Is there a good Reason PSU doesn't have 'Watched Folders'

[nwboater]

There are other very capable database programs that use 'watched folders'. In them you can have one or many folders that the database will regularly poll. When they find new files, folders or changes they will automatically ad those to their database. This is very convenient and means that whenever you look at those folders the new content will show.

There are a lot of things I like about PSU but find it frustrating to not have the Watched Folders feature. Is there some reason that has not been implemented in PSU?

Thanks, Rod

[Hert]

"Regularly poll", as in regularly automatically run "Verify Folder"? That sounds very sub-optimal to me because it will use a lot of system resources, mostly to find nothing. Not something I would recommend.

You can start PSU and pass a folder with a command line parameter. Then on startup, PSU automatically verifies that folder in the background.

E.g. C:\Program Files\IDimager Products\Photo Supreme\IDimagerSU.exe D:\Photos\2021 -dummy

Don't forget to add an extra dummy parameter at the end.
While I checked this, apparently PSU doesn't check the last parameter and so you have to add a dummy parameter at the end

[nwboater]

Thanks for getting right back to me Hert and your Command Line Suggestion. If doing a Verify is the only way to notice file changes it really isn't practical. My regular use of Verify on all my photo folders takes several minutes to complete so even if it was only done at startup that would really delay use of the program. It makes me wonder how other programs might do background polling.

Cheers,
Rod

[Hert]

The verify folder runs as a background process and you are not affected, nor do is the application blocked while the verification runs in the background.

Also, I can’t speak for other programs but I expect that it does a full verify folder in the background as well. Nothing different.

And last but not least, Psu monitors the file system. When you make a change while Psu is open then Psu picks up the change automatically.

[nwboater]

The verify folder runs as a background process and you are not affected, nor do is the application blocked while the verification runs in the background.

Also, I can’t speak for other programs but I expect that it does a full verify folder in the background as well. Nothing different.

And last but not least, Psu monitors the file system. When you make a change while Psu is open then Psu picks up the change automatically.

Thanks for the further clarification Hert,

Really good to know that if PSU is open it will pick up any file changes. That speaks for putting PSU in my startup Folder and leaving it running whenever the computer is on. It also might be good to use your Command Line Parameter to run Verify at startup. I've never done anything with Command Lines so need to look further into it.

[G8DHE]

Hert,
"And last but not least, Psu monitors the file system. When you make a change while Psu is open then Psu picks up the change automatically."

Has that always been the position ? In which case if other programs - in my case TagThatPhoto (TTP) - it should pickup changes to the metadata that TTP makes automatically and include the updated metadata ?
At present I do a verify run after each session in TTP to ensure that changes are picked up, but I would be quite happy to leave it be and allow it to do this automatically !

[Ralf]

Code: Select all

At present I do a verify run after each session in TTP to ensure that changes are picked up, but I would be quite happy to leave it be and allow it to do this automatically !

I am happy to agree with that because I also use TTP all the time and initiate the process manually ...

[Hert]

I did some tests here and noticed that the file update monitoring wasn't working anymore. Apparently some change in Windows somewhere must have broken that. All other file notifications were working. The next build (3939) will have the file update monitor working again.

[G8DHE]

Brilliant many thanks Hert, out of interest is this time dependent (if so how much time needed ?) or does the Windows flag to PSU when a change occurs ?

[Hert]

There can be a 5 second delay before a file system notification is picked up.
Note that Windows only reports changes for files on local drive(s).

[G8DHE]

Ah right my main files are all on the server hence why it never sees a change!

[snowman1]

Note that Windows only reports changes for files on local drive(s).

To get some more clarity on this:
- So a USB drive would be detected?
- And a NAS drive, as a network drive, wouldn't?
- But a NAS drive mapped to a drive letter would?

Thanks

[pattcz]

- So a USB drive would be detected?

I have images on usb drive and it not update automatically in PSU so NO.

[Hert]

- So a USB drive would be detected?

Yes.

- And a NAS drive, as a network drive, wouldn't?

Typically no.
Could be that changes are detected by Windows for shares from a Windows Servers.

- But a NAS drive mapped to a drive letter would?

That is still not a local drive
So see previous answer

PS. this applies for Windows only.

[snowman1]

Thanks Hert, that's very useful information.