epub viewer

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horst.epp
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Joined: 15.11.2008, 20:18

Re: epub viewer

#16 Post by horst.epp » 22.12.2021, 12:29

Karol wrote: 22.12.2021, 10:24
I would like to see the preview of office files (doc, docx, ppt, pptx, xls, xlsx, odt, ods, odp).
I have no problem with office files in QV, all are visible.
First check if preview in Windows Explorer works for office files.
Karol,
you can't have Explorer previews for Microsoft office files without any office installation.
There is no public Explorer Preview handler for Microsoft Office without it.
Using ULister with the Oracle viewers you can preview almost any file format in high quality.
If you have a better solution please post it.
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Raindrops
Posts: 48
Joined: 20.12.2021, 08:36

Re: epub viewer

#17 Post by Raindrops » 22.12.2021, 12:50

horst.epp wrote: 22.12.2021, 10:10 Viewing EPUB files is a function of newer SumatraPDF versions and not related to SLister.
Just the extension has to be enabled in SLister.
Yes, I also discovered that.
I added the ext = "epub" string to the existing extension list, and it worked.
Last edited by Raindrops on 22.12.2021, 13:15, edited 1 time in total.

Raindrops
Posts: 48
Joined: 20.12.2021, 08:36

Re: epub viewer

#18 Post by Raindrops » 22.12.2021, 12:54

horst.epp wrote: 22.12.2021, 12:29
you can't have Explorer previews for Microsoft office files without any office installation.
Bingo!

I do not have MS Office installed on this laptop.
I have LibreOffice, so I can open all MS Office documents.
But I cannot preview them in QV of FC.

Raindrops
Posts: 48
Joined: 20.12.2021, 08:36

Re: epub viewer

#19 Post by Raindrops » 22.12.2021, 13:15

horst.epp wrote: 22.12.2021, 10:08
The easy way to get a preview for all of this and many more formats is to install the Total Commander plugin ULister together with the Oracle Viewer Technology files.
https://totalcmd.net/plugring/oilister.html
https://www.oracle.com/middleware/techn ... loads.html
Thanks for the tip!

Some doubts:

Q1: Is Oilister (uLister?) plugin a wrapper for the Oracle app, just as sLister is a wrapper for Sumatrapdf?

Q2: If we install uLister+Oracle app, do we need sLister+Sumatrapdf?
Or do both pairs work independently?
(I have come to love the sLister+Sumatrapdf combo. It is much faster and I can even select text from QV and copy it on the clipboard, which was not possible with FC alone.)

Q3: the Oracle downloads page lists a lot of different SDKs.
Which SDK is needed for preview of Office files in QV?

Q4: The oilister (uLister?) page mentions that we must accept the license terms for the Oracle library.
At what stage is this to be done?

horst.epp
Posts: 460
Joined: 15.11.2008, 20:18

Re: epub viewer

#20 Post by horst.epp » 22.12.2021, 15:10

Raindrops wrote: 22.12.2021, 13:15 ...
Some doubts:

Q1: Is Oilister (uLister?) plugin a wrapper for the Oracle app, just as sLister is a wrapper for Sumatrapdf?

Q2: If we install uLister+Oracle app, do we need sLister+Sumatrapdf?
Or do both pairs work independently?
(I have come to love the sLister+Sumatrapdf combo. It is much faster and I can even select text from QV and copy it on the clipboard, which was not possible with FC alone.)

Q3: the Oracle downloads page lists a lot of different SDKs.
Which SDK is needed for preview of Office files in QV?

Q4: The oilister (uLister?) page mentions that we must accept the license terms for the Oracle library.
At what stage is this to be done?
1) Yes, ULister is just a wrapper for the Oracle virewer DLLs.

2) The Oracle Viewer for PDFs is worse compared to SumatraPDF so I would stay with SLister for PDFs.
- Just set the ULister plugin entry lower than the SLister entry in the FC plugin list.

3) You need the Oracle Viewer Technology 8.5.5
- Download Windows (x86-64) or Windows (x86-32)

4) Before you can download you have to register and aprove the license terms.
- They are not sending any spam or advertisments to your mail address.

A tip for the ULister.ini file

Code: Select all

[ulister]
noloadtypes=1999
nopreviewtypes=1999
keepinmemory=1
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Raindrops
Posts: 48
Joined: 20.12.2021, 08:36

Re: epub viewer

#21 Post by Raindrops » 22.12.2021, 18:20

Use the 32-bit versions of uLister and Viewer Technology.

Here is the step-by-step procedure:

1. Just unzip the contents of both zips into a common folder, and name it as you like.
My own preferred folder name was ViewerTechnology.
2. Move that folder to a safe area (but it will work anywhere)
3. Unlike sLister, uLister seems to have no settings requirements at all.
Its uLister.ini file does not contain a path that has to be edited.
4. Start FC. Use the Tools > Settings menu.
5. In the window that pops up, select the View > Viewer node in the tree (located in the left panel)
6. Click on the Viewer button (at the bottom of the dialog box)
7. The Configure viewer window pops up. Switch to the Plugins tab.
8. In the toolbar, click on the + button.
9. Browse and select the uLister.wlx file.
10. If you have already installed the sLister+Sumatrapdf combination, they are better for viewing pdf etc.
So you would not want to overwrite that association with uLister+Viewer Technology combination.
To achieve this, ensure that the sLister+Sumatrapdf combination is above the uLister+Viewer Technology combination.
(Move the plugin entries up/down using the UpArrow/DownArrow toolbar buttons.)
11. Save your setting in the Configure plugins window by clicking on OK button.
12 Close the Settings window by clicking on the OK button.
13 Restart FC.
Last edited by Raindrops on 05.03.2023, 15:06, edited 4 times in total.

Raindrops
Posts: 48
Joined: 20.12.2021, 08:36

Re: epub viewer

#22 Post by Raindrops » 22.12.2021, 18:28

horst.epp wrote: 22.12.2021, 15:10
A tip for the ULister.ini file

Code: Select all

[ulister]
noloadtypes=1999
nopreviewtypes=1999
keepinmemory=1
The ini file had this text by default, and I didn't have to do anything at all.

horst.epp
Posts: 460
Joined: 15.11.2008, 20:18

Re: epub viewer

#23 Post by horst.epp » 22.12.2021, 18:47

Leave the Detect string blank.
You have to copy the content of the redist sub-dir of the Oracle archive
into a redist folder in the ULister dir.
Of course you have to use the 32-bit version of the Oracle files and the ULister plugin !
if your FC is the 32-bit version.
But why do you use an 32.bit FC in a x64 OS ?
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Raindrops
Posts: 48
Joined: 20.12.2021, 08:36

Re: epub viewer

#24 Post by Raindrops » 22.12.2021, 19:32

horst.epp wrote: 22.12.2021, 18:47 Of course you have to use the 32-bit version of the Oracle files and the ULister plugin !
if your FC is the 32-bit version.

But why do you use an 32.bit FC in a x64 OS ?
I am using the free version of FC, which is available only in 32-bit.

I discovered that with this 32-bit free version, the sLister combo works only in 64-bit version, but the uLister combo works only in 32-bit!
(The Donor version is 64-bit, and it may work with 64-bit versions of sLister and uLister combos.)

I have described the step-by-step procedure for both sLister combo and the uLister combo in this thread.
I hope it will be useful to new users.

@horst.epp thanks a lot for pointing out these brilliant solutions!

Raindrops
Posts: 48
Joined: 20.12.2021, 08:36

Re: epub viewer

#25 Post by Raindrops » 22.12.2021, 20:37

I did notice an odd behavior: When I have activated QV, and if I move the focus through my file list, the QV shows the preview of pdf and epub files with Sumatrapdf.
When I move the focus on other file types, the preview in QV is generated with Oracle's Viewer Technology.

This is expected.

But once the focus transitions from "other" types to pdf/epub, the QV continues to use Viewer Technology to generate preview of pdf/epub. [BUG]
The QV switches back to Sumatrapdf only if I press CTRL+Q twice (i.e., toggle the QV off+on).

I do not know if this is a bug in FC or in the external wrapper+app combos.

horst.epp
Posts: 460
Joined: 15.11.2008, 20:18

Re: epub viewer

#26 Post by horst.epp » 22.12.2021, 22:40

Raindrops wrote: 22.12.2021, 20:37 I did notice an odd behavior: When I have activated QV, and if I move the focus through my file list, the QV shows the preview of pdf and epub files with Sumatrapdf.
When I move the focus on other file types, the preview in QV is generated with Oracle's Viewer Technology.

This is expected.

But once the focus transitions from "other" types to pdf/epub, the QV continues to use Viewer Technology to generate preview of pdf/epub. [BUG]
The QV switches back to Sumatrapdf only if I press CTRL+Q twice (i.e., toggle the QV off+on).

I do not know if this is a bug in FC or in the external wrapper+app combos.
Try to change the following entry in ULister.ini to prevent PDF viewing
nopreviewtypes=1557,1999
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Raindrops
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Re: epub viewer

#27 Post by Raindrops » 23.12.2021, 05:26

I added 1557 to the ini file, but it has not changed the behavior.

Oracle has posted this file with a list of supported extensions. This list mentions "pdf" 13 times. Does that mean that we have to block all these 13 methods that can create a preview of the "pdf" extension?

I found this documentation, but it does not list the four-digit codes for different file extensions.

Apparently, uLister (as wrapper) has its own type code list in the formats.txt file.
But it may not be an exhaustive list.
(In other words, uLister may not be invoking middleware for some file types, although middleware is capable of processing that file type.)
For example, formats.txt does not list the epub format.

horst.epp
Posts: 460
Joined: 15.11.2008, 20:18

Re: epub viewer

#28 Post by horst.epp » 23.12.2021, 10:37

The problems are from FC not from the plugins, they work flawless in Total Commander for me.

ULister plugin has no own format list, thats just docu.
The formats are defined by the Oracle files.

If FC is compatible with the plugin standard the following ULister detect string may also of help:
EXT!="EPUB" | EXT!="PDF"
It negates the usage for EPUB and PDF.

You can also try to press the plugins button inside of a wrong preview pane to switch the plugins.
Windows 11 Home x64 Version 23H2 (OS Build 22631.3296)
Everything Version 1.5.0.1371a (x64), Everything Toolbar 1.3.2, Listary Pro 6.3.0.67
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Raindrops
Posts: 48
Joined: 20.12.2021, 08:36

Re: epub viewer

#29 Post by Raindrops » 23.12.2021, 15:11

The EXT!="EPUB" | EXT!="PDF" entry did not work.

I do not see a button in the "background area" of QV or within the border of the QV frame. But I just discovered that to switch between sLister and uLister, I have to place my mouse over the QV area and then press SHFT+ALT+P. But that three-button shortcut is almost same as pressing CTRL+Q twice.

horst.epp
Posts: 460
Joined: 15.11.2008, 20:18

Re: epub viewer

#30 Post by horst.epp » 23.12.2021, 15:27

I mean the buttons above your QV windows.
The 2nd button from the right changes to plugin view or the used plugin.
Screenshot - 23.12.2021 , 15_25_16.png
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