fails sorting by EXIF:DateTimeOriginal column

sgp · Post by **sgp** » 2004 Nov 29, 22:31

?bug? report:
x2 1.1.0.1, win2k sp4, pixvue 1.6 extension with EXIF picture file attributes turned on. I have about 1000 pictures in a single folder on CD, I added the EXIF:DateTimeOriginal column to x2 and I'm trying to sort by this new column. The UI implies it's sorted (the little triangle shows on the EXIF column) but it really isn't - in fact it's sorted by filename.
The EXIF values are strings formatted as "YYYY:MM:DD hh:mm:ss"

sgp · Post by **sgp** » 2004 Nov 29, 22:50

by the way, explorer sorts the files correctly.
i noticed many files are nearly identical, they only differ in their name and modification time but all other attributes are the same, for instance:
Name Extension Size EXIF: DateTimeOriginal Attributes Modified
Image 491.jpg jpg 77,246 2003:09:16 11:07:06 R----- 10/1/2003 10:39:08 AM
Image 461.jpg jpg 77,246 2003:09:16 11:07:06 R----- 9/16/2003 10:27:10 AM
Image 408.jpg jpg 77,246 2003:09:16 11:07:06 R----- 9/16/2003 10:12:37 AM

explorer sorts those 3 files adjacent to each other, x2 keeps them separated by other files with earlier EXIF dates. Like I said, the only apparent order criteria seems to be the filename.

fgagnon · Post by **fgagnon** » 2004 Nov 30, 00:39

I cannot reproduce that (on xp sp2)
but I only have a "Date Picture Taken" EXIF column, and not a "DateTimeOriginal" column.

All "sorts" I did with x2 [1102a, Unicode] (incuding specifically jumbled names & other dates) were done as expected.

Post by **nikos** » 2004 Nov 30, 08:25

when you try to use this column as a search parameter (i.e. an additional rule based on it) is it recognized as date or something else?

sgp · Post by **sgp** » 2004 Dec 01, 17:44

The additional rules dialog recognizes EXIF:OriginalDateTime and all other EXIF attributes as text.

Post by **nikos** » 2004 Dec 01, 18:23

that could well be your problem!
somehow this pixvue extension is not registering its columns properly
i'll have a look

Post by **nikos** » 2004 Dec 01, 19:19

i installed pixvue 1.6 but i get column names like "XMP: date created", not quite the same as yours! Nevertheless i can see that all are assumed as text so that makes using them in a search context near impossible!

does anybody have a file that has exif data so i can check it?

sgp · Post by **sgp** » 2004 Dec 03, 16:31

Did you enable EXIF shell extensions in the pixvue control panel?
Normally all digital camera pictures include EXIF data.
I'm not trying to use EXIF for file search, just for sorting columns. Explorer can do it.

fgagnon · Post by **fgagnon** » 2004 Dec 03, 18:53

After trying it a couple of months back, I had uninstalled pixvue because using EXIF column data really slowed down x2 -- especially for initial display of folders with lots of pix.

So I reinstalled it to check out the situation.
And after turning on the EXIF Columns
... { on the Start | Control panel | Pixvue | General tab }
I still could not get x2 to mis-sort on any parameter I chose.

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For general info, as enabled by Pixvue (posted in tab-delimited listing) the EXIF columns enabled by Pixvue are:

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EXIF columns >>>
EXIF: EXIFIFD	EXIF: ImageWidth	EXIF: ImageLength	EXIF: BitsPerSample	EXIF: Compression	EXIF: PhotometricInterpretation	EXIF: Orientation	EXIF: SamplesPerPixel	EXIF: PlanarConfiguration	EXIF: YCbCrSubSampling	EXIF: YCbCrPositioning	EXIF: XResolution	EXIF: YResolution	EXIF: ResolutionUnit	EXIF: StripOffsets	EXIF: RowsPerStrip	EXIF: StripByteCounts	EXIF: JPEGInterchangeFormat	EXIF: JPEGInterchangeFormatLength	EXIF: TransferFunction	EXIF: WhitePoint	EXIF: PrimaryChromaticities	EXIF: YCbCrCoefficients	EXIF: ReferenceBlackWhite	EXIF: DateTime	EXIF: ImageDescription	EXIF: Make	EXIF: Model	EXIF: Software	EXIF: Artist	EXIF: Copyright	EXIF: InteroperabilityIdentification	EXIF: InteroperabilityIFD	EXIF: ExifVersion	EXIF: FlashPixVersion	EXIF: ColorSpace	EXIF: ComponentsConfiguration	EXIF: CompressedBitsPerPixel	EXIF: PixelXDimension	EXIF: PixelYDimension	EXIF: MakerNote	EXIF: UserComment	EXIF: RelatedSoundFile	EXIF: DateTimeOriginal	EXIF: DateTimeDigitized	EXIF: SubSecTime	EXIF: SubSecTimeOriginal	EXIF: SubSecTimeDigitized	EXIF: ExposureTime	EXIF: FNumber	EXIF: ExposureProgram	EXIF: SpectralSensitivity	EXIF: ISOSpeedRatings	EXIF: OECF	EXIF: ShutterSpeedValue	EXIF: ApertureValue	EXIF: BrightnessValue	EXIF: ExposureBiasValue	EXIF: MaxApertureValue	EXIF: SubjectDistance	EXIF: MeteringMode	EXIF: LightSource	EXIF: Flash	EXIF: FocalLength	EXIF: SubjectArea	EXIF: FlashEnergy	EXIF: SpatialFrequencyResponse	EXIF: FocalPlaneXResolution	EXIF: FocalPlaneYResolution	EXIF: FocalPlaneResolutionUnit	EXIF: SubjectLocation	EXIF: ExposureIndex	EXIF: SensingMethod	EXIF: FileSource	EXIF: SceneType	EXIF: CFAPattern	EXIF: IFD Interoperability IFD Pointer	EXIF: CustomRendered	EXIF: ExposureMode	EXIF: WhiteBalance	EXIF: DigitalZoomRatio	EXIF: FocalLengthIn35mmFilm	EXIF: SceneCaptureType	EXIF: GainControl	EXIF: Contrast	EXIF: Saturation	EXIF: Sharpness	EXIF: DeviceSettingDescription	EXIF: SubjectDistanceRange	EXIF: ImageUniqueID

... and the IPCT columns are:

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IPTC Columns >>>
XMP: Title	XMP: Author	XMP: Description	XMP: Copyright	XMP: Copyright URL	XMP: Copyright Status	XMP: Author's Position	XMP: Description Writer	XMP: Headline	XMP: Instructions	XMP: Credit	XMP: Source	XMP: City	XMP: State	XMP: Country	XMP: Transmission Reference	XMP: Date Created	XMP: Time Created	XMP: Urgency

Post by **nikos** » 2004 Dec 03, 19:07

using EXIF column data really slowed down x2

did this happen when you had a lot of exif columns or even a single one would blow it?

i find this a bit strange, since -- unless you are in a view that's sorted on some exif column -- the exif data should be obtained in a background thread. So although your CPU could get a good workout, the front GUI should remain responsive!

fgagnon · Post by **fgagnon** » 2004 Dec 03, 19:45

A single EXIF column will blow it -- but (as you point out again) only if it is the current sort criterion.
note: even if it is in the INACTIVE pane.

A simple test with Pixvue-enabled EXIF columns OFF, but with sorting on XP's standard column "Date picture taken" {synonym for EXIF: DateTimeOriginal ?} takes a minute to load at x2 startup.
But only 5 seconds to actally sort on that column after browsing into the folder containing 65 photos of about 50 MB total filesize.

Post by **nikos** » 2004 Dec 04, 12:27

we've opened a can of worms here

ok, pixvue did a lame thing and advertise all their columns as text
i guess in explorer the date sorting works since the way they format their dates, alphanumeric order is identical to chronological order

the real problem is that x2 is being let down by the windows shell for some of the explorer columns. The weird thing is that sorting works for some and unfortunately those were the ones (e.g. dates/sizes) i used to confirm that my code worked

so major works ahead...

ps btw in XP everything works fine, only w2000 has this problem

sgp · Post by **sgp** » 2004 Dec 06, 20:26

Can of worms indeed, sorry about that!
The funny thing is that had I never read the x2 full manual I wouldn't have known about pixvue and started using it.

Post by **nikos** » 2004 Dec 07, 08:25

the problem was only for win2000 and it is already fixed
however we're going through a rough patch it seems now so i'm not releasing a new version yet... i'm sure a new bug will come later today or early next week-- it is the law of the sod