What's new in Comic Collector? (page 3)
A big update for the Comic Collector software today, with several improvements and fixes, all based on the daily feedback we are getting from our users.
Changing your folder field is now much easier
The folder panel is one of the most powerful tools of your Comic Collector software. However, in our support conversations with users, we are finding that most users are always leaving their software on the out-of-the-box Series folders and never use anything else.
Which is sad, as they are missing out on a great tool. The folder panel instantly lets you group and filter your database on other fields too, e.g. by Publisher, by Grade, by Storage Box, etc.. Super useful and fun!
Now… I must admit that changing your folder panel to a different field was not very easy or obvious. As you had to create a “preset”, add your desired field(s), give the preset a name, save it, then finally activate the new preset in the folder panel.
So… we decided to make this all *much* easier, especially for single field folder settings.
- You can now directly select any folder field for the folder panel, without having to create a preset first. Just instantly pick your desired folder field under the “Folders” heading in the menu of the Folder button.
- Presets are now called Favorites.
- You can still create your own Favorite folder options, e.g. for multi-level folder settings (e.g. Series Group, then Series), or just to make a specific 1-field setting easily accessible.
- Your Favorite folder settings are listed at the top of the menu, under the Favorites heading.
- New: no more need to manually name your Favorites. Sensible names are created automatically (the selected fields separated by slashes).
Columns and Sorting
- For Columns and Sorting, “Presets” have been renamed to “Favorites” too.
- For Sort Favorites: no more need to manually name your Favorites. Sensible names are created automatically (the selected fields separated by slashes).
Edit Comic: add multiple Creators, Characters, etc.. in one go
The Select screen for adding creators, characters, etc… now includes checkboxes, so that you can multiple in one go. No more need to go back and fort between the Select and Edit screen to add multiple.
The new checkboxes for selecting multiple values in one go are now available in the Select screen for the following fields:
- Credits
- Characters
- Signed by
- Tags
Fixed:
- Using “Select All” in your list was very slow. Super fast again now 🙂
- Print screen: “Field ID 221 has no XML tagname” error, when printing the Collection Status field as a column.
- Removed the annoying “beep” when searching in the Add Comics screen.
Fixed:
- An access violation error could occur when canceling the “unrecognized barcode” pop-up.
- Backdrop image could be cleared from the Series pick list item when adding a comic.
Fixed:
- If no rating was set, it would show with rating “0” in the rating column. It now shows “nothing” in the column again.
- If no rating has been set for a comic, it would show in a “0” folder, and now shows in a “[None]” folder in your folder panel.
Fixed:
- In some case, new entries added through Add from Core would get images with .tmp extensions, instead of .jpg.
- Editing pick list items directly from the folder panel did not work anymore.
- Dragging items between folders did not work anymore.
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger!
Here’s another big update for your Comic Collector software, with two further performance improvements:
Faster image downloads
We were able to make several improvements to the way images are downloaded (covers, preview art and backdrops), making it much faster than before.
This change affects all places where images are downloaded from our servers, that is, when Adding Comics from Core, when Updating from Core and when down-syncing from CLZ Cloud.
Faster Update from Core
On large collections the old Update from Core feature was quite slow, as it updated your comics one by one, that is, doing separate requests to our server for each and every comic.
So for this update, we also complete rewrote the Update from Core feature to do the updates in batches of 100 comics at a time, making it much much faster! (roughly 4 times as fast).
Remember: Update From Core can be used to update your local comic entries with possible extra data from our Core online comic database. To use this feature, select some comics, right click, then choose Update from Core.
Fixed:
- When using My Rating as the folder field, the “0” folder was missing.
- When using multiple levels of folders in the folder panel, sometimes the displayed counters were wrong.
- Images View: it is now possible to change thumb size using Ctrl + mouse wheel.
Fixed
- Images View: Improved spacing between thumbnails
- Images View: Mouse over on images didn’t show the title of the item
- Cover Flow: Now uses big sharp images instead of the small thumbnails
- Find Cover: Could give an Access Violation when finding GIF images
When users send us screenshots during support conversations, we are seeing that many of you are using the Shelves View when browsing your collections. And we can’t blame you, that IS a cool looking view 🙂 However, it *could* be a bit slow and jerky, especially when displaying many cover images in one list.
So our Windows guy Joe has spent several weeks to make this Shelves View faster and smoother. At the same time, our in-house graphics man AJ has created two new Shelf styles. Here’s what’s new:
- Images are now loading a lot faster.
- Scrolling is faster and smoother.
- Shelves background is smoother, no more visible tile edges.
- Shelves now always continue over the full width, even when a row is not full.
- Two new Shelf Styles are now available: White and Concrete.
TIP: here’s how to get to Shelves View:
in your program’s comic list panel, click the vertical Images tab on the right, then from the toolbar above the list panel, choose a Shelf Style. Use the slider to control the size of the images.
The new “White” style:
The new “Concrete” style:
Fixed:
- “List index out of bounds” error when viewing / modifying TPB entries
New:
- “Collection Status” field can now be used as a folder field
- “Storage Box” field has been added to the Add from Core Quick Fill pop up
Fixed:
- Update All Values from GoCollect did not work anymore (on large collections)
- Problems using the Add Comics screen Pull List tab
- Resources/Handles related error when Adding or Updating from Core
- Series “have/want” summaries erroneously included comics from ALL sub-collections
Fixed:
- Fixed several issues with AutoSync that could cause Access Violation errors
Faster CLZ Cloud syncing!
We have made several structural changes to the CLZ Cloud syncing, making it much much faster than before, especially when syncing large amounts of entries up to the CLZ Cloud or down from the CLZ Cloud.
To enjoy the faster syncing, you need to use the actual Sync with CLZ Cloud screen.
(The Auto-Syncing in the background is also slightly faster now, but if you need to sync many entries up or down, please use the Sync with CLZ Cloud screen.)
Fixed:
- Link to Core: changing the search criteria could crash the program
- Add screen: changed the “already in collection” font color in dark skin to be more readable
- Add screen: Now allows multiple barcode matches
- Main screen: The “Rating” column could not be moved to a different place
- Improved cover scaling for syncing
Faster CLZ Cloud syncing!
We have made several structural changes to the CLZ Cloud syncing, making it much much faster than before, especially when syncing large amounts of entries up to the CLZ Cloud or down from the CLZ Cloud.
To enjoy the faster syncing, you need to use the actual Sync with CLZ Cloud screen.
(The Auto-Syncing in the background is also slightly faster now, but if you need to sync many entries up or down, please use the Sync with CLZ Cloud screen.)
Improved stability when using Auto-Syncing
At the same time, we have resolved several issues with the Auto-Syncing in the background, problems that could cause Access Violations in some situation. So this 20.2 version should provide a more stable experience too.
v20.1: Easily add and report comics with “unrecognized barcodes”
Another big update for your Comic Collector software for Windows. With this version 20.1, we’re introducing two improvements to the “Add Comics by barcode” feature.
Easily add and report comics with “unrecognized barcodes”
In general, our CLZ Core online comic database gives you excellent results on your barcode searches. However, it can always happen that you scan a comic’s barcode and it comes up as “unrecognized”, meaning that the barcode is not listed in our CLZ Core yet.
In today’s update, we have added a new “Unrecognized Barcode” screen, that serves two purposes. It lets you:
- Easily add the comic to your database anyway
- Report the barcode as missing, so that we can add it to our Core ASAP
Just fill in the following fields:
- Series
- Issue No and Variant
- Variant Description
- Cover Year and Month
and hit Add Issue at the bottom.
BTW: please make sure that you scanned the FULL barcode before reporting it as missing!
Let’s work together to get all comic barcodes added to the CLZ Core!
Barcode search now supports multiple results
For older comics (1970 to 1990 era), publishers sometimes re-used barcodes on different issues in the same series. The Comic Collector software has never supported that situation well, it would just returned ONE of those issue.
However, with more and more barcodes for older comics now being added, we have updated the barcode search engine to fully support this situation. When searching for a barcode that was used for multiple issues, the program will now give you all matching results, for you to choose from.
Fixed:
- Some statistics weren’t shown correctly on screens with higher DPI settings.
- Setting to display series with their sortnames wasn’t remembered correctly.
- Edit Multiple: The lock checkbox wasn’t remembered correctly.
In this update a re-design of the Tag editing interface and faster and more stable cloud syncing through our brand-new dedicated Sync-server.
Edit Comic: improved interface for adding/editing Tags
In version 20, we changed the user interface for adding/editing Tags to a checkbox list. Of course, we did so thinking we were improving this, making it easier for you all. Instead of having to type in the box, just checkbox from your existing tag list, quick and easy 🙂
Boy, were we wrong here. After the v20 release, we received complaint after complaint about this change. Most users were very upset about not being able to copy/paste tags in anymore, others criticized having to scroll through long tag lists to find the ones they want, yet others, found it way too difficult to add new tags (some even missing the possibility) and finally some even reported it as a serious database corruption that they now suddenly saw all tags in all their comics (which was of course not the case).
Anyway, to cut a long story short, we made a big boo-boo there :-).
Our sincerest apologies!
So in today’s v20.0.3, we have again re-designed the tag adding/editing interface, to take away all complaints, to resolve all problems. We are convinced that with the new design, we are giving you the best of both worlds:
- Clear overview of which tags are currently set.
- Easy adding of existing tags, using the Add Tags popup screen, which lets you:
- Find existing tags using a search box,
- Checkbox tags to add them.
- Even lets you checkbox multiple tags in one go.
- The big “paste-box” is back for easily adding multiple tags by copy/pasting.
Now uses our brand-new CLZ Cloud Sync-server
Previously one big server was handling the Connect website, the CLZ Cloud website AND the CLZ Cloud syncing from the desktop programs and the mobile apps.
But this week we have set up a brand-new dedicated Sync-server to handle just the CLZ Cloud syncing.
In today’s update, Comic Collector has been updated to sync through this new server, which should result in faster syncing and a more stable syncing experience during high load times (weekends).
Fixed:
- Solved several different “Access Violation” errors.
- Statistics: Changed colors of statistics screen for Light Skin.
Now uses our brand-new CLZ Cloud Sync-server
Previously one big server was handling the Connect website, the CLZ Cloud website AND the CLZ Cloud syncing from the desktop programs and the mobile apps.
But this week we have set up a brand-new dedicated Sync-server to handle just the CLZ Cloud syncing.
In today’s update, Comic Collector has been updated to sync through this new server, which should result in faster syncing and a more stable syncing experience during high load times (weekends).
Fixed:
- For some users, the database conversion of version 20.0.3 caused the loss of data in their User Defined Fields. This problem has been resolved now.
If you lost UDF data, please contact us so that we can help you get the data back.
This update fixes an issue with the sync where it would always re-upload the custom front/back covers if such a comic had any change at all. This resulted in many unneeded re-uploads of custom front/back covers.
Important: After updating to this version:
- the program will run a process to index your custom covers
- all comics with custom front/back covers will re-upload
Both processes might take a while!
Fixed:
- Custom front/back covers were re-uploaded too often
- Quick Search: using arrow buttons and clicking results wasn’t working correctly
Fixed:
- Folder counters weren’t always visible
- Grade couldn’t be set to N/A for single comics
- Template could show a random “a” near the Value Details
- Updated the about screen
- Updated the installer image
We are one week into 2020, so it’s time for Comic Collector 20! Today in v20, we’re bringing you 2 super useful and time-saving improvements for the folder panel, plus a brand new Statistics screen.
A couple of fixes today for Comic Collector macOS:
Fixed:
- Last Modified date wasn’t set correctly when updating values from GoCollect
- Printing a list while in dark mode would print a black page
The year “twenty-twenty is coming up, so here’s Comic Collector v20 for macOS!
In this release we added support for the macOS Dark/Light Mode.
As you probably know, macOS Catalina (version 10.15) was released earlier this week.
In Catalina, Apple has made two major changes, that will affect all software that you run on your Mac:
- All programs you use need to be 64-bit. No more support for 32-bit applications!
- All programs you download outside the App Store need to be notarized (=approved) by Apple.
Of course, our Comic Collector software has been a 64-bit application since version 18.1 (April 2018). And this week, we got it approved and notarized by Apple too!
So today, we released Comic Collector 19.2, 64-bit and notarized, so fully Catalina compatible!
We found an issue with syncing user plots: they didn’t sync correctly. All fixed and good to go now!
Fixed:
- Issue with syncing notes from CLZ Cloud to Comic Collector
- Several issues with syncing covers up/down
- Some of the new value fields were missing from the older Detail Panel templates
- Link Screen could pop-up when it shouldn’t
- Quick Search (search as you type) ignored special characters
- Export/Import XML didn’t correctly work with all the new value fields
Fixed
- Edit Multiple Comics would set the collection status to “In Collection” for all comics edited.
- Drag/Drop of cover image files in the Edit Screen ignored the “Just link to dropped file” setting.