Job status display

[someothername]

LR2 appears to derive a lot of its power through the use of asynchronous threads being fired off. Some of the major ones, like import and export, display a status bar in the upper left corner and there's an option to play a sound when they complete. However it appears there are a great many more whose status is not displayed or tracked. Depending on how many other programs are running at the time, some of these might take a lot longer than the user is expecting. In particular, keyword operations, deleting files and moving images (and/or files) from one folder to another. Apply sync is another one when a lot of images are involved.

I'd like to see an option to see a small scrollable window somewhere that lists all the currently active uncompleted background tasks. All I need is a simple title for each one, things like "Sync job", "Move Folder", "Applying keywords" and so forth. I don't need a thread ID or % complete displayed for each one, just the knowledge that they are still working. However, I would not want them to show completed (i.e. come off the list) if the display hasn't been updated yet, if the job would impact the current display.

A threshold mechanism might be appropriate: don't display a task in the list when it starts, but if it is still running after say a half second, then put it on the list.

This is important because it is very easy to launch a task which requires database intensive operations and if I'm not aware the first one is complete, I might try to do it again when I should really wait or go on to some other task. I can adjust my workflow to allow for complex operations if I know they are still in process, but with no visual indicator I run the risk of corrupting things by launching another operation that depends on a previous one being complete.

 

[Denis Pagé]

This is important because it is very easy to launch a task which requires database intensive operations and if I'm not aware the first one is complete, I might try to do it again when I should really wait or go on to some other task. I can adjust my workflow to allow for complex operations if I know they are still in process, but with no visual indicator I run the risk of corrupting things by launching another operation that depends on a previous one being complete.

I also wondered in the past. But having read all tech documentation about SQLite (the Engine behind Lightroom), I now know that good locking mecanisms are in place to avoid "collisions" between processes using the same datasets. If you apply keywords to a set being exported, it is possible that only the last exported images will have the edited keywords and not the first ones. But it won't crash. Just use simple logic...

I also remember that Victoria told us she attempted to make a couple dozens of simultaneous exports without problems. She just ran out of exports to do on her Dual Quad-Core MacPro.

 

[Brad Snyder]

Brandon, you make a good point. There's a lot of mystery under the hood.

Perhaps make an official Adobe Feature Request, link's on the toolbar above.

 

[someothername]

Brandon, you make a good point. There's a lot of mystery under the hood.

Perhaps make an official Adobe Feature Request, link's on the toolbar above.

Request made with the same title, "Job status display"

 

[Braders]

It's enough to sit around wait for it, but to sit an watch it!

Wouldn't that be like watching grass grow

 

[someothername]

It's enough to sit around wait for it, but to sit an watch it!

Wouldn't that be like watching grass grow

With all the rain we've been having in Missouri this year, you can see it growing!

In the best of all worlds, I certainly have no desire to wonder how many tasks Lightroom is handling for me as I rapidly go through a shoot keywording and collecting and developing and whatever. But when I'm reorganizing huge chunks of work involving hundreds or thousands of images, I'd like some indication of how much stuff is pending. We do get that for imports and exports and that is a nice touch. I just wish we also got it for collections and keyword operations, too. I'm pretty happy with my physical on disk folder structure, so I don't do much of that. But if I were doing much movement of files and folders, an indication that some monster folder I just moved is still being moved would let me know I shouldn't be working on that folder's source or destination.