1. John Conners
   Administrator
   Posted 4 years ago #

   Version 2.1 builds on Version 2.0's new features, particularly Flickr integration. There are improvements to the way it connects to the internet, I've added new ways to choose photos from Flickr (by day or by group pool for example), the software now checks for newer versions of itself, I've added proper multi-monitor support (allowing you to stretch a picture across all your monitors), improved the way pictures are resized and made a raft of bug fixes and other enhancements detailed below. I've also made some tweaks and improvements to the layout of the dialogs to make them easier to use.

   New Features

   407: Add option to show a person's favourite photos

   You can now choose to select photos from a person's publicly visible favourites when in Flickr more. Just select from 'A Specific Person' then choose from 'Their Favourites' in the settings dialog.

   410: Add option to check for updates

   The application now checks periodically if there is a new version of John's Background Switcher available. If there is the tray icon turns yellow and it pops up a message telling you and the next time you open the settings dialog a link will appear that takes you to do the download page. You can force the check by clicking 'Check for Updates Now' from the tray pop-up menu. Remember, if the tray icon turns yellow, there's a new version available!

   72: Add multi-monitor support

   At long last I've implemented multiple monitor support. Now the application will correctly size pictures on different monitors when you choose to stretch or center them (previously the primary monitor would show properly but the sizes would be all wrong for the other monitors). There is now also an option to 'use one picture for the whole desktop' which means the selected picture will be split up to cover all attached monitors and scaled accordingly - this is a must-have for multiple monitors.

   401: Add group selection to the Flickr options

   You can now choose to select photos from group pools as well as from specific users and tag searches.

   423: Have an option to download original size Flickr images for users who have desktops greater than 1024x768

   There is now an option 'Always use original photo size' that means you can now choose to always download the largest images from Flickr. Handy if you use a large monitor.

   381: Add a link to go to the current picture

   There is now a 'Go to Current Picture' menu item that will take you to the currently displayed picture. If it's on your computer it'll launch the default viewer and if it's on Flickr you'll be directed to the photo's Flickr page in your default web browser.

   390: Add option to not stretch images in monitor mode

   You can now specify if you want to stretch or center pictures when in 'Monitor A Folder' mode. Previously it would always stretch the image to fit your screen size whether you wanted it to or not!

   436: Add option to show the most interesting photos from Flickr for any given day (eg. today)

   There is now an option to choose the most interesting photos from Flickr on a specific day. You can select from yesterday, today and a custom date.

   438: Add an option to refresh the wallpaper in case it's been changed elsewhere

   You can now click 'Redraw Background' from the tray menu and that will redraw the background (oddly enough). So if you clear the background or change your screen resolution then this will set it back and take any display changes into account.

   442: Add the option to automatically save all downloaded photos from Flickr

   There is now an option called 'Save all downloaded photos' that will automatically save all photos downloaded from Flickr to a folder on your computer. This means you can look at them later. The default folder is a folder called 'John's Background Switcher' in your 'My Pictures' folder but you can change it to anything you want.

   396: Add option to blank the screen in case something dodgy comes up

   There is now a 'Clear Background' option on the system tray menu that will instantly clear your background. This protects against the odd dodgy photo that comes from Flickr, or maybe you just don't want to have a background picture for a while.

   Bug Fixes

   403: Rare crash when timing out connecting to Flickr

   Under certain circumstances it was possible for the application to crash when it timed out trying to connect to Flickr. This has now been corrected.

   408: The fonts on the settings dialog are different

   Some of the labels on the settings dialog would render differently on Windows XP, now they're all the same.

   388: Store the last Flickr picture to make sure we don't show it next

   It was possible for the same picture to be chosen twice in a row as they're selected randomly. Now you are guaranteed a different picture than the last time (assuming there is more than one in your selection criteria).

   422: Proportionally resize images

   To prevent the distortion of pictures, if you choose to 'center' a picture while in picture list mode, or uncheck the 'stretch' option in the other modes, then the picture will be scaled up to fit the screen while maintaining its correct aspect ration. This means that some pictures will display a border but you can set the colour to suit.

   425: Crash when selecting previous then next in picture list mode

   If you started the application for the first time or restarted switching while in 'Select Pictures' mode then selected 'Previous Picture' in the menu, then 'Next Picture' it would crash. Did you get that? Well, it's now fixed.

   439: Stop it telling me that it's paused when I cancel the settings dialog

   If switching was paused and you opened the settings dialog then hit cancel a balloon tip would pop up to tell you it was paused. I don't know about you but I found it pretty annoying so I've taken it out. It will only show if switching is paused and you hit OK on the settings dialog.

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