User Configuration:
Merger Settings
Merging is the process of adding a URL to the fusker collection. It is performed when a new URL is discovered through web page processing, the use of the URL Capture Bar, and when fusker collection files are merged. The process consists of splitting the URL into a set of Image Surfer Pro segments, then comparing the segments at each level of the fusker collection. The process starts with the Path Segment, continues through Directory Segments, and finally concludes with a comparison of File Segments. For a more detailed description of the merger process, please refer to How Segments Merge.
The Processing Tab of the user configurations contains two settings related to this merger process. These configurations are not grouped together because they effect merging in two different ways. {Structure Propagation} specifically effects how comparisons are made during the merger process, while {Merger Processing} determines whether or not specific comparisons are made at all.
Structure Propagation
{Force split segments based on string size}
When incoming directory or file segments are compared to a split directory segment in the current fusker
collection, if the URL text of the split directory matches, the incoming segment will be split during the
matching process. However, if the text does not match, the user configuration {Force split segments based
on string size} is used. The incoming segment will remain unsplit if the configuration is not enabled and
will split after the same number of characters as the existing segment if it is enabled.
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Consider for example the fusker collection with a Split Directory segment 5281. When a new URL: http://www.studio.com/directory/models/290/previews/5221v1_1280x720.mp4 is merged into this collection the MP4 video file segment 5221v1_1280x720.mp4 will be compared to the split directory 5281. These segments are said to "Not Match" because the characters 5281 are not found at the beginning of the video text. |
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If {Force split segments based on string size} is enabled, the video segment will be split after four characters (length of text in the split directory 5281} and the new collection will have two split directories (5281 and 5221) under the previews directory segment. |
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However, if {Force split segments based on string size} is NOT enabled, the video segment will not be split, and the previews directory segment will now contain both the original split directory and the new video segment. |
In the 3.1 release, merging was performed as if this user configuration were always enabled. By default in the 3.2 and later releases this user preference is disabled by default and you will need to enable the configuration if you wish these releases to function as the 3.1 release did.
Merger processing
{Remove duplicates from incoming collection}
This configuration is used only during file mergers. It is not used when new URLs are found during
web page processing nor when URLs are captured using the
URL Capture Bar.
When you merge an fusker collection from a file into your existing fusker collection, each path through the fusker tree is considered in the order they are found in the file. As these comparisons are made, if the path from the file does not match a path in the existing fusker collection, the segments that make up that branch of the tree are added to the existing fusker collection. The user preference {Remove duplicates from incoming collection} determines whether or not the next segments from the file are compared to the segments added during the merger process or only the segments which existed prior to the merger.
It is not uncommon for media files to be stored on hosting servers in a common directory structure, such that either a single directory hosts thousands of files or subdirectories. When you merge a fusker collection file which lists thousands of subdirectories, the number of comparisons required may cause the merger to take a long time even if the existing structure is relatively small. When this user configuration is disabled, these same mergers complete in a fraction of the time.
Whether of not you wish to enable this user configuration depends upon the types of fusker collection files you are merging and how they were constructed. There are multiple reasons the same file path may be duplicated in a fusker collection. Files may be duplicated simply to group the same media file with different sets of other files or two duplicate paths may also exist which contain very different file segments, etc. If you do not wish to preserve these existing duplicated structures you can enable this configuration and they will be merged together as the incoming file is processed.
Prior to the 3.2 relase, all file mergers were done as if this configuration existed and was enabled. By default, this configuration is enabled and later releases will function as earlier releases.
NOTE: existing segment structures and never compared against the rest of the fusker collection during a file merger, and duplicates in the existing structure will be unchanged by merging with a file. Incoming segments which match to the duplicated structure will match to the first matching branch found from the top down in the existing collection structure.
