Metadata attributes missing from Thumbnails

[hap1484]

Hello everyone, how do I open my 2019.8 (.imd5) backup file once I've upgraded to 2020.7.

My second problem is that I have 7 attributes in a new custom panel but only "the first five" are showing up in my thumbnails (see attachment). The last two metadata fields are cut off at the bottom and are not visible. Previous data put in these fields are showing in the panel but not in the thumbs? How do I increase the size of the thumbnail frame to include these fields?  Using Cntl > scroll wheel increases the size of the thumb but still no last two? Thank you!

[Mario]

1. What do you mean by "backup file"? A file with the extension .imd5 is a normal IMatch database and you can open it in IMatch via Database menu > Open.

2. We cannot see how you have configured your file window layout so it's hard to tell why the information does not show.
Show us how the layout is defined (which File Window Attributes you use for the headers and footers etc.) and if there is sufficient space allocated for all the information to show.
Try the "Default" file window layout  or the "Headline, Description" or "Location Info" to see if these work.

[hap1484]

Mario, thank you for responding so quickly. I think my upgrade to 2020.7 only partially worked. The update warning screen (before I upgraded) said,  "make a back up of your .imd5 file" which I did and put it in a separate directory so it wouldn't confuse the upgrade process. I left the original file in the original directory so the upgrade process could easily find it.  I then upgraded the IMATCH software but my custom panel of metadata attributes was missing so the upgrade must not have been completed successfully?  I then proceeded to recreate my custom panel. The exact attributes (Headers and Footers) are enclosed as you requested. The full thumbnail was visible for a while during this recreation process but something happened and the thumbnail frame automatically contracted (got smaller) and cut off the bottom two fields. I did nothing to make this happen (other than trying to recreate my custom panel). Please look at the header and footer profiles and see if you find something I did wrong.

I tried your suggestion to activate "a different file window layout" but none of these fixed the problem.
I did notice a difference in the "Preferences > Edit Attributes" Screen from 2019 to 2020.  The 2019 profile has my attributes listed the 2020 profile does not. So maybe this is the problem? I've enclosed a screen shot of both screens so maybe this will give us a clue? Thank you again for your support.

[thrinn]

First let's try to clarify some wording:
In the Preferences > Edit Attributes screen you can create and maintain different attribute sets. That means multiple sets can exist in parallel in you database. In the File Layout editor, the term "Attribute" has a different meaning, more on the line of "general information pieces". But you can use IMatch Attributes by setting the Attribute property in the File Window layout editor to "Custom Template" and then using a variable in the Custom Template field to access you attribute.

Ok, now the Attribute set Notes (File) is created automatically by IMatch to store information for the File Notes App. Nothing to worry about, just leave it there. The (Files) suffix only identifies this specific attribute set as file based, meaning the values are stored on a per file basis.
If your database has been converted correctly, you should be able to use the dropdown where Notes (Files) is displayed to switch to your own attribute set "Hap's Metadata". Again, the "(Global)" suffix is not part of the attribute set name, but only shows that it is a Global set. See also here for more information on that.

If your attribute set does not exist (for whatever reasons) you should be able to create it using the "New set..." button. Or import it. You wrote that this is not possible, but what happens exactly? Error messages?

Hope this helps for a start...

[Mario]

You are using your own layout in the Metadata Panel.
Which tag did you use for "Location" and "Instructions"?

The default is Composite\MWG::Location\Location\0 for the location and XMP::photoshop\Instructions\Instructions\0

These tags are also available for File Window layouts. You can pick them from the The Simple Layout Editor or in the full layout editor. When you pick them, the information in these tags will show up in the thumbnail panel immediately.



Note that when the text in the File Window Attribute you choose (or in your custom template) does not fit into the available space, it will be clipped. Use the "Size" property in your FW Layout to allocate more room.

[hap1484]

Thank everyone for trying to help me. After "many hours" of research and trial and error, I think I have uncovered the weird problem.  V2020.7 will not display "footer 3 left or right", "footer 4 left or right" on a Solid State Drive (SSD) under any conditions - upgraded DBs or newly created DBs. All data "above footer 2" is clearly visible in my thumbnails. A newly created DB on 2020.7 on a standard disk drive (HDD) works fine.  2019.8 had no problem displaying this footer (3+4) information but the upgrade changed something and will no longer display it.  Mario, I'm running on Western Digital 1TB SSDs (Black) WDS100T3X0C-00SJG0.  Also note these are the M.2 form factors (size of a stick of gum).  Have you tested V2020.7 on M.2 form factor SSD's? I'm not a IT person, but I know there are technical differences.  I would also like to know if you've tested IMATCH on Virtual Drives (VCDs). I know for a fact that Windows 10 cannot be "feature upgraded" on an VCD.  We can load Win10 on a virtual drive but it will not upgrade.  SSDs are the future storage media of choice especially the M.2 form factors so IMATCH must work on SSDs!! Let's continue to work on this issue because my 30,000 image DB is unusable until we find a solution. It has already been converted to work with 2020.7 so there's no going back to 2019.8 Thank you again!!

[Mario]

I see no problems displaying footers 1 to 4.
No similar issue was ever reported. Make sure that you set a suitable size for all footers, e.g. 30 for a start.
Create a new File Window layout and then check if it 'takes' headers and footers properly.

This is unrelated to your Windows version or the storage medium for the database.

[sinus]

No similar issue was ever reported. Make sure that you set a suitable size for all footers, e.g. 30 for a start.

Maybe better empty the size, because he has set 30.
But this seem to me quite large.
Of course a shot in the dark.

[Mario]

Not specifying a size will set this to 'default', 1 row of text. Allocating more, e.g. 100 or 150px for keywords or similar 'long' values is sometimes needed.
Setting up a new layout and just specifying headers/footers will default values and an empty size automatically.

[hap1484]

Wow! Again thanks to everyone that contributed. The problem is now fixed!!  Markus and Mario got me on the right track with the "size" of the attribute.  I had some of them set to "30" and apparently this setting was cascading my Footers down off the thumbnail and out of sight.  Removing the size and setting them back to the default (0 or blank) fixed this issue and brought my Footers back into view. I still had to play around with the "number of thumbnails horizontally" to keep the footers on the screen.  At first, I could only get the Footers with 7 Thumbs across. If I changed this setting to 5 or 6 the Footers disappeared again.  However, changing the size of the panels on either side of the file window fixed this and now the system has settled down where I have 4 across and nice size images with all Footers visible. I retract my statements about SSDs and Virtual drives. I was wrong in making these observations ....sorry!

[Mario]

If you change the width of the thumbnail panels, the available space for rendering text also changes. Wider panels => more text can be shown in the same height (Size). If you don't allocate enough height for your specific metadata/attributes or the contents don't contain spaces to allow word-wrapping into multiple rows, text may not be visible. Since this all depends on factors like screen size, number of thumbnail panels shown, FW layout attributes selected by the user etc. IMatch gives you all the options to make it work.

[sinus]

Wow! Again thanks to everyone that contributed. The problem is now fixed!!  Markus and Mario got me on the right track with the "size" of the attribute.  I had some of them set to "30" and apparently this setting was cascading my Footers down off the thumbnail and out of sight.  Removing the size and setting them back to the default (0 or blank) fixed this issue and brought my Footers back into view. I still had to play around with the "number of thumbnails horizontally" to keep the footers on the screen.  At first, I could only get the Footers with 7 Thumbs across. If I changed this setting to 5 or 6 the Footers disappeared again.  However, changing the size of the panels on either side of the file window fixed this and now the system has settled down where I have 4 across and nice size images with all Footers visible. I retract my statements about SSDs and Virtual drives. I was wrong in making these observations ....sorry!

Good to hear, that it is solved.
Because it happend in the past to me too, that I had a too high size, I die my "shot in the dark".