Views

To add a view, in explore, either use the toolbar menu item New view or right click between thumbnails and use the New view from the contextual menu.

A view is a way of displaying the project's contents in different ways - it replaces the 'Structure' panel previously found under the Advanced settings tab. Views can be added to any place of your project, just like you add a folder. Add them where you want them to take the content from, for example, the root folder for everything or a subfolder for just that folder’s content. Once added they can be moved as they will retain the original location information, which is shown as the 'Source'. They are considered as folders and can have unique names and comments. The content of a view is that of the project or folder, structured as described by the 'view' selected, i.e., Recently added, Alphabetical, Date, Place, Keyword, and Custom. Views take up minimal storage space as they do not copy the project's content - they make an internal link reference' to the objects.

Views can be opened, by double clicking the view's thumbnail in jAlbum's explorer, or using the More menu. With a view open you can use the spacebar to open review mode and from there you can rate and exclude objects. View folders can also be dropped onto jAlbum's explore window for editing.

Ordering of views

Views can be ordered as normal folders. Once opened the view will display its content with the currently set ordering method. Above the thumbnails is a toolbar with icons for Up one level, Reload and Edit.
At the far right is the Sort icon, which opens a dropdown menu where you can select the sort order required - including Reverse and Apply to subfolders options.

The information displayed for each thumbnail is the same as that selected for the explorer view i.e. Details, Filename, Title, Comment or Keyword. Double clicking on a thumbnail within the view will open the 'original' object in jAlbum's explorer, where you can edit the displayed information. Click and holding down the mouse button will show a larger version of the thumbnail.

Note, the righthand chevrons shown in the lefthand pane will disappear when clicked on if there are no subfolders.

Each of the view types is discussed below.

Recently added view

Recently added provides a selection of ways of showing the recent additions to your project. Any changes made to the settings are saved as soon as you leave the setting. For each selected type there is a Check size button that when clicked will show the number of objects within the specified criteria. The settings can be changed after setting up the view by entering Edit mode.

The types of recently added are Since N days, Since last published, and Since date.

Since N days

Shows objects added in the last 30 days, for example. You can use the number of days control or manually enter the number of days by clicking in the number field.

Since last published

Shows objects added from the date the album was last published. The date is displayed and will only change when the album is again published.

Since date

Shows objects added since the date specified. You can use the date control or manually enter the date by clicking in the date field.

Alphabetical view

Shows objects in alphabetical order. Results can be grouped by filename, title or comment.

Date view

Shows objects arranged by date. You can use one of the preset configurations or manually enter the character sequence as desired, see jAlbum>Settings>Advanced>Date format for the characters and their meaning, or within the application click on the link Date and time patterns to open the information in a web browser.

Once you have entered the date and time format you want to use you will see an example of what to expect on the page in the album. The settings can be changed in Edit mode: see below for how that appears - showing the Custom group.

If an object does not have a last modified date then the file date will be used instead.

Place view

Shows objects by the places they were taken, i.e., by country, region, and place. You can use the presets or your own by using the Custom set and entering the appropriate codes. Once the selection is made you will see an example of what to expect on the page in the album. As an example, changing the Country code from 'ccc' to 'cc' will display GB instead of United Kingdom, changing the Region from 'rrr' to 'Custom' and leaving it empty will change the structure so that the city (say, London) is removed, leaving just the places within London showing.

The settings can be changed in Edit mode: see below for how that appears - showing the Country, Region, and Place set.

Keyword view

There are no settings for this view. The keyword view is not case sensitive. Keywords will result in multiple entries, one for each keyword added to the object. To refine the results use the Custom view as described below.

Custom view

Here you can use a preset template to use or modify a template, or enter your own code in the Groovy expression field. You can check the number of objects found using the Check size button, to see if the expression matches your expectations. The preset expressions are shown below.

The custom view can be edited in Edit mode. There is a link to the API for the type of commands that can be used and as the language used is Groovy, there are shortcut codes, some of which are used in the preset expressions. If you need help formulating an expression post a question in the forum, under General questions.

An example of a preset expression is shown here:

"John" in obj.keywordSet && "Sally" in obj.keywordSet

"John" and "Sally" are strings enclosed in quotes.

'in' is a keyword that indicates the string is to be looked for in the object (obj).

'keywordSet' is a Groovy shortcut for 'getKeywordSet()', that is, all of the keywords added to an object.

'&&' is a logical 'AND'.

So the above expression is looking for both John and Sally keywords assigned to an object.

Custom view codes

For third party custom codes see Custom view codes