Attribute editing

[Rhadamanthys]

Having converted my IMatch 3 database I'm glad to see my image property set contents to appear now in an attribute set named "Image (File)".

However:
Files added by scanning a folder have no attribute set. Worse, the "Append a new record" button in the Attributes Editor only works for the focused file, not for all selected ones.

Really disappointing: In IM3 I am used to select a number of files to edit a certain attribute. This works even if not all of the attributes of the selected files are identical.
The IM5 Attributes Editor has two modes, Single and Merge, respectively. In Single mode I can only select a single attribute in a single set, so it takes many click and paste action to get what I want.
In Merge mode, if only one attribute of the selected files differs from the rest, the editor shows "no items" and prevents any editing.

Do I really have to write some scripts to emulate IM3 like attribute edit capabilities?

[sinus]

Worse, the "Append a new record" button in the Attributes Editor only works for the focused file, not for all selected ones.

That is not true, finally not here.
You must of course choose the correct single/merge-mode.

Détails you can find in the help. Attributes in IM5 are more powerfull than the old properties in IM3.

[Mario]

sinus is right.
When you are 'Singe Mode', adding new records works on the focused file only of course.
Switch to 'Merge Mode' to make your changes apply to all files.

Please read the Attributes Panel help topic (click in Attributes Panel, then press <F1>). This panel packs a lot of functionality and your understanding of IMatch Attributes and the Attribute Panel seems to be lacking. Don't try to fiddle around with scripts, trying to limit bring down the functionality of IMatch 5 Attributes back to the old IMatch 3 properties. That would be really limiting.

[Rhadamanthys]

Mario, thanks for your comment.

I got confused with the panel feature not to show empty records. So I must select all new files, put the panel in Merge mode, add new records and (important!) put some data into at least one record attribute, correct?
Then switching back to Single mode, I can edit like in a spreadsheet ("Why not equal" former Bundespräsident Lübke would have said).

I am sure there is a way to get this done automatically during indexing and I will find out myself. If however you have a second to give me a hint where to look that would be greatly appreciated!

Btw, not only the application, also its Help is a great step ahead!

[Mario]

The panel does not store 'empty' records.
Creating a record is just temporary, unless you add some data to it as well.

The Attribute Panel works like a spread sheet. With the additional complexity that, when you select multiple files, these files may have a different number of records, different data in the same record etc. This is why you might get the message about different data when you select multiple files. I explained this in more detail in the help, and why there is a Single and a Merge mode.

IMatch 3 could only store one record per file, so this 'problem' never came up. But the ability to store more than one record per file is one of the key features in Attributes. Whether you want to store more than one comment, several billing records, multiple submission records etc., all that is now easy to do.