XnView English Help ~ Option-details -

Options-details

Languages

is a multilingual program for a long while already…
A large amount of languages is available, but unfortunately as libraries “DLLs”.
These libraries are set in the <Language> sub-directory in the root-directory of “XnView”.
Whether that folder doesn't contain any library, the program can be run in English only. It's the default language embedded into the <xnview.exe> executable file.
Currently, there is not any official stand-alone English library yet…
To change the used language, open the Options from the button, or via the “Tools” menu , then click on Interface
in the “Category” listChoose a language in the “Language” list :
The language is changed immediately, as soon as you click OK to close the dialogue-box.

Option-details Menu

Tribune : About the language-system that XnView is using…

A user's opinion :

« The DLL-system used currently for the languages is whatever but handy. This is due especially to the fact that the content of a DLL is not directly accessible for theaverage user.
Any modification causes difficulties to make an update; the process is long, as well to modify as for correct or complete binding the path :
User's requestAuthorTranslatorAuthorUser …
Hence, another method using files easily modifiable with any text editor has been proposed. It needs the support of a bunch of users. Please, see the thread of the Forum
In brief, below are the propositions of that thread :

- “plain-text” file-type for the language-files, as well for the dialogue-strings as for the menus and their commands.
- stand-alone files for the dialogue-strings having lines numbered in decimal (*.lng), also for the menus (*.mnu) and their commands (*.inc)
- A file structure organized as topic-groups with a marking-off, allowing to find out any string easily…
- The decimal numbering is simple and efficient; it allows to detect immediately any change or addition…
Paul V…en “Ouistiti”, Professor of Mathematics (retired) »
Finally, the goal of this Tribune and the related Forum-thread is to get a better program, easier to use and to distribute, saving too the Author's work time a lot when established.

Option-details Menu

Displayed items

One among the most important additions in the 1.82 version is a dialogue
in which one can choose the displayed items :

The rows at the left side are the items able to be displayed, like Images, Audio files, Video files etc.
The “columns” at the top define the modes, and two criteria about the maximum size of the files to view.
The range of size you define here is applied to image-files only currently.
In the “View” column, one can choose which items will be allowed to be displayed then in the “View” main window…

The lower edit-fields allow to type here extensions, enabled via the tick-box of the last line “Custom files”.
This option forces XnView to display the files having the extensions written in the field (top field) or exclude them (bottom field).
In order to get that this option-page works properly, it seems that one ought enable always :
GeneralStartUpUse all available formats. Or else, the custom types will not be displayed…
The Custom… entry on the menu from the small Browser tool-bar Filter by… is related to the “Custom files” line defined above only !

Option-details Menu

Extra INI-Entries

Although they are special options that you can add¦adjust only “by hand” in your <xnview.ini> file under the appropriate section [Section], they are not exclusively reserved to a handful of experts !
Indeed, the programme must be closed to perform these changes.
Since the file is still in the plain text ANSI-TXT format, any text editor is suitable…
However, a special tool has been written by Henri Lavielle.
As far as possible, in this paragraph we will show the already existing known and updated entries.
This mode of options is the subject of an important thread in the English Forum.
Below, the actual existing entries are listed.
The items shown as blurred characters are missing still and ¦ or just requested, hence must not be used !
[OpenWith]
OpenWith_0 …n… Flag
Path to open a file with a predefined programme, in example :
OpenWith_0=E:\xed\xED.exe
OpenWith_1=C:\TxtEdit\TxtEdit.exe
[Browser]
OpenWithAssociatedProgram = Flag
Lists the concerned extensions, separated by a semi-colon “ ; ” like : … = mp3;xls
Opens the file in the programme associated in Windows. Example : mp3WinAmp, xlsExcel.

OpenWithXnView = Flag
Lists the concerned extensions, separated by a semi-colon “ ; ”
Opens the file in XnView when you do a left-mouse button 2-click on its thumb-nail. Example : …= wav;avi;png

OpenNone = Flag
Lists the concerned extensions, separated by a semi-colon “ ; ”
Files which must not be opened, neither in XnView, nor in the associated programme when you do a left-mouse button 2-click on their thumb-nails. Example : …= ini;lng;zip;sqx;vir

[View] (“View” main window)
GridSpacingX= Flag
Value in pixels that defines the width of the mesh. Set it according to your needs…

GridSpacingY= Flag
Value in pixels that defines the height of the mesh. Set it according to your needs…

Some results in the practice for a square mesh :
Since the mesh is not blown up while you zoom-in an image, you will get in example with the 1,600% maximum scale :

GridSpacingX=8 and GridSpacingY=84 pixels per cell
GridSpacingX=16 and GridSpacingY=161 pixel per cell, that can be very useful and handy to notice some coordinates very precisely.

GridType= Flag
0 : Not any marking off
1 : Shows digits and letters for both the coordinates X and Y (like formerly)
2 : Shows separately digits for X, and letters for Y

KeepGridForNextPrevious= Flag
0 : Doesn't keep the grid display for the next ¦ previous image-file.
1 : Maintains the grid display for the next ¦ previous files. Auto-reactivates the entry Show Grid on the “View” menu.

GridColour= Flag
Colour of the grid. To add it by hand, the reverse hexadecimal code as $BGR is easier, but not supported by the versions older than 1.91.x. See further…

GridSize= Flag
1 : One-pixel mesh-lines thickness.
2 : Two-pixel mesh-lines thickness.
With the 1.90 version, the Grid Settings have a standalone dialogue from the View Menu.

[View]
ColorInfo= Flag
0 : Default. Works only for the current viewed image when you tick the box in the “View” menu.
1 : Works also for the previous¦next file to view.
2 : Permanent as soon as the box is ticked in the “View” menu. Saved through the sessions.
Changed since 1.90 ß2. The display of Colour Information and coordinates as a pop-up info-text is no longer saved by default,
neither for the next¦previous image, nor for the whole session with the 1.90 version.
To get the mode you prefer, use that entry with the appropriate flag.

[Start]
ShowSaveDlg= Flag
0: The dialogue'll remain disabled for the current session only.
129: The dialogue'll be displayed in all cases.
130: The dialogue'll never be displayed, even in the next sessions.
These flags define the behaviour of the programme when one ticks the box :
“Never display this dialogue again” when a file is modified and closed. Since 1.90 ß-4.

[Start]
SaveAdvDlg=1
Allows a fine-tuning of the previous entry functions above by saving the state of the advice dialogue.
Using it, you may avoid the unwanted “Overwrite” dialogue when saving a changed file only.

Since 1.91.x…

[Browser]
The five following entries allow to display folders with customized colours in the board of thumb nails :

FolderColor1=Colour code
Body of the folder : Colour for the start of the gradation (top)

FolderColor2=Colour code
Body of the folder : Colour for the end of the gradation (bottom)

FolderColor3=Colour code
“Groove” (pull tab) frame colour (also for the lower border of the body).

FolderColor4=Colour code
Folder “groove” filling colour.

FolderColor5=Colour code
Vertical borders colour (right and left).
Now (1.91.3 and >), all colour encodings are supported ! Hence, one can use any of the following syntaxes :
• The decimal code “by complements” of Windows red+256*green+65536*blue (good luck…)
• The plain decimal code RRR GGG BBB
• The HTML hexa code #RRGGBB
• The reverse hexa code $BBGGRR
For the tree area :
TreeBackColor=Colour code
Background colour for the tree of the folders.

TreeFontColor=Colour code
Font colour for the tree area.

Please, see too that important section to get the entries about the colours by file type.

Since 1.92…

[View]
UndoCount=n…
“n…” is the count of changes which can be undone from the button of the tool-bar (default : 5)

[Browser]
HistoBColor=Colour code
Background colour of the histogram in the Browser. All codes are supported (see above).

Since 1.92.1…

[View]
LockZoomFlag=Flag
0 : The zoom locking is kept through the sessions (standard behaviour).
1 : The zoom locking is kept during the current session only (like in the old 1.8… versions)

Option-details Menu

Customized thumb-nails labels

When you run XnView in the “BrowserThumb-nails mode”, you get a label set below the thumb-nail containing
by default the file name plus its extension only.
However, it's possible to build labels having up to ten entries, indeed among those available.
To do so, you ought use the Options page below :

The large buttonallows you to add an entry onto the list of those which will be displayed (right-side list).
With the other large buttonyou can remove an entry from that list.
The couple of arrow-buttons at the top allow to sort the entries. Hence, they act on the list of the chosen entries only.
You can define the colour of the text and of its background on the labels.
The IPTC and EXIF indications are available for images coming from digital cameras, and only for the JPG format currently.
They will be available soon for a few other formats too in a next version…

All similar setting pages having the same kind of buttons work in the same way.

Option-details Menu

Keyboard - Mouse

The ways in which you can use some keys and the mouse buttons are set on the Option page below :

Some alternative choices - with regard to the shown settings - are indicated directly on the image here.
Click the “Grab-hand” button on the picture to get directly the appropriate paragraph.

Option-details Menu

Special Selections…

Tool-bars with extra-icons…

Since the version 1.90, a new dialogue allows to set buttons in the tool-bars.
This can be done as well with the old commands (33 only) displayed from the images of the current skin-bitmap,
as for other supplemental commands shown with icons coming from an external source (*.ico, *.EXE, *.ICL…)
The icons contained inside Multi-page files *.ICO - *.TIFF - *.DCX are not supported currently.
Displayed buttons
The field under that title shows the *.bar file currently used, with its full path.
With its small “Browse” button, one may choose another pre-existing *.bar file, it could be named i.e. My_Favourite_Skin.bar,
only the .bar extension is mandatory…
It must match the chosen skin (look, size…), whether one wishes to change it from the upper “Skin” tab on this same page.
Basic - View - Browser
The bar to configure is chosen from these buttons. It's shown on the preview below.
Command :
If an icon is marked in the preview, this field displays the command for that icon.
Its button opens the drop-down list of the allowed commands for this view tool-bar.
Unfortunately, this item is not handy… We have proposed a big improvement in the “Translations …” forum of XnView
(there is an explicit mock-up)
Its “Browse” small button allows to choose a programme to start from the tool-bar. One must select the EXE of this programme and set a convenient icon, in the same way than the XnView ones…
However, only the name of this EXE is shown as info-text, so a field to enter a custom info-text is missing still, this has been reported to the Author.
Add - Delete
“Add” shows the location of a new button one needs to add, located at the right end of the bar
(marked here with a centred thick dark vertical bar)
“Delete” removes the marked button from this bar.
Arrow-buttons
Use them to move a marked button in the bar.
Drag-and-Drop is not supported for this handling yet, but has been requested…
Icon file :
Its field shows the path¦name of the icon which is higlighted in the bar-preview. Whether the image comes from a skin-bitmap,
the field remains empty, this is normal..
Its small “Browse” buttons allows to choose any icon you wish.
However, it's advised to use icons matching the current skin, or else they will be badly resized and will not look nice, especially if they are not in a standard Windows size…
The new chosen icon is displayed on a preview box.
Because some Windows misfeature, the custom sizes are not shown properly (see the two red-underlined images…)
Icon :
When the chosen icon comes from a container-file, (EXE, ICL…) its order-number in that file is shown beside the new icon preview.

Option-details Menu

JPEG Writing Options

These options allow to choose the quality of a JPEG you are getting from a conversion of another format.
Here, you can also define the features of the thumb nails which will be displayed for all JPEG images.
One uses the page below :
Parameters
Progressive
Optimize Huffman table
Here, one chooses the display class and to optimize the used algorithms (or not).
Quality
Please, use the slider to adjust the wished quality value roughly…
Then, you can fine-tune that value using the small field and its small arrow-buttons, if needed.
The field is editable, so you can type the value directly too.
The 80 % default value is satisfactory generally…
A greater value'll result in better images, but having bigger sizes.
A value lower than 50 % is not recommended, except to keep a very simple document as a reminder.
Keep EXIF data
Keep IPTC data
When ticked, these data embedded inside an image coming from a digital camera will be kept.
Rebuild the embedded thumb nail
The embedded thumb nail'll be rebuilt according to the current configured dimensions. One can get a gain at file-size…
In fact, these thumb nails are often very large, hence take a longer time to be loaded.
They cause an useless important thumb nails data-base size raise too…
Use the estimated quality if possible
When a JPEG is opened while the box is ticked, XnView computes an estimation of the quality.
This value'll be used when the file is saved after some change¦s.
For its thumb nail, it might be the same…

Option-details Menu