 |
 |
 |
|
Note: Every 3-4 months this newsletter is sent to people who have expressed an interest in YaWah.com and our products. If you do not wish to receive future newsletters simply drop me a line and I do apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you. In this issue
eRez Imaging Server 3.0 released: · New Plug-in architecture · Full text indexing and searching · Zoom into PDF, EPS and Illustrator files · Support for thousands of new file formats · Batch Downloads · New “Publish to Web” function · PDA and Smart Phone support – eRez Anywhere · Rotate Images quickly · Improved performance and support for very large images · Synkron.Web · Cumulus Vault Support · Numerous small enhancements and fixes eRez Imaging Server 3.0 released
eRez version 3.0 was released on September 1st. This is the second major upgrade since eRez was first introduced in late 2001. Because the new version 3.0 contains so many important new features, I will skip the usual columns and refer you to our “face lifted” website for other news and events and focus entirely on version 3.0.
As always the new software is available for immediate download at our website. Here you can also find fact sheets, press releases etc.
A Live Demonstration is also in place - check it out!
So lets move on to the new features: New Plug-in architectureeRez 3.0 includes a Plug-In architecture that will allow experienced Java programmers to extend the functionality of eRez. Functionality can be added in the following areas:
Within the next few weeks a Plug-in Software Developer Kit (SDK) with email support will be available to third party developers for an annual fee.
Full text indexing and searchingeRez 3.0 comes with an embedded high-performance, full-featured text search engine inside the server itself. The search engine supports search capabilities very similar to the popular internet search engines that most people are familiar with and use on a daily basis. The search engine supports many advanced features such as wildcard, fuzzy and proximity searches with Boolean operators and grouping.
The eRez Imaging Server will automatically monitor the shared folders and silently keep the database updated when new files are added, updated and deleted. So you don’t have to do anything at all to keep your documents searchable.
You can optionally index the text from PDF files by installing XPDF which is a freely available open source package. You have full control of which shared folders are monitored and indexed.
Advanced users can modify the template used to generate the searchable text and in this way customize the fields being indexed. For instance you can leave out whole or part of the EXIF fields.
Search results are displayed in a window exactly like when you’re browsing the shared folders. Documents are sorted by relevance just like the internet search engines and displayed as multiple pages in case the result won’t fit in a single page.
Both indexing and searching is very fast and search results are normally returned in less than a second. For example: indexing 1500 files on our demo server takes less than 2 minutes including indexing of text from about 200 PDF files. The result is an index that takes up less than a mega byte and searches are made in a split-second. Zoom into PDF, EPS and Illustrator filesAs part of the new Plug-In architecture previously described we have added a new Plug-In for optional rendering of PDF, EPS and Illustrator files. The Plug-In automatically renders the 1st page of the file at a configurable resolution like 150 or 300 DPI. This preview is then stored as a compressed image in a hidden folder and used by eRez for preview, zooming etc.
NOTE: This option requires a separate installation of Ghostscript which is a freely available open source package. Support for thousands of new file formatsA new “Generic” Plug-in makes it possible for eRez to handle all kinds of file types. All it takes to add support for a new file type is the creation of a “preview image” that will be used for displaying thumbnails and previews and a new entry in a configuration file with information about name, extension (such as .doc or .ppt) and the mime type. This plug-In can even extract “IPTC like” information from OLE based files such as Microsoft Office documents.
In addition to the generic Plug-in third party developers can of course use the Plug-in SDK to add full support for new image file formats as necessary. Batch DownloadsA brand new “Download Manager” makes it easy to collect multiple “jobs” and download them as a single file. Images are converted in the background while the user continues to search for more images, adds more downloads etc. The files are zip compressed on the fly while they are being downloaded. New “Publish to Web” functionThe well hidden “Make URL” feature of eRez 2 has been replaced with a brand new “Publish to Web” button in a more prominent position.
The “Publish to Web” function completely automates the generation of HTML that can be pasted onto any web site. You can publish either a single image – or a collection of images such as the contents of a folder or the result of a search operation.
Publishing of folders or search results is “Live” – meaning that the Slideshow or Showcase on external web pages will always reflect the images currently in that folder or matching the search criteria. PDA and Smart Phone support – eRez AnywhereOur slogan “Wherever pictures make a difference” gets a whole new meaning with our new interface for PDA’s and Smart Phones.
Now images taking op gigabytes on the server can be browsed and viewed in detail from anywhere using a mobile phone with a UMTS (3G), GPRS or even a GSM internet connection.
The layout is designed for Motorola A920/A925 (UMTS/GPRS) and Sony Ericsson P800/P900 (GPRS) running Opera browsers. But like the rest of eRez, the interface can be fully customized and adjusted for other devices as needed.
Try it by entering mobile.yawah.com on your phone, if you own one of these gadgets. Rotate Images quicklyeRez 3.0 can now rotate source TIFF images directly from the “Edit Image” page. This is especially useful after uploading JPEG images from a digital camera. Improved performance and support for very large imagesAs a result of our work with satellite images eRez 3.0 has been improved in several areas in order to speed up access to very large images taking up several gigabytes. These improvements also speed up the access to images of 100 Mb or less considerably.
See http://www.yawah.com/bluemarble.html to see a 2.6 gigabytes image in action. Synkron.WebeRez 3.0 is preconfigured and ready to use with the Synkron.web content management system. Please see http://www.synkron.com to learn more about Synkron.web. Cumulus Vault SupporteRez 3.0 supports access to images stored in Cumulus Vault folders. Cumulus Vault is a version control system for Canto Cumulus. Please see http://www.canto.com to learn more about Cumulus. Numerous small enhancements and fixesIn addition to the above mentioned new features eRez 3.0 contains many small improvements and bug fixes.
To learn more, try it out or download the software – please visit www.yawah.com.
It only takes a few minutes to get eRez up and running on your own Windows or Mac OS X server. And - as always – it runs perfectly on any Java2 enabled system such as Linux, Solaris and other flavors of UNIX.
Best Regards from sunny Denmark
|
|
Home | Products | Live Demos | Download | Support | News & Events | Company | Site Map | Top of page |