Slideshow Program that auto-updates

[Aetohatir]

I'm looking for a windows program that shows a slideshow of images inside a folder, but updates whenever a new image gets added to the folder. The Built-in Windows slideshow feature continues to play the original set of images, even when other Images get added.

Bonus: Displays the filename at the bottom.
 

Context: My cousin marries in a few weeks and we thought it would be cool if the guests could send their images to an email and then get those displayed on a screen. To sort of incentivize picture taking. I got it to work that I get the Image automatically saved with the filename being the email Subject + sender name, but the Slideshow won't update when new images arrive.

[Biohazard777]

26 minutes ago, Aetohatir said:

I got it to work that I get the Image automatically saved with the filename being the email Subject + sender name

Are you handling reserved characters (OS specific, for WIn: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/fileio/naming-a-file)
You don't want whatever you are using for downloading and saving images to crash and then debug it in the middle of the wedding. 

 

26 minutes ago, Aetohatir said:

I'm looking for a windows program that shows a slideshow of images inside a folder, but updates whenever a new image gets added to the folder. The Built-in Windows slideshow feature continues to play the original set of images, even when other Images get added.

Bonus: Displays the filename at the bottom.

Even if it auto re-scanned the directory, how would you handle sorting?
- you don't want the slideshow to start from the beginning each time.
- displaying the latest picture makes sense, but what comes after it.
- shuffling each time a new photo arrives is a recipe to repeat some photos a lot and completely miss others.

Anyhow I don't have a clue where you'd find a program for such a niche use-case,
simplest solution would be to just re-start the slideshow program (using task scheduler or whatever), but that doesn't fix the issues I've mentioned above.

You might be better off writing a small program or a script. (or asking someone to do it for you, trivial task for a programmer).

[FeRDNYC]

Surprisingly, even tools you'd think would do this automatically... don't.

 

Like, Google Photos has a Slideshow mode for Albums. But if I start a slideshow running on my PC, then add additional photos to the Album from my phone, they won't enter the slideshow rotation. Mostly because the PC instance doesn't even see the new photos, until I exit the slideshow and refresh the album view.

 

I wonder if that's intended as some sort of protection against remote-photobombing of slideshow contents?

[FeRDNYC]

11 minutes ago, Biohazard777 said:

Even if it auto re-scanned the directory, how would you handle sorting?
- you don't want the slideshow to start from the beginning each time.
- displaying the latest picture makes sense, but what comes after it.
- shuffling each time a new photo arrives is a recipe to repeat some photos and completely miss others.

Those really feel like easily solvable problems. You sort however the collection is sorted, and when new files enter the rotation, they're inserted into their slots in the ordering without moving the "current-image" cursor.

 

(Meaning, while keeping the cursor on the same image. The numerical index of the current image may change (because the actual image's index in the list changes), if you're using an enumerated list to track the rotation.)

 

Say you have a slideshow of A, B, C, D, E. The viewer shows A, then B, then C.

 

New images show up while it's displaying C, and the updated slideshow rotation becomes: A, X, B, C, Y, D, E, Z.

 

So after the update, when C's timer expires, it now advances to Y, then D, then E, then Z, then A again, then X (first time), then B again, then back to C again, and continue from there. Lather, rinse, repeat for additional new arrivals. (If the slideshow is in date order and newer images are all added to the start/end of the rotation, that's fine too, and the same principle applies.)

Edited September 17, 2023 by FeRDNYC
Clarify current-image cursor handling.

[Kilrah]

I've used Faststone image viewer for that before.

 

https://www.faststone.org/

[Biohazard777]

15 minutes ago, FeRDNYC said:

Those really feel like easily solvable problems. You sort however the collection is sorted, and when new files enter the rotation, they're inserted into their slots in the ordering without moving the "current-image" cursor.

 

(Meaning, while keeping the cursor on the same image. The numerical index of the current image may change (because the actual image's index in the list changes), if you're using an enumerated list to track the rotation.)

 

Say you have a slideshow of A, B, C, D, E. The viewer shows A, then B, then C.

 

New images show up while it's displaying C, and the updated slideshow rotation becomes: A, X, B, C, Y, D, E, Z.

 

So after the update, when C's timer expires, it now advances to Y, then D, then E, then Z, then A again, then X (first time), then B again, then back to C again, and continue from there. Lather, rinse, repeat for additional new arrivals. (If the slideshow is in date order and newer images are all added to the start/end of the rotation, that's fine too, and the same principle applies.)

Sure, that could work.
Like I said, not a hard task to solve if writing a script or a small program...

but I am unaware of any software having functionality like that, something that the OP could just install and use.

If it exists, great, no need to re-invent the wheel. Though, I'd personally probably do it myself, as searching for a ready solution and trying it out would probably take longer.
 

[Aetohatir]

Oh wow so many replies.
I went digging again and also found faststone.

23 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

I've used Faststone image viewer for that before.

 

https://www.faststone.org/

Fast Stone worked, and I was even able to display the filename on the Image.

Thank you guys for your suggestions.
Consider the thread closed.