Timeline Calendar View
Top  Previous  Next


The Timeline feature of CodedColor is basically a special and simplified database search option. When you execute a timeline search, a search result folder with linkfiles to the original images is created. Since this folder is like a catalog, it can be viewed just like any normal directory with original images.

The timeline tabsets in the Explorer allow you to view all photos inside the database in a chronological order. In order to get the most out of this feature, you should turn on the option Add files to database immediately when opening a directory in the Program Settings. Through this option, you ensure that all records are added to the database immediately when you open a directory the first time. Only records inside the database can be searched and displayed in a timeline result.

You have the following basic timeline search options:
 
1. Doubleclick on a month row: does a search for records of the current year and month only  
 
2. Set checkbox for several years and months and press Execute button: search result for all checked months is created and opened in the Explorer  
 
3. Doubleclick on a topic row: original folder corresponding to selected topic is opened in the Explorer. Any filter value (see below) is ignored.  
 
4. Set checkbox for several years and topics and press Execute button: search result for all checked topic rows is created and opened in the Explorer  
 
The third option is pretty fast, as the original folder is opened. However, this option ignores any given filter value (see below). All other options create a search result folder with linkfiles, similar to a catalog which can be browsed. This may take some time, but you can then chronologically view images from different locations (folders) in your filesystem. You may then also set the option Display Creation Date, and sort the result directory by the Created [Ascending] column.

In addition to these basic timeline options, you can further narrow the search result by adding a filter value in the editfield at the top. This value is checked against all string fields in the database, including EXIF and IPTC. A search for "Canon" would return all records that have this value in the EXIF Maker field. A search for "Canon jpg" would further narrow the result to all JPEGs that we're taken by a Canon camera.

icon_tip Important
 
·The timeline search may produce broken linkfiles in the search result folder. Sometimes CodedColor is unable to resolve broken links, leading to orphaned records in your database. Call Cleanup Database to conservatively remove these records. If the search result still shows broken links after a cleanup, then these records are considered relevant, or the drive may be temporarily unavailable. You can suppress these broken links by enabling the option Hide broken links in the context menu of the timeline tree (right mouseclick) and by then recreating the search result.  
 
·A timeline search may produce thousands of resulting linkfiles. These may take some time to load in the explorer, so use the timeline checkboxes with care, if you have limited CPU resources.  
 
·If you are missing entries in the timeline tree, then these images probably have not been added to the database yet. To make sure that all images of a folder are added to the database immediately when viewing the folder the first time, turn on the option Add files to database immediately when opening a directory in the Program Settings.  
 
·Since timeline search result folders can hold thousands of linkfiles (and this may considerably slow down your file system), these folders are removed again after the program is terminated. If you want to keep a search result, you should move the corresponding directory to another location.  
 
·Use the Keyword View to search for Keywords in a very comfortable way. It can also be used to assign Keywords to many images at once.  

icon_tip Related topics
 
·Search in the Database  
·Search for keywords  
·Database Maintenance  
·How do you handle broken links?  
·What's the difference between file date and photo date?  

 

2004 © 1STEIN GmbH - CodedColor

CodedColor PhotoStudio by 1STEIN is a powerful and versatile photo organizer and image editing software for digital camera users. Features include photo editing & printing, web album galleries, slide shows, photo management & cataloging, custom sorting, IPTC & EXIF display, thumbnail generation, resize & resample images, jp2000, batch conversion, database keyword searching, red eye removal, color / sharpness / brightness & contrast correction, artefacts removal, clone brush, scanner & TWAIN import, screen capture, lossless JPEG rotation, gamma correction and screenshows with transition effects, panorama stitch, RAW, photo books and layouts, collages, histograms, white balance, PDF export, watermarks, etc. Please visit the CodedColor FotoStudio homepage to learn more or download a free copy!