Browsing RAR/ZIP archives with Irfanview

[ogai657]

Just a question ; is this really that hard ?
...
Along with (non-existent) Unicode support ; which is a shame for people using localized OS' ; needing to rename heck of files ; this is the biggest flaw of irfanview at the moment. Please fix these two issues and irfanview doesn't even compare to crappy commercial image viewers...
Best regards

I'm not sure I followed this message completely, but Unicode support is becoming a major issue with lots of software. Having a program turn ÖÄÜ into blocks and squiggles can be as annoying as having to remember to keep file names down to 11 characters for DOS.

If the absence of Unicode could be made to transcribe the characters to an English or German equivalent then the problem would be bearable but I think that direction in programming design is a dead end. It's probably easier to add Unicode recognition and support.

One of my text programs changes unrecognized characters into Chinese characters, which can make reading a file interesting but I can't help feeling that it's more confusing for other people than for our temp, whose job is to transcribe audio dialogs and text messages in other languages then print them.

[Seeker]

I would like to look directly with IrfanView inside a scrambled zipfile with a password..

Given you are a moderator, do you really think it's appropriate to make fun of this request?

The tone here from the longer term members seems to be: we don't want it, so you shouldn't either.

Here's how that sounds - given Irfanview is a picture viewer:

Oh, you want to look at pictures IN FOLDERS? - oh, no, just move everything to the root directory, and rename each file to irfanview01.jpg irfanview02.jpg etc.

It's too much trouble to support looking IN FOLDERS, or handling each and every name. Just do what we say, and you can look at your pictures.


Now, sure, that's absurd, but just substitute "in folders" with "in archives" and substitute "rename" with "rename because of unicode" - and guess what, we are now talking about these requests.

It is NOT invalid to request that a picture viewer handle picture viewing if the picture file is available.

[Sam_Zen]

I wasn't making fun of anything, it was just an indication about how sometimes a simple request can have complicated consequences.
And whether a part of a zipped file is 'directly available' is a rhetorical question.

[Encolpius]

I wasn't making fun of anything, it was just an indication about how sometimes a simple request can have complicated consequences.
And whether a part of a zipped file is 'directly available' is a rhetorical question.

I hear you. Note, though, that browsing compressed file archives in an integral feature of John Bradley's XV, the venerable and supremely accomplished image viewer that runs on Unix under X Window. This feature has been in XV for at least ten years. It's fair to note that this feature request is far from unusual, and in fact has a strong precedent in a competing product.

Let me give an example from my own experience when browsing zip files is hugely convenient, and why I still have to use XV for this purpose.

1. I am trying to access compressed image collections stored on a server on a LAN. Although I can read the files perfectly well in Windows Explorer, IrfanView or course can't open them (they're *.zips).

2. One solution would be to decompress the archives on the server. However, I don't have the necessary privileges to perform write operations on the server; I have only read permission.

3. Now, I could copy the compressed file over the LAN to my local disk and unarchive it there. However, I usually don't have the time, nor do I wish to use up the available storage on my local system with copies of server-based collections.

Bingo, I'm out of luck. Can't use IrfanView. So what I do is use XV instead, wondering to myself why IrfanView fails to include such a useful and obvious function.

One would think that a plug-in could do it. Alas, I'm not a programmer or I'd offer to write it.

[ChuckE]

Maybe one of the reasons XN has something that IrfanView doesn't is because XN is not free. It costs $25 for a single user.

The cost is a "feature" I really don't want in IrfanView.

[Sam_Zen]

Bingo
But I understand the circumstances of Encolpius.

[ChuckE]

As I do, but in the words of the sage, "you get what you pay for"

And in the words of the IV devotes "you get more than you pay for."

[Seeker]

ChuckE,

I'm sorry, but this new argument is TOTALLY spurious ('you get what you pay for').

It has nothing to do with the merits of the request - you could apply this argument to EVERY SINGLE FEATURE REQUEST.

If you are against this request, as at least two of you appear to be, noting the complexity has some merit, but making a generic 'you get what you pay for' is not. Instead, appropriate arguments would be about why the request does not fit the product, does not help the product or user, or why it isn't appropriate.

Now, to address this spurious argument anyway - there is a FREE package called CDisplayEX (I think even mentioned earlier in this thread) which does image viewing into zip and rar files. Ok - that argument is now gone.

And to anticipate the next rebuttal - yes I have and use CDisplayEX as well as Irfanview - I just think Irfanview, which purports to be an image viewer, should be able to view images in zip/rar files. Maybe not password encrypted ones, but at least in general.

If we are debating this request, let's keep it to valid arguments on the subject itself vs. throwaway dismissals.

Thanks!

[Sam_Zen]

2 Seeker
A bit unnecessary harsh with the cap-shouting, but I must admit this could be an excuse for denying any request.
But I still think one can't demand Irfan to buy some source code to imply a pleasant luxury.

[Seeker]

2 Seeker
A bit unnecessary harsh with the cap-shouting, but I must admit this could be an excuse for denying any request.
But I still think one can't demand Irfan to buy some source code to imply a pleasant luxury.

Nor do I. This thread is in "Feature Requests", not "Feature Demands".

[Sam_Zen]

Now you're talking. In some forums 'requests' are even called 'suggestions'.

[ChuckE]

"spurious" ?? def: Lacking authenticity or validity in essence or origin; not genuine; false.

What makes my argument false? especially TOTALLY false? It was totally true.

In reading back through all the points you've brought up, in this thread, you keep saying that a picture viewer should be able to view pictures in compressed (zip and rar) files.

Well, that could be a suggestion for a feature request, but it is not some sort of requirement, a "should be" requirement. While you may consider a zip file as a "compressed folder" (and I would agree with that to a limited extent), I don't agree that a picture viewer SHOULD have the requirement to open such "folders." There are many various compression types, (7-ZIP, A, ACE, ARC, ARJ, ASD, B64, BEL, BH, BIN, BZ2, BZA, C2D, CAB, CBT, CDI, CPIO, DEB, DZIP, ENC, GCA, GZ, GZA, HA, IMP, IMG, ISO, JAM, JAR, LHA, LIB, LZH, MDF, MBF, MIM, NRG, PAK, PDI, PK3, RAR, RPM, SQX, TAR, TAZ, TBZ, TGZ, TZ, UUE, WAR, XXE, YZ1, Z, ZAC, ZIP, ZOO). Should a picture viewer have a requirement to open all of them?

I may consider other filetypes as image holders as well, (.doc, .wps., .eps and oh so many more) should I then say that an image viewer SHOULD open those as well? Of course not. Might it be a feature request? Sure, why not?

The operating system, Windows XP (and higher), already recognizes zip files as being a compressed folder. By selecting any zip file, in the Windows Explorer, you can see the contents of zip files, as if they were a regular folder. At that time you can select on any of the contained files, and if they are images, Irfanview could be used to open them. My point is, there is no requirement for Irfanview to open a zip file. A feature request, yes, but not a requirement (as in "should").

Going back through your messages in this thread, you already said "it [Irfanview] doesn't have to have zip/rar capabilities built in - I think Irfanview can do the "use an external program to extract to temp folder and display them" bit - it's really just so you don't have to do it separately yourself".

Well, then it is already done. Since Windows XP already allows you to open and view the contents, and Irfanview (or any capable picture viewer) can then be used to view images inside.

I was not dismissing Encolpius' point of needing to use XN to open and view compressed files containing images, with a glib "you get what you pay for." Rather, I was reminding him that when people pay for a product, there are certain levels of support a user usually expects. Irfanview, is free. It already exceeds the non-jaded user's level of expectation.

You said "I just think Irfanview, which purports to be an image viewer, should be able to view images in zip/rar files.
"purports"!!! How rude! the first definition of purports is: To have or present the often false appearance of being or intending.
How could you say that?! Irfanview is not only an image viewer (as well you should know) but it is a great image viewer and much more.

Request all the features you want, make no demands, though. Irfan, the developer, being human, can only do so much within his range of limits (time, expertise, and desire to work for free). You start making demands and it could easily upset him to the point to provide no additional features ('those ungrateful so and so's'). I, for one, really do appreciate all of Irfan's work, and am amazed at his product. I make no demands on him, nor start saying what I feel that it SHOULD do.

[Seeker]

Sigh. I don't really want to debate this, I just wanted to "request" that Irfanview include this feature, as it goes a LONG way toward making Irfanview an even BETTER picture viewer - convenient, easy to use, and so on.

As for the multiple zip types - again, you could use the argument that there are multiple graphic types - and you can't support them all, either. But Irfanview indeed supports almost all of them - which is amazingly wonderful, and which is why it's a great viewer.

The question I raise is that compressed files containing pictures are common methods to store pictures. And yes, you can open them using a zip/rar capability, extract them, and use irfanview to look at them. But it is inconvenient, and as you've agreed in at least one case, problematic to do so.

As for throwing definitions at me, I'm not going to address that, as getting into semantic arguments as to what I meant or you meant will end up going nowhere but downhill and into animosity.

Except one: "should" is not a demand. It's an opinion. "must" would be closer to a demand.

[ChuckE]

IrfanView supports almost all of the image file types? hardly.
Check out another great free image viewer, XnView.
IrfanView handles about 40 image types, XnView handles about 400.
(Oh, and by the way, XnView does not open zip files either. At least, not by default.)

IrfanView can write about 16 file types, and XnView can write about 50.

Am I recommending XnView over IrfanView? No.
IrfanView is much smaller, and faster, and handles nearly everything I need it to, as an image viewer plus.

[Sam_Zen]

Relax guys, this is just a debate.

2 Seeker
You introduce 'semantic' arguments, but in that area 'should' often means :
"You're stupid not to add this, because other apps do".

I don't care if some other app covers more, often rare, image formats.
If I stumble upon one of those, I seek for a converter to modify the file to one that's recognized by IV.

Of course this would be a convenient feature, but what's wrong with making some more clicks to get the same result?
A workaround with as few actions as possible is fine by me.

Should IV develop into a "suite", coping with everything? I don't think so.
Many software-examples show the downside of that policy : very crappy routines.