Frequently Asked Question

Tips

• I would suggest everyone read the Changes.txt. it contains a lot of explication about changes. It also contains features you probably didn't know about.
• For example, say you want a folder to be excluded from the book scan. Like if you are using YACReader and its covers folder slows down you scan needlessly? Just create a file named comicrackscanner.ini with inside the text options = IgnoreFolder, IgnoreSubFolders. Put that file in a folder and the scanner will skip that folder (and its subfolders). You can modify the options by changing the terms after options, the possible values are IgnoreFolder, IgnoreSubFolders, IgnoreFile. That was introduced in v0.9.123.
• Another tip from the Changes.txt. If you take a book and drag and drop it on a folder while pushing the ALT button, it will auto create a smart list for that Series & Volume. This was in v0.9.173.
• While grouping or stacking you can hold CTRL to select a second field. So you could group by Series & Volume. The new Virtual TAGS feature is also useful in that regard.
• The -hidden command-line switch starts ComicRack minimized and disables the splash screen, regardless of settings. Useful for launching ComicRack with Windows.
• To force a metadata refresh from embedded ComicInfo.xml (or MetronInfo.xml), open the context menu, hold CTRL, and select Refresh. Metadata remains if no XML is embedded but may be removed if fields are empty.
• The DisableNTFS option in ComicRack.ini (or the -ntfs command-line switch) disables reading/writing ComicInfo in the NTFS alternate stream, useful for NAS systems that don’t support it. See Writing the metadata inside the Comic book file
• When using an SQL database, the backup function now includes all books normally saved in it, allowing conversion to an XML database or SQL database restoration.
• When creating smart list you can refer to other fields by double-clicking in the value textbox to have a dialog letting you select other fields. They are wrapped in curly braces ({}). Example: So you could create a list that checks if certain fields are in the file path Match [Publisher] contains "{FilePath}".
• The expression smart list can be used to create complex queries or to refer to fields that are unsupported, it takes one line python code. Using it you can use the __book or __bookStats special variables to refer to a book internal code. So you can access any methods or properties that the ComicBook or ComicBookSeriesStatistics class contain. For example checking if a custom value is in the file path (__book.GetCustomValue('comicvine_volume') in {FilePath}). Or you could refer to a Virtual Tag by using __book.VirtualTag01 as an example.

Custom Images

You can use custom icons for Publishers, Format or even any field in the program. Create Resources\Icons folders in your data folder (same folder as ComicRack.ini, see below for more info). Inside the Icons folder you can put any number of zip file that contains images. Like Publishers.zip to add new publishers icons. You can also have multiple Publishers.zip as long as each file starts with Publishers and end with zip (search patterns are Publishers*.zip, AgeRatings*.zip, Formats*.zip, Special*.zip).

Each file name can be named with multiple value for a single file, by separating each value with a #. The Publishers.zip can also use years & months to specify different icons for various eras (for en example see the DC Comics icons in the included Publishers.zip). If you do use the years & month feature make sure to include a "default" icon without years for situation where there is no year.

DC Comics#DC.png
DC Comics(2011-2016)#DC(2011-2016).png
DC Comics(2016-2024_11)#DC(2016-2024_11).png
DC Comics(2024_12)#DC(2024_12).png

If you have new Publishers icons please contribute them in this issue #62.

It is also possible to add icons for any field and even custom fields. Your icon package must use the name of the field (internal property) starting with an underscore _. So you could have icons for writers by creating a zip package called _Writer having an image called Carl Banks.png. It could be _Tags.zip for Tags or _Genre.zip for Genre. One way to find the "internal name" is either via the Match Value dialog in the Smart List editor (double-click the value textbox) or via the Virtual Tags editor in the Preferences.

Custom Fields work the same way, for a custom field called CustomImages So you could have a CustomImages custom field that is Digital, Test and it would match the Digital.png & Test#Another Test.png icon in _CustomImages.zip.

Alternate Config

There is a Command Line Switch called AlternateConfig, that let's you use different configs (including database, settings, scripts, etc.) to keep your different Library separate. The recommended way to use is via editing your program shortcut and adding the command line (-ac) followed by a name that will refer to your config. So creating an alternate config called Test would look something like this:

Files are stored in a Configurations folder inside your data folder (be it %appdata%\cYo\ComicRack Community Edition or your local Data folder when using portable mode). Each different config has a separate folder that contains your regular files. So if you wanted to create a ComicRack.ini for your Test configuration you would need to put it into %appdata%\cYo\ComicRack Community Edition\Configurations\Test\. Same with Resources icon packages (see Custom Images).

Portable Mode

There are 2 ways to enable Portable Mode:

1. Edit the ComicRack.ini, one of the first line is UseLocalSettings = true. Just remove the ; in the front to enable it.
2. Open the program by adding the -local after the executable path in the shortcut.

When starting in Portable mode the program will store all it's information inside a folder named Data in a directory where the program is located. So you will need to have write permission to that directory. That means that it doesn't work if you used the installer and installed it in the Program Files directory. This folder is write protected (yes even if you are the admin).

Also the zip version of the program isn't portable by default, it is a starting point. You will need to also update the ComicRack.ini (or use -local).

ComicRack.ini

The ComicRack.ini file contains a lot of extra settings not found anywhere else. Like if you want to use a MySQL server instead of the XML database, want to change the Caption below Thumbnails or change the PDF Engine. Don't forget to remove the ; before or your changes will not be taken into account.

The easiest way of using the .ini file is to edit it directly inside the program directory, change some value and save the file where it is currently. The problem with this way of doing things, is that the moment you update to a new version, that file is overridden. Forcing you to redo your changes, nobody wants that, it's annoying.

So an alternative is to store that file into your data folder where the program will look for it. So copy it inside your %APPDATA%\cYo\ComicRack Community Edition or your Data folder (when using Portable Mode). Here is a page that lists all the different path where a ComicRack.ini can be located, depending on which option is chosen.

Note about Portable Mode:

There is an exception to the above and that is Portable Mode. Say you have a folder where you keep a portable version of ComicRack. You put a custom version of your ComicRack.ini in the Data folder. The one in the executable folder is also modified with you enabling UseLocalSettings. But then you update your program and it is overridden. Since you read this page you are confident it doesn't matter since you copied a second copy in your Data folder.

But here we have a chicken or egg situation, since the ComicRack.ini isn't modified to allow portable use, how will it know where your data folder is? It could be either in %APPDATA%, the Data folder next to the executable or using an Alternate Configuration (-ac) inside one of these folders. So without changes it will open from the default location (%APPDATA%). You can workaround that problem by just opening the portable version with -local, and it will read the .ini in your portable data folder or copy in the %ProgramData% folder. This is why in the INI Search Path wiki page when using the LOCAL (From INI) option you have a #1 and #2 search path, the #1 is the initial location that will tell it where the data location is and the #2 will be loaded after that.

Others

• Writing metadata in the book file
• High DPI Settings Comparaison
• Proposed Value (I can't change the Series, it keeps coming back)
• I can't change any of the metadata. All the box are greyed out.