Data Crow Changelog

What's new in Data Crow 4.9.0

May 9, 2023

Version 4.9 brings you a whole new module to register Comic Books. It is supported by the invaluable online source that is https://comicvine.gamespot.com.
I have not yet created a DMG for MacOS, I am planning on creation and uploading this package, as part of this release, within the next few days.
[New]:
Data Crow synchronization service for external (to Data Crow) devices. This service allows both module and data to be synchronized. At the current stage, it's a one way synchronization going from Data Crow to the external device. This is the build up for something great(er) in the near future.
New module: comic books.
New online search for comics: Comic Vine
New online search for comic book characters: Comic Vine
[Fixed]:
NPE exception during the set up of the user folder due to the logger not having been initialized yet. This issue will hide the real underlying issue.
Fixed an error on startup for MacOS (from the terminal).
Fixed an error on startup for OpenJDK.
Items not described correctly for none standard modules.
Icon not showing for the shortcut created on Linux.
Uniqueness check not working correctly if one of the fields is a key field but not a required field.
The online search breaks the uniqueness check, causing duplicate items to be added.
Clear on online search form did not clear the quick view panel.
References field, selection dialog, did not adhere to "descriptive" setting of the module.
Now if you supply credentials when creating a new Data Crow instance, Data Crow will create a user with these credentials. This is true for both the client and the server edition if the parameter -credentials has been supplied (see: https://datacrow.org/docs/starting-data-crow/)
Mass update for board games was not working.
Mass update incorrectly causing warnings on item uniqueness.
Mass update for books did not correctly check on the ISBN field.
[Changed]:
Internal structural changes have been made to allow the Data Crow core library to be incorporated in other applications. Most importantly the logging mechanism is now completely decoupled from the code as such that any other logging mechanism can be be used, suitable for the targeted platform. Other major changes have been made to significantly reduce the references to the AWT and Swing libraries (GUI) from the Data Crow core library. The exception to the latter are the image classes.
The module wizard now allows you to create references to the same module multiple times.
Removed setting: "delete picture file after adding it to an item"
Report dialog now remembers selected target file per module and additionally also remembers the selected report and report format

New in Data Crow 4.8.0 (Mar 28, 2023)

New:
Added a new module: Board Games
Added online search: Board Games Atlas.
Added merge option to other modules beside the property modules. This means you can now merge artists, developers and other (sub) module items. It allows you to select the duplicated items and select an existing target item. The process will the update all references from the duplicated items to the new target item. When that’s done, the selected duplicated items are removed from the database completely. The merge dialog has been improved a bit as well.
Added componists module and added a componists field to the music album module.
Added moviemeter.nl online search (Dutch movie site).
Database language setting added. This determines how items are sorted. For most languages, the default will work. But if you find the sorting is not correct, please change the setting in Settings > Regional Settings > Database Language.
Changed:
The help system was relying on old library called Java Help. As the information within was hard to maintained it has been decided to move the help system onto the datacrow.org website (https://datacrow.org/docs). When you press F1 for help, this page will be opened. Pages have been mapped to the appropriate topics you are requesting help for, as was the case for the old help system.
Updated HSQL DB to version 2.7.1. JSoup updated to 1.15.4. Gson (from Google) updated to version 2.10.1. Apache xmlgraphics Batik updated to 1.16. Apache PDFBox updated to 2.0.27. Apache Tika upgraded to 2.7.0. Log4j updated to 2.20. jAudiotagger updated to 3.0.1. ImageIO updated to 3.9.4. Jetty updated to 11.0.14. Jakarta Faces updated to 4.0.1. Jakarta Platform updated to 10.0.0. SLF4J API Module updated 2.0.6. Jakarta Servlet updated to 6.0.
Online service pack 1.7: reimplemented online service for The Movie Database; fixed issues present in previous versions where actors and such were no longer retrieved and added additional fields to be retrieved such as: rating, countries and languages.
Switched on key field settings in everyone’s configuration. This will allow for the uniqueness check to work; when saving an item, Data Crow will check whether the item already exists. It does this by checking the field settings; it will check the combination of values for all fields marked as “key”. If an item already exists with the exact same values for these key fields Data Crow will prevent you from saving the item. Since this was incorrectly set in the base configuration of Data Crow it will now be adjusted (just once) for everyone; every field that is currently marked as ‘required’ will also gain the ‘key’ setting (see Settings > General Field Settings).
Discogs.com service now also sets the composer for tracks & albums.
References filter will now filter on contains instead of starting with, same for the field filter dialogs.
Small layout fixes for the loan administration panel.
Added sorting capabilities to the General Field Settings dialog.
Added look & feels; FlatLaf IntelliJ, FlatLaf Dark & FlatLaf Darcula
File Renamer; renamed Start button to Preview.
Find & Replace; renamed Appy button to Preview.
Discogs.com; title contained the artist name. Changed to only contain the title.
Discogs.com; added two additional search fields; year and artist. They are both optional and can be used to refine your queries.
Discogs.com; added UPC search mode.
Books module: added fields added translators & year of First Publication
Online search OpenLibrary.org: added translators & year of First Publication
Online search OpenLibrary.org: added optional author filter field to narrow search
Online search: improved the search result overview; less clunky (large) components with fixed fields. Instead smaller cards are displayed and the details of a search result can be reviewed in the quick view of the online search form.
Fixed:
Discogs.com service now handles sub tracks correctly.
Corrected all incorrect base settings, for new installation.
Cleanup; corrected the record label module and field references, internal names were incorrect. The database will be automatically updated.
Sorting of values was not correct for the tree panels and for the auto numbering tool (for special characters).
Server: user could not be edited (error + client got stuck).
Server: children were not saved when creating a new item.
Server: performance was impacted due to the fact that the whole user object was serialized for each permission entry.
Server: loan module check for editing allowed was depending on the plugin being loaded. It should only have checked to see whether the permission was given as the server does not have access to the plugins themselves.
Sorting was not correct when including reference fields (for special characters).
Icons showing too large (unscaled) in the reference selection field.
Descriptive setting not correctly applied for media, person and property items.
Fixed the layout in the toolbar, ugly line in front of Quick Search.
Help updates; reviewed all help files and remove incorrect references and incorrect information.
Removed references to no longer existing parameters (-clearsettings and -nosplash).
Property maintenance overviews did not adhere to the descriptive field settings.
Related Items; overviews did not adhere to the descriptive field settings. Now, each item is represented based on the descriptive general field settings of its module.
Fixed a NullPointerException in the Auto Numbering tool in case order fields were selected except for the first level.
File Importer; the specific music file import dialog was not used in the Music Album module, instead the generic import dialog was shown.
When exporting loans to an iCalender file the description and summary of the event contained %1 instead of the item type.
Many corrections have been made to the help system.
Server edition was missing the language resources.
Online search OpenLibrary.org: language drop-down was not sorted.

New in Data Crow 4.7.0 (Mar 2, 2023)

New:
Archive.org software online book, software and movie search.Open Library (openlibrary.org) online book search. The online search fetches edition information and work information.
Added a new Look and Feel: FlatLaf Light. This is a more modern Look and Feel which is still actively developed (https://www.formdev.com/flatlaf/). This will be the default Look and Feel for Data Crow from now on (for new installations). Find it in Settings Look and Feel Note that on upgrading the system will automatically switch to this skin.
Changed:
Now allowing for references to be made to main modules without removing the referenced module from the module menu.
Now allowing users to alter a module to create a reference to the module itself; allowing for, for example, a field called related software item on a software item.
Hierarchy view for containers will now show all items per container + the items of children of the selected container.
Small performance increase for the MobyGames.com search
Added two new fields to the Book module: translated from & original title
Small changes to the overall layout; update the module selection bar, removed line around the main menu, increased spacing for many of the components.
Better spacing of long texts in the quick view.
Icon size can now be changed: Settings Look and Feel Icon Size. Note that currently all icons as part of the Data Crow data are stored at a size of 16x16. If you change an icon it will be stored at 128*128 (if the original size allows for it) so it can adjust to any selected icon size. The maximum is currently 40*40. All UI elements have been optimized to allow displaying the larger icons.
Selecting clear for the online search will now only clear the results, not the search terms.
Look and Feel: removed CDE/Motif and Windows Classic - outdated.
Fixed:
Errors for Data Crow client in case the server was not responding when logging on.
Filtering on references didn't work (sometimes).
Module disappears completely when a reference field is added referencing itself (reference field on software pointing to software).
The log window (CTRL+L) did not show latest entries.
The server edition sometimes gave errors on saving new items.
Ratings for Mobygames.com online search were incorrect.
Errors when retrieving back covers when performing an online searching using The Movie Database.
Fixed an issue with the module selection buttons where for some skins the selection color overflowed.
Luna was shown twice as a Look and Feel in the drop-down.
Aligned the quick view bottom with the other screen elements.
Incorrect text margins in various text and tag fields - all have been optimized to work best with the newly introduced Look and Feel

New in Data Crow 4.6.1 (Feb 12, 2023)

New in Data Crow 4.6 (Feb 9, 2023)

New in Data Crow 4.5 (Jan 19, 2023)

New in Data Crow 4.2.2 (Aug 24, 2017)

New in Data Crow 4.2.1 (Jun 28, 2017)

New in Data Crow 4.2.0 (Feb 19, 2017)

Fixed:
Navigation to external references is no longer allowed.
The server operated in local mode for displaying images. To avoid this, and to keep things simple, you now have to supply the IP address used on startup of the server (-ip:<IP address>). This allows you to specify whether to use the public IP address (or not).
Newly created users were not able to log on. This was only the case if no changes were made to the permissions of the user. Newly created users can now always log on, regardless of changes made.
When -dir: parameter was given to Data Crow and the path contained a space, the installation folder is incorrectly determined.
Network client did not correctly check for empty required fields. The server would fail to save the item, but would fail to notify the client of this fact. On restart, the item (not saved) has disappeared from the view.
Web UI: same item details shown for different items when navigating between pages in the paginator.
Web UI: cannot log on with newly created non-administrator user.
Web UI: not returned to login page when directly navigating to index.xhtml. No data is loaded which is good, but an HTML error is displayed.
Imdb.com searches: missing images in search results.
Imdb.com searches: year parsing errors, for some records.
Moviemeter.nl: was broken completed, reactivated.
Amazon.com: access key has been changed for security reasons. After applying additional security to the Amazon.com account, the service for previous versions of Data Crow became unavailable. With this patch, the service has been restored.
Amazon search has not been throttled to 1 item every second to avoid flooding the service with request.
Tab order for the item form was not loaded correctly, causing the setting to be lost after restarting Data Crow.
The Quick Search did not work when including %, - or ' in the search string.
File URLs in the quick view will now work correctly.
Removed:
Metacritic.com online search. The search plugin was too error prone and can no longer be maintained. This service has been removed.
MobyGames online search has been disabled. Awaiting new implementation based on their API as currently provided.
Changed:
Web UI has been improved. The item overview has been changed to a card like overview and the item form has also been improved. Many other small improvements have been made for you to check out.
The online search has been set to only retrieve up to a maximum of 20 items at a time.
Increased the input size for the Drive Mappings field from 10 to 50.
New:
Polish translation has been added.

New in Data Crow 4.1.1 (Jun 17, 2016)

New in Data Crow 4.1.0 (Jul 4, 2015)

New in Data Crow 4.0.16 (Jun 9, 2015)

New in Data Crow 4.0.15 (Jan 23, 2015)

New in Data Crow 4.0.14 (Jan 14, 2015)

New in Data Crow 4.0.13 (Jan 6, 2015)

New in Data Crow 4.0.12 (Jan 5, 2015)

New in Data Crow 4.0.11 (Jan 3, 2015)

New in Data Crow 4.0.10 (Sep 5, 2014)

New in Data Crow 4.0.9 (Aug 28, 2014)

New in Data Crow 4.0.8 (Aug 26, 2014)

New in Data Crow 4.0.7 (Aug 21, 2014)

New in Data Crow 4.0.6 (Aug 18, 2014)

New in Data Crow 4.0.5 (Aug 16, 2014)

New in Data Crow 4.0.4 (Aug 13, 2014)

CHANGED:
Improved Error Handling for recovery:
When the database load fails due to inconsistencies Data Crow would in the past just show the user login page. Now, Data Crow will rename the database, show the correct error and close Data Crow. On a next start Data Crow is started with a clean new database. The user can now restore the last backup. The faulty database does still exists and can be send by email to analyze and fix if possible.
Improved the handling of user folders:
You can now switch between user folders without copying the data over from the existing folder. The option to copy the data has been made an option from the user folder selection dialog.
Improved handling of old databases:
It was always the idea for users to perform an restore of existing backup in the latest version. Most users however upgrade directly which is actually almost enforced by Data Crow. Data Crow will now warn the user in case the old database requires a different upgrade path, such as first upgrading to version 3.12.5. Data Crow will not allow the user to continue to avoid database corruption.
Quick filter is now a search all field:
It will search for text and numbers in all applicable and search enabled fields at once. On the quick filter bar I have now also placed an icon to quickly open the advanced filter dialog. With this change the quick filter bar is simpler to use whereas the advanced filter dialog can be used to create filters of a high complexity (and remember, these can be saved for re-use). Note; it is not possible to use regex expressions in the quick filter (not supported by the underlying HSQL database).
Added Find & Replace to the Filter menu.
Upgraded HSQLDB (http://hsqldb.org/) to the latest version (2.3.2).
Added a "Create Support Package" menu item to the help menu. Creates a zip file containing all files needed for identifying and resolving problems.
FIXED:
Find and Replace was not working correctly.
Open Item from the right-click menu did not work.
Fixed an issue in the Database Editor; first column was not shown in the query results.

New in Data Crow 4.0.3 (Aug 7, 2014)

New in Data Crow 4.0.2 (Aug 6, 2014)

New in Data Crow 4.0.1 (Jul 28, 2014)

New in Data Crow 4.0.0 (Jul 24, 2014)

New:
Client-Server mode. Full stand alone application server is now available. See Client- Server notes for more details. This has been achieved through a complete change of the Data Crow architecture.
Changed:
The Audio CD module and the Music Album module have been merged together. It did no longer make sense to have them as separate modules. There is no loss of functionality.
Italian translation has been updated.
Added additional file support to the movie file import.
Changed the tabs saving mechanism. Tabs are also no longer stored in the database but our now saved per client. This makes it possible for users to create their own form design.
Code re-structuring; making the code and architecture future proof. This was a huge undertaking but will not be directly visible to you as a user apart from having new features released in the (near) future which would not have been possible otherwise.
Upgraded Apache Tika to version 1.5
Added a column selector to table views (right-click on the table header).
The discogs.com music search has been implemented using the official API, making it more reliable and future proof.
Added Record Label to the the Music Album Module.
The Sourceforge.net online service has been rewritten to use the official API, making it more reliable and future proof.
JTattoo (Look and Feel manager) has been upgraded to version 1.6.10.
You can now place true type fonts (TTF files) in the fonts directory of the install folder. These will be loaded by Data Crow and can then be used. They will appear at the bottom of any of the font selection lists. PDF reports now can make use of Fonts installed (copied) to the fonts folder of the Data Crow installation folder.
Additional settings can be done by the user by editing the "pdf_config.xml" file as located in the reports folder (of the user directory).
Updated the Module Creation Guide
Updated the Create Report Guide
Created a Client-Server Guide
Fixed:
One more small issue fixed when upgrading from an old version of Data Crow.
Regex pattern for the file importer was applied after changes to the name were applied by Data Crow logic. This can cause the regex pattern to no longer match. The regex pattern will now always be applied first.
Lent versus lend grammar mistakes.
Avoiding null pointer exceptions in case fields no longer exists.
Restart of the Delete Module Wizard started the Create Module Wizard
Problems with the creation of modules due to invalid table names caused by special characters. Now the names are auto generated.
UTF8 problems with the module.XML files has been resolved.
Issue with user creation. Module permissions were not saved correctly on the user creation. It only worked after updating the user.
Create multiple used the view type (table / card) based on the selected search view.
Because of this the card view was used sometimes which is not editable.
Backup process reported missing "dc.lck" and "dc.log" files.
Opening the form to create a new user took a long time.
Module wizard creation module allows Picture fields to be added to property modules while this is not supported. Option has now been removed.
The Mobygames.com online search has been fixed.
The Sourceforge.net online search has been fixed.
Dictionary.txt was saved in plain text instead of in UTF8 format.
Original label in the general field settings showed the new, custom, label after the user made the translation.
The view and quick view were not updated after performing a loan action (return / lend).
Mismatch between the contact person module name and the module jar file.
A white space for decimal grouping symbol is reset to "." after a restart.
Drive Manager window settings not applied correctly.
Highlights:
Clients don't have access to restore and backup functionality, regardless of their access rights. These options are solely available when running Data Crow directly on the server. Future versions might have scheduled backup routines.
Server can be started using the server command. It's a headless server, meaning it doesn't require a monitor / has not GUI.
Clients are thick clients. Wait for the new web GUI release for thin client access. Note that Data Crow will always support the client-server mode as currently released.
The code has been optimized for client-server access. Data is pulled in small batches. For example, when scrolling in the table and list view only does items are fully retrieved from the server which are currently visible. Clients connected to a server will however always be slower than standalone clients.
User management is available directly and has remained unchanged from previous version. You can indicate on field level if the user has access to it and what he/she can do with the field content (read/update/delete).
Icons are cached on each client. No synchronization on icon changes has yet been implemented. Nothing else is cached on the clients. After a restart of a client the icons are retrieved from the server.
The clients retrieve the settings, modules and value enhancers from the server.
Not all settings can be done on the client due to security restraints.
Modules, system settings and value enhancers are downloaded from the server on startup, this way the server is in control for the modules and system wide settings.

New in Data Crow 4.0.0 Alpha 2 (Jul 19, 2014)

New:
Client-Server mode. Full stand alone application server is now available. See client server notes for a bit more details
Fixed:
One more small issue fixed when upgrading from an old version of Data Crow
Regex pattern for the file importer was applied after changes to the name were applied by Data Crow logic. This can cause the regex pattern to no longer match. The regex pattern will now always be applied first
Lent versus lend grammar mistakes
Avoiding null pointer exceptions in case fields no longer exists
Restart of the Delete Module Wizard started the Create Module Wizard
Problems with the creation of modules due to invalid table names caused by special characters. Now the names are auto generated
UTF8 problems with the module.XML files has been resolved
Issue with user creation. Module permissions were not saved correctly on the user creation. It only worked after updating the user
Create multiple used the view type (table / card) based on the selected search view. Because of this the card view was used sometimes which is not editable
Backup process reported missing "dc.lck" and "dc.log" files
Opening the form to create a new user took a long time
Module wizard creation module allows Picture fields to be added to property modules while this is not supported. Option has now been removed
Changed:
Italian translation has been updated.
Added additional file support to the movie file import
Changed the tabs saving mechanism. Tabs are also no longer stored in the database but our now saved per client. This makes it possible for users to create their own form design
Code re-structuring; making the code and architecture future proof. This was a huge undertaking but will not be directly visible to you as a user apart from having new features released in the (near) future which would not have been possible otherwise
Upgraded Apache Tika to version 1.5
Added a column selector to table views
Client-Server Notes:
Clients don't have access to restore and backup functionality, regardless of their access rights. These options are solely available when running Data Crow directly on the server. Future version will have scheduled backup routines
Server can be started using the server command. It's a headless server, meaning it doesn't require a monitor / has not GUI
Starting Data Crow on the server causes the program to run in maintainer mode, making options such as restore and backup available
Clients are thick clients. Wait for the new web GUI release for thin client access
Note that Data Crow will always support the client-server mode as currently released
The code has been optimized for client-server access. Data is pulled in small batches for example). For example, when scrolling in the table and list view only does items are fully retrieved from the server which are currently visible. This can make a client connected to a server slower than a full client
User management is available directly available and has remained unchanged from previous version. You can indicate on field level if the user has access to it and what he/she can do with the field content (read/update/delete)
Icons are cached on each client. No synchronization on icon changes has yet been implemented. Nothing else is cached on the clients. After a restart of a client the icons are retrieved from the server
The clients retrieve the settings, modules and value enhancers from the server
Not all settings can be done on the client due to security restraints

New in Data Crow 3.12.5 (Oct 10, 2013)

New in Data Crow 3.12.4 (Oct 7, 2013)

New in Data Crow 3.12.3 (Sep 9, 2013)

New in Data Crow 3.12.2 (Aug 16, 2013)

New in Data Crow 3.12.1 (Aug 5, 2013)

New in Data Crow 3.11.1 (Jul 31, 2013)

New in Data Crow 3.11.0 (Jul 23, 2013)

New in Data Crow 3.10.2 (Jul 3, 2013)

New in Data Crow 3.10.1 (May 24, 2013)

New in Data Crow 3.10.0 (May 20, 2013)

Fixed:
No ShortCut created by the installer for Windows 64bit version.
The log file is created initially in an incorrect location.
Create multiple not working for any non music track modules.
Issue where images are not always imported for items part of the imported main module.
Container sometimes can't be saved.
Loan shows incorrect period in case no due date has been set.
Loan text shows "item is due on null" in case the due date is empty.
Size of the help screen was not remembered.
Resizing the settings view caused the application to crash.
Date operators for the filter were not correct for dates.
Passwords always needed to be entered in upper case after changing it. Now it works correctly, case-sensitive, for NEW passwords.
The horizontal setting for the Quick Fields Setting did only work when working in the English language.
Picture not shown on the Data Crow item after starting Data Crow for the very first time on Linux systems.
"Is Filled" and "Is Empty" operators for filters on multi-reference fields were not correct.
Saving from the web client could go wrong. Fixed.
Changed:
I have made a lot of improvements to the help text (F1). I have added links in there, pointing to the detailed help text where necessary, have added a lot of additional information in general, screenshots, etc. This was 24+ hours of work, so you better read all of it!
Updated the German Translation.
Removed the filter operator 'Equal' and 'Not Equal To' for multi-reference fields; already covered with contains and does not contain.
The Item Importer now has a setting to disable the item merging.
I have added a Settings menu to the property item views. From here you can make changes to the item form layout and adjust the field settings. This was the only part of Data Crow where you could not make modifications.
Better initial settings for the item forms of the property modules.
Added a filter field to the property maintenance overviews.
Improvement made for multi-reference fields item selector.

New in Data Crow 3.9.26 (May 13, 2013)

Fixed:
Fixed an issue with the -userdir: parameter; relatives paths could not be used.
The setting would always revert back to the installation dir which is not allowed to be used.
Module Exporter error for exporting items from related modules.
Module Exporter exports all items assigned to containers. This is faulty since the main items are already exported. Container items should not be treated as normal children.
XSD fix for the Item Export (it was not fully correct).
Java 7 denies creating backups in the root folder of any drive. I have added a message, preventing the root folder to be selected. Hopefully I find a real fix for this.
The issue is with TrueZip. They have a newer version but that would force all users to start using Java 7, while I still want to support Java 6 as well.
Changed:
Added a restart message after the module has been imported successfully.
When the system is upgraded the system will now also check whether there are new reports and/or resource (language) files available in the installation folder. If so, Data Crow will ask if it is okay to copy the files over from the installation folder to the user folder.
Loan Administration would open very slowly in case you have many loans outstanding.
Items are now loaded in a separate process and the progress is shown in the progress bar.
Same as above, but then also for the lend items tab of the contact person.
Settings are now stored per client. On startup a Unique ID for your system is generated and stored in the datacrow.properties file. The existing system settings are used as a template for these new settings files. This allows multiple client to work in the same Data Crow user folder while not being effected by the settings done by other users.
The module settings are still shared though.
For Windows systems the default font has been changed to "Arial Unicode MS" for foreign character support. This only applies to new installations.
The Expert Form has been replaced by the Database Editor tool. This one now only has the SQL queries panel.
The log form has been expanded to include system information (moved from the expert form).
Removed some borders from the main screen.
Changed some of the default settings, for new users, mostly for colors and the default look and feel.
Small improvement to the file structure tree panel.

New in Data Crow 3.9.25 (May 11, 2013)

New in Data Crow 3.9.24 (May 10, 2013)

New in Data Crow 3.9.23 (May 1, 2013)

New in Data Crow 3.9.22 (Apr 30, 2013)

New in Data Crow 3.9.21 (Feb 11, 2013)

New in Data Crow 3.9.20 (Feb 4, 2013)

New in Data Crow 3.9.19 (Jan 26, 2013)

New in Data Crow 3.9.18 (Jan 19, 2013)

New in Data Crow 3.9.17 (Jan 14, 2013)

New in Data Crow 3.9.16 (Jan 12, 2013)

New in Data Crow 3.9.15 (Jan 7, 2013)

New in Data Crow 3.9.14 (Jun 20, 2012)

New in Data Crow 3.9.13 (Jun 11, 2012)

New in Data Crow 3.9.12 (Mar 10, 2012)

New in Data Crow 3.9.11 (Dec 30, 2011)

Fixed:
Filter ascending on multiple fields did not work correctly.
Filters could not be saved for multiple relationship fields. After a restart of Data Crow they would appear as having a blank filter value.
Saving a filter will now immediately update the quick filter tool bar.
Errors related to an unexpected appearance of the COMPANY column in the database for persons. This column has now been removed to prevent NullPointerExceptions.
ISBNDB.com: error message when retrieving the number of pages for books.
ISBNDB.com: error message when retrieving publishers and authors.
Description fields had a maximum length of 8000 characters. This size has now been changed to 2147483647 characters.
Errors while merging external references.
External references not updated after updating the item from an online search.
NullPointerException while importing an item from a CSV file without mapping all fields.
NullPointerException when selecting Undo Filter from the Filter menu.
Upgrading from version 3.9.7 (or older) to 3.9.10 (or newer) is now no longer an issue.
Incorrect size for multiple reference fields when viewing items as read only.
Hyperlinks to items were not working.
Support for underscores has been added to the file renamer.
NullPointerException when searching for ASINs (related to CueCat scanner).
Various upgrade problems from the 3.9.10 version related to the associate names; names empty after upgrade, names not shown in the table view
Pictures not shown after removing one of the picture fields
Bol.com no longer working
Errors for online book searches after changing the category field to a multiple relationship field.
Changed:
Upgraded to the latest version of jAudioTagger (2.0.4)
IMDB.com update for non US searches will now place the local title in the Title (local) field and the English title in the "Title field". This is only true if the setting "get local titles" is enabled. The option is off by default.
Added an open to open items either in read only or edit mode by default. The setting can be found in Settings > Settings > General Settings. Additionally you now have two options in the right-click menu of an item "Edit" and "Open". By default the option has been set to the old functionality which is to always open items in edit mode.
Clicking on a column header will now ort the content of the table. Clicking again reverses the order.

New in Data Crow 3.9.10 (Nov 21, 2011)

New in Data Crow 3.9.9 (Jun 19, 2011)

New in Data Crow 3.9.8 (Jun 14, 2011)

Fixed:
Sorting of artists, authors and other persons has been fixed.
Define fields in alter and create module wizard: Data Crow now correctly checks for the entered maximum length for a field.
Item importer states that the items are imported directly into the database. However, the items are actually imported first into the new items tab. I have changed this so that the items actually are imported directly into Data Crow.
The XML item importer for images imports an empty item for every imported image.
Non property modules could no longer be used as a reference for other modules (reference fields).
Define Fields dialog did not have a help page linked (pressing F1 shows an empty page).
Change password dialog did not have a help page linked (pressing F1 shows an empty page).
Loan information overview did not have a help page linked (pressing F1 shows an empty page).
In many cases the help does not clearly state where to find the functionality or option.
File Renamer functionality was broken due to performance problems.
Possible undetected closure of the database connection.
Discogs.com service was broken.
References not correctly cleaned after removing an item.
References are now always alphabetically ordered.
Fields not visible after creating a module.
Database is locked after creating a backup (restarting fixes the problem).
Changed:
For persons (such as artists and authors) the name field has been changed to read "Lastname, Firstname". On startup you will be asked to confirm the update.
For associates (persons and companies) it can now be indicated whether it is a person or a company. For persons, the name will read "Lastname, firstname". For companies no name conversion is done.
Picture field can no longer be set to be a descriptive field.
For associates the descriptive field can now no longer be set manually, it will always be the name field.
Define fields in alter and create module wizard has been changed to include:
Required = is the field mandatory
Descriptive = does the value of this field describe the item
Is key field = is this field use to check whether the item is unique
Tab = the tab of the item form in which the field is placed (replaces the "technical info" check box).
Added an extra step to the module wizard to explain the additional settings that can be done for the module after Data Crow has been restarted.
Order of the labels in the chart panel has been changed.
Updated the help in many places.

New in Data Crow 3.9.7 (May 13, 2011)

New in Data Crow 3.9.6 (Apr 2, 2011)

New in Data Crow 3.9.5 (Feb 14, 2011)

New in Data Crow 3.9.4 (Jan 30, 2011)

New in Data Crow 3.9.3 (Jan 25, 2011)

New in Data Crow 3.9.2 (Jan 8, 2011)

[Fixed]:
Could not sort on actors, authors, artists and other multiple-references fields.
Note that the items are sorted based on the first entry of the multiple references field. So if you have assigned two actors to a movie, Jan Jansen and Richard Howard, the first entry will be used to sort the item (in this case Jan Jansen).
Technically this has been accomplished by store the first string representation in a separate field which is used to base the sort on. This field is kept in synch with changes made (cleared in case no entries, updated with first entry in all other cases).
Countries and properties could not be edited.
Items not removed from the card view after saving them.
Container tree does not get updated correctly with parent - child relationships.
Unconfirmed fix; memory leak when importing movies file information.
Settings were only taken into account (import > online search) after the dialog was closed and re-opened.
File import, search for additional information on sub items, did not work for
actors and directors when working with imdb.com.
Filter dialog could not be opened from within the Book module.
After updating an item the node in the tree becomes unreadable (appended with .. and not showing the whole text)
Web client advanced filter did not handle advanced filter correctly where no value is required.
[Changed]:
Associates are now part of a specialized associates module. The create module wizard now allows you to select the 'person' module type.
You can now configure the maximum number of actors to be retrieved when querying for
movies from Imdb.com. Click on the configure button next to the server drop down to
change the value. By default all actors will be retrieved (old/current behavior).
Fields can now be selected when exporting items (CSV/XML exports. Field selection is remembered for next time(s).
Double-clicking a multiple references field now opens the select windows.
Removed labels in quick view for images.
Added additional filter operators for dates (today, days ago, days in the future, months ago and years ago.

New in Data Crow 3.9.1 (Jan 4, 2011)

New in Data Crow 3.9.0 (Nov 16, 2010)

Changed:
Improved startup time (75% faster)
Lower memory usage (50 to 70%)
Items are always loaded directly from the database, no caching
Grouping pane improvements (50% faster)
Unique identifiers are now generated according to the UUID Java standards.
(For future compatibility)
Added indexes on database tables. This done automatically, also for custom modules.
Items are only loaded if and when they are actively shown on screen.
Changed the layout of the quick view.
Updated Apache FOP to version 1.0; increased performance for report creation.
Showing a progress bar when building the tree / grouping panel
Pictures are now shown within the quick view panel. If a picture field is added
to the description of the quick view panel it will no longer be displayed in a
separate tab.
Toolbar can now be completely disabled (F12).
Garbage collection scheduler is now disabled by default. If needed it can be turned
on in the expert user dialog.
Fields in view settings and grouping pane can now be ordered without having to remove and add the fields again.
Added m4a to the music file importer.
Added an option to enable high quality rendering of images (lowers performance and
increases memory usage).
Improved performance for the chart panel.
Using JFreeChart libraries instead of OpenChart2, allowing for better graphical
chart presentations and printable charts.
An option has been added to the quick view settings to show or hide the picture tabs.
This is a 'per module' setting.
Default full expansion of the grouping pane tree nodes has been disabled.
Removed the table view from the user module.
Added expandAll and collapseAll to the file tree panel.
Fixed:
Image not shown (or flickering) in the card view
ConcurrentModificationException on several occasions
Web version is not in synch with item changes done in the client(s)
High overall processor usage.
Quick filter; sometimes the list is not filled correctly
Changing fonts; not properly delegated to all views / components
File structure not displayed correctly in the File Structure tree.
Open report button was enabled even when the report was still being processed.
IMDB search; most information was not imported due to site changed
IMDB search; multiple directors was not working
MetaCritics online service no longer working (games & movies).
FreeBookSpot could not be repaired and has been removed.
Bol.com online service retrieved "no image" pictures.
Barnes & Nobles search was completely broken.
Discogs.com; images were no longer imported.
MCU.es was beyond repair and has been removed.
First visible field in item form is now selected / focused.
Child items are not added to reports if running in other language then English.
Report PDF "audiocd listing desert" doesn't display Artist
Report HTML "software listing desert" had publishers instead of categories.
Directory usage section of the file importer had a strange looking border.
History on loans not directly updated, only after reopening the item form.
Right-click
Help on item form mentioned "attach file info" while it should read
"read file information"
File > Locate File options were available even when the item does not have
a hash or file size set.
Item updates done by external processes no longer cause focus loss on the client (File Synchronizer & web application).
Removed defective 'brighten' function for pictures.
Item Synchronizer does not update all items.
Duplication of records for multiple references fields; duplicates are removed and a unique index is set on these tables to prevent this is in the future.
Duplication of records in the picture tables; duplicates are removed here as well and a unique index is created here as well.
Item is only removed and re-added to the tree if the value has changed of the field that is part of the tree structure (performance gain).
Column widths for the child table (tracks for example) are not remembered.
Reports does not a comma between listings of categories, genres, etc.
Containers were not added correctly to the reports. The reporting dictionary did not correctly describe this multiple reference field.
The message 'This item is not unique, it already exists.. ' (etc) did not correctly tell you why the item is / was not unique.
Bol.com did not retrieve any results as of November 8th, 2010. Fixed.
(Incorrect HTML syntax on Bol.com: href=""/nl/s)
License information for software not save (incorrect column name).
User information could not be changed, message appears 'login name cannot be changed' while the login name has in fact not been changed.
MobyGames.com; ' in titles instead of '
Discogs online search no longer retrieved the titles for tracks correctly
(HTML change on Discogs site).
Imdb person search appends "- IMDb" to each name.

New in Data Crow 3.9.0 Beta 6 (Nov 7, 2010)

[Changed]:
Improved startup time (75% faster)
Lower memory usage (50 to 70%)
Items are always loaded directly from the database, no caching
Grouping pane improvements (50% faster)
Unique identifiers are now generated according to the UUID Java standards.
(For future compatibility)
Added indexes on database tables. This done automatically, also for custom modules.
Items are only loaded if and when they are actively shown on screen.
Changed the layout of the quick view.
Updated Apache FOP to version 1.0; increased performance for report creation.
Showing a progress bar when building the tree / grouping panel
Pictures are now shown within the quick view panel. If a picture field is added
to the description of the quick view panel it will no longer be displayed in a
separate tab.
Toolbar can now be completely disabled (F12).
Garbage collection scheduler is now disabled by default. If needed it can be turned
on in the expert user dialog.
Fields in view settings and grouping pane can now be ordered without having to
remove and add the fields again.
Added m4a to the music file importer.
Added an option to enable high quality rendering of images (lowers performance and
increases memory usage).
Improved performance for the chart panel.
Using JFreeChart libraries instead of OpenChart2, allowing for better graphical
chart presentations and printable charts.
An option has been added to the quick view settings to show or hide the picture tabs.
This is a 'per module' setting.
[Fixed]:
Image not shown (or flickering) in the card view
ConcurrentModificationException on several occasions
Web version is not in synch with item changes done in the client(s)
High overall processor usage.
Quick filter; sometimes the list is not filled correctly
Changing fonts; not properly delegated to all views / components
File structure not displayed correctly in the File Structure tree.
Open report button was enabled even when the report was still being processed.
IMDB search; most information was not imported due to site changed
IMDB search; multiple directors was not working
MetaCritics online service no longer working (games & movies).
FreeBookSpot could not be repaired and has been removed.
Bol.com online service retrieved "no image" pictures.
Barnes & Nobles search was completely broken.
Discogs.com; images were no longer imported.
MCU.es was beyond repair and has been removed.
First visible field in item form is now selected / focused.
Child items are not added to reports if running in other language then English.
Report PDF "audiocd listing desert" doesn't display Artist
Report HTML "software listing desert" had publishers instead of categories.
Directory usage section of the file importer had a strange looking border.
History on loans not directly updated, only after reopening the item form.
Right-click
Help on item form mentioned "attach file info" while it should read
"read file information"
File > Locate File options were available even when the item does not have
a hash or file size set.
Item updates done by external processes no longer cause focus loss on the client
(File Synchronizer & web application).
Removed defective 'brighten' function for pictures.
Item Synchronizer does not update all items.
Duplication of records for multiple references fields; duplicates are removed and
a unique index is set on these tables to prevent this is in the future.
Duplication of records in the picture tables; duplicates are removed here as well
and a unique index is created here as well.
Item is only removed and re-added to the tree if the value has changed of the field
that is part of the tree structure (performance gain).

New in Data Crow 3.9.0 Beta 2 (Oct 30, 2010)

New in Data Crow 3.8.16 (Jun 20, 2010)

New in Data Crow 3.8.15 (Jun 16, 2010)

New in Data Crow 3.8.14 (May 28, 2010)

New in Data Crow 3.8.13 (May 8, 2010)

New in Data Crow 3.8.12 (May 4, 2010)

New in Data Crow 3.8.11 (May 4, 2010)

New in Data Crow 3.8.10 (May 4, 2010)

New in Data Crow 3.8.9 (May 4, 2010)

New in Data Crow 3.8.8 (Feb 6, 2010)

New in Data Crow 3.8.7 (Feb 6, 2010)

New in Data Crow 3.8.6 (Feb 6, 2010)

New in Data Crow 3.8.5 (Dec 10, 2009)

New in Data Crow 3.8.4 (Dec 3, 2009)

New in Data Crow 3.8.3 (Nov 28, 2009)

New in Data Crow 3.8.2 (Nov 18, 2009)

New in Data Crow 3.8.1 (Nov 15, 2009)

New in Data Crow 3.8 (Nov 11, 2009)

New in Data Crow 3.7 Beta (Nov 3, 2009)

[Changed]
Items are now internally reused. Data Crow was quite generous when it came to item
instances. To gain, I admit, a modest performance and memory usage gain items
are now internally re-usable. As a user you will not really see this change. However,
this change has such a big impact on the whole of the product that I have decided to
release this version as a major release and to release it as a beta version first.
Several performance fixes have been applied. The external references and the additional
checks performed when saving an searching for items caused the performance to drop.
To overcome these issues (for large databases) the checks to see whether an item
already exists have been changed;
For properties both the alternative names and the names are checked.
For all other items the external references are checked first (the PDCR in particular).
Secondly a (combination of) display field is checked. Since version 3.5 Data Crow
only checks on the actual string (exact match but case insensitive). This has been
kept this way.
Views are now filled instantly resulting in a 99% performance improvement. With this
change items are added to the view in about a second (regardless of the amount of items).
View components are now reused (reduction of item creation; lesser memory needed and
performance improvement).
Memory needed for viewing all items now requires about 75% lesser memory. This is not
a fixed memory gain as it also depends whether the items contain an image (etc.).
Save buttons are now removed from the item tabs of the view. Save and save all is still
available from the menu bar and the tool bar.
Update all now saves the updates directly (!).
Displaying dialogs is now more controlled (technical change).
[Fixed]
External Reference is not created when an item is updated by an online service.
Several problems with transparent images have been fixed.
MobyGames.com stopped working.
Items are not correctly updated in the tree / grouping pane.
Key navigation in table view.
Issues with update all functionality when loosing view focus.
Data Crow hangs after message "want to save changes" when navigating in the grouping
pane.
By default the directory usage has been turned on for the File Importer. Has been
changed to off by default.
Calendar displays February twice if the current day of the months is greater than 28.
"Hanging startup" on some Linux flavors.
Several references in text to Java 1.5; should be Java 1.6.

New in Data Crow 3.6 (Oct 18, 2009)

[New]
A Spanish translation. Donated by David Marín.
New feature for the File Import of e-books. The importer will now try and find the ISBN
that is contained in the PDF document. For this the ISBN Extractor
(http://isbnextractor.sourceforge.net) is used.
Each item can now have one or more external keys. External keys, such as ASINs from
Amazon, are used to link the item from the source where they were obtained from.
They add additional flexibility and lend themselves to be used by other systems and
customization.
This solves problems where items could not be linked to the source system and were
therefore duplicated. Most notable example are the actors for IMDB movies.
The name was used to check whether the actor already existed in Data Crow. This worked
fine when the name is not changed on either side as this breaks the link between the
Data Crow and the item of the source system. Now, the external IDs are used to link
the items. Where there is no external ID available Data Crow uses an internally
generated item tag instead.
In short: items are now more reusable then ever!
Module Export Wizard. This wizard enables you to share your modules with other users.
With this wizard it is now possible to export your custom made modules and their data.
It creates a single archive which can be imported on any other Data Crow installation
by using the Module Import Wizard. It exports the reports, items of the module(s)
(based on the settings), settings and reports (xsl).
Module Import Wizard. Takes care of all the nitty gritty stuff that is involved when
you want to add a custom module to your Data Crow installation. This is, from now on,
THE way to add custom modules to your installation. It takes care of internal module
ID clashes, imports the items belonging to the module(s) and imports all other related
information (such as the default settings and reports).
Module Copy Wizard. Tired of adding all the fields manually to your custom module?
Why not base it on one of the existing modules? Use this wizard, select the module
which you would like to copy and off you go!
A new parameter has been added: -datadir:. This parameter can be used to
specify an alternative location for the data folder of Data Crow. Note that the images
will still be written to webapp/datacrow/mediaimages (in the installation folder).
Substitute spaces by .
Container hierarchy: Containers can now be assigned a parent, allowing users to create
a hierarchical container structure. The grouping pane of the container view has two
additional options: 'Flat view' and 'Hierarchical View'.
File operations: The view popup menu and the file launcher field have a new menu
called 'File'. Here you'll find five new options:
Move file: moves the actual file and updates the filename of the item.
Delete file: deletes the actual file and clears the filename of the item.
Locate file: three options to locate a file using the drive manager. This is a
convenient way to locate an individual file that has been moved. The functionality
uses the drive manager functionality and offers to match on filename, filename +
file size or on file size + hash.
Each property can now have alternative values. This is convenient in case you want to make
sure that properties retrieved by online services are mapped to your own properties.
The alternative values have to be entered separated by ';' characters. The input needs to
start and end with a ';' character.
A new book online search: ISBNdb.com. This online service retrieves the book information
from ISBNdb.com and the front cover from Amazon.com.
[Changed]
Added additional font rendering options (Settings > Settings > Font).
File and URL launcher: both have been updated to use the Java 1.6 methods for launching
files and URLs. Additionally the feedback to the user has been improved in case the file
or URL cannot be opened.
Quick View: URLs are now displayed as "link" instead of mentioning the full URL.
This also fixes the issue where text in the Quick View is not being wrapped.
File Importer now remembers whether it should use online services or not + the selected
server, search mode and region.
File Importer now remembers the selected "directory usage".
Quick View: filename is now a click-able link with the filename (excluding the path) as
text.
Default data is now loaded right after the data layer has been initialized instead of
during the database creation process. This delivers greater control on the load process
of default data.
Floppy drives are no longer ignored (due to the upgrade to Java 6).
ASIN fields have been removed from the movie, software, audio CD and music album modules.
The ASINs have been migrated to the new external references field.
Disc ID fields have been removed from the audio CD and music album modules. The Disc IDs
have been transferred to the new external references field.
Updated several of the icons for the property modules.
The individual 'maintain' view popup menu options have been put in a separate 'maintain'
menu.
The property modules 'edition type' and 'binding' for books are no longer contained in the
modules folder. They are created within the system instead (same as all other system
property modules). The editiontype.jar and binding.jar files are removed on startup.
The movie module has obtained addition fields; color and aspect ratio.
IMDB online search now retrieves the color, aspect ratio and language.
Amazon service now retrieves the color (if available) and the aspect ratio.
Ofdb.de now adds an external reference to the item on the IMDB.com page.
Icons_user directory has been removed. Icons_system folder is now called icons.
Default data (demo data) can now also be an XML file.
The Dutch translation has been updated.
The help has been updated.
[Fixed]
"Pick a Date": larger set of years to make the navigation easier + a fix for the up and
down error of the year (both went back in time).
XML Export: Dates are now always exported like so: yyyy-MM-dd. This prevents problems
when importing dates into other systems.
IMDB online service: when a movie has several countries it is imported as a single
country (item "USA, The Netherlands" instead of two separate items).
Several encoding issues for the online services.
Exported items using the XML exported can not be imported on a system using a different
language pack.
Online Search: the setting 'values to retrieve' is completely ignored
when the setting 'retrieve full item details on initial run' is switch off.
Discogs online search did no longer retrieve the tracks and other information. The
Discogs site was changed and this broke the online service. This one has been
reimplemented.

New in Data Crow 3.5.1 (Sep 26, 2009)

[Fixed]
File size for file hashing now allows larger file sizes to be set. Setting the value to zero will now allow hashes to be created for files of any size.
After doing a mass update of, for example, audio CD's the artists and such were mentioned twice. After a restart everything returned to normal.
The FPS for MPEG 1 and 2 movies was off by a factor of a thousand frames. There is no update performed on old information; the fix only works for newly imported movies.
Timeout on online searches has been removed; the result was a not updated movie after 10 seconds without knowing the reason why. Especially true when performing and online search in combination with the "retrieve additional information for companies and persons" setting (which might actually take more then 10 seconds).
Additional check for locked databases. Added a check for the settings of the database.
IMDB import: some runtime of the imported run times are incorrect (of by tens of hours).
Splitting the names of IMDB persons is incorrect. Only true for names ending with a number like so: Harry Potter (1).
Sorting did not work correctly for the container module.
Possible issue with scrolling in views (inverted up and down scrolling).
Occasional error while performing an amazon online search:
Incomplete trailing escape (%) pattern
Barnes & Nobles online search was once again broken.
[Changed]
The database no longer runs in a locked mode. This means you can start multiple sessions of Data Crow or run both the web server in console mode and the Data Crow GUI. Optimistic locking is used for database records (who ever saves the data overwrites data saved by the other user working on the same record).
Changed the description retrieved for actors (better styled, removed boilerplate text).
Removed boilerplate text for movies retrieved by Imdb.com and ofdb.de.
Module wizard: from now on newly created modules can be reused within relationships.
In previous versions a created module, such as a property module, could only be used once for a reference field. Now you can actually create one property module and use this module (and it's data) for reference fields of multiple other modules.

New in Data Crow 3.5.0 (Sep 21, 2009)

[Fixed]
The version checker does not recognize 3.5 as being a higher version then 3.4.19.
ISBN search with ISBN's containing non-digits now also (finally) works.
Movie import "settings" Tab: Storage Medium items are gone.
Encoding issue in IMDB import.
Bol.com did no longer retrieve the description (page was changed).
Incorrect font for drop-down / list boxes.
Contact person drop-down / list box remains empty (loan administration).
Could not set an empty value for a drop-down field.
Web Server: Module icons are not refreshed when changing the icons using the
module wizards.
Web Server: Large module icons shown for helper modules.
General errors while retrieving results from IMDB.com and Amazon
(empty message pops up and a NullPointerException is logged).
Year was not always set for IMDB movie results.
Alapage.com online search has been removed. The page has been redesigned making
it necessary to create a new implementation. This will be done in a later version.
MusicBrainz search: titles of album and tracks start with a new line character.
[Changed]
File import for e-books: if the filename contains an ISBN it is used to query the
online service.
Online Search: if the query contains an ISBN it is used to query the item.
Mass Update: if the item contains an ISBN it is used to query the item.
Audio CD search (Amazon): when an album consists of multiple CD's the album is no
longer duplicated. Instead all tracks are added to one album
(with the correct numbering).
Amazon search has been updated and (coding wise) simplified.
Server Settings; online servers can now have individual settings. The amazon
server can now be configured to retrieve user reviews (or not).
Web Server: Files are now downloadable links.
Fields on the item form are now styled more appropriately.
Added a summary tab (for new installations only) as the item form was getting a tad
cluttered with fields.
File privileges checks are now performed on the files in the distributions.
will no longer be added as a language for movies (Movie File Import).
A new field has been added to the software module: version.
Three new fields have been added the book module: binding, edition type and
edition comment.
[New]
Directories can now be marked as being drives. This is essentially a fix for non
Windows platforms. I would like to thank François Rey for supplying the code for the
'directory as drives' functionality.
The software, music album, audio CD, book and movie module have 2 new fields:
language and country.
Two new property modules: country and language.
An additional movie report (List Report (xvids)) has been added.
This report is created by Ingo Macherius

New in Data Crow 3.4.20 (Sep 14, 2009)

New in Data Crow 3.4.19 (Sep 10, 2009)

New in Data Crow 3.4.18 (Sep 8, 2009)

New in Data Crow 3.4.17 (Aug 25, 2009)

New in Data Crow 3.4.16 (Aug 19, 2009)

New in Data Crow 3.4.15 (Aug 18, 2009)

New in Data Crow 3.4.14 (Aug 16, 2009)

New in Data Crow 3.4.13.2 (Aug 13, 2009)

New in Data Crow 3.4.13.1 (Aug 13, 2009)

New in Data Crow 3.4.13 (Aug 13, 2009)

New in Data Crow 3.4.12 (Jul 19, 2009)

New in Data Crow 3.4.11 (Jul 11, 2009)

New in Data Crow 3.4.10 (Jun 17, 2009)

New in Data Crow 3.4.9 (Jun 15, 2009)

New in Data Crow 3.4.9 Beta (Jun 2, 2009)

[New]
Italian translation! Thanks to Marco Artioli!
Updated german translation! Thanks to Mathias Epp!
Data Crow's web server can now be started without showing the UI. The normal parameter
'webserver' in combination with the new credentials parameter hides the splash screen
and bypasses the login dialog. See the readme on how to apply these parameters.
The item form has it's own settings dialog. From here you can define tabs (such as
the current information and technical information), assign fields to tabs and set
the order of the fields. The general field settings has lost the ability to set
the field order as this was only used by the item form.
In the previous versions the uniqueness of an item was determined by checking the
combination of the required fields. Now this behavior can be managed by marking fields
as key fields. By default, none of the fields is marked as a key field.
The file importer considered a fixed set of file types. The functionality has been
expanded to allow the user to define additional file types.
Icons are now shown in the tree view.
The alter module wizard now allows for fields to be changed as well. Upgrades are managed
automatically.
You can now map a drive letter / location to a new location. Settings > Drive Mappings.
The help now has search capabilities.
The mass update functionality now supports all search modes.
[Changed]
The default view can now be set per module. In previous versions this was a global
setting.
Error handling for the file importers and the attach file information has been
improved.
Containers can now have an icon assigned.
[Fixed]
NullPointerException when clicking in an empty space of the field selection dialog.
Error in the settings: long stored as integer.
Unused columns, due to conversions in the past, will now be removed.
NullPointerException when trying to use the Bol.com online search.
Tracks were duplicated after updating an audio CD imported via the
'retrieve CD information' tool.
View not updated properly when switching between view types (without grouping).

New in Data Crow 3.4.8 (Feb 6, 2009)

New in Data Crow 3.4.3 (Nov 19, 2008)

New in Data Crow 3.4.1 (Oct 16, 2008)

New in Data Crow 3.4 Beta (Aug 29, 2008)

Online services are now plugin based. Additional plugins can be delivered as jar libraries which can be put in the services directory. The online services are no longer bound to software version deliveries and can be released separately. Data Crow will come however with a default online services pack. Plans have been made to allow automatic updates.
Clickable links in the quick view and the item form for faster navigation to sub items (such as actors for movies)
Container module. The location field has been replaced with a container field. A container can be anything such as a CD, a CD box, a closet... anything. On startup you will be prompted to convert the locations to container items. This module will be expanded in the near future.
File structure tree.
Code review: filter operators rewrite, music album importer code reuse issue.
Removed the following message box: "save succeeded".
Removed the following message box: "no items have been found for xx" when searching for an item.
The online search form will no longer close after adding a new item or updating an existing one. It will now add the item(s) and clear the form. This allows users to do multiple searches without having to re-open the form every time.
Replaced Entagged with JAudioTagger for parsing information from music files. JAudioTagger has continued on the work of Entagged
Version numbering is no longer dependent on the settings file. The version is now kept (in a structured way) in the database.
New backups now contain a version number. This will be used to check if a backup can be restored in the current version.
Restoring an backup of an older version will now cause Data Crow to restart. A restore of a backup of the current version will not cause a restart. This has been changed to make sure older databases are correctly upgraded on startup.
Table view: removed line numbering. Removed horizontal grid lines.
Settings views: removed line numbering.
Quick view settings: added an option to set the background color. Removed the dependency of the background color towards the even/odd color of the view.
View Setting: There were all kinds of dependencies towards the general field settings. Most of the options were not really clear. To overcome this each view has gained its very own settings dialog. Everything for that view can be changed from there. Removed the visible option from the field settings. Card view item description can now be set via the View Settings.
Web Field Settings: Removed the dependency for the quick search fields towards the general field settings. The web field settings now contains the option to use a field as a quick search field.
Removed the question mark images for missing covers.
Caching of items to improve startup times. Instead of creating all the data sets on each startup the data sets are now written out to disk on shutdown and reloaded on startup.
When upgrading or restoring a backup the cache will be ignored and the data sets will be recreated from the database (which is still the leading data store). Additionally, if needed for any reason), Data Crow can be started without using the cache by adding the parameter -nocache. Startup times are improved by 20% due to this change. The first startup however will still load the items from the database.
Sometimes items are not added to the view after a different node in the grouping pane has been selected.
Database collation was incorrect by default causing Chinese characters (and others) to be stored incorrectly. This is only fixed for new installations.
Faster image loading for the card view. It now uses less memory and has a better performance.
"Update all" empties fields
Save from "online search" issue
Threading issue with saving IMDB movie actors
Incorrect label for "manage states" (music album/track)
Front picture not shown in card view (sometimes)
Updating old record empty fields doesn't work
Online update on actor inside the movie module fails
Can't cancel changes
Can't re-attach Quick filter widget
"update all" not fully applied (view changes)
Initial Start Up
Upgrade error
Uncaught NPEs
Very Slow, uses 100% of CPU.
The startup time for databases containing a high number of items (20.000 ) has been increased dramatically (from minutes to seconds). Additionally a caching mechanism has been introduced which further improves the starting time by about 20% on a seconds run.
Screen lockups. Threads were running with a maximum priority causing them to get a higher priority then other Windows threads. This caused Data Crow to become inresponsive.
Message box is sometimes shown on the wrong form causing the current window to lose its focus.
Pressing escape in the mainframe bypasses the check for changes.
Incorrect message when exiting Data Crow. Changed the message to "There are unsaved changes. Are you sure you want to exit?" when exiting Data Crow.
Fixed non fatal nullpointer errors on startup.
Version number was not written to the settings file making it unusable for future reference (upgrading).
Messages for upgrades were not in the center of the screen.
Improved error handling for the upgrade processes. Better information and warnings when the database is of an older version.
After removing the properties/settings file the system asks to perform unwanted upgrades.
Continuous scrolling in the card view, online search and manage item x forms.
When hiding the grouping pane all views are re-filled. This makes Data Crow very slow and does not abide to the standard behavior. Only the views of the current module should be refilled.
Incorrect display of the module permissions (user form).
Deleted child items still shown in the view.
Nullpointer after closing the image editor.
Navigation buttons for the field settings, quick view settings and the web field settings were incorrectly aligned.
Tabs are hard to distinguish.
Discogs: images not retrieved.
Discogs: for some albums empty tracks are added.
Performance bug when filling a view with items with children.
Button alignment for the question message box (yes/no).
ISBN 10 calculation was incorrect.
Starting a file import multiple times results in the previous items to be added to the new tab again.
Barnes & Nobles online search did no longer recover the title.