XYplorer Beta Club

Perhaps this is more of a wish, but it kind of appears like XY is trying to do this successfully but failing.

If I preview a PDF (it opens Adobe in the preview pane for me) and then try to rename the file it gives me an error because the file is in use (duh!).

After the error the preview disappears and I can rename the file as expected.


I'm thinking it's creating a race condition. As PDFs are opening Adobe Reader in the preview pane and that requires a lot of overhead it's not closing and freeing up the file as quickly as XY wants it to.

It's just a thought though as I can't really test it on any other formats here. Text and images are fine but don't require much, Office formats open in office instead of the pane, and MP3s seem to be fine.


That said is there a way to get it to use a different program for previews, like perhaps through the custom file associations? Or would I have to change the system associations?

EDIT: To add some program versions:
XY 6.40.0014
XP SP2
IE 6.0.2900.2180.xpsp_sp2_gdr.070227-2254IC
Adobe Reader 8

EDIT2: Also is there any way to keep it from stealing focus? If I'm in the list and using the arrows to navigate to another file, the first PDF opens a preview and steals focus. Perhaps a way to implement a small delay before previewing if navigating via keyboard?

TheQwerty wrote:If I preview a PDF (it opens Adobe in the preview pane for me) and then try to rename the file it gives me an error because the file is in use (duh!).

After the error the preview disappears and I can rename the file as expected.

Been there, done that MANY times! I keep having this issue...the only way I avoid it is to try and makes sure that I've either hidden Info Panel or switched to another IP tab....in my case however, I seem to be unable to get error to resolve unless I do either of above.

TheQwerty wrote:EDIT2: Also is there any way to keep it from stealing focus? If I'm in the list and using the arrows to navigate to another file, the first PDF opens a preview and steals focus. Perhaps a way to implement a small delay before previewing if navigating via keyboard?

Yup, same issue here also! But, IMO, any delay factor would need to be tied to file type, as having a preview of TXT causes almost no delay and no focus conflicts, while PDF's and XLS's do...

How big are these PDFs? I can preview and rename without problem.

Focus: Can't do anything.

j_c_hallgren wrote:Been there, done that MANY times! I keep having this issue...the only way I avoid it is to try and makes sure that I've either hidden Info Panel or switched to another IP tab....in my case however, I seem to be unable to get error to resolve unless I do either of above.

What a relief to know I'm not alone on this one. Though I must admit I'm glad it's not as bad as it is for you.

admin wrote:How big are these PDFs? I can preview and rename without problem.

The range of sizes is pretty big (1.4 MB to 37 MB) and doesn't seem to make any difference.

admin wrote:Focus: Can't do anything.

I fail to see how a simple delay couldn't be implemented here, care to delve more into why something couldn't be done, Don? Mind you, I understand it will steal focus when previewed, but I'm only looking to minimize the affect when a user is navigating the list while preview is open.

j_c_hallgren wrote:Yup, same issue here also! But, IMO, any delay factor would need to be tied to file type, as having a preview of TXT causes almost no delay and no focus conflicts, while PDF's and XLS's do...

I'm only talking about a delay in the order of milliseconds, so I'm not sure it would be outside of the tolerant range for TXT files and such. It would be just enough to allow a user going through the list to actually move through the list.


That said there is a bit of a work around. Since the pane only displays the focused and selected item you can navigate the list with CTRL+Arrows and just release CTRL before the one you want to preview. It doesn't completely fix the focus issue, but it does solve it to the same degree a delay would.


EDIT: Missing quotes in the quote.

TheQwerty wrote:

admin wrote:Focus: Can't do anything.

I fail to see how a simple delay couldn't be implemented here, care to delve more into why something couldn't be done, Don? Mind you, I understand it will steal focus when previewed, but I'm only looking to minimize the affect when a user is navigating the list while preview is open.

There is a delay already: 25 msec. And preview is only loaded when all keys are up.

Tip: uncheck PDF in Previewed Formats.

admin wrote:There is a delay already: 25 msec. And preview is only loaded when all keys are up.

Okay then, 25 ms is too short here for browsing by just the arrows to work. Holding down the arrows works but makes it hard to actually end up on the file you want.

admin wrote:Tip: uncheck PDF in Previewed Formats.

Sure, that's one way to handle this, but then I lose the ability to preview PDFs completely. Another would be to find and use a file manager that handles this better. Sure, they both make the problem go away, but neither is a solution.


It comes down to this, XY is not capable of displaying previews for PDFs and navigating easily through a list (containing PDFs) via keyboard while the preview pane is open, without the use of a modifier key (for at least 2 users).


Guess I'll just have to adjust to using Alt+Arrows when dealing with PDFs.

TheQwerty wrote:

admin wrote:Tip: uncheck PDF in Previewed Formats.

Sure, that's one way to handle this, but then I lose the ability to preview PDFs completely.

No, Ctrl+Q will always preview. (currently needs to be pressed 2 times then, but that's a bug)

admin wrote:

TheQwerty wrote:

admin wrote:Tip: uncheck PDF in Previewed Formats.

Sure, that's one way to handle this, but then I lose the ability to preview PDFs completely.

No, Ctrl+Q will always preview. (currently needs to be pressed 2 times then, but that's a bug)

Only if you haven't made Ctrl+Q something else. But yes now I see if I select the menu item twice it will eventually bend to my persistence.

Any chance a button/link could be placed in the preview pane when the type is excluded to do the same thing? (Mostly as a reminder to users that XY can display files when asked even if they are excluded.)

Now I just have to figure out which way works better for me.. navigating with Alt+Arrows or excluding PDFs and previewing twice.


Excluding seems to help with the renaming issue as well. Now to just make Adobe quit with the focus stealing.

TheQwerty wrote:Any chance a button/link could be placed in the preview pane when the type is excluded to do the same thing? (Mostly as a reminder to users that XY can display files when asked even if they are excluded.)

Good idea.

TheQwerty wrote:Excluding seems to help with the renaming issue as well. Now to just make Adobe quit with the focus stealing.

Guess I have to take that back. If I force the preview and then rename the file it still gives me the error most of the time.

It's not as annoying though. Between excluding PDFs from auto-preview and Adobe stealing focus there's a better chance that when I focus the item to rename it that will cause the preview to close, so it's free by the time I submit the new name.

TheQwerty wrote:

TheQwerty wrote:Excluding seems to help with the renaming issue as well. Now to just make Adobe quit with the focus stealing.

Guess I have to take that back. If I force the preview and then rename the file it still gives me the error most of the time.

The next version should fix this.

Appears to be all fixed.

Great work as usual, Don!