First, before I forget, a short disclaimer: I wrote this program to
the best of my abilities and with best intentions. Nonetheless it
probably still contains some bugs, some of which may only show
under very special circumstances. I'm almost sure none of those bugs
will do harm to you, but I can never be 100% sure. So you have to run
PictureRelate on your own risk.
Now that you know, you can download the program itself.
It comes with a small install/uninstall program, so it should be really
easy to use.
After installing, you have to load images into the program.
You can load whole directories by opening a single picture from that
directory.
Or you can drag and drop pictures into the program.
If you want more control about what pictures to load, you can create a
text file
with one filename per line and load it. Let me know if you experience
any problems.
PictureRelate 2.5.1 has the following changes.
- fixed jpg loading bug for some exotic jpg formats (bug was in OpenCV code)
- small fix of layout computations for large image viewer
- error handling in case of selecting too many pictures in the file dialog
- select duplicates considers file size in bytes for pictures of same number of pixels
- check for updates via menu
- check for updates when installing
- audio feedback now polyphon (up to 5 sounds can play at the same time)
- paste button in download generator
- smart paste button in download generator
- moved download options from menu to download manager
- option to set referring URL in download manager
- auto-cascading download options (can download more often with default settings)
- GUI text corrections (e.g. buy license => get free license)
- deactivated over-cautious security warning when reloading images
- workaround to send umlauts to Firefox 2.0 as URL parameters
Once more it is time for a new release. I was hoping to go to version
3.0 in a major leap, but things got complicated and wishes from users
accumulated. So here is version 2.5.0, which is "half way" to 3.0.
Excerpts from the changes log for PictureRelate 2.5.0
- improved thread synchronization to prevent DB changes during
critical operations
- added welcome message
- moved clipboard watcher from main window into download manager
window to reduce bumpyness on auto-save etc.
- improved thread synchronization to prevent DB changes during
critical operations
- bugfix for check wether URL is already downloaded
- moved clipboard watcher from main window into download manager
window to reduce bumpyness on auto-save etc.
- moved clipboard watcher from main window into download manager
window to reduce bumpyness on auto-save etc.
- german translation for "quality agent" a.k.a. "Unexpected Program
Behavior"
- distinguish between internal and external errors when download
fails
- improved audio feedback: every sound plays at least for about
half a second.
- when checking for picture URLs, URL arguments after "?" are
ignored (so http://myhost/mypic.jpg?id=me is a valid picture URL)
- download option auto-referer and allow-redirects become global
options
- optionally download generator will remove failed downloads from
download manager list
- download generator immediately stops on internal errors (like
network disconnected)
- audio feedback for downloads becomes optional
- fixed memory leak (when Download Cache directory is not available)
- added download option "allow redirects", which checks for valid
HTTP image header (if a picture was not found, you may get a 404 header
response or a redirect, but usually the redirect is NOT a picture).
- copy URLs form download manager list to clipboard
- optionally download generator will remove failed downloads from
download manager list
- download generator immediately stops on internal errors (like
network disconnected)
- fixed memory leak (when Download Cache directory is not available)
- copy URLs form download manager list to clipboard
- smoother download operation, especially while auto-saving DB
using more threads.
- better error handling if Download Cache directory is not available
- external picture format converter command now supports
environment variables substitution
- improved thread synchronization for image loading and downloading
- centralized audio feedback
- download generator option auto-referer
- download generator option allow redirects
- reactivate quality agent for internal errors
- different icons for desktop-level windows
- suspend loading activity when computer is suspended to standby
mode
- support for desktop level dialog windows
- fixed strange behavior of command "Update Directories"
- audio feedback for dropped/copied URLs
- functionality to remove all empty directories of a (deleted or
moved) file
- fix download manager problem: URLs which are in cache but not in
DB are now loaded in background
- fixed thread synchronization problem when inserting elements to
download manager
- added options to move download manager entries to top or to
bottom of list
- audio-feedback for download manager activity
- fixed thread synchronization problem when inserting elements to
download manager
- added options to move download manager entries to top or to
bottom of list
- better navigation dropdown list to change settings in download
generator
- allow cache directory to be a shell shortcut to a directory on
another drive
- changed chache structure to have more subdirectories - less
problems with file system that have a low limit on the number of files
per directory
- cleanup functionality to move non-picture images to special
folder and to remove empty directories
- optionally never shrink pictures in internal preview (show
scrollbars instead)
- alpha release 2.0.6.3 (german)
- search duplicates: search instabilities fixed; a more thorough
analysis might be a good idea
- search duplicates: select small duplicates
- search duplicates: select largest duplicate
- search duplicates: invert selection of duplicates
- search duplicates: invert selection of all pictures
- added sub-level for storing/retrieving download generator
settings from/to registry
- added icons for Download Manager and 3 Download Generators
- enabled dropping of URLs into Download Manager window
- implemented dropping of URLs to Download Manager and main window
- fixed bug in "Next" of Download Generator
- 3 download generators, 9 settings stored in registry
- added Download Generator
- added callbacks for download generator
- added cache aware download method
- moved some code to common class
- download manager window integration
- almost completely redesigned architecture of download manager
(threadsafety and deadlocksafety)
- LoadURL with progress indicator
- restructured copy/move functionality
URL support
- browsable download folder which preserves URLs in file path names
- URLs download via wininet.dll (to be changed later)
- URLs can be loaded into PictureRelate via command line
- URLs can be loaded via Internet Shortcuts
- URLs can be loaded via Drag&Drop
- URLs can be loaded via Copy&Paste
- optionally URLs from Clipboard are loaded autmoatically
- dragging picture links from Mozilla/Firefox into PictureRelate
- special code to support dragging of pictures from Internet
Explorer
- using Windows temporary internet files to speed up download
- context menu adaptions to handle URLs (most of the time you work
on a local file)
- copying of URLs as text preserves URL; copying as file copies
downloaded file.
Exclude some pictures from Search Similar
- context menu entry and keyboard shortcut to exclude a picture
- save/load exclusion flag to/from database
- display exclusion flag as a red cross in the right upper corner
of a thumbnail
- Search Duplicates algorithm adapted to ignore excluded pictures
Improved Search Similar
- display relative image sizes of similar pictures as little squares
- improved search duplicates with additional identitiy check
(slower, but better)
- optionally search for 90 degree rotated duplicates
GUI
- select pictures using a drag rectangle (click and draw rectangle)
- adjusted automatic color choosing to be compatible with drag
rectangle
- keyboard modifiers shift/control for rectangle selection
- enable stop loading for drag&drop of many files
Help
- added links to homepage and online forum
Search Duplicates:
- added display of relative image size to "search duplicates" view
(little square)
- added picture attribute "exclude from duplicates"
- added menu and keyboard command to set/clear attribute "exclude
from duplicates"
- excluded pictures are never grouped with "search duplicates"
- excluded pictures are displayed with a red cross
- excluded pictures are shown at the end of "search duplicates" list
- save/load attribute "exclude from duplicates" from/to DB
- optionally search for rotated duplicate pictures (step 90
degrees) too
- fixed minor bug: "search duplicates" does start only after two
invocations
- fixed minor bug: toolbar button "save" incorrectly dimmed after
startup
- improved / fixed key/mouse-handling related to picture selection
Misc.
- fixed bug related to new drag select feature
- fixed memory handling problem when using "additional identity
check" in duplicates search.
- optimization of search for rotated pictures
- fine-tuned internal handling of criteria weights
- implemented option to search for rotated duplicates (90,180,270
degrees); slow but functional implementation
- analysis wether drag select can scroll; it can, but view can't
select invisible pictures
- protected drag select against accidental scrolling
- implemented explorer-style drag rectangle for multi-selection in
thumbs view
- avoid accidental activation of renaming when clicking for menu or
drag select
- keyboard shortcut F2 for renaming (explorer-style)
- try to read JPG pictures even if header signature is corrupted.
- Fix error handling when reading corrupted JPG pictures (infinite
loop in loader thread).
Some TCP implementations; some still experimental
- added new tab for webexchange
- web service: external access to thumbnails by http (experimental)
- basic registration services for webexchange groups
- Implemented remote adding of pictures via TCP/IP (see
PictureRelateCmd) using normal loader functionality (=> can load
directories and lists).
- Fixed ungraceful handling of loading when following links to
non-file objects.
- TCP/IP server more robust: handle every connection in separate
thread; use timeout to read header.
- Implemented remote query via TCP/IP.
- fix graceful close of aborted TCP/IP connection (transfer
response, but don't block)
- TCIP/IP related code cleanup
- Criterias loading from string (i.e. also from TCP/IP).
- switched some components to stream IO (to enable
sending/receiving images via TCP/IP)
- extended command line interface (query, criterias, delete,
minimize)
- server license type added (for query)
- moved command interface code to separate module
It's time to release the next version of PictureRelate. Thanks to all
of you who encouraged me to maintain this utility. But appearantly there
is no way to make a living from PictureRelate, so now it's donation-ware.
I still keep the licensing system, because its easier not to change it
than to spend more days on deactivating it. Furthermore my PAD-Gen utility
has no "donation-ware" category, so it's probably still called shareware on most
software sites. I'll continue to support and
develop PictureRelate strictly on a spare-time basis. Of course the more
people give positive feedback, the more time I will spend.
To give you an idea how much work such a "little" utility is: the source code now contains
more than 40.000 lines of code. Imagine you have to write an essay of
that length... It would already be a book. That's what it takes
to program a high performance utility like PictureRelate.
Here is a short overview of what is new in version 2.0.6:
- Save and reload criterias to and from file.
- Multi-selection of duplicates now also possible in one line per group viewing mode.
- Optionally disable zooming of small pictures when viewed.
- Try to read JPG pictures even if header signature is corrupted.
- Fix error handling in OpenCV library when reading corrupted JPG pictures (infinite loop; PictureRelate hangs).
- Fixed ungraceful handling of picture loading when trying to follow links to non-file objects (e.g. http-links).
- More diagnostic error handling.
- Bug fix: don't create backup / autosave file before DB is assigned.
- Restructuring of code; preparing client/server extensions; extended command line interface (query, criterias, delete, minimize). These extensions are in alpha state and not intended for use yet. Some functionality needs an additional executable; ask me if you're interested.
Here is a short overview of what was new in version 2.0.5:
- Optional scroll bar for search similar view. Enter a number of
pictures to display in the options menu and you will see up to this
number of similar pictures.
- Every group of potential duplicates can now be displayed in a new
line, which will display less images, but goups are easier to see. This
option is also optional and has to be turned on under options.
- Progress bar fixed. When loading a large number of pictures, you
will now get a better idea how long it will take.
- File size is displayed with filename of picture.
- Autosave option (turned on by default)
- Crash recovery for DB (automatic backup of modified DB contents).
- Find DB file, i.e. open location of DB in Explorer
- Better implementation for sorting file paths.
- Windows-like order of filenames, where any number is interpreted
numerically; i.e. picture2 is listed before picture10
- Drag a file into "Find by Text"
- Mulit-select in search by text when Ctrl is down.
- Scroll to reloaded image. You can find an already loaded image by
drag&drop it into PictureRelate.
- New Mosaic options.
- Bugfix for loading upside-down bitmaps.
- Improved software quality checking (that's when PictureRelate
says "Unexpected Program Behavior" and offers to ignore or terminate).
- Command line options. Use --help for more info.
- Allow empty lines in image list files.
- Thread-safety bug fixes.
- Made overall GUI behavior more consistent; lot's of small changes
like toolbar access to "Find by Text", keyboard shortcuts, menu options
from large picture display window, etc.
The current version of PictureRelate is 2.5.1
Conservative users can also download old version 2.0.6:
English and
German
Forum