in the plans. :D
Not tomorrow, but hopefully this year :wink
Thank you for using Star*Explorer! :lust

Yes! I want that. I process much the same way. Convert to JPG, upload to SM. SE has made that much easier, but if it could monitor my "output" directory and upload on demand, that would be suuuuweeeet.

[technocraft]

When I use the download images function (which is great! - I want to get the Large size image w/ my custom watermark), regardless of what size I select in the application, it downloads the original:

Nicole_and_Joe_0312-01-L.jpg 969kb
Nicole_and_Joe_0312-01-M.jpg 969kb
Nicole_and_Joe_0312-01-S.jpg 969kb

[Nikolai]

When I use the download images function (which is great! - I want to get the Large size image w/ my custom watermark), regardless of what size I select in the application, it downloads the original:

Nicole_and_Joe_0312-01-L.jpg 969kb
Nicole_and_Joe_0312-01-M.jpg 969kb
Nicole_and_Joe_0312-01-S.jpg 969kb

Email sent. Please check your template, it's possible that you simply overwrite on file with another....

HTH

[Allen]

Email sent. Please check your template, it's possible that you simply overwrite on file with another....

HTH
I just tried download for the first time, didn't realize it existed.
I unchecked all but thumbs and it also started downloading the
originals. Am I also missing something?
They all were named xxxx-TH.jpg


Side notes: When adding captions sometimes an old keyword shows in the
box. It does not get uploaded though. Is there somewhere to add keywords
or clear this?

Great app
Thanks for all the work,
Al

[Nikolai]

I just tried download for the first time, didn't realize it existed.
I unchecked all but thumbs and it also started downloading the
originals. Am I also missing something?
They all were named xxxx-TH.jpg


Side notes: When adding captions sometimes an old keyword shows in the
box. It does not get uploaded though. Is there somewhere to add keywords
or clear this?

Great app
Thanks for all the work,
Al

Guys, you're seriously puzzling me...:scratch I tried (just now) the galleries with originals enabled and disabled, private and public - S*E works like a clock, downloading exactly what it has been asked to... I 'm afraid I need more info...:dunno

[Nikolai]

Side notes: When adding captions sometimes an old keyword shows in the
box. It does not get uploaded though. Is there somewhere to add keywords
or clear this?

Not sure what are you talking about.. Can you clarify please?


Great app
Thanks for all the work,
Al

My pleasure! Thank you for using Star*Explorer!

[Allen]

Not sure what are you talking about.. Can you clarify please?

My pleasure! Thank you for using Star*Explorer!
S*E v1.0.0.152 Enclosed screen shot. I guess what I saw
was the keyword added to each photo when the caption
is added.. These are two of the "thumbs" I downloaded.
Notice the files names and size (originals).

Cancelled d/l after 49. Two of the 49 were thumbs, rest originals.
BTW the keyword has no connection to these photos.

Nothing I can't live with, just thought I let you know.
AL

[Nikolai]

S*E v1.0.0.152 Enclosed screen shot. I guess what I saw
was the keyword added to each photo when the caption
is added.. These are two of the "thumbs" I downloaded.
Notice the files names and size (originals).

Cancelled d/l after 49. Two of the 49 were thumbs, rest originals.
BTW the keyword has no connection to these photos.

Nothing I can't live with, just thought I let you know.
AL

I see, thank you.

Keywords: since Smugmug production API does not support keywords upload explicitely (yet), I guess I need to remove the column...

Download: thanks to a patient help from Tony, the culprit was found!
It turned out to be the new custom watermarking feature that prevents downloading from work. Non-WM images should be OK.

Anyway - I'm gonna do something about all those pesky issues over this coming weekend.
TGIF!

[Allen]

...
Download: thanks to a patient help from Tony, the culprit was found!
It turned out to be the new custom watermarking feature that prevents downloading from work. Non-WM images should be OK.
...
Only a power user here, so I have no water marks.
AL

[Nikolai]

Only a power user here, so I have no water marks.
AL
Weird...
Anyway, I'm gonna work on it and see what's going on. Maybe something's changed...

[Allen]

Weird...
Anyway, I'm gonna work on it and see what's going on. Maybe something's changed... Good luck.
The one reason why I like this is I can get the thumbs from a gallery
and use them for a slideshow. See my bio box on my home page.
Works relly nice.
http://atsmith.smugmug.com/
I had to drag each thumb to an Exployer folder and it took time to get 119
in this case and then upload to a gallery. D/Ling the thumbs would save a
lot of time.
Al

[Nikolai]

Tony and Allen reported problem with image downloading.
It turned out to be an issue with watermarked files, as well as 2d copies made with SM replicating tool.
Fixed.

Also added greatly improved error handling and reporting tool for that rare case if something goes totally sour (like an Access Violation).
May you never have a need for that one:-)

Thank you for using Star*Explorer!

[Allen]

Tony and Allen reported problem with image downloading.
It turned out to be an issue with watermarked files, as well as 2d copies made with SM replicating tool.
Fixed.

Also added greatly improved error handling and reporting tool for that rare case if something goes totally sour (like an Access Violation).
May you never have a need for that one:-)

Thank you for using Star*Explorer!
D/L still showing v152
Al

[Nikolai]

D/L still showing v152
Al
Forgot to update the links :bash
Try now, please!

[ExposeTheMoment]

File Name Image ID Status Uploaded W P Message
IMG_0874.jpg 99657685 Error 2006-10-02 10:22:00 0s n/a File had errors and could not be processed.
IMG_0750.jpg 99575083 Error 2006-10-02 04:26:05 0s n/a File had errors and could not be processed.
/tmp/phpgcthOb n/a Error 2006-10-02 09:37:21 n/a n/a upload problem : wq - file was too large
/tmp/phpv2yDzO n/a Error 2006-10-02 05:40:38 n/a n/a upload problem : wq - file was too large
/tmp/phpIJAYLa n/a Error 2006-10-02 05:39:03 n/a n/a upload problem : wq - file was too large
/tmp/phpTfSuA4 n/a Error 2006-10-02 03:15:50 n/a n/a upload problem : wq - file was too large
/tmp/phpiWtnfR n/a Error 2006-10-02 03:11:41 n/a n/a upload problem : wq - file was too large


The ones that don't have image numbers how do I know what it was so I can upload them.

[ExposeTheMoment]

File Name Image ID Status Uploaded W P Message
IMG_0874.jpg 99657685 Error 2006-10-02 10:22:00 0s n/a File had errors and could not be processed.
IMG_0750.jpg 99575083 Error 2006-10-02 04:26:05 0s n/a File had errors and could not be processed.
/tmp/phpgcthOb n/a Error 2006-10-02 09:37:21 n/a n/a upload problem : wq - file was too large
/tmp/phpv2yDzO n/a Error 2006-10-02 05:40:38 n/a n/a upload problem : wq - file was too large
/tmp/phpIJAYLa n/a Error 2006-10-02 05:39:03 n/a n/a upload problem : wq - file was too large
/tmp/phpTfSuA4 n/a Error 2006-10-02 03:15:50 n/a n/a upload problem : wq - file was too large
/tmp/phpiWtnfR n/a Error 2006-10-02 03:11:41 n/a n/a upload problem : wq - file was too large


The ones that don't have image numbers how do I know what it was so I can upload them.

also the total number of images that should have been upload was 1,269

[Nikolai]

also the total number of images that should have been upload was 1,269

SM recently changed the upload log to be daily/weekly/monthly.

S*E upload log analysis only goes as far as parsing html page and trying to help you to re upload what's been missing.

If some info is not there - not much I (or anyone) can do.

Please shoot me an email if you have further questions/concerns so I can respond to you faster, dgrin notification are lagging lately :-(

[Nikolai]

Download a tiny zip file, extract a few scripts, copy them to Adobe startup folder: and you'll get this:

http://www.starexplorer.com/images/SE_bri1.jpg

All details on the website (http://www.starexplorer.com).
Natural requirement: a working copy of Star*Explorer :-)

[dietrichmd]

Recently I tried to login to smugmug thru star explorer and it asks for the password, which I enter correctly, and then I get this message in the terminal:


0:00:05: Started Reading data from cache
0:00:05: Finished Reading data from cache (0:00:00)
0:00:12: Started Logging in to dietrichmd.smugmug.com
0:00:14: RPC-XML: invalid login (account locked) (1)
0:00:14: Finished Logging in to dietrichmd.smugmug.com (0:00:02)


My account is valid as I can login from the website, so I am at a loss as to what could cause this error. Any ideas?

[Nikolai]

Recently I tried to login to smugmug thru star explorer and it asks for the password, which I enter correctly, and then I get this message in the terminal:


0:00:05: Started Reading data from cache
0:00:05: Finished Reading data from cache (0:00:00)
0:00:12: Started Logging in to dietrichmd.smugmug.com
0:00:14: RPC-XML: invalid login (account locked) (1)
0:00:14: Finished Logging in to dietrichmd.smugmug.com (0:00:02)


My account is valid as I can login from the website, so I am at a loss as to what could cause this error. Any ideas?

It may be a temporary glitch with your connection. I just verified mine (with password), it works.

Unless you recently installed some web/ftp/firewall related s/w that could spoil a few things, please go to S*E account setings, hit clear hash, then hit test (it should ask for password).

Let me know: support at starexplorer dot com.

HTH

[photogmomma]

Download a tiny zip file, extract a few scripts, copy them to Adobe startup folder: and you'll get this:

All details on the website (http://www.starexplorer.com).
Natural requirement: a working copy of Star*Explorer :-)

And the hack for Lightroom will be available when?!? :rofl

BTW - This program really does rock. I have never had any problems with it uploading ever. (Can't say the same with other ways...)

I have some wishlist items. Would this be the place to put them? Or would you rather have an email?

Thanks again!

[Nikolai]

And the hack for Lightroom will be available when?!? :rofl

Lightroom is different.
It's using totally different scripting language - lua, I never even heard of it before. :dunno Adobe is not very open about it at the moment, maybe when it comes closer to release...:scratch We'll see..

BTW - This program really does rock. I have never had any problems with it uploading ever. (Can't say the same with other ways...)

Thanks, appreciate it alot! :D


I have some wishlist items. Would this be the place to put them? Or would you rather have an email?
Thanks again!

Either one is OK. The only reason I usually ask to use email to report the problem is because I can react faster.
But I will read both eventually:-)

Thank you for using Star*Explorer! :thumb

[cmason]

Nik, that worked pretty well. A DOS screen pops up just before S*E loads, is that by design?

[Nikolai]

Nik, that worked pretty well. A DOS screen pops up just before S*E loads, is that by design?

It's OK. If it stays, simply close it.
I never worked with java script before, so it may be rough on the edges.
Once I figure out how to launch S*E in a different way, without that ugly box, I'll update the script.
Thanks for the feedback! :thumb

[devbobo]

It's OK. If it stays, simply close it.
I never worked with java script before, so it may be rough on the edges.
Once I figure out how to launch S*E in a different way, without that ugly box, I'll update the script.
Thanks for the feedback! :thumb

Nik,

what's the javascript that you are using to open it ?

Maybe I can sort it for you.

Cheers,

David

[Nikolai]

Nik,
what's the javascript that you are using to open it ?
Maybe I can sort it for you.
Cheers,
David

Thanks for the offer!
I think I will fix it over the weekend, but in case you're bored now:): - just get the script from the website, it's fairly simple, you'll see it.
Cheers, mate! :1drink

[BBones]

Constantly getting issues of late trying to upload photos via StarExplorer. It creates the galleries that I asked it to do just fine, but for some reason StarExplorer does not seem to think so so it tries again and again until it fails. This is a real pain for me since I try to upload 15-30 galleries at a time and it leaves me with 3 empty galleries for each one it tried to create and no uploaded photos. If I try to do it again SOMETIMES it will work but not often and I am forced to manually delete each gallery and start over.

I have installed the latest version, had it get all albums and emptied the hash and re-logged in but I am still getting the same off and on issues. More often off then on.

[Nikolai]

Constantly getting issues of late trying to upload photos via StarExplorer. It creates the galleries that I asked it to do just fine, but for some reason StarExplorer does not seem to think so so it tries again and again until it fails. This is a real pain for me since I try to upload 15-30 galleries at a time and it leaves me with 3 empty galleries for each one it tried to create and no uploaded photos. If I try to do it again SOMETIMES it will work but not often and I am forced to manually delete each gallery and start over.

I have installed the latest version, had it get all albums and emptied the hash and re-logged in but I am still getting the same off and on issues. More often off then on.

Really sorry about this inconvenience.
It might have something to do with incorrect server responses.
I had similar exerience recently, but it was spotty to say the least. I'd say - it should come to normal over time.
Unfortunately, I don't have access to server's code, so at this point all I can do is to suggest to wait or contact smugmug R&D...:dunno

[Nikolai]

Recently ( don't know when, I only found it a couple days ago) smugmug online upload log access URL has been changed (again:-).

I figured I better update S*E before somebody except me notices it, too:-):wink

Latest version is ready for you on www.starexplorer.com (http://www.starexplorer.com) :D

[wellman]

Nikolai,

I've searched the thread for this, but couldn't find an answer to this specific question...

I tend to upload my images to Smugmug and then caption them online. I find myself wanting from time to time to re-download my images, but with the caption data embedded in the image's IPTC fields. I know that Smugmug doesn't do this as a function of NOT modifying the original. However, this modified original is exactly what I need. Will S*E do this? Thanks!

-Greg

[Nikolai]

Nikolai,

I've searched the thread for this, but couldn't find an answer to this specific question...

I tend to upload my images to Smugmug and then caption them online. I find myself wanting from time to time to re-download my images, but with the caption data embedded in the image's IPTC fields. I know that Smugmug doesn't do this as a function of NOT modifying the original. However, this modified original is exactly what I need. Will S*E do this? Thanks!

-Greg

Sorry, this request has certain technical implications that do not allow me to put it into the code right now (translation: too much trouble:-).

You can download both images info and images themselves and then run all kind of reports on them, of course, but the actual file modification - thus far I have been leaving it for the photo editors/managers...:dunno

However, if you are serious about this - drop me an email (customprogramming@starexplorer.com) and we can discuss a few advanced options...:wink

Thank you for using Star*Explorer!

[wellman]

Sorry, this request has certain technical implications that do not allow me to put it into the code right now (translation: too much trouble:-).

You can download both images info and images themselves and then run all kind of reports on them, of course, but the actual file modification - thus far I have been leaving it for the photo editors/managers...:dunno

However, if you are serious about this - drop me an email (customprogramming@starexplorer.com) and we can discuss a few advanced options...:wink

Thank you for using Star*Explorer!

Thanks for the quick response. I'd been looking for an excuse to start playing with REST, so if downloading albums with embedded IPTC data isn't available functionality yet, I'll start fiddling around. I'll let you know how things go, whether I have success or I get way in over my head. :wink
-Greg

[fremoy]

Hi Nikolai

I stumbled across your software when i was trying to find out if Send to Smugmug could pass a proxy.

Your software is great. Esp the SSL option on upload, gets around our companys upload restrictions!! (((-:

Has made uploading etc much much easier, just wish i'd found it sooner..!!

Nice one Nikolai.

Regards

Mark.

[Nikolai]

Hi Nikolai

I stumbled across your software when i was trying to find out if Send to Smugmug could pass a proxy.

Your software is great. Esp the SSL option on upload, gets around our companys upload restrictions!! (((-:

Has made uploading etc much much easier, just wish i'd found it sooner..!!

Nice one Nikolai.

Regards

Mark.

Thank you very much for your kind words - and welcome to Dgrin! :thumb

[Nikolai]

John,
your email address shows permanent failure. I tried it several times from several accounts, it does not work.:dunno
Please contact me from a different email address so I can issue the license.:deal
Thanks!

[jfriend]

I use S*E to upload to Smugmug. I use Bridge/ACR/CS2 for preparing my images. I'm working on a large upload (1000 images spread across 15 galleries). I would like to do the upload in a way that causes the images to end up in the galleries sorted by the star rating in Adobe Bridge.

I have verfied that if I manually drag the images into S*E one at a time, S*E will upload them in that order and they will appear in that order in Smugmug (as long as you display in upload order).

But, if I multi-select a bunch of images in Bridge and drag those into S*E, they get reordered by filename in S*E and the Bridge sort order is not preserved. Obviously, it could be that Bridge is losing the sort order in the drag/drop info it passes to S*E or that S*E is resorting them - I can't tell who's changing it.

What would be the easiest way for me to get images from Bridge sorted by rating uploaded into a Smugmug gallery in the same sort order?

I've got nearly 1000 images across 15 galleries so I'm trying to avoid having to manually reorder them again.

[Nikolai]

I use S*E to upload to Smugmug. I use Bridge/ACR/CS2 for preparing my images. I'm working on a large upload (1000 images spread across 15 galleries). I would like to do the upload in a way that causes the images to end up in the galleries sorted by the star rating in Adobe Bridge.

I have verfied that if I manually drag the images into S*E one at a time, S*E will upload them in that order and they will appear in that order in Smugmug (as long as you display in upload order).

But, if I multi-select a bunch of images in Bridge and drag those into S*E, they get reordered by filename in S*E and the Bridge sort order is not preserved. Obviously, it could be that Bridge is losing the sort order in the drag/drop info it passes to S*E or that S*E is resorting them - I can't tell who's changing it.

What would be the easiest way for me to get images from Bridge sorted by rating uploaded into a Smugmug gallery in the same sort order?

I've got nearly 1000 images across 15 galleries so I'm trying to avoid having to manually reorder them again.


I do hear your pain. At this moment I don't have anything to offer except renaming files or manually adjusting them in SE que (or on SM site afterwards, using wonderful arrange mode). :cry

However: you did it again! Your questions made me realize that I *CAN* apply "bridge" sorting. I simply never looked into this aspect.:dunno

So, please rest assured, I will add this - rather useful, I agree - feature to one of my nearest releases. :deal

Thank you! :thumb

Thanks for the inspiration!

[jfriend]

I do hear your pain. At this moment I don't have anything to offer except renaming files or manually adjusting them in SE que (or on SM site afterwards, using wonderful arrange mode). :cry

However: you did it again! Your questions made me realize that I *CAN* apply "bridge" sorting. I simply never looked into this aspect.:dunno

So, please rest assured, I will add this - rather useful, I agree - feature to one of my nearest releases. :deal

Thank you! :thumb

Thanks for the inspiration!

OK, I guess I'll rename them in Bridge before dropping them into S*E. Is it S*E who's sorting by filename when they're dropped in?

[Nikolai]

OK, I guess I'll rename them in Bridge before dropping them into S*E. Is it S*E who's sorting by filename when they're dropped in?

No sir, it's Bridge, (or Explorer, if you dragging or sending from windows directly). I do not have any control over the way it keeps its selected items in the memory.

However, as I said, I'll try to make this change to S*E asap, so if you're talking about renaming thousands of files and can wait a week or two - I'd wait:-)

HTH

[jfriend]

No sir, it's Bridge, (or Explorer, if you dragging or sending from windows directly). I do not have any control over the way it keeps its selected items in the memory.

However, as I said, I'll try to make this change to S*E asap, so if you're talking about renaming thousands of files and can wait a week or two - I'd wait:-)

HTH

I have to do my uploads this weekend. I can make do with the rename thing. I'll have to run a rename in Bridge in 15 different directories, then drop into S*E.

[Nikolai]

Due to the changes to some SM HTML pages structure (and the lack of pertinent API), sales info-related functionality broke.
It's fixed now though:-) :ivar
Pro users, rejoice! :deal

[Nikolai]

I have to do my uploads this weekend. I can make do with the rename thing. I'll have to run a rename in Bridge in 15 different directories, then drop into S*E.

Ask and thou shalt recieve!

John (and everybody else:-), get the latest S*E and turn the Bridge sort usage ON (in Options, Conversion tab).
From now on S*E will take care of it for you :-)

I hope you didn't rename all your files yet:-) :wink

[jfriend]

Ask and thou shalt recieve!

John (and everybody else:-), get the latest S*E and turn the Bridge sort usage ON (in Options, Conversion tab).
From now on S*E will take care of it for you :-)

I hope you didn't rename all your files yet:-) :wink

Awesome! That is customer service. I'll give it a try soon. I haven't renamed anything yet.

[jfriend]

Ask and thou shalt recieve!

John (and everybody else:-), get the latest S*E and turn the Bridge sort usage ON (in Options, Conversion tab).
From now on S*E will take care of it for you :-)

I hope you didn't rename all your files yet:-) :wink

Maybe I'm not doing this right. I turn the Bridge sort option on in prefs, I sort by rating in Bridge, Select All in Bridge, then drag/drop those selected images into S*E, I was hoping it would preserve my Bridge sort order in S*E, but when I do it with build 157, S*E still sorts the images by filename order and assigns indexes to them in filename order.

Did I miss something?

[Nikolai]

Maybe I'm not doing this right. I turn the Bridge sort option on in prefs, I sort by rating in Bridge, Select All in Bridge, then drag/drop those selected images into S*E, I was hoping it would preserve my Bridge sort order in S*E, but when I do it with build 157, S*E still sorts the images by filename order and assigns indexes to them in filename order.

Did I miss something?

No, I simply didn't express myself clearly.:scratch
There is a "persistent" sorting, then one you get each time when you navigate to a folder. If you arrange your images with the mouse (like SM arrange mode) this order will be persistent. And this is the only info I know how to get access to. :dunno
So if you drag your images around in Bridge, it will remember this arrangement. Then S*E would pick up that "arranged" order on the inital add/drop.

HTH

[Nikolai]

No, I simply didn't express myself clearly.:scratch
There is a "persistent" sorting, then one you get each time when you navigate to a folder. If you arrange your images with the mouse (like SM arrange mode) this order will be persistent. And this is the only info I know how to get access to. :dunno
So if you drag your images around in Bridge, it will remember this arrangement. Then S*E would pick up that "arranged" order on the inital add/drop.

HTH

I played with it and found a way how to do what you want.

prepare your images
sort them the way you want (that sorting mode will be checked)
Drag at least ONE image around (You can return it to its old place immediately after that)
Observe that sorting changed from whatever method you used on step 2 to "Manually".
And guess what - now *this* is your manual order, i.e. the one that S*E would understand:-)So all you need to do after sorting is a little manual shuffle - and you're home free:-)

HTH

[jfriend]

I played with it and found a way how to do what you want.
prepare your images
sort them the way you want (that sorting mode will be checked)
Drag at least ONE image around (You can return it to its old place immediately after that)
Observe that sorting changed from whatever method you used on step 2 to "Manually".
And guess what - now *this* is your manual order, i.e. the one that S*E would understand:-)So all you need to do after sorting is a little manual shuffle - and you're home free:-)

HTH

I appreciate you helping me out Nikolai, but Bridge appears to be screwing things up. I sort by Rating. I uncheck ascending order to get the highest rated images first. I drag one image to a slightly different position and this causes it to go to Manual in the menu, but also causes it to go back to ascending order with all the highest rated images last.

I can't seem to get it to go with highest rated images first and a manual sort without manually sorting each one into the preferred order (for 1000 pictures). So, it appears that Bridge won't let me switch to manual sort while keeping highest rated shots first. It looks like a Bridge bug to me, but it's currently blocking me from getting this to work.

[Nikolai]

I appreciate you helping me out Nikolai, but Bridge appears to be screwing things up. I sort by Rating. I uncheck ascending order to get the highest rated images first. I drag one image to a slightly different position and this causes it to go to Manual in the menu, but also causes it to go back to ascending order with all the highest rated images last.

I can't seem to get it to go with highest rated images first and a manual sort without manually sorting each one into the preferred order (for 1000 pictures). So, it appears that Bridge won't let me switch to manual sort while keeping highest rated shots first. It looks like a Bridge bug to me, but it's currently blocking me from getting this to work.

John,
I agree, that this is an inconsitent Bridge behaviour, BUT I still think you're OK:-)
I played with it again and it seems that the thing that screws the things up is that ascending flag. Here is how to overcome it.

Let it be.
Sort by rating (best images are in the end)
Shuffle (your order is made persistent)
Send/drag/add to S*E (same order is accepted)
You will see them in the list in that precisely "wrong" order
Click on Index column once or twice to sort them in reverse
Click "apply order" button (greeen and red piramyd)
Done!:deal

[jfriend]

John,
I agree, that this is an inconsitent Bridge behaviour, BUT I still think you're OK:-)
I played with it again and it seems that the thing that screws the things up is that ascending flag. Here is how to overcome it.
Let it be.
Sort by rating (best images are in the end)
Shuffle (your order is made persistent)
Send/drag/add to S*E (same order is accepted)
You will see them in the list in that precisely "wrong" order
Click on Index column once or twice to sort them in reverse
Click "apply order" button (greeen and red piramyd)
Done!:deal

Ahh. That seems to work - cool! Use S*E to reverse the order and avoid Bridge's bug - I get it.

The first time I tried this, S*E hung (completely non-responsive) right after I started the upload before anything had shown in the terminal window. Drag/drop in, reverse the order, apply order, start upload, hung. I killed the process, started over, it restored the queue and started the upload fine.

[Nikolai]

Ahh. That seems to work - cool! Use S*E to reverse the order and avoid Bridge's bug - I get it.

The first time I tried this, S*E hung (completely non-responsive) right after I started the upload before anything had shown in the terminal window. Drag/drop in, reverse the order, apply order, start upload, hung. I killed the process, started over, it restored the queue and started the upload fine.

Glad it worked out. I'd hate the idea of manually renaming/rearranging thousand images.

Hungups happen. That's why the persistent queue is there to help you:-):wink

Cheers! :1drink

[jfriend]

Hungups happen. That's why the persistent queue is there to help youThe persistent queue was a pleasant surprise. I didn't know it had that functionality. It asked me if I wanted to restore, I said yes and it was right back where I was before. Pretty nice.

[Nikolai]

The persistent queue was a pleasant surprise. I didn't know it had that functionality. It asked me if I wanted to restore, I said yes and it was right back where I was before. Pretty nice.

It's been done a while ago, sometime in summer methinks...:D

[Nikolai]

It turned out the changes to the sales info HTML was deeper than I originally thought and my parser was still confused.
Fixed. :D

[J-Mac]

Hi Nikolai.

No problems, no issues...

Just browsing through the forum and thought I would drop by to say thanks.

I am sure that I use Star Explorer much less frequently and intensively than most here. But when I do it never fails to cross my mind what a blessing it truly is! :ivar

Saves me a lot of time and effort. Thanks again, Nik.

[Nikolai]

Hi Nikolai.

No problems, no issues...

Just browsing through the forum and thought I would drop by to say thanks.

I am sure that I use Star Explorer much less frequently and intensively than most here. But when I do it never fails to cross my mind what a blessing it truly is! :ivar

Saves me a lot of time and effort. Thanks again, Nik.

Great to hear something like this sometimes :-) :clap
Thank you for using Star*Explorer! :thumb
And I have something to say back - check the next post:-)

[Nikolai]

Sebastian asked for custom size image download.
Thy wish is my command, my German/Eucadorian friend! :wink
Slighltly improved performance on upload/download.
John, it's not yet the leap you've asked for, that one will take some time. :dunno
But hey, it's still gonna be faster, not slower, even if by percent, not times:-) :wink

[rainforest1155]

Sebastian asked for custom size image download.
Thy wish is my command, my German/Eucadorian friend! :wink

Works great, thanks a lot Nik! :clap
By the way I put up some photos of my Ecuador trip on my site.

Hasta luego,
Sebastian

[John Mueller]

nothing showing up after upload with starexplorer.
What gives?

[Andy]

nothing showing up after upload with starexplorer.
What gives?
Mail Nik. He's fast with the support :deal

[devbobo]

nothing showing up after upload with starexplorer.
What gives?

John,

I think it might be SmugMug, I had issues uploading from SmugBrowser and Universal Drag-n-Drop.

Cheers,

David

[Nikolai]

With the new version you get what many users asked for the long time - multithreaded upload. In my tests it shows upload speed improvement anywhere between 10% and 30%.:ivar
Since the number of changes were kinds drastic I did two things:

I left the new method disabled by default. To enable it, go to the Options, Upload tab and check the appropriate checkbox.
I also left the link to the previous version available.There is also a caveat: new upload method (RAW Post) does not yet support multiline image captions. You can still enter several lines in Caption Editor, but internally S*E will replace the line breaks with spaces.
Note that caption entered into IPTC are fine, since they are part of the image itself and not affected by upload method.

[Nikolai]

Thanks to Devbobo friendly help, multiline captions are now working in multithreaded mode, too!
Muchas gracias, amigo! :thumb

[Nikolai]

New notification option added for my friend Derek, of of the first S*E supporters.:-):lust

If you ever added a whole bunch of files for S*E to upload and only a few showed up in the S*E's upload queue pane, you may have been left wondering what on Earth was wrong with the rest of them.:scratch

Now you can get a message dialog warning you about those misfits so you can read the log and get the idea why S*E rejected them: wrong size, wrong type, already in the list, can't auto-convert, etc. :deal

This new option is turned off by default, you can set it in Options, Upload tab.

Hope this new version will help S*E cross 70,000 threshold tonight (4 hits left:-) :ivar

[Nikolai]

:barb Crossed another deca-kilo-hit threshold!:ivar

[rainforest1155]

:barb Crossed another deca-kilo-hit threshold!:ivar
Sounds very useful - Nice job, Nik - as usual! Keep those releases coming! :clap

Congrats on your new milestone, too! :ivar

Sebastian

[Nikolai]

Sounds very useful - Nice job, Nik - as usual! Keep those releases coming! :clap

Congrats on your new milestone, too! :ivar

Sebastian

I knew I can count on your attention! :thumb :D :rofl

[jwear]

Nik again to the rescue :thumb I loaded star on my new puter :huh but it no work :cry help nik:dunno in few emails I am back with a working SE . Great program and easy to use :clap thanks again Nik :barb

[Nikolai]

Nik again to the rescue :thumb I loaded star on my new puter :huh but it no work :cry help nik:dunno in few emails I am back with a working SE . Great program and easy to use :clap thanks again Nik :barb

My pleasure, glad I was around and able to help:-) :thumb
Cheers, partner! :1drink

[cmason]

Wow! TWiddle-Dee and TWiddle-Dum are my new friends....


Smokin!

[Nikolai]

Wow! TWiddle-Dee and TWiddle-Dum are my new friends....
Smokin!

Glad you like them! They are pretty good on their own, but on a smaller files you can get like 100% speed boost:-)
Unfortunately, the effect is less noticeable on the large files, but still you'll get something:-)

[Nikolai]

Numerous usability improvements.

What's new:

Upload Queue: added Save Upload Queue item to the upload toolbar and to the context menu.
Upload Queue: added Reveal In Explorer item to the context menu.
Upload Queue: added Open Image item to the context menu.
Main menu: moved View Current Log File menu item into a Log File submenu.
Main Menu: added Open Log Folder menu item to the Log File submenu there so it's easy to browse the older logs.
Perused configurable proxy settings to multithreaded (MT) upload
(proxy server, user name, password, port).
Improved MT error handling (don't ask:-).
Perused configurable HTTP timeout to MT upload.
Perused configurable repeat attempts for MT upload (0=ad infinitum).V.163 had a "little" bug (upload didn't work at all :whip :bash), so if you got it before I took it off - my apologies, please get 164.

[steelephotography.com]

Nik:

I bought a new computer. I there anyway I can get my previous program key....

Let me know what info. you need from me...

David

[Nikolai]

Nik:

I bought a new computer. I there anyway I can get my previous program key....

Let me know what info. you need from me...

David

Of course there is:-) :thumb
Just shoot me an email (support@starexplorer.com) and you'll be back in business in almost no time:-) :deal
HTH

[Nikolai]

One of the useful mantras I use as a developer is "eat your own dog food". Hence all my uploads are done with S*E. If there is anything that stands in my way - it gets fixed, some sooner, some later.

This one was that took me a while to develop, maintain and improve up to the point that it is actually usable:-) I'm talking about autoalbum creation.

Last night I finished uploading a whole 2006 year worth of originals, 12,000+ files, 18+Gb. :barb

(The actual originals were RAW, I used CS3 Bridge + ACR4 to convert them all into hires jpegs)

The last update (v.164) was purely instrumental in this action.

First of all, S*E helped me to automatically create 362 albums by simply dropping the root folder into the appropriate category.
Try to do that album by album and then match each folder (with subfolders) to its pertinent gallery... :deal

The the upload itself began...

The multithreaded upload (started with v160) was fast, but a bit fragile. With the errors thrown at it by the SM servers now and then I had to manually resume the upload multiple times.:cry
Luckily the persistent queue made it only a matter of hitting the same green Upload button again. But it still was a hassle. :rolleyes

So, V.164 came, and this was the last stroke:-) :clap

The last big chunk of ~6,000 files, 5+Gb was uploaded in one totally automated way, even though SM servers continued to throw some errors once in a while. Yes, it took S*E 17+ hours at the overall average speed of 85 Kbytes/sec, but it handled all the errors properly and simply repeated the attempts automatically until all the files were uploaded - with zero intervention on my side. :ivar

Finally it looks like I'm able to upload all my archives :-) :wink

Boy, am I glad to have a truly unlimited account :-)
Thanks, SM! :thumb

[Seamus]

Nik, please buy a mac and write a mac version of this software. I used it when I had a pc and it was excellent. I now use an apple laptop but miss this prog.

[Nikolai]

Nik, please buy a mac and write a mac version of this software. I used it when I had a pc and it was excellent. I now use an apple laptop but miss this prog.

Thank you, appreciate your kind words! :thumb
Re: apple version... Sorry mate... :dunno I think it will be simpler for everybody to get something like Parallels, at least for now. Otherwise it would take me a few years to learn Mac OS up to the point where I know it at the same degree I know Windows, and hence can create something useful.. :rolleyes

Cheers! :1drink

[Seamus]

Thank you, appreciate your kind words! :thumb
Re: apple version... Sorry mate... :dunno I think it will be simpler for everybody to get something like Parallels, at least for now. Otherwise it would take me a few years to learn Mac OS up to the point where I know it at the same degree I know Windows, and hence can create something useful.. :rolleyes

Cheers! :1drink

I am trying parallels atm. I will have to figure out how to share folders between mac os x and windows to get Star working. It is a great app, nik, and would be worth it for me to rtfm the paralells help pages.

[Nikolai]

I am trying parallels atm. I will have to figure out how to share folders between mac os x and windows to get Star working. It is a great app, nik, and would be worth it for me to rtfm the paralells help pages.

Once you do please let me know so I can put some FAQ item(s). :bow
I promise the proper credit and a link to your site:-) :wink :thumb
Ta mate! :beer

[Nikolai]

New version has been uploaded.
Numerous UI-speed and usability improvements.
Also, after using Multithread mode to upload about 30Gb worth of pictures, I decided it golden for the prime time and made it a default mode (for the new users, that is, current users would need to switch manually)
Thank you for using Star*Explorer!

[Allen]

New version has been uploaded.
Numerous UI-speed and usability improvements.
Also, after using Multithread mode to upload about 30Gb worth of pictures, I decided it golden for the prime time and made it a default mode (for the new users, that is, current users would need to switch manually)
Thank you for using Star*Explorer!
Think ya mean v166.:D

[Nikolai]

Think ya mean v166.:D
You've noticed, eh! :wink Now I know that at least somebody's paying attention:-) :thumb
I found a minor glitch (real tiny) and didn't want it to stay there for a week or whatever until the next version.

[BrianLowe]

Hello Nik,

I downloaded the v.166 and I was not able to upload anything, nada, zilch:confused.
So I downgraded and reinstalled V.159 and I am back uploading with no problems:crazy.

And when I say I was not able to upload with v.166 I mean when I click on the upload button noting happens.

Many Thanks,
Brian

You've noticed, eh! :wink Now I know that at least somebody's paying attention:-) :thumb
I found a minor glitch (real tiny) and didn't want it to stay there for a week or whatever until the next version.

[Nikolai]

Hello Nik,

I downloaded the v.166 and I was not able to upload anything, nada, zilch:confused.
So I downgraded and reinstalled V.159 and I am back uploading with no problems:crazy.

And when I say I was not able to upload with v.166 I mean when I click on the upload button noting happens.

Many Thanks,
Brian

There must be some confusion.
As I mentioned earlier, I uploaded 30Gb over this week with v.164 (which is v166 minus cosmetics). I also uploaded a dozen images earlier today with v166 and another one just now after I read your message..

Maybe zero timeout? Please review your connection settings and set the parameters to:
timeout: 256
attempts: 10
pause: 0

Let me know (support@starexplorer.com)

HTH

[Nikolai]

Hello Nik,
I downloaded the v.166 and I was not able to upload anything, nada, zilch:confused.


I had that issue with v.163 a week ago for about 30 minutes, before I got it replaced. Maybe you got the bad version? :scratch

In any case, I put a troubleshooting guide (http://www.starexplorer.com/SE_FAQ.htm#How_do_I_report_the_problem) today, can you please check it out?

Thanks man! :thumb

[Stustaff]

Posted in wrong thread ignore.

[Roberth]

Good Morning

I have recently found out about Star Explorer and I am verry impressed with the program, I was wondering if it is compatiable with Kingstons new U3 DataTraveler memory stick that allows you to install apps on the stick and run them on any XP or Vista based machince with out having to install the program .

This would be perfect when we travel as we could us any system to safely upload our pictures to Smugmug while on vacation or at a clients if we do not have access to our system.

Thanks in adcance

Rob

www.u3.com (http://www.u3.com) is the main site for the technology

[Nikolai]

Good Morning

I have recently found out about Star Explorer and I am verry impressed with the program, I was wondering if it is compatiable with Kingstons new U3 DataTraveler memory stick that allows you to install apps on the stick and run them on any XP or Vista based machince with out having to install the program .

This would be perfect when we travel as we could us any system to safely upload our pictures to Smugmug while on vacation or at a clients if we do not have access to our system.

Thanks in adcance

Rob

www.u3.com (http://www.u3.com) is the main site for the technology

Thank you for your interest in Star*Exlorer!

Unfortunately S*E requires an install. However, if your travels are short, you can simply use it as a trial on each new machine, which would give you almost unlimited access for a month.

HTH

[Nikolai]

Another month, anther hit threshold :clap

[dogwood]

Another month, anther hit threshold :clap
Fantastic program-- only wish I had bought it sooner. It's saving me quite a bit of time and stress over those "socket exception errors". Thanks :thumb

[Nikolai]

Fantastic program-- only wish I had brought it sooner. It's saving me quite a bit of time and stress over those "socket exception errors". Thanks :thumb
Appreciate the feedback! :thumb
Thank you for using Star*Explorer! :lust

[Allen]

I have not found it yet, but is there a way to pause and restart the upload?

[Nikolai]

I have not found it yet, but is there a way to pause and restart the upload?

There sure is! :D
Switch to regular view and press the big red stop button (or select Process|Cancel main menu item). :deal
After the confirmation it will stop (not immediately, but soon enough). The you can add items to queue, delete them, shutdown machine, etc. Just don't clear the whole queue, since it's not possible to restore it after that...

HTH

PS
Thank you for using Star*Explorer! :clap :lust :bow

[Allen]

There sure is! :D
Switch to regular view and press the big red stop button (or select Process|Cancel main menu item). :deal
After the confirmation it will stop (not immediately, but soon enough). The you can add items to queue, delete them, shutdown machine, etc. Just don't clear the whole queue, since it's not possible to restore it after that...

HTH

PS
Thank you for using Star*Explorer! :clap :lust :bow Ok did that. How come the ones uploaded so far still show in que?
Hit upload and 1st file skipped but 2nd one uploading again. I had stopped
it at No. 17. Should I have deleted to ones uploaded?

Is this going thru each one? Don't understand what's happening. Looks like
uploading whole file again. At least going thru the motions, taking a lot of
time.
0:51:54:
0:51:54: TWiddle-Dee: 1 out of 53: IMG_1389.JPG
0:51:54:
0:51:54:
0:51:54: TWiddle-Dum: 2 out of 53: IMG_1390.JPG
0:51:54:
0:51:55: Started TWiddle-Dee: uploading IMG_1389.JPG to album 1364299
0:55:00: Finished TWiddle-Dee: uploading IMG_1389.JPG to album 1364299 (0:03:05)
0:55:00: Started TWiddle-Dum: uploading IMG_1390.JPG to album 1364299
0:55:00: TWiddle-Dee: Upload result: 132070130
0:55:00:
0:55:00: TWiddle-Dee: 3 out of 53: IMG_1391.JPG
0:55:00:

Edit: looks like I'm getting duplicates. Guess have to delete from que ones already uploaded.

[Nikolai]

With the two threads running simultaneousely there is a chance that if you cancel the file that was actually uploaded would remain in queue. Otherwise if S*E gets the upload notification it should remove the file from the queue.

My main goal when processing "Cancel" was to preserve the queue, since it can be tricky to rebuild. Maybe I overdid it a bit:-). I rarely cancel myself, so I can't say for sure.
So in the mean time please pay a bit more attention what get uploaded and what not if you hit Cancel.

[Allen]

With the two threads running simultaneousely there is a chance that if you cancel the file that was actually uploaded would remain in queue. Otherwise if S*E gets the upload notification it should remove the file from the queue.

My main goal when processing "Cancel" was to preserve the queue, since it can be tricky to rebuild. Maybe I overdid it a bit:-). I rarely cancel myself, so I can't say for sure.
So in the mean time please pay a bit more attention what get uploaded and what not if you hit Cancel.
Gatcha. Dee & Dum threads uploading simultaneously. Just have to wait
until it's finished and see what's left. I deleted from cue what was uploaded
and also dups up there. No problem, now know what to expect.
Great app, I love it.

[Nikolai]

New version has a great new feature: it can automatically ignore the files that have been already uploaded.

All the original versions of S*E were checking for duplicates in the existing upload queue.
Starting from version 167 you can tell SE* to check if you have already uploaded a file to a particular album at some time before.
This can greatly facilitate a "picture of the day" logic: you can simply keep dropping your local POTD folder to the same album and S*E will check for those files you have uploaded previously and only accept the new ones.

As always with S*E, this feature is fully configurable (via Sync Upload tab in the Options).
You can choose between

No verification: pre-existing and fastest behaviour
All time verification: every album will be verified.
Naturally, it will slow down the parsing the most :dunno
And, last but not least: verification for the selected albums only.
This last option allows you keep the speed high, but make sure that few specified albums are covered.NOTE: to avoid unbearably slow real-time online verification, this feature operates against S*E cache. If you use S*E on the same PC for all your uploads, you have nothing to worry about. However, if you employ several upload methods/machines, you may need to use "Get Images Info" command once in a while to ensure the data needed makes it to the local database.

[Nikolai]

77,000+ hits, 390+ customers! :barb

[dogwood]

Nikolai:

I dragged and dropped a whole file of images onto star*explorer and only some of them uploaded. The rest won't show up on star*explorer at all. I drag them over to the upload queue and nothing happens-- they don't show up. They're 8-bit jpegs and I was able to upload them using the regular smugmug drag and drop. Any ideas?

EDIT: nevermind-- it was a file size issue. I changed the file upload size limit under tools, but in the text editor box, that's why it wasn't working. Great program... it's just smarter than me!

[Allen]

Nikolai:

I dragged and dropped a whole file of images onto star*explorer and only some of them uploaded. The rest won't show up on star*explorer at all. I drag them over to the upload queue and nothing happens-- they don't show up. They're 8-bit jpegs and I was able to upload them using the regular smugmug drag and drop. Any ideas?
You might d/l the latest again and re-install. I just put a few in and running now. It took all I dragged over. First two showed on Smug.

[Nikolai]

Nikolai:

I dragged and dropped a whole file of images onto star*explorer and only some of them uploaded. The rest won't show up on star*explorer at all. I drag them over to the upload queue and nothing happens-- they don't show up. They're 8-bit jpegs and I was able to upload them using the regular smugmug drag and drop. Any ideas?

EDIT: nevermind-- it was a file size issue. I changed the file upload size limit under tools, but in the text editor box, that's why it wasn't working. Great program... it's just smarter than me!

Glad you've figured it out. Sometimes size does matter:-) :rofl

[dogwood]

Glad you've figured it out. Sometimes size does matter:-) :rofl

Any plan to make star explorer compatible with replace photo? :wink Easy enough for me to ask-- I don't have to write the code!

[Nikolai]

Any plan to make star explorer compatible with replace photo? :wink Easy enough for me to ask-- I don't have to write the code!
AFAIK, no API for this yet. And with all the recent changes I'm not so sure about the "creative browsing" approach.
Besides, this operation is a rarely used, so Smugmug UI is fairly adequate, IMHO... :rolleyes
Sorry, but you need to give me some more reasons to do it:-) :wink

[jfriend]

AFAIK, no API for this yet. And with all the recent changes I'm not so sure about the "creative browsing" approach.
Besides, this operation is a rarely used, so Smugmug UI is fairly adequate, IMHO... :rolleyes
Sorry, but you need to give me some more reasons to do it:-) :wink

Since Replace Photo is the only way to modify a photo before printing when using proof delay, that function gets used a lot more than it used to. I've suggested that Smugmug just add a flag to the upload function that would inidicate you want to replace an existing photo with the same filename in the same gallery as a nice API shortcut for replace photo and it would make it easy for existing uploaders to support. As it is, the Smugmug UI for Replace Photo is really clunky and forces you to deal with images one at a time. That's pretty time consuming if you want to do fine post processing on 20 images that were just ordered and you then have to do replace photo on each and every one, one at a time.

But, as you say, if there's no API, then we're just waiting for Smugmug to enable something.

[dogwood]

AFAIK, no API for this yet. And with all the recent changes I'm not so sure about the "creative browsing" approach.
Besides, this operation is a rarely used, so Smugmug UI is fairly adequate, IMHO... :rolleyes
Sorry, but you need to give me some more reasons to do it:-) :wink

Yeah, I'm sure you need more reasons. For me, all it took was replacing 15 photos one by one tonight (for a print order-- something fairly common for me)... very slow indeed. Star*explorer works so well at uploading photos, just thought it might be a good tool for replacing photos too. I'd buy an upgrade, maybe others would too? :D