VIFoto

Photoalbum with using a MS Access database

• you can open and show a lot of Photos together (in a formats: jpg, bmp, gif, wmf, emf, ico, cur);
• you can print or preview opened Photos;
• you can simply change a size of Photo by changing a size of window;
• you can scroll through all Photos in a current directory by "Left", "Right", "Home", "End" keys;
• you can show a Mosaic of all Photos from current directory and then simply double-click or press Enter to show a desired Photo;
• you can start a Slideshow for all Photos from current directory;
• you can open a lot of Photos, Mosaics, Slideshows and Database tables together;
• when you open a Photo from hard disk, all Photos from that directory will be imported automatically to an MS Access Database (to Photo.mdb file);
• every Photo-Record in a Database has a Date, File name, File extention, File size, Directory, Theme and Comment fields;
• you can find all Photos in the Database by a part of a Phrase.
• you can add a "Theme" for every Photo and than group the Photos by that Theme;
• you can see your Photos as a Table and sort them by Date, File name, File extention, File size, Directory, Theme and Comment fields;
• you can select a lot of Photos in a Table and start a Slide show for them;
• no limits for a size of your Comments for every Photo;
• no limits for amount of your Photo-Records in a Database (million and more)
• simply and friendly user interface;

How to use it:

1. Simply open a picture (Photo) file, as you do it in a Word or Paint and you will see a Photo in a separate Window. Change the size of Window to change a size of contained Photo. Print opened Photo or preview it. You can open a lot of Photos together.
2. Use "Left", "Right", "Home", "End" keys for scrolling through all Photos in a current directory in the same Window.
3. Use "Full Size" button or Menu "View / Full Size" to show a Photo in it original size. Use mouse wheel to scroll the Photo in the Window vertically, hold a Ctrl key and wheel the mouse to scroll the Photo horizontally.
4. Press a "Show Mosaic" button or use Menu "View / Mosaic" to show all Photos from current directory as a Mosaic. Change a size of Mosaics Window and make it once again to show the Mosaic of the greater or smaller size. Use navigate keys ("Left", "Right", "Up", "Down", "Home", "End", "Page Up", "Page Down", Ctrl + "Home", Ctrl + "End") to move a Marker in Mosaic. Use mouse double-click or Enter to show a desired Photo in a separate Window.
5. Press a "Slide show" button or use Menu "View / Slide show" to show all Photos from the current directory consistently one after another. Press "Pause" button or use Menu "View / Pause" to pause or continue a Slide show. When Slide show is paused, you can scroll around Photos forward or back by using a keys "Left", "Right", "Home", "End".
6. Press a "Slideshow circled" button or use Menu "View / Loop" to make a looped Slide show. You can open and start a lot of Slide shows together.
7. Use a button "Show Properties Dialog" or Menu "View / Properties" to show a Properties Dialog. There you can specify Pause between Slides in a Slide show, Photos in Row for Mosaic, keep or not a Photo's proportions for Mosaic. By default the proportions of Photos in Mosaic are slightly deformed for monotonous display.
8. Use Menu Window/Tile to place all opened Windows tiled.

Photos Table hints:

• use button "Show Table" or Menu "Database / Show Table" to show a Table of Photos;
• make a mouse double-click or Enter on a record to show a Photo;
• select a lot of records and press a "Slide show" button or Menu "View / Slide show" to show selected Photos as a Slideshow. Use "Loop" to make Slideshow circled.
• use a "Show Record" button or Menu "Database / Show Record" or hold a Ctrl key and make a double-click for edit a Photos record;
• enter a Theme and Comment for every Photo. The Themes will be stored automatically, next time you can simply select a desired Theme from the combo-box; No limits for a text size for your Comment for every Photo;
• use a "Find Record(s)" button or Menu "Database / Find Record(s)" and enter a part of Phrase to find. A new Table with found records will be shown.
• click column header for sorting the table by that column contents;
• place a mouse pointer to the interval between columns headers and drag it for change a column's width;
• use "Home" key for go to the top of table, use "End" key for go to the bottom of table, use "Page Up" and "Page Down" keys for scrolling the table;
• select one or a lot of records and use "Delete" key or Menu "Database / Delete Record(s)" for deleting them. That will delete a records from Database, not a picture-files from your Hard disk.;
• use Shift- Ctrl- keys together with mouse clicks or Up-Down arrow keys for selecting more then one records;
• use Ctrl + A keys combination for selecting all records in the table;
• open more then one tables and sort them how you need

 

Database hints:

• ater the first start of VIFoto, a database file "Photos.mdb" will be created automatically in a VIFoto's home directory;
• the database file "Photos.mdb" must be placed in a VIFoto's home directory, if the program does not see this file, it makes a new one;
• photos Database (Photos.mdb file) contains a records, wich describe every Photo file. The Database does not contain a pictures.
• every Record in a Database has a Date, File name, File extention, File size, Directory, Theme and Comment fields. Date is a creation Date for picture file (when the file was created on a Hard disk). Theme and Comment for every picture you can enter by yourself.
• you can use VIFoto  without MS Access installed at your computer;
• if you have an MS Access, you can make printed reports, diagramms, queries etc using database file "Photos.mdb";