Kevin's Tech Reviews

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Thumbnail Index Generator

Right now, I'm sitting in the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. I've been in Las Vegas since Sunday, November 5, 2006, attending a conference named Visual Studio Connections. On Monday I attended a workshop on programming advanced windows functionality using Microsoft.NET. During the workshop, the speaker showed us a simple example of how to print an index of pictures. I have taken his example code, extended it, and made it print smaller indexed files in a flow layout, like the index sheet you get when you have your pictures developed at the grocery store.

Here's a screenshot of an index file generated in a horizontal layout:



I just put the finishing touches on the program. Try it out, let me know what you think, and if you find any bugs, let me know by posting a comment below.

You can download it here: http://kevin.watson.name/files/PicturePrintSetup_v1.1.zip

Features:
  • Index all of the pictures in a folder
  • Use your own title or no title
  • Define the font and various font sizes
  • Change the layout from vertical to horizontal
  • Choose the picture height
  • Print preview
  • Displays the filename to the left of (vertical layout) or under (horizontal layout) the picture
  • Displays the folder path in the footer
  • Displays the page number in the footer

Uses:
  • Use with PDFCreator (http://www.pdfforge.org/products/pdfcreator/) to generate soft copy index sheets
  • Print to any black and white or color printer
  • When archiving last year's pictures to CD-ROM, print out a hard copy index sheet and keep it with the CD
  • Use the horizontal layout to generate smaller index files
  • Use the vertical layout to generate home inventory documentation for homeowners insurance policies

Requirements:
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Update (version 1.1, 11/19/2006):

New features:
  • User can set maximum height and width for both vertical and horizontal layout
  • Saves user settings when the application is closed and restarted
  • Default user settings have been adjusted to produce better output
  • Uses a wider printing area
  • Each picture now has a fixed width to eliminate jagged columns
Download the updated version here: http://kevin.watson.name/files/PicturePrintSetup_v1.1.zip

2 Comments:

  • 1. This program seems to be what I've been looking for to print my digital photos.
    2. I use Windows XP
    3. The font and size does not change when the setup is changed. (Hopefully a sign of a program under development.
    4. I cannot select individual pages to print, but must print the whole file.
    5. Also for future development: Include date of photo under photo.

    All in all, I'm very pleased with this program.

    Gene Bricker
    buddyole@yahoo.com (No web page!)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11/13/2007 3:24 PM  

  • When I print my digital photos index sheets, the first photo in the directory does not print!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11/16/2007 3:03 PM  

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