Consistent Object Name behaviour

[fh1805]

Recent discussions here - http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11443 - have highlighted a need for improved consistency in the way that PTE handles Object Names in the Objects List in the O&A window. This post, an amalgamation of the thinking of Ed Overstreet, nobeefstu and myself, proposes a possible solution.

The underlying principle is that there should be consistency in the way that items are listed in the Objects List of the O&A window. When the Mask Container feature was introduced, there were two separately named objects: the Mask Container and the mask image file. It is proposed that there should be two separate objects for ordinary image files: the Image Object and the image file name. The Image Object’s name would be editable via the Common tab. The image file name would always be the name of the file as stored on the disk drive. If the user then replaces the image file with a different image file by whichever technique of their choice, PTE would update the image file name but not the Image Object name. The attached JPEG image (supplied by nobeefstu) shows how the Objects List might look.

Igor has indicated elsewhere on the forum - http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11309&view=findpost&p=72906 - that the next release of PTE will include a “Go to Slide slide-name” feature. If this new feature uses the proposed Image Object name rather than the image file name, there should then be full flexibility of operation for anyone who wants to create manually-controlled sequences that have complex navigation built into them – and almost no possibility of confusion.

regards,

Peter

[xahu34]

... there were two separately named objects: the Mask Container and the mask image file. It is proposed that there should be two separate objects for ordinary image files: the Image Object and the image file name. The Image Object’s name would be editable via the Common tab. The image file name would always be the name of the file as stored on the disk drive. If the user then replaces the image file with a different image file by whichever technique of their choice, PTE would update the image file name but not the Image Object name ...

In my opinion, this is not a good analogy: The mask container and mask itself are really different objects (which can be animated independently). The mask itself can be an image having an own object name and an independent image file name.

Presently, for images, we have the file name in the Properties tab (in principle), and the object name in the Common tab. Do we need more? I have some doubts that it would be helpful if the file names would show up in the object list. Let's keep it simple! Maybe, the file name and the object name should be placed in the same tab!?

Regards,

Xaver

[Ed Overstreet]

Maybe, the file name and the object name should be placed in the same tab!?

Regards,

Xaver

That would certainly be an improvement over the present situation, and would make it much easier for the unwary to spot a discrepancy and correct it if that's what they want or need to do, to keep things clear in their own minds.

I haven't done any "real" computer programming since about 1969 (in Fortran IV on punch cards no less ), but I suspect putting the file and object names on the same tab would be a lot simpler to program and cause fewer complications in the software code than some of the alternatives one might contemplate. However I should leave that determination to those with more extensive and more recent software experience than I have.

[Ed Overstreet]

Further to Xahu's suggestion above and my reaction, there's another change that might possibly help avoiding confusion between the file name and the object name:

Currently in the Properties box, the file name field starts with the path for the file, then of course the file is at the end of the path. People like me, who sometimes create shows in folders that are buried in several layers of folders on a hard drive (rather than one folder on the Desktop, which I prefer to keep clear of working projects to avoid cluttering the Desktop), then often find that the file-name field under Properties tab in O&A isn't very informative because all I can see is the beginning of the path name, in most cases. Other software when displaying a file name at the end of a long path will replace the path with "..." and only display the file name, e.g., "...file1.jpg" rather than

"F:/AV Projects/CWM Visit/RAPC Demo show/file1.jpg" or some such. The full path isn't really necessary for display IMO, especially if one follows "best practice" and keeps all the files for the same AV project in the same folder. I need to know the file name, not the path which is the same for all the files in any of my given projects. In the above example, the full path-and-file name is too long to display in the file name window, all I'll see is "F:/AV Projects/CW" or some other truncation, which is useless in identifying the file name, because it will be the SAME display for ALL the files in my show folder!

Truncation of the file name display only to show the file name, replacing the path with "...", would make it a lot easier to figure out what the file is (one can always click on the icon that brings up the dialog box, which shows a thumbnail of the file, but that's another step to perform and is very awkward now that the file name and object name are on separate tabs). This would be especially helpful if the file name and object name were, as Xahu suggests, placed on the same tab instead of different tabs as now.

Another option would be to have a small thumbnail of the file displaying either next to the file-name field or maybe even in the Objects List (sort of like the thumbnails you get in the Photoshop Layers palette). Though that might not help much when working with alternate and very similar versions of the same picture, it would make it more obvious when the mis-match between file name and object name is more extreme.

[xahu34]

... in the Properties box, the file name field starts with the path for the file, then of course the file is at the end of the path ...

This is what I have meant saying: " ... we have the file name in the Properties tab (in principle) ..."

Regards,

Xaver