[export]: Batch export with multiple presets

[zisoft]

In a previous life I have used Capture One as my photography workflow software :)

Capture One has a very good concept for exporting images in multiple formats, called export recipes. An export recipe specifies all parameters for the target file: Format, quality, size, filename, ...
To export you simply check all recipes you need, start the export and all files are created in one run.

In darktable, an export preset is exactly the same as an export recipe in Capture One. The only thing missing is a way to tell the export to use multiple presets in one export run.

I made some thoughts on this and implemented this solution:

The export module gets a new collapsible section batch presets:

In this section all available export presets are listed:

Select the ones you need:

Once at least one of the presets is selected the export button gets renamed to batch export. This is to clearly indicate that the selected presets will be used for export even if the collapsible section is closed.

Hit the export button and all jobs will be processed.

The settings are saved in the preferences.

[TurboGit]

Sounds like a nice addition to darktable. A question, will the export to Piwigo (so with authentication) works in the batch presets?

[zisoft]

will the export to Piwigo (so with authentication) works in the batch presets?

Yes, I have tested Piwigo and it works. You must be logged in first.

[TurboGit]

You must be logged in first.

You mean before each time you export? Would be nice to do the automatic login when such a preset is selected?

[zisoft]

Sensitive data (server, user credentials) are not saved in the Piwigo presets. That information is saved in the password storage modules.

[TurboGit]

Sensitive data (server, user credentials) are not saved in the Piwigo presets. That information is saved in the password storage modules.

Sure, but I'm wondering if we could somehow do that login automatically as the user do when he just click on [login] button in Piwigo. Probably hard, we would need some kind of proxy and a data in the preset saying this preset needs login with the id of the credential...

[zisoft]

Would be really nice, fully agreed. I will try some things and see.

[rgr59]

I also had a previous life where I used Capture One, and the multi-export is maybe the only functionality I missed sometimes after switching to darktable. So this sounds very nice!

Some thoughts with respect to the UI: maybe it can be considered to separate the batch export a little more from the current export, making it kind of a "submodule" of the export module in the following way:

• move the collapsible section to the end of the export module, after the current Export button
• rename it to "batch export" (or similar)
• in the collapsible section, after the list with the presets, add an additional Export button exclusively for the batch export

The current Export button then would, as now, always export the image using the settings of the module for export, regardless whether they originated from a preset or by manual input.

Aside from the better separation, an advantage would be that you can keep the presets selected when, in between batch exports, you want to "normally" export an image.

But the proposed UI is not bad either ;-)

[zisoft]

@TurboGit: I found a way to automatically login to piwigo, which is indeed extremely comfortable.
This is done by exposing an optional function login() to the storage API. This can then be called by the export module for all storages which require authentication (Piwigo is the only one at the moment).

The last commit modifies the GUI according to the proposal of @rgr59. The functionality is indeed better because the batch export settings can now be left as set and used when required. The normal export button keeps its original functionality.

batch export section collapsed:

expanded:

[TurboGit]

I think we'll have to find some other name as two [export] button feels confusing to me.

Of course the second one could be called [batch export] but then we need some other name for the section title.

I don't have a good proposal for now.

[zisoft]

The section is called batch export
How about a simple [run] for the button?

[rgr59]

[run] is good, or maybe [start] ...