Bug 363913 - Improve export menu structure
Summary: Improve export menu structure
Status: REPORTED
Alias: None
Product: digikam
Classification: Applications
Component: Plugin-Generic-WishForNewTools (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Platform: Other Linux
: NOR wishlist
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Digikam Developers
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2016-06-03 20:29 UTC by Jens
Modified: 2020-08-02 13:18 UTC (History)
4 users (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed In:


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Description Jens 2016-06-03 20:29:37 UTC
The Export menu is a mess (IMHO). It is littered with options that are probably only useful for a very small group of people (e.g. "Export to Debian Screenshots", "Export to Yandex.RU") and mixes web service with local folders and scripts (e.g. "export to HTML"). Plus, it isn't sorted (by any obvious criteria) so you can't quickly find the options you are looking for.

Also a simple "Export to folder ..." option with resize / convert possibility doesn't even exist. (Right?)

Suggestion: Create a hierarchy of menu options with (alphabetically sorted) entries like

Export
  Folder...  (this export option will have to be created)
  HTML ...
  KML ...  
  EMail ...   (here I would like an option to just recompress JPEG, without resizing to <=1600px)
  Flash ...
  Local network
    DLNA
    Remote computer ...
  Devices
    iPod
    ...
  Commercial web services
    23
    Dropbox
    Facebook
    Flickr
    Google Drive
    Google Photos / Picasaweb
    Imageshack
    imgur
    Piwigo
    Rajce.net
    Shwup
    Smugmug
    VKontakte
    Yandex.Fotki
    Zoooomr
  Other web services
    Debian Screenshots
    Gallery
    jAlbum
    MediaWiki
  Instant messaging contact  

The "Export to Folder" option does the same as the "EMail ..." option (regarding export options) except that the images are actually kept in the folder instead of being only copied to a temporary folder.

Also, I would like to have an "Export to WebDAV" option (for Owncloud). :-)


Reproducible: Always
Comment 1 caulier.gilles 2016-07-02 09:11:41 UTC
First the menu structure than you describe come from 4.x series, not 5.0.0.

With future 5.0.0, a lots of tools have been removed from kipi-plugins. The menu structures are very well cleaned.

Typically, kipi-plugins will host only Web service tools, no more. This is not fully done, but it's planed to be finalized later.

So for me this entry can be considerate as fixed for 5.0.0.

Gilles Caulier
Comment 2 Jens 2016-07-02 20:15:57 UTC
Hm. I seem to have a different Digikam5 (beta7) than you. I see less export options as in 4.14, but 

 * it is still a flat menu without (obvious) sorting or grouping of services
 * exporting (optionally compressed & converted) images to a local folder is still not there (right? Or did I miss something?)

Also, I would remove the "Export to" string from all exports, just list the name like I did above. This is shorter and easier to read. I can do this for you (just give me a link to the strings and the translations) if you like.

If these things will be "finalized later" then please keep the bug open for reference until the commit. Thanks!
Comment 3 caulier.gilles 2016-08-25 11:46:28 UTC
> * it is still a flat menu without (obvious) sorting or grouping of services

export is... export in fact, to web service. Look well. So the menu contents is correct.

> * exporting (optionally compressed & converted) images to a local folder is still not there (right? Or did I miss something?)

==> all moved to BQM.

>Also, I would remove the "Export to" string from all exports, just list the name like I did above. 
The menu entries are shared with other kipi host applications, which are plugged in different manner to root menu. We can't manage this in kipi-plugins.

Gilles Caulier
Comment 4 Andrew Goodbody 2016-08-27 12:48:06 UTC
> * exporting (optionally compressed & converted) images to a local folder is still not there (right? Or did I miss something?)
==> all moved to BQM.

I cannot see how to save outside of the Collection when using BQM, so for me this is not yet solved. Also 'Export to Remote Storage' is still in the Export menu when it is not a web service but it does allow saving outside the Collection just not the conversion.
Comment 5 bcr 2016-10-24 23:39:42 UTC
I would second Jens comment about the repeated 'Export to' labels in the Export menu, it looks amateurish now, especially without the suggested grouping. 

As a hack, I'd suggest encoding  something that strips out contributed menu entries when the context is known (i.e. under the Export menu)

if (menuLabel.startsWith("Export to ")  {
    menuLabel = menuLabel.remove("Export to ")
}
Comment 6 yan 2018-02-16 13:23:54 UTC
I love digikam, but unfortunately (just as many other software for Linux) it seems as if the simplest tasks turn out the most difficult to accomplish. I guess that exporting images to a local folder after resizing them is one of the most common tasks. Yet it's really hard to do - or very well hidden in the UI and documentation.

I noted that the component "Export-FileTransfer" can also be used to export to local folders (but the menu item explicitly says that it is thought for remote storage, at least in the German translation). Additionally, there is no option for resizing.

It was mentioned in this bug, that the functionality to resize and export was moved to the Batch Queue Manager (BQM), but although I consider myself a person with quite some tech knowledge, I can't get BQM to simply fulfill that task. Plus, even if it's possible with BQM, it seems way to complicated to me.

I know that there have been some feature request for similar issues already, but it seems they have never really been addressed. So please please please: Provide a simple way to resize and export images to a local folder.

Thanks in advance!
Comment 7 Jens 2018-02-18 21:20:53 UTC
100% agreed.

I'm sure there are users that need the most obscure web services for image upload.
But for the remaining 99.9% of Digikam's user base, there needs to be a *simple* way to

1. send via email (which already exists and works fine)
2. save to folder (with the same size reduction options as "send via email", plus multiple album and "keep-directory-structure" support, skip movies (or copy them), etc
3. upload to generic WebDAV service (which covers just about all of today's online storage solutions, including Nextcloud/Owncloud, which is sorely missing out in the current list).

Oh, and a *simple* way to correct the date/time stamp of images and videos, but that is another topic. ;)

While BQM is surely powerful and flexible, it is waaaaaaaay too much overhead (and/or complicated UI) for these simple tasks.
Comment 8 caulier.gilles 2018-11-03 11:00:48 UTC
WARNING : with digiKam 6.0.0 and later, we will not support kipi interface anymore. All tools are now located in digiKam core as well for a plan to provide a more power-full integration with Batch Queue Manager and to be able to export a workflow on a web-service.

All export tools are now available everywhere : album view, Image editor, Light table, and Showfoto. Previously, only album view from digiKam core was able to deal with export tools through libkipi.

All export tools are now located here :

https://cgit.kde.org/digikam.git/tree/core/utilities/assistants/webservices

All export tools use now a dedicated interface to communicate with the application : 

- digiKam (database) : 

https://cgit.kde.org/digikam.git/tree/core/libs/database/utils/ifaces/dbinfoiface.h

- Showfoto (files metadata) : 

https://cgit.kde.org/digikam.git/tree/core/utilities/assistants/common/dmetainfoiface.h


There is not direct use of digiKam database for compatibility with Showfoto.

We plan later to provide a dynamic loading of export tools using a plugins mechanism. This will reduce overloading of the internal core libraries. A dedicated devel branch have been created for that, but it's not yet complete:

https://cgit.kde.org/digikam.git/tree/?h=development/dplugins

But take a care, digiKam export tools as plugins will not be shared with another external application. API will still private and only shared between Showfoto and digiKam core. The experience with libkipi was bad and complex to maintain/extend in time.

Gilles Caulier
Comment 9 caulier.gilles 2020-08-02 13:18:47 UTC
digiKam 7.0.0 stable release is now published:

https://www.digikam.org/news/2020-07-19-7.0.0_release_announcement/

We need a fresh feedback on this file using this version.

Best Regards

Gilles Caulier