0.84: Slow start when catalog set to "Program"

[Katharsas]

XnView: MP 0.84
OS: Windows 10 64bit

In Settings > Integration > Paths > Folder for Catalog (.db)
If "Program (XnView)" ist selected, XnViewMP hangs several seconds whenever a picture is opened with XnViewMP.
However, if "User (System)" ist selected, XnViewMP opens instantly.

Effect: Program start becomes unusably slow slow for no obvious reason if user changes settings that have no reason to cause the slowness.

To reproduce:
See above. The opened pictures were some simple screenshots made with Windows Snipping Tool.
Pictures of my other settings attached.

Actual behaviour (bug): Program hangs on startup for several seconds before displaying opened picture.
Expected behaviour: Program starts instantly.

[xnview]

do you have permissions to write in program folder?

[Katharsas]

No, and neither should i change permissions.

Microsoft discourages write-operations to "program files" folder since Vista. And in newer versions of Windows it's actually not possible for programs to write to "program files", and a program should not attempt to do so. Writes will be redirected to virtual store. Why that is a problem for XnViewMP startup i dont know. See:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2209 ... inistrator
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9464 ... -windows-7
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3192 ... gram-files

I think, a solution would be to change the default to User for the installed version of XnViewMP and to Program for portable versions, if there are any. Or fix startup so it works with virtual store.

[xnview]

yes, so why do you use 'Program'?

[cday]

Possibly a warning message if the location of [any] of the settings is changed to Program (XnView) ??

But would that be compatible with installed and portable version?

Edit:

Or possibly delete the option, and then possibly display a warning if a 'Custom' location is set to the program location?? ]

[xnview]

ok, i'll add a warning

[helmut]

ok, i'll add a warning

Do I understand right: At startup, XnView tries to write to "Program" folder. Due to access rights XnView cannot write and has a timeout (therefore the delay and slow start). In this case a message box will be displayed. Right?

[xnview]

ok, i'll add a warning

Do I understand right: At startup, XnView tries to write to "Program" folder. Due to access rights XnView cannot write and has a timeout (therefore the delay and slow start). In this case a message box will be displayed. Right?

no if user in settings>Integration, change to 'xnview folder', at next startup you can have an access problem. So here i'll put a warning.

[Katharsas]

yes, so why do you use 'Program'?

I did not change the setting. I simply used default settings, which is "Program", see attachment. This default should be changed for non-portable versions imho. A normal user will not know what is the "right" setting and use default. If this settings done automatically based on portable / non-portable, you can even remove this from first start settings and have an easier first start for users.

[helmut]

From what I can see there's some back-and-forth because there are various ways that XnView is installed and used.
ATM, I know too little to really contribute in this discussion, I just want to point out that recently there was a discussion about the directory of the catalag database, see topic 0.83: Custom catalog default path.

[helmut]

Before fixing this I think we need a clear picture what the default settings for the configuration's paths are.

There are several versions and scenarios for XnView MP:
- Portable version / ZIP version "installed" on PC
- Portable version / ZIP version "installed" on USB stick / portable device
- Setup version for installing on PC

For every version/scenario the default paths (or a procedure to determine the default path) should be defined. And whenever manually setting the configuration path the permission of the folder should be checked by XnView MP. If XnView MP hasn't got the appropriate read/write permission, XnView should reject the path change and display an (error) message.