Create a slideshow 4.20

[uffepeter]

Can´t add files to the slideshow through using the Add-button. The only way is to drag files down one by one to the white area.
The button "Add all" works correct though! Also the remove ones!
Wasn´t this a problem in an older version too??? With a bug-fix??
Irfan 4.20, XP sp2.

/Ulf P

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

I cannot reproduce the problem. I can select one or more thumbnails or filenames and add them to the list (the white area) using the Add button.

The only thing I cannot do is add the same image twice in succession — I can add it twice or more times, but not twice in succession.

[Skippybox]

You are right. I can not add files one at a time using the Add button. Very strange. If I select an additional file so I have a least 2, then the button works. What's up with that?

[Mij]

Works OK for me too. I tried various options of View and Sort but could not fault it. To add the same file a second time you need to deselect it in the Browse box then reselect.
As I recall, Uffepeter, it was the "Add All" that did not work properly (in v3.98) but that was corrected and I have not experienced problems with any of the functions since.

[Skippybox]

Well it doesn't for us. Is there some incompatibility with another program? As we've learned from 'Unexpected Shutdown', problems can be encountered with some users but not all.

[Mij]

Quite possibly, Skippybox, but I imagine it will be down to you or the OP to find out what it is. I cannot reproduce the problem at all. I can "Add" any file whether or not it is associated with IV or on my Custom load list, and with the Unicode plug-in on or off. At that point I ran out of ideas.

[Skippybox]

My previous versions don't work either, so there must be some conflict. Does yours work by any chance Laurent?

[Mij]

Does the file name appear in the File Name text box when you select it? May give a clue whether you are looking for an external conflict or an internal one. My guess would be if Yes, then an internal one is more likely. Have you tried renaming the ini file and letting IrfanView build a new one?

[Skippybox]

Does the file name appear in the File Name text box when you select it? May give a clue whether you are looking for an external conflict or an internal one. My guess would be if Yes, then an internal one is more likely. Have you tried renaming the ini file and letting IrfanView build a new one?

The file name does appear in that box when I select it, but disappears when I click 'Add'. What is an internal versus an external conflict? I have tried just the EXE in another place, but it too does not work. Intriguingly, I have tried IrfanView on my Windows95 computer and 'Add' also doesn't work there either!

[Mij]

Hi Skippybox
My reasoning was that the "Look in:" box at the top is a standard function which presumably uses a call to a Windows system file. That could possibly be corrupted in some way by an application external to IrfanView. The process you tell me does correctly return the name to the File name text box though, so that bit all looks OK.

When working properly the name does disappear from the box when you click Add. So again everything normal so far. IrfanView should now have all the information it needs to build the single string it needs to write to the file list. So I am guessing that it would chiefly be using its own internal processes from now on. It is mainly guesswork though. There could be some fancy checking going on that needs further system calls (even though any file name seems to be accepted). I don't know for sure what method Irfan uses to write to the file list either, but assume that you would see problems elsewhere if there was anything wrong with that.

Out of interest, do you get the same bug in the Batch file dialog?

[Skippybox]

Out of interest, do you get the same bug in the Batch file dialog?

Yes.

But, how could the problem exist on two vastly different computers?

[Mij]

But, how could the problem exist on two vastly different computers?

Most probably both have the same combination of settings that causes the problem, and Bhikku Pesala and I don't. What you have to find out is where and what those settings are.

I would immediately do a bare program check. Just copy your I_view32.exe file to another folder (no INI file, no plug-ins) and run it there. If the problem is still present, then you probably do have to look outside of IrfanView. If the problem has gone, then start building up the new copy, bit by bit, until the problem comes back... but you have surely done that sort of thing before to track down a problem, haven't you Skippybox? IrfanView is a pretty easy program to investigate. No registry entries and suchlike to worry about.

[Skippybox]

Most probably both have the same combination of settings that causes the problem, and Bhikku Pesala and I don't. What you have to find out is where and what those settings are.

That is my point. What could my Windows XP computer have in common with my Windows 95? They seem so different, especially since I don't install anything current on the Win95 system. I don't use it at all like my XP system. Very little of the software would be in common and most of it would be older versions, too.

Here's the differences:

7 years old
Sony VAIO PCG-FXA36 notebook
Mobile AMD Athlon 4 1GHz processor
256MB RAM
Windows XP SP2

12 years old
Gateway2000 desktop
Intel Pentium 120MHz processor
32MB RAM
Windows 95

Either it is some kind of Windows setting or some program must be a conflict despite its version difference. What it has to do with that specific button and no other, boggles me. Odd too, that dragging a file works fine, and so does using the button with more than one file selected.

I would immediately do a bare program check... but you have surely done that sort of thing before to track down a problem, haven't you Skippybox?

I have done that, as I previously stated, but the problem continues to exist. Tried it in safe mode on the Win95 machine, but no luck either. Do you think this problem is connected to any other potential problems or rather isolated?

[Mij]

Well you have exhausted just about all the probables now. I still strongly suspect a hidden bug in IrfanView but why it shows itself only for a few people is hard to explain.
Would you like to know another bizarre fact that I stumbled upon? In the slideshow Look at: box I highlighted a file to be transferred just as we have been discussing but instead of clicking on Add, I Tabbed repeatedly until the focus was on the Add button and pressed Enter. I expected that it would be equivalent to pressing that button, but instead it did nothing. However when I continued Tabbing until the focus was on "Include subdirectories [for Add All]" and then pressed Enter, lo and behold, the highlighted file was added to the file list.
What do you make of that?

[Skippybox]

Might not be so bizarre. It may be working as it is supposed to. While many times you can use Enter to actuate items, in a dialog with Explorer that may not be the case. The problem is there are actually two focuses. One for the item you have tabbed to or selected, and another to process the file.

Take the Open dialog for instance. You can select a file and despite giving another item, like Preview focus, the "Open" button has focus too. Pressing Enter will not check/uncheck Preview, but will respond to "Open". Instead, you must use the Spacebar for Preview. Spacebar would work for "Open" as well, but you have to give it "double focus".

Similarly, in Slideshow, "Add" probably always has focus (although it doesn't show it like the "Open" button in the Open dialog, but it may not matter as I will point out later), waiting for an Enter no matter what other item has focus (except for the two other important commands - Play and Close). Again, Spacebar would be necessary to initiate the other commands like "Include subdirectories [for Add All]".

Except (and here may be the bug!), the "Add" button should probably have responded to Enter, but it didn't! However, we can't be sure since the filename doesn't disappear from its filename box. You should see whether it responds to Spacebar, which it should (although it doesn't for me) because the filename does disappear from its box.

Note that you can press Enter immediately after making a selection and it will add the name, but "Add" by default has focus visually. As I stated previously, the visual indicator of focus does not have to be present. You did this in your observation.

Double-clicking a file will also add it to the slideshow files box. Even after the name disappears from the filename box, you can even double-click or press Enter again and again, to put the same file in the slideshow box without its name even being in the filename box. However, in other circumstances if no name is in the filename box, then the dialog blinks on an Enter.

We just don't know what Irfan has done, especially since all the buttons in that group including "Add" fail to respond to Enter as well. What the difference is between our computers though is the real mystery.