[Digikam-devel] [Bug 125387] Simulate changes to images only

[Aaron Digulla]

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http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=125387         




------- Additional Comments From digulla hepe com  2006-09-13 23:13 -------
I think the first step would be to allow to record all changes made to an image in some data structure (no matter where that finally ends up). I'd suggest that this data structure should be exportable to XML because that's most simple to exchange. 

If it makes sense to use XML internally is something I can't decide. But that would help with the version issue because the next version of the action can see what parameter it gets and do the right thing.

The next step is to attach these to images. I'd prefer the "keep original and display the final version" way. This would also allow to offer undo-after-save (because we could load all actions into the undo buffer when the image is loaded).

It should also be possible to store actions in a separate file to apply them to a range of images. If this is done with XML, it will be possible to integrate digikam and other applications seamlessly.

For example, inkscape allows to record all changes ever made to an image. It can even display all actions in a history dialog. You can select any action to move quickly through all the modifications made to the image.

As for grouping/linking images, I think that's something which will confuse the user. When I make a copy of an image, I expect to have a new image. In this case, digikam should copy the image (original, action list, final image) to the new place and let me work on that. Or create a "copy from" action but I guess that will be hard to implement because then, every image will have to remember all it's copies (so you don't get broken action lists when you move the original around).

Note: The final image is something like the thumbnail. It's just generated to make the UI more responsive (especially when the action list contains expensive actions). When it gets lost, digikam should just regenerate it like it does with the thumbnails. But digikam should never touch the original image.

Note 2: I wonder if there should be a "delete" action, that is, images are never really deleted but the delete action will simply hide them. In the prefs menu, there could be a "Show deleted images" checkbox to get them back.