Media viewer

The Media viewer displays all the media files of the genealogy in one single window.

You can visualize all of them easily with filters and sorting possibilities. You also identify how they are used the genealogy.

The Media viewer can be accessed from the Media manager and from the Cygnus editor.

Description

All media files appear in the list as pictures. For media files like video or sounds, they appear as simplified icons.

On top of the list of pictures are some filters and a sorting choice.

When a media is selected, its image appears on the left-hand-side with its details.

Both the filter panel and the details panel are retractable.

List

Each item in the list is a Media File, which is the combination of a reference to a file included in a media element.
A file is always attached to one media, but a media can include more than one file. For instance, a media with 3 files will appear 3 times, once for each file. 

Pictures appear dynamically as you scroll.

Once the pictures have appeared once, they are quicker to appear the next time you scroll.

Right-clicking on a picture lets you select it in the other Ancestris editors.

Double-clicking on a picture in the list will select it and close the viewer.

Titles that appear underneath the pictures are the media titles used in the genealogy if you have provided them, or else the name of the entity it is attached to, or else "Multimedia" if it has no title and is not used in the genealogy.

A foot note at the bottom of the window specifies how the title was generated and associates it to a color.

Filters

A number of filters can be used to reduce the list of media files to be displayed, for quicker search.

If a filter is on, the filter icon  appears next to the retractable button on the top right corner of the window.

The search filter lets you enter any string of characters that Ancestris will use to match the title, the file name or the hosting entity of the media files.

A button next to the search filter unfolds the other filters or hides them.

Filters include the type of Event or Entity the media file is attached to.

It includes also whether the media file is used or not, whether it is found or not,  local or remote, mono-file or multi-files, entity or property.

Characteristics refer to files specifically, or the the media using it.

File characteristics

• Relative, if the file is located relative to the Gedcom file
• Local, if the file is on your local disks
• Found, if the file exists on your local disks or on the Internet
• Singleton, if the file is referenced only one throughout the genealogy

Media characteristics

• Entity, if the media file is attached to a media entity - rather than a media property, which means the same file can be reused to various other entities without having to reference the physical file more than once.
• Used, if at least one entity is referencing the media file
• Mono-file, if the file is alone in the media property or entity. For information, one media entity can include several files, from Gedcom version 5.5.1

The filters help you quickly clean your genealogy from unwanted media files.

Unwanted media files are generally the ones which are either:

• absolute, because you cannot move your genealogy to another disk or computer without having to reattach the media files
• remote, because they tend to be slower to appear
• unfound, because they are not usable
  
• duplicate, because a file does not need to be referenced more than once. If you change the filename, you would need  to change several media.
• property, because files cannot be reused without repeating the attachment of the file. If the file name changes, you would have to change it il several properties for instance.
• unused, unless they are there waiting to be used
  
• multi-files, unless the same media has got several type of files to take into account.

Sorting choices

The list of media files can be sorted based on their Title, their File name, their folder location, their frequency of usage in the genealogy or last modification date of the media.

Media file details

The details of the media file are displayed under the image.

Image

The title of the image is calculated: it is the first title found starting from the file and looking up the media and then the entity using it. Please note that in the Gedcom standard, a Media entity does not have any title per se.

Under the image are displayed the details for the file reference and the media referencing the file.

File reference

• File value: this is the value of the FILE property referencing the physical file. You can see if it is an absolute path (starting with '/' or 'C:\' for instance), or else is it called a relative path.
• Title: this is the title of the file in the media.
• Relative or Absolute type of path.
• Absolute path, i.e. the full path of the file. This is the full path of the physical file, either local or on the Internet, which is different from the relative path value. 
• To the right hand side of the absolute path are 2 buttons
  • Copy / Paste path
  • Rename file on disk. Ancestris will ask for a new name and automatically update the genealogy. 
• Local indicator: indicates whether the file is local or remote.
• Found indicator: indicates whether the file is found or not.
• Singleton or Duplicate
• List of medias referencing this file. 

Media referencing the file

• Entity / Property: this attachment of the media file indicates whether the media file is  attached to an entity or to a property. In case it is attached to a media entity, a drop down list box displays all the entities using it. This corresponds to the frequency sort criteria mentioned above.
• Used / Unused
• Mono / Multi files
• File position within the media: if several files are attached to the same media, this gives its position. When a media content does not fit onto one single file, it is useful to bundle them to the same Media entity (or property). No problem there.
• Note: this note relates to the media entity or media property and can somethimes be used as the title of the media.

Usage

Usage is pretty straight forward.

You can select multiple filters at a time.

The values and information provided in this window match the information provided in the Media manager window.

It is to be used in association with the media manager when it comes to organising and cleaning your media files.

Customization

All filters, sort criteria and fold/unfold of filters are memorised for the next time you open the Media viewer.

This customization is attached to a Gedcom file. That means that two different genealogy files have different settings.