A few issues with version 1.5

[vivadavid]

Hi,

I'm an old user of DarkThumbs, but after I formatted my laptop in late 2021, I never installed it back. I've recently been notified of version 1.5 and I wanted to give it a try. However, I've noticed a few issues:

1. My main concern is that no thumbs are generated. I've checked EPUB, MOBI, CBR and CBZ files.
2. No link for the programme was created on the Start Menu, which prevented me from running DarkThumbs.
3. Before I noticed the link on the desktop, I manually accessed the folder, where I was expecting to find a file called "darkthumbs.exe", but I instead found "CBXManager.exe". This might be intended, but I mention it just in case.
4. I can see no longer the feature "Show archive indicator". Is it shown by default now? I find it very useful to make a distinction between just an image file and the cover of a comic or a book.

Edit: my laptop runs Windows 11 21H2.

Thanks for your time and I hope this feedback is useful to you.

[fire-eggs]

Yes, thank you for the feedback! Nice to know people are actually using the program, and catching my mistakes!!!

1. Whelp, seems Micro$oft has scrod me over. Windows 11 doesn't have the necessary C++ runtime installed by default. You need to a) uninstall DarkThumbs; b) install this runtime file for 64 bit; c) reinstall DarkThumbs. Thank you so much for pointing this out - I'd not tested on a clean Windows 11 setup! I'll update the docs.
2. I'll keep that in mind for the future.
3. Also a good thing to improve, thank you!
4. Appears to be a bad call on my part. I was under the impression Windows 11 had that feature built-in. I'll bring it back!

[vivadavid]

Hi, @fire-eggs ,

Thank you for your message.

1. As suggested, I've uninstalled DarkThumbs, then I've installed Microsoft C++ 2015-2022 (x64) and finally I've installed DarkThumbs again, but no thumbs are generated.
2. When I uninstalled the programme, I noticed the version number didn't display "1.5", but instead "4.8.0":

Thanks!

[fire-eggs]

Might be obvious, but two other things to check:

1. In File Explorer, make sure the View Option "Always show icons, never thumbnails" is turned OFF.
2. Force File Explorer to rebuild thumbnails, by using Disk Cleanup ('Thumbnails' is the last entry in the list).

I did have to reboot my Win11 system before the Visual C++ redistributable "took".

The version # issue is a problem I know about, thank you for the reminder.

[fire-eggs]

Another user is also having problems with V1.5 - I hope I didn't mess up the installer!

Something else to try is to do the following:

1. Open a command prompt as administrator.
2. Go to the DarkThumbs install folder: c:\program files\DarkThumbs
3. type the command: regsvr32 CBXShell.dll

That should "complete successfully". If it doesn't then there is an install issue.

[fire-eggs]

Testing on a "fresh" windows 11 setup, it looks like the "regsvr32 CBXShell.dll" step is required. I apparently messed up the installer, thank you for your patience and for bringing this to my attention.

[vivadavid]

Hi, @fire-eggs ,

The command did the trick: thanks! Could I know what it does?

The generation of thumbs for ebooks seems to work fine. With CBZ files, I had to disable "Sort images alphabetically" so it worked reasonably fast, but it fails sometimes to show the proper cover for the reason you've already explained. As for CBR files, I've tried with both the feature on and off, but it fails to generated thumbs. Actually, it generated the thumb for three files, but that was it.

[vivadavid]

Also, I can confirm that "Show archive indicator" is off, so it'd be nice to have it back if it's possible.

[vivadavid]

Actually, I've noticed something else.

When viewing ebooks on file explorer, there's a little Calibre icon, which is my default viewer, on the bottom right corner of the thumb, which indicates it's not an image but the cover of an ebook.

However, in Everything (by Voidtools), such icon isn't displayed.

Anyway, I remember the old archive indicator was pretty useful.

[fire-eggs]

The command did the trick: thanks! Could I know what it does?

Shell extensions like DarkThumbs need to be "registered" for Explorer to know about them. Mostly, it involves adding keys to the registry.

The installer is supposed to do it, but I must have flipped the magic flag incorrectly.

Also, I can confirm that "Show archive indicator" is off, so it'd be nice to have it back if it's possible.

Yup, gonna restore it along with the install fix. Sorry about taking it away!

As for CBR files, I've tried with both the feature on and off

There are some RAR files that DarkThumbs can't handle. But if you don't mind, could you provide a sample of a CBR that fails, so I can investigate?

Thanks again for trying this out and all the feedback!

[vivadavid]

Hi, @fire-eggs,

Thank you for the explanation and for your willingness to fix the issues.

You can get, for example, "Universe 1" in CBR format here:

http://panelsyndicate.com/comics/universe

You can decide what to pay for the comic, which can be 0 dollars (it's excellent, by the way).

[fire-eggs]

Phew! V1.5.1 is up, installs nicely, shows the archive icon.

I'll check out Universe ... soon.

Thanks for all the help!

[vivadavid]

Hi, @fire-eggs ,

I uninstalled 1.5 and installed 1.5.1: it seems to work fine. Thanks!

"Show archive indicator" also works, but I want to have another look at it. If I have something valuable to say about it, I may write it here or maybe in a different thread if that's OK for you.

[fire-eggs]

"Show archive indicator" also works, but I want to have another look at it. If I have something valuable to say about it, I may write it here or maybe in a different thread if that's OK for you.

Please do! A new issue or discussion would be preferable.

The failure of the "Universe" comic to show a thumbnail is likely to be the same as issue #30.

[vivadavid]

Hi, @fire-eggs ,

Actually, thumbnails are now generated from CBR files!

[fire-eggs]

All issues resolved or opened fresh.

[vivadavid]

Hi,

This issue still persists in version 1.6:

No link for the programme was created on the Start Menu.

Again, not a big ideal, but it would be a nice addition.

[fire-eggs]

No link for the programme was created on the Start Menu.

Again, not a big ideal, but it would be a nice addition.

Yup, tracking via issue #56