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John's Background Switcher 3.2 Release Notes
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Version 3.2 of John's Background Switcher contains nearly 100 new features and bug fixes and adds two new photo sources: smugmug and Google picasa web albums. It also brings a new montage mode - snapshot scrapbook - that takes a bunch of photos and throws them onto your desktop as though you'd made a scrapbook (it's rather cool if I do say so myself). There are new post-processing options, better multiple monitor support, auto-start is easier to disable, you can now email backgrounds as attachments and lots more besides. I've also improved the icons, graphics and tidied up the look and feel of the dialogs. Oh yes!
The full release notes follow:
New Features
976: Add mode that pastes photos on the background at random places over time like a scrapbook
FEATURE: There is now a 'Snapshot scrapbook' picture mode that creates an effect of a series of polaroid-style photos thrown onto your desktop. It's rather cool if I do say so myself and well worth a look! :)
966: Restrict the maximum Flickr downloaded photos folder size
FEATURE: There is now an option in Flickr mode to clean up downloaded pictures after a certain period of time. You can choose to clean them up after 1, 3 or 6 months, or never. This stops the folder getting enormous and filling up your hard drive. Note that the cleanup runs every 7 days and the first time you run it and by default downloaded pictures are kept forever.
958: Improve the crash reporting to detail the exact operating system version running
FEATURE: To aid crash report analysis the exact edition of Windows is now reported when you send a crash in. This is handy considering how many editions of Vista there are!
1106: Allow photos to be chosen from smugmug albums
FEATURE: You can now choose photos from smugmug so if you or a friend has a smugmug account you use their pictures as your background!
924: Digitally sign the application and uninstaller for Vista support
FEATURE: Windows Vista prefers applications that are digitally signed - not only the installer but the application and the uninstaller. To play along nicely with Vista I've done all of the above.
930: Add an 'Install for All Users' option to the installer
FEATURE: There is now an option on the installer called 'Install for ALL users'. If you check this option then the shortcuts for JBS will be created for all users, not just you as you're installing it. This means you can install JBS as an administrator but be able to use it as a restricted user.
769: Add post-processing options such as grayscale and semi-transparent
FEATURE: There is now the option to apply image effects to your backgrounds. From the option on the 'General' section of the 'More Settings' dialog you can choose to either grayscale, use sepia or desaturate the background. I'm sure more options will follow as time goes on!
1031: Add the option to disable photosets instead of deleting them
FEATURE: For all modes except 'Pictures' you can now decide to enable or disable individual photo sets. This means you can choose a whole bunch of options and optionally remove some from selection whenever you like. Simply check the checkbox next to a picture set to enable it and uncheck it to disable it - it's as simple as that!
1033: Add command line option to choose which monitor to set the background for
FEATURE: You can now pass in the monitor number via the command line option '/switchto' so that you can choose which monitor you want the background to be set on. So if you have 2 monitors and want the background only set on the second one, you could use the following command line:
BackgroundSwitcher.exe /switchto scale "C:\Pictures\pic.jpg" 2
The important part is the number '2' at the end. The primary monitor is '1', by the way.
1045: Add 'switch on startup' option to change the background when JBS starts
FEATURE: There's now an option on the 'Advanced' section of the 'More Settings' dialog called 'Always switch the background when starting up'. When enabled, any time you start JBS it will immediately change the background whether it's time to or not.
1117: Enable multiple Yahoo! searches to be performed in the same way that all the other modes allow
FEATURE: You can now create as many Yahoo! image searches as you like in the Yahoo! mode. When it comes time to switch the background JBS chooses photos at random from the list of search options. Cool.
1060: Add 'view previous picture' option to the tray menu
FEATURE: There is now a 'View Previous Image' item on the tray menu that lets you view the previous background if there is one available.
1110: Add icons to the 'Picture Browser' dialog buttons
FEATURE: I've added icons to the 'Picture Browser' dialog buttons so you can quickly tell which pictures you're looking at (eg. Flickr, Phanfare or local to your machine).
949: Explain how to run JBS as a scheduled task in the help file
FEATURE: I've added a page to the help file detailing how to run JBS as a scheduled task. This is handy for saving memory on your system as JBS will only run when it's switching and disappear for the rest of the time.
1029: Add option to choose which monitor(s) to show pictures on
FEATURE: There's a new multiple monitor option called 'Use a picture on one monitor only' that you can choose from the setting dialog. When selected, you can then choose which monitor you want the background set on, any other monitors attached to your machine will be left blank.
851: Make the installer remember what check-boxes you checked at the last install
FEATURE: The installer will now remember the options you selected so when you run the installer again (for a newer version or to change the options) it'll remember what you chose last time.
1132: Allow either a user's email address or user name to be entered for Flickr searches by user
FEATURE: You can now choose a Flickr user based on either their email address or user name instead of just their user name.
1164: Cancelling 'Picture Browser' with the escape key doesn't work
FEATURE: You can now press the 'Esc' key on your keyboard to close the 'Picture Browser' dialog and also while thumbnails are being generated if you wish to cancel.
627: Add a 'what's new' option to the installer
FEATURE: There's now a 'Read what's new in this version' checkbox on the final page of the installer. If you check it then you'll see a page detailing the changes to the current version of JBS that you've just installed. Read it and enjoy!
659: Make the 'send to email' feature actually send the picture as an attachment
FEATURE: You can now send your backgrounds as email attachments. Select the 'Send To >' item from the tray menu then 'Email Recipient' and a new email will be created with your background as an attachment ready to send. Previously it would just create an email with a link to the picture (which sometimes didn't work).
913: Add Picasa Web Albums as a photo source to JBS
FEATURE: You can now choose to use photos from Google Picasa Web Albums. You can either use search terms to pick from all public photos or specify which user(s) and album(s) to choose from - as well as random photos.
919: Add option to disable photo info in montage mode to folder and Phanfare modes
FEATURE: You can now opt to not show photo information on your desktop in Phanfare mode and I've turned it off for 'Monitor Folder' mode for montages since it's a bit pointless really!
Enhancements / Bug Fixes
991: Put a 'Mode' label in the top left of the settings dialog to reinforce that you're picking only one mode
CHANGED: To remove any confusion I've added a 'Current mode' label to the settings dialog to reinforce the fact that JBS only uses one mode at a time. This won't always be the case though. ;)
1014: Montages can repeat pictures on multiple monitors
FIXED: If you had two monitors, 5 pictures in a folder and used the 4-picture montage mode, then you'd find the same picture used for all 4 tiles on the second monitor. This strange behaviour has now been corrected.
1059: 'Current Background Tiles' not showing all the images that it should be
FIXED: When looking at the current background tiles in the 'Browse All Pictures' dialog, you sometimes wouldn't see all the available thumbnails. This behaviour has now been corrected.
1034: Run the upgrade code when JBS starts instead of just during an install
CHANGED: If multiple users run JBS on your computer then it makes sense to upgrade each user's settings when they run JBS. Previously the installer would upgrade the settings for the user installing it but not anybody else. This behaviour has not been changed so everybody's happy!
1052: Lots of 'GDI+' errors after installing a Microsoft update
FIXED: If you kept coming across GDI+ errors popping up frequently in 'Monitor Folder' or 'Select Pictures' mode, then worry no more, these problems have now been corrected. And it wasn't my fault!!
1080: Move the option to run JBS at startup to the 'More Settings' dialog from the installer
CHANGED: I've moved the option to choose whether or not you want JBS to start when you log in to Windows from the installer (which nobody could ever find) to the 'Advanced' section of the 'More Settings' dialog. It's a checkbox titled 'Start automatically when starting Windows'.
The installer should remove any shortcuts to JBS from your 'Startup' program group from the Start menu but if it doesn't then please delete the shortcut manually.
1076: If no photos are found but some were rejected as they were too small, say so in the error message
CHANGED: I've changed the popup error message if no photos are found to mention that pictures can be rejected for being too small. I've also changed the default minimum size to 400 pixels - but you can change it on the 'More Settings' dialog.
941: The link to flickr on the 'Flickr Mode - Overview' page of the help should open up in a separate window
FIXED: I've fixed the link to Flickr from the Flickr overview help page of the documentation so that it opens in a web browser instead of the the help file itself.
1021: Move the JBS application data away from the roaming profile folder
CHANGED: The temporary files JBS uses to cache photos and such like have been moved from the roaming profile folder to the local application folder on your machine. This means that if your roaming profile is stored on a server (such as in a corporate environment) and is restricted by size then you won't hit the limit any more. The files will be moved as soon as you start JBS. Now the only files stored in the roaming profile folder are the settings, status, connection settings and the currently active background.
1067: Improve the icons used throughout JBS and create a high-res Vista icon
CHANGED: The icons used throughout JBS were a bit inconsistent so I've incorporated some of the excellent icons designed by Mark James over at http://www.famfamfam.com. The new application icons, however, were designed entirely by me!
1115: Consolidate 'show photo info on the photo' for different modes into one place
CHANGED: Instead of each mode having it's own option to show picture information or not, I've moved the setting to the 'General' section of the 'More Settings' dialog.
1116: Move the option to only show landscape-oriented pictures to the 'More Settings' dialog
CHANGED: I've moved the various 'landscape-only' options to the 'General' section of the 'More Settings' dialog so you can change it for all modes in one place.
1069: Remove the XML serialization code from JBS - Microsoft have never made it reliable
FIXED: The number one cause of crashes in JBS up until this point have been as a result of problems with the XmlSerializer class. Since it's clearly as buggy as hell, I've removed all code using it in JBS and that should cut down the number of annoying, un-fixable crashes somewhat!
1071: Change 'Browse all Pictures' to 'Picture Browser'
CHANGED: I've renamed the 'Browse All Pictures' dialog to the much more sensible 'Picture Browser'. The functionality is exactly the same (you can see all the photos JBS has downloaded or is displaying at the current time - especially useful in mosaic or montage mode) but it should be more discoverable with a more obvious name.
1000: Ignore photos that caused a GDI+ error in folder monitor mode
FIXED: In 'Folders' mode, if JBS happened to choose a picture that would cause a GDI+ error if used, it would pop up an error message. Now it simply ignores that picture and chooses another one instead.
1133: Don't abbreviate the folder path in 'Folders' mode - there's no need to!
CHANGED: Since the settings dialog is resizable, it seemed pointless to compact the folder path in 'Folders' mode - so I'm not doing it any more! This will make it easier to see which folder is which in the list.
1165: Photo Sets context menu should disable options when nothing is selected
CHANGED: Context menus items and edit / delete buttons are now disabled for the various mode photo sets when nothing is selected. You can thank John Topley's attention to detail for that one!
997: Crash when switching and a virus scanner decides to lock a temporary file
FIXED: When JBS checked to see if there was EXIF information present in a picture (so it could be auto-rotated), if a virus scanner locked the temporary file used and denied all access to it, JBS could crash. This has now been corrected. And I really dislike virus scanners - they're supposed to be transparent and not break other people's software!
998: Crash when invalid values are entered in the 'Interval' edit box in the settings dialog
FIXED: I've no idea how, but it was possible to get a text value (rather than a number) into the 'Interval' text box on the settings dialog. This would cause JBS to crash. I've now corrected the problem.
968: Crash when the settings file is locked by another process - notably a virus scanner
FIXED: If a virus scanner locked the JBS settings file at a particularly inopportune moment, then it could crash JBS. This should (hopefully) no longer be the case.
969: Crash when loading a corrupt picture for montage mode in Folder mode
FIXED: While generating the 4 picture montage in folder mode if a corrupt image was encountered JBS would simply crash. This problem has now been corrected.
937: Crash in 'Select Pictures' mode when switching backgrounds
FIXED: Fixed a crash where in 'Select Pictures' mode if the previous thumbnail cache folder was inaccessible a crash would occur.
938: Crash when trying to generate a montage background
FIXED: It was possible that generating a montage image could crash John's Background Switcher on the rare chance that an imcompatible picture is loaded. This has now been corrected.
1094: Crash when a temporary file gets locked by an over-zealous virus scanner when downloading photos from Phanfare
FIXED: As the description says, it was possible to get a crash in Phanfare mode when a particular locked file was locked. This has now been corrected.
915: Crash when refreshing the background image
FIXED: If a particular temporary file was locked at a particular time when refreshing the background, JBS could crash. Now it won't!
916: Crash when loading the Phanfare dialog if you didn't have any photo albums to choose from
FIXED: If you attempted to choose a Phanfare album from your account but you didn't actually have any albums then JBS would crash. This is no longer the case.
957: Crash in 'Select Pictures' mode when the picture selected to be shown next is deleted
FIXED: If you chose a picture in 'Select Pictures' mode to be shown next, then deleted that picture or moved it, you would get a crash at the next switching time. This has now been corrected.
935: Crash when the system runs out memory
FIXED: When the system ran out of memory JBS would crash and send a report back to me to analyse. Since there's nothing I can do in that case you're now presented with a dialog telling you the system is out of memory and that JBS will close to stop being a memory hog!
933: Crash when switching using pictures on a network drive that's been disconnected
FIXED: If you were in 'Select Pictures' or 'Monitor Folders' mode and were using pictures on a network drive, then JBS could crash if that drive wasn't available. Now it just moans at you instead!
1015: Crash when using Yahoo! mode
FIXED: It was possible that JBS could crash when downloading a photo in Yahoo! mode when the network connection was terminated at an inopportune moment. This has now been corrected.
962: Crash when downloading a picture from Phanfare and your internet connection goes down
FIXED: If your internet connection disappeared at a particul bad time JBS could crash. This problem has now been corrected.
1003: Crash when a virus scanner locks some temporary files JBS tries to move
FIXED: If a virus scanner happened to deny all access to some of the temporary files JBS creates then it could, under certain circumstances, cause JBS to crash. This is no longer the case and I hate poorly written virus scanners (i.e. most of them) more every day!
988: Crash when the memory becomes corrupt for an unspecified reason
FIXED: If the memory becomes corrupt (normally during low memory conditions) JBS would tend to crash. This is no longer the case, instead it pops up a message box telling you the memory has become corrupt and exits. This was a very rare occurrence but was worth catching nonetheless.
990: Crash when Yahoo returns too many results
FIXED: If your search terms in Yahoo image search mode returned a very very very large number of results, JBS could crash. This should no longer be the case.
921: Crash when checking to see if an excluded process is running
FIXED: If you opt to stop switching when certain processes are running (using the 'Exception' section of the 'More Settings' dialog) it was possible that JBS could crash when checking the list of processes. This has now been corrected.
911: Crash in 'Folder Monitor' mode when generating a montage image and you delete a source photo
FIXED: If you deleted a file that was about to be used in a montage image while the background was being switched, you could potentially get a crash. This is no longer the case.
920: The same picture on each screen in montage mode with different resolutions doesn't scale correctly
BY DESIGN: If you choose the multiple monitor mode 'Use the same picture on each monitor' then you'll see this effect if your monitors are at different resolutions. This is deliberate since you're using exactly the same picture, so the smaller monitor will show bars at the sides or top and bottom to scale the montage picture. Select 'Use different pictures on each monitor' to prevent this from happening.
1151: When starting JBS for the first time, popup warnings are disabled
FIXED: The first time you started JBS the popup warning would automatically be disabled until you set some valid values for switching. It wouldn't cause much of a problem but was worth fixing!
923: 'Shuffle Backgrounds' displays the wrong photo info
FIXED: When selecting 'Shuffle Backgrounds' on a multi-monitor computer the descriptions for each picture wouldn't be shuffled. This has now been corrected.
952: 'SessionIDExpired' error when using Phanfare web albums
FIXED: Under certain circumstances you could be presented with this error message from Phanfare. This is no longer the case and the session ID in question will be renewed if this situation occurs.
1101: Sometimes the help won't show up unless you restart JBS
FIXED: If you opened a picture from 'Select Pictures' mode or exported your settings or in fact did anything that changed the application's working directory, then the help file would fail to launch. This has now been corrected.
1129: The 'Picture Browser' dialog sometimes shows the wrong picture when you double-click on it
FIXED: This problem has now been corrected and you can rest assured that if you double-click on a picture, you'll get to see the actual original!
1187: Change 'Next Picture' to be 'Next Background' and the same with 'Previous Picture' to 'Previous Background'
CHANGED: I've renamed the tray menu items as the description says - should be a bit more consistent.
1192: Show photo albums in reverse chronological order
CHANGED: Photo album lists as shown in Flickr, Phanfare, smugmug and Picasa mode are now shown in reverse chronological order so the newest appears at the top.
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