PicturesToExe Deluxe 5.5

[ksf]

Just keeps getting better and better - well done!

Following Barry's question "What's next?" - If possible i'd like the objects and animations interface to be made a bit more visually accessible. By that I mean being able to see and manipulate the timeline keypoints controlling individual objects on separate tracks rather than just seeing the keypoints for an individual object. Difficult to explain, but I hope it makes sense...???

Igor, looking forward to seeing you at the IRIS-25.

[Igor]

We already have a very good progress with the next version 5.6. Some new (and often requested) features have reached an alpha state. I plan to announce new features later in June.

Ray,

You're right, thanks! I just asked our technical writer to rework a description of this option. We'll update PDF file tomorrow.

[Almark]

Well done Igor, great job, thank you.

[Hemjr]

Igor!

I must also add my heartfelt congratulations to you and your staff on the new release. I have not had much time to use the program for several months, so I was behind on all the changes.

My grandson borrowed my little Canon Sureshot, to take on a recent trip to Israel. He took about 1000 photos on two flash cards. The show was too long to put on one DVD. So I had to divide it into two shows. He wanted all the photos on the shows, even though some should have been left out. I added music without the sychronization.

Everything seemed to work perfectly!. The DVD burning went without any problems, and looked much better than when I last burned a DVD. It was really effortless!

One question, though. After finishing the show, I tried to make a backup, but an error message came up. Since my grandson used two flashcards we had duplicate slide names on the two cards. I got around that when making the slide shows by placing the pictures from one of the cards in a separate folder. Everything worked out fine. But the program will not make a backup because of the duplicate numbers, even though they are in different folders. For the future, I know to change the slide names prior to makint the show. Is there a solution for this show, at this point, other than changing the names?

Thanks again to you and the staff for the great work on this program.

Howard

[Igor]

Updated build 5.5.1 (July 8, 2008):

http://www.wnsoft.com/apr/apr-deluxe.zip (5 MB)

+ Updated language files: Chinese, English, Farsi, French.

* Fixed bugs in fullscreen view of Slide list opened from Timeline mode (selecting slides with pressed Ctrl key, deleting slides by Del key).

* Fixed incorrect work of "Arrange All Points" function when no music.

* Fixed bug with displaying effect time ("About 3 seconds") in "Effects" tab of Project options.

[Igor]

Updated build 5.52 (July 15, 2008):

http://www.wnsoft.com/apr/apr-deluxe.zip (5 MB)

* Fixed problem with too high memory usage in the main program of PicturesToExe, especially in case of large images of slides. (The problem doesn't affect on created EXE file of a slideshow.)

[DimmY]

Hi Igor,

Please improve installer of PtE a bit (as it was in versions 4.x)! I mean its ability to find folder where the current version of PtE is installed and offer it by default when updating.

And the same in Russian:

Привет!

Инсталлятор опять разучился запоминать папку, где уже установлена программа, и при установке новой версии всегда предлагает жёстко заданную папку. Подправь, пожалуйста. В версиях 4.x с этим было всё хорошо.

[Igor]

Hello!

Now every new version of PicturesToExe (5.0, 5.1, 5.5) automatically suggests a new separate folder for installation. And you're able to use two versions together (mainly to make sure that a new version works fine before leave an old version).

So we can't remember last used installation folder because it should be new for a new version (by default). But you can change it.

[JEB]

Good afternoon Igor,

Since downloading 5.52 this morning I have experienced the following problem.

This did not occur immediately but later in the day.

When opening PTE I get the following warning "Invalid floating point operation".

If I ignore this by clicking on the red cross the programme continues to open but behaves in an odd way.

After inserting new slides into the slide list only they will appear in the preview window. If I click on any other slide in my list it will not open in the preview window. If I double click on any slide it will, as I would expect, open in O&A and when exiting O&A it will not appear in the preview window.

I have also had the programme hang and have had to exit.

I will try to download again to see if that clears the problem and report again when I have tested it.

Regards

John

[JEB]

Hello again,

I have just downloaded again and got the same warning "Invalid floating point operation" then on clicking on Cancel m/c froze and had to exit PTE. I then got the following message - "TPteEngine" Disposing (D:\D_Common\WinLib\Win32\wpTypes.pas,line539)

Regards

John

[fh1805]

Igor,

I've also just downloaded v5.52 and on first sight it seems to be OK.

John,

What steps did you go through to get the problem? If you let me have some details I'll see if I can recreate the problem on my installation.

[JEB]

Hi Peter,

Thanks for your interest.

I simply downloaded this morning in the usual way and PTE opened automatically ok and all was well. Having other things to do I only came back to it this afternoon and found the problems mentioned above.

I have also opened an old Beta version (7) and get the same problems.

I have also tried to open another .pte show from within PTE with the same results.

While writing this it occurred to me that I have been opening PTE via my PTE desktop icon which of course opens the last job (the one with the problem). I have just tried opening other shows from their .pte icons and they appear to work fine. I tried to perform the same action with the .pte icon of the problem show and the problem returns. Clearly there is something happened within that .pte file that is causing the problem. Unfortunately it is a very big and complex job but it would appear I have no option but to start again as it is required for tomorrow night!!!

John

[fh1805]

Oh dear!

Fill the lamp with oil and brew plenty of coffee; sounds like you will need both!

I hope you get things sorted in time.

[xahu34]

Updated build 5.52 (July 15, 2008):

http://www.wnsoft.com/apr/apr-deluxe.zip (5 MB)

On http://www.wnsoft.com/download.htm still the previous build (5.51) is indicated.

Best regards,

Xaver

Munich

[DimmY]

Hi Igor,

Now every new version of PicturesToExe (5.0, 5.1, 5.5) automatically suggests a new separate folder for installation.

You mean every major version, not minor. So, if I had version 5.51 installed in non-default location, and I want to update it to v5.52, I still need to change suggested path. Your point of view is clear for me. But I think it's not the best solution at all. More clever behaviour: installer autodetects existing version in PC and asks user to confirm installation over it or into another folder.

[Igor]

Dmitry,

Just no need to change installation folder for 99% cases.

I wouldn't like to complicate logic of the installer, it may adds bugs.

Xaver,

Thanks, I'll update right now.

[DimmY]

Just no need to change installation folder for 99% cases.

I agree (despondently).

[Ken Cox]

the only version i have in the default folder is the original install -- i think 3.34

I make a fresh folder on a separate drive for each install - properly named and all shortcuts properly named

imho this is the least confusing install method -- especially when you have a working version and the latest install is not to your liking you can always go back

ken

[jfa]

As standard practise I always install any update, new version, etc of any software to a different folder and leave the current working version intact. When I am happy with the newer version I can then delete or uninstall the older one.

To many times I had updated a good working version and found it then was full of bugs, problems, would not work at all or had modifications that I did not like and was unable to revert to the original. (PTE rarely causes these problems).

So I am happy with the installer working as is. Better to be safe than sorry.

[fh1805]

I also install new software versions into folders that are unique to that version, for the same reasons as John. I also save all the download zip files under names of my choosing that reflect the software and the version. For example: I currently have the following zip files for PTE in my Downloads folder:-

- pte447

- pte449

- pte504

- pte510

- pte550

- pte552

And of those the following are currently installed as active versions:

- v4.49

- v5.10

- v5.50

- v5.52

Yes, I know, I don't need all those versions - but when I'm giving a demonstration of PTE I like to be able to show the changes that have taken place recently. The only versions that get used on a regular basis are v4.49 and v5.50 (and that last will shortly get supplanted by v5.52).

Keeping all the zip files means that I can quickly re-install a particular version if ever I need to check out something about that version.

[DimmY]

To be honest, I'm quite amazed at what I read here, gentlemen. I know programming skill of Igor and his colleagues, and it's quite high to trust them. So I needn't keep all previous versions of PTE installed. I install any new version over existing one (and keep previous distributives as archives JIC ).

[fh1805]

Tom,

I'm running v5.52 and cannot reproduce this error. Firstly I cannot find an option called "Custom aspect ratio" on Project Options...Screen. The nearest I can find is "Screen Options...Windowed Mode". When I key in -999 into either of the two input fields, PTE changes the value to 2. I get no crash.

Are you sure you are running on v5.52?

regards,

Peter

[fh1805]

Tom,

I didn't realise Custom was an option under Fullscreen. Yep, I get an Exception condition if I send the aspect ratio negative. I don't get a full-blooded crash: I'm still able to go back into Project Options and correct the negative value. Are you seeing an unrecoverable crash (i.e. restart PTE to recover)?

regards,

Peter

[Igor]

Thanks, Tom!

I just fixed this bug in next v5.6.