Pdf thumbnails not working with tc plugin wlx

[science2002]

I downloaded the latest 5.2.0.1, 64bit (portable) version so to install in a portable folder.
I wanted to check if there were improvements, as compared to some previous versions I was used to, on Pdf thumbnails in particular.

I followed the steps you suggested to install a working plugin from Total Commander (portable too) that works (as I tested): wlx_sumatrapdf_0.8.1_x64_source. It can be found here: https://www.ghisler.ch/board/viewtopic. ... &start=105
To avoid errors I used, following your advice, "TC plugin manager". I had two problems: one more general, the second more specific.

1. The portable version seems not exactly portable (I did not see in fact any option during the installation, but I thought that having download xplorer2 from your portable webpage that was enough). After installation I noticed that the registry was fulfilled of many new entries. Moreover also TCPLUGINS.ini was placed, by "TC plugin manager" in User Appdata, and not within the portable folder. I moved the .ini within the portable folder. It seems working but is that correct? More in general is there a way to leave the registry untouched, and make xplorer2 a full portable version?

2. The plugin in xplorer2 works in showing the PDF in quickview. However it does nothing (contrary to what happens in TC) on Pdf thumbnails, when such a view is selected in xplorer2: the traditional PDF file icon continues to be there, while I was hexpecting the small snapshot of the first page, as in Total Commander. Is there a way to "activate" this latter feature in xplorer2 too? Up to now TCPLUGINS.ini contains the following:

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[ContentPlugins]
[ListerPlugins]
0=C:\Users\myuser\Desktop\pluginTC\SumatraPDF.wlx64
0_detect=(ext="PDF") | ([0]="%" & [1]="P" & [2]="D" & [3]="F" & [4]="-" & [5]="1")
[PackerPlugins]
[SumatraPDF]
zoom=-1
savezoom=1
continuous=1
facing=0

Its contents are very similar to the ones shown in TC plugin.ini. Yet in TC this plugin shows PDF thumbnails properly: not so in xplorer2.
Thank you for any suggestion.

[nikos]

by portable, you mean you have installed xplorer2 ultimate edition, right?
when you install it for the first time, it generates registry entries normally, but you can then place it on a USB stick as explained in a file called PORTABLE.TXT in the installation folder

as for the TC plugin helper tool, I don't think it generates portable associations, but you can edit the generated file TCPLUGINS.INI with a text editor. So say you put all the TC plugins you have in a subfolder (under xplorer2 executable) called PLUGINS (or whatever), then instead of a fixed path you would use the %X2DIR% variable as such

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[ListerPlugins]
0=%X2DIR%plugins\SumatraPDF.wlx64

coming to the particular plugin, if you can see image previews in the quick previewer in xplorer2, it should also work as a thumbnail. Are you using the DRAFT preview tab/mode?
also can you see thumbnails of other file types, e.g. do JPG thumbnails show?

[science2002]

Many thanks Nikos for your precise answer.
Yes, I downloaded the ult. edition found in your portable page. As I said, during the installation I was expected an option about portability, but there was not. However I see in the option menu of the application the choice to save not in the registry but in the installation folder. IMHO, it would have been "cleaner" that - if possibile - the choice was asked during the installation, so to prevent unwanted strings in the registry.
Thanks for your additional tips about portability.

Coming to the second problem: in the figure below you can see the difference of the plugin between xplorer2 and Total Commander 10.5: both 64bit, and both with only this plugin installed. The pdf is just an example (I do not have ghostscript installed): the icon PDF in xplorer2 is the same of what I see in Win explorer.

I tried also other similar plugins that declare to show pdf thumbnails (for instance sLister) and the outcome is the same: thumbnails work in TC, but not in xplorer2. Instead the thumbnails of all images (jpg, png, etc.) are shown properly: but so they do in Win explorer.

[nikos]

xplorer2 will only use WLX handlers for thumbnails if it cannot find anything else useful
can you use this tool and check if there is any other thumbnail handler registered?
https://www.zabkat.com/blog/chkshxt-she ... n-dump.htm

[science2002]

Thanks again.
I should stress however that Sumatra TC plugin I gave the link in the first post, is a wlx (both 32: wlx; and 64bit: wlx64). Do you mean that only 32bit wlx will work with xplorer2 32bit (but not - as I verfied - with a 64bit version)? Or do you mean that wlx are an extrema ratio, if there is nothing else, but these plugins do not always work?
In any case, there is no thumbnail PDF handlers in my system. Here the output:

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Shell extension information for .PDF ...
1. TEXT FILTER -----------------
X64: %systemroot%\system32\Windows.Data.Pdf.dll {6C337B26-3E38-4F98-813B-FBA18BAB64F5}
X32: %systemroot%\system32\Windows.Data.Pdf.dll {6C337B26-3E38-4F98-813B-FBA18BAB64F5}
2. PROPERTY HANDLER ------------
(nothing registered)
3. PREVIEW HANDLER -------------
(nothing registered)
4. THUMBNAIL PROVIDER ----------
(nothing registered)
5. THUMBNAIL HANDLER -----------
(nothing registered)

In fact also the PDF thumbnail I showed you from TC, in the previous post, comes from a portable version. I would prefer to not have further handlers in the registry - and far less handlers coming from Adobe. For their dimensions and memory hungry Adobe applications are a sort of mammuth software. Here lean and clean, thank you, and your software is a very good example of that!

[nikos]

if you are on 64 bit xplorer2 then you need the 64 bit WLX too. The ultimate version you have is most probably 64 bit, unless you downloaded the 32 bit installer

from your picture (snapshot), since it works for native preview in xplorer2, it means that you have installed the WLX plugin ok. I will install it myself and see how it goes

[science2002]

[...] I will install it myself and see how it goes

That's really great! Thank you.
I found that no software manages conviniently thumbnails of pdf, epub, djvu, etc. (i.e. mainly ebooks). I see that xplorer2 in its file attributes has also "keywords" (that can be shown as a column in detailed view) which are written directly into the files.

If you have chance, take a look at Adobe Bridge way to deal with thumbnails and keywords. In particular, you can assign keywords (and even sub-keywords, as in the figure below) from a pre-defined list that you can build yourself, and then by selecting the keywords you also filter files.
Here an example of Bridge sub-menu of a keyword's list: from it you can both assign to files a certain keyword (written in xmp format I believe on files themselves), and then the same list appears also as a way to filter files: one can select multi-keywords. I found a great way to deal with hundred or thousand of files.
The other side of the coin is that Bridge is 1GB, although now is free.

[nikos]

so which of the 2 sumatra plugins did you install? sumatra or slister? Only the 2nd one is x64
for plugins in general see here www.zabkat.com/x2plugins.htm
if you are interested in portability though only TC plugins can be used without installation

[science2002]

Hi there,
In reading the first link I gave you the Sumatra TC plugin has been recompiled also for 64bit. I downloaded (the link can be found a bit below in the mentioned TC forum) here: http://wincmd.ru/files/9924355/wlx_suma ... source.rar
As you see from the figures I uploaded, it works in xplorer2 just as Quickview (PDF native) window.

I tried also sLister (the version from TC plugins is wlx64_sLister_1.1.2.zip), with the same result. In quickview Sumatra seems a more recent version with a subframe for content index of the pdf, but no thumbnails also with this one (same results when I tried some others more).

As I showed in the figures, instead with TC I do not have any issue after the installation in the portable version: the plugin(s) works instantly as a thumbnail too, without any further settings.

[nikos]

I tested it and it works, but you need to change the detection string so that it only checks the extension as such:

0_detect=ext="PDF"

just edit the TCPLUGINS.INI file to change it

[science2002]

@Nikos: thank you very much for having taken the time to test the Sumatra TC plugin. And to fully succeeed in doing so!

It works also here now, even if one leaves the beginning of 0_detect code in TCplugin.ini in its original form, i.e. with the brackets, but without the subsequent text:

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0_detect=(ext="PDF")

I was hoping that the same could be true also for sLister 64bit (https://totalcmd.net/plugring/slister.html that manages more thumbnail types, always adopting Sumatra.exe), but after testing only for PDF I did not have the same luck. The original TCplugin.ini (with no pdf thumbnails shown as pointed out in this post) reads :

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0_detect=MULTIMEDIA& (EXT="PDF" | EXT="DJVU" | EXT="DJV"| EXT="XPS" | EXT="CBZ" | EXT="CBR" )

I tried to modify twice the 0_detect line like this, but unfortunately with no avail:

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0_detect=MULTIMEDIA& (EXT="PDF")

or

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0_detect=(EXT="PDF")

[nikos]

i would imagine that MULTIMEDIA would be the problem here (you can keep the list of all other extensions)
does it show PDF in NATIVE preview tab?
also make sure you fully quit then restart xplorer2 for the changes to apply

[science2002]

Yes, as I said in the a previous answer, sLister shows PDF quickview even better that wlx Sumatra (with sLister wlx there is in Sumatra quick view also a subframe of contents index, if one wants it), but not thumbnails.
I have certainly closed and re-opened xplorer2 any time I changed TCplugin.ini, and - as you see - in my last posted code MULTIMEDIA has been removed. Yet without success.

[nikos]

this plugin cannot do thumbnails (doesn't export ListGetPreviewBitmap). Does it work in TC for thumbnails?

[science2002]

Let me answer straight away. I will make further testing afterwards.
You are right (as usual!): sLister does not show thumbnails even in TC. My misunderstanding occured because in changing plugin (removing Sumatra wlx and inserting Slister wlx 64 bit), I did not close and re-start TC (I thought it was not needed with the original application). Now I did, and no thumbnail with Slister.