[Digikam-users] Difference between collection types

[Marcel Wiesweg]

> So, as I understand it, Digikam
>  * can say with certainty that a Removable Media is attached
>  * uses some guess work to try and determine whether a Network Share is
> attached 
> * always assumes that a Local Collection is available

Yes that's right

>
> So what happens if Digikam determines that a non-local resource is *not*
> available?  There must be different behavior based on the answer.  In
> previous versions of Digikam, the images would be removed from the database
> if they were not present.  Does Digikam keep them in the database then just
> work with thumbnails?

Yes. It just keeps them in the database. In 0.10 it hides them. For 1.0 we 
envision to have thumbnails accessible and be able to work with absent photos, 
without image preview or editing of course.

>
> The reason I ask is that I have a complex setup and want to try to make it
> as transparent as possible.  Here is what I have: * images straight out of
> the camera stored on a NAS samba share.  The digikam database is stored
> here. * post-processed images stored on another share of the same NAS.
>  * images being worked on stored on a local drive
>
> I do most of my work on a laptop, which connects and disconnects from my
> network frequently.  What I would like to do is have three albums: *
> "Camera" for the digital negatives (raw files)
>  * "Developed" for the images that have been post-processed
>  * "Working" for the files local to my laptop that are in active
> development.
>
> I envision the workflow looking something like this:
>  1. Plug laptop into network

>  2. KDE knows I'm connected to my network and makes available the two NAS
> samba shares 
>  6. KDE sees the disconnect and removes the NAS shares from what it knows
> about 

This is problematic. There is technology like Avahi, UPnp to make this 
possible. I am sure it is possible to detect if a somehow identified Samba 
share is mounted. But there is no common API just like Solid is there for 
hardware. I really miss that. I have heard about some work on network 
awareness using Avahi but I dont think there has been substantial progress.

> 3. Digikam is able to access all three albums
>  4. Use Digikam to copy an image from either "Camera" or "Developed" to
> "Working". 5. Disconnect from my network
> 7. Take the laptop to a nice quite place to do some image processing.
> 8. Re-attach to my network and copy the image from "Working" album to
> "Developed" album
>
>
> Do you have any tips for accomplishing this kind of setup?  Can KDE mount
> and umount shares based on the network connection?  How would I handle the
> digikam database?  

Database is a different issue. If it is stored on the NAS you cannot access it 
with your laptop if unconnected. So store it on the laptop if you want to 
access it. If other people also work on the pictures things get complicated 
with working offline. For now, there is no solution but the social solution to 
this (talking)