Main Window
The application window is divided into the areas explained in the
following sections.
Main Menu
Contains commands of general interst:
- Preferences. Shows the dialog
containing settings of which photo series folders to display and
settings for the image export to the Web directory.
- Export. Starts the image
export for the Web, generating scaled JPEG copies for image display
HTML pages (large copies) and for group overview HTML pages
(small copies).
- Refresh View.
- Help.
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Series and Groups Tree
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The left part of the application window shows a tree-like structure
comprises of the directories that contain images. It shows:
- Series
- A directory that (immediately or with subdirectories) contains
all images of a photo series.
- Group
- Subdirectory of a series that contains a coherent group of images
(e.g., divided by locations). Groups can contain images and other groups
(subgroups).
Series and groups are physical directories on the hard disk. The names
shown in the tree are the directory names of the series and groups.
Each item in the tree has a context menu for directory commands.
The metadata (additional information that is not stored directly
in the file system) of all groups and files of a series is stored in
the series metadata file. This file named
"_<Series-Name>-metadata.xml"
lies in the series directory.
The location of where the series directories can be found is specified
in the Preferences dialog.
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Properties Pane
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The properties pane is located in the bottom-left corner of the main window
and has two views.
The normal view shows the important properties of the currently selected
group or file and allows to change them. The Properties button shows the
complete Properties dialog.
The Preview (obtained by pressing the Preview button in the panel's
title bar) shows a preview image of the currently selected image.
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Contents Pane
The contents pane shows the contents of the group: the subgroups and image
files (subgroups or files whose file names start with '.', '_', '#', and '~'
are ignored). File names, titles, and whether to export them can be edited
in-place. The preview images are stored in the _JP_Preview directory
of the respective series container (the _JP_Preview directory can be
deleted at any time and is re-created on demand).
List View
- Shows the contents of the group: the subgroups and image files (subgroups
or files whose file names start with '.', '_', '#', and '~' are ignored). File
names, titles, and whether to export them can be edited in-place.
- New Button
- It creates new objects in the selected group. Please select the object
kind in the combo box to the left:
- Files.
- Subfolders.
- References. Objects that are stored in the series metadata
file and contain a link to another object that can be shown in a group
overview HTML page (or can stand for itself to serve as descriptive text).
- Separators. Can be used to structure the images in the
group, and can be exported to show up in the group overview HTML page.
- Command Buttons
- Except for the New button, the buttons provide commands for the
currently selected subgroups or files. Hold the Ctrl or Shift
key to select several objects. Some commands are only available when exactly
one object is selected.
Together with the file context menu, the following commands are available:
- Properties. Shows the subgroup or file properties dialog.
- Open. Opens the file using an internal viewer for images and
text files, or by opening the application registered for the file type.
- Show Exported. Shows the exported main image in an internal
dialog.
- Set File. When an image file has been renamed or removed outside
of J Photo-Explorer, it cannot associate a metadata entry with a file.
In such a situation, a reference is created such that the information entered
is not lost. The Set File dialog associates the remained reference
with another file in the same directory (if the target file has been placed
into another directory, cut the reference, paste it into this directory, and
associate it with the file there).
- Cut. Cuts the selected objects so that they can be pasted
elsewhere. The objects remain in their group until pasted.
- Paste. Pasts objects into the active group.
- Delete. Deletes the selected objects. Files and directories
(with their whole contents) are deleted physically from the underlying file
system.
- Move Up. Moves up the selected objects. The position of
subgroups and files are recorded in the series metadata file.
- Move Down. Moves down the selected objects. The position of
subgroups and files are recorded in the series metadata file.
HTML Preview
The HTML preview (obtained by pressing the Preview button in the contents
panel's title bar) shows the exported images similar to the final display of
the img.php script. It allows previewing the exported images in their
small and large size. Clicking an image shows a dialog with the large exported
image.
The HTML preview honors the <sub-group-list> and
<file-list> tags of a directory description and tries to find
the images referenced in an <img> tag. It can, however, not
follow a link specified in a directory description.