browse compressed archives - now final!

Discussion & Support for xplorer² professional

Moderators: fgagnon, nikos, Site Mods

User avatar
nikos
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 15771
Joined: 2002 Feb 07, 15:57
Location: UK
Contact:

browse compressed archives - now final!

Post by nikos »

the 7Z RAR etc shell extension plugin is now well tested and no longer "beta". Now the less adventurous among you can try it :)
http://zabkat.com/blog/compressed-folde ... ension.htm
Kilmatead
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Posts: 4573
Joined: 2008 Sep 30, 06:52
Location: Dublin

Re: browse compressed archives - now final!

Post by Kilmatead »

Tuxman
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Posts: 1610
Joined: 2009 Aug 19, 07:49

Re: browse compressed archives - now final!

Post by Tuxman »

I love how this is in /test/. :biggrin:
Tux. ; tuxproject.de
registered xplorer² pro user since Oct 2009, ultimated in Mar 2012
Kilmatead
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Posts: 4573
Joined: 2008 Sep 30, 06:52
Location: Dublin

Re: browse compressed archives - now final!

Post by Kilmatead »

What does "in /test/" refer to?
Tuxman
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Posts: 1610
Joined: 2009 Aug 19, 07:49

Re: browse compressed archives - now final!

Post by Tuxman »

The blog post links to zabkat.com/test/7zNSE_setup.exe which makes me curius about 2015's meaning of "final".
Tux. ; tuxproject.de
registered xplorer² pro user since Oct 2009, ultimated in Mar 2012
Kilmatead
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Posts: 4573
Joined: 2008 Sep 30, 06:52
Location: Dublin

Re: browse compressed archives - now final!

Post by Kilmatead »

Where the download lives is probably not enough to keep Nikos awake at night.

"Final" in this instance means it's stable, it works as described, there's no outstanding crash issues, and works on contemporary x86/x64 OS's (XP excluded, of course). That said, further development is at the whim of popularity, and won't happen unless there's a significant interest (other than from those who believe their own interests "are significant unto themselves").

Thus, any known issues such as being read/only, and lack of explicit support for passworded-archives, etc, may not be addressed any time soon. (And some things, such as RAR5 support, are out of his hands completely.)

So, it's final in the sense of "out of beta", but not final in the sense of "OMG it's just so way cool it's better than the push-up bra" type of thing. :shrug:

Considering that the closest thing to it is the apparently out-of-development and essentially "broken" alphazip which claimed a similar functionality a few years back, 7zNSE itself is happy enough in its sandbox.
dmattote
Member
Member
Posts: 20
Joined: 2009 Jul 28, 03:41

Re: browse compressed archives - now final!

Post by dmattote »

I would not call it final since it doesn't accomodate an operating system still used by many of us, namely Win XP.
Kilmatead
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Posts: 4573
Joined: 2008 Sep 30, 06:52
Location: Dublin

Re: browse compressed archives - now final!

Post by Kilmatead »

If you require the functionality so badly on XP, use AlphaZip (see above), as it's designed for that OS and provides almost exactly the same service. When I referred to it as "broken" I meant in regard to currently supported OS's, especially x64 - whereas it tested fine on XP.

I could find no evidence of current development (obviously) - but one assumes something is keeping the website alive besides the mice on treadmills.

It is not, however, free. Beggars can't be choosers. :shrug:
dmattote
Member
Member
Posts: 20
Joined: 2009 Jul 28, 03:41

Re: browse compressed archives - now final!

Post by dmattote »

It is not a matter of needing it so bad, as evidenced by the fact that I make few requests/posts. I make due or find workarounds. It is a matter of equitability and the fact that I can't currently afford a new computer with an updated OS. As regards choosers not being beggars, the cost of 29.95 for alphazip isn't easy either when you are retired and living on a fixed income. The previous post was a bit rude and that is something I don't choose to lower myself to in any post.
Kilmatead
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Posts: 4573
Joined: 2008 Sep 30, 06:52
Location: Dublin

Re: browse compressed archives - now final!

Post by Kilmatead »

My post was not rude, it was merely dismissive. To bring up something once (and have it answered) is fair enough. To repeat it again (claiming "equitability") just reeks of entitlement. And the only rational response to that is to be dismissive. :shrug:

Speaking of subtlety, an interesting subnote here is that part of Microsoft's abandonment of XP actually extends to vandalising the pages of MSDN itself (the official document network for developers). Usually all API entries have at the bottom of their listings a footnote which defines the "minimum supported client" for which any given function/constant/DLL-reference will apply. For the last decade, most of these have stated their "minimum client" as XP (or earlier), as that's where they first became a "staple" of the toolbox, and the developer can be more or less assured that the documentation will apply to that platform. (This is not a guarantee as MSDN can be notoriously wrong sometimes, but at least they "try".)

What has changed in recent years is that MS have begun actually rewriting the reference pages to say that the minimum client is now Vista (with no mention of XP at all), even on entries which have always had XP as part of their remit. This can be tested with almost anything - just look it up in the off-line reference included with older versions of Visual Studio, and then compare the same entry with the online version. You'll find that in many cases they no longer match. And it's only going to get worse.

The upshot of this is that new developers (i.e., kids) will not even have any reference to work with in the future, so XP becomes not only more difficult to target, but it becomes essentially non-existent. In other words, even simple things like ensuring the compatibility of current programmes will become much more difficult for even contemporary developers, as they will have no official reference to help them.

In other words, not only is XP dying of its own accord, but MS is actively undermining any development in the future that could be aimed towards it by well-meaning individuals.

Naturally this would not effect Nikos who wouldn't know or use an online version of MSDN if it bit him in the arse, but since there are no longer any off-line versions of MSDN offered with Visual Studio (at all), XP will just become little more than the rumour it already is.

On the plus-side, as part of me getting a taste of my own medicine, I have no interest in Win10 (Windows 8.2, really) at all, and consider it a joke OS for toys. As it obviously can't be taken seriously except by those who think facebook is important, it's unworthy of attention. Unfortunately for me, the world doesn't work that way and in the next 3 months you will see even many Win7 users switching over to it (hey, free is free), to rousing choruses of "it's not that bad, really".

Thus, I will have to constantly remind myself not to ever expect Win7 compatibility in the future from anything or anyone. If I want something done, I will have to do it myself. If I don't know how to do it myself, I will learn to do it myself.

What I won't do is expect anyone to do it for me. If I choose to stay with Win7, that is.

XP users who choose not to "upgrade" (after 10 years), either from poverty, neglect, or procrastination are simply not trying. It is nothing but a choice. And 29.95 after 10 years is 0.25 a month. Children in Africa apparently starve for less than that.

(Now that was a little rude. :D A little. So sue me. They'll appreciate the irony.)
User avatar
drac
Bronze Member
Bronze Member
Posts: 145
Joined: 2013 Jan 08, 00:14

Re: browse compressed archives - now final!

Post by drac »

I have been using Win 7 for a long time and would be happy to stay with it for as long as it continues to receive updates from MS. Unfortunately, about a 10 months ago some kind of bug slipped into my system. It could have been from one of those MS updates. It causes my IE 11 browser to crash. Now, this is not a serious crash, almost always I can choose the "close this program" option and the browser will close and immediately reopen right were it was (or was going to) when it crashed. Occasionally, however, especially if I am on a website were I am logged in, it will not be able to get back to its previous page. This is more an annoyance then a problem but it is enough to make me want to switch to Win 10 (and its new browser) as soon as practical. The error causing the crash is always the same (BEX - with stackhash). Looking this up on the web gives suggestions for a cure but none work for me. I am hoping that either Win 10 itself of the code for the new browser will eliminate this issue.

I am NOT looking forward to learning a new OS and I am not looking forward to dealing with the Metro interface (I know it is optional) which is of little interest to me. But I am thinking that upgrading is the lesser of the two evils. I also have no doubt that MS will find a way to charge for the free upgrade to Win 10. If not in the near term, then by creating a subscription model in order to get any updates. There is no such thing as a free lunch.

And that brings us back to your conversation with dmattote. While you may (or may not) have been rude or dismissive to him, the point you were making is valid. He wants something for free. And being in the position of not being able to pay for it he has the audacity to want it to work the way he wants it too! So is that a human right - like living as a free person (a right which many humans currently do NOT have)? I am not wise enough to answer that. I do empathize with dmattote and his dilemma. BTW if he were able to pay $0.25 a month for the alphazip he may be willing to spend that money. Are you going to pay the cost up front and let him repay you at the above rate? No matter how inexpensive it sounds when spread out, if a person does not have $30 all at once, it is not feasible to spend it. I do support dmattote in his attempts to have things work the way he wants them to despite his limited budget. I think it is an admirable trait. Unfortunately, it is often an exercise in futility in our money-centric world.
Kilmatead
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Posts: 4573
Joined: 2008 Sep 30, 06:52
Location: Dublin

Re: browse compressed archives - now final!

Post by Kilmatead »

I was in the local supermarket the other day, and for years they have always had those daft "volunteer packers" who will help you bag your groceries if you make a small donation to their cause. Naturally, everyone avoids those lines like the plague (either from guilt or annoyance or whatever).

What makes it especially egregious is that they are always collecting for idiotic causes - for example, its obvious to anyone that Jesus does not want another football pitch at his local church. Everyone knows that Jesus doesn't even play football, so why would he want a playing field? Nonsense. And no, I most certainly would not care to rescue the purple-tongued orangoutangs of South Switzerland. Do they even have them there? I doubt it.

Anyway, year after year, silly cause after silly cause, and I become jaded after awhile and don't pay them any mind at all these days.

But last week I accidentally got stuck with a little old lady who looked earnest enough, and who was just trying to be helpful, so I let her fulfil her earthly purpose and sort out the bags for me. Along the way I asked her what she was collecting for, and she pointed to her t-shirt which had a picture of a toddler on it, and she said that they were collecting for this wee lad to go to Galway Hospital to get some specialist care for his Spina bifida condition. Ok, fair enough I thought, at least it doesn't involve football or Swiss monkeys and I said as much to the woman.

"Well, I'm prejudiced," she said, "I'm his grandmother." And catching me on the back foot, she turned around and pointed to the actual child himself sitting there rather forlornly, and made it clear that this was just a family doing their thing for their sprog, which happily removed the stale abstract air these middle-class do-gooder charity types always have. So, for that, I tossed 'em whatever change I received off the till, and went about my way - informing the check-out lady to tell whoever her boss was that if they have to have beggars in the market, we wanted more of these genuine types, rather than the Homeless-Jesus-Monkey abstractions we normally get.

So what's the moral of the story? Speaking as a guy who's had his electricity and phones disconnected more times than he can count for lack of real money to pay the bills, I have very little sympathy or patience for anyone who can't get their act together when given 10 years head start on a problem. That tells me he doesn't want to change (which is fair enough), yet still believes (with nothing to back him up) that "many people" are in the same boat, when they aren't, and that that mystically transmogrifies into an issue of equitability? There is nothing equitable about humans who believe in entitlements. As goofy apes we are entitled to nothing but pain, pus, and suffering, and that's it. If you get more than that in life, consider yourself nothing more than a lucky sinner.

Expecting anyone to "accommodate" someone's personal choice of obsolescence is absurd - yet as it happens Nikos goes out of his way to ensure backward compatibility in x2 itself for even pre-XP OS's, and that's somewhat admirable (or daft) in itself, but it's his policy so that's fair. But 7zNSE is done more for Nikos' amusement and personal use (we just get it out of his largesse), so for someone to inquire about compatibility is to be expected... and he received his answer... but to then repeat the statement in another thread in such a way as to hint at expected entitlements to satisfy "his" definition of the word "final" - is just laughable. I know that tone when I see it (all XP pseudo-stalwarts have it), and it's little more than effrontery disguised as a feigned meekness.

So no, I won't front him the money - he can have his two week trial of a defunct tool for a defunct OS like everyone else, and after that just dream about the girl that got away, as do we all in one way or another. I will, however, give the Spina bifida lad an extra €30 should I see his grandmother again - as he needs it more than any of us (my ESB/ISP, Jesus, or Swiss Monkeys combined). And I don't even like kids!
User avatar
drac
Bronze Member
Bronze Member
Posts: 145
Joined: 2013 Jan 08, 00:14

Re: browse compressed archives - now final!

Post by drac »

I agree about charity. I make a few donations over the course of a year, but I do NOT want to be put in the uncomfortable position of ignoring a face to face appeal. I do research into the charities I support and insure that at least 60% of the monies taken in actually go to help those the charity purports to help. For some charities in the US that percentage is under 5%! So obviously those "charities" are in business to support the fund raisers or the administrative costs (officers) of the organization. Except in a case such as the one you mention where the kid was sitting right there, I have no idea whether the people asking for donations are going to give them over or pocket them.

I cannot wrap my head around the concept of an obviously intelligent, well educated and knowledgeable person such as yourself having difficulty finding sources of income. Computer knowledge - which you have - is a hot field that always needs people with your skills. I can only conclude that your priorities result in the financial scarcity that you experience from time to time. That is the most delicate and least judgmental wording I could come up with, though I guess I could have tried harder.

I am not convinced that the issue is "entitlement". I think it is an issue of not settling for what is there and working towards what could be. "If any man claims the Negro should be content... let him say he would willingly change the color of his skin and go to live in the Negro section of a large city. Then and only then has he a right to such a claim." RFK. Dmattote may only want what he thinks will make his (computer) life easier. Maybe, if he did a lot of research he could find a solution that would meet his needs. Maybe if he changed his way of doing things he could find a free solution that would do what he needs done. But is it really entitlement that motivates him or is it a desire to make his world easier and better for as long as he has remaining? Sure "many people" is vague and unsupportable. But even if it is just him, I think he has the right to ASK for something. Not necessarily the right to demand or receive that thing - but at least ASK. There are enough people STILL using XP that there could be enough demand for the feature being requested to make it worthwhile for Nikos (or others) to fill it (if it is not too difficult). I often added features to software that I created - which were specific to one user. I enjoy pleasing people - and if it something I can do that does not take too much of my own resources, I may be happy to do it - if for no other reason that it makes ME feel good. If you don't ask you may never get.
Kilmatead
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Posts: 4573
Joined: 2008 Sep 30, 06:52
Location: Dublin

Re: browse compressed archives - now final!

Post by Kilmatead »

My problem was not with him asking the first time (he already did that in another related thread, and received an answer - just not one he was best pleased with), my problem was with him posting the same point again and indelibly tying it to to his comprehension of the word "final" with intonation. That bleeds (to my ears) an irrational "expectation" of inclusion. And that's just "pushy" - when XP users who are understandably "left out" of the current world (by choice) make no contribution other than pushy statements to the development of something, it's irksome. Maybe they don't know this? I doubt it. I think they know exactly what they're doing, and it's entitlement. He did not use the phrase to "accommodate an OS still used by many of us, namely Win XP" by mistake - that wording (to me) tells all. :shrug:

He's had 10 years to figure it out. Does he think that asking developers to continue to support a dead OS is going to breathe new life into it?

Even simple constructive suggestions can be considered "contributions" in the greater sphere - and being unable to test something one's self is not especially a barrier to that. And maybe it's only news to XP users, but repeatedly suggesting "equitable" inclusion in the developmental sphere is no longer contributive: it's necrophilia.
dmattote
Member
Member
Posts: 20
Joined: 2009 Jul 28, 03:41

Re: browse compressed archives - now final!

Post by dmattote »

I have thought long and hard about this response and now believe it is something I personally need to do.

I read this forum for a very long time and have consistently especially enjoyed the responses from Mr. Kilmatead as being insightful, informative, and clearly indicative of somebody with a thorough understanding of this business I choose a long time ago as my career.

In my particular case, I started programming in the days when computers filled large well air-conditioned rooms and programming involved small rectangular pieces of card stock into which I spent many hours punching little square holes. I continued this career up till today in my retirement when I have limited myself to technical support of several home systems for mostly senior citizens and a couple of small local companies.

All during this career and up till today I have been treated for something most frequently called Generalized Anxiety Disorder. This is why I have chosen to interact with this forum so infrequently, that is, a possibly irrational fear of just the responses I have recently been subjected to. Almost all questions have been sent directly to Mr. Nikos as a result. Mr Nikos, with regard to Mr. Kilmatead's reference with me not offering to test versions of Xplorer², I am very willing to do so. I have not offered because I have not been asked. So now I will address each point:

As regards what Mr. Kilmatead refers to as a dead OS, Win XP is not quite dead yet. Fully 2/3 of the home systems I support are still using Win XP. Along with this and with a little research you will find there is actually a couple of XP service pack 4s created be Non-Microsoft individuals out there, including an Unofficial Windows XP SP4 and RyanVM.net Discussion Board. I realize Microsoft in no way endorses these due to their incessant need for new money making ventures, ie. new updated OS versions. There is also Simple Hack Gives Windows XP Users 5 More Years Of Support supposedly. I realize this work-around is designed for the ‘Windows Embedded Industry’ (previously ‘Windows Embedded POSReady’) but still works for Windows XP sp3. This is, as has been cited in many places, "a fair point given the age of Windows XP, but countered by the fact 1-in-4 PCs still use it," This is most prevalent in "industry devices across retail, manufacturing, healthcare."

As regards this concept of presuming I harbor some attitude of "entitlement" I have only the following to say: I have spent my career with the great difficulty of asking anyone for help, indeed, I built a reputation of finding my own answers for any questions, requests, or contract fulfillments by learning how to find the answers I need through personal diligent research. I do not reach out for help as a rule unless I can find no other path to an answer. With regard to Xplorer², I asked for help once in using Menu++ enhancement, specifically in adding a icon to individual menu entries, and received no response. Now I asked for help, maybe a little insistently, about the 7zNSE enhancement and XP compatibility and I receive the kind of responses. I have never felt any attitude of entitlement in my life, and am indeed insulted by the idea, as I have, like many people of my years, earned everything I have been blessed with. If there is any entitlement attitude is comes from the fact that I have paid for every Xplorer² incarnation, every update when they were charged for, and lifetime update contracts for each of those incarnations that offered such. I simply wanted these enhancements to work on my Xplorer² purchases on my machines.

Giving the simple explanations above and my love of Xplorer² I asked as I did. I had hoped, and perhaps at my age expected, that any questions I asked in this forum, perhaps naively, would be responded to with the respect I have earned and am "entitled" to. For somebody, like Mr. Kilmatead, who knows me only by the words I used in this forum, I believe judging me as he did is ethically wrong.

In closing. I will ask questions only of you directly Mr. Nikos if that is alright with you.

Thanks for this fine product.
Post Reply