Option to make automatically established version links permanent

[Mees Dekker]

I understand that a version link, once it is established automatically (through "file relations") is not permanent. It is easily broken when you move your version to a place where the master cannot find it any longer.

It would be nice if there was a possibility/option to make such a version link permanent, so that wherever you move your version, it will always be linked to its master. The option to search for versions in the entire database is already available, but as Mario pointed out https://www.photools.com/community/index.php?topic=7937.msg55722#msg55722 , "it is the worst case will bring the performance to a crawl", especially with big databases. 

This is possibly related to https://www.photools.com/community/index.php?topic=2090.0

[Mario]

If you have a workflow which deliberately breaks your version links, consider using manual versions. They directly link the master and its version(s) and does not depend on searching the database or specific folders.

[akirot]

Mees,
welcome to the club ;-)
Actually technically moving(!) a version doesn't break the relation. It's the "refresh relations" where Mario at first deletes all existing relations and then searches for versions (as configured).
This forces Carlo Didier to always do a full database scan. I have written a script to circumvent this behaviour - by the way the only script I need and would love to get rid of.
Just searching for new versions without deleting existing relations (and making prior deletion an option) would do the trick. I had risen the respective feature request here:
https://www.photools.com/community/index.php?topic=6817.msg47115#msg47115
This is far easier than my old feature request from 2014.
Mario, please omit the mandatory version deletion when refreshing.

[Mario]

Mario, please omit the mandatory version deletion when refreshing.

Why?

This would lead to a non-reproducible set of master->version links.
Because re-applying the version rules you have created will not create the same set of versions as before. Because you have

a) Created a set of versions
b) Moved some of the versions around on your hard disk so they are no longer detected by your very own version rule
c) Now you re-run the version rule. Which may detect some new versions or not. But it has to keep the versions you have created earlier and which no longer match the version rule.
This means you have versions which are not covered by any of the version rules you have defined.

I don't like this at all.

Ideas:

+ Why don't you just change your version rule so it always finds your files, even when you move them elsewhere? You can let rules search in any number of folders, on any number of disks.
+ Or make a secondary version rule for your "moved around" files?
+ Or make a manual version rule you apply after you have moved your files around?

So many ways to deal with this without introducing inconsistencies and non-predictable relation behavior.

[Carlo Didier]

c) Now you re-run the version rule. Which may detect some new versions or not. But it has to keep the versions you have created earlier and which no longer match the version rule.

I think this is where your point of view differs from the requester. If files are moved, but no version rules have changed, the request makes perfect sense (I don't consider the scope where it automatically searches for versions as part of the rule!).

So, maybe you could detect a change in rules (and set an internal flag in the db) and then display a warning if rules have changed and offer the option to delete existing version relations or not (for the changed rules).

[Mario]

I think this is where your point of view differs from the requester. If files are moved, but no version rules have changed, the request makes perfect sense

Wrong.

Automatic version rules detect versions based on file names and the folder hierarchy.
When you move files to a place where the version rule they no longer detects, they are not versions anymore.
This behavior is by design and definition.

Two simple solutions:

1. Fix your broken version rule so it finds the version wherever they are. This is simple to do.
2. Use a manual version rule which has been designed exactly for this purpose.

[sinus]

Mario, please omit the mandatory version deletion when refreshing.

Ideas:

+ Why don't you just change your version rule so it always finds your files, even when you move them elsewhere? You can let rules search in any number of folders, on any number of disks.
+ Or make a secondary version rule for your "moved around" files?
+ Or make a manual version rule you apply after you have moved your files around?

So many ways to deal with this without introducing inconsistencies and non-predictable relation behavior.

I would it also see like these ideas from Mario.
And/or change your workflow, like you wrote in another thread.