Camera Library Viewer

History

Camera Library Viewer Version History

Version	Date	Description
1.0.2	2001-12-19	Fixed bug obtaining base directory name when accessed via network paths
1.0.1	2001-07-18	Fixed bug obtaining images directory name
1.0.0	2001-06-11	Initial version

Description

I first wrote my PhotoLoader Library Viewer as I was using PhotoLoader to manage my photos (as everyone probably does at first). My reasons for writing that viewer are explained on its page. The reasons for writing this new viewer are similar, but driven by the fact that the camera itself is capable of generating the bulk of the HTML. By eliminating PhotoLoader and the small amount of HTML it generates, you can enjoy cross-platform Casio photo library support!

Other benefits are that my program is smaller, and the duplicate HTML data generated by PhotoLoader in each of the photo directories is not present.

Installation

Download the software (see below), but do not unzip it yet!

You must now have your camera generate the HTML files for you. Copy them to your computer via USB. In the directory you copied them to, you should see one or more sub-directories named in the NNN_MMDD form (eg. 101_1231), an HTML directory and a file called INDEX.HTM.

Delete the INDEX.HTM file. You can optionally go into the HTML directory and delete MENU2.HTM and MENU3.HTM as they are not needed.

Now you can unzip camview.zip into your photo library directory (the directory where the INDEX.HTM file was). Unzip using folder names - if you don't you will have to manually copy the replacement INDEX2.HTM file into the HTML directory. If your unzip program asks you if you want to replace "INDEX2.HTM" select the option to replace it.

If you have more than one library directory (for example, one on your hard drive and one on your archival CD), then follow the above instructions for each one in turn.

Now that the main directory has been set up (it has the files applet.htm, blank.htm, libview.htm, and libview.jar) and the HTML directory has also been set up, from now on you only need to copy the NNN_MMDD directories from your camera.

VERY IMPORTANT: Do not copy over the INDEX2.HTM in your HTML directory or you will have to re-extract it from the ZIP file. Do not copy the INDEX.HTM file from the camera into the same directory as libview.htm, etc or the Internet support will not work.

How To Use It

Just in case you missed it above, once the viewer is installed you only copy the NNN_MMDD directories from the camera.

If you are creating a new set of libraries, you can copy the applet.htm, blank.htm, libview.htm, and libview.jar) files and the contents of the HTML and HTML/ICONS directories to the new location. None of these files change between libraries.

You may notice a file in each of your NNN_MMDD directories called NNN_MMDD.QVS (where the NNN_MMDD of the directory and file are the same). This file is generated by the camera and can be safely deleted.

How the Camera Files Work

You should always have the camera set so that the "Card Browser" is "Off". This saves on the camera batteries and on shutdown time as the camera does not have to keep the browser (HTML) files up to date.

When you want to transfer your photos to your computer, perform the following before plugging your camera into your computer:

1. Switch your camera on to "Play" mode.
2. Press the "Menu" key, select "Setup", then "Card Browser".
3. Select the "Type 1" (the other Types might work, but I've only tested using Type 1), but press "Disp" instead of "Set" to have the camera Make the necessary files.
4. Now connect the camera to your computer and copy the NNN_MMDD directories.

Problems

You may encounter some problems using the indexer, particularly with Microsoft Internet Explorer. In short, MSIE does not allow Java applets access to your local drives at all and by default does not let you alter the security settings to allow you to do so! The viewer will let you know if this is a problem and provide instructions to rectify the situation.

Netscape Navigator does not have this problem as it allows Java applets to have automatic access to any subdirectories under the directory they are installed into.

The viewer will work over the Internet, but it may need some help to find the image libraries. In general, if you can surf to your library directory and see a listing of your image subdirectories and the viewer files (like this), then the viewer should be able to automatically find the image subdirectories. If it doesn't seem to be working, you will need to create a file called "dirlist.txt" that lists the contents of the library directory. A suitable Unix command would be "ls -1 > dirlist.txt". This file must be in the library directory along with the viewer files. If you want to make the file manually, it must look like:

100_0228 101_0229 102_0301

In other words, it must list the NNN_MMDD directory names.

If you can surf to your library directory and see your picture subdirectories, but the viewer doesn't work, email me with the URL and I will see if the viewer could be modified to work. This feature depends on your web server and I have only been able to test with the Apache web server so far.

Customisation

Unlike my PhotoLoader Library Viewer, this viewer is not customisable. Much of the "look and feel" is already provided by the camera generated HTML and cannot be easily altered. Therefore, I decided that there was no point offering any customisation options.

Download

camview.zip (8083) - Unzip to your library directory(-ies).

Demonstration

I've set up a small demonstration, and these are the files.