feature request: IFilter configurator + User-Defined IFilters

[xyplorerköln]

Since
(a) search is a core feature of XYplorer; and
(b) search functionality is heavily impacted by installation/configuration of efficient IFIlters; yet
(c) many users' current system state includes broken/buggy/inefficient/misconfigured IFilters, and
(d) therefore the initial XYplorer search experience is often terrible; plus
(e) most users are unfamiliar with IFIlters (and expect search is supposed to "just work")...

Would it be possible to have an IFilter selector in XYplorer, where IFilters could be configured per filetype?

This functionality would exist in Configuration and could also be accessed from friendly prompts in the XYplorer search section, to make it easy for users to figure out what to do to fix their search problems. (i.e. "Search not working as expected? Select different IFIlters here <link to config section>")

I see this as two possible sets of functionality:

1. System IFIlter configuration : An in-XYplorer way to do what NirSoft SearchFilterView does, so new users don't have to (a) figure out the arcane details of IFIlters issues on their own, and then (b) spend a lot of time searching forum posts to find a somewhat obscure piece of software from NirSoft.

2. A way to assign specific IFIlter .dlls for use with XYplorer only, regardless of system-level settings. Similar to User-Defined Preview Handlers, this would be User-Defined IFIlters. Rather than using the default system-level settings, this would be helpful where IFilter use in XYplorer might be optimized differently than elsewhere on the system, especially when other software tends to repeatedly alter the system IFIlter configuration for a specific filetype without warning the user (resulting in XYplorer behaving unexpectedly). Not sure how trivial or complex this is (are IFilter .dll files readily usable by apps like XYplorer without being assigned at system level?) but this functionality would be very useful in (a) simplifying permanent IFilter selections and (b) reducing confusion when system IFIlter settings inadvertently change.

(Side question: What is IFilterCustom= in XYplorer.ini ?)

[admin]

1) I do not agree with each of your points a) to e).

2) I'm not aware of any way to do this short of modifying the registry, which I'm not going to do.

3) The change log usually has all the answers:

Code: Select all

v13.90.0111 - 2014-04-14 20:37
    + Tweak to define the file types that use IFilters on Content search. If the 
      tweak is not set then all Web and Office file type are taken. For example, 
      this would confine the use of IFilters to DOC and DOCX files:
        IFilterCustom=doc.docx