Resco Photo Viewer (v3.01)

Product history

Version 3.01 | Apr-10-2008

News

• Improved Fax support: Group 3 Fax compression
• Speed optimizations - noticeable mainly for huge folders.
• Higher Treo models: Green button displays context menu
• Improved crop procedure (better cutout selection, selected quality is stored permanently)
• New command 'Assign to Contact' makes image cutout and assigns it to the selected contact.
• Online help topics rewritten

Version 2.51 | Sep-26-2007

v2.51.1

• Progress bar in the slideshow
• Edit Image dialog could cut off 1 pixel both from the right and from the bottom.
• Compatibility to Resco Suite

News

• Improved fax loader (more formats, better readibility)
• Improved BMP loader (some exotic formats added)
• New option for opened image: Auto Off After 10 min (user request)
• Nicer progress bar in the opened image
• Treo: Shift key toggles multi-selection
• When used as external viewer (Resco Explorer, ZLauncher etc.) Resco Viewer allows for browsing the current folder. I.e. after an image tap (in ZLauncher) the image opens (in Resco Viewer) and you can swap to other images in the same folder.

Fixes

• Search by typing a letter works also backwards
• Sending images larger than 60K via Messaging used to crash due to Messaging specifics.

Version 2.50 | Jan-27-2007

Version 2.50.2 | Feb-03-2007

When Resco Viewer is used as external viewer (ZLauncher, Resco Explorer...):

• Added possibility to switch to full size preview
• Preview of multi-page faxes enabled

Version 2.50.1 | Jan-30-2007

Minor improvements related mainly to the Exchange Manager registrations.

Categories

• Improved Categorize dialog
• Added Delete command.
  Unlike 'Remove from Category' this command uses deep delete, i.e. deletes both the category item (i.e. the link) and the linked image as well.
• Added Edit Categories dialog.
  Provides alternative interface to editing categories via context menu.

Image editing

New image command 'Edit Image' can be used to crop/downscale/rotate image.
Warning: While this command can be used for any images, there is a substantial drawback for low-bit (e.g. B&W) images - the size of the output file will probably grow.
See a demo at TamsPalm

Other news

• Support for PNG images
• Multibeam support:
  It is possible to select several images and send them at once via BT, IR etc.
• Alternative interface for the context menu:
  Apart from opened image, context menu options are now accessible also via main menu - submenu Actions.

Version 2.41.2 | Aug-28-2006

Fix in the audio engine:
Possible crash with some versions of Pocket Tunes and AeroPlayer.

Version 2.41.1 | Aug-25-2006

Bug fixes

• Column setup dialog crashed if all columns were switched off
• Better handling of too long file paths
• Proper image selection after an interrupt of the random slideshow

News

• Icon cache commands merged into one dialog
• Added interface to the AeroPlayer audio engine.
  When selecting the engine, Resco Viewer searches 1. Pocket Tunes, 2. Aero Player, 3. built-in Palm player
• Updated manual

Optimizations

• Audio search limited so that search on huge cards does not take too long. (Huge folders are scanned only partially.)
• App size decreased by more than 30K.

Version 2.40.3 | Aug-09-2006

One bug fix:

• Music selection for custom slideshow

and one improvement:

• Folders are closed as soon as possible. Opened folders could have caused problems in browsing built-in drive.

Version 2.40.2 | Aug-05-2006

For those, who took part in the beta testing, the final release was further optimized (mainly app size and loading of large images) and contains a few rather marginal fixes and improvements.

Visual changes:

• Nicer GUI
• Multi-line report mode
• Splitter drag:
  The sensitive area (distinctly marked) was reduced to minimize conflicts with scrollbars.

Application control:

• In one-panel mode you can temporarily open the tree via left arrow, switch to another folder and close the tree via right arrow.
• New icon state - "focused" introduced. This allows multiselection handling with 5way.
• New customizable HW key "Long center button" (Key Options dialog). Can be used for example for opening of the context menu.
• Long tap on the shift indicator (vertical arrow in the title bar) opens menu with select options.

New settings:

• General options: Start in Fullscreen (HiRes+)
• General options: "Disable Double Tap (Viewer)"
• View options: Added "Initial position" for loaded images

New standard categories:

• All (all images on the card or built-in drive),
• Unfiled (all images that were not assigned to some category)

Contents of these categories is dynamic, i.e. evaluated each time the folder is opened. Hence, the loading is slower - but it is non-blocking (i.e. can be interrupted at any time).

Optimizations:

• Folder loading 2x faster
• Large folders: Dramatical improvement in case of sorting by size or date
• Huge folders with up to 30000 images supported (stress tests for 17000 images done)
• Loading of large images on NVFS devices substantially improved. (Avoided unrealistic memory requests that may force very long delays in NVFS.)
• Categories are much faster. However, categories with more than 1000 items do not show file size/date as collecting of these attributes can take too long.
• Albums can have more images (30000)

Other News:

• Image histogram (available from the context menu of an opened image)
• BMP loader supports more formats
• Albums can have more images (30000)
• If you don't have Pocket Tunes, you still can play music during slideshow if your handheld has built-in mp3 player.

Custom slideshow:

Slideshow generalization, where you can mix-up images, songs and text in various ways.

Custom slideshow is treated as an album (a tree node!) and can be copied to another location or to Favorites. Unlike an album, Custom slideshow contains image links, i.e. original images must exist.

Custom slideshow can be created on a card only and all image/audio files must be located on the same card.

• Creation
  Select folder, then Main menu > Custom Slideshow. (To include only some images, use multiselection.)
• Image attributes
  Every image has own attributes: Duration, effect, text notes, audio. Use multiselection to change an attribute for several images at once.
• Image order
  To move an image use the up/down icons or drag-drop.
• Text notes
  You can add text to any image. In slideshow, the text will be written over the image.
• Adding images
  Use CopyTo or drag-drop. Slideshow can contain links to any folder.
• Text frames
  Press the T icon to add a text slide. Can contain any text that fits one screen.
• Audio
  You can use one song for the whole slideshow, or use the song for a group of images, or show the image while the song plays.
• Audio engine/formats:
  You must have either Pocket Tunes (prefered) or built-in Palm player Supported formats: mp3, m3u, ogg, wma, wav (depending on the engine used)

Removed support for:

• Old SplashPhoto v3.xx images. (New SplashPhoto format is supported.)
• Phototake camera

Reason: Decreasing application size through elimination of seldom used software.

Version 2.30 | Mar-07-2006

New features:

• Copy To function (context menu of the selected image(s))
• Columns dialog (application menu; replaces context menu of the report header)
• Global color adjustments (application menu; color change applicable to all images)
• Select Folder dialog: application menu, hard keys, long tap on the tree button
• If the viewer closed while an image was opened, it will re-open it at the next start as well. (Does not work if the startup folder is fixed.)

Beam etc.

• Preview of the e-mail image attachments works for any image type; the same for beam receive
• Default viewer registration survives the soft reset.

Optimizations:

• NVFS-related optimizations (mainly icon cache, progressive Jpegs)
• Faster icon cache
• Faster folder loading
• Faster loading of 1/2/4-bit images with palette

Other news:

• Improved slideshow transition effects
• Category sorting
• One-handed control in the Properties dialog
• New HW keys function: "Show Full Size"
• Folders: All folders are shown unless 'Show image folders only' option applies.
• Faster image scrolling for autorepeat (i.e. if 5way keys are continuously pressed)

Version 2.21 | Jan-04-2005

News

• Faster bmp loader (4/8/16 bit bitmaps.)
• Faster list view (mainly the no-icon mode)
• Sony/Garmin: Extended Keys Setup by JogDial/ThumbWheel commands

Bug corrections

• PTunes launched offline was automatically closed on Resco Viewer exit.
• Gif images with specific widths could cause a crash.
• Slideshow interrupt and subsequent resume could cause a crash.

Version 2.20 | Dec-18-2004

Search dialog (card only)

• Accessible from the card folder context menu.
• Allows searching by name (with wildcards), date or size
• Button [->] creates category "Found Items". This category can be renamed or otherwise it will be deleted at the program exit.

Recursive slideshow (card folders only)

• Slideshow scans the subfolders when the "Recursive" checkbox in the Slideshow Options dialog is switched on.
• Recursive scan takes longer - therefore the slideshow button is depressed during the scan. (Can be used to interrupt the scan, too.)
• To avoid potential problems, recursive slideshow cannot be paused - i.e. it can be only terminated.

Optimizations

• Image loading is faster on devices with sufficient dynamic memory. (Concerns mostly T3, T5, T650, but also high end Clie models; generally all models with heap at least 2MB. )
• Optimized image drawing.
• Faster slideshow effects (visible mainly in the landscape mode)

Other News

• "General Options / Show image folders only" flag does now full recursive checking.
  Maybe a bit slower, but works like expected. (The previous versions did only limited checking because of slow Palm OS4.)
• T5, T650: built-in drive accessible
• Multipage tif: Added page selection interface to the image toolbar
• Receiving images: Save option added (except Snappermail that itself contains the save command); helps e.g. for Versamail preview.
• Possibility to assign rotate function in viewer mode to hard buttons
• Categories/Favorites: Image context menu changed - added the link to the original image.

Bug corrections

• Bug in sending gif files - were sent with .tif extension. (V2.11.2)
• Crash when calling the Viewer from Resco Explorer on a multi-page tif. (Crashed for the next page command.) (V2.11.1)
• T3: Gif animation. (Occasional interrupts removed.) (V2.11.1)
• T3: removed DIA issues for the Category/Folder creation dialogs

Version 2.11 | Nov-02-2004

Music

• Added .wma and .wav card files
• Playlists are allowed to have RAM-based music.

Multiple copy

• overall progress bar instead of individual progress bars
• correct abort processing of the move operation (partial move possible)

Other News

• Slideshow options appear while long-pressing the slideshow button, not after releasing it.
• T5 compatible
• Image notes can be drawn transparently over the opened image.
  (If 'Show notes button' in the Viewer Options is switched on, then the button is displayed in the TL corner whenever the image contains non-empty notes.)
• Optimizations concerning the large image sets

Bug corrections

• Tif/F: Unreadable faxes with an odd number of pixels/line. (Relatively rare case.)
• Opening an image via center button always loaded scaled image disregarding the load options.
• Crash during scrolling on very large folders (with 900+ images).
• Music: v2.10 treated PocketTunes as mandatory. v2.11 works also without PocketTunes.
• PocketTunes v 2.3.2 was crashing:
  RescoViewer requires now PocketTunes v2.3.3 and higher.
  A free PocketTunes upgrade to v2.3.4 is at http://www.pocket-tunes.com/pockettunes/deprecated.html

Version 2.10 | Oct-15-2004

This is the first release supporting Palm OS 5 only.
Additionally, Resco Photo Viewer for Palm OS 4 was released that is equivalent to v2.10 except missing ARM and sound support.

Improved GUI

• Font selection also for the image title in the image viewer
• Improved thumbnail scrolling (partial thumbnails allowed)

Slideshow

• Any group of transition effects can be selected
• Background music via PocketTunes
• PocketTunes playlists supported (Warning from PocketTunes: The playlist format may change in the future.)
• Long press of the slideshow button opens the options dialog

Multi-page Tif/Fax images

• accepts .tif and .fax images that confirm to the tif/F standard
• Multi-page interface: When the fax has several pages, then the keys that normally swap images, swap the pages instead.

Other news

• Delete from the opened image -> automatic switch to the next image
• Date format acc. to the current locale

Version 1.80 | Jul-09-2004

Improved GUI

• Different fonts for the tree and the list (one of the frequent user requests)
• New buttons and commands for controlling of the tree, multi-selection and slideshow
• Better panning: Panning zoomed image via 5way possible. (Use Keys setup dialog to enable this feature.)
• Incremental search in the list: Typing a character selects next item whose name starts with given character.
• Zoom Full Size available directly from the opened image

Treo: Editing of the image database

• A card jpeg image can be added to a Treo category using the drag operation.
• To delete an image from the Treo database use the image context menu.

Improved camera support

• Veo Camera: Veo images are displayed provided you have the VeoTransfer installed. (Look at any major reseller.)
  Images can be edited, but copy to card is not (yet) supported.
  The interface needs some improvements, but basically works.
  Contact VeoTransfer author in case of problems: angusa@deltatee.com
• Zire/Sony camera images
  - Possible color editing and annotation.
  - Images can be marked private

Other news

• Unix/Mac .dot files hidden
• Beam options simplified (reduced to a single checkbox in General Options).
  Reason: Palm OS Exchange Manager bug that could cause reset for apps installed on the card.
• Optimization of the gif animations and the the application loading
• New manual

Version 1.70.3

Corrected: Saved jpeg was not accepted by Photoshop (end marker was missing)

Version 1.70.2

Corrected:

• Horizontal splitter was moved 15 pix above each time the splitter was hidden+shown.
• Image Types dialog partially obscurred on T3
• Problem with the default folder: On multi-card devices the default folder might not have been working
• Redraw issues during the image cropping setup on HiRes+ screens (DIA area not redrawn)

Version 1.70 | Apr-17-2004

Image cropping

This feature (working on all color devices) was implemented with the goal to enable creation of small cut-outs that can be more easily transported via email, beam etc.
Available from the viewer context menu (option 'Crop').
Works on any image - whether it is jpeg, gif, bmp, a camera image, RAM or a card image...

First step is to draw a rectangle; after that the user is guided by the setup dialog.
The resulting jpeg file is saved to the current directory (for a card image) or into the Ram/Images (for a RAM image).
Default name is created by adding "~" suffix to the name.
If the sorting by name is used, then pressing the down key switches to the newly created image - at least on the card; for the RAM-based images it depends on the source folder used.

Crop does not use the original image, but works out of the loaded image.
The disadvantage is (sometimes) lower quality, the advantages are (substantially) smaller output and the ability to process any source image format.

The output format is jpeg.

The output quality is basically equivalent to the quality on the screen for the zoom factor "1".
The output resolution is the resolution, in which the image was loaded.
If the image was loaded into the full size, the output resolution will be higher.
In other words, loading the image into the standard size results in the image downscale.

The output is saved with the eventual color adjustments made. (Finally "real" image editing.)

Although the feature is referred to as "crop", it can be used also to downscale large images.

In most of the cases the resulting image will be several times smaller than the original. The reasons are the smaller resolution and the color reduction to 16 bits.

Important changes

• File folders are sorted
• Slideshow effects optimized (improved appearance, responsiveness and timing)
• Font selection applicable also to the tree part
• Privacy option extended to the card folders.
  Controlled by the folder context menu - options Make/Reset Private.
  Privacy is modeled by the presence of the subfile called "_private". (Attribute 'Hidden' seems to be unreliable.)

Corrections (for the program or Palm OS bugs)

• Safer memory management (critical memory situations during the image loading detected in advance and avoided)
• Tungsten/T3: Partial obscuring of the dialog alerts by the status control bar avoided
• Restart on the 'last folder used' properly working
• Delete command not shown in the viewer context menu if the particular image type cannot be deleted.

Other news

• Lowercase extensions ".jpg", ".gif" ... instead of uppercase equivalents (Concerns drag on the card and beam receive)
• "Beam" renamed to "Send" (context menu)
• Optional switching off the Categories and Favorites (Image Types Options)
• Default selection in the Categorize dialog is:
  - 'Selected' if more than 1 image was selected
  - 'Unfiled' otherwise
• Drag between categories offers Copy/Move/Cancel dialog if multiselect is switched on.
• Tree auto-scrolling during the drag operation modified:
  The scroll does not start immediately, but only after a small delay.

Version 1.60 | Mar-01-2004

Options dialogs

• More transparent; new policy for the initial rotation introduced.
• Load Options/Initial Zoom: If set to "Fit screen", then the image is (usually) loaded in smaller size. (Use if you don't have enough memory.)
• New Font selection dialog for the Report View
• Keys setup dialog
  Possibility to override HW keys and arrows. (Separately for the viewer and explorer modes.)

New functions

• Directory rename
• Category rename
• Delete from the viewer
• Drag between categories = move
• If the default folder is not used, Resco viewer opens on the same image that was selected when the program closed. This comes handy in folders with many images.

Favorites

• When the expansion card is swapped, old card entries are not automatically removed from the Favorites. Instead, they are shown as invalid items. (User request motivated by the card swapping.)
• Directories listed in Favorites show now also the subdirectories. (User request) However, there is no synchronization between the card directory and the link in the Favorites. If you change something (i.e. create or delete subdirectory), the Favorites won't show the correct contents until viewer restart.

Other news

• Substantially (2x) faster album loading.
• Faster thumbnail construction and drawing
• Japanese finally works (also for albums)
• File copying speeded up
• JackFlash support

Version 1.50 | Jan-14-2004

Categories

Resco Viewer uses more powerful category concept than commonly found in the Palm world. Not only you can use traditional categories, but you can define also sub-categories and their sub-sub-categories etc.

Moreover, you can assign an image to multiple categories.
So for example the category 'Best shots' can contain a selection of images from the remaining Holidays categories:

• Personal
  • Family
    • Children
    • Holidays
  • Summer 2003
    • Winter 2003
    • Best shot

Basic rules:

• Categories are defined in the tree as the subnodes of the tree node 'Categories'. (Use tree context menu.)
• Categories can be nested and their number is unlimited.
• The same image can be member of multiple categories.

To assign image category:

• Drag the image (or an image group) to the category node, or
• Use Categorize dialog (launchable from the image context menu).

Image conversions

Although the subject sounds rather technically, it is a simple and powerful tool.
To do the conversion simply drag the image and drop it over the folder you want.

Examples:

• If you need to send a camera image as an email attachment and can't do it because the image is in non-standard format:
  Just drag the image to some card folder and you get a standard jpeg.
  Now you can email a standard jpeg.
• If you beam the camera image, the conversion is done automatically and the receiver gets a jpeg.
• Do you need to remove the card but would like to keep some card images?
  Simply drag them to the RAM/Images folder. (What is behind the scenes is also an image conversion.)
• The above can be done for any card image - even gif or bmp.
• You can even extract an album image and make it a standalone (jpeg) image. Again, just use drag.

Support for specific handhelds

• Treo 600: 5way button can be used for image browsing and camera images can be copied to the card using drag (see above)
• Zodiac: Analog button can be used for image browsing
• SpecTec camera: camera images can be copied to the card using drag (see above)
• 5way support generally: 2-dimensional browsing in the explorer possible

Other improvements

• Japanese: support for 2-bytes characters (Japanese Kanji)
• Left-handers: Those using LeftHack can now select left scrollbars (General Options dialog)
• Better image effects in the SlideShow
• Show Image Folders only: The option works now much better
• Image properties show loaded scale (1x means full image loaded, 2x means half-size etc.)
• 2click on the displayed image toggles between fit / fill / full scale provided the three options yield significantly different views. If not, then only fill/fit is toggled.

Version 1.40 | Dec-11-2003

• The viewer starts faster, draws faster (ARM only) and loads jpegs faster.
• Support for Treo camera images
• Images marked as private (Properties dialog) are not shown if the system privacy is set to 'Hide Records'

Version 1.30 | Oct-27-2003

• Safe protection of individual Jpeg images.
  Use to store sensitive information such as snapshot of a credit card. Use image context menu to encrypt the image or remove image encryption. Encrypted images display a lock instead of thumbnail and cannot be viewed unless you know the password. (System password is used.) Password is repeatedly required for any image access - unless you switch on "Cache password" option in General Options.
• Gif support
  Gif images can be viewed, animated, copied (on the card only), beamed etc. They cannot be stored to the RAM.
• Animated gif
  In the slide show it behaves like a static gif showing the first frame only. In the viewer the animation is automatically started. The animation can be interrupted by any event (pen tap, jog dial etc.) and later resumed via context menu option "Animate". As the background color the viewer bk color is used. (Viewer options dialog; white seems to be the best option.)
• Thumbnails saved optionally to the card
  Icon Cache can be configured so that the thumbs are saved to the card. (Despite many people want it, this choice has also negative consequences.)
• More image settings can be saved.
  Use Edit Options Dialog to specify which changes are stored (e.g. color changes) and when they are stored (automatically, on query, never). Saved changes are stored separately from the image, but they are copied together with the base image. To undo all changes use context menu command Revert to Original. (This comes handy when the image is updated from outside, e.g. via HotSync.)
• Sort order improved.
  Albums use the order specified in the Album Generator. Sorting by the icon column means "Do not sort". (Use to reduce screen flicker: Incremental sort is omitted.)
• Slide Show improved.
  PgUp key (return to previous image) works. SlideShow can be paused or resumed from the context menu. Display of encrypted images is controlled from the Viewer Options Dialog. (Show Encrypted Images option)
• Better one-handed control
  If your device allows for one-hand control (5way, jog-dial, Garmin), then you can now not only browse the images with one hand, but also start/stop slide show or Gif animations etc.
• Auto power-off feature disabled during the slide show or Gif animation
• ZLauncher support
• Support for Tungsten T/3, Sony UX-50, Zodiac
• Display of Spectec SD Camera images
• Explorer control for Sony: Jog dial + press = PgUp/Dn

Other New Options:

• General Options / Show Image Folders Only
  Attention: Even if the checking is not perfect (no recursion), this option may slow down the tree building.
• General Options / Right Align Image Names
  Comes handy if you use names generated by the camera as they start with identical prefix.
• For programmers: Controlling Resco Viewer via clipboard

Resco Updater

V1.30 changes the format of the stored image data. More precisely, we changed the names of the INF files so that they don't produce long file names unless necessary. (FAT file system seems to have problems with long file names.)

For those who need to preserve old data (concerns mainly the image notes) we prepared an extra utility called RescoUpdater, that will be installed to your handheld together with the RescoViewer. We suggest that you run RescoUpdater even if you don't care about old settings. The reason is simple: to eliminate unused files.

The conversion could have been done on the fly (and we originally programmed it this way), but this solution proved to cost a lot of time during the thumbnail loading. Therefore we decided for the explicit conversion.
We apologize for the inconvenience.