Working in the browse mode

The most common tasks were discussed in Browse mode menu commands chapter. I'd like to highlight here more specific PhoA topics.

Picture data

As was mentioned in the lyrical part, the program stores picture list independently (to be precise, this is the list elements of which are links to picture files holding the description, thumbnails etc). The group tree is also being stored independently. Each single group holds a set of links to pictures so when you add a file to the group (you work with pictures only by using files), and the file is already being used and described somewhere in the photo alubm the program automatically finds and fills all the appropriate data fields; similarly, when you edit picture data (eg, place or date), these data change in all occurences of the picture file.

It works slightly different when you remove a picture from a group. If the picture being removed is linked by any other photo album group (or groups), only the link to the picture is removed, and the picture itself remains in the photo album (having other group(s) linked to it); if you once later decide to add the picture file back to the group, PhoA will add just link to the existing picture. When you delete a picture that was linked only in the current group, the picture is wiped away completely so if you later add the picture back, you'll have to fill picture data with your own.

Drag'n'Drop

Obviously, a picture cannot be contained twice in a group. The most simple way to copy picture across the groups is to drag them with the mouse from the right pane (thumbnails area) to a group in the tree (in the left pane) holding the Ctrl key. Dragging and then dropping pictures with no Ctrl pressed results in that pictures move (they are removed from source group and placed into target group). You can drag-and-drop more than one picture at once: you select appropriate pictures before starting the drag operation (using keys Ctrl, Shift and left mouse button) and start dragging with any of selected pictures. After pictures are moved or copied, PhoA informs you of changes made, if it's specified in the program settings (Notifications section).

Additionally, you can drag-ang-drop group folder as well thus rearranging group tree. When you drag a group above free area to the right of the nodes, tree window displays group insertion place being drawn as a line, in this case the group is inserted as a sibling of the target node, just above or below it, depending on mouse cursor location (also influences the insertion line shape). When dragging a group upon a node the node becomes highlighted, and the group becomes a child of the target highlighted node.

NB: The root directory may contain only photo album node, and ordinary groups cannot be inserted beside it.

Similarly you can copy (but not move) pictures from Search Results tree node into any picture group. It is convenient to arrange pictures by date (eg. by year or by month) after you have arranged it by event in another folder (simply search pictures by date range and copy results to an appropriate group).

Besides this, you can reorder pictures in a group also using drag'n'drop: when you drag selected thumbnails inside the thumbnals window, also insertion line is displayed. When you release mouse button all the selected pictures move to the location indicated right in the sequence they were before. And an alternative method for reordering pictures is sorting them.

Clipboard

PhoA supports clipboard operations. For the moment the following clipboard formats are supported:

Name Description Operations available

PhoA pictures An internal program format supporting all the picture properties. Copy, Cut, Paste

Picture files A system (shell) file format. Files placed to the clipboard can be pasted into any disk folder in Explorer, or any other program supporting file operations. Copy, Cut

Picture file paths A plain text list of full paths to the picture files. The list placed to the clipboard can be pasted in any text editor. Copy, Cut

Thumbnail bitmap A regular bitmap image of the thumbnail currently selected. The bitmap is placed into the clipboard only if there's a single picture selected. The image placed to the clipboard can be pasted in any graphic editor. Copy, Cut (for a single picture only)

You can configure the clipboard formats by using the General program settings.

As described above the most functional format is internal PhoA picture. It allows cutting, copying and pasting any number of the pictures. Data placed to the clipboard contain all the picture properties except their group belongings. This allows moving (or copying) pictures to another group or even another photo album.

There is a limitation regarding inserting pistures to another photo album: the data of existing pictures (being already registered in the photo album with the same picture file name) do not become overwritten with the new ones; ie, let's say, when you paste a picture linked to file C:\Photos\winter-vacation-1812.jpg to the photo album already containing this file, then the picture will only be added to the current group (if it's not there yet). In the case the picture being pasted is already contained in the target group, this picture is simply being skipped. On paste operation completed the program notifies you about the number of pictures actually pasted from the clipboard (is controlled with program settings - Notifications section).

Undo system

By contrast with many similar products, PhoA implements fully-function undo system, allowing you to roll back any operations that has modified the photo album (the only exception is Rebuild thumbnails operation), and also the series of operations - by selecting Edit | Undo or Edit | Undo history menu items respectively. When you select an item from the undo history list all the prior (ie located above in the list) operations are also being undone.

The number of operations you may roll back is specified in the Browse mode program settings. The default value is 100.

Views

Views are an unique technology of automated picture grouping. Refer to Working with views section for details.