MediaMan - Archived Change Log for MediaMan

MediaMan - Change Log

Version 2.71.3 (April 26, 2008)

Fixed a bug where the list pane doesn't refresh immediately after a paste or drag & drop
Fixed registration problems and "protection error" pop ups

Version 2.71.2 (April 11, 2008)

Fixed a bug where auto-saving feature may truncate collection file names, which may later lead to a program crash.
Fixed a bug in data file handling routines that may cause program crash upon entering items.

Version 2.71.1 (April 5, 2008)

Fixed a bug where sort option switching do not reflect result immediately.
Improved file naming of HTML based exporting.
Fixed an issue with zlib decompresser that may lead to program crash.

Version 2.71 (March 30, 2008)

Enhanced performance on startup, MediaMan now launches much faster when "remembering last category" option is set.
Enhanced performance when working with large collections, item listing and virtual shelf rendering is now much faster than before. This performance enhancement applies to searching and alternative organizing methods too.
Fixed a problem where Internet Explorer's Just-in-Time debuggers may be triggered during MediaMan's startup.
Improved collection file handling to reduce fragmentation and corruption.
Upgaded SQLite component.
Fixed a minor bug that may cause registration to fail.

Version 2.70 (August 3, 2007)

New feature: PlayIt is now capable of media file playback inside MediaMan
New feature: Dual-processor and quad-processor enabled virtual shelf rendering
New feature: The last selected category is now remembered
New feature: Search by title
Improvement: Webcam barcode scanner is now much more usable than ever before
Improvement: Collation system will now recognize lots of band names people names, conversion is performed a lot accurate than before
Improvement: Field names are now sorted in field selection dialog boxes
Improvement: In the detail view, keyboard first letter navigation now applies to the current sorting column
Changed Actor Artist Author Director google search engine links to Amazon Associate links to comply with the Amazon Web Service usage agreement
Change: File listing attach folder will no longer enumrates hidden files, folder synchronizing function is added
Change: Increased JPEG storage quality
Change: Increased tag content, custom icon content, and string recall content size limitation
Change: Increased combo box content size limitation
Fixed a bug where switching between hide/unhide irrelevant sheets causing text and image change to be reverted
Fixed a bug where long titles could lead to malfunctioning of the category overview pane
Fixed a bug where custom status is not included in sorting and status is not sorted correctly
Fixed a bug where keyboard focus stays on the virtual shelf zoom bar when zooming operation is completed
Fixed a bug where there's no files tab in the new item dialog
Fixed a bug where items can't be deselected using Ctrl key
Fixed a bug where there's no view pane context menu on Windows Vista
Fixed a bug where incorrect item icon is displayed in search results, status, and tag management mode
Fixed a bug in category icon assignment dialog where the current selected icon is displayed incorrectly
Fixed a problem where MediaMan stops downloading when incorrect content size is returned from Amazon ECS servers
Fixed a minor progress bar animation problem on Windows Vista
Fixed a minor memory leak in drag & drop
Fixed a bug where the Date Added field is set to GMT today rather than local today when importing new items
Fixed a bug where Disc Layer and Disc Side radio box can't be choosed at the same time
Fixed a bug where Format and Aspect Ratio is not showing up in detail view mode
Fixed a bug where Edit->Delete in main menu has no action
Fixed minor bugs with toolbar and status bar show/hide
Fixed minor resource loading and logic problems
Fixed a bug where newly entered combo box items are not remembered
Upgraded FreeImage component
Upgraded SQLite component

Version 2.66.3 hotfix (April 15, 2007)

Fixed a collection file handling logic bug that can lead to a complete re-initialization of collection file

Version 2.66.3 (March 9, 2007)

Fixed program crashing on certain computer configurations when third-party spyware scanning program is enabled
Improved virtual shelf rendering and updating when working with large collection files

Version 2.66.2 (February 11, 2007)

Fixed a problem where virtual shelf rendering could freeze the program for a long time in certain circumstances
Upgraded SQLite and data layer component to solve false reports of malformed database image

Version 2.66.1 (February 4, 2007)

A fix to toolbar painting problem in Windows Vista
A fix to the installer that caused MediaMan to be executed as Administrator when running for the first time. It's now executed as a normal user
A fix to drag and drop rollover image font style problem when ClearType is enabled
Fixed a new problem in v2.66 where virtual shelf PNG export renders empty result
Fixed gallery pane script error
Fixed dates before 1900/1/1 cannot be stored (Note: the date 1900/1/1 is still a special date, which is treated as empty in MediaMan, please avoid using this date.)
Fixed a bug where new fields, such as Original Title, Format, Features are not showing up in the detail mode
Fixed a minor tab sequence problem in Amazon wizard
Changing collation setting will now reflect immediately, without a program restart
The new browser component in v2.66 requires Internet Explorer 6 SP2, which is not compatible with Windows 2000, it's now replaced with the old one in this release

Version 2.66 (January 26, 2007)

All virtual shelf features now works in Windows Vista
Fixed a tooltip flicker problem in Windows Vista
Fixed a scroll bar positioning problem in Windows Vista
Enhanced Windows Vista style toolbar painting
Automated updater now works with Windows Vista
Updated clipboard feature, status, tag organization methods, and search mode now supports copying and cutting, fixed a bug: pasting into the root category is now disabled
New virtual shelf theme cases for PS3 and Wii
New virtual shelf selection glowing style
New virtual shelf drag and drop enhanced roll over image
Common fields, including publisher and original title are now moved to shared field pages
List pane keyboard navigation improvement, allowing first letter direct jump in virtual shelf mode, allowing right arrow to jump to the next row
New list based print style for monochrome printing
Changed dialog box group style to allow efficient use of screen space
Minor enhancements to the collation system, German articles are now recognized, "The Band" syntax will now be recognized in artist field
More fields are now sortable
More fields can now be exported
Full status information can now be printed and exported
URLs in custom fields are now automatically processed and hyperlinked
Fixed minor tabbing sequence problem in dialogs
Fixed a problem where the exporter doesn't validate the typed export path and file name
Fixed a program threading bug that could lead to program freezing when modifying items during the virtual shelf rendering process
Fixed a bug where gallery view is messed up when "image" is unchecked to hide
Fixed a bug where deleting items from the search result doesn't reflect changes immediately
Fixed multiple logic problems in file look up sequence in the PlayIt feature
Fixed a bug in icon customization where icon deletion doesn't work
Fixed a data-layer "unable to close collection file" problem appeared in version 2.65
Fixed a bug where the exporter always exports title, improved single field exporting capability
Minor fix to field name and value spacing in detail style printing

Version 2.65 (October 28, 2006)

Switched from MediaMan proprietary collection file format to SQLite 3 for higher reliability, improved functionality and performance. Collection files will be automatically upgraded upon opening, no user attention is required.
Reduced overheads and improved performance in all collection file related operations including file opening, saving, new item importing, virtual shelf rendering, tag/status parsing, and searching.
New feature: direct rating setting in detail view mode.
New feature: collection backup.
New feature: a full screen mode.
Improved virtual shelf rendering exporting with more options.
Corrected several user interaction logic errors in file opening, saving, and creation.
Corrected a logic problem in Play It.
Improved virtual shelf theme mechanism, doubled resolution makes it possible to zoom to 200% without upsampling.
Redesigned the default them package.
Fixed rating painting bugs in detail mode.
Fixed program lockup/freeze problems.
Fixed script error problems with Internet Explorer 7
Fixed a bug with sorting in item list pane.
Fixed a bug with sorting in category selection combo boxes.
Fixed a problem with detail view default column headers.
Fixed another problem with the updater.

Version 2.60.2 (September 10, 2006)

Fixed a problem with detail view mode, where initially there's no field visible because the column header was empty.
Fixed a problem with detail view column header width sizing.
Fixed a problem with the updater.

Version 2.60.1 (August 30, 2006)

Fixed multiple performance problems with data file handling, corrected slow down behavior introduced with version 2.60.
Fixed an error message deleting temporary files in the updater (which doesn't affect the update process though).
Further fix on data layer performance problem. (Released on September 2, 2006, no version change)

Version 2.60 (August 26, 2006)

Changed program internal structure, MediaMan now complies with the least priviledged Windows application standards. It works smoothly under limited user accounts, and no longer requires administrative priviledge to run.
Changed program internal structure, MediaMan now relies on the application data folder (typically, C:\Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\MediaMan) to store temporary files and some of the preference settings (including custom icons, tags, and callout/value-remembering settings). This change will cause previous callout/value-remembering settings to be lost.
Changed program behavior, the icon importing function will now make a copy of the icon in the application data folder, and stores the file name only. This change will cause previous custom icon settings to be lost.
Changed program behavior, generated statistics chart images will now be put into the application data folder.
Clarified program behavior, the "Update from Web" feature will prompt that it only works under administrative priviledge.
Improved print function to allow more control over the styles and field choice.
Improved export function to allow choices of fields and their orders, and custom "delimiter" choice for CSV
New export capability, exporting to HTML website.
Improved data layer file handling performance for large collection files, ensured thread-safety.
Corrected user interaction logic in icon importing, field order selection, export wizard, print dialog.
Fixed a bug in the collation sorting system where names containing "-" (dash) and "'" (single quotation mark) can't be sorted correctly.
Fixed a bug that the program will not download correct item information when secondary search is activated in Amazon wizard.
Fixed a crash problem under certain circumstances in the print dialog.
Fixed a crash problem with tag, status management and search tool when the collection is empty.
Fixed a problem where file name containing a single quotation mark can't be used in the file list section of the detail pane.
Introduced extra theme looks for HD DVD and Blu-ray discs.

Version 2.51.2 (June 22, 2006)

Fixed another problem in sorting function that may produce erroneous results.
Fixed a bug where detail view column arrangement can't be saved.

Version 2.51.1 (June 20, 2006)

Fixed a problem in sorting function that may produce erroneous result after editing items.
Fixed a problem with secondary searching in wizard
Fixed a problem where the detail view became blank if attempting to import an item in home screen.
Minor performance improvement in sorting

Version 2.51 (June 17, 2006)

New feature: detail view mode. This is a grid-based view mode that behaves similar to the detail view in Windows explorer. Items are listed in the form of a table. The choice of what fields to display and order can be configured on a per-category basis. Header-click sorting is supported. This feature is available in alternative program modes, such as search, tag, and status, too.
New feature: automatically searching on a secondary site, when no items is found on the primary one. This feature allows you to configure a secondary Amazon international site. In a batch or single query, if MediaMan found one or more unmatched items, it'll prompt you to proceed another search on the secondary site.
New feature: treating the search keyword as actor/author/title etc in the Amazon wizard.
New feature: acending/descending option on all sortable fields
Improvement, asynchronous list pane selection to detail pane update, providing higher overall performance when working with the item listing.
Minor improvement on the user interface, revised button styles and sorting menu
Fixes, some improvement to the datalayer provding higher sustain to faulty collection file and repairing capability
Fixes, tweaks in the datalayer to meet the new Amazon ECS standard.
Revised theme, HD DVD and glass frame cases included

Version 2.50.2 (March 16, 2006)

Fixed a background search/parsing thread that could lead to deadlock/freeze or cause the program to be malfunctioning on fast processors, and/or processors with HyperThreading, DuoCore, or SMP (dual processor) technology
Added tag group renaming feature

Version 2.50 (March 12, 2006)

New feature: organizing by tags, with tag mode switch and tagging dialog
New feature: organizing by status, with status mode switch
New feature: program background thread status indicator, including rendering and searching available on top-right of the caption bar
Number-of-item display in category tree, available in all 3 program modes, including tag and status mode
Added new tag field to support the tagging feature
Revised search tool, now embedded in the category pane, results are displayed in the item list pane, search engine style syntax is now supported, searching date fields is now supported
Revised program experience, common item modification tasks can now be performed in a similar way. The manipulation of search result, tagged items, and status management are now as easy as performing the same task under categories
Category overview pane used a new approach to list rental items, clicking items in the list has the same effect as selecting the item in the list pane
Revised export wizard user interface, providing simplified process
Exporting to CSV and HTML listing style now features automatic total price calculation if the price field is selected, same feature is available in printing
Revised status indicator in virtual shelf
Improved performance in item listing and virtual shelf rendering
Improved overall program performance by avoiding handling unnecessary notifications and callbacks
Option to render titles when exporting the virtual shelf rendering
Revised frame user interface, zooming and sorting feature are easier to access
Revised sorting feature in other part of the program
A revised version of theme package
Preview dialog will now automatically aligned in the viewable area in low screen resolution configuration
Fixed a potential deadlock problem with background record parsing threads
Fixed a problem where status isn't displayed correctly in the detail pane
Fixed a problem where underscores (_) isn't being converted to spaces in the detail pane
Fixed a painting problem in caption bar when working with multiple monitors
Fixed a problem where the program doesn't accept registration names ending in full stop (.)

Version 2.33.4 (December 21, 2005)

Fixed the long overdue registration problem. All trial users are strongly advised to upgrade.

Version 2.33.3 (December 17, 2005)

Fixed a bug where importing a new item using the dialog will not work
Fixed a bug where canceling the statistics exporting process can cause a crash.

Version 2.33.2 (December 14, 2005)

Improved Amazon and LOC wizard result box behavior, added "not found" item report, can be copied to clipboard.
Fixed a bug when editing an item in the flattened-category mode, item category will be wrongly assigned.
Fixed a bug when editing multiple items in the flattened-category mode, certain modified items may disappear.
General bug fixes to the frame window

Version 2.33.1 (December 1, 2005)

An attempt to fix registration problems

Version 2.33 (November 28, 2005)

Improved theme mechanism, added new group "Software" and "Video Games". They, plus "Book", now feature aspect-ratio locked rendering based on the original cover picture
Expanded list mode now uses colored status
Field show/hide settings for the search dialog, export wizard, print dialog are now remembered separatedly
Fixed a bug where auto-save time interval can't be changed
Fixed a small bug with the "rendering" icon in the theme package
Fixed a minor problem with CRLF (the return character) in CSV exporting

Version 2.32.1 (November 14, 2005)

Fixed a bug where show/hide toolbar and statusbar wasn't working correctly.
Fixed a bug where importing an item from Amazon containing no pictures can cause a crash or a non-breaking halt.
Fixed a bug where the LOC wizard accidentially quit the program while performing UPC and EAN based searches. (Note: UPC and EAN searches are not supported by the Library of Congress, recognition feature for both types of barcodes has been disabled. However, EAN->ISBN conversion will continue to work)
Fixed several severe bug with the web-update feature.

Version 2.32 (November 8, 2005)

Revised detail pane design and improved overall usability
Revised theme design and default rendering
Revised list pane selection behavior
New feature: tooltips in list pane offering basic information quickly on rollover, can be turned off
New feature: "Play It!", providing shortcut launch of media files and playlist files in your default player from within MediaMan
New feature: new fields, "Location", "Number of Copies" are now supported, "Location" is available for sorting
Improved virtual-shelf performance, lowered CPU usage
Improved item status rendering, item status is now rendered in colored tags available in both list pane tooltips and the virtual shelf view
Removed limitation on the number of characters allowed in descriptive fields
Fixed a bug where Amazon query using Japanese didn't work
Fixed a bug where the search tool don't search date-related fields
Fixed miscellaneous bugs in virtual shelf renderer
Fixed a bug where barcode scanning button didn't work in Library of Congress wizards
Fixed a bug where custom status do not show up in detail pane
Fixed minor bugs with option check in the main menu
Fixed a bug where deleting an item causing list pane selection to reset
Fixed a bug where image can't be imported from a directory with non-latin characters

Version 2.31 (MediaMan Web Update on October 20, 2005)

Fixed a bug where "skip welcome screen" option is not remembered. This option is now also available in the option dialog.

Version 2.31 (MediaMan Web Update on October 13, 2005)

MediaMan no longer relies on system Internet security settings. It's now possible to raise the Internet security level (in Control Panel -> Internet Properties) to the highest available level or use any kind of Internet security software with MediaMan.

Version 2.31 (October 11, 2005)

Automated program updating from the web
Unlock the number of images to around 25 in total
Unlock the number of discs to around 30 in total
Convert genre field to a multi-value field
Revised category overview pane to show more information
Bug fix: Field show/hide settings aren't being saved
Bug fix: Window position and size isn't remembered correctly when is used maximized
Bug fix: Collation system doesn't convert names like "Arthur C. Clarke", "Cuba Goodings Jr.", "Catherine Zeta-Jones" or doesn't convert them correctly.

Version 2.30.1 (September 28, 2005)

Bug fix: collection file won't be automatically loaded if it's the first time you saved the file
Bug fix: first time amazon import in new collection file won't show up in virtual shelf (just switch between categories, and they'll show up.)
Bug fix: restore to the subcategory view from the collection overview, the detail pane will display the last record instead of empty if there's no record in the category
Bug fix: category statistics feature wasn't working correctly

Version 2.30 (September 28, 2005)

Improved virtual shelf rendering mechanism, renders in background without blocking user interface
Virtual shelf live zooming feature
Virtual shelf rendering cache improvement
Improved rendering for items not having a picture associated
Revised theme
Performance improvement: textual data cache
Importing from the Library of Congress wizard
Preview of search result in wizards
New fields: Genre, Rating, Subjects
Improved custom field mechanism
Handling up to 5 pictures for each item
Editing multiple items
Date fields are converted from strings to date/time
Various new sorting-field options
Category-specific sorting options
Collection file structure improvement for fast parsing, safety, and caching (Collection file saved by version 2.30 is not compatible with previous versions of MediaMan)
Revised item status, and custom status feature
Improved category overview for status list
Improved field-selection tree for all related dialogs
Exporting virtual shelf rendering as PNG images
Printing feature, and new export format
"Show Flattened" category feature
Gallery view in addition to the item detail view
Miscellaneous user interface improvements
Miscellaneous bug fixes
Removed collection update wizard
Removed price tracker feature

Version 2.2.1 (July 29, 2005)

An emergency fix regarding images can no longer be retrieved since July 27, 2005 due to a change in Amazon ECS system.

Version 2.2 (Jun 5, 2005)

A new set of virtual-shelf themes featuring 4 color variations
A temporary fix for German and France umlaut (a.k.a. vowel mutation) letters can't be used during keyword search, this is confirmed as a major flaw in Amazon's ECS system, however, enormous partner sites will break if they fix this bug, I've decided to provide a private fix here in the program
New options to support logical sort under collation rules, reversing first names and last names, sort items by numbers in the title (mainly for book series), and this feature can now be applied to the exporting function too
New export format and options, allows to export to text files, allows to export into one file for each item, enhanced HTML export, tags are being standardized, image path issues have been fixed, HTML page style can be further customized using external CSS stylesheets.
Revised list pane context menu, adding a new "Change Case" operation for quickly change item-appearence in virtual shelf
Minor enhancement to field tree options, adding right-click context menus
Minor enhancement to checkboxes, set edit box focus automatically to reduce keyboard strokes
Minor enhancement to the collecton update tool, new option to retain the current image of an item
Fixed multiple copy, cut, & paste bugs
Fixed crash and memory leak problems in webcam barcode scanning feature (only in certain circumstances)
Fixed multiple theme related bugs
Fixed search dialog size bug in high screen resolution dpi
Fixed <Enter> and <Tab> key problem in the search dialog
Fixed HTML detail view show/hide settings bug
Fixed CSV export column alignment bug

Version 2.1 (February 7, 2005)

Support for Amazon Canada and France
New batch barcode entry dialog supporting CueCat and other PS/2, USB-based barcode scanners
Linking to a file on the hard drive
Fixed status displaying problem
Fixed the ugly look of icons under low-color depth mode (16bit or 24bit)
Fixed a crashing problem when clearing the image
Fixed the issue that some of the fields weren't recorded in the new item dialog
Fixed the default browser problem
Fixed multiple minor issues in the program

Version 2.0.1 (January 24, 2005)

Selection of multiple webcam (capture drivers)
Added sorting by "status"
Enhanced barcode feature, automatically convert EAN to ISBN if possible
Fixed "hang" problem in the media item wizard
Fixed error-caching problem in the media item wizard
Fixed track listing problem in the new item dialog
Repaired multiple issues in the search tool
Fixed multiple issues in the export wizard

Version 2.0 (January 17, 2005)

Using Amazon E-Commerce System 4.0 to retrieve information
Improved batch barcode/ISBN support in media item wizard
Webcam barcode scanning capability in media item wizard
Enhanced expanded-list view, major performance improvement, sort highlighting feature, due reminder feature, field selection and 2 styles
New theme-based "Virtual Shelf" view mode, providing an intuitive view of digital DVD/Book shelf
Collection update wizard, doing web update as well as manual update
Collection export wizard, export to RTF, CSV, HTML, with selected items, fields, or search results
Enhanced edit item dialog, more regular fields, more custom fields
Full Frame/Wide Frame user interface mode
Full customization of the user interface with swappable view panes
The ability to import custom icons
The ability to show/hide certain fields
Auto-saving feature
MediaMan theme mechanism, customizing both the Virtual Shelf view and the HTML template
Simplified price tracker feature
Multiple major user interface enhancement
Multiple major performance enhancement
Removed "Media Type" customization list
Removed "Thumbnail" view mode
Removed support for old configuration file as well as price tracker data
Removed multiple annoying features

Version 1.6 (September 10, 2004)

Greatly improved search tool supporting category, status search, displaying matched sequence and keyword highlighting.
Improved support for German (exporting and case-insensitive searching)
Improved, more accurate statistics chart
Export raw statistics data to a CSV file
Fixed a bug with icon customization doesn't work
Fixed a multithreading bug with the search tool
Fixed a multithreading related bug with the program won't quit if you close it immediately after start.

Version 1.5.2 (August 27, 2004)

Fixed a bug with thumbnails aren't correct when "Use Formalized Names" option applied.
Generic improvements

Version 1.5.1 (August 23, 2004)

Fixed a bug with no image showing up when the image is added manually.

Version 1.5 (August 23, 2004)

Introduced MediaMan Price and Availability Tracker (PAT) service
Improved content retrieval engine for batch ISBN and UPC mode
Improved RTF exporting function, supporting image and full information exporting
Enhanced list view with 4 styles and various sorting options
Enhanced detail view with express links
Collection search feature
Graphical collection statistics feature
Greatly improved and integrated new online manual
Customizable image resizing option
Automatic new version checker
Supporting storaging/modifying of extra information for each item
Supporting custom fields for each item
New home page and detail view design
Fixed minor memory allocation problems
Improved list view, detail view, and exporting performance
Improved data file handling performance
Reduced data file operation complexity

Version 1.0.2 (July 16, 2004)

Introduced GIF support.
Improved help system access
Fixed several issues with the info retrieval wizard
Fixed media type list customization function
Fixed minor memory leaks
Fixed Japanese text related queries
Reduced help file size
Revised help file content

Version 1.0.1 (July 4, 2004)

Fixed a crash during info retrieval process.
Improved stability

Version 1.0 (June 30, 2004)

Improved web search wizard allowing downloading up to 20 items at the same time.
Item status tracking function
Item icon customization function
Media type list customization function
Automated collection file backup
Image importing via clipboard
Extra crash dumping facility, to enable quick debugging with customer's help
Improved Internet access usability and stability (Multithreading and CDN awareness)
Fixed major data-compression memory allocation issues
Fixed list view crash on certain items (DrawText API)
Fixed major program memory allocation issues
Fixed configuration file handling issues
Fixed minor crashes
Revised and repaired help documents
Minor performance improvement
Removed WinINet library support

Version 0.9 (April 16, 2004)

Amazon International site support, including United States, Great Britain, Germany, and Japan
Switch between category view, list view, and detail view by pressing F6 or TAB key
Major performance improvement in HTML detail view. (no longer generates a temporary HTML file while viewing item details)
Menubar keyboard navigation improvement
Revised and repaired help documents
Minor crash fixes

Version 0.8 (March 19, 2004)

Initial Release