[digiKam-users] Free floating albums list possible - or alternatively duplicate DK windows?

[Mick Sulley]

You can open a second DigiKam session, not quite what you asked for but 
it may help.  This works in Linux, don't know about other platforms.  I 
have done this in the past and it seems OK but I don't know enough about 
the internals to know if there are any potential dangers to this.

Cheers

Mick

On 08/08/2022 10:01, Thomas wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
>
> I am trying to improve the ergonomics of my workflow when importing a 
> new batch of images into my photo collection.
>
> *I have all my photos organized like this:*
>
> /photos/<year>/<yyyy-mm-dd>-<album-name>
>
> Where <yyyy-mm-dd> is the date of the particular photo session in the 
> album.
>
>
> *This is my workflow:*
>
> I will move all photos from the kamera into the folder
>
> I have all my photos organized like this:
>
> /photos/<year>/in/<yyyy-mm-dd>
>
> where <yyyy-mm-dd> is the /import-date/.
>
> This folder will typically have hundreds or thousands of photos from 
> several photo sessions.
>
> I will now sort these into an album for each session as well as delete 
> all photos that are too poor quality.
>
> So the sub albums will then be something like
>
> /photos/<year>/in/<yyyy-mm-dd>/<yyyy-mm-dd>-<album-name>
>
>
> When I have done that, I will typically have dosens of albums in 
> folders like <yyyy-mm-dd>-<album-name> all located in the <year>/in 
> folder.
>
> I will now have to move these into the actual photo collection for 
> that year (ie. move them out of the "in" folder).
>
> The way I do this is to drag the folder one by one onto the particylar 
> <year> folder (parent to "in") via the Albums list.
>
> The problem here is that the albums list is huge. It has several 
> hundred albums in it. So for example when I am in 2022/in, I have to 
> be very careful with the mouse while dragging each album to the parent 
> folder.
>
> The problem is exacerbated by the fact that  I can only move one album 
> at a time. DK will not allow me to select several albums to move.
>
>
> I can approach this in a different way, however: I can open the 'in' 
> folder in my operating system file manager and then move the albums 
> easily from there. Eg. by cutting and pasting them. Then I can do a 
> refresh inside Digikam afterwards and DK will then see the original 
> albums as having been deleted and discover the new albums as having 
> been created. Problem here is obviously that then DK seems to miss all 
> metadata about them such as tags, recognized faces, etc.
>
>
> So I have been trying to improve the ergonomics here in two ways:
>
> 1. Tried to detach the albums list
>
> 2. Tried to open an additional application window
>
>
> Neither of these approaches seem possible. Please see below
>
>
> *Detached albums list*
>
> I have been trying to figure out if it is possible to "detach" the 
> albums view such that it is a free floating window that is not 
> attached to the digikam main window.
>
> What I mean is this part highlighted with red:
>
>
> I think this is common functionality in many other complex 
> applications such as for example Gimp, Photoshop, etc. that you can 
> drag such parts of the application into separate windows in order to 
> ease a particular workflow or to make it more ergonomic.
>
> I think Gimp call this Dockable dialogs. Probably not the best name 
> for the concept as these are not typically dialog windows...
>
> Let me illustrate with an example from Gimp:
>
>
> All the various visible parts of this application can be "docked" or 
> "detached" from the main window.
>
>
> See the one I highlighted with red.
>
> I will now click and drag it:
>
>
>
> See, I get this tool options for Brushes as a separate window.
>
>
>
> *My question is: Can I do something to that effect on the Albums list 
> in Digikam?*
>
> If I can do this, how to do it?
>
> If not? Can it be implemented?
>
> How/where do I report this feature request?
>
> I have tried searching bugs.kde.org for reported issues around this 
> but was not able to find any. However, I must admit I have a really 
> hard time navigating and searching bugs.kde.org.
>
> I would love to report this as a bug, however, the bugs.kde.org 
> interface was a bit confusing to me. It seems I must report this to a 
> specific component of digikam. But I have no idea what component this 
> should be for....
>
>
>
> *Additional application window*
>
> An alternative approach that could greatly improve the ergonomics of 
> my workflow is to be able to open multiple DK windows.
>
> This is functionality that is present in most common office applications.
>
> Allow me to illustrate with an example from LibreOffice Writer:
>
>
> Here we see a document opened in LO Writer:
>
>
> I can click the /Window/ menu to get a new duplicate Window.
>
>
>
> This will produce two identical windows that will allow me to view two 
> different parts of the same document in parallel. This is highly 
> useful, for example when you need to reference something in a 
> different part of a large document.
>
>
> *My question is: Is something to that effect possible with Digikam?*
>
> If it is, how to do it?
>
> If not? Can it be implemented?
>
> How/where do I report this feature request?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Mvh
> Thomas
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