Usability without scanning headers

[Chungalin]

Hello. I’m new to using XnView MP. I’m ACDSee 3.1 user for more than 20 years and my bias is strong, but I’m really willing to make a switch to XnView and I don’t want to give up easily.

My first impression of XnView 1.11.2 [10051] is very good and it’s my choice to upgrade. As you may guess, I’ve tried to reproduce a similar configuration and workflow I used in my beloved ACDSee. However, I’ve encountered a problem. I never needed the browser to scan all images in a folder for their properties, nor I needed a thumbnail database. That’s always disabled in ACDSee. I’ve tried to do the same in XnView (Settings, File list, Scan file headers: never / Catalog: disable / menu View, View as: details) but I see that the program behaves erraticaly when it doesn’t have that information in hand. Images inside archives (RAR, ZIP) show in preview pane as you move selection, but cannot be viewed unless you activate scanning. And in normal folders, XnView behaves like it doesn’t want to handle the image internally, opening itself again (I guess that it’s because invokes Windows shell to open associated app, which is XnView again!).

ACDSee behaves more adaptively: it scans only the file under selection and populates its info in file list. Only the files that you browse get image info; others not. And that not makes any difference when you want to view the image. Is it normal that XnView doesn’t scan the image being browsed? If preview pane shows the image, and info pane shows all info, then it’s scanned! But file list doesn’t get updated.

If you choose view file list as thumbnails, then it’s like activating scanning, because it recreates thumbnails and then the problem disappears. But if you always work in details mode file list, it’s a problem.

[jkm]

Welcome to the forums...

It's a bit difficult to understand what you actually want, but I'll try do address a couple of things...

...And in normal folders, XnView behaves like it doesn’t want to handle the image internally, opening itself again (I guess that it’s because invokes Windows shell to open associated app, which is XnView again!).

I don't see this behavior. When you double-click an image file in XnViewMP, it opens in a viewer tab inside the existing XnViewMP application window. Unless you're doing something strange, like hitting F3 to "Open in Associated Program"; don't do that.

I wonder if you have the application installed or configured incorrectly. You'll have to be more specific about exactly what steps you are taking if you want help with this.

ACDSee behaves more adaptively: it scans only the file under selection and populates its info in file list. Only the files that you browse get image info; others not. And that not makes any difference when you want to view the image. Is it normal that XnView doesn’t scan the image being browsed? If preview pane shows the image, and info pane shows all info, then it’s scanned! But file list doesn’t get updated.

I cannot follow exactly what behavior you want to happen and what behavior you don't, and why. What specific info is it that you're trying to display in Details view? It sounds like you've intentionally told it to never scan file headers, and then are upset it's not scanning file headers. But I can't see why you care if it scans file headers, when you've disabled the catalog. If the catalog is disabled, the information is not cached and stored, so what else is there to care about here?

If you choose view file list as thumbnails, then it’s like activating scanning, because it recreates thumbnails and then the problem disappears. But if you always work in details mode file list, it’s a problem.

Again, not sure what you mean by your use of the word "scanning" here. Are you talking about thumbnail generation? XnViewMP does not perform thumbnail generation in details view. If you switch to Thumbnails view, it does, unless you turn the feature off. Go to Settings:Thumbnail, and do the following:
Create high quality thumbnail: unchecked
Use Embedded Thumbnail: checked
Create from original image...: unchecked
Create thumbnails for whole folder: unchecked

With those settings, XnViewMP will use the embedded thumbnail as-is if it exists, and if it does not exist it will do nothing.

XnViewMP is not ACDSee, and ACDSee 3.1 is about 20 years old.

Taking a step back, I would ask you what your overall goal for the Application is. Because in disabling the catalog and disabling file scanning, you have crippled the app. You're not going to get the most out of it. And you're using it exclusively in Details mode too, so it sounds like you're doing everything to intentionally get the LEAST out of it.

So what is it that you're looking for an application to actually do for you, and what is it you're trying to accomplish? Perhaps XnViewMP is not the app for you. Help us understand what you're after, and perhaps we can get you pointed in the right direction.

[Chungalin]

Thanks for your answer. It seems that you haven’t been able to reproduce my issue.

First of all, I don’t mean to "cripple" the application. All I’ve done is to configure the application in a way it allows me to do, so if it behaves wrong under certain legal configurations, then there’re two options: consider it a bug; or prevent that configuration to be set by the user.

I don’t need certain features, and XnView allows me to disable them. And I’m sure that the application should still be able to display images normally with those options disabled.

I’ll explain the minimal steps to reproduce the issue from a clean installation of 1.11.2 x64 under Windows 10:

1) Create a new folder with a few JPGs and with a ZIP file containing a few JPGs.
2) Make sure %AppData%\XnView config folder is deleted or renamed, and then install.
3) First run, choose language English, only check Register application.
4) Menu: View > Details.
5) Settings: Catalog: disable; File list: scan headers: never
6) Browse to the folder created in first step.
6) Double click on a JPG: does it open viewer in a new tab or ir opens a new instance of XnView? What should it do?
7) Browse into ZIP archive. Double click on a JPG inside it. Does it open viewer or does nothing? What should it do?