New link for SSL DLLs

My original "free" ftp download site went bad, here is a new link:
http://www.smugmugexplorer.com/download/ssl_dlls.zip

Version 0.1.0.49

Now featuring more GDI+ support. You can convert practically any still image to JPEG. More on the site: www.smugmugexplorer.com.

Unofficial beta update

Build 0.1.0.47 can be downloaded from here:
http://www.smugmugexplorer.com/

Caveat: some new functionality (autocreation and whatever comes with it) is non-finished, use at your own risk. The pre-existing stuff should work, though.

New stuff is mostly about facelift and convenience.

And, yes, this version uses GDI+. XP/2003 users shall not worry - they already have it in their OS. Users of 98, ME, NT and 2000 can download it from Microsoft site.
Sorry, no support for Win95..

GDI+: Victory!

I took me over 9(!) hours(!!) on Christmas Day(!!!) to find a little missing link to a "save as" functionality. Problem was cleverly hidden by readily availalbe encoders' CLSIDs, which in reality turned out to be " ju-a-a-ast a little different".
Anyway, now it will be possible to read whatever file GDI+ can read (and judging by a number of different types' thumbnails, it can read a lot) and save it - easily - as bmp, jpg, gif, tiff, or png. Of which I would actually only need jpegs:-).
It also seems relatively easy to provide "lossless jpeg transformation" (rotations and flippings). I hope I already got enough grief and this "little ez thing" wont turn into another 9 hours on a New Year's Eve:-).
Anyway - thought I'd tell you some good news about what's coming..

Breaking News: SE got a new home!

Smugmug Explorer just got a new home: www.smugmugexplorer.com!
Many thanks to our Platinum Sponsor, Chris MacAscill, whose generous contribution made it possible!

There is no new builds yet, but it's coming! And it's gonna be GOOD!

First Albums Created Automatically!

It took me a while, but it seems that the finish line is close.
Just a few minutes ago my first "auto" albums were successfully created.
Still need some polish before I can deploy it, but now it's much closer.
Stay tuned!

Now with BMPs!

The new version is not out yet (other things in the works), but - check this out:
now it can automatically convert your BMPs into smugmug-compliant JPEGs .
For now I hardcoded conversion parameters (90% quality, etc.), but eventually it will all make it to user-definable configuration. I'm planning to support a much wider variety of files, so you don't have to do it manually.

Coming soon: album autocreation, and then some.

The feature I'm working on now: allow user to drop the folder on the tree, and let the app to figure out, which category/subcategory/album it should go. And if album is not there - it will create it:-).
Along the same lines: you'd be able to select the whole bunch of albums and modify their properties at once. E.g. move them all from one category/subcategory to another, change the visibility and access level, sorting order, and so on and so forth.

Originally I thought I'd be done with this prior XMas, but then Don published new API, which I wanted to "wrap" first (check), then I also got distracted with licensing (check), so all in all, it's not done yet, but it's coming, and it's coming fast..
--
And if you think that this will be all - you don't know me:-)

Accepting custom programming requests

If you or your company are in need of a specialized win32-based software to work with your smugmug-based images, please send an email with your request to: custom_programming@photosocal.com. You can also call or send SMS to: 818-324-1837.
Two university-level degrees (applied math and computer science) and 15+ years of (international) commercial software development experience guarantee high quality product. You can check my detailed CV here.

Accepting donations

I decided to start accepting donations. It's only $10 apiece, but it can give you a free Standard version or get you a bigger discount on any advanced version once product goes commercial.
Details on the home page.

New album API posted

Don just posted new album-related API:
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=4431

I'm working on the wrapper right now, should have ready pretty soon

Bug fixed, new version 0.1.0.36 uploaded

Check the home page for more details.

Another bug reported - help is on the way

"With the default settings, after any substantial upload the app is frozen."
Immediate solution:

1. Start the app, do not autoconnect (hit ESC at the countdown)
2. Open Options (Ctrl+F11)
3. Go to the Log page
4. Set terminal line limit to 0
5. Hit OK
6. Connect (F9)

That's all for now, new version (with the fix) will be uploaded within an hour..

Got it - automatic album creation is on the way!

Finally figured out how to approach automatic album creation. All tests are done, just need to code all this - there few things I need to cover first. If nothing stands in a way, should be done no later than coming week, i.e. no later than Dec 17..

New version uploaded

Issue with "upload list not cleared" resolved.
Check then home page for more details.

Minor bug reported in the last version

Thanks, Sebastian, for reporting it!

Upload list is not cleared. You'd have to restart the
program to clear it.

Fix is on the way, should not take long, check the product home page or this blog in a couple of hours.

New version - now with multialbum upload

Get the latest from here

Details at smugmug explorer home page

Multialbum upload is NEAR!

All of a sudden UI solution idea came to me out of nowhere. Already implemented about 60-70%, so just a a little bit more time - and it will be up and running. Stay tuned!

Upload via Post fixed!

Hoorray, onethumb finally got it! OK, next version will have it:-)

Multialbum upload

I know, this is the most desired and request feature...
But, helas, I still have no clear UI idea for it. Again, need this frigging getAllSubCategories method to work, then I can leave only one TreeView instead of the current two..
Then at least it would be possible to have an upload panel - TreeView with categories, subcategories and albums, and ListView with all the upload files.

Another UI issue - at which point in time shall I expand the "drop list"? Usualluy it should be pretty fast, but is some dummy drops "C:\Windows" - that would be fun.. Currently it is only expanded upon uploading process (which takes time anyway). Shall I keep it in original way and expand on demand, then in a cancellable way.. Man, this is a can of worms..

OK, once I have a local cache it will come. At least at this point I'll be in position to work on Sh..sh-sh, that's classified yet:-)

Today was not a very productive day

OneThumb posted in the morning that he fixed the MD5-uploads and getAllSubCategories. I rushed to check it only to find that only one part of this is correct. Multipart upload still produces an error. And getAllSubCategories, while now returning something back, which it was not, returns duplicated subcategories IDs instead of a pair (category:subcategory). Arrgh... Without it I kinda cannot proceed with local caching: not sure what to cache...
Oh well, got myself busy in the end anyway:

• Implemented OnLogin/OnLogout events and handled them on the main form, so now user is not looking at the leftovers of an already dead connection
• Implemented "account change" logic - if account is modified while being "connected", it would automatically disconnect and login with the new settings
• Created this blog:-)
• Modified About dialog; move links to another tabsheet. The whole thing is now smaller and have a much nicer and cleaner look (I think, that is:-). Also added this blog to the list of links..:-)

More later..

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Here you can get the most recent "inside" product news and learn about what's cooking.