Image paths in Version 4 jobs
Applies to: Version 4
Before proceeding users should be familiar with
Image Paths as used in Version 3 and earlier. To this end it is
highly recommended the user consult the following knowledge base
article.
Image Paths and tnj files
Furthermore the following article on template paths in Version 4 is
also useful in understanding the concept of using placeholders and
wildcards in path statements.
Setting template paths in tsAdministrator
Version 4 is capable of working with tnj files as well as SQL jobs.. With this in mind it is useful to consider image paths in Version 4 as:
- Image Paths when working with tnj files
- Image Paths when working with SQL jobs
- Image paths when importing or merging a tnj file into an SQL job
Image Paths when working with tnj files
Version 4 allows the user to work with tnj files in the same manner as previous versions of the software.
With respect to finding images and image paths the following options are available as described in the document Image Paths and tnj files
These three options continue to be available in Version 4 whenever working with an open tnj file or whenever tnj files are imported or merged into an SQL job. Once the tnj file is in the database as an SQL job the above paths are no longer used.
Figure 1: Setting image paths for tnj files
Image Paths when importing and merging tnj files into SQL jobs
When importing a tnj file into a new SQL job (File>New from TNJ file ...) or merging a tnj file into an SQL job (File>Merge), the software needs to find any subject images belonging to the tnj file. As noted in the paragraph above in these situations the image path options are the same as those when working with open tnj files
Once the tnj file has been merged or imported into an SQL job the image paths used are those set in tsAdministrator as described below.
Image paths when working with SQL jobs
When working with SQL jobs the image paths used are in the following order.
- Location 1: The remembered path if the option has been checked
- Location 2: Paths as defined in tsAdminstrator
The 'Remember the path option' works in the same manner as for tnj files as described in
The remainder of this document will therefore focus on location 2 - paths as set in tsAdministrator
Many of the concepts relating to setting image paths in tsAdministrator (especially those regarding the use of placeholders) also apply setting paths for graphics and templates. It is therefore highly recommended the user also stufy the following document Setting template paths in tsAdministrator
A feature of setting paths in tsAdministrator is the ability to set paths for each season, workspace or account as needed. As seen in the aforementioned document this can be achieved by entering direct paths for each season, account or workspace or by the judicious use of placeholders.
The placeholders include:
- @seasoncode or @season to substitute for the season's code or description respectively
- @workspacecode or @workspace to substitute for the workspace code or description respectively
- @accountcode or @account to substitute for the account code or description respectively
- @+ to substitute for the currently open job name (This placeholder was also available in older software versions)
Examples
For the most part users save a job's images in a single folder with the name of the folder somehow relating to the job's name. With this in mind the examples below describe three typical scenarios and the paths relevant for each
Example 1: Using jobname#images subfolders
Despite the absence of loose tnj files, Version 4 SQL jobs continue to support the jobname#images folder.
On your image server computer:
Create a parent directory for your images, for example:
Create a jobname#images subfolder for each job's images. For example consider three jobs - GreenvilleSP09, YMCA08 and Fusel080712. The subfolders for these jobs would be:
In tsAdministrator
- Select the Paths object then All (*) for the Season, Workspace and Account.
- Select the Images tab and enter the path to the parent directory -in our example this would be
T:\timestone\images
Result
When the job GreenvilleSP09 is open the program will use images in the GreenvilleSP09#images subfolder. Likewise for the YMCA08 and Fusel080712 jobs.
Figure 2: Setting an image path to a parent images folder
Example 2: Using the jobname as the images subfolder - using @+ or @jobname placeholder
A common approach is to save each job's images into a subfolder named with the jobname. The procedure is similar to the above but without the need for the #images part of the folder name
On your image server computer:
Create a parent directory for your images, for example:
Create a subfolder for each job's images. For example consider three jobs - GreenvilleSP09, YMCA08 and Fusel080712. The subfolders for these jobs would be:
- GreenvilleSP09
- YMCA08
- Fusel080712
In tsAdministrator
- Select the Paths object then All (*) for the Season, Workspace and Account
- Select the Images tab and enter the path to the parent directory using the @+ placeholder or the @jobname which will substitute the currently open job's name -
Result:
When the job GreenvilleSP09 is open the program will use images in the GreenvilleSP09 subfolder. Likewise for the YMCA08 and Fusel080712 jobs.
Figure 3: Using the @+ placeholder in an image path
Example 3: Using the @seasoncode placeholder
Apart from saving each job's images into a job specific folder many users may elect to further group their images according to a season. Consider two seasons with the following codes and descriptions
On your image server computer
Create a parent directory for each season. Use either the season's code or description as the folder name. The two examples below make use of the season code.
Create a subfolder for each job's images. For example consider two jobs - GreenvilleSP09 and YMCA10 belonging to the SP09 and Fall10 seasons respectively The subfolders for these jobs would be placed in their appropriate parent folder and named as below:
In tsAdministrator
- Select the Paths object then All (*) for the Season, Workspace and Account.
- Select the Images tab and enter the path to the parent directory using the @seasoncode placeholder to subsitute for the currently open job's season and the @+ placeholder to substitute for the currently open job's name -
Result
When the job GreenvilleSP09 is open the program will use images in the T:\timestone\images\SP09\GreenvilleSP09 folder. Similarly the YMCA10 job will use images in the T: imestone\images\Fall10\YMCA10 folder
Figure 4: Using the @ and @+ placeholders in an image path
Example 4: Combining multiple paths
It is possible to enter multiple image paths. The software will then search for images in each path in turn.
Consider a scenario where you may wish to save all images whose job names begin with A-M in one parent directory while all job images where the job name begins with N-Z are to be saved in another parent directory. furthermore these folders themselves are sub folders of a season parent directory
On your image server computer:
Create a parent directory for each season. Use either the season's code or description as the folder name. Within each season's folder create a folder for A-M jobs and another for N-Z jobs.
The examples below make use of the season code.
Create a subfolder for each job's images. For example consider two jobs - GreenvilleSP09 and YMCA10 belonging to the SP09 and Fall10 seasons respectively The subfolders for these jobs would be placed in their appropriate parent folder and named as below:
In tsAdministrator
- Select the Paths object then All (*) for the Season, Workspace and Account.
- Select the Images tab and enter the path to the parent directory. Use the @ placeholder to subsitute for the currently open job's season and the @+ placeholder to substitute for the currently open job's name. Use a path for the A-M jobs and another path for the N-Z jobs-
Result
The GreenvilleSP09 job is in the SP09 season and the job name begins with G. When the job GreenvilleSP09 is open the program will use images in the T: imestone\images\SP09\A_M\GreenvilleSP09 folder.
Similarly the YMCA10 job is in Fall10 season and the job name begins with Y. When this job is open the software will first look for images in the first path. Since it will be unable to folder the images in this path it will continue to search the next path. It will find and use the images in the T:\timestone\images\Fall10\N_Z\YMCA10 folder
Figure 5: Entering multiple image paths
End of article