Migrating from IDimager V5 SQLServer to Photo Supreme

[dimaip]

Dear Hert!
Congratulations with IDI Supreme windows release!
I want to try it out with my catalog. Can I migrate from SQLServer edition too?

Regards,
Dmitri.

[Hert]

Dmitri,

Best would be to first convert to V5-Desktop and then use that database for PSU.

Hert

[dimaip]

Thanks Hert, just what I've thought.
I recommend adding this note to your instruction.

Is SQLServer supported ever planned?
I really need to have a concurrent access to the database!

Dmitri.

[andrew.heard]

Dmitri,

Best would be to first convert to V5-Desktop and then use that database for PSU.

Hert

Hert - can you expand on how to do this? I'm running V5 SQLServer too, and just wasted a hour trying to figure out how to migrate my catalog to Supreme only to find out here I have to convert to "IDI desktop" first, presumably so I can create a idimager.cat.db file which V5 SQLServer doesn't use. I have a idimager.thumbs.db file but no idimager.cat.db.

[dimaip]

Hey Andrew,
I can't seem to find the conversion tool on the forums, but found it on my local PC. See it in attachment (rename from .exe.txt to .exe, it doen't allow uploading .exe), it's very straightforward how to use it.
You need to install both latest SQLServer and SQLite versions, from SQLite create a new empty database, and use it in the conversion tool.

Dmitri.

PS: And yes, i'm not really happy with the instructions or the general attitude towards IDI pro users either

[andrew.heard]

Thanks very much Dmitri. I look forward to trying it tonight. Why does Hert's sticky forum item "Migrating from IDimager V5 to Photo Supreme" NOT mention the instructions are NOT for SQLServer users?? And why does Photo Supreme have a Data menu which imports from lots of other DAM programs but not even IDI (desktop or server); that seems really odd to me you would not provide a user friendly method to migrate from your existing flagship programs and instead expect users to understand the meaning of programmer level instructions like <%localappdata%\IDimager Systems, Inc.\Catalog>.

[Hert]

Andrew. I've now added that.

%localappdata% is not developer talk but is Windows talk. That is the macro that Microsoft came up with to get access to that folder.

Hert

[dimaip]

I just want to report, that I've been able to convert three databases, one of which has 130000 images, from SQLServer to Supreme, almost in no time.
I do get PSU to crash occasionally with all sorts of different errors already reported on the forums (usually when testing with select of 60000 images), but the speed is just amazing.
I've just imported 80000 photos for a test, in about 4min... In IDI Pro it would take me 4 years...

Dmitri

[andrew.heard]

Hert

%localappdata% is not developer talk but is Windows talk. That is the macro that Microsoft came up with to get access to that folder

Yes, I've been developing C/C++/C# code for 30 years and deal with "users" every day. I would imagine IDI "users" are more tech-savvy than the average Windows user however I am sure there are IDI users that would be unnecessarily confused, frustrated, waste time, trying to come to grips with what is meant by %localappdata% etc. Certainly in future, if PS is aimed at a broader, less technical base of users, then this level of instruction will not hit the target.

Thanks for updating the migration instructions with the link to "Switching between SQLServer and Desktop (SQLite)".

[Mike Buckley]

there are IDI users that would be unnecessarily confused, frustrated, waste time, trying to come to grips with what is meant by %localappdata% etc. Certainly in future, if PS is aimed at a broader, less technical base of users, then this level of instruction will not hit the target.

That's a really great suggestion. As the author of the IDimager V5 Workbook (no longer available), it's especially ironic how long it took me to grapple with everything related to %localappdata%. It really doesn't matter that this is a Windows convention instead of a Supreme protocol. Considering that Supreme is intended to be more "accessible," it would be a good idea to eliminate all that gobbledygook about Windows macros. That's because the typical targeted user may not even understand what a macro is. I certainly didn't until months after I began using IDimager.

I appreciate that it's difficult if not impossible for a developer or a programmer to fully understand the perspective of a user such as myself who has no technical proficiency. So, there is a point that the developers and programmers will simply have to take users' word for it or suffer fewer sales.