Really, really last post :)

I've posted the wrong setup version on comicrack.cyolito.com and therefore your version may not subscribe to the news of the new site.
Please download the read 0.9.58 version again :)

ComicRack 0.9.58 released

This will be the last post on this blog. Download the latest version and head over to the all new ComicRack home at comicrack.cyolito.com

The new release finally makes comicrack localizable. I will add a guide in the near future how you (yes you:)) can translate comicrack to your language.

For know there's only English and German.

• NEW: Full localization/globalization support
• NEW: German localization
• NEW: Month Grouper
• NEW: Restart Command

• CHANGE: removed text from Part overlays
• CHANGE: Updated web links to the new site

• BUG: Wrong message if original database had a problem and the backup could not be found
• BUG: Activity icons for Convert/Update did not include the last background item working
• BUG: Unspecified in the Search Browser did not work for numeric values (e.g. Month)

Removed download link

You know have to go to comicrack.cyolito.com to download the latest version (which is still 0.9.57 :))

New ComicRack Homepage

Finally I got around to at least made it usable. Head over to comicrack.cyolito.com to see it in all its glory :). It has a new forum and also a wiki for the ComicRack documentation.

In the foreseeable future i will close this blog and the current comicrack forum, as everything and everyone should move to the new site.

ComicRack Localization

The next release of ComicRack will support localization (e.g. ComicRack running in Spanish).

If you want to help to bring ComicRack to your language, had over to the forum for more information.

ComicRack v 0.9.57 released

Build 0.9.57:

• NEW: Assignable cover item for Stacks
• NEW: Full CBT/TAR support (read, save, convert)
• NEW: Command to quickly sort items in the Library Browser (without the need to reposition manually)
  

• CHANGE: Stacked Thumbnails only display a stack if there are multiple eComics
• CHANGE: Added "Page Layout" and "Two Pages" commands to reader context menu
• CHANGE: Visible Part now correctly updates when scrolling
• CHANGE: Continuous progress bar during Database loading
  

• BUG: No "V5" Group for Volumes
• BUG: Changed default for page transition delay to off (really now)

hf

ComicRack v 0.9.56 released

Finally fixed the CBR/RAR problems in some Windows editions (Spanish, Portuguese).

Build 0.9.56:

• BUG: OEM Conversion for unrar.dll
  

hf

ComicRack v 0.9.55 released

Again mostly bug fixes.

Build 0.9.55:

• NEW: Added Next/Previous Part Keyboard command (defaults to Space)
• NEW: Added "Restore Defaults" button to behavior settings
• NEW: "Manga Style" Smart List operator
  

• CHANGE: Added proper manifest for Vista UAC
• CHANGE: Explorer Integration Preferences are disabled when there are insufficient user rights
• CHANGE: Changed default for page transition delay to off
  

• BUG: Fixed not restoring scroll positions when opening new eComics or switching tabs
• BUG: Paste Data did not refresh data from files before changing
• BUG: Current Page panel was to small for "thick" comics
• BUG: Fixed display of units in the Smart List Editor

hf

Dynamic Zoom

Again and again I read that ComicRack only supports fixed zoom steps. This is not true.

Hold down the middle mouse button in the reader and move the mouse up down, or alternatively, enter a custom zoom value in the toolbar.

I guess a wiki would be cool thing...

ComicRack v 0.9.54 released

Again a release that mainly incorporates user suggestions.

Build 0.9.54:

• NEW: List Layout Management
• NEW: Size of Info Overlays can now be adjusted
• NEW: Copy/Paste of selected values to multiple eComics
  

• CHANGE: Changed the rar code
• CHANGE: Wheel page transition delay is now time based (1 second)
• CHANGE: Cursor keys also have a page transition delay
• CHANGE: Added tooltips to trackbars in Preferences Dialog
• CHANGE: Moved Workspaces Menu entry
• CHANGE: Cleaned up Toolbar
• CHANGE: New Folder, New List and New Smart List commands are now Dialog based
  

• BUG: Using "Open in new Window" in the File Browser did open two windows
• BUG: Minimize to Notification Area did not remember maximized state
• BUG: Not drawn '&' in tree node names
• BUG: Fixed wrong culture on background threads

hf

ComicRack v 0.9.53 released

After over 2 months i came finally around to make a new version. It mainly incorporates feedback posted in the forum.

Best Fit is a new mode that always fills the whole display area (so lets say the reader is wider than the current page, the page will be displayed with Fit Width).
Automatic Background color tries to match the background with the displayed page.
Also there's now a more robust handling of errors with the database.

Also ComicRack should again work on Windows 2000 (just as a note, based on the logs for this page, Windows 2000 is used by ~1% of people visiting).

Build 0.9.53:

• NEW: Optional delay before browsing to the next page when using the mouse wheel
• NEW: New fitting mode "Best Fit"
• NEW: Automatic Background color option
• NEW: If there's a problem with the database, ComicRack tries to restore a previous version. If this fails, it creates a new one.
  

• CHANGE: Saving eComics did save the "Crumbled Paper" page on error conditions instead of erroring out
• CHANGE: Changed "System Tray" to "Notification Area"
  

• BUG: Missing initial filling of folder eComic list if sidebar was hidden
• BUG: Folder Favorites item was not drawn till thumbnail was created
• BUG: Paths in Favorite items where cut at the end (instead of ellipsis)
• BUG: Fixed incompatibility issue with Windows 2000
• BUG: Could drag&drop library nodes into itself (crash)
• BUG: Fixed possible bug when closing editors
• BUG: ComicRack does now get over a corrupt Database at startup

hf

Windows 2000 problems

The current release does not work with Windows 2000. While updating compatibility with Vista i kinda lost some legacy support...

I will as soon as possible make an update available.

New free eComic

Seems artists around the world are seeing the potential for eComics (no publishing costs etc.).

Get it at www.studiosunderland.com

About meta data... again

As there seems to be a lot of confusion about where and when ComicRack stores it's meta data, lets get it from the mouth of the horse :)

ComicRack always stores data as Xml snippets (either as part of the big library file) or as single small files into eComics (see below).

When adding or opening eComics and there is a secondary stream present for the file (only on NTFS), the xml data from this stream is loaded. If no stream is present and the eComic is an archive, it is opened and a ComicInfo.xml is searched.

If you change meta data, the data is stored to the Library and to the secondary NTFS stream (if file is on NTFS and the write meta data to file option is turned on). The ComicInfo.xml file is NEVER changed. It always stays the same in this process.

ComicInfo.xml IS added to eComics when they are saved to an archive or file list format (Save as...) or converted (Convert to CBZ). Also only images not tagged as deleted are written.

Now you may wonder why this is done so complicated...

ComicRack supports various file formats (PDF, CBZ (ZIP), CBR(RAR) and will add further in the future like TAR.GZ). Let's take a closer look at these different file formats:

• PDF: No archive at all, no place for ComicInfo.xml or any custom meta data.
• CBR: Rar format can not be written (proprietary)
• CBZ: Can be written, but changing the ComicInfo.xml would require to unpack the cbz, change the single file and pack up the whole thing again. This is very costly. That's the reason why ComicInfo.xml is not updated.
• Future Formats: If they support fast replacement of the data file without unpacking the whole thing, comicrack will do it.
  

One of the implications for the whole process is also, that even if you only use ComicRacks file browser, you should still add all the files to the library. Because the library is the fastest way to get the data.

If there's popular demand, i may add a function like "Commit meta data to eComic" for file formats which support it (CBZ).

I hope everything is clear now.

This whole "use an archive format" for eComics may have been valid for the past, but it is very unsatisfactory for applications like ComicRack. If mp3 files would have been done the same way, changing id3 data would require the editor to expand the whole thing to a wave file, change the data, and recompress it again to mp3...

Using secondary streams on NTFS was the only plausible solution to store the info also to the eComic files and not only to the Library.

So how would IMHO a GOOD comic book file format look like (just a quick idea):

[signature]
[xml info offset]
[count of images]

this block repeats n times
[size of image stream]
[image stream]

[xml info]

This way you could do a very easy and fast update of the info, without doing much with the (possible huge amount) of image data. As pages are already compressed, compressing them again is unnecessary (always use store for zip files :)). But the problem is, this would be a proprietary format and thats where the only strength of archive based formats shines: You can open and extract the content with hundreds of free and open tools on every OS out there (That's also one of the reason why PDF is not a good choice).

Of course, a tool to parse the above file format would be 50 lines of code...

ComicRack v 0.9.52 released

52 seems to be everywhere now :)

Finally I came around to adjust the Favorites Folder Browser already present in the original RComix versions to its current importance.
The first versions of ComicRack (RComix) where file browsing only, so that's the reason for the prominent Favorites Folder Browser. ComicRack has come a long way and there is not really a good reason anymore to have a folder shortcut manager of the same size as the whole Library Browser.
So now you find the favorites where they belong to, as a small part of the Folders Browser.

And for all you Manga guys out there, you can now batch set the "Manga Style" setting for eComics.

Build 0.9.52:

• NEW: Added "Manga Style" setting to Multiple Comics Dialog
  

• CHANGE: Speedup of cache initialization and hit/update logic
• CHANGE: Redesign of Multiple Comics Dialog
• CHANGE: Library consolidation is only done every 50th startup
• CHANGE: Moved Favorites functionality into the Folder browser
• CHANGE: Separate background queues for slow thumbnails (have to be created) and fast thumbnails (already in disk cache). This means, that new thumbnail creation does no longer block loading of already cached thumbnails.

hf

Slower inital cache startup

As I rewrote the whole diskcache in 0.9.51 to get rid of the ever growing cache bug, startup times may now be slower depending on your cache size and number of cached items.

Also if you have accumulated a huge cache because of the above bug, this will be cleaned on the first run after the install.

So give it some time :)
As long as you hear your disk spinning, ComicRack is hard at work :)

Following startups should be faster.

Maybe I come up with a different solution in one of the next builds.

ComicRack v 0.9.51 released

Again, more or less, a consolidation release.

This should fix the "Track moved files" feature.
If you move files to a new location, just make shure that the new location is covered in the Library Paths. Then hit "Scan Library Folders". ComicRack will correctly identify the moved files and just replace the path of the items already in your Library. As the old hash algorithm was broken, ComicRack will rehash all the files the first time you hit "Scan Library Folders" after the install. This can take some time depending on your Library size.

Build 0.9.51:

• NEW: Key assignable exit command for the reader (default is Q)
• NEW: "Mark as deleted" command in the pages browser
  

• CHANGE: Save Workspace now supports selecting an existing Workspace to update
• CHANGE: Pressing [x] in Quicksearch sets the input focus to the Quicksearch textbox
• CHANGE: "Include Subfolder" settings are stored
• CHANGE: Current selected Browser is stored (Library, Folders, Favs, Pages)
• CHANGE: Separate on/off switches for current page and visible page part overlays
• CHANGE: Next open restores all open tabs (and not only last file)
• CHANGE: Cache is always trimmed and not only on shutdown
• CHANGE: All lists (and not only the library) get refreshed when the library changes
• CHANGE: Writing meta info to comic files does no longer change the modified time
• CHANGE: Scanning also hashes all files not previously hashed
  

• BUG: Fixed failed restore of docking state
• BUG: No favorites item was initially selected (empty view)
• BUG: Newly added items where initially added with an "Added" value of "Never" to the list
• BUG: When directly starting a second instance, the restored old one tried to open a null file
• BUG: "Track moved files" for scanning was broken
• BUG: Hash algorithm for files was broken (switched over to SHA1 now)
• BUG: Crashing bug when dropping a library folder in itself
• BUG: Drawing bug when a drag over item also was selected
• BUG: Correct handling of deleting/removing eComics from the library when they are still in use
• BUG: Paging Arrows where shown even when no eComic was open
• BUG: Ghostscript resolution was not clamped on the upside

hf

ComicRack v 0.9.50 released

52 weeks, 50 releases... that's what i call agile development :)

This is just a follow up, as i forgot to update some keyboard shortcuts.

Build 0.9.50:

• BUG: Forgot some keyboard shortcuts in context menus and bars
  

hf

ComicRack v 0.9.49 released

Finally some workspace management.
So no more fiddling to get ComicRack right for your current operation mode (library browsing, two page reading etc.). But this feature broke the current storing of the GUI settings, so ComicRack will start with the defaults after this install.

I also changed all the global keyboard shortcuts to make them easier, more consistent and to reduce the 3-key monsters.

For the details, as always the LIST OF CHANGES :)

Build 0.9.49:

• NEW: Workspace management
• NEW: Export current page image to various formats
• NEW: Option to autohide Magnifier when mouse is near border (default is on)
  

• CHANGE: Sort folders in folder view
• CHANGE: ZIP provider buffer size to 128KB
• CHANGE: Lock toolbar now also locks the open files tab
• CHANGE: Added keyboard shortcuts for the open files
• CHANGE: Changing the Browser tab will correctly set the focus to the list
• CHANGE: reassignment of all the general key shortcuts to avoid 3-key combinations
• CHANGE: Open Previous/Next eComic from list now compensates for reverse sorting order

• BUG: Blurred drawing of still loading pages broken (introduced in 0.9.48)
• BUG: Wrong remove dialog in the main library list (introduced in 0.9.48)
• BUG: When closing Browser, focus was not moved to the Reader
• BUG: The "Show..." commands in "Browse" could brake the GUI (nobody using them?)
• BUG: Viewer kept focus even when browser docking was "Fill"

hf

Happy Birthday ComicRack

One Year ago I posted the first "official" version of ComicRack.

For this occasion i dived again into the depths of my version control system and pulled out this very 0.9.0 release :). If you like to see what a difference one year can make, download it and unzip it into a folder of your liking. It will not interfere with your current ComicRack release.

Actually the whole ComicRack story started a lot earlier, as you can read here (the download link in this post is dead by now, but you can download the first ComicRack version here).

When you compare the 0.9.0 version with the current one, there are some striking differences: the very clumsy user interface (the browser, the dialogs) or the slow page turning speed as there was yet no precaching implemented.

And don't forget that lots of the changes are the direct result of you, the user of this program. They often started out as ideas posted to the User Forum. So if you have some great ideas for the next year in the life of ComicRack head over and post them.

Again, Happy Birthday ComicRack.

ComicRack v 0.9.48 released

I actually had the feeling that ComicRack did not have major stability problems. Wow, was I wrong... After some new reports on the Forum (hint: if you have problems, post them there), I really tried to crash ComicRack. Let's say I did not have to try very hard :/

ComicRack is a rather sophisticated application with about 25 threads running concurrently. These background threads do stuff like loading and creating thumbnails, precaching pages, updating information to the files, saving the changed library back to disk, converting a batch of comics to a new format and so on. One of the goals was to write ComicRack in a non blocking way, meaning in only very rare cases there should be progress bars.

One of the things I learned is that unrar.dll from rarlabs (which ComicRack uses to open cbr files) is not very stable in multithreading conditions. And if it breaks, all sort of 2nd tier bugs surfaced.

So two days of stress tests and really pushing the limit, testing in single and multi processor conditions, i would say that the stability problems should be solved.

Build 0.9.48:

• CHANGE: Added "ScriptPath" global variable for Python scripts
• CHANGE: Reduced Page arrow sizes to 60%
• CHANGE: Whenever a new eComic opened, the reader gets the focus (enabling up, down etc.)
• CHANGE: Showing the Browser does not set the input focus to it anymore
• CHANGE: Moved loading pages/thumbnails indicator into the statusbar
  

• BUG: Fixed closing open Stack when exiting ComicRack
• BUG: Switched RAR to single threading - seems to fix memory curruption problem
• BUG: Fixed invalid index in reader if image provider failed (0 pages situation)
• BUG: Fixed index out of range in tab management
• BUG: Fixed "Image in use" of the tab bar
• BUG: Removed animating "Gear wheel" to remove other 2nd "Image in use" bug
• BUG: Fixed skewed thumbnails in the Remove Question Dialog
• BUG: Comics where not removed from the displayed Smart List when deleted

hf

ComicRack v 0.9.47 released

Bugfix release coming.

Build 0.9.47:

• BUG: Fixed possible missing Cover Background for the Pages Browser (introduced in 0.9.46)
• BUG: Cover creation in pages view could lead to the "crumbled paper" page
• BUG: Global color adjustments where only set to the open Tab
• BUG: Possible deadlock when changing book in viewer
• BUG: Possible trash of cache item even when still in use (remote reading bug)
• BUG: Main Window positions where only stored on resize and not on move
• BUG: Possible deadlock after "Reset Pages" in Comic Book Dialog
• BUG: Possible wrong page thumbnail size after "Reset Pages" in Comic Book Dialog
• BUG: Small changes and fixes in Pages Context Menu

hf

ComicRack v 0.9.46 released

Lots of bug fixes and enhancements coming your way :)

One of the big new features is the ability to keep more then one eComic open. Like Firefox you now can open them to different tabs.

I guess it's time to update the screenshots with all these recent changes.

And if you're reading your eComics on a portable device with a small screen, head over to the forum and check out the new "Export to PocketPC" plugin.


Build 0.9.46:

• NEW: Tab support for Reader (multiple eComics open at the same time)
• NEW: Support for One Shots. Just enter "-" as the Number
• NEW: Library Browser remembers last selected list or folder
  

• CHANGE: Relayout of the main interface
• CHANGE: Removed the overlap option for the browser
• CHANGE: Some performance improvements for the page creation with ghostscript
• CHANGE: Display of "Unknown Size" instead of "Size: 0 Bytes" if page size is unknown
• CHANGE: Added Top/Bottom Buttons and auto repeat functionality to Up/Down Buttons to Page Editor
• CHANGE: New default color theme
• CHANGE: "Use System Colors" in Preferences to switch back to system themes (blues, green, sliver)
• CHANGE: Some general redesign of the Preferences Dialog
• CHANGE: Again redesign of Comic Book Dialog
• CHANGE: "Opaque" to "Opacity" in Magnifier Setup
• CHANGE: Removed "Copy" from the main Edit Menu as this is no universal command
• CHANGE: Better page/image mapping validation on load
• CHANGE: Secondary windows also minimize the main window
• CHANGE: Reader now initially defaults to fit width
• CHANGE: Removed the Comic Info Overlay in the Reader
• CHANGE: Added Reset Button to color controls in Preferences (removed in 0.9.26)

• BUG: Fixed restoring current instance from system tray when ComicRack is started again
• BUG: Navigation Bar was partially hidden by new splitters in some cases
• BUG: Crash when switching from XP/Vista mode to Classic while running
• BUG: Fixed ugly icons in keyboard editor on XP
• BUG: Renamed "View" to "Views" in Page Viewer
• BUG: Displayed length of entries in the Search Browser was too short
• BUG: Main/Context Rating Menu for the current comic did not work
• BUG: Toolbar/Menu commands Rating/Show info only worked with the eComic in the Reader
• BUG: Forgot to remove "Increase Width" from the Display menu (introduced in 0.9.43)
• BUG: Comic Book Dialog Enter/Esc did not work for OK/Cancel
• BUG: Wrong shortcut "Ctrl-I" on page context menu in Page Browser
• BUG: Page Type Menu in Page Browser was broken when multiple pages where selected
• BUG: Main Menu command "Refresh" did not work in Page Browser
• BUG: 100% processor usage bug in background processing (in some special cases)
• BUG: Could not get pages from remote server in seldom cases (multithreading issue)
• BUG: Trackbar could crash with zero devision bug
• BUG: Finally fixed the changing size bug when switching from "Loading Thumbnail..." to real thumbnail
• BUG: Fixed overlapping text in tile renderer
• BUG: Wrong handling of reader keybordshortcuts if additional modifier was pressed (shift, ctrl etc.)
• BUG: Fixed wrong focus problem after application start
• BUG: Fixed internet links in the help menu to also work with internet explorer
• BUG: Fixed long stalls when connection to remote server is broken

hf

ComicRack v 0.9.45 released

This is a rather big release.

It updates the User Interface that almost stayed the same for the last 6 months with new dynamic splitters, which make IMHO hiding and showing of panels and sidebars much easier.

Also for you PDF aficionados, ComicRack now supports using Ghostscript as an alternative PDF engine. So if you are running into problems with the built in (and quite hacked together) PDF parser, head over to the Ghostscript website and download and install the latest version of GPL Ghostscript.

After this you can even read eBooks with your favorite Comic Reader :)

So you may question why Ghostscript is not in the ComicRack setup package? Ghostscript is a GPL program, ComicRack is (still) closed source. So I'm not allowed to link directly to any components of Ghostscript or put it into the setup package.


Build 0.9.45:

• NEW: Option to put ComicRack into the System Tray when closing with the [X] button
• NEW: Built optional Ghostscript support into the PDF parser. This should enable ComicRack to read all PDF files out there, if Ghostscript is installed on the system (this means also eBook reading :))
  

• CHANGE: Small redesign of Magnifier setup
• CHANGE: General change of the splitter architecture. Splitters are now always visible. One click expands/collapses the panel.
• CHANGE: Added tray context menu and changed open to a double click
  

• BUG: Fixed non square magnifier on rotated pages
• BUG: Comic Info Overlays displayed page information instead of comic information (introduces in 0.9.44)
• BUG: Fixed taskbar status when starting minimized and "Minimize to System Tray" is turned on

hf

ComicRack v 0.9.44 released

This build includes some minor improvements and hopefully lets ComicRack finally run on x64 systems.

Build 0.9.44:

• CHANGE: Merged Color Adjustment/Pages Tab in the Comic Dialog
• CHANGE: Comic Dialog now reads thumbnails in the background (no more hangs when using over slow network)
• CHANGE: Remove dialogs only use cached thumbnails (no more hangs when using over slow network)

• BUG: Fixed wrong ghosting color for textboxes
• BUG: Fixed missing background thumbnail processing if one thumbnail was used multipe times
• BUG: Fixed wrong icon in secondary browser windows (was still the old RC icon)
• BUG: ComicRack should now properly run on x64 systems

hf

ComicRack v 0.9.43 released

This one brings a language property for eComics, better high quality thumbnails and a detailed and variable control for the magnifier.

Build 0.9.43:

• NEW: Language Property for eComics
• NEW: Detailed Magnifier Control (width, height, opaque, zoom)
  

• CHANGE: Much better multi resolution handling for thumbnails
• CHANGE: Added "Unspecified" entries to the Search Browser
• CHANGE: Added "Imprint" to Search Browser
  
• CHANGE: Dropdowns in Comic Dialogs are now sized appropriately
  

• BUG: Fixed Double Click on Browser Arrows in the Reader
• BUG: Changed tooltip texts for browser buttons
• BUG: Fixed stack close button for long stack names
• BUG: Fixed eaten click in Magnifier
• BUG: Browser arrows in preview
• BUG: When preview was in zoom mode next/previous button actually did part navigation

as always
hf

ComicRack v 0.9.42 released

This one brings a new readme.txt (thanks to clcii), dynamic left/right browsing arrows in the Reader and the proper open/save/browser dialogs on Vista.

Build 0.9.42:

• NEW: Proper File Open/Save Dialogs in Vista
• NEW: Proper Folder Browser Dialogs in Vista
• NEW: Vista Dialogs have links to Library/Favorites
• NEW: Dynamic paging arrows in the reader (move mouse to middle of left/right border)
  

• CHANGE: Renamed the format names in file save/close
• CHANGE: Magnifier is now fully opaque
• CHANGE: Adapted navigation icons to new navigation overlay
• CHANGE: Removed Animation option from Preferences
  

• BUG: Fixed "jumping cursor" in quick search
• BUG: Fixed wrong key name "Next" for "PageDown" in Keyboard preferences

hf

ComicRack v 0.9.41 released

Day of the three releases. Hope this does not mean the end of the world is near :)

Build 0.9.41:

• NEW: Option to enable/disable the navigation bar
  

• BUG: Final Fix for the auto hiding of the navigation bar

ComicRack v 0.9.40 released

Just for the heck of it, why not switch to hourly releases :)

A quick check of the latest build showed some bugs (yes i check this stuff after i put it on the web :P), so i decided to make the fastest release in ComicRack history.

Build 0.9.40:

• BUG: Fixed tab sequence in page editor
• BUG: Fixed missing click positioning on the navigation bar
• BUG: Fixed keyboard focus problem when navbar auto hides

ComicRack v 0.9.39 released

This release brings full resolution thumbnails (and when i mean full res i mean full res :)),
a page editor for the Comic Book dialog (allows to do some basic sorting, typing of pages)
and a dynamic navigation bar for the reader to browse pages with the mouse and without switching to the browser.

Build 0.9.39:

• NEW: Full resolution Thumbnails (better looking and better performance)
• NEW: Very basic page editor in Comic Book dialog with option to reset page sequence
• NEW: Navigation Bar for all pages at bottom of reader (shows when mouse it moved to bottom)
  

• CHANGE: Renamed "Sync Browser" to "Show in Browser"
• CHANGE: "Show in Browser" shows the browser if currently hidden
• CHANGE: Finally fixed the ugly resize flickering of the library/files treeview
  

• BUG: Fixed mouse selection performance problem introduced with stacking (0.9.38)
• BUG: Fixed changing of viewmode when selecting Read/Unread etc in view menu (introduced in 0.9.28)
• BUG: Fixed shadow border for browsers

as always
have fun

ComicRack v 0.9.38 released

Big changes for this release are stacking of books into groups and ordering smartlists/folders in the library tree.

Grab it while it's hot and still has all the bugs in it :)


Build 0.9.38:

• NEW: Stacking of eComic Thumbnails in the list
• NEW: Sync Browser Command
• NEW: Positional drag&drop in smartlist tree (allows to change order)
  

• CHANGE: Multiple Comics Editor has count in the caption
• CHANGE: Changed the order of the Group/Arrange buttons in the listbar
  

• BUG: Page Type Menu was available in reader/page list even if eComic was remote
• BUG: Fixed wrong font in library tabs

ComicRack v 0.9.37 released

Yes i know...
Too much, too fast...

This should solve most of the issues with the 0.9.36 Build.

Build 0.9.37:

• NEW: Page Type selector in the Reader Context Menu
  

• CHANGE: Title now sorts by Title/Volume/Number
  

• BUG: Side Pane view state was not stored
• BUG: Severe bug in how reordered/deleted pages where NOT handles during convert
• BUG: Broke "Open last page" in 0.9.36
• BUG: Various bugs in exporters
• BUG: Broke direct navigation (double click) in Pages list if some pages where hidden in 0.9.36

ComicRack v 0.9.36 released

This version finally brings the batch conversion of eComics to PDF/CBZ format.

Another big new feature is reordering pages and that the reader uses the current selected Page Filter for navigation. This means you can make specific types of pages "invisible" during reading.

As always here's the complete list of changes::

• NEW: Added statusbar animation for background file updates
• NEW: Added check if some background tasks are still running when closing ComicRack
• NEW: Added position marker when manually reordering a list with drag&drop (sort by position, grouping turned off)
• NEW: Reordering of pages
• NEW: Page Filter is now also used in the Reader (allowes to hide curtain types of pages)
• NEW: Batch conversion of eComics to CBZ/PDF format
  

• CHANGE: Added a deleted flag to pages
• CHANGE: New statusbar animation while scanning eComics
• CHANGE: Nicer cover images for the delete dialog
• CHANGE: smaller line heights in detail mode
• CHANGE: Column separators in detail mode
• CHANGE: PDF/CBZ export does not export pages flagged as deleted and dose honor any page reordering
• CHANGE: New overlay image for missing/deleted pages
  

• BUG: Volume Group Headers where off by 1
• BUG: Fixed column autosize for Rating and State
• BUG: When grouped, last items in list where out of scrolling range (introduced in 0.9.34)
• BUG: Adding eComics to the Library did not read the Page count (introduced in 0.9.34)
• BUG: Ctrl+Wheel did not work in Page List
• BUG: Fixed wrong vertical scrollbar in lists
• BUG: Remove files did not work as expected in the files list
• BUG: Fixed locking of eComic files in some special cases

hf

Norton Antivirus False Positive

Just for the sake of it I ran ComicRackSetup.exe 0.9.35 through the fine services of VirusTotal. And here's the not unexpected result.

Norton should really get it's act together. This will be really the last time I invest time into this matter. I don't get any money from this, so if you don't want to download it, don't do it. Or get a reasonable virus scanner.

Complete scanning result of "ComicRackSetup.exe", received in VirusTotal at 03.27.2007, 11:52:48 (CET).

Antivirus	Version	Update	Result
AhnLab-V3	2007.3.27.0	03.27.2007	no virus found
AntiVir	7.3.1.44	03.27.2007	no virus found
Authentium	4.93.8	03.26.2007	no virus found
Avast	4.7.936.0	03.25.2007	no virus found
AVG	7.5.0.447	03.26.2007	no virus found
BitDefender	7.2	03.27.2007	no virus found
CAT-QuickHeal	9.00	03.26.2007	no virus found
ClamAV	devel-20070312	03.27.2007	no virus found
DrWeb	4.33	03.27.2007	no virus found
eSafe	7.0.14.0	03.26.2007	no virus found
eTrust-Vet	30.6.3515	03.27.2007	no virus found
Ewido	4.0	03.25.2007	no virus found
FileAdvisor	1	03.27.2007	no virus found
Fortinet	2.85.0.0	03.27.2007	no virus found
F-Prot	4.3.1.45	03.26.2007	no virus found
F-Secure	6.70.13030.0	03.27.2007	no virus found
Ikarus	T3.1.1.3	03.27.2007	no virus found
Kaspersky	4.0.2.24	03.27.2007	no virus found
McAfee	4992	03.26.2007	no virus found
Microsoft	1.2306	03.27.2007	no virus found
NOD32v2	2146	03.27.2007	no virus found
Norman	5.80.02	03.23.2007	no virus found
Panda	9.0.0.4	03.27.2007	no virus found
Prevx1	V2	03.27.2007	no virus found
Sophos	4.15.0	03.27.2007	no virus found
Sunbelt	2.2.907.0	03.24.2007	no virus found
Symantec	10	03.27.2007	no virus found
TheHacker	6.1.6.080	03.23.2007	no virus found
UNA	1.83	03.16.2007	no virus found
VBA32	3.11.2	03.26.2007	no virus found
VirusBuster	4.3.7:9	03.26.2007	no virus found
Webwasher-Gateway	6.0.1	03.27.2007	no virus found
Aditional Information
File size: 1671473 bytes
MD5: 48ab67f7c5f3ed01252fe3e05b01032e
SHA1: 5d7797c431f16535832f55f8a9064c86dd2959d2
packers: BINARYRES

ComicRack v 0.9.35 released

As always with a lot of changes, there's a big chance for some totally unrelated bugs. Like making a workaround for the gearwheel performance issue and with that breaking the small preview...

Here's the fix and some other stuff.

Build 0.9.35:

• NEW: Ctrl+Mouse Wheel sizes items in list
  

• CHANGE: Moved Penciller & Imprint to second page of Comic Dialog
  

• BUG: Drawing of rating stars in detail mode fixed
• BUG: Stupid crashing bug in small preview because of "gearwheel" fix

ComicRack v 0.9.34 released

• NEW: Rating Context menus now with stars (pretty)
• NEW: Text messages of progress during startup
• NEW: Genre Combo Box with "real" separators
• NEW: "Hot" effect for column headers
• NEW: Display of eComic state ("Missing File" for now) in own column and overlay
• NEW: Blur effect for non ready pages in the reader
  

• CHANGE: Rewrote the file meta info storage
• CHANGE: Removed rounded edges on toolbars
• CHANGE: Rewrote shutdown process to support all circumstances (close, logoff, shutdown). ComicRack no longer blocks shutdown.
• CHANGE: Deferred compilation of scripts to speed up startup
• CHANGE: Better image and better scaling used for rating stars when drawing thumbnails
• CHANGE: Recent file menu shows also disk cached covers (and not only in memory)
• CHANGE: Again slight redesign of quicksearch box
• CHANGE: Some eComic commands are now only visible if they are useful (e.g. "mark as read" for an eComic not in the library)
• CHANGE: Gradient shadows for the covers/pages (easier on the eyes)
• CHANGE: Nicer error page (not the red monster anymore :))
• CHANGE: Found a workaround for the "gearwheel" performance problem -> default is now animate
  

• BUG: Drawing of columns was not correct when horizontally scrolled
• BUG: Metadata was in some cases still written to eComic files even if turned off in advanced settings
• BUG: File explorer did not remember last folder
• BUG: Fixed wrong "Nothing Selected" text in Small Preview
• BUG: Small Preview still displayed unselected books
• BUG: Fixed wrong scaling in "Adjust Color" page preview
• BUG: Fixed part overlay was not updated if visible and new part count was 1
• BUG: Fixed unneeded update of page after first OK in Prefrences dialog

hf

Shutdown, Log Off... again

So I looked again into this matter today.

I rewrote the whole shutdown stuff, so the next release will include the final fix of the problem and also will not block shutdown/log off any longer while running.

ComicRack v 0.9.33 released

Pandoras Box, that's what I opened when changing the shutdown procedure of ComicRack to correctly handle the event of a logoff/shutdown of the system.

All kinds GUI settings (windows positions, list setups etc) where no longer saved correctly.

The old way to do it was to close the main window of ComicRack, this would update the settings and THEN the settings where saved to disk. Funny thing with Windows is, that from the moment the main window of an application is closed in the case of a shutdown event, no codes is executed anymore. The process simply ceases to exist. It's always nice to uncover some of the absurdities of 20+ years of windows backwards compatibility.

So from now on ComicRack will simply prohibit the system from shutdown. Close ComicRack, than make a shutdown. Not the most elegant solution, but the simplest one.

Build 0.9.33:

• CHANGE: ComicRack now prohibits the system to shutdown while running. This solves a lot of the problems of lost configuration settings (view settings, list settings etc.)

ComicRack v 0.9.32 released

As always, lots of coding usually mean some errors.
Hope the worst is fixed now.

Build 0.9.32:

• CHANGE: List optimizations
  

• BUG: Even when Text was turned off for thumbnails, a small selection was drawn
• BUG: Wrong tooltip for the Fill button of the browser
• BUG: Column Autosize in Pages List was broken
• BUG: Layout changes where not saved anymore (introduces in 0.9.29)

ComicRack v 0.9.31 released

This will be it for this week. Did all the things I planned to do and more :)

The new fade in of thumbnails gives the application a much calmer feeling.
Switching back to 256 pixels for thumbnails has IMHO a neglectable influence on display quality, but is a huge performance improvement.

As always, finally the (very) short list of changes.

Build 0.9.31:

• NEW: Fade in of thumbnails
  

• CHANGE: With all the new visual stuff for thumbnails (fade in, page curl, peek into inside of comics) I came to the conclusion that the performance hit of 512 pixel thumbnails is just too big.
  Switched back to 256 pixels.

ComicRack v 0.9.30 released

Quick, small and fast. That's how we do builds here :)

Build 0.9.30:

• NEW: Background saving of changed data
  

• BUG: Fixed crossthread bug in combination with the optional python script console
• BUG: Fixed gray lines in quicksearch textbox

ComicRack v 0.9.29 released

Some call it coding rampage :)
This release adds some new features and one major bugfix.

Build 0.9.29:

• NEW: Full Browser mode (totally hidden reader)
• NEW: Optional automatic open of previous/next comic when reaching beginning/end while reading
• NEW: Grouping by Year
• NEW: Mouse Buttons Left, 4 and 5 are now assignable in the reader
  

• CHANGE: View button text is static now
• CHANGE: Nicer looking quicksearch
• CHANGE: Show Browser Menu/Popup command
  

• BUG: Some parts of the Comic Book Dialog where enabled even when remote
• BUG: Wrong icon for Show Previous Comic in Keyboard shortcut editor
• BUG: Finally fixed the data loss when ComicRack was forced to close with a shutdown or logoff

ComicRack v 0.9.28 released

This one refines scripting, adds some new properties (tag, imprint), allows to define own shortcuts for the Reader and has some general user interface refinements.

With this version it should now really be possible to interactively write scripts in python for Comicrack. Some of the default commands (Autonumber wizard, commit proposed) are now written in python and can be used as reference. When i finally get around to bring the comicrack website up, i also add some reference api stuff there. For now, ask in the forum if you want to create something :)

Build 0.9.28:

• NEW: Tags property for eComics
• NEW: Imprint property for eComics
• NEW: Added Script output window (display with -showscriptconsole or -scc command line switch)
• NEW: Disabling of script compilations (-disablescriptoptimization or -dso command line switch). This allows to dynamically edit scripts while Comicrack is running
• NEW: Script settings in preferences (enable/disable, library paths)
• NEW: User definable keyboard shortcuts for the reader
• NEW: Auto Fit all columns command
  

• CHANGE: New layout of commands in Main Menu
• CHANGE: New layout for Comic Properties Dialog
• CHANGE: Converted Autonumber Wizard & Commit Proposed to scripts
• CHANGE: Textfields will use the proposed (gray) values as initial text to edit
• CHANGE: Better mouse selection in the browsers (no "empty space" selection anymore)
• CHANGE: Made cursor & wheel scrolling more usable (speed and accuracy)
• CHANGE: Some keyboard shortcuts
• CHANGE: Moved Unread/read/reading filter into the view menu of the browser
• CHANGE: Combined all the quicksearch stuff into one control
• CHANGE: Removed the list options button from the browser toolbar
  

• BUG: Fixed wrong hiding of cursor (introduced in 0.9.27)
• BUG: If last opened comicbook was deleted, it was re-added to the library during next start

hf

ComicRack v0.9.27 released

Pulled a fast one this time.

An ugly bug hit ComicRack. Inker data was not stored to exported XML files or embedded into existing eComics. This meant, that when the eComic was removed from the library and readded the Inker info was lost. Sorry to all people who lost data because of this.

Also full screen mode should now work properly on Vista machines.

This version introduces basic Python Scripting support. It includes one small sample script that exports all comics into a CSV file with a few columns. The script support will be extended with the next version. I will also add some documentation in the future.

List of all the changes for Build 0.9.27:

• NEW: Drag & Drop of books directly into explorer (desktop etc.) to copy files
• NEW: Basic Python Scripting engine
  

• BUG: Fixed fullscreen on vista (cursor and slow switching)
• BUG: Inkers where only stored in the database and not in xml files or comic files.

hf

ComicRack v0.9.26 released

Finally got time to come back to ComicRack (at least for a few hours :/).
Here's the latest and greatest release with some new features and bug fixes.

Build 0.9.26:

• NEW: Separated high quality setting for thumbnail/page display, because High quality can have a severe performance impact on drawing the thumbnail list (but it is still nice to display pages in the reader in high quality)
• NEW: "Browse Comic" command to quickly switch the comic browser to values of the selected comics
  

• CHANGE: Removed Reset button for color adjustments in Preferenced Dialog. You now can reset the values with a doubleclick on the slider.
• CHANGE: Last Opened file is now a user setting. So remote readers do not change the this anymore.
• CHANGE: New default definitions for Read/Reading/Not Read smartlists (now working with %)
  

• BUG: Fixed installer to include the proper config file (not App.Config but ComicRack.exe.config)
• BUG: Fixed some multithreading issues
• BUG: Fixed Drag cursor for lists
• BUG: Library was not saved when ComicRack was forced to exit during computer shutdown / logoff
• BUG: Wrong size of "Loading thumbnail..." thumbnail in some cases

hf

ComicRack v0.9.25 released

Here's a small bugfix release after all the x-mas and New Years chaos :)

As always here's a quick rundown on the changes:

• NEW: ComicRack.exe.config file with UseLocalSettings switch. Setting this to true will store all settings in the application\Data folder and make the application portable (USB stick etc.)
  

• CHANGE: Server does not send error image anymore
  

• BUG: Thumbnail page curl did not uncover current page, but last page read
• BUG: Fixed "Mark As Read". Wonder if I get this command ever right (see .24, .11)
• BUG: ComicRack crashed when no eComic Folder in Preferences/Library was defined and a click into the list happened.

The new UseLocalSettings options allows to keep all the program/settings/library/caches in one location and therefore makes ComicRack portable e.g. on an USB stick. Simply copy the full ComicRack installation folder to your stick and add a file ComicRack.exe.config with the following content to the folder

<configuration>
<appsettings>
<add key="UseLocalSettings" value="true"/>
</appsettings>
</configuration>

Now ComicRack will solely run from the stick and does not read/write any data from/to your windows machine. Of course as a prerequisite you will still need .Net 2.0 installed on the machine you plug the stick into.

I will add a zip only download for this configuration later.

I hope this is the last release posted to this blog, as I really try to move all the stuff over to the new website during the coming weekend.

New hosting of setup file

As a first step of the transition to the new server, I've moved the ComicRackSetup.exe file.
This should end all the downloading problems.

New server on the way

I just completed ordering the new web hosting. (linked page is german)

Depending on how fast the setup will be, i try to move stuff there during the next days. This should also end the downloading woes...

I hope this will be a good start into the new year :)

First donations

Yep :)

I have received two donations. Thanks to one of these being very generous I currently stand at 80 €.
I also looked into some hosting options and came to following amount needed:

10 €/Month hosting
10 € domain registration fee

So currently I'm still 50 € short.

What I plan to do is put ComicRack on its own domain (comicrack.info, org whatever). Move the board there. Move the blogs there. Develop a backend database where ComicRack can store and retrieve comics information (something like cddb).

This would put the whole project to a new level i think...

Anyway, thanks to the donators. Every € is appreciated :)