Requested Slideshow: Load filenames from TXT file -> append

[androctonus]

Hello everyone!
Irfanview is just divine! (And so was lister that I am still using as my prime viewer, btw). Thanks to the developers endurance, going on issuing new versions over and over!

The need to open a text editor to patch TXT files together and save the result as a new file is annoying. I would really appreciate a 'Append files from TXT file' to be added to the 'Load from ...' and 'Save to ...' buttons. Little effort, I assume, to make life very much easier ...

Thank you for considering my suggestion ...
Kind regards

[Mij]

I support this strongly.

If it were seen as undesirable to have more buttons, I would be quite happy for an Add filenames from TXT file button to replace the present Load filenames from TXT file. It would only take one initial extra click on the Remove All button to achieve the present function and adding/appending TXT files would then behave in the same way as adding files from a folder. Much less confusing.

[Skippybox]

Not sure if this speeds things up, but are you aware of the File>Append selected files to current slideshow command in the Thumbnails window?

You can load each one of your TXT files from that window, select all (CTRL+A), and continue appending to an empty show. Then press W for the dialog when you're finished.

Plus, you have more control over which files could get appended from the TXT file. However, you should probably stop thumbnail generation if it gets in the way.

[Mij]

I did not mention the Thumbnails route because there are complications that you need to be aware of.

It is fine if you compose the whole list in Thumbnails using initially the Save selected files... and then Append selected files.. right-click menu options. You can also use Options> Load file list from TXT file to display your saved files in thumbnails and then append some or all of them to the slideshow list as Skippybox says.

However Thumbnails does not provide the option to save the list you composed as a TXT file. Instead it saves the select files in a file called Slideshow.lst in the same folder as the Irfanview initialisation file i_view32.ini.

It is the same file in which the Slideshow dialog saves its list but not until you Start the Slideshow. If you close the dialog without starting a show you lose anything you added to the list from within the dialog. Although Slideshow.lst is just a text file identical in format to the TXT files, Irfanview makes it hard for you to try to use any of its TXT options on a file with a .lst suffix

You might think you could open a Thumbnail window, then the Slideshow dialog and then use the two in parallel. That would appear to offer the best of both worlds especially since you can drag lists of files into the Slideshow dialog from a Windows Explorer window, but not into Thumbnails. and you can save TXT files inj the dialog but not in Thumbnails.

If you do though you will soon start tearing hair.

[Skippybox]

I merely offered the suggestion, since the OP said he wanted a way to patch different TXT files together without saving. While the method does allow for individual files to be added as well, it wasn't meant to work completely in tandem with the Slideshow dialog mechanism.

In my mind, using the dialog with Thumbnails defeats the purpose of saving effort, especially if you are jockeying back and forth between them, not to mention trying to save the intermediate results. If you really wanted to do that, then I would just add the files in one swoop at the end in the dialog and sort manually. If that is too difficult, then using the text editor actually would be a good thing. That is one reason why the files are in TXT format anyway; to make the data easily accessible.

But, I do support the feature requested.

Anyway, if you do need to use the dialog, then I guess you could start the show and escape it before leaving, to save the Slideshow.lst file. More straightforward, but a more complicated way, would be to assign a folder watch for your saved TXT file and have a batch file overwrite Slideshow.lst automatically. That way, it will be ready when you go back to it or append some more without making unnecessary clicks.

[Mij]

I merely offered the suggestion, since the OP said he wanted a way to patch different TXT files together without saving.

Yes OK, Skippybox, I know that it was just meant to help. I had toyed with suggesting the Thumbnails workaround but, since the OP had requested a very specific solution to the problem, I decided against it.

There are 3 ways of creating lists in Irfanview, Slideshow dialog, Batch dialog and Thumbnails browser, and I have always hoped that one day Irfan would get around to integrating them a bit better.

Slideshow lists can be saved either in Slideshow.lst or a TXT file but you need to be a real expert to know what you are going to save and when (did you know by the way that the Thumbnails option to Start with selected files.. runs the slideshow without saving to Slideshow.lst, whereas, from the dialog, running the show is the only way of saving to that file?), but then there is no way at all of saving a Batch file list.

The reason for my reluctance to increase the number of buttons in the slideshow dialog now, is that I wish to leave room for the other buttons that might need to be added one day to sort it all out and make composing lists in Irfanview as flexible and easy to understand as most of its other features.

[Skippybox]

There are 3 ways of creating lists in Irfanview, Slideshow dialog, Batch dialog and Thumbnails browser, and I have always hoped that one day Irfan would get around to integrating them a bit better.

Of course, but you already know why that is: IrfanView wasn't planned, it itself is an appended work! The reason features always seem incomplete is simple, because users request something, but not everything. It is the very reason why command line options are not intuitive. Irfan doesn't go through each switch to see how many combinations he could make, he just adds a few that were explicitly asked for. Then people wonder why their clever command creations don't work and tear their hair out figuring it out.

Slideshow lists can be saved either in Slideshow.lst or a TXT file but you need to be a real expert to know what you are going to save and when (did you know by the way that the Thumbnails option to Start with selected files.. runs the slideshow without saving to Slideshow.lst, whereas, from the dialog, running the show is the only way of saving to that file?), but then there is no way at all of saving a Batch file list.

I agree, IrfanView is not for the faint of heart, but it tries to be logical, at least most of the time. The slideshow dialog has a Cancel button, so I would suspect that my composed list will not get saved (even though some software might thankfully save it on my behalf).

I am aware that starting a show from thumbnails is temporary, similar to other temporary shows in IrfanView that don't interfere with Slideshow.lst. And yes, running that show is the only way to save from the dialog. But, appending from Thumbnails does save to that file automatically. Plus, like I said, you can still move a Slideshow.lst.txt file within the same folder with the name Slideshow.lst using DOS if you had to. Batch has always been a pain, that is why it is good to load Slideshow.lst from the Batch dialog. And don't we all wish Thumbnails would support drag-n-drop to programs, including even IrfanView.

But, you're right, no amount of workaround can replace better built-in controls.

[androctonus]

Thanks!

Dear Skippybox, dear Mij
I really do appreciate your help and comments! I was not aware of the work-around Skippybox has provided as I've never before reallized there was a 'load from txt'-command hidden in the options menu. And I didn't get it without Mij's follow-up. Actually, it does work for me.
As far as that loss of data thing is concerned, once one got used to the way thumbnailer and irfanview work together, ...
It's logical, at least, I agree here.
Thank you, Mij, for your corrections to my idea! I'm not used to the issues that are related to programming for public.
And last but not least, I don't find irfanview was not for the faint hearted. It is stable, straightforward and it brings a practical choice of functions. It's far easier to learn irfanview than to find the same functions in 'the very well known professional software package CS4', for example

Still I would desire an 'insert' or 'add' button instead of the 'load' one. It would ease and speed up everything, compared to the work-around.

[Skippybox]

I'm glad you found the workaround to your liking.

I don't know how you're composing your slideshow, but you might be interested in the Search tool. You can call it either by CTRL+F, File>Search files (Main window), or Options>Search files (Thumbnails window).

It is really useful as a filter, plus you can sort, remove results, and even choose a portion of the results to send to Thumbnails. From there, you can refine the order even more by dragging the files in the order you want them before appending or saving them as a txt file. Then, you can go back to Search to retrieve some more or do another search!

If you do plan on doing custom sorting before or after outputing results to Thumbnails, make sure you have No sort enabled in Options>Sort thumbnails within the Thumbnail window before loading the files. Otherwise, they get resorted using whatever setting is in use. This principle is used in other areas, such as Batch, Slideshow, and the Viewer, too.