TC IrfanView Plugin

[deus-ex]

A new lister plugin called TC IrfanView Plugin 2.0 is available that is supposed to function as a wrapper for the graphic image viewer IrfanView.

I tried both manual and automatic installation, also tried the 32/64-bit variants of the plugin along with the correct IrfanView and Total Commander bitness counterparts. The lister plugin won't work but displays an error message, but only in the Russian language. Yay!

So, did anyone try it and get it to work properly? Note that with this plugin you currently cannot use the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of IrfanView at the same time, because the plugin offers only one INI path directive which has to point to either Irfanview.exe 32-bit or 64-bit. Also, you cannot place both the 32/64-bit versions of Irfanview into the same folder, because the plugin folder of both versions is named the same! And so are the 32/64-bit plugins! Not quite a foresighted strategy, both of the IrfanView and the lister plugin author.


EDIT 2021-09-12: Changed the plugin URL from HTTPS to HTTP.

EDIT 2021-10-26: Updated the plugin URL. TCIrfanViewPlugin 2.0 has just been released and a new plugin page was created at Totalcmd.net in the process. At the time of this post, the previous v1.x release of the plugin is still available at TCIrfanViewPlugin

[Horst.Epp]

What is the benefit of this plugin ?
IrfanView is supported by TC without any plugin.
The x64 Irfanview works fine this way with TC x86 and x64.
Also there are image plugins like Imaging and Photoviewer available.

[Gral]

After resolve some small issues i can get it to work.
1. edit irfanview.ini - write valid path to Irfan View program
2. i've resolve problem with pararel 32/64 instalation by change hardcoded "irfanview.ini" string in wlx64 to "irfanv_64.ini" and adding valid path to x64 Irfan executable to it.

EDIT: It is even not needed to copy Irfan View to subfolder of plugin (what autor claims).

[deus-ex]

1. edit irfanview.ini - write valid path to Irfan View program
2. i've resolve problem with pararel 32/64 instalation by change hardcoded "irfanview.ini" string in wlx64 to "irfanv_64.ini" and adding valid path to x64 Irfan executable to it.

EDIT: It is even not needed to copy Irfan View to subfolder of plugin (what autor claims).

1. I checked that ini-file, of course. With the auto-installation and following the installation guide, there is actually no need to alter that ini-file, except for exchanging 'i_view32.exe' with 'i_view64.exe' were needed.

2. So you hex-edited the plugin file? Sneaky, and funny that it actually works.

3. Yes, the install instructions aren't that well-formulated and even contradicting the purpose of the irfanview.ini which allows you to define the path to your local IrfanView installation.

[deus-ex]

What is the benefit of this plugin ? IrfanView is supported by TC without any plugin.

You can define IrfanView as a multimedia lister, but it lacks multiple options (operands, operators, functions, variables) when defining a lister plugin entry in wincmd.ini.

EDIT:
Out of curiosity I just tried the internal viewer option, once with IrfanView and once with XnView. With both viewers, only the first frame of animated GIFs is displayed. Isn't it supposed to display the entire animation? Starting the viewers directly, the animated GIFs are displayed fine.

I also tried using XnViewMP, but XnViewMP doesn't seem to use the same command-line syntax. Trying to view a supported image just triggers an error message "File not found!".

[Usher]

Out of curiosity I just tried the internal viewer option, once with IrfanView and once with XnView. With both viewers, only the first frame of animated GIFs is displayed. Isn't it supposed to display the entire animation? Starting the viewers directly, the animated GIFs are displayed fine.

TC always displays only the first frame of animated graphics captured from IrfanView/XnView. It does the same thing also for other animated graphic types: png/apng, mng, webp. You can find animated graphics for tests here: https://ezgif.com/help/alternative-animated-image-formats

Animated GIFs are displayed by Explorer Preview (preview handlers for Explorer) which doesn't show graphics for incomplete files.

[deus-ex]

Usher, thank you kindly for the confirmation. Too bad it's designed this way, probably there is no better way? Another good reason why there's a need for a working IrfanView or XnView image lister plugin.

I also use the lister plugins Imagine and PhotoViewer. PhotoViewer doesn't support animated images, and I found Imagine to be really crash-happy trying to view animated GIFs. So I configured Imagine to ignore the GIF extension, which then is handled by Total Commander's internal multimedia viewer. Thankfully, the performance of the internal multimedia viewer was improved with the release of TC v10.00.

[deus-ex]

So I got the IrfanViewer lister plugin working. I'm not that much impressed, though. The viewing experience is sluggish and faulty. Configuring IrfanView is rather awkward, uninspiring, and uncomfortable (The '90s called, they want their ugly setup menu back!).

Setting up IrfanView to display images/animations in fullscreen breaks Total Commander's quick view function, because the quick view panel gets resized to fullscreen, too, making it impossible to browse a folder via the quick view feature.

You cannot configure IrfanView's shortcuts from within the setup menu nor the plugin lister interface. IrfanView's shortcuts apply when you view images/animations in the lister plugin in fullscreen. Really annoying.

I tried to use XnView Classic instead of IrfanView with this plugin, but unfortunately, that doesn't work.

[AkulaBig]

Hello. I am the author of the plugin. I will try to answer your questions with the help of an interpreter.

[AkulaBig]

Not quite a foresighted strategy, both of the IrfanView and the lister plugin author.

I did not assume that the simultaneous use of IrfanView x86 and x64 would be required. In the next version I will do.

[AkulaBig]

The lister plugin won't work but display an error message, all in the Russian language. Yay!

I'll fix it.

[AkulaBig]

What is the benefit of this plugin ?

The plugin supports animation. GIF and WEBP can now be viewed animated.

[AkulaBig]

EDIT: It is even not needed to copy Irfan View to subfolder of plugin (what autor claims).

Yes, there is an inaccuracy in the description. IrfanView can be placed anywhere. You just need to register a path to it.

[AkulaBig]

1. I checked that ini-file, of course. With the auto-installation and following the installation guide, there is actually no need to alter that ini-file, except for exchanging 'i_view32.exe' with 'i_view64.exe' were needed.

You are absolutely right.

[Horst.Epp]

What is the benefit of this plugin ?

The plugin supports animation. GIF and WEBP can now be viewed animated.

imaging supports animated GIFs for me just fine
and Lister without plugin displays animated Webp with animation on my system.