Duplicate exhibits and verify command

[TerryD 0]

Good morning.

 

I have a new PC and recently reinstalled TMG 8.04 and copied a backup over to the new PC and it looked fine.

 

When I ran the verify utility, I was (pleasantly) surprised that the number of missing images had dropped to seven, it had been a lot more than that previously. I ran TMG Utitilies and that pointed out which ones I had to do someting about and when browsing the folders with file explorer, I noticed that I had a lot (over a thousand) exhibits in the TMG8\exhibits root folder and this is not where they were originally placed, e.g. they should be in various "TMG8\exhibits\familyX" type folders so I guess at some stage (probably on the previous PC) I have missed the setting where I should not have allowed TMG8 to set the path to the root.

 

So my question is, I need to restablish the links back to the proper paths and I know that I can do this in the VERIFY utility within TMG, however to add each folder individually is going to be tedious. Is it possible to edit the file that VERIFY looks to so that I can add all the folders in as I have a utility that will create a text file with the folder structure and importing that will save time. I say this presuming that the VERIFY command does not accept wildcards and does not search subfolders?

 

Thanks in advance - Terry

[Virginia Blakelock 0]

Terry -

 

If you still have the older PC at hand, would it be quicker to just copy over your exhibits folder to the new computer? As you found, a Restore will flatten a multi-folder folder tree. From TMG Help:

 

CAUTION: If your exhibits are stored in a multi-folder folder tree rather than in a single folder, you should not use the Restore Wizard with your exhibits. Maintenance of exhibit folder trees (such as backing up or moving the exhibits) should be done outside of TMG v8.

 

Virginia

[TerryD 0]

Thanks for the reply Virginia,

 

The exhibits are in the correct folders, as I had already moved those over manually, so my installation/restore mistake created a second (flat) copy in the exhibits folder.

 

I ran verify in the maintenance option deleted G:tmg8exhibits from the paths to check in and then manually added a couple of the correct folders and that reattached the first of the files. What I would like to do is mass add those folders to whatever file TMG refers to for the alternative paths so that I can add folders en masse, and reconnect the exhibits.

 

Thanks again - Terry

[Jim Byram 0]

Doing a restore and restoring exhibits that use a tree structure fouls the nest and breaks all of the exhibit paths in the exhibit table.

 

Here is how you update a project that uses a exhibit tree to TMG8.

 

(Delete your current project.)

 

Restore your TMG7 project to TMG8 and do not restore any exhibits.

 

Copy your exhibit tree from where it was to where you want it for TMG8.

 

The paths in the exhibit table should be OK except for the beginning of each path.

 

The old path was c:somethingthe rest of the path.jpg.

 

The new path is not d:something elsethe rest of the path.jpg.

 

You use the search and replace option in TMG Utility to fix the beginning of the old exhibit paths to the new exhibit paths.

 

Change "c:something" to "d:something else".

 

TMG Utility Functions / Other / Find and Replace / Field to change / External Exhibit File paths

 

Change "c:something" to "d:something else"

 

And all of your exhibit paths will now be correct.

 

(This assumes that your exhibits are stored in only one tree and all have the same base path.)

 

If you have already worked on your TMG8 project, this isn't an option and you have to use validate File Integrity and enter all of the folder paths.

[TerryD 0]

Thanks Jim,

 

All noted and understood.

 

It comes down to your last sentence and I am trying to find out what file TMG reads (in maintenance/verify) to get its previously entered paths to use to reconnect missing exhibits. i.e. when it opens verify the paths previously entered are still there, are they stored in an .ini type file?

 

Can that be edited manually so that I can add the complete exhibits folder structure which I can create with a utility that I have, i.e.

 

TMG8exhibitscensuses1831

TMG8exhibitscensuses1841

TMG8exhibitscensuses1851

TMG8exhibitscensuses1861

TMG8exhibitscensuses1871

TMG8exhibitscensuses1881

TMG8exhibitscensuses1891

etc.

 

without having to select them one by one in VERIFY?

 

Thanks again - Terry

[Jim Byram 0]

The exhibit paths that you enter in Validate File Integrity are stored in the .PJC file located in the folder that contains your project.

 

The PJC file is a text file. Be careful. If it is damaged, you lose your project.

 

[ExhibitAlternateDir]

AlternateDir1=some path

AlternateDir2=some other path

AlternateDir3=yet another path

and so forth

[TerryD 0]

Thanks Jim, that looks like what I need.

 

Do you know if there is a limit to the number of AlternateDir entries that I can have?

 

Kind regards - Terry

[Jim Byram 0]

Do you know if there is a limit to the number of AlternateDir entries that I can have?

I know of no reason why there should be any limit (within normal requirements).

[TerryD 0]

Apologies, I keep referring the "verify" and it should say "validate".

 

For reference, I have added 154 folders and all seems to work fine.

 

Thanks again to Jim and Virginia.

 

Regards - Terry