Morgantao´s New tool for custom organizing and managing FF library!!!!

Quote
Morgantao wrote: Maybe I should make a tool that helps organize your FFCat folders more easily

Oh, yes, this would be very good, would you be so kind to do it, PLEASE ??

AND THEN also another tool to control this tool that helps organize the FFCat

No, really, seriously I think that it will not be a problem at all, because you can always reconfigure it and change and customize the folders as you want, so if there are TOO MANY, I could simplify it some way.

As far as I can tell the category is NOT part of the FFXML structure.
This also doesn't really mater, since the next version will allow double click to open the selected filter right inside FF, in it's "real" online library category.

Other than that, the upcoming versioin will have a new search results folder, like the one in FF. Now you will be able to see what's in your folders as usual, and come back to the search whenever you want.

Also, there's an FFCat icon, sort filters by rating, some minor cosmetic changes and bug fixes.

I'm writing a PDF manual with all the features and keyboard hotkeys.
I'm also working on a new video tutorial.

Morgantao some where you mentioned a little tute you put up, could you repost that I don't seem to be able to spot it .

Ignore if these are possible already - Drag and drop would be great If I understand correctly the tool does library filters only? my personnel need is more for sorting my own created filters not uploaded to the library ........ this is a bit of a hang over fr om FFv1 wh ere it would crash regularly [ well and truely fixed now ] when you were designing filters, loosing everything .... so I got in the habit of saving regularly with a new version number, also because you could go down the wrong path with a design and loose some intrinsic quality , so save any major changes with a new version number .... which can lead to 20 version or so of a filter ..... these are what i want to put in a folder

Thanks for link, no wonder I couldn't find it, different thread

I meant that for example while you had FF gui > go to locate file then just drag the filter across to FFcat drop it in which ever folder and it puts a copy there

Quote
Morgantao wrote: For the other question, you can add any filter you want, wether it's fr om the online library, your own filters, filters downloaded fr om the forum, etc.

Very good to know and good news that it is possible to load ANY kind of filter into the FFCat even if they are not in the FF online library.

BUT I wonder how does it get then the preset thumbnails previews ? Fr om FF software itself?

Quote
Morgantao wrote: Carl, I'm sorry, but drag and drop fr om FF into FFCat will not be possible. Another reason is, FF itself doesn't seem to support dragging of filters.

I think that you the same like me have understood wrongly the intention of Carl about this, because I also thought he wanted to drag´n´drop from FF itself into FFcat, and this would surely be not possible, as you have said very well FF does NOT support in itself drag´n´drop of the filters.

BUT CARL does NOT want to make drag´n´drop FROM FF, he wants to do it from FF library folder wh ere the filters are installed and this ARE dragable filters. I mean that he said that you could choose a filter in FF, then use the CTRL + L shortcut to go to the library folder and be able to locate that file inside that folder and then from there drag´n´drop to FFcat.

ANYWAY I AGREE THAT EVEN THEN FFCAT WILL NOT SUPPORT IT

Quote
Morgantao wrote: Mainly because FFCat is more of a bulk filter organizer, and it reads all the filters in a folder at once, rather than letting you select individual files.

Even understanding well what Carl wants I think that it will not be possible because as Morgantao said very well, the FFCat is only a text XML based catalog and is not made to be able to recognize icons or files using drag´n´drop.

Although it could be probably useful, I do not agree that this is needed and I like very well how is made now. Just need to understand how the FFcat works and how organizes the filters.

Just load all the filters you have and then organize them inside the FFcat.

If after you have MORE filters, just load all the folder again AND ONLY THE NEW filters will be added and so you can search for this filter inside the uncategorized folder and put it wh erever you want it.

Thanks very much again for all the work Morgantao

Guys, I want to introduce you to the mastermind behind FFCat, the architect of 6 year dreams, my brother in law!

He's the one we should all thank for the great help, time, and effort he put into FFCat. Consider the fact that he doesn't even use FF, so he did it all you us! For free! On he's own time!
So what do we say...?


Now, looking in my Genius to English dictionary, I think I can decode that message for you
What Saragani is basically saying is, it would probably be possible to drag and drop filters into FFCat and have them added into the catalog, BUT...
And it's a big butt (__Y__)... (sorry, had to)... Right now there's a little snag in adding your own filters to the catalog. Don't worry, I'm confident that Saragani will figure something out in less than 10 minutes

Quote
BUT I wonder how does it get then the preset thumbnails previews? From FF software itself?

No. The thumbnails are downloaded from the online library, just as when you look at the filter in your browser.
That means if you're offline, you won't see thumbs, unless they're already in your FFCat image cache. It also means that any filter you have that wasn't downloaded from the online library, won't have a thumbnail. Again, I'm sure the gnomes in Saragani's brain will have a blueprint ready in no time.

Hey Saragani ......... nice and generous work, hope a bit of karma comes your way

Quote
Saragani wrote: Does FilterForge software shows images for those custom filters?

yep it looks exactly the same as any submitted filter, with preset [ how ever many you make ] etc .......... it obviously has no library number though.

Quote
Saragani wrote: Ok, But how would a "custom" filter show its thumbnails? Does the ffxml file of custom filter have inside it paths to the images? (I'm guessing not)

Yes, that was my question that Morgantao have not answered right as he may have confused it

I also thought that would not be possible because these are not online and only available in you own computer

Quote
Saragani wrote: Does FilterForge software shows images for those custom filters? Does it even show that filter at all?

Sorry, How can you something without even having tried it out yourself ???
Before asking something SO SIMPLE you should see it for yourself first. How could FF not show thumbnail images for the custom filters ????

Quote
Saragani wrote: Those questions you can answer, since I've never used FilterForge and I have no idea how you create your custom filters before you submit it to the online library.

If you have never used Filter Forge, first you should begin to use it, and read at least a little of the help guide that has lots of answers to your possible questions.

The the "custom images" are really presets that you make inside the filter that you are constructing. Inside Filter Editor ALL the thumbnails are customizable and you can modify and delete any of the presets, update them or create new ones.

PLEASE, Saragani if you want to make more questions, it would be good that at least first you go to THIS PAGE and see the Filter Forge Help, the Wiki, the submission guidelines, and more. and so you will know better, and would be good that you at least have try it out yourself first.

Morgantao, please send me by email a sample of a thumbnail file.

If you can also make a custom filter that will produce a thumbnail which is completely red, then also send me the result thumbnail.


As for the other questions...
I did not install FilterForge for a couple of reasons:
1) I recently formatted my computer and I don't want to install and uninstall programs that will ultimately slow it down by messing with registry etc (It was pretty slow before the format, and now it is fast again)

2) I'm not a graphics person (although I do understand about colors, picture files formats, opacity masks etc)

3) I don't have much of a time messing with FilterForge. I usually work about 10.5 to 12 hours a day and when I'm back home I have to take care of my newborn baby and also give some attention to my wife.


I might be able to convert the unknown format thumbnails to a usable format (if I understand how the file is constructed). It's a long shot, but it's worth trying.

I'm glad to tell you there's progress in the offline filters department.
There will be thumbnails to the offline filters too.

If you have a cluttered My Filters folder, this will help you sort things out with custom folders.

Untill today you could add your own keywords to the custom filters, but that's about it.
Soon you will be able to add as many keywords as you want and also have custom folders, just like for the online filters.

All thanks to Saragani, who takes the time to do FOR FREE the work FF inc doesn't.

FFCat is out of beta!
Read more here:
http://www.filterforge.com/forum/read...5&TID=9806

Noya is doing great
She does pretty much what every other baby does, sleeps, eats, burps and poops. Oh and there's the occasional cry
From what I hear she doesn't wake them up at night, so that's good!

I don't have any children yet, so I can say I know much more than that about babies

I have some more question that I have a doubt.

If I have all the filters inside the FFCat and then I update for example 5 of these filters with a new version, and also 2 of this filters has new updated presets.

What happens then with the non updated filters in the FFCat?

I suposse that to update the FFCat with these 5 new updated filter, you simply have to go to import FFXML and then choose any filter and the tool will load all the library and only add or update the differences.

BUT will also update the thumbnail presets and delete the ones that are not available anymore ?

I suposse taht thew answer is yes, as it will probably compare the new updated filter with the available filter in the online library and will download the new preset thumbnails if they are different

Sorry I've been a bit quiet lately, I was just working hard on the manual and the video.
As FFCat is out of beta, I want to make those only once.
Therefore, I kindly ask you all to think hard about anything that should be added to FFCat, as this will be the 'final' release that will include all features listed in the manual.
If additional features were to be added later, they won't be covered in the manual and athe tutorial, and that's a shame.
I hope to release the final version by monday, so please hurry with the suggestion. Speak now or forever hold your speech

One suggestion for the manual is that it should be said how to update the catalog with new filters and what happens when filters are updated in the Filter Forge Online library and you download the update to your filter library and want also to update the catalog of FFCat with the same updated filter.

As far as I know this info is not explicitly noted inside the XML of the filter.
I don't know if FF gets the info directly from the online library when you download filters, or if it checks for an Image Node in the filter XML.

Let's say that up to FF 2.0 it would have been easy to use the later method in FFCat to determine whether the filter was external image based or pure FF, but since FF 3.0 you have more than one way to add an external image, so it's not that straightforward.

Currently, FFCat will ignore updated files, meaning data from XML will not get updated, and images on cache will not get cleared.
If you want, this feature can be coded.


Sub folders is not hard to code, but it is hard to maintain... Moving folders up and down and out and into a folder is a PITA, and the same applies on configuring on which folder a filter exists, and also querying for the filters inside it (assuming you want to see on a folder all it's filters and also filters that are on its sub folders).
Therefore subfolders is not being added.


Bold folders... Easy to achieve.

Any feature request is welcome. Please post it before I start working on the changes this weekend

Quote
Saragani wrote: Currently, FFCat will ignore updated files, meaning data from XML will not get updated, and images on cache will not get cleared. If you want, this feature can be coded.

Well, I think this is very important, as the FF filters are sometimes updated, and the description and presets could be changed in the FF online library and in the software, but if this are not changed in the FFCat, there could be some confusion.

If this is possible to do, I will ask that if you are so kind to do it would be really useful and good. Perhaps you can check the date or whatever changes inside the XML data to know that this is an updated filter and not a new one.

Quote
Saragani wrote: Sub folders is not hard to code, but it is hard to maintain... Moving folders up and down and out and into a folder is a PITA, and the same applies on configuring on which folder a filter exists, and also querying for the filters inside it (assuming you want to see on a folder all it's filters and also filters that are on its sub folders). Therefore subfolders is not being added.

Thanks for the details and the reason of why the subfolders will not be added, and I agree with this and as I have said before to Morgantao, Is not something essential or important, and I can use the Capital Letters for virtual folders names and then inside the virtual subfolders.

Do not worry that the subfolders are not added. Is true that would not be a good idea and then the moving of the folders would be worse and less easy. I agree to not put subfolders.

Quote
Bold folders... Easy to achieve.

And if you say that I could write the text with BOLD Letters to make a difference for the virtual folders then this is better and do not need to have subfolders as this could be possible.

Thanks very much again for all the work and for making the FFCat possible and making a dream come true to be able to organize and manage the FF Filters.

LOL, that explains a lot

About the description, it is currently editable (unlike author, factory keywords etc), meaning that if you change it, then after you update the filter then what description will win? the one on the FFXML or the one on the FFCat?

I can make the description also a factory description and add a user description... that's one option... please tell me if it's a good solution for you.

When you rescan a folder with FFXML files, I don't read the content of the FFXML files again since it will be as slow as scanning it fr om scratch (when you scan an already scanned folder, it takes only few seconds instead of like 40 seconds).
I can look at the name of the file (for example Library-1234-5.ffxml) wh ere 1234 is the filter id and 5 is its version. If the version got changed, only then I will re-read its content.

Please note that deleting the presets might fail, for example, you are currently watching filter 1234 or its thumbnail appears on the list... Since the image file is currently in use, Windows will not allow me to delete it.
I don't know what I will do in a case of file that is being use.

If anyone else has some remarks or features request please speak not or forever hold your peace...

Quote
Saragani wrote: LOL, that explains a lot

I hope you have read BOTH post above about my BIG error and confusion, I fell ashamed I have been bad to you that is the real creator of all this

Quote
Saragani wrote: About the description, it is currently editable (unlike author, factory keywords etc), meaning that if you change it, then after you update the filter then what description will win? the one on the FFXML or the one on the FFCat? I can make the description also a factory description and add a user description... that's one option... please tell me if it's a good solution for you.

Oh, yes you are right, if the description can be customized is true that it could not be changed if updated as which one should be put ?

Good idea to make a factory description AND a user description, so this would solve the problem

Yes, I agree too that the factory description should be kept the same as it appears in the FF library and there could be an additional "User description"

It's possible to add the permalink to the filter page, as the filter number in the library is also the number in the permalink.

A link directly to the forum page should also be possible.

That's already been taken care of.
Those (br)'s and all kinds of "e marks are kinda like HTML codes for the description to show properly in FF and on the website.
They will now function properly inside FFCat as well.