UpsSlideshow
Yet another slide show program
Overview
When you run the executable file upsslideshow (Linux) or upsslideshow.exe (Windows™) for the first time, there will be an empty window without any control elements — that is, no buttons or menu. However, you can still access all the functionality of the program and quickly get started with your first slideshow:
Right-click anywhere in the empty window.
Click "Directory."
Choose a directory containing JPEG files or other formats supported by your version of the Qt library.
Confirm by clicking the "OK" button in the file dialog.
Back in UpsSlideshow, click anywhere in the main window.
Press the space bar...
Alternatively, read on to learn more about how to activate the different functions of the program.
Each action available in UpsSlideshow can be activated in one of three ways:
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By selecting a function from the control window (right-click menu)"
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By using a keyboard shortcut
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By selecting a command from the menu bar
In addition to these methods, images can be moved by dragging them with the mouse, and zoom in and out of an image using the mouse wheel.
Control Window
I will explain how to use each of the buttons that appear after right click into the program window..
To hide the controls, click the left mouse button in the main program window. Alternatively, pressing the Escape key achieves the same result. See below under keyboard shortcuts and menu bar for alternative ways to access the commands.
The right mouse button provides access to all the functionality in UpsSlideshow – unless I missed something. Hover over a function to see an explanatory tooltip, including the shortcut keys that can also execute the function.
The functions in the control window are organized into three tabs: Files, Picture, and Program.
Files tab
The first tab contains functions that work with file system objects — that is, image files and the directories in which they are stored.
- Directory
Choose a directory containing images to create a slideshow of all those images.
- Reset
Read again the same directory and recreate the slideshow from the images found. This is useful when images have been added or removed from the current directory. Note that the chosen directory will be opened again when when the program is terminated and later restarted. Initially, the slideshow always displays the currently available images. The reset function is useful when images have been added or removed while the program is running.
- Save Now
Saves the currently displayed image to a file. In other words, it creates a copy of the image scaled to its visible size in UpsSlideshow. The image may therefore lose quality. A new name can be chosen and even the file type can be changed – e.g., from JPEG to TIFF. Choosing the same name and directory overwrites the original file. Avoid to destroy images unintentionally in this way!
- Mark for Copy
A batch copy function: mark one or more images that should be copied at once to a new target directory. This allows to only select the individual files initially, then to save all the marked files at once. The file names do not change, but the size of each file depends on the zoom currently applied to the image in UpsSlideshow. If the status bar is enabled (see below), a green check mark will appear for each marked image.
- Unmark
Removes a mark so that the current image is not copied along with the remaining marked images (see Mark for Copy above).
- Mark for Deletion
Similar to Mark for Copy, but allows to batch delete image files from the file system. If the status bar is enabled, a red cross appears below each image marked for deletion.
- Keep Image
Removes a deletion mark so that the current image is not deleted together with the remaining files marked for deletion.
- Delete Marked
Deletes from the file system all images that have been marked for deletion.
- Save Selected
Creates copies of all images that have been marked for copying. A dialog is displayed, prompting to choose a target directory. The file names of the copies will be the same as the originals'.
- External Editor
Opens the current file in an external application. This is useful when image must be modified in a graphics editor such as GIMP. However, program capable of opening the image can be selected. If a new program is selected from the file system, the previous choices are remembered — up to five such programs remain available even after a restart of UpsSlideshow
- Terminal
Opens a terminal application and sets its current directory to the one with the image files currently visualized. A dialog appears where terminal applications can be chosen and saved for future use.
Picture tab
The second tab card of the configuration window contains navigation- and zoom functions.
- Next
Navigates to the next image in the current slideshow.
- Previous
Navigates to the previous image in the current slide show.
- Go to image #
Allows to navigate to any image in the current slideshow by its position in the current file order.
- Double size
Enlarges the image to twice its previous size.
- Half size
Reduces the image to half its previous size.
- Original size
Resets the display size of the image to its original size.
- Sharpen
Sharpens the image; repeat to increase the effect. (Not very useful — this function may be removed in a future version of the program.)
- Rename
Allows renaming of an image file.
- Zoom in
Magnifies the image by increasing its dimensions by 120×120 pixels per step. If the image is saved after zooming, the new file contains a magnified version; image quality may be reduced.
- Zoom out
Decreases the image dimensions by 120×120 pixels per step. When images are saved after having been resized in this way, the new files are smaller and may lose detail.
- Tilt (Right)
Rotates the current image 90° clockwise.
- Tilt (Left)
Rotates the current image 90° counterclockwise.
- Show image info
Opens a dialog with information about the current image and any optionally stored display parameters.
- Save image parameters
Saves the current display parameters for the image. The next time that the same image is visualized, its rotation angle, zoom and position are restored — provided presets are enabled globally on the Program tab.
- Remove current image parameters
Removes any presets saved for displaying the current image.
Program tab
The functions in the right pane of the control window manage the slideshow itself. Except for the first option and the last three, these controls are toggle buttons.
- Time (s)
Defines the number of seconds each image is displayed during an automatic slideshow. Either select a time in seconds using the arrow keys or enter a number directly into the field.
- Use preset parameters
Globally enables the use of stored display parameters.
- Pause
During an automatic slideshow, use this function to keep the current image displayed for any length of time. As this is a toggle button, it can be used to resume automatic image changes. However, the space bar does the same.
- Manual
This toggle button determines whether the slideshow runs automatically or whether the next image is displayed only after a user action – usually by pressing the space bar. Note that the Pause button has no effect when Manual mode is activated.
- Loop
When activated, the slideshow restarts from the first image after the last one has been displayed.
- Random order
Activate to show the images in random order.
- Toggle menu
Shows or hides the menu bar. The functions in the menu bar are organized differently from those in the control window. See below for more information.
- Toggle progress bar
Shows or hides the progress bar, which indicates the display duration for each image.
- Toggle status bar
Shows or hides the status bar.
- Toggle background
Switches the background color of the main program window between the standard color and black.
- Shortcuts
Displays a list of available keyboard shortcuts_.
- About
Shows an "About" dialog with background information on UpsSlideshow including the General Public License. The license can be saved to a file, if desired.
- Quit
Exits the program and saves all current settings, such as the state of the three panes of the configuration dialog, the current directory, window sizes and the state of all toggleable items.
Keyboard Shortcuts
The Shortcuts function in the control window opens a dialog listing all available keyboard shortcuts. These provide an alternative to using the command window. The same dialog can also be opened with the H-key.
At the time of this writing, the following shortcuts are available:
I
Select a directory containing images.
P
Start, pause, or resume the slideshow
Ctrl+P
Pause slide show (stop automatic playback)
Home
Reload the directory and restart from the first image
PgDown
Show the next image and continue
PgUp
Show the previous image and continue
+
Increase display time per image by 1s
-
Decrease display time per image by 1s
C
Show images in random order
O
Loop the slideshow until manually stopped
Ctrl+Q
Exit the application
2
Resize image by factor 2
Ctrl+2
Resize image by factor 0.5
M
Mark the image for copying
Shift+M
Remove copy mark
D
Mark image for deletion
Shift+D
Remove mark, do not delete
G
Jump to an image
B
Show or hide the menu bar
R
Rotate the image by 90° clockwise
Shift+R
Rotate the image by 90° anticlockwise
Left
Move the image 10 px to the left
Right
Move the image 10 px to the right
Up
Move the image 10 px upwards
Down
Move the image 10 px downwards
1
Restore the image to its original size
Ctrl+Up
Zoom in by 120 px increments
Ctrl+Down
Zoom out 120 px increments
N
Rename the current image file
S
Save the current image now
Ctrl+D
Delete the marked image files now
H
Show the list of available keyboard shortcuts
X
Open the image in an external application
F8
Toggle background color (light/dark)
Ctrl+Shift+S
Sharpen the current image
Ctrl+I
Display detailed information about the current image
Ctrl+F
Go to the next directory
Note that, at present, users cannot define custom keyboard shortcuts.
Mouse actions
The mouse supports two operations in UpsSlideshow: zooming and moving. Using both actions together allows you to examine image details more closely. If the status bar is visible, images can also be marked for later copying or deletion by clicking one of the square fields near the right end of the status bar.
Zoom an image
While an image is displayed, rotating the mouse wheel while holding down the left mouse button zooms in or out of the image.
Move an image
While an image is displayed, it can be moved by dragging the mouse pointer while holding down the left mouse button.
Mark an image
Near the right edge of the status bar are two empty square fields. If the status bar is not visible, it can be shown using the Toggle Status Bar command from the control window or the Window menu. Clicking the first square field marks the current image for later copying, while clicking the second marks it for deletion.
Usage example
Assumptions
You have a directory of photos from which you want to select some images (source directory).
You have a second directory where you want to place the selected images (target directory).
Some photos need sharpening. Usually, you use GIMP for that kind of work.
Some photos can be deleted.
Procedure
Start UpsSlideshow with the source directory as the only parameter:
user@machine:~$ |program| /home/user/images/all_images
Alternatively, start UpsSlideshow without a parameter and use the keyboard shortcut I to choose the source directory.
Right-click inside the program window and activate the Manual option in the leftmost panel.
Press the space bar to display each image in the chosen directory. While an image is displayed, decide whether to use, keep, or delete it.
To mark an image for copying to the target directory, either press M or use the Mark for copy command in the control window or in the Image menu.
To mark an image for later deletion, either press D or use the Mark for deletion command in the control window or in the Image menu.
To open an image in an external program such as GIMP, either press X or use the External Editor command in the control window or in the Image menu. Click Add application if your preferred graphics editor is not already listed, or click the button labeled GIMP if it is. Make the desired modifications and either save the image as a new file in the target directory or overwrite the original in the source directory.
To verify which images are marked for each action, look at the right end of the status bar. A check mark in the first of the two small square fields indicates that the current image will be copied. A cross in the second field indicates that it is marked for deletion. You can also set or remove these marks with a simple click on the corresponding field, as an alternative to the commands described above.
If you change your mind or mark an image by mistake, return to that image and either use a shortcut — Ctrl+M to cancel copying, Ctrl+D to cancel deletion — or use the Unmark (to skip copying) or Keep Image (to skip deletion) command.
Once all images you want to copy have been marked, execute the Save selected command from the control window. This command has no equivalent in the menu and no shortcut.
To delete all image files previously marked for removal, execute the Delete marked command from the control window. This command also has no equivalent in the menu and no shortcut.
Technology and source code
UpsSlideshow is available as source code only. It is a C++ program developed with the Qt framework, version 6.4, and should not be compiled with older versions of Qt.