How to disable "Do you want to save changes..."

[Lightspeed_]

By default, XnView pops up a warning dialog "Do you want to save changes to <filename>" whenever a modification is made to an image. Is it possible to disable this dialog and have XnView dismiss the changes and just view the next image? It used to be the way XnView worked way back when, with early version of XnView 1.3x if i remember correctly.

The reason for this is when viewing pictures, sometimes i want to flip an image or enhance the focus or modify brightness for example, but i don't want to modify the original image i have on my HD. Changes used to be dismissed by default unless you clicked file -> save, which was much better in my opinion. If you forgot to save changes, the original file was still there, intact, and ready to be modified again. But with this new dialog, beware! If you make a mistake, your original is gone, been overwritten. But the worst is to have to constantly close this annoying dialog to view the next image and be careful.

Is there a way, either in the xnview.ini file or in the registry or anything to disable this dialog and leave the original image safe and intact? If not, could there be one soon? I'm thinking of an item in tools -> options that could [ ]enable/[x]disable this dialog with default [ ]save file or more importantly [x]don't save file automatically when the warning dialog is disabled. Boy, this little addition to the program would make it so much more friendly to use as a viewer (for little old me anyway )!

Maybe adding some kind of line in the XnView.ini can produce the same effect? Or perhaps a patch could do that?

Fingers crossed,

Lightspeed.
http://oldfiles.org.uk

[Irving]

I also find that very irritating.

You're likely thinking of 1.31, (which I think was the best XnView).

[Clo]

Hello !

- I agree and support that wish !
- On another hand, we have too an exasperating message while you save any change as :
"The file xxx.nnn exists already. Do you want to replace it ?" (or so, this is the message in French).

The good joke ! I don't wish to replace it, I just want to save it as changed, like this exists in ALL programs, editors etc. without this stupid message !
- I groused already against that, unsuccessfully…

Maybe adding some kind of line in the XnView.ini can produce the same effect?

- I'm a hot supporter of such a method, for settings wished by some users; this is simple, and doesn't need to change the Options dialogues.
- I have proposed this solution already here and there in that forum…
- We have a mountain of such variable INI-entries in Total Commander, this is great and satisfies everybody, as well the users as the Author. Wait and see

Kind regards,
Claude
Clo

[helmut]

O.k., we now know that this is an issue and don't need more criticism or jokes. Let's talk about solutions.

In XnView it's really a bit strange to have a symbol in the toolbar for "Save as..". Most applications have one for "Save". Reason is probably that people do not happen to overwrite their image files. For experienced users, this could be annoying.

A possible solutions:
Saving could be without asking (option), but then a backup file (.bak) should be generated by default (option). Perhaps the handling of the backup file could be smart: If there is a backup file, already, not a new one is written. This would make sure that you keep the original for later modifications.

Other ideas are welcome.

Maybe adding some kind of line in the XnView.ini can produce the same effect?

- I'm a hot supporter of such a method, for settings wished by some users; this is simple, and doesn't need to change the Options dialogues.
- I have proposed this solution already here and there in that forum…
- We have a mountain of such variable INI-entries in Total Commander, this is great and satisfies everbody, as well the users as the Author. Wait and see

First let's say what an option should do, then we can decide whether it should go into the options dialog or simply be an option in the .ini file. Having options only in the .ini file keeps the options dialog clean, but many people won't even know that there is such an option if it's just buried somewhere in the .ini file. If you want to discuss this further, please start a new thread.

[Clo]

Helmut

• Hi !

- Let's be clear : the message appears for a simple "Save", from the “File” menu or Ctrl+S, that's quite useless.

- The "Save as…" button can be useful, a "Save" button (without a message) is missing only.

- I don't wish to fill my (small) HDs with backups. Just pressing "Cancel" could be sufficient to leave the file like it was before…

…Having options only in the .ini file keeps the options dialog clean, but many people won't even know that there is such an option if it's just buried somewhere in the .ini file. …

- First, I just answered to the Lightspeed's message giving him my feeling about this.
- Second, Help folders are made to bring information, are they not? I'ld have no problem to provide this in my Manual…
In the TC Tutorial, I've a 67-KB HTML page for the INI chapter; there are all entries, though, from Options and extra-ones to add by hand…
- Third, I did not mean commented entries already written in the INI (like this exist with Un*x based OSs), where you have to remove the comment-mark, but entries to add by hand in the right section or in a special [Extra] section…

…If you want to discuss this further, please start a new thread.

• I'll do certainly a bit later, when I'll know more from Pierre about this topic…

G
Claude
Clo

[Lightspeed]

Well, the idea i put forward would keep things as they are as the default "factory" setting, but add an option to disable this warning. Then, if one chooses to actually disable the warning, a sub option should exist to set what actual action should occur. Either overwrite the file without warning, or dismiss the changes and leave the file as is, according to what the user prefers.

If one sets the action to dismiss the changes by default, one can still override this action by manually saving the file using file -> save or file -> save as in the case one wants to save the modified image under another name, like filename_b.ext for instance.

I believe this would be very flexible and pretty much cover the wishes of all users.

I've been using XnView for 5 or 6 years already, and as far as i'm concerned this is an excellent program, and of course, try to beat the price lol! I'm just making a suggestion that would remove a small irritant (imo). I'll wait and see what Pierre thinks about it...

Si en parler en français est plus facile, c'est avec plaisir que je me joindrais à la discussion (et au forum)

I didn't join just yet because i'm already member of more forums than i can count on the fingers and toes of my entire family lol

Lightspeed

[Irving]

In XnView it's really a bit strange to have a symbol in the toolbar for "Save as..".

Not at all. I like the Save As button on the toolbar.

I for one have always thought that Save right next to Save As on the dropdown menu in Windows was a boneheaded idea. One slip of the mouse and you overwrite your original. I think "Save" should be hidden, or only available through maybe 30 mouse clicks.

[Clo]

Hello Irving !

- In the daily work, "Save" is indeed made to overwrite the file you have changed; this is usual to have "Save" and "Save as…" as neighbours in the «File» menu of a lot of programs, like in my favourite HTML editor below :

———————

- If I have to make tests in XnView with a “rare” picture, i.e. a sample of an unusual format, I make a copy, then I work with that copy
- So, like I said above, I don't wish automatic space-greedy automatic backups…

Kind regards,
Claude
Clo

[Clo]

Lightspeed (2.997925*10^8 m/s, approx.)

Good morning !

Si en parler en français est plus facile, c'est avec plaisir que je me joindrais à la discussion (et au forum)
If i'ts easier to speak about that in French, I would be delighted to join the discussion -and the forum-

• You are welcome in all sections here ! Indeed, although I can write so fluent English, it's more tedious than to write in French…
- I'm a member of several fora too, but I work mainly here and in the Total Commander one.
These programs are the two arms of the same body, IMHO. They can work as partners… I acted for.

Kind regards, bien cordialement,
Claude
Clo

[Irving]

Clo:

That picture is exactly what I'm talking about. They should be seperated at least.... say a kilometer?

[Lightspeed]

Hello again people. Hey, guess what? I grew another finger since my last post, so i decided to join the forum. Don't worry, it's not a middle finger ...

Helmut put it right in his post:

O.k., we now know that this is an issue and don't need more criticism or jokes. Let's talk about solutions.

I agree, so i've given some thought to this issue, and i think i came up with a concrete and simple solution. Goes like this:

When an image is changed and you try to close it or move on to the next one, a user currently receives this message:

Do you want to save changes to <filename>

The user then has 3 buttons to chose from: [YES] [NO] [CANCEL]

I suggest adding 2 more:

[YES TO ALL] and [NO TO ALL]

After pressing [YES TO ALL], a user would receive this message:

This option will cause XnView to silently save all further changes to original images for the duration of this session.
Warning: original files will be overwritten!
Do you wish to continue [YES] [NO]

Upon pressing [NO TO ALL], the following message would appear:

This option will cause XnView to silently discard changes to images and keep files on disk as they are unless saved manually from the FILE menu
Do you wish to continue [YES] [NO]

These selections would be reset automatically after closing and reopening XnView, reverting to the default warning. To allow for a user to change his mind however, since warning dialog would be gone at this point, i propose adding a new option in the tools menu, perhaps under "attach images ..."

This option could read something like this:

Reanable changed images dialog

Additionnally, this option should be associated with a shortcut key or keys (either a function key like say F10, or some CTRL-WHATEVER). This would be seen in the tools menu besides the new option. This new option by default would be grayed out, unless the user selected [YES TO ALL] or [NO TO ALL] and needed it to change his mind.

I think this would make my beloved XnView an even better program, especially when viewing images from a CD that cannot be changed anyway. It would let a users use some of XnView's features to view the pic better, then move on to the next one without having to close a dialog that is useless in this case since the image cannot be changed on the CD.

Well, i said my piece, let's see where it leads. Hopefully Mr Gougelet will find some of this useful.

[TucknDar]

sorry to bump this, but I would like to see this feature, too. Doesn't seem to be added yet.

[WDef]

I second this request. Actually I'm surprised I can't find a way to switch this off.

The "do you want to save changes?" dialog is annoying, and I usually just want to rotate etc without changing the original file.

[xnview]

I second this request. Actually I'm surprised I can't find a way to switch this off.

The "do you want to save changes?" dialog is annoying, and I usually just want to rotate etc without changing the original file.

I'll add it in next release...

[Guest]

Thx again.
(Hope this will also apply to the linux version).