Windows Spotlight Slideshow Update Files

Windows Spotlight Slideshow Update

Author               Mike Cavender
Programming Language Python 3.5
Install Requires     Tkinter, Pillow
Platform             Windows 10
Version              2.0.1
Development Status   Production
Intended Audience    Anyone who can run Python apps
License              New BSD; see the SlideshowUpdateLicense.txt file

Description:

Windows Spotlight is a Windows 10 feature that downloads images automatically 
from the internet and displays them when the lock screen is shown.  The Spotlight 
option may be specified in Windows Settings lock screen personalization.  When 
enabled, downloaded Spotlight images are stored on the local system drive.  Users 
have the ability to influence what images are downloaded by "liking" or "not liking" 
images that appear on the lock screen.

The Slideshow Update app maintains a slideshow image folder, using Windows Spotlight 
images that meet the customizable selection criteria.  The app adds or deletes 
slideshow images based on additions to or deletions from the Windows Spotlight 
folder, by Windows Spotlight.  Again, only Spotlight images that meet selection 
criteria are copied to the slideshow folder.  A log file is written to the slideshow 
folder, detailing the results of a run.

The resulting slideshow folder can be specified in Windows Settings background 
personalization as the input to a desktop/background slideshow.  Of course, the 
slideshow folder may also be browsed with any image viewer that can read .jpg files. 
The Slideshow Update app is most useful if it is setup as a Windows startup app but 
it can also be run manually anytime a refresh is desired.

Note: The Slideshow Update app requires that a Python 3.x environment exist on the 
host computer and that Tkinter and the Pillow addon are included in the environment. 
Tkinter is only used to display an error dialog, if errors occur.  If there are no 
errors, the app runs "silently".  Some of the selection criteria are based on exif-
type data imbedded in Spotlight images.  The Python Pillow addon is used to extract 
exif-type data.

History:

Version 1.0.1	First release to production
Version 1.0.2	Fixed slideshow folder create bug
Version 2.0.1	Used Python Pillow to extract exif-type data rather than ExifTool

Installation:

1. Install the Python Pillow addon
  1.1. Pillow website
       https://pypi.python.org/pypi/Pillow
  1.2. Select the latest Pillow version from the Pillow web page.  The resulting 
       web page will present installation modules of various types, for various 
       platforms and for various Python versions.  For the Windows platform, the 
       pillow .exe installation module is easier to use than the other available 
       installation module types.  Choose the build that matches your Python 
       version, in 32 bit or 64 bit, as required.


2. Change Slideshow Update configuration values
  2.1. Slideshow Update configuration values are in the SlideshowConfig class of
       slideshowupdate.py.
    2.1.1. The user name in the Windows Spotlight image folder value must be
           changed to that of the main user of the PC.
    2.1.2. The Slideshow image folder value must be changed to the desired
           folder path.  If the folder does not exist, it will be created during
           the first run of Slideshow Update.
    2.1.3. Changes to other configuration values are optional.

3. Add the Slideshow Update app to the Windows Startup menu folder (optional)
  3.1. Update the properties in the provided Slideshow Update shortcut
    3.1.1. Right-click the shortcut and select Properties.
    3.1.2. Update Target and Start In to point to your Python environment
  3.2. Place the shortcut in the Startup menu folder of the main user of the PC
         C:\Users\[UserName]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\
           Start Menu\Programs\Startup
  3.3. Each time the PC is started, Slideshow Update will run.  If there are no
       errors, the run will be "silent".

4. Change Windows Settings background/desktop personalization to use the
   Windows slideshow (optional)
  4.1. After the first run of Slideshow Update, the slideshow folder will be
       created (if necessary) and will contain Windows Spotlight images suitable
       for a Windows background/desktop slideshow.
  4.2. Click the Start button, then click the gear icon to open Windows Settings.
  4.3. Click Personalization.
  4.4. If the Background tab is not already selected, select it.
  4.5. Change Background to Slideshow, browse to the project slideshow folder
       and set Slideshow options as desired (Fill is recommended).