If you download files from a certain web site regularly then
it might be a good idea to create a specific download method for that particular
web site.
A user-defined download method is a set of
download parameters that can be activated easily. User-defined download methods
are created by selecting Methods... in the Download menu:
New user-defined download methods are made available
automatically in Download button
drop-down list in the toolbar:
The Download Methods dialog lets you select download parameters for the new
method:
The download parameters are described in detail in the
following:
- File types: Specifies the file types to include
in downloaded galleries. To
include a file type when downloading select the file type in the list box to
the right and click Add. To exclude a file type from downloads select the file
type in the list box to the left and click Remove. To add more file type click the Edit button.
- Follow link only if URL contains: This parameter makes it possible
to check a specific set of links when downloading. For example, to effectively
download a sequence of files named Ferrari-01.jpg to Ferrari-25.jpg add the
pattern Ferrari- to the list. The list is empty by default.
- Skip link if URL contains: This parameter makes it possible to skip
certain links when downloading. The list could for example
contain the patterns logout
(to avoid logging out when downloading from a password protected site) and
www.google (to skip links to Google's main site when downloading from
Google's image search).
- Assign high priority to pages containing: This parameter decides in
which order links are checked. Links on pages containing any of the words or
phrases listed are checked first. For example, to have the toolbar find
pictures of Ferrari's it might be a good idea to add the word Ferrari
to the list.
- Select gallery before downloading: By default
the toolbar creates a new gallery named after the start page URL each time a
download is started. To manually enter a gallery name, or to download to an
existing gallery, check "Select gallery before downloading".
- Only links to same
server as current page: This parameter makes
it possible to limit a download to a single web server. For example, if the
start page is
http://www.diodia.com/pictures.htm and "Only links on same server as start
page" is enabled then the download function ignores all links that don't start with http://www.diodia.com/. Note
that www.diodia.com and mail.diodia.com are considered different web servers. "Only links on same server as start page" is
enabled by
default.
- Show list of files on start page: Displays a list of files on the
start page matching the download method parameters before starting a download.
This is useful when you only want to download a subset of the files linked to
from the start page.
- Maintain directory structure: Mirrors the directory structure from
the web server to the gallery directory. This is useful if many files with
identical names are downloaded. If the directory structure isn't maintained
then files with identical names are renamed to Picture(1).jpg, Picture(2).jpg,
and so on.
- If Open Download Manager before downloading is
checked then the method opens the Download Manager
automatically before it starts downloading. The Download Manager lets you
monitor the progress of the download.
- If Reset statistics is checked then the method
resets the information in the statistics tab in the
Download Manager before the download starts.
- Open gallery folder before downloading: If checked
then the method opens a Windows folder showing the content of the gallery
directory before downloading.
- Run slideshow while downloading: This
parameter determines whether to run a slideshow while
downloading files. By default the toolbar runs a slideshow while
downloading.
- Minimum file size:
The minimum size in kilobytes that a file must have to be downloaded and
included in a gallery. The default value is 10 kilobytes, which filters out
most ornamental graphics.
- Maximum file size:
The maximum size in kilobytes that a file must have to be downloaded and
included in a gallery. The default is no maximum file size.
- Minimum picture width:
The minimum picture width in pixels. Smaller pictures are skipped when
downloading. The default value is 150 pixels.
- Minimum picture height:
The minimum picture height in pixels. Smaller pictures are skipped when
downloading. The default value is 300 pixels.
- Search depth:
This
parameter makes it possible to include pictures that the start page doesn't
link directly to in a gallery. Roughly speaking, the link distance between
two web pages is the number of links you have to click to get from a the first
web page to the second web page. If the thumbnails in a thumbnail
gallery link other web pages containing the pictures instead of directly to
the pictures then the link distance from the start page to the pictures is 2.
The default value for this parameter is 2, which works for most thumbnail
galleries.
To create a new download method click Save..., and assign a name to the
method.
To delete an existing download method click Delete...
The Show links... function in the Download Settings dialog is
a useful tool when creating a new download method:
The URL filters are probably the most important components of
a user-defined download method. The Links dialog makes it a little easier to
create the URL filters.
The Links dialog displays all the links on the current web
page at the top of the dialog. Individual links can be expanded by double
clicking, so that links on sub-pages can be examined as well.
Links that are excluded by the URL filters are marker with
red. Links that will be examined by the downloader are marked with blue. Files
that will be downloaded to a gallery are marked with green.
The currently selected link is displayed in the Address
field. The URL filters can be updated by making a text selection in the Address
field and then right-clicking.
Click Open to open the web page identified by the URL in the
Address field in a new instance of the Internet Explorer.
Click Update to update the color marks on the links after
making changes in the URL filters.
