ComicRack Development

Really, really last post :)

2007-10-24T09:26:00.000+02:00

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

2007-10-23T23:29:00.001+02:00

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

2007-10-23T20:55:00.000+02:00

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

New ComicRack Homepage

2007-10-21T02:36:00.000+02:00

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

2007-10-15T21:54:00.000+02:00

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

2007-10-12T00:19:00.001+02:00

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)

ComicRack v 0.9.56 released

2007-10-05T13:13:00.000+02:00

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

Build 0.9.56:

BUG: OEM Conversion for unrar.dll

ComicRack v 0.9.55 released

2007-09-30T23:25:00.000+02:00

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

Dynamic Zoom

2007-09-28T10:37:00.000+02:00

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

2007-09-24T23:52:00.000+02:00

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

ComicRack v 0.9.53 released

2007-08-24T14:29:00.000+02:00

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

Windows 2000 problems

2007-08-19T02:26:00.000+02:00

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

2007-08-18T14:05:00.001+02:00

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

2007-06-19T23:35:00.000+02:00

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

2007-06-10T12:08:00.000+02:00

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.

Slower inital cache startup

2007-06-04T00:07:00.000+02:00

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

2007-06-03T18:13:00.000+02:00

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

ComicRack v 0.9.50 released

2007-05-28T15:10:00.000+02:00

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

ComicRack v 0.9.49 released

2007-05-28T13:36:00.000+02:00

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"

Happy Birthday ComicRack

2007-05-26T15:38:00.000+02:00

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

2007-05-25T14:52:00.000+02:00

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

ComicRack v 0.9.47 released

2007-05-23T23:26:00.000+02:00

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

ComicRack v 0.9.46 released

2007-05-20T13:05:00.000+02:00

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

ComicRack v 0.9.45 released

2007-05-06T18:01:00.000+02:00

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

ComicRack v 0.9.44 released

2007-05-02T22:12:00.000+02:00

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

ComicRack v 0.9.43 released

2007-04-30T18:13:00.000+02:00

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

2007-04-22T19:03:00.000+02:00

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

ComicRack v 0.9.41 released

2007-04-15T18:38:00.000+02:00

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

2007-04-15T15:40:00.000+02:00

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

2007-04-15T14:40:00.000+02:00

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

2007-04-09T14:30:00.000+02:00

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

2007-04-02T01:03:00.000+02:00

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

2007-04-01T16:15:00.000+02:00

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

Norton Antivirus False Positive

2007-03-27T12:56:00.000+02:00

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

2007-03-26T23:53:00.000+02:00

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

2007-03-25T17:47:00.000+02:00

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

Shutdown, Log Off... again

2007-03-20T22:57:00.000+01:00

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

2007-03-20T04:27:00.000+01:00

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

2007-03-20T03:01:00.000+01:00

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

2007-03-18T12:19:00.000+01:00

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

2007-03-17T16:52:00.000+01:00

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

2007-03-16T22:36:00.000+01:00

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

2007-03-13T21:42:00.000+01:00

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

ComicRack v0.9.27 released

2007-02-28T02:08:00.000+01:00

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.

ComicRack v0.9.26 released

2007-02-24T16:47:00.000+01:00

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

ComicRack v0.9.25 released

2007-01-17T21:44:00.000+01:00

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

2007-01-08T23:34:00.000+01:00

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

2007-01-05T14:11:00.000+01:00

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

2007-01-01T13:16:00.000+01:00

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 :)

Happy New Year

2006-12-31T15:52:00.000+01:00

I wish all a Happy New Year 2007.

I want to thank all the people who have helped ComicRack becoming a better program during this year. Your feedback is the main force for further development.
I also like to thank the people who posted, told and spread information about the new kid on the block called ComicRack.

On the PayPal support donation front the project till now has received 0 (zero) €. I hope Amnesty International fared better :/

Anyways, Happy New Year and all the luck to you guys and gals out there :)

Nice Christmas surprise from Google

2006-12-24T16:06:00.000+01:00

So they disabled the google pages where i hosted the ComicRackSetup.exe.

I have put the file now on an alternate location and will send google an email questioning about what the problem is, as i can't find anything in their Terms of Use...

Or are you not allowed to put a donate button on your page?

Maybe someone can enlighten me...

UPDATE: "Because this is a Google Labs product, we're unable to re-enable or investigate your site." Nice...

ComicRack v0.9.24 released

2006-12-24T12:35:00.000+01:00

Merry Christmas to you all :)

Here's a little gift for you to get you over the holidays.

The new version adds support for manga style reading (right->left for double pages).
Also I've upped the maximum size for thumbnails four fold.

As always here's the rundown of the changes:

NEW: Added Manga Style property to comics for flipped two page display (manga reading mode)

CHANGE: Single click list checkboxes
CHANGE: Sorting by year now also sorts by series if year/month same
CHANGE: New maximum Thumbnail image size is 512 (small performance hit, but nice anyways :))
CHANGE: Cover Thumbnails now honor the high quality settings
CHANGE: Moved Hide sidebar into the main menu and changed the keyboard shortcuts

BUG: Mark as read did only work with not read comics
BUG: Removed invalid shortcut Ctrl-I from "Invert selection" command

Supporting ComicRack

2006-12-23T13:54:00.000+01:00

I thought really long and hard about this one... there's now a donate button on this page.

ComicRack is a spare time project.
I'm not doing it to earn money.
I have a well enough paid job to bring me through the day :)

But I'm not going to fund this project with my own money. Call it principles. That's why it's currently only using freebie services.

What i would like to see for ComicRack is to get it's own web page, domain etc.
Also for the future there should be some kind of central database for comic information. So this means also money for database hosting and stuff like that.

So if you're enjoying the program, please support it.
If not, but you still want to do something good with your money, head over to these people.

ComicRack v0.9.23 released

2006-12-09T19:26:00.000+01:00

This is just a small update.
I finally came around to make a new icon design and get rid of the 2 year old one done for RComix. Hope you like it.

These are the new icons for Application, Document and Setup.

Another long requested feature has made it finally into ComicRack: If the program is in 2 page mode, browsing forward actually advances 2 pages :)

List of changes:

NEW: Added cover images to the delete dialog boxes
NEW: Page forward in Two Page display mode advances two pages

CHANGE: Changed the icon for ComicRack (was about time)
CHANGE: page curl effect uncovers the current read page in the comic

BUG: color names did not include needed spaces (wherever colors are to choose)

ComicRack v0.9.22 released

2006-12-07T00:16:00.000+01:00

Now that's what i call agile development :)

This one includes some performance enhancements, the squishing of an ugly deadlock bug, some new features and in general all the other usual mojo :)

As i've moved the thumbnail/image cache to a new location comicrack has to rebuild them. Also you can remove the old cache folder at C:\Documents And Settings\User\Application Data\cYo\ComicsRack\Cache.

Quick rundown of the changes:

NEW: Global filter for image keys never to use as cover thumbnails
NEW: Added Read/Unread/Reading filter to quicksearch dropdown

CHANGE: Restructured the Advanced Preferences Tab to make space for new settings
CHANGE: Moved image caches to local non roaming profile (better for corporate environments)

BUG: Fixed possible deadlock in cache/drawing
BUG: Fixed link to website in start menu
BUG: Fixed installer for Vista
BUG: Fixed performance for thumbnail mode list resizes
BUG: Fixed Alternate Series in Search Browser
BUG: Wrong second (uncovered) page displayed in lists in rare situations
BUG: Open previous comic from list did not work in reader

PullBoxOnline

2006-12-06T11:23:00.000+01:00

Finally at least some people in the industry get it right.
Buy your non DRMed, 100% legal comics online and read them with ComicRack :)

I hope this is only the first sign of future things to come...

Flashback Universe

2006-12-05T02:23:00.000+01:00

As a lot of people do not seem to know where to get eComics, i added a link to FlashBack Universe for your quick fix :)

ComicRack v0.9.21 released

2006-12-05T01:35:00.000+01:00

Now that's called "pulling a quick one"...

Vista played an ugly trick on me (IShellDispatch5 for all you in the know :/)
So here's the fixed version and just for the sake of it, i also added some other fixes for which you would have otherwise waited another week...

Build 0.9.21:

BUG: Fixed sorting on column header clicks
BUG: Fixed hilite/selected state for non cover thumbnail items
BUG: Fixed wrong text color for selected favorites folder items
BUG: Fixed vista/xp shell32 incompatibility

ComicRack v0.9.20 released

2006-12-04T22:37:00.000+01:00

A litter later then usual, here's .20

This brings some cbr/rar fixes, a nice page curl effect in the lists, selectable texts for the thumbnail view and other optimizations and fixes.

As i installed vista from the MSDN subscription recently (lets say i'm underwhelmed by this XP SP3 with a candy user interface) this one also brings ComicRack better looking and better behaving into vista land :)

As always here's the list of changes.

Build 0.9.20:

NEW: Added startup progress indicator to the splash screen
NEW: Count of group items displayed in group headers
NEW: Text for thumbnails is now selectable
NEW: Library tree remembers collapsed/expanded states
NEW: Page Curl effect for thumbnail/tiles

CHANGE: Tile Background less transparent
CHANGE: More fluent initial window display
CHANGE: Better guessing of non loaded thumbnail sizes (less flicker and movement)
CHANGE: List selection code optimizations (less redrawing, faster)
CHANGE: Switched list fonts to default icon fonts of os (looks better on vista)
CHANGE: Smaller/nicer sort arrows in column headers

BUG: Default List "Recently Added" was incorrectly named "Recently AddedTime" on inital install
BUG: Fixed slow preview in Comic Book Dialog introduced with the full page change in 0.9.18
BUG: Fixed some cbr/rar issues on Vista (and maybe XP)
BUG: Hack for correct drawing of browser tabs on vista
BUG: correct IPv6 handling in Vista for server code
BUG: Fixed handling of incorrect windows explorer objects (e.g. Nokia Phone Browser)
BUG: Fixed vertial scrolling during column resize or header dragging
BUG: Fixed incorrect restoring of panel sizes on startup
BUG: Thumbnails in lists did not honour the high quality setting

Firewall Settings

2006-11-23T00:53:00.000+01:00

It's always the small thing...

If you want to run ComicRack in client/server mode AND you have a working firewall that blocks inbound traffic (read as not XP firewall) you may have to open up ports 7612-7613 for inbound TCP/UDP on your firewall. And of course open them only for local/subnet addresses. Just to be save :)

A view of the past

2006-11-21T00:30:00.000+01:00

Ever wondered why the program icon of ComicRack is a "RC" instead of a "CR"?
Well, today i traveled back into the depths of my Version Control System and checked the granddaddy of ComicRack out of the repository.

It was called "RComix" and was developed in the year 2004 out of the need to have a comic reader able to read pdf files (and not wanting to use Acrobat). 2 years later it was the starting code base for the development of ComicRack. The icon is still the same :)

You can download it here.

Simply unpack it into a folder, start "RComix.exe" and marvel at the long way ComicRack has come :) You can still recognize very early versions of features and decisions still at work in ComicRack (fading panels, page part navigation, background thumbnail creation etc.).

Added some Screenshots

2006-11-20T13:39:00.000+01:00

Finally i had the time to add some screenshots of the current ComicRack version. So now there's no excuse anymore if you're not using it :)

ComicRack v0.9.19 released

2006-11-19T23:29:00.000+01:00

This one finally has the long awaited switch to text type for number fields. Now you can enter 0.5 or 12a as series information.

Here's the rest of the changes for Build 0.9.19:

NEW: Command to hide/show the Sidebar in Library/Explorer/Favorites
NEW: Hot tracking effect in browsers

CHANGE: Switched Number & Alternate Number to Text (allowing now 0.5, 12a etc)
CHANGE: Comic Book Dialog remembers last active tab
CHANGE: Added Cancel button to Progress Dialog when getting big file lists in explorer
CHANGE: Keyboard shortcuts for switching list modes
CHANGE: Removed Searchbar and moved the items into a dropdown menu
CHANGE: Some changes in how thumbnails & tiles look (I hope for the better :))

BUG: Proposed Textbox background incorrectly displayed & as _
BUG: Preferences Dialog now correctly accepts Enter/Escape for OK/Cancel
BUG: Month, Alternate Count, Alternate Series and Alternate Number was not editable in the details mode (long click edit)

As always
hf

ComicRack v0.9.18 released

2006-11-12T20:16:00.000+01:00

Again a fairly small release.

Build 0.9.18:

NEW: Scroll mode now automatically switches to next/previous page

CHANGE: Better Page Type Context Menus & Filter Drop Down in Pages Browser
CHANGE: Extended List Options Dialog with some new options
CHANGE: Better handling of quick search with big lists
CHANGE: Comic Book Dialog now always uses the full scale page image in the color settings

ComicRack v.0.9.17 released

2006-11-05T18:58:00.000+01:00

This is just a very small bugfix release.

Build 0.9.17:

BUG: Crashing bug when clicking on a non valid folder in explorer view (e.g. My Computer)
BUG: Killed scrolling in image preview for color adjustment preview in version 0.9.16
BUG: Fixed multi-selection with keyboard-only in comics lists
BUG: 0.9.15 optimizations actually broke writing info back to eComics - that's what i call optimizations...

Pimp your XP

2006-11-03T10:26:00.000+01:00

Microsoft released a really nice theme for XP in their Zune marketing effort. It's a Media Center styled Theme in black.

You can download it here. It matches nicely with ComicRack :)

I'm almost done with Microsoft now...

2006-10-31T23:29:00.000+01:00

Here's a little story.

Yesterday i wanted to download the Tablet PC SDK from the Microsoft Website. If you follow the link you may notice the "Genuine Advantage Validation" stuff on the page. Now my XP is not running any of these WGA homecalling microsoft spyware. I like to have control over my computer and my operating system. I like to decide what i can and what i can't do, whom my machine is talking to in idle time and to whom not.

So till this moment this genuine advantage was to keep unlegitimate users of XP out of updates for new features. You want the new IE7? Prove you have a legitimate copy. You want this nice power toy? Show me your license. There seems to be at least some logic behind this. It gives me at least a way to opt out (that is, the XP i bought has all the features i need and no WGA stuff).

Back to the Tablet PC SDK. An SDK (or Software Development Kit) is solely there to help write and develop applications. It is no program in itself, no utility and no application, it does not give you as a user more features in your Microsoft Product (in this case XP). It is there to enable writing applications for an operating system.

So I want to make ComicRack a good program. I want to support proprietary things on the XP platform. I create a program that helps people come to the conclusion that Windows XP is a cool platform. That it has better programs than the other platforms. That those Linux guys can go home with their little featureless viewer programs. The programs make the system. People don't use Windows because it is good, but because most of the good programs are running there. So I help Microsoft earn money. I HELP Microsoft. And for this "Advantage" i have to fall to their "total control over my machine" scheme.
Nice thinking Microsoft. Only problem is, you kinda keep people losing on the way.

As an alternative, i tried to download the SDK from my Linux machine. But of course there is no way to download a Windows SDK from a non windows platform...
Finally i bit the bullet, downloaded this GenuineAdvantage Tool, "validated" my machine and downloaded the SDK.

Now lets look at the grander things to come...Vista.
Take a closer look at that future. Is this the way you want it to be?

I know i don't. And i know i don't want it to be that way with an upgrade cost for my 5 machines in my home network of roughly 1000 €,when the none monopoly guys can do it with more technical finesse and no homecalling, crippling, "don't upgrade your machines ", "we decide what content you're allowed to view" Orwellian software for this amount. And i'm not even mentioning this or this.

In the last 15 years i was supportive of Microsoft. I liked what they did. I still like SOME things they are doing (.NET comes to mind). But slowly the bad things begin to outweigh the good things.

And as a last note: Don't give me the "i don't buy it anyways, i wait for the russian release" line.
With this attitude you're just enabling Microsoft to go on doing what they are doing: Screwing over all the legitimate users...

ComicRack v.0.9.16 released

2006-10-29T23:26:00.000+01:00

Seems i have too much time on my hands lately :)

.16 brings the long awaited and much anticipated global color adjustment settings. It also introduces an optional "Auto Contrast" setting that greatly enhances washed out scans without you having to move those sliders around :)

And as always i threw some additional bug fixes into the basket.

Build 0.9.16:

NEW: Global Color Adjustment Settings
NEW: Auto Contrast option
NEW: Apply Button in Preferences
NEW: "Next/Previous from List" commands added to Viewer Context Menu

CHANGE: Default key shortcuts for messageboxes with checkboxes (press Alt to see the shortcut)
CHANGE: Small close button for comic preview

BUG: Show View commands always toggled browser visibility (now only if selected view already visible)
BUG: Fixed the pixel bug on the left side of the first entry in the comic list
BUG: Bad hash code for color adjustment values that could lead to wrong images loaded from cache

Fun with your PSP

2006-10-27T18:11:00.000+02:00

Just tried something that worked amazingly good.

1) Connect your PSP
2) Open ComicRack, open an eComic, do File->Save eComic as... and select "Folder with jpeg images" as type
3) Browse in the save dialog to your PSP Photo Folder (in my case G:\PSP\PHOTO) and hit save.
4) Disconnect your PSP, go to photo and select the new comic folder :)

Reading on the PSP works amazingly well. Maybe it would be a good idea to add a 480 width conversion to the save function, so that the comics are already properly scaled. It would also be cool if the PSP could retain the current zoom state when changing pictures.

ComicRack v.0.9.15 released

2006-10-27T17:18:00.000+02:00

A rather quick new release, but i had time to clean some stuff up and optimize.
Main reason is to add the new unrar.dll to the package, as this seems to solve some issues in some rare environments.

Build 0.9.15:

CHANGE: Optimizations when displaying folders with eComics which are not in the Library
CHANGE: Update to unrar.dll 3.70 - seems this fixes some problems
CHANGE: ComicInfo.xml in cbr/cbz files is now only read when the eComic is opened for reading or added to the database
CHANGE: Folder/File list in file browser is now built on first selection and not on application start
CHANGE: Embedded information in eComics only updated when the information really changes
CHANGE: Less foreground updates during scanning

BUG: Image sizes where not displayed correctly for files not in the database
BUG: Library entry could be removed in the Library Browser

As a side note: ComicRack performs best if you add your comics to the library. This allows ComicRack to make heavy use of data and information caching. The whole explorer part of it is just there for additional convenience (if you ever wondered why there's not more explorer stuff like copy files, delete etc. - thats the reason).

And second side note: i come more and more to the conclusion that cbz/cbr is a very insufficient format to store comics in.
So what are the problems ComicRack has to cope with:

Very slow
Getting the count of images or trying to read ComicInfo.xml from inside costs a lot of time. Because each time ComicRack has to open the archive and decompress part of it.
Not Updateable
You can not write information back to the file. With rar it is not possible at all (because of licensing) and with zip it would be just crazy (decompress archive, change/add file and compress again). That's the reason ComicRack has to resort to open up secondary filestreams to store the information in the files. But this again can lead to synchronization problems as there are three possible places for meta information - ComicInfo.xml, NTFS secondary stream, database... - a sack full of cats...

What should be the right way to do it? I don't know, but if i had to design it from scratch, i would go for a xml based file format with embedded CData elements for the images. Info would be at the end so you could update the file without rewriting it.

Maybe i should get in contact with some of the linux guys to come with something up...

ComicRack v.0.9.14 released

2006-10-26T16:54:00.000+02:00

Various bug fixes and some nice new features made it into this one :)

Main feature of course is the new magnifier to quickly and locally zoom into the mouse location.
The Search Browser is now customizable. So no longer sticking to Genre/Writer/Series.
Also this release comes with a default genre list. The list is stored in the file genres.txt and can be adapted to your needs. If someone makes a better default list, head over to the forums and post yours.

Build 0.9.14:

NEW: Search Browser has now selectable columns (Genre, Year, Penciller etc)
NEW: Magnifier Tool
NEW: Default Genre list taken from Genre.txt

CHANGE: Small changes in News Reader Dialog
CHANGE: Faster disk cache initialization on startup
CHANGE: Mousewheel has same behavior as up/down keys
CHANGE: Column headers have now the same alignment as the column

BUG: Fixed missing image size in page display for PDF files
BUG: Fixed shortcut for full screen command
BUG: Selection bug in Search Browser
BUG: Search Browser was empty when initially visible
BUG: Shutdown exception till the first time a folder in Eplorer View got selected. This basically lead to not being able to store some preferences
BUG: Network sharing had problems with multiple nics in the server
BUG: Fixed Font bug in textboxes

Hacking the News Reader

2006-10-26T14:20:00.000+02:00

.13 introduced the news dialog. As this is really a full blown RSS reader under the hoods, you can hack in your own feeds as long as i'm to lazy to add an editor.

Open

C:\Documents And Settings\Your User Name\Application Data\cYo\ComicRack\News.xml

in your favorite editor and add the following line below the <Subscriptions> line

<Subscription Url="http://www.marvel.com/rss/rss.xml?feed=news"/>

Now you've got all the Marvel News you need when starting ComicRack. If you should mess up the file somehow, simply delete it. ComicRack creates a new default one for you.

ComicRack v0.9.13 released

2006-10-22T18:48:00.000+02:00

Sorry for the delay, but i had other stuff to do in the last few weeks. But anyway, here's the new version of ComicRack.

This version now has a built in ComicRack News reader (basically a RSS feed reader for this site - but this can be extended in the future). So don't be alarmed when your firewall cries on startup that ComicRack is connecting to the the internet. The program is just downloading the news feeds. You can turn it off in the reader dialog.

I also added a Cursor Keys Scroll mode to the viewer. This means that you can now toggle the function of the cursor keys between page/part navigation (the default) and classic windows page scrolling. Each has it's pros and cons. Page part navigation allows you to navigate/page through an eComic with only using the cursor keys (or the display side keys on a Tablet PC). But of course the stepping of the part locations can be a problem (no smooth positioning of the part that is displayed). The new scroll mode allows to do just that, but of course you need the Page-Up/Down or space key to change pages. And BTW, it was always possible to drag the page in zoom modes with the mouse (hold mouse and move).
I hope this will silence some of the critics of the viewer part :P

And I added a new option to disable writing meta data back to the eComic files. This way your eComic files will be left untouched. But of course, you will lose all your meta information in the case you remove the book from the library or delete the library.

As always the list of changes:

NEW: Added option to disable writing embedded meta info to eComic files.
NEW: News Reader for ComicRack news
NEW: Hitting space advances to next page
NEW: Alternate keyboard mode where cursor keys scroll instead of display the next/previous part

CHANGE: Meta Info from eComics is only read when adding to library or opening an edit dialog. This should also lead to faster startup times
CHANGE: Embedded Meta Info is now written delayed in the background. This speeds up changing info of large batches of files
CHANGE: Fixed unnecessary list updates when background scan added comics. This greatly speeds up adding of lots of comics
CHANGE: Smoothed the stick scrolling

BUG: Fixed wrong date grouping when ComicRack passed 00:00

ComicRack v0.9.12 released

2006-09-25T23:07:00.000+02:00

So here's the hotfix for the favorites bug. I also added a small control for pen users to make scrolling in big lists easier (look in the lower right corner in lists).

List of changes:

NEW: Added a trackball like control to the lists for easier scrolling with pens

BUG: Fixed crash when adding Favorites Folder containing no files

Bug in Favorites

2006-09-25T11:02:00.000+02:00

So i made a crashing bug into the favorites browser when using it with empty folders.

Stay tuned for .12 build today. I can't stand having a buggy version out there :)

ComicRack v0.9.11 released

2006-09-24T15:02:00.000+02:00

Short summary of changes:

NEW: Added "Change" button to the library folders in preferences
NEW: Added "Read Percentage" to the Smart List fields
NEW: Min/Max state of reader is correctly saved/restored
NEW: Storing list setups for remote libraries
NEW: Added "Include Subfolders" option to File/Favorites browser

CHANGE: New Align Images
CHANGE: Moved docking commands into the browser caption
CHANGE: Speedup in resizing cover thumbnails

BUG: Fixed some sizing bugs when docking and/or resizing browser
BUG: "Mark Page Read" correctly sets the last read page
BUG: Fixed some navigation/part bugs

ComicRack v0.9.10 released

2006-09-17T14:08:00.000+02:00

Here we go:

NEW: Added Month to meta data
NEW: Added "Full Screen" Button to the toolbar
NEW: Browser can now be docked left/right/bottom
NEW: Option to close browser when opening a new eComic

CHANGE: Switched over to unrar.dll 3.60.100.215 - maybe this fixed some cbr issues
CHANGE: Removed non working Library Folder from Preferences Dialog

BUG: Fixed background scan crash with non existing paths
BUG: Fixed writing of meta comic information to files

Because of the writing meta info bug, the last versions of ComicRack did not write any changes to the meta data to the file. If you want to update the files with the latest information, select all your books, do a Get Info... and change a property you are not using anywhere (say Editor). Hit Ok. This will update all the data in the selected files. Do again a Get Info and change the Editor property back. Of course you only have to do this, if you WANT to write your meta info into the eComic files.

In the next days I will start adding a FAQ section to the forum.

hf

Planned release for the weekend

2006-09-13T12:06:00.000+02:00

There will be a new release on the weekend.

At least it should have fixes for the scan network shares issue and also the issue for not importing exising meta information from eComics.

If there's some time, I'll also add the long planned Rename/Move/Convert feature.
I'm also looking currently into python to add scriptability to ComicRack.

And the Forum is still open for your suggestions and praise :)

Digg it!

2006-09-13T12:03:00.000+02:00

As some good soul has put ComicRack on Digg, maybe some folks can head over and press the digg button :)

Flash Demo for ComicRack

2006-09-11T12:02:00.000+02:00

I found a small flash demo for ComicRack displaying some of the features.
Thanks to whoever made it :)
You know, when investing your spare time in creating something for the community it is always nice to see that someone appreciates it.

Back with new v0.9.9

2006-09-05T15:47:00.000+02:00

So here I am again.
Well you could summarize the last two weeks with two words: wet and cold :)
But here's a new build with some fixes for a few bugs I found in those last two weeks.

BUG: Fixed Socket error on computers not connected to a network
BUG: Fixed Enter/Escape for OK/Cancel in Preferences Dialog
BUG: Fixed All/Any selection in Smart List Editor
BUG: ComicRack was not restored from tray if a second instance was started

Gone for 2 weeks

2006-08-20T23:24:00.000+02:00

So time has come for the official family holiday. This time it will lead us to Berlin, Baltic Sea and Hamburg.
Hope there will be at least a few days of sunshine :)

This means the next 14 days will have no updates whatsoever.

ComicRack v0.9.8 released

2006-08-18T03:50:00.000+02:00

This should be the one fixing most of the issues i built into the 0.9.7 release.

NEW: Optional minimizing to system tray

CHANGE: Changed the shared image transfer to a zip based data protocol (some speedup on slow networks)

BUG: Fixed scan on startup option
BUG: Fixed multithreading scanning & update bugs
BUG: Fixed update of small preview when shown
BUG: Fixed shell icons retrieval in Folder View
BUG: Fixed some multithreading and priority issues on single processor machines
BUG: Fixed server not reacting to client broadcasts

Bug slipped in

2006-08-15T17:47:00.000+02:00

I just found a drawing bug that slipped into 0.9.7 that can crash ComicRack.
I also finally had time to examine the startup scanning/update bug.

Both fixes will be in 0.9.8 due out in a few days.

ComicRack v0.9.7 released

2006-08-15T14:00:00.000+02:00

0.9.7 is here :)
A quick rundown of the changes:

NEW: Match All/Any for smart lists
NEW: Added password to sharing
NEW: ComicRack can now open comics even if they have the wrong extension (cbr/cbz comes to mind)
NEW: Drawing horizontal bookmarks in detail mode
NEW: Additional view modes and information for the pages browser
NEW: It is now possible to tag page images based on content (Cover, Letters, Story etc.)

CHANGE: Reduced the scrolling speed of the mouse wheel

BUG: Forgot to add matchers for the alternate properties
BUG: Fixed Program/Document icons for XP
BUG: Fixed some drawing glitches in the user interface

So now you can password protect your comic shares (keeping those "exotic" comics for yourself :))
Also this is the first release that has some support for per page information. For now this is limited to type tags. But I will extend this in the future...
The promised firewall setup stuff got stripped because of time constraints. It would have only worked with the windows "firewall" anyway.

hf

New release will be out on Tuesday

2006-08-13T23:12:00.000+02:00

Some of the features will include password protection for sharing, an Apply All/Any for Smartlists and the ability to tag individual pages (like ads, cover, story etc).

Oh and if you like ComicRack, you can visit the forum and fill it with a little life :)
It would also be nice if some people would spread the word a little. As I really don't have the time and will to spend my time advertising, maybe some of you can.

Firewall and sharing

2006-08-07T11:01:00.000+02:00

If you use Windows Firewall, you may need to add ComicRack to the exception list or the sharing will not work.
I will add this option to the setup in the next version.

ComicRack v0.9.6 released

2006-08-06T12:40:00.000+02:00

This version adds network sharing (see last post) in the local network.
Also it adds properties for Alternate Series or Storyline to the meta information. This can be used to define and mark crossover storylines.

Short list of the main changes of Build 0.9.6:

NEW: Sharing of Comic Library in the local network
NEW: Alternate Series, Alternate Number, Alternate Count meta data for comics

CHANGES: Grouping and sorting now tries to work with more tolerance (ignoring articles, typos, spaces etc)
CHANGES: Finer granularity in date groupings
CHANGES: Some labels in the GUI

BUG: Cursor also hidden in non fullscreen
BUG: Dismissing the page context menu does not open the GUI anymore (fix of bug reintroduced in 0.9.5)
BUG: All open windows from the file browser showed the same content
BUG: Duplicate Title in comic info drawing (Tile Mode, Comics Dialog)

Network sharing

2006-08-02T00:26:00.000+02:00

0.9.6 comes along nicely.

It will include sharing of the Comics Library in the local network. This is something I really planned for a long time. And now, finally, all the parts came together.

If you know ITunes, you know the feature. You can open ITunes on a different computer on your LAN and browse the Library on your main computer. You have the same playlists, songs etc.

The same is now possible with ComicRack. So for example you can open ComicRack on a wifi connected Laptop/Notebook/Tablet and read the comics there without having to copy the files. Reading statistics like opened/open count/last page read or database information like rating/time added and so on are all available.

This whole sharing is zero config like apples bonjour technology. So you don't have to "connect" to a library on a different computer. It will simply be there. ComicRack searches the local LAN for shared Libraries and displays them.

The new release with this nice feature nobody will be using except me and my Tablet PC will be ready at the end of the week :)

No updates this weekend

2006-07-19T23:51:00.000+02:00

As I'm taking a few days off for a quick vacation in Ramsau, Styria , there will be no updates this weekend.

The next release will mainly focus on some bugs which crept into 9.5 and maybe some updates to the meta data that can be stored for comics.

New Theme

2006-07-18T22:15:00.000+02:00

Black is gone!
Hope you like it :)

Hidden Feature

2006-07-18T09:20:00.000+02:00

When you press the middle button on your mouse and move the mouse up down you can dynamically change the zoom factor. This works in the main viewer, but also in the small preview.

ComicRack v0.9.5 released

2006-07-15T15:49:00.000+02:00

Finally.

User Interface rewrite

2006-07-09T23:13:00.000+02:00

I'm currently in a semi rewrite of the user interface.

One of the goals is to further clean up the interface, make everything more in place and also clean up some of the code.

The next release can be expected around the next weekend.

The screenshot shows the new toolbar, the new tab layout and the cleaner separation between left and right pane.

ComicRack v0.9.4 released

2006-06-30T16:06:00.000+02:00

This is a small incremental update adding two new features:
Smooth scrolling and panning of oversized displayed pages with the mouse, and two quick commands to open the next/previous eComic from the current list.

As always here's the short overview:

NEW: Panning of pages with the mouse in zoom modes (hold & drag)
NEW: Publisher entry for smart lists
NEW: Size column and grouping for the lists
NEW: Added command to open next/previous item from current list

CHANGES: Page Up/Down changes to next/previous page regardless of zoom mode
CHANGES: Dismissing the page context menu does not open the GUI anymore

BUG: Part navigation roll over on last page fixed
BUG: Redraw bug of the main splitter

Also I think I should finally make some screenshots so that people see what they're missing out :)

ComicRack v0.9.3 released

2006-06-25T14:56:00.000+02:00

So this is a rather big release, as I basically rewrote the whole image retrieval and caching logic. Wonder how much bugs have crept in :)
So here's the quick rundown on the changes and features:

NEW: New Memory Cache-Manager for thumbnails and images with precaching (improves speed and memory usage)
NEW: Error Page if page image could not be loaded
NEW: New Animation Switch in Preferences
The moving little gearwheels can have a serious performance impact on broken graphics drivers. That's why this defaults to off.
NEW: Color Schemas for overlays

CHANGE: Update to unrar 3.60 dll - hope this fixes some ugly bugs
CHANGE: New format for the Disk-Cache (not compatible with pre 0.9.3)
You should manually delete the old cache folder in 'C:\Document Settings\\Application Data\cYo\ComicRack'
CHANGE: Moved the overlays to new default locations

BUG: Unregister of File-Types did not work
BUG: Color adjustment was always calculated, even if not needed
BUG: Comics not updated correctly in browser
BUG: Comic Information was written to eComics even when no information was changed
BUG: Comic Information was not correctly imported into the database
BUG: Fixed Selection drawing bug

The rewrite happened because of two requirements. First I wanted to fix the 'black page' bug and really optimize the whole caching for the upcoming network sharing. And second, I wanted to be able to do in memory precaching to speed up page flipping somewhat.
As a side note: the caching preferences dialog does currently not really reflect all the new options available. Sometimes I'm just lazy :)

You may also note a redesign and relayout of the preferences dialog. I wanted to get rid of the "programmer" settings.
There's a problem with programmers and their software. They put all kind of settings into their programs and also crazy switches into the dialogs to tweak them. But how many people really need five color settings for overlay panels. Yep, right :)
So I tried to clean the preferences up. Make them more accessible, only put in important settings and also change the access order to better reflect their importance.

Finally a word about the "gearwheel bug":
ComicRack has this nice little moving gearwheel it displays when something is happening in the background (mostly caching and loading of images). All this loading, retrieving, caching, color adjustments etc. is done in the background, so the reader does not have to wait for completion.
Now it can happen that the gearwheel is drawn above the current page and not beside it (if there's not enough space).
This of course leads to a constant redrawing of the page part that is covered with the tiny little square of the gear box. So no problem there, EXCEPT you have a totally screwed up graphics driver that needs the same amount of time to draw the small little square as to draw the whole full screen page image.
And this, because the CPU is constantly drawing at 100% load, starves the background process that loads the page.
Point is: If loading of pages takes verrrrrry long, turn off the animation. Actually now it's turned off by default.

hf with the new release :)

Genres

2006-06-16T23:19:00.000+02:00

If you edit the Genre for a comic, you get a dropdown list of all genres found in the other comics in the database.

It would be nice to have a default list, like the Pop, Rock, Classical etc default genre list entries in mp3 tag editors.

What would be a good initial list of comic genres?

File Format support

2006-06-13T21:55:00.000+02:00

ComicRack supports cbr(rar)/cbz(zip) and pdf files. But there are some pitfalls.

ComicRack expects that the extension really matches the content. So if you have a cbr/rar file but it has a cbz extension, you will not be able to view it and no thumbnail will be shown.

Pdf support is very hacked together. ComicRack only searches all images embedded in the file and displays them as pages. This can lead to funny results with some pdf files :)

ComicRack v0.9.2 released

2006-06-09T12:55:00.000+02:00

Again bugfixes and some new features:

BUG: Preliminary Fix for the "Black pages" bug
BUG: Page Part Overlay not always shown when it should have (resize, zoom mode change)
BUG: Switched back to 1.3 sharpPdf library as the 2.x beta broke the pdf export
BUG: Wrong names for new lists/folders in the database view
BUG: Incomplete serialization of the xml information
BUG: Resize of the Database-Panel if main window is to small

NEW: Added "Move To Last Page Read" Command
NEW: Added true positional drag & drop in lists
NEW: Added Page Up/Down for browsing
NEW: Support for reading ComicInfo.xml in archives
NEW: Two menu entries for ComicRack Blog and User Forum

CHANGE: Default information file in eComics is now ComicInfo.xml (without any path)

Next release will have a reworked image caching that will a) fix the stupid black page bug and b) increase the browsing speed a little.

BTW the reason for this black page bug is that ComicRack loads pages in a background thread, because sometime in the future I want to share comics over the network (like iTunes can do with mp3).
But currently it can happen that i lose sync with this operation, and therefore the black page.

PDF export broken

2006-06-07T18:55:00.000+02:00

Well, always test, never assume.
That should be the mantra of software development.

Sometime in the past I switched from version 1.3.1 of sharpPdf to 2ß. This actually broke the pdf export without getting noticed.
So now I'm back to 1.3, next release in a few days contains the fix.