If you want to use all the examples from AMS 5 to AMS 7.5 in your AMS 8 projects, please take note below.

AMS 8 is using an updated version of LUA 5.1. One of the most important change is the TABLE ITERATION.

This is the old code used in AMS 5 to AMS 7.5 for TABLE ITERATION ( loops )

-----------------------------------------------
mytable = {"One","Two","Three"};

for k, v in mytable do
Dialog.Message("Table Item", k .. "=" .. v);
end
-----------------------------------------------


If my examples are using LOOPS, you need to change like below:


----------------------------------------------
mytable = {"One","Two","Three"};

for k, v in pairs(mytable) do
Dialog.Message("Table Item", k .. "=" .. v);
end
----------------------------------------------


See the word “pairs” in red and the bracket, above?

Just add a BRACKET around your TABLE NAME and add the word “pairs“.

Then all my examples using loops will work.

lol ….. 99.9 % of my examples are using LOOPS.
You’ll definitely have to change the codes.

Hope this helps.

We need to improve the Search Image Utility slightly before we go forward and insert it to our Mini Email Address Book. The previous examples shows how to search the whole selected drive. This time, we can drill down and choose our search to specific folder. This way, we don’t need to search the whole drives everytime. Now we have more control of our search.

If you check the screen shot below, you’ll see I’ve added 2 Buttons, 1 Check Box and an additional Label.

Search Image Utility

The Refresh Button :  refreshes any new storage media that was just inserted such as Thumbdrive and etc. It also clears the Selected Folder Path Flat Input Box.

The Folder Button : opens a Dialog of Folders within the Selected Drive. Select a Folder. The path will appear in the Flat Input Box. This input box is Read Only. So you can’t delete what you selected by typing into it. To delete it, you have to use REFRESH BUTTON. To choose another folder, just click the FOLDER BUTTON again.

The Check Box “Keep Previous Search” : will let you keep previous search in the Search Result ListBox. This is useful for doing lots of searches, trim what you dont need and save into specific Groups. This is where the new Label comes into play.

The Label “FOUND” : shows the total number of items found in the latest search.

The Label “TOTAL” : shows the total number of items in the ListBox.

Search Image Utility : Folder Drill Down

For the purpose of the Mini Email Address Book, the Image Size I plan to use are normally small. We have the choice of using our favourite Image Editing Tool. If we need to embed a basic image editing console, then the use of DLLs is unavoidable. So in the next article, I’ll be using some DLLs to :
1. Rotate Image
2. Resize Image
3. Crop Image

I will maintain the Images’ Aspect Ratio and then Save the Images into its special folder just for the Mini Email Address Book.

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Please leave a comment if you choose to download this example.

WARNING : This example needs advance familiarity with AMS objects and actions. Cut and paste will not help in improving your skills.  You need substantial understanding to place Error Check functions in the scripts. Advance skills is also needed if you plan to improve this example and repair my mistakes. SO…. if you are not familiar with AMS object and actions, please dig and understand Basic Examples I have posted earlier.  And use the HELP FILE as reference.

I noticed a lot of downloads for the Basic SlideShow. Safe to say that the posted sample is quite useful indeed. Thanks for downloading, but where are the comments? Even short comments would be much appreciated.

As promised, here’s the Search Image Utility with a SlideShow feature, alongwith of the Thumblist feature.

From the ScreenShot below, you will notice I’ve added a Slide Show button to the project. OnClick, a Temp Table is created by collecting info from the ListBox. Then the same action opens a DialogEx with a SlideShow object. OnShow, the DialogEx collects info from the Temp Table and inserts them (image path) into the SlideShow object. No big deal. The Temp Table is the KEY. It bridges info between objects. AMS & LUA rulez !!!!

Search Image with SlideShow

Your Search Results can be seen in a SlideShow. And if you select a Saved Groups, you can view a SlideShow of it as well ( shown on the screen shot below ). AND …………if you tweak this example further with RETESET’s, SSIDE’s, UPETER’s, WORM’s & DERMOT’s plugins, you’ll amazed yourself with a feature-rich Electronic Album.

Search Image Utility with Slide Show

Finally, if you plan to distribute APPs developed from project examples in this blog, PLEASE INCLUDE ERROR CHECK FUNCTION for each AMS action. It’s your responsibility to do that. Most of my examples are without error checking for the sake of clarity.

Please leave your comments in this blog.

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Let’s view a stand-alone Search Image Utility before we insert it into our Mini Address Book Project and use SQLite. Some AMS friends might want to view how it works and modify it for other projects.

Search & Save in Categories

This example searches for IMAGES only. Its a modified version of the previous Search Utility Example. I’ve enhanced it with the ThumbList Plugin and uses DialogEx to display ThumbNails. It is also a proof that DialogEx can host ThumbList Plugin.

Double Click An Item will open in default software

What can this project do:
1. Search for Images in PC based on file types such as JPG, BMP, PNG and GIF
2. List them to a ListBox
3. Click an Item on the ListBox, that Image can be viewed with Aspect Ratio at the left side
4. Double-Click that Item, it will open the file in a Default Image Software installed in the PC
5. Click on the Image or Button, it will open a DialogEx with ThumbList of the containing folder.
6. Select images from the folder ThumbList and add them to the ListBox
7. Save the Listed Images into Unique Categories for later referencing
8. View ALL the ListBox Images in its own ThumbList
9. As the Search Results in the ListBox contains Images from different folders, users can open each folder on native Windows Explorer from a Button.
10. A Double-Click on any image in the ThumbList, will open the Image in the PC’s default software.

Open Thumbs from the same folder. Set Selected to ListBox.

Explore Different Folders from a Button

Final note. You can enhance this utility further and make it into a very advanced Electronic Album with other functions including annotation, descriptions, dates, slide-show, delete, move, copy etc etc etc.

Double -click Thumbnails will open default software

And if you decide to use this sample, please leave a comment in this blog. Just say whether you like it or hate it or whatever IN YOUR OWN LANGUAGE. Its a shame that very few leave their comments here eventhough the downloads are many. I’m beginning to feel that the examples are either too difficult to follow or probably of no value whatsoever.

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The previous example on Search Function exposes the basic capability only. It shows basic SEARCH concepts for Newbies. But I dare not use this very raw function even on my PC. More features are needed before it can be distributed.

In this example, we refine the AMS Search Function further. This time, we can decide on what to do with the search results.
- We can save the results and group them.
- We can weed out irrelevant items.
- We can resave the modified list.
- We can reload previous search results or
- We dont have to keep the results at all.

With AMS, we can develop APPs according to our own delight and satisfaction.

Improved Search Utility

For this purpose, our Project will now create a HOST FOLDER on the desktop automatically. It will save the search results there according to groups. Each group has it’s own text file. You can change the location of the FOLDER.

Improved Search Utility

If the search resulted in hundreds of files, the LISTING of RESULTS in the ListBox may take some time. Our users may think that the APP has HANGED ( I dont know the right word ). This is not good for business.

Improved Search Utility

Lastly, it is your responsibility to add ERROR CHECKING for each AMS ACTIONS.

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PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT…..