Feature requests

[soulky]

As xnviewmp is getting better every day I would like to see it as best replacement for Windows Explorer so far.
There should be more options to really integrate it into Windows and replace the lame Windows Explorer.
I would like to see some more improvements:
1. View setting should be stored on a per folder basis, like sort settings etc.
2. Instead of one large thumbnail database the database should be stored per folder similiar to the Windows Explorers thumbs.db
3. Should be possible to open more instances not only of xnviewmp but of the explorer inside xnviewmp (at least I could not find it)
4. flv should be considered as movies like mpg, avi etc.

[XnAti]

1. good idea
2. NO!
3. ?
4. OK

I don't need a replacement for Thunar! You need a replacement for Windows ...

[soulky]

2. NO!

Well yes I think this is a good idea if you consider it as an Explorer replacement. Why to load thumbnails from hundreds of folders on start up when you only need thumbnails of one specific folder? Performance wise it is much better to load them once you access them. Also you could have folder specific settings this way and have it stored in the database.
Also thumbnails then can be stored together with the files, which makes it easier to work with portable devices between different computers: The thumbnails are at the same place where the files are but seperated from the application files. This could be made optional. When XnvieMP accesses a folder it could check if there is a database file (could be named thumbs.xnv always). If the file is present use it. If it is not present use the database from its regular location. And upon installation user could choose which mode to use.

3. ?

I don´t know if and how it is possible to have more than one instance of the XnviewMP explorer. I don´t want to start multiple instances of XnviewMP itself but only of the Explorer inside XnviewMP. This is helpful in case of monitoring different folders at the same time or even monitoring the same folder but with different sorting settings.

You need a replacement for Windows ...

[JohnFredC]

I am also in favor of #2 as an option for user-selected folders. This issue has been discussed at length here in the forum.

There are pros and cons to both sides.

On the "pro" side there is transportability (the cache goes wherever the folder goes), increased speed of thumbs display when entering the folder (due to fewer thumbs), and the ability to save different thumb sizes for different folders without re-thumbing the entire cache.

Then there is the potentially enormous size of the central xnview.db file. Mine is 3.3Gb! What's yours?

On the "con" side, there is the additional disk access overhead (and therefore time) needed when searching your image collection or displaying thumbs from a particular category that reside in multiple folders.


Perhaps Mr. Librarian would link a few relevant historic threads into this one?

[XnTriq]

Perhaps Mr. Librarian would link a few relevant historic threads into this one?

• Thumbnail size misfeature
• external HD archive (multiple PCs)
• IPTC/XMP for hierarchical categories + internal DB
• Store Thumbnails database in photos folder
• thumbnails cache
• Windows Explorer thumbs.db

3. Should be possible to open more instances not only of xnviewmp but of the explorer inside xnviewmp (at least I could not find it)

• XnView Classic
  • Second Browser/File List Window
  • Renewed Request: Dual Browsers
  • Dual pane file browser [with visuals]...
  • A Dual Panel XnView System
  • XnView "Hypervisor"
  • Split screen browser for 2 folders at once?
• XnView MP
  • Reviving Dual Browser Request
  • Request - Dual pane file browser
  • XnMP: Sub-tabs in 'Browser' for a File Manager environment
  • [Request] Add Folders as Tabs

[soulky]

Perhaps Mr. Librarian would link a few relevant historic threads into this one?

• Thumbnail size misfeature
• external HD archive (multiple PCs)
• IPTC/XMP for hierarchical categories + internal DB
• Store Thumbnails database in photos folder
• thumbnails cache
• Windows Explorer thumbs.db

3. Should be possible to open more instances not only of xnviewmp but of the explorer inside xnviewmp (at least I could not find it)

• Second Browser/File List Window
• Renewed Request: Dual Browsers
• Dual pane file browser [with visuals]...
• XnView "Hypervisor"
• Reviving Dual Browser Request
• Request - Dual pane file browser
• XnMP: Sub-tabs in 'Browser' for a File Manager environment
• [Request] Add Folders as Tabs

I think it should be made optional if xnviewmp uses central thumbnail cache or folder based thumbnail cache. This would be outstanding.
One of the threads mentioned has been started by me, it was about making use of the Windows thumbs.db. Actually this was only an idea to make initial use of xnviemp easier and quicker when using already existing thumbnails instead of creating new ones.

It seems that the issue about multiple browsers has been discussed already. So I can only second that it would be great to be able to open multible browser tabs within one instance to ease file management. Additionally it would be great to be able to multi select several folders in folder/tree view and have the contents displaye within ONE browser tab.