Shimon Sofer's dashboard

Shimon Sofer replied on October 07, 2008 17:46 to the question "Do we have to create package for each document ?" in 42Tags:

You can see package as a collection of one or more files, this feature allows you to tag collections of files
when they are strongly connected and you would like to find them together, for example -
you can create collection named "House sell in california" and put their all the relevant docuemnts,
tag them as collection and always find them together.

However the 'collection' (or 'package') can contain single file (or single page) and this doesn't make
it harder to our system.

So in many cases you would have more than files in a package (collection) and in many cases you would have single file
in a collection depending on the case and your decision.

I personally keep all of my electrical equipments warranties in a single package (called "Electrical equipment...")
with many scanned files, but other can split them around.

P.S

We are considering to change the name from 'package' to 'collection' .

Shimon Sofer replied on September 22, 2008 22:36 to the problem "Can't import .PDF files" in 42Tags:

In the meantime as Eitan said you can drag and drop or attach it (the same) as a regular file and tag your package normally. When you'll need to view it then you can press Open or Double click the file to open it in Acrobat reader

Shimon Sofer replied on September 16, 2008 04:44 to the problem "Missing packages in search box" in 42Tags:

-- This topic is for advanced users only

* You don't need to scan any page in order to save the package any attached file will do it. Try it and you'll see. (New Package -> Attach any file -> then try to find it)

As you know all the information in 42Tags is in public open standards so we can use it to analyze this issue.

In the 42Tags/Configuration folder resides configuration xmls

1. Close the application (look that there is no '42' icon in the tray)

2. Open the General.xml with notepad or other viewer and see what the 'next_package_id'

3. Open the Packages.xml and serach the lost package id meta data. You can search for 'Package id="XXX"' in the notepad. Their you will the name and the tags of that package.

4. Close all viewer before running 42Tags again so they will not lock the files.

Another option -

1. Did you try to open the xml files in editor while 42Tags was open. In this case you may override 42Tags configuration while saving it manually (never save manually)

Please tell us if that help and you can succeed creating packages with no images only attached files.

Shimon

DDirector replied on September 15, 2008 15:19 to the problem "Missing packages in search box" in 42Tags:

Thanks for the advice but the packages are not there. I tried all of the above and no luck. It appears that if you don't have at least one scanned or imported image the package does not save.

All of the images I attached are in the 42 Tags directories and they have the correct file names but they are not attached to a package, i.e. pkg104_050208.tif but there is no package 104.

I created new packages with an imported page and then attached the old images and the number sequence started back before I added the missing packages. As an example I created pkg 100-106, which are now missing. When I created the new packages the sequence started back at 100.

So, as long as there is at least 1 scanned or imported page (STScanned.tif)everything seems to work.

Shimon Sofer replied on September 14, 2008 04:34 to the problem "Missing packages in search box" in 42Tags:

Let me help you find your packages...

1. On the 'search' tab - Make sure that the query does not contain any character (delete text)
2. Make sure that the date filter is not active by choosing 'No date filtering'

You now should see all of your packages.

Now... You can sort them by 'Date' if you remember when you entered them.

You can also show only - last 20 days created packages.

Another option -

If you already find your attached images, type their name (without 'pkgXX_' prefix) in the 'query' text (again make sure date filtering is off).

Don't forget to tell us if you found them....

Shimon Sofer replied on July 31, 2008 05:50 to the problem "Trying to change directory location for scans and files" in 42Tags:

Dear Peter

You probably tried to moves the '42Tags' folder (which usually resides under the 'My documents' folder) while the application is running , this of course is not allowed.

Please close the application by right clicking the small '42' icon in the tray (usually lower-right of screen) and press 'Quit',

Now move (don't copy) your folder to the new location.
Start 42Tags again. You will be prompt for the new location because 42Tags will not find it in the original location.

Regards,
Shimon

Shimon Sofer reported a problem in 42Tags on July 31, 2008 05:45:

Trying to change directory location for scans and files

Adding this problem - reported by Peter

Trying to change directory location for scans.

received a message - Could not find a part of the path 'C:\Documents and Settings\Peter\My Documents\42Tags\Configuration\Configuration.tmp'

Program does not allow me to do this. Have tried moving folder using Explore but program still tries to find old location. This is why this message has appeared.

Adrianus Warmenhoven replied on July 23, 2008 21:20 to the discussion "PNG Compression" in 42Tags:

Yup, I agree with the whole format thingy...

The results are much better for me when I lower the DPI and quality indeed.

Btw. My remark was never meant as criticism, just trying to add my 2 cents to the development.

And I think that already-jpeg-compressed scans will be worse in PNG because there is more noise, and PNG works best with crisp/clean images.

Eitan Burcat replied on July 23, 2008 20:31 to the discussion "PNG Compression" in 42Tags:

PNG and TIFF are very different. PNG is lossless while TIFF with its JPEG compression is lossy.

From some tests I did with Nconvert.exe, it seems that scanned *pictures* will come out much larger with PNG (One of my scans was turned from 74k-Jpeg to 470k-PNG - almost 7 times bigger!).
While most of the scanned *documets* might come out smaller (this requires further investigation). I converted already-jpeg-compressed-scans and got file sizes that were 50% smaller to 100% bigger with PNG. Of course, that encoding the original scanned document directly to PNG without going through JPEG will probably give better results.

Anyway, I'm not sure the answer can be conclusive here... We'd need better statistics to find out if this might actually save disk-space, and how much.

So far, IMHO, it seems that our file-sizes are fair (as long as the DPI and the JPEG compression are kept within reasonable limits...) - 100-150DPI and 70% compression give out results that are quite good.

Adrianus Warmenhoven replied on July 23, 2008 18:49 to the discussion "PNG Compression" in 42Tags:

I think CxImage http://www.xdp.it/cximage/ with the CxImageMNG module would suit your needs.
You would need to create your own dll though.

Adrianus Warmenhoven replied on July 23, 2008 18:45 to the discussion "PNG Compression" in 42Tags:

Cool, I will have a look around.

I do most development for mobile devices in C# .NET as well :)

Thank you for your time.

Shimon Sofer replied on July 23, 2008 14:11 to the discussion "PNG Compression" in 42Tags:

We have built 42Tags using C# .NET and we will look on library supporting MNG.

If you know one we would like to hear...

For any issue don't hesitate to get us involved

Adrianus Warmenhoven replied on July 23, 2008 13:21 to the discussion "PNG Compression" in 42Tags:

Well, animated image files, just as GIF's are nothing more than a sequence of images, with the extra provision of 'delta' information (so you do not have to store more than necessary).
All 'animated' formats can be shown as multiple images

On that note, grayscale images could be GIF's...

The APNG format is supported natively by Firefox and Opera and there is a freeware viewer for a lot of platforms:
http://pagesperso-orange.fr/pierre.g/...
That would be no different than what you are doing now with the jpeg compression.

(also, check the SDK, that might be of help to you as well)

As for performance, I think that will be alright; I have made a couple of comicbook-readers for handhelds, and converting the decoded images never was a cpu-hog.

You could make it an option; store in APNG or TIFF, that way people can decide for themselves.

I was unable to reproduce the weird size I had earlier.

Shimon Sofer replied on July 23, 2008 12:40 to the discussion "PNG Compression" in 42Tags:

Interesting links.

The first one seems more oriented to animated image files.
The second link seems to have support for multiple images (the MNG format).

The problem with using the MNG format will be

1. Most of our users feel more confident with a format that they know (all are afraid from proprietary formats) and can open with their default Windows viewer (Vista/XP or other). As far as I know they do not support the MNG format.

2. Creating the files maybe easy, but I am not sure how easy will it be to display them in our viewer. (We can always convert them in memory, but I am afraid of performance issues).

Shimon

A comment on the question "Search for product failed although it exists" in Get Satisfaction:

Now it works, thanks! – Eitan Burcat, on July 18, 2008 22:08

Eitan Burcat set one of Shimon Sofer's replies as an official response to "Backup" in 42Tags

Eitan Burcat set one of Shimon Sofer's replies as an official response to "Backup" in 42Tags

Eitan Burcat marked one of Shimon Sofer's replies in 42Tags as useful. Shimon Sofer replied to the question "Backup".

Eric Suesz replied on July 18, 2008 17:34 to the question "Search for product failed although it exists" in Get Satisfaction:

Okay, I think we have tracked down the problem. It appears to have been a hiccup with the search server. It didn't successfully index 42tags the first time around. I checked, and it appears to be showing up now.

Eric Suesz replied on July 18, 2008 14:07 to the question "Search for product failed although it exists" in Get Satisfaction:

Shimon: I am not finding it as a product when I search, either. I'm not sure why that is, but I will try to find out.