1.91.5: *Slow* browser performance in *large* folders

[The REAL Joe Blow]

This has actually been an issue with *all* versions of XnView to date:

When I bring up the browser on a very large folder, say 500 to 1000 images, XnView brings the system to it's knees, reading something from the drive.

I have checked every possible option and turned off anything that should tell it to read anything from the files:

Browser...Browser...Auto Refresh -> OFF/UNCHECKED
File List...File List... I have ONLY "images" and "Folders" and "Parent Folder" checked
File List...Misc...Recognize only by extension -> CHECKED
File List...Misc...Scan file headers in folders -> NEVER

In the File List's pane I have everything turned OFF except for Name, Size and Date.

With all of this turned off, I would think that XnView would just load the directory listing quickly the same way as the OS does, however it still takes a *very long time* just to load the file list for a folder with around 500-1000 images and/or folders.

With 5000 images, the whole system hangs and XnView shows as 'Not Responding', while the harddrive churns and the light flashes

ACDSee Classic v-2.43 loads these folders in a matter of seconds or less, and never reads anything from the drive, it just flashes the drive light for a brief second while it is loading.

Basically, I would think that there should be some simple setting in XnView to tell it "Don't *ever* read anything except the filelist and show that fast". The way it is, it's unuseable on large folders.

Am I missing something, or can this please be looked at? Like I said, it's been that way for ever.

Thanks,
/The REAL Joe

[foxyshadis]

Turn thumbnails off, then, and delete cache/xnview.db just in case. You can do this by unchecking "enable cache" in the thumbnail cache tab.

[Guest]

That's one of the first things I did before all of the other trouble shooting. It makes no difference. XnView still keeps reading something off the harddrive rather than *just* the directory listing.

/The REAL Joe Blow

[oops66]

That's one of the first things I did before all of the other trouble shooting. It makes no difference. XnView still keeps reading something off the harddrive rather than *just* the directory listing.
/The REAL Joe Blow

Maybe - check you category.db file :
http://newsgroup.xnview.com/viewtopic.php?t=13676
and here
http://newsgroup.xnview.com/viewtopic.php?t=13642

[Guest]

A simillar situation here...

My HD lamp doesn't flash though, but it takes lots of time to open the browser.
This is some kind of bug.

Not present in previous versions...

[xnview]

A simillar situation here...

My HD lamp doesn't flash though, but it takes lots of time to open the browser.
This is some kind of bug.

Not present in previous versions...

Which OS?Which version?Do you have tried to remove category.db?

[Guest]

I don't have a category.db file.

Version 1.91.6

I tried in XP SP2 and in 98SE.

P.S. In my 98SE setup I went back to 1.82.4. It's very fast buy I found other shortcomings...

[ckit]

XnView always creates a "category.db" file somewhere, run a search for the file from the Start menu in Windows.

[Guest]

Hm. Yes I found one in
C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\XnView
in my 98se setup.

I erased it and now it is faster.

[Guest]

You must also erase XnView.db to improve performance.

[Guest123654]

Do I need to erase these files every time I launch XnView? I recreates them every time I launch. Would it not be better if there was a tick box that said something like:

"Don't ever cache anything or store anything in any database whatsoever" which completely disables this kind of functionality?

I *just* want to use it as a real-time image viewer. I don't *ever* want it to remember anything!

[oops66]

Do I need to erase these files every time I launch XnView? I recreates them every time I launch. Would it not be better if there was a tick box that said something like:
"Don't ever cache anything or store anything in any database whatsoever" which completely disables this kind of functionality?
I *just* want to use it as a real-time image viewer. I don't *ever* want it to remember anything!

If you don't use categories and your category.db file size stays at about 7ko~10ko, you do not have to rename/delete it (or each time).
Also erasing XnView.db to improve performance, is not always a good idea (because it's consume time to rebuild the tumbnails) and doesn't affect a lot the Browser opening time.

But your suggestion (a GUI option to disable all local writings) is a good idea (especialy for USB keys).

FYI: To disable the cache (XnView.db):
In xnview.ini:

Code: Select all

...
[Start]
SavingMode=1
ParamsSavingMode=1
[Cache]
SavingMode=1
IsActive=0

see here (but in french):
http://newsgroup.xnview.com/viewtopic.p ... hlight=usb