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    launching IV thumbnails from Windows Explorer

    Hi folks,
    I am using an alternative file manager (Total Commander) so I never bothered with Windows Explorer, but now I need to help my father launching IV thumbnails directly from Windows Explorer (XP), and I don't know how to do this.

    The usual way would be to double click an image file and then wait for it to be displayed, then click on the thumbnails icon in IV and wait for a second IV window with the thumbnails to pop up.

    But is there a more straight-forward method? For example right-click on a file, and choose "open with ..." ?
    Or an even cleverer solution?

    I'd be thankful for instructions.
    Cheers
    Last edited by boarder's paradise; 04.06.2010, 04:04 PM.

    #2
    A command line switch of "i_view32.exe /thumbs" will open the Thumbnails window
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      #3
      Thank you Bhikkhu Pesala,
      yes I know. Sorry, I forgot to mention that in my OP.
      I know the command line switches and how to use them in TotalCommander, but not in Windows Explorer, as I mentioned in my OP.

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        #4
        Best way is to use a shortcut to thumbnails. If your friend did not create one when installing Irfanview then just copy the normal Irfanview shortcut and edit the Properties by adding /thumbs to the end of the Target line (and change the name of the shortcut to Irfanview thumbnails of course).

        You can then drag either a file or a folder from Windows Explorer and drop it onto the shortcut on the Desktop. Alternatively put the shortcut into the Sendto folder and use the "Open with.." option from the right click menu in Explorer as you mention in your post.

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          #5
          Thanks Mij,
          no the first suggestion is too difficult for my father. When he has Windows Explorer open, it's mostly in full screen mode and for him it's not intuitive to drag and drop a file to the "show desktop" icon and wait for the desktop to appear, then search the .lnk file on his cluttered desktop (which he constantly rearranges), and only then release the mouse button. I've explained that to him a couple of times and by the next day he always forgot and dropped the file on the task bar prompting an error message ...

          No it needs to be something he can do right out of Explorer.

          As for your second solution, "Send to" has IMO nothing to do with "open with...", so I don't know why you mention it in this context.

          And yes, absent a better solution, "open with..." would be an acceptable solution. But if I had known how to do this, I wouldn't have asked for it in my OP, isn't it?
          "Open with..." > "choose program" > "browse" allows you to select an executable file, but doesn't accept parameters, such as
          /thumbs.

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by boarder's paradise View Post
            Thanks Mij,
            As for your second solution, "Send to" has IMO nothing to do with "open with...", so I don't know why you mention it in this context.
            Send To does much the same as drag and drop but without the dragging. So it will open Thumbnails from a shortcut in the SendTo folder without doing any of those things that your father cannot manage. Unlike Open With it does work with shortcuts (that do accept parameters) and you can send either a folder or a file. No Registry entries either - just put a shortcut to Thumbnails in the SendTo folder.

            Tell him to browse to the file or folder he wants in Explorer. Right click on it and choose Send To... He will see Irfanview Thumbnails (or whatever you called the shortcut) on the drop down list. Just click on that and Thumbnails will open the folder he selected. It does work - trust me.

            The only difficulty these days is finding the SendTo folder to put the shortcut into. Microsoft put it in a different place in each Windows version. In Vista they have hidden it in C:\Users\[current user name]\Appdata\Roaming\Microsoft . I am afraid you will have to do a search for it in other Windows versions.

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              #7
              Thanks Mij, seems good in principle ...
              I created a link to "iview32.exe /thumbs" and put it in the SendTo folder. This works. However I need to pass the file or folder as parameter.
              Based on my DOS batch knowledge, I assumed I should use "iview32.exe %1 /thumbs" or "iview32.exe %%1 /thumbs", but neither one worked.
              Error: "Cannot read file header of %1. Unknown image format or file does not exist".

              Another question: Is it possible to use IV Thumbnails in "open with...", because my father always uses "open with..." and he would prefer that over "send To" ?

              Comment


                #8
                My apologies Boarder's, what I posted was completely wrong.
                I had quite forgotten the problems of sending folder or file names to an Irfanview Thumbs shortcut. It will not accept file names, only folder names and that folder name must be put between "i_view32.exe" and the "/thumbs" option. So you cannot use a direct shortcut.

                In fact I discovered that the "IV thumbs" shortcut in my SendTo folder that I was using is to a little Visual Basic script file that I wrote some time ago to get around the problem. It slipped my memory that I had done that. Sorry for misleading you.

                FWIW I have copied the VBS file below. Perhaps it may be some use to you. Just save it with a .vbs extension and you can drop either a file or a folder on to it directly or through a shortcut.

                Code:
                If Wscript.Arguments.Count <1 then MsgBox "Error - No file or folder" : Wscript.Quit
                strApp= "C:\Program files\Irfanview\i_view32.exe"
                strThumbs= Wscript.Arguments(0)
                If InStr(strThumbs, ".") >4 then strThumbs = Left(strThumbs, InStrRev(strThumbs,"\")-1)
                Dim shell
                Set shell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
                shell.Run  chr(34) & strApp & chr(34) & strThumbs & " /thumbs", 2, true
                Set shell = Nothing

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                  #9
                  Okay Mij, your script works. Many thanks! Problem solved.

                  I also tried to select the .vbs file via "open with..." but this doesn't work, unfortunately. So as far as "open with..." is concerned, is there absolutely no way to open IV thumbnails ?!?

                  And I really don't think that ALL IV users either have TotalCommander or undertake the unnecessary step of opening an image in IV just to get to the thumbnails window subsequently ... ??
                  There must be a way to open thumbnails directly, right ??

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Well I do not really know.
                    M$ have made it really hard in Vista to create Open With options, so I have not bothered with them. VBS files are opened with wscript.exe though which is in the Windows\system32 folder. So if you could add the .vbs file as a permanent argument you could call wscript.exe from your Open With.. option.
                    Whether you can then add the file/folder name you wish to open in thumbs as a further argument is something I cannot answer.

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                      #11
                      OK. Thanks again for your help and for having solved the problem earlier on.
                      I'm very happy that by using TotalCommander I don't have to deal with any of this.
                      Still I find it odd, that there doesn't seem to be an easy way for launching IV thumbnails from within Windows Explorer (except for your custom made script).
                      I guess it could be possible to select i_view32.exe via "open with..." and subsequently add the parameters %1 /thumbs into the registry manually.
                      I just don't believe that "open with..." programs can never use parameters.

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                        #12
                        When installing IV there is an option somewhere, that lets you add a context menu item, so that when you right-click on a folder you have the option "Browse with Irfanview" which opens an IV thumbnails window.
                        Would that be one possible solution to your requirement?
                        Attached Files
                        Last edited by jazzman; 22.06.2010, 04:55 PM. Reason: add screenshot

                        currently running 4.56 / 32 bit

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                          #13
                          @jazzman:
                          perfect !! I will try to re-install IV, I never noticed this option (as I personally don't need it, as said above). I hope, I will then be able to find the corresponding registry entry, because I'm so curious how this COULD HAVE BEEN done manually (that's the point we all wondered about in this thread).
                          If you are bored and have too much freetime (kidding), then you could do a quick search in your registry as well (beware not to change anything).

                          Either way, thank you so much for your help.

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