The eve.properties File

The eve.properties file defines the system default values read by the program at runtime. Using the values in this file, you can set up your database connection information, set maximum values for search options, and more.

eve.properties is located at \com\evisionglobal\eve\Eve.properties.

NOTE · You can override the values in the eve.properties file with EveContext objects. See the eVeContext section for more information.

The following explains the different sections within the eve.properties file.

 

• where version indicates the name of the version of eVe you are using. Do not change this entry unless an eVision representative instructs you to do so.

 

• where all of the Class entries are for eVision use only. Do not change any of these entries unless an eVision representative instructs you to do so.

where:

• eVe's tempDirectory can be different from your operating system's temporary directory, such as C:\TEMP or /tmp. The system uses this directory to hold temporary files created during various operations.

Note · Backslashes (\) are escape characters in this file. Use two backslashes (\\) to represent a single backslash in a path or filename.

• Your system's directorySeparator is critical. Set this to a backslash (\) for Windows, a slash (/) for Solaris and other Unixes, and a colon (:) for Macintosh.
 

• testDirectory is the directory which holds a number of test scripts designed to verify that your installation of eVe is functioning correctly.
 

• segmentationMaskPath is the path to a blank segmentation mask which eVe uses to create new masks.
 

where the items in the max values section define various system limits. Other than maxSearchBins, all of these values are for eVision internal use only. Do not change any of these entries unless an eVision representative instructs you to do so.

 

• maxResolution represents the threshold at which eVe will resize an image before analysis occurs. For example, if the dimension(s) of an image exceed the value set in this parameter (128 by default), then eVe will resize the dimension(s) in that image to correspond to this value. The aspect ratio of an image is maintained.

• maxRegions is the maximum number of regions into which an image should be segmented. See the Code Samples chapter in the Getting Started Guide for more information about partial image searching.

• maxIterations is the maximum number of iterations the algorithm executes to generate the segmentation map and the signatures (the higher the better, but that takes more time).

• maxNodes is the maximum number of retrieval results to be returned by the search.

• maxBinSize is the maximum number of signature vectors per cluster.

• maxSearchBins is the maximum number of image-storage units, or "bins", in which to search. The higher this value, the longer a search will take, but the more accurate the result set will be.
 

Note · To set the system to perform linear searches, set maxSearchBins to an extremely high number. This is not recommended, however. Normally, it is preferable to have your system tuned for higher performance and slightly less accuracy. If you need to make linear searches available as an option, use EveContext and leave the system default at a higher-performance setting. See the EveContext section in for more information.

• maxClusterIterations is the maximum number of iterations the clustering algorithm executes to generate the bins.

• maxClusterAccuracy is the percentage of overall data moved during an iteration of the clustering algo. This is another termination criterion.

• the items in the frame grabber values section define parameters related to extracting keyframes from video files.

• frameGrabberStep indicates how often eVe will examine frames in a video file to determine if there is a new keyframe. For example, if the value for frameGrabberStep is 20, then eVe will examine every 20th frame in a video file to determine if there is a new keyframe.

• frameGrabberMinimumDistance indicates the minimum percentage of visual difference between video frames that determines if the current frame is a new keyframe. For example, if the visual difference between frames is greater than 60% (frameGrabberMinimumDistance=60), eVe will consider the current frame to be a keyframe.

• frameGrabberAlpha is for eVision internal use only. Do not change this entry unless an eVision representative instructs you to do so.

• Set logErrors to true to enable error logging. When logging is enabled, the system logs any exceptions, with their stack traces, to the file you specify in errorLogPath.

Note · Make sure that there is plenty of space available in the errorLogPath directory. You should periodically clean out this directory, as the number of files can become quite large.

where the database section contains all of the information that eVe needs to be able to connect to the location where it stores index information. There are three places where you can store eVe index information: flat files, object store, and a relational database.

• the # flavor 1 - file based section contains information used by eVe when you store index information within flat files. If you intend to store eVe index information within flat files, make sure to uncomment the parameters in this section.

eVe uses flat files as the default storage location for index information.

• the # flavor 2 - object store based section contains information used by eVe when you store index information within ObjectStore. If you intend to store eVe index information within ObjectStore, make sure to uncomment the parameters in this section.
  
  Note: You can purchase ObjectStore from Object Design’s web site located at: http://www.objectstore.net/index2.html. See the Store eVe Information section for more information about configuring eVe with ObjectStore.

• the # flavor 3 - relational based section contains information used by eVe when you store index information within a relational database. Currently, eVe supports Oracle v8.1.6 through JDBC. If you intend to store eVe index information within a relational database, make sure to uncomment the parameters in this section. See the Store eVe Information section for more information about setting up eVe for use with a relational database.

• useDatabase tells eVe to use a database (through JDBC) rather than a filesystem-based storage model.
 

• databaseDriverString is the Java JDBC class of the database driver.
 

• databaseConnectionString is the information the driver needs to be able to communicate with the database. This includes the database's network address, the port on which the database server listens, and the name of the database table.
 

• databaseUser and databasePassword contain the username and password authorized to access the eVe tables within the database.
 

• databaseMediaObjectTableName is the name of the database table containing the MediaObjects.
 

• databaseMetadataTableName is the name of the database table containing all of the metadata associated with the MediaObjects.

 

• where useCache controls whether or not eVe caches database entries for faster retrieval. In general, you should set this to TRUE in a server environment. Turning caching off can greatly decrease retrieval performance, especially on large collections, but generally does not have a large performance impact on small databases.

 

• where traceIndexSearch is for eVision internal use only. Do not change this entry unless an eVision representative instructs you to do so.

 

• where exhaustiveSearch determines the extent to which you want eVe to perform an image search. If this value is set to false (default), eVe performs a standard search of the images in your database. If you this value is set to true, then eVe will perform a more extensive search of the images within your database.

Tip · Due to performance considerations, we recommend you set this value to false when searching through a large number of images.