Is Full Text Search the same as Find? I tried searching for file names using the wildcard. If I typed in a specific file name, the file appeared, but with a wildcard (SAN2010F21*) - nothing and I should have gotten about 100 or so. In the search results when I typed in a specific file name, the File column was blank. I assume that is where the file name would appear. Is there a reason why that wouldn't appear?
Thanks.
Yes, one and the same.
Wildcard search can be tricky, plus you have to make sure you have all the info.
Also make sure you've checked all the appropriate fields to look for.
In general, if it doesn't return results, start loosening the search template and adding more fields...
Feature Request - Pause command for uploading
I'd really like to have a "Pause" command for uploading.
When I upload for a sports season, I am sometimes uploading 2000+ images across 30 galleries. At my upload speeds, this can take more than 24 hours to complete. But, image uploads really hog the internet bandwidth at the house and really slow things down for everyone else using the internet and make some things flat out not work because of the speed. For example, interactive online games just don't work when the responsiveness of the internet connection gets as slow as it does when I'm uploading images.
So ... sometimes I'd like to pause the upload for awhile while we do something else on the internet connection, then resume it a little later.
As it is today, I have a work-around, but it's kind of ugly. A simple pause button would be much, much nicer.
As a workaround, I can cancel the upload (which leaves Star Explorer in a really confused state), exit out of Star Explorer to clear up the confused state, restart StarExplorer (which will restore the remaining queue) and then restart the upload at some time later. But, a simple pause button would be a lot nicer.
For reference, I use BackupBlaze for online backup. I have the same issue with it hogging the bandwidth when it is doing backups. But its control panel has a nice "Pause Backup" button prominently features in the UI and when you hit that button, it pauses the backup for 2 hours, then it automatically resumes 2 hours later. You can pause it longer than that if you want to, but you have to temporarily turn off auto-backup to do so.
I'd really like to have a "Pause" command for uploading.
When I upload for a sports season, I am sometimes uploading 2000+ images across 30 galleries. At my upload speeds, this can take more than 24 hours to complete. But, image uploads really hog the internet bandwidth at the house and really slow things down for everyone else using the internet and make some things flat out not work because of the speed. For example, interactive online games just don't work when the responsiveness of the internet connection gets as slow as it does when I'm uploading images.
So ... sometimes I'd like to pause the upload for awhile while we do something else on the internet connection, then resume it a little later.
As it is today, I have a work-around, but it's kind of ugly. A simple pause button would be much, much nicer.
As a workaround, I can cancel the upload (which leaves Star Explorer in a really confused state), exit out of Star Explorer to clear up the confused state, restart StarExplorer (which will restore the remaining queue) and then restart the upload at some time later. But, a simple pause button would be a lot nicer.
For reference, I use BackupBlaze for online backup. I have the same issue with it hogging the bandwidth when it is doing backups. But its control panel has a nice "Pause Backup" button prominently features in the UI and when you hit that button, it pauses the backup for 2 hours, then it automatically resumes 2 hours later. You can pause it longer than that if you want to, but you have to temporarily turn off auto-backup to do so.
There is a "Cancel upload" button/menu item (which works like a Stop). Always has been. But it does take time to stop. Considering there are multiple threads, all in different states, it's a fairly tricky situation.
There is a "Cancel upload" button/menu item (which works like a Stop). Always has been. But it does take time to stop. Considering there are multiple threads, all in different states, it's a fairly tricky situation.
Yes, I use that and that's what leaves SE in a very confused state, even after waiting a long time. I have to shut SE down to get it out of the confused state before I can start it again. Even Smugmug's uploader has a nice simple pause button.
Yes, I use that and that's what leaves SE in a very confused state, even after waiting a long time. I have to shut SE down to get it out of the confused state before I can start it again. Even Smugmug's uploader has a nice simple pause button.
John - But I think the biggest issue is that Star*Explorer uses multiple threads, and shutting down those threads takes time. The smugmug uploader doesn't use threads, which is why it is easier to facilitate the pause button, I believe.
John - But I think the biggest issue is that Star*Explorer uses multiple threads, and shutting down those threads takes time. The smugmug uploader doesn't use threads, which is why it is easier to facilitate the pause button, I believe.
Mike.
I don't care if it takes some small amount of time to work itself out and actually being the pause - that's fine. The Cancel button hoses SE in a way that I can't restart the upload again without first quitting out of SE and restarting it and then restoring the queue and then logging in again and then restarting the upload. What I'm trying to say is that's kind of messy vs. a Pause button which could accomplish the task a lot, lot easier.
I hope nobody is arguing here that a Pause button isn't feasible, even with multiple threads. It's just a matter of appropriate programming and decisions on what to do with the image uploads that are in progress (finish to completion, abort and restart later, etc...).
I don't care if it takes some small amount of time to work itself out and actually being the pause - that's fine. The Cancel button hoses SE in a way that I can't restart the upload again without first quitting out of SE and restarting it and then restoring the queue and then logging in again and then restarting the upload. What I'm trying to say is that's kind of messy vs. a Pause button which could accomplish the task a lot, lot easier.
I hope nobody is arguing here that a Pause button isn't feasible, even with multiple threads. It's just a matter of appropriate programming and decisions on what to do with the image uploads that are in progress (finish to completion, abort and restart later, etc...).
I'm not arguing it isn't doable. You and Nik are much smarter folks than I am, I admit that freely.
From working in the software industry for 20 years, I know that pretty much anything can be done. It's just at what cost (time, resources, etc). I have great confidence Nik can figure out a solution and make it work. Shouldn't have commented in the first place, since I don't do the coding just a very happy customer.
Yes, I use that and that's what leaves SE in a very confused state, even after waiting a long time. I have to shut SE down to get it out of the confused state before I can start it again. Even Smugmug's uploader has a nice simple pause button.
John, stopping a single threaded app is like stopping a baby on a tricycle, doesn't take much. Stopping S*E is like stopping a person who went for a HALO jump - possible, but problematic.
...From working in the software industry for 20 years, I know that pretty much anything can be done. It's just at what cost (time, resources, etc)....
Mike, you're making a very solid point. Everything is doable, the question is at what cost. S*E was originally designed for "fire and forget" type of action. You should prep your upload carefully before hitting the Upload button. The benefit - if you did all that, you really can "forget" about the rest and proceed with your life.
Mike, you're making a very solid point. Everything is doable, the question is at what cost. S*E was originally designed for "fire and forget" type of action. You should prep your upload carefully before hitting the Upload button. The benefit - if you did all that, you really can "forget" about the rest and proceed with your life.
When an upload takes more than 24 hours, sometimes fire and forget isn't all that practical. Sometimes I fire, forget, then realize I need to pause for an hour, then restart later.
If you don't care or don't want to consider this capability, then just say so. But, please don't try to argue that I don't occasionally need it. Some of us don't have massive upload pipes that can successfully do multiple bandwidth intensive things at once at an acceptable performance.
If I did a fire and forget upload and now my son wants to play Halo3 online and I want to allow him to do that, then I have to pause the upload because the Halo3 online performance will be so lagged as to not work.
If I did a fire and forget upload and now someone else in the family decides they want to watch an instant movie on netflix, then I have to pause the upload until after the movie because the roundtrip network latency gets so slowed down that the netflix movie quality gets significantly degraded.
If I did a fire and forget upload and now one of my kids has to upload a video to youtube for a school project before they go to bed, then I have to pause my upload to let theirs proceed at a decent pace.
When an upload takes more than 24 hours, sometimes fire and forget isn't all that practical. Sometimes I fire, forget, then realize I need to pause for an hour, then restart later.
If you don't care or don't want to consider this capability, then just say so. But, please don't try to argue that I don't occasionally need it. Some of us don't have massive upload pipes that can successfully do multiple bandwidth intensive things at once at an acceptable performance.
If I did a fire and forget upload and now my son wants to play Halo3 online and I want to allow him to do that, then I have to pause the upload because the Halo3 online performance will be so lagged as to not work.
If I did a fire and forget upload and now someone else in the family decides they want to watch an instant movie on netflix, then I have to pause the upload until after the movie because the roundtrip network latency gets so slowed down that the netflix movie quality gets significantly degraded.
If I did a fire and forget upload and now one of my kids has to upload a video to youtube for a school project before they go to bed, then I have to pause my upload to let theirs proceed at a decent pace.
John,
I'm not saying you don't need it.
I'm just trying to explaiin why the "pause" logic a bit harder to achieve in S*E than in SM uploader or other single-threaded apps. And yes, I do admit that Cancel button may not always function as designed, my bad.
HTH
Nikolai
And yes, I do admit that Cancel button may not always function as designed, my bad.
HTH
Nikolai
It would be a good first step if you could just make Cancel work cleanly. I'd like to be able to hit Cancel, have it stop, have it still have the remaining images in the upload queue and then be able to just hit upload again sometime later.
It would be a good first step if you could just make Cancel work cleanly. I'd like to be able to hit Cancel, have it stop, have it still have the remaining images in the upload queue and then be able to just hit upload again sometime later.
Would it be better/possible to do a "Pause" button, that when you clicked it, it would finish the current threads and then essentially go into a paused state such that you could unpause it later?
Cancel to me means Cancel completely. Just a thought.
Would it be better/possible to do a "Pause" button, that when you clicked it, it would finish the current threads and then essentially go into a paused state such that you could unpause it later?
Cancel to me means Cancel completely. Just a thought.
Mike.
The idea is to let the running threads complete what they have started to do, but do not take any more files from the queue. Call it Stop, Pause, Cancel, Abort...
Added another beta/trial Pro Feature: Album Deletion. Select any number of albums, click right mouse button to activate context menu and choose Delete albums (closer to the menu bottom).
Both Drag Albums and Delete Albums (dangerous features by their nature) now require extra captcha-like confirmation.
Beta period for Pro Features extended until mid-January 2011.
Photo Duplicates
I have been happily using SE for about a year. I love it. I take a lot of hockey photos of my kids and use the auto album creation to make life easier. I tend to have folders like ~\2010\Kid[12]\[Date] and will Repeatedly drop Kid1 and Kid2 into the upload queue and rely on SE to NOT upload photos that have already been sent. Usually this works great. I have noticed however that in some albums I have multiple copies of the same photos. On Tools>Options>Sync Upload I have the Quick Check selected - it is the only thing on this menu selected. Does this seem correct?
Do you have any suggestions on a mechanism/tool to detect all duplicated files inside my smugmug account and delete one copy?
I have been happily using SE for about a year. I love it. I take a lot of hockey photos of my kids and use the auto album creation to make life easier. I tend to have folders like ~\2010\Kid[12]\[Date] and will Repeatedly drop Kid1 and Kid2 into the upload queue and rely on SE to NOT upload photos that have already been sent. Usually this works great. I have noticed however that in some albums I have multiple copies of the same photos. On Tools>Options>Sync Upload I have the Quick Check selected - it is the only thing on this menu selected. Does this seem correct?
Do you have any suggestions on a mechanism/tool to detect all duplicated files inside my smugmug account and delete one copy?
Keep up the great work.
thank you for your kind words about S*E!
Sorry about the dups. They are hard to avoid 100%. Try to increase the timeout. And I will add dups elimination (most likely as a pro extension feature) some time soon.
Thanks Nikolai! I love the new album deletion feature!!!! Previously when my better half uploaded, I'd have to do a manual cleanup when he created duplicate albums that were empty. This makes it so much easier! I just tested with the deletion of 100 albums in a category and it worked perfectly!!! The captcha confirmation part was a perfect check too.
I love Star*Explorer and think it's one of the best purchases I've made since becoming a smugmug user. Thanks again!
Thanks Nikolai! I love the new album deletion feature!!!! Previously when my better half uploaded, I'd have to do a manual cleanup when he created duplicate albums that were empty. This makes it so much easier! I just tested with the deletion of 100 albums in a category and it worked perfectly!!! The captcha confirmation part was a perfect check too.
I love Star*Explorer and think it's one of the best purchases I've made since becoming a smugmug user. Thanks again!
Kara
Thank you Kara, great to hear!
Keep a watchful eye - more pro features are coming pretty soon... ;-)wink
New Year, new version!
OK folks. It's a big one...
Move Albums (drag and drop)
Delete Albums
Rename Albums
Move Images (drag and drop)
Copy Images (drag and drop with Ctrl)
Delete Images
Hide/Unhide Images
Locate lost images locally
Export Images info in a variety of formats
Smart "get image info"
Multitude of bug fixes, including reliable process cancellation...
New features are availabe via Pro Feature packages (there are three of those) for the Pro License holders, as well as for the owners of the brand new Studio Edition - the latter includes all Pro Edition features, all current and future Pro packages and Premium support.
More packages coming later this year.
Each package is only $4.99 per account.
And for a very limited time - until Jan 15th 2011 - you can purchase two packages and recieve the last one free of charge - that's 33% discount!
It was fairly late last night, so I didn't have much time to explain things properly.
Here's a bit more on the new packages and new Studio edition...
S*E Pro Feature Packages
Albums1
Drag (multiple) albums to a category tree (any of the two)
Delete albums along with their images
Rename albums. Parameters %a%, %s%, %c% are supported.
Images1
New duplicate verification option - Check & Update.
Only the new and updated images will be accepted into the upload queue.
Locate lost images.
If you move images to another location after the upload, S*E loses its connection to them.
To restore it, you can run Locate Images command for a single or multiple albums and specify the new potential location.
S*E will traverse it and hopefully restore the severed connection.
New Get image Info dialog allows for much smarter and faster info update.
Images2
Drag (multiple) images to move them a new album in the albums list. Press and hold CTRL to copy instead.
Delete images
Hide or unhide images
Coming Packages (ETA Q1/2011)
As a reminder - the new S*E Studio Edition will get ALL features at no extra cost immediately as soon as the feature is available - even if the packages is incomplete and is not released yet.
The content of the future packages is not set in stone and can be changed without notice. This is only a declaration of intentions...
Albums2
Make albums public/private
Adjust album’s maximum size (L..O)
Apply Watermark
Remove Watermark
Printmark support
Apply Printmark
Remove Printmark
Sharegroups1
Sharegoups Tree
All Albums
So you can select and add them to a sharegroup below
All Sharegroups
Sharegroup 1
Sharegroup 2
….
Sharegroups for selected albums
Sharegroup 1
Sharegroup 2
...
Include album into a sharegroup by dragging it into the Sharegroup tree
Exclude selected albums from a sharegroup - dialog or context menu
Sharegroups2
Create a sharegroup (optionally include currently selected albums)
Delete a sharegroup (optionally delete all inlcuded albums)
Rename a sharegroup
Change a sharegroup description
Have an idea/need for a feature?
Now that I have a way to add features in a small packages, the proverbial "time to market" can be much faster than before.
Suggest a feature you need, maybe we'll get a vote on it to see if there is a demand - and it may be up and available sooner than you can say "wow" :-)
It was fairly late last night, so I didn't have much time to explain things properly.
Here's a bit more on the new packages and new Studio edition...
S*E Pro Feature Packages
Albums1
Drag (multiple) albums to a category tree (any of the two)
Delete albums along with their images
Rename albums. Parameters %a%, %s%, %c% are supported.
Images1
New duplicate verification option - Check & Update.
Only the new and updated images will be accepted into the upload queue.
Locate lost images.
If you move images to another location after the upload, S*E loses its connection to them.
To restore it, you can run Locate Images command for a single or multiple albums and specify the new potential location.
S*E will traverse it and hopefully restore the severed connection.
New Get image Info dialog allows for much smarter and faster info update.
Images2
Drag (multiple) images to move them a new album in the albums list. Press and hold CTRL to copy instead.
Delete images
Hide or unhide images
Coming Packages (ETA Q1/2011)
As a reminder - the new S*E Studio Edition will get ALL features at no extra cost immediately as soon as the feature is available - even if the packages is incomplete and is not released yet.
The content of the future packages is not set in stone and can be changed without notice. This is only a declaration of intentions...
Albums2
Make albums public/private
Adjust album’s maximum size (L..O)
Apply Watermark
Remove Watermark
Printmark support
Apply Printmark
Remove Printmark
Sharegroups1
Sharegoups Tree
All Albums
So you can select and add them to a sharegroup below
All Sharegroups
Sharegroup 1
Sharegroup 2
….
Sharegroups for selected albums
Sharegroup 1
Sharegroup 2
...
Include album into a sharegroup by dragging it into the Sharegroup tree
Exclude selected albums from a sharegroup - dialog or context menu
Sharegroups2
Create a sharegroup (optionally include currently selected albums)
Delete a sharegroup (optionally delete all inlcuded albums)
Rename a sharegroup
Change a sharegroup description
Have an idea/need for a feature?
Now that I have a way to add features in a small packages, the proverbial "time to market" can be much faster than before.
Suggest a feature you need, maybe we'll get a vote on it to see if there is a demand - and it may be up and available sooner than you can say "wow" :-)
I'll offer my feedback that this all way too complicated for me and you're making less money off me than you could. Multiple editions, feature packs, etc...
I would have been perfectly happy to just pay an upgrade fee to a 2.0 and 3.0 version like I do with all my other software and get some new features along with each new version. And, I probably would have bought multiple upgrades by now in an effort to stay current with the core software, but because of the way you're doing it now, I haven't bought any feature packs. For the kind of app it is and the number of customers you have, this whole feature pack thing with lots of separate charges just seems overblown to me and doesn't work like any of my other software.
Obviously you're trying to do something different here, but from my point of view, it isn't working.
I'll offer my feedback that this all way too complicated for me and you're making less money off me than you could. Multiple editions, feature packs, etc...
I would have been perfectly happy to just pay an upgrade fee to a 2.0 and 3.0 version like I do with all my other software and get some new features along with each new version. And, I probably would have bought multiple upgrades by now in an effort to stay current with the core software, but because of the way you're doing it now, I haven't bought any feature packs. For the kind of app it is and the number of customers you have, this whole feature pack thing with lots of separate charges just seems overblown to me and doesn't work like any of my other software.
Obviously you're trying to do something different here, but from my point of view, it isn't working.
Thank you for the comments, John!
As I said earlier, I don't like forcing people to do monolithic upgrades.
Apart from that, if you want *all* the benefits and don't want to pick and choose - get the Studio edition and have it all, now and later...
Also, I think it's a bit too early to say what's working and what not when not even 24 hours has passed since the release . Give it a month, then we'll talk...
However, judging by the fact that I have already received several requests for Studio price quote and pre-sales questions for packages - I guess, I'll be fine
HTH
Thank you for the comments, John!
As I said earlier, I don't like forcing people to do monolithic upgrades.
Apart from that, if you want *all* the benefits and don't want to pick and choose - get the Studio edition and have it all, now and later...
Also, I think it's a bit too early to say what's working and what not when not even 24 hours has passed since the release . Give it a month, then we'll talk...
However, judging by the fact that I have already received several requests for Studio price quote and pre-sales questions for packages - I guess, I'll be fine
HTH
How much is Studio (pricing doesn't appear to be anywhere on your website)?
You can have an opinion that you don't like to force people to buy an upgrade to the whole package. That's fine. That's your opinion. I'm a customer and I'm expressing an opinion that I don't like all the complication you're putting into things. If I'm still using your product, I'd much rather buy a yearly upgrade to keep current with the latest features. Massively simpler for me. As it is, I don't think I'll find your feature packages worth investing in in advance one at a time. But, I would have paid $39 for a 2.0 upgrade to stay current.
I thought you started doing packages awhile ago when I last discussed with you. I guess I didn't realize you're just now shipping your first packages.
Also, I have multiple Smugmug accounts. How do feature packages work with multiple accounts?
How much is Studio (pricing doesn't appear to be anywhere on your website)?
You can have an opinion that you don't like to force people to buy an upgrade to the whole package. That's fine. That's your opinion. I'm a customer and I'm expressing an opinion that I don't like all the complication you're putting into things. If I'm still using your product, I'd much rather buy a yearly upgrade to keep current with the latest features. Massively simpler for me. As it is, I don't think I'll find your feature packages worth investing in in advance one at a time. But, I would have paid $39 for a 2.0 upgrade to stay current.
I thought you started doing packages awhile ago when I last discussed with you. I guess I didn't realize you're just now shipping your first packages.
Also, I have multiple Smugmug accounts. How do feature packages work with multiple accounts?
They were in beta/trial mode. Some of the features still are - at least till Jan 15th
You are current, that is if you got the latest. Bug fixes and general improvements are free.
But if you like annual updates - email me, I'll be happy to oblige and provide you with a custom solution that will include yearly upgrade. Granted, $39/yr won't buy you Studio, but they'll get you somewhere...:-)
Studio: the reason prices are not on the site is because pricing is custom-tuned, please email to support@starexplorer.com for a quote (which is exactly what site says).
Please provide the number of accounts with your request as this information will be needed anyway...
Packages and multiple accounts: package operate on per-account basis.
So you only buy what you need for whatever account you need.
If you need 1 package for for 3 accounts, you buy 3 copies of that package (click the button and adjust the number of items in the cart).
If you want 2 packages for 2 accounts, you purchase 2 copies of each (and until 15th you'll get the 3d package free), etc.
It's not all *that* difficult, IMHO.
They were in beta/trial mode. Some of the features still are - at least till Jan 15th
You are current, that is if you got the latest. Bug fixes and general improvements are free.
But if you like annual updates - email me, I'll be happy to oblige and provide you with a custom solution that will include yearly upgrade. Granted, $39/yr won't buy you Studio, but they'll get you somewhere...:-)
Studio: the reason prices are not on the site is because pricing is custom-tuned, please email to support@starexplorer.com for a quote (which is exactly what site says).
Please provide the number of accounts with your request as this information will be needed anyway...
Packages and multiple accounts: package operate on per-account basis.
So you only buy what you need for whatever account you need.
If you need 1 package for for 3 accounts, you buy 3 copies of that package (click the button and adjust the number of items in the cart).
If you want 2 packages for 2 accounts, you purchase 2 copies of each (and until 15th you'll get the 3d package free), etc.
It's not all *that* difficult, IMHO.
HTH
I'm not comfortable paying per account I occasionally use (I contribute to the management of 7 different Smugmug accounts, but spend most of my Smugmug time in 2 accounts). That would be like having to buy a separate license of my email client for each IMAP account I use which is unheard of.
I'm one user who happens to deal with multiple Smugmug accounts. For that, you want me to pay double, triple or even 7x to use your tools. Sorry, but not going to happen here. All software I regularly use is licensed by user or by computer. This all sounds like I'm headed to do less (just uploads) with StarExplorer on only a couple accounts rather than more.
I'll send you a request for a quote for what I really want, but it sounds like your current per account, per feature charge is a big misalignment with what I need.
I'm not comfortable paying per account I occasionally use (I contribute to the management of 7 different Smugmug accounts, but spend most of my Smugmug time in 2 accounts). That would be like having to buy a separate license of my email client for each IMAP account I use which is unheard of.
I'm one user who happens to deal with multiple Smugmug accounts. For that, you want me to pay double, triple or even 7x to use your tools. Sorry, but not going to happen here. All software I regularly use is licensed by user or by computer. This all sounds like I'm headed to do less (just uploads) with StarExplorer on only a couple accounts rather than more.
I'll send you a request for a quote for what I really want, but it sounds like your current per account, per feature charge is a big misalignment with what I need.
All this heated talk over less than a $20 (two accounts times two packages times $4.99) one time purchase?
John, dude, you're cracking me up rofl
All this heated talk over less than a $20 (two accounts times two packages times $4.99) one time purchase?
John, dude, you're cracking me up rofl
You can laugh at me if you want, but I'm not sure I need any of your packages so I'm not currently thinking of buying them. But, I told you I would have spent in the $20-$40/yr range to keep my Star*Explorer current if you just kept adding features to the version I have. You can call that silly if you want, but it's psychologically how I think of my software. I own no software that charges me by the feature, nor does it sound like a model I'm all that interested in. It sounds more like my cable company and my cell phone company, both of which I hate how they bill/charge.
I would be interested in a feature that let me set an individual gallery setting or a group of settings by category or sub-category. When Smugmug implemented bulk settings, they missed the only feature that matters to me which is doing it by category or sub-category.
You can laugh at me if you want, but I'm not sure I need any of your packages so I'm not currently thinking of buying them. But, I told you I would have spent in the $20-$40/yr range to keep my Star*Explorer current if you just kept adding features to the version I have. You can call that silly if you want, but it's psychologically how I think of my software. I own no software that charges me by the feature, nor does it sound like a model I'm all that interested in. It sounds more like my cable company and my cell phone company, both of which I hate how they bill/charge.
I would be interested in a feature that let me set an individual gallery setting or a group of settings by category or sub-category. When Smugmug implemented bulk settings, they missed the only feature that matters to me which is doing it by category or sub-category.
Comments
Wildcard search can be tricky, plus you have to make sure you have all the info.
Also make sure you've checked all the appropriate fields to look for.
In general, if it doesn't return results, start loosening the search template and adding more fields...
I'd really like to have a "Pause" command for uploading.
When I upload for a sports season, I am sometimes uploading 2000+ images across 30 galleries. At my upload speeds, this can take more than 24 hours to complete. But, image uploads really hog the internet bandwidth at the house and really slow things down for everyone else using the internet and make some things flat out not work because of the speed. For example, interactive online games just don't work when the responsiveness of the internet connection gets as slow as it does when I'm uploading images.
So ... sometimes I'd like to pause the upload for awhile while we do something else on the internet connection, then resume it a little later.
As it is today, I have a work-around, but it's kind of ugly. A simple pause button would be much, much nicer.
As a workaround, I can cancel the upload (which leaves Star Explorer in a really confused state), exit out of Star Explorer to clear up the confused state, restart StarExplorer (which will restore the remaining queue) and then restart the upload at some time later. But, a simple pause button would be a lot nicer.
For reference, I use BackupBlaze for online backup. I have the same issue with it hogging the bandwidth when it is doing backups. But its control panel has a nice "Pause Backup" button prominently features in the UI and when you hit that button, it pauses the backup for 2 hours, then it automatically resumes 2 hours later. You can pause it longer than that if you want to, but you have to temporarily turn off auto-backup to do so.
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There is a "Cancel upload" button/menu item (which works like a Stop). Always has been. But it does take time to stop. Considering there are multiple threads, all in different states, it's a fairly tricky situation.
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John - But I think the biggest issue is that Star*Explorer uses multiple threads, and shutting down those threads takes time. The smugmug uploader doesn't use threads, which is why it is easier to facilitate the pause button, I believe.
Mike.
http://www.fourangelsphotography.com/
I hope nobody is arguing here that a Pause button isn't feasible, even with multiple threads. It's just a matter of appropriate programming and decisions on what to do with the image uploads that are in progress (finish to completion, abort and restart later, etc...).
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I'm not arguing it isn't doable. You and Nik are much smarter folks than I am, I admit that freely.
From working in the software industry for 20 years, I know that pretty much anything can be done. It's just at what cost (time, resources, etc). I have great confidence Nik can figure out a solution and make it work. Shouldn't have commented in the first place, since I don't do the coding just a very happy customer.
Mike.
http://www.fourangelsphotography.com/
John, stopping a single threaded app is like stopping a baby on a tricycle, doesn't take much. Stopping S*E is like stopping a person who went for a HALO jump - possible, but problematic.
If you don't care or don't want to consider this capability, then just say so. But, please don't try to argue that I don't occasionally need it. Some of us don't have massive upload pipes that can successfully do multiple bandwidth intensive things at once at an acceptable performance.
If I did a fire and forget upload and now my son wants to play Halo3 online and I want to allow him to do that, then I have to pause the upload because the Halo3 online performance will be so lagged as to not work.
If I did a fire and forget upload and now someone else in the family decides they want to watch an instant movie on netflix, then I have to pause the upload until after the movie because the roundtrip network latency gets so slowed down that the netflix movie quality gets significantly degraded.
If I did a fire and forget upload and now one of my kids has to upload a video to youtube for a school project before they go to bed, then I have to pause my upload to let theirs proceed at a decent pace.
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John,
I'm not saying you don't need it.
I'm just trying to explaiin why the "pause" logic a bit harder to achieve in S*E than in SM uploader or other single-threaded apps. And yes, I do admit that Cancel button may not always function as designed, my bad.
HTH
Nikolai
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I'll see what I can do...
Would it be better/possible to do a "Pause" button, that when you clicked it, it would finish the current threads and then essentially go into a paused state such that you could unpause it later?
Cancel to me means Cancel completely. Just a thought.
Mike.
http://www.fourangelsphotography.com/
The idea is to let the running threads complete what they have started to do, but do not take any more files from the queue. Call it Stop, Pause, Cancel, Abort...
- Added another beta/trial Pro Feature: Album Deletion. Select any number of albums, click right mouse button to activate context menu and choose Delete albums (closer to the menu bottom).
- Both Drag Albums and Delete Albums (dangerous features by their nature) now require extra captcha-like confirmation.
- Beta period for Pro Features extended until mid-January 2011.
Enjoy!I have been happily using SE for about a year. I love it. I take a lot of hockey photos of my kids and use the auto album creation to make life easier. I tend to have folders like ~\2010\Kid[12]\[Date] and will Repeatedly drop Kid1 and Kid2 into the upload queue and rely on SE to NOT upload photos that have already been sent. Usually this works great. I have noticed however that in some albums I have multiple copies of the same photos. On Tools>Options>Sync Upload I have the Quick Check selected - it is the only thing on this menu selected. Does this seem correct?
Do you have any suggestions on a mechanism/tool to detect all duplicated files inside my smugmug account and delete one copy?
Keep up the great work.
Sorry about the dups. They are hard to avoid 100%. Try to increase the timeout. And I will add dups elimination (most likely as a pro extension feature) some time soon.
I love Star*Explorer and think it's one of the best purchases I've made since becoming a smugmug user. Thanks again!
Kara
Thank you Kara, great to hear!
Keep a watchful eye - more pro features are coming pretty soon... ;-)
OK folks. It's a big one...
- Move Albums (drag and drop)
- Delete Albums
- Rename Albums
- Move Images (drag and drop)
- Copy Images (drag and drop with Ctrl)
- Delete Images
- Hide/Unhide Images
- Locate lost images locally
- Export Images info in a variety of formats
- Smart "get image info"
- Multitude of bug fixes, including reliable process cancellation...
New features are availabe via Pro Feature packages (there are three of those) for the Pro License holders, as well as for the owners of the brand new Studio Edition - the latter includes all Pro Edition features, all current and future Pro packages and Premium support.More packages coming later this year.
Each package is only $4.99 per account.
And for a very limited time - until Jan 15th 2011 - you can purchase two packages and recieve the last one free of charge - that's 33% discount!
Enjoy your new S*E!
Here's a bit more on the new packages and new Studio edition...
Albums1
S*E will traverse it and hopefully restore the severed connection.
The content of the future packages is not set in stone and can be changed without notice. This is only a declaration of intentions...
Albums2
- Make albums public/private
- Adjust album’s maximum size (L..O)
- Apply Watermark
- Remove Watermark
- Printmark support
- Apply Printmark
- Remove Printmark
Sharegroups1So you can select and add them to a sharegroup below
I would have been perfectly happy to just pay an upgrade fee to a 2.0 and 3.0 version like I do with all my other software and get some new features along with each new version. And, I probably would have bought multiple upgrades by now in an effort to stay current with the core software, but because of the way you're doing it now, I haven't bought any feature packs. For the kind of app it is and the number of customers you have, this whole feature pack thing with lots of separate charges just seems overblown to me and doesn't work like any of my other software.
Obviously you're trying to do something different here, but from my point of view, it isn't working.
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Thank you for the comments, John!
As I said earlier, I don't like forcing people to do monolithic upgrades.
Apart from that, if you want *all* the benefits and don't want to pick and choose - get the Studio edition and have it all, now and later...
Also, I think it's a bit too early to say what's working and what not when not even 24 hours has passed since the release
However, judging by the fact that I have already received several requests for Studio price quote and pre-sales questions for packages - I guess, I'll be fine
HTH
You can have an opinion that you don't like to force people to buy an upgrade to the whole package. That's fine. That's your opinion. I'm a customer and I'm expressing an opinion that I don't like all the complication you're putting into things. If I'm still using your product, I'd much rather buy a yearly upgrade to keep current with the latest features. Massively simpler for me. As it is, I don't think I'll find your feature packages worth investing in in advance one at a time. But, I would have paid $39 for a 2.0 upgrade to stay current.
I thought you started doing packages awhile ago when I last discussed with you. I guess I didn't realize you're just now shipping your first packages.
Also, I have multiple Smugmug accounts. How do feature packages work with multiple accounts?
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They were in beta/trial mode. Some of the features still are - at least till Jan 15th
You are current, that is if you got the latest. Bug fixes and general improvements are free.
But if you like annual updates - email me, I'll be happy to oblige and provide you with a custom solution that will include yearly upgrade. Granted, $39/yr won't buy you Studio, but they'll get you somewhere...:-)
Studio: the reason prices are not on the site is because pricing is custom-tuned, please email to support@starexplorer.com for a quote (which is exactly what site says).
Please provide the number of accounts with your request as this information will be needed anyway...
Packages and multiple accounts: package operate on per-account basis.
So you only buy what you need for whatever account you need.
If you need 1 package for for 3 accounts, you buy 3 copies of that package (click the button and adjust the number of items in the cart).
If you want 2 packages for 2 accounts, you purchase 2 copies of each (and until 15th you'll get the 3d package free), etc.
It's not all *that* difficult, IMHO.
HTH
I'm one user who happens to deal with multiple Smugmug accounts. For that, you want me to pay double, triple or even 7x to use your tools. Sorry, but not going to happen here. All software I regularly use is licensed by user or by computer. This all sounds like I'm headed to do less (just uploads) with StarExplorer on only a couple accounts rather than more.
I'll send you a request for a quote for what I really want, but it sounds like your current per account, per feature charge is a big misalignment with what I need.
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All this heated talk over less than a $20 (two accounts times two packages times $4.99) one time purchase?
John, dude, you're cracking me up
I would be interested in a feature that let me set an individual gallery setting or a group of settings by category or sub-category. When Smugmug implemented bulk settings, they missed the only feature that matters to me which is doing it by category or sub-category.
I sent you a request for a Studio edition quote.
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