14 December 2012

Directory Opus 10.2.0.5 (Beta)

Directory Opus 10.2.0.5 beta is now available for all Opus 10 users.

32-bit version:    Universal    Deutsch    简化字
64-bit version:    Universal    Deutsch    简化字

This is a preliminary, beta release. Translations may not be fully up-to-date and some English text may appear in non-English versions.

The following is a guide to the changes in the Directory Opus 10.2.0.5 beta:

MTP changes

  • The folder tree now fully supports MTP devices.
  • Context menus now work for files on MTP devices.
  • Drag & drop (and copy & paste) from an MTP device in Opus to Explorer now works.
  • The Properties command now works on MTP items.
  • The mtp:// root folder, and mtp://device folder now provide columns to show free and used space, and a default folder format has been added to turn these on by default.
  • The SetAttr command can now modify timestamps on MTP files although this is dependent on the device supporting the action.
  • The status bar will now show free/used disk space for MTP devices.
  • A function like Copy {file$} TO ... will now copy the file with its real name when copying from an MTP device.
  • Fixed problems with incorrect filenames being used in recursive copy/moves from MTP devices.

Bug fixes

  • Fixed a bug that could cause the Prefs.oxc config file to not be saved to disk immediately after a brand new install of the software - instead, the file would not be saved until you actually edited Preferences for the first time. This meant Explorer Replacement wouldn't work properly when Opus wasn't running.
  • Shift-right clicking the Computer entry in the tree and choosing the Root Tree Here command now works correctly.
  • If the folder tree is set to start at Computer (or anywhere other than the Desktop), and the Collections and Libraries folders are configured to display under the Desktop item, the tree did not correctly re-root itself to show these folders when navigating to them in the file display.
  • The Preferences Backup & Restore dialog no longer locks the Lister it is launched from.
  • Running a duplicates file search with the Automatically add group column option turned on in Preferences could in some cases end up with the file display's column header being out of alignment with the columns themselves.
  • Fixed display in the Customize / Keys list of Ctrl-A and similar hotkeys when the input language is set to Russian (or presumably to any language that doesn't have those keys on the keyboard).
  • Added exception handling around calls to third-party IFilters, which are called by the Find function to search for text in non-plain text files. This should stop the crash reported in http://resource.dopus.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=18082.
  • Fixed a bug where moving a .zip file (or other supported archive file) into a library would copy+delete the file instead of moving via rename.

6 December 2012

Directory Opus 10.2.0.4 (Beta)

Directory Opus 10.2.0.4 beta is now available for all Opus 10 users.

This is a preliminary, beta release. Translations may not be fully up-to-date and some English text may appear in non-English versions.

The following is a guide to the changes in the Directory Opus 10.2.0.4 beta:

MTP changes

  • Fixed problems that were preventing MTP support from working under Windows XP.
  • Thumbnails are now forced to be synchronous (since MTP devices only support reading from one file at once), and file reading performance has been increased.
  • Also added a new Preferences / Miscellaneous / Advanced option (mtp_use_thumbnails) to enable/disable the use of the dedicated thumbnail stream (if provided by the device).
  • Fixed issues with drag & drop and copy/paste copies using the wrong filename for the copied files.
  • We now show the modified date for the creation date and vice versa if the device only provides one of these.

Miscellaneous new features

  • The Customize dialog now remembers which state the search field was set to on the Keys tab (either filtering by keys or by function).

Bug fixes

  • Fixed problem on Windows 8 where double-clicking an unregistered filetype would open the Sync center.
  • Rename was incorrectly disabled in the native My Computer display.
  • Fixed crash when closing a file display via the close button in its last tab (introduced in 10.2.0.3).

4 December 2012

Directory Opus 10.2.0.3 (Beta)

Directory Opus 10.2.0.3 beta is now available for all Opus 10 users.


This is a preliminary, beta release. Translations may not be fully up-to-date and some English text may appear in non-English versions.

The following is a guide to the changes in the Directory Opus 10.2.0.3 beta:

Native support for MTP devices (initial experimental version)

This beta introduces experimental native support for MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) devices (e.g. mobile phones, cameras, tablets, etc.). MTP devices are accessed in Opus with the new mtp:// URL-like syntax. You can also access them through My Computer simply by double-clicking on the device icon. Please note that due to the beta nature of this release, some MTP related functions are not yet implemented or complete (such as context menus, folder tree support and secondary file commands like SetAttr). Copying files to and from devices, renaming, viewing images and thumbnails are all working, however.

Miscellaneous new features

  • Added a new option to display rating stars overlaid on thumbnails (Preferences / File Display Modes / Thumbnails / Overlay rating).
  • Opus now displays folder thumbnails (when not using the shell to generate them) as CD covers if the folder is marked as "music" via desktop.ini (e.g. using the Customize tab on the Properties dialog to mark it as a Music folder), irrespective of its other contents. Previously the CD cover would only be used if the folder contained more than a certain number of music files.

Bug fixes

  • Fixed bug introduced in the previous beta where you could not skip or abort a delete operation that ran into a locked file.
  • After changing tabs with the Go TABSELECT command the Lister is now redrawn immediately (so that a repeating hotkey to cycle through tabs lets you see the tabs as they go past).
  • Fixed a cosmetic issue with the tree path highlighting option when not using Vista/Win7 style for the tree.
  • With file extensions hidden, the Position cursor before extension option for inline rename did not work with filenames with a dot in the name.
  • The Print FOLDER=selected command would incorrectly display the dialog once for each selected item.
  • Fixed a couple of problems with archive files inside of libraries (the viewer pane did not work on files in the archives, and thumbnails inside the archives were also broken).
  • The option to add menus to the desktop context menu did not work if Opus wasn't running (this bug was introduced in the 10.2.0.1 beta).
  • With the Switch to existing tab if already open tree option turned on, if a locked tab had been changed and then an already open folder selected in the tree, the original tab was not correctly reset to its locked folder.
  • Fixed a few problems when clicking on folder tabs:
    • Clicking the active tab in a non-active Lister no longer goes into inline rename.
    • Clicking the active destination tab in a dual-display Lister no longer goes into inline rename.
    • Clicking a tab on the destination side of an inactive dual-display Lister now correctly switches the source/destination sides (previously it would quickly switch and then switch back again)
  • When double-clicking a word (or using Ctrl+Shift+Right to select the next word) in inline rename mode, the selection no longer includes the final dot (between the stem and the extension).

28 November 2012

Directory Opus 10.2.0.2 (Beta)

Directory Opus 10.2.0.2 beta is now available for all Opus 10 users.


This is a preliminary, beta release. Translations may not be fully up-to-date and some English text may appear in non-English versions.

The following is a guide to the changes in the Directory Opus 10.2.0.2 beta:

New features and minor changes:

  • Added an option to the File Operations / Metadata page in Preferences to automatically save changes in the meta panel. Also added a checkbox to the Metapane's title bar which lets you toggle this flag on or off without having to go through Preferences.
  • Slave tabs are now indicated visually with an italicised label.
  • When clicking on a folder tab, holding various control keys down can now modify the linking state of the tab:
    • Control-click a tab to link/unlink it to the active tab in the other file display.
    • Control+Shift- click can be used to toggle slave mode on and off.
    • Shift-click when clicking a linked tab now overrides the linking behaviour (stops its partner coming to the front or changing folder).
  • In conjunction with Go TABGROUPLOAD, the OPENINDUAL argument can now be used to control the orientation when loading a specific-sides tab group.
    (e.g. Go TABGROUPLOAD=moo OPENINDUAL=vert).

Bug fixes:

  • Fixes relating to folder tabs:
    • Fixed tabs not being unlinked correctly in a few cases.
    • Fixed some problems with the new tab group editor Preferences UI introduced in the previous beta, and the way Specific Sides groups are handled.
    • Fixed some issues with the folder tab group editor under XP.
    • In the previous beta, the folder tab overflow menu could open on the wrong monitor if the window was maximized on the left-hand monitor of a multi-monitor system.
    • When dragging a file display out to form a new Lister:
      • In dual display mode, all tabs are now moved to the new Lister, and the file display is closed.
      • In single display mode, the active tab is moved to the new Lister, but all other tabs remain.
      • In single display mode with only one tab, the tab is replicated in the new Lister.
    • Improved the processing of slave tabs. We now try to calculate the relative difference (parent, child or sibling) between the old and new paths in all cases and apply the same change to the slave path.
    • If two linked tabs are both locked, when the master returns to its home directory (e.g. when the tab is clicked) the slave now goes back to its own home dir rather than that of the master.
    • Clicking an already active tab will no longer cause its linked+slaved tab to change folder.
    • Go NEW in conjunction with TABGROUPLOAD was broken (did nothing).
    • Fixed pairs of linked, mutual-slave tabs with different folders having the right tab set to the left tab's folder when loading Folder Tab Groups, Layouts, etc.
    • While dragging folder tabs, extra window icons appeared on the taskbar.
    • Cycling through the next/previous tabs now wraps around when the New Tab button is enabled.
  • Fixed issue with new FAYT tab search mode where the popup list was not the right height on XP (or as it turned out, on Win7 with different fonts).
  • Added ERROR_NOT_SUPPORTED to the default error codes that will trigger UNC authentication when attempting to read a network path.
  • Fix rendering issue with tree path highlight when visual styles for items was disabled.
  • With the Folder Tree set to full-row selection, middle-click events still required you to click the actual labels and would be ignored on the rest of the row.
  • Made a change to hopefully improve performance of the folder tree when processing a large number of filesystem change events.
  • Added Windows-key hotkey trapping for most new system hotkeys in Windows 8. Changed the default hotkey for opening a new Lister to Win+Shift+E, since in Win8 we can't trap Win+O any more. On a Win8 system we also remap existing Win+O hotkeys to the new key.
  • If file extensions are hidden, inline rename on a filename with a dot in its stem (e.g. moo.cow.text) no longer treats the text after the dot (.cow) as the extension when selecting the name in the rename field.
  • Duplicate Finder changes/fixes:
    • Using the numbered groups option now correctly starts numbering from 1 rather than showing seemingly random group numbers.
    • Duplicate groups are now sorted using the sort criteria for the Lister itself.
  • The "Change Configuration Mode" command in the Preferences/File menu was broken
  • The drop-down tree control (used in the Find and Duplicate Find tools) was not quite wide enough in some cases.
  • Clipboard COPYNAMES no longer reverses whether or not it includes full paths when the Shift key is held down. If you wanted that (undocumented) feature, you can get it back by using the @keydown modifier in the command.
  • Using Flat View with layouts, folder tabs, etc. no longer overrides the folder format saved with the layouts, tabs, etc. with the Flat View folder format.
  • Modified Set FONTSCALE to use 100 as a baseline rather than 0 (0 still works as a reset though). This means that, for example, you would use Set FONTSCALE=120 to make the font 120% of normal size rather than Set FONTSCALE=20.
  • Recent changes to the extension column meant files without a file extension would show as <Dir> in the "Extensions (dir)" column.
  • Thumbnails of icon files did not work other than in normal folders (e.g. inside a zip file).
  • Fixes relating to copying timestamps:
    • Copy COPYTIME=no COPYDIRDATES=no COPYCREATIONTIME=yes will now copy the creation timestamps of files and folders while skipping the other timestamps. Previously, the CREATIONTIME argument was ignored when the command was not told to set times, but now it can override things.
    • Tidied up the Copy command argument names and documentation for overriding which timestamps are copied. COPYTIMES is now COPYFILETIMES, COPYDIRDATES is now COPYDIRTIMES, and their interaction with COPYCREATIONTIME is now made clearer. The old names still work, to avoid breaking existing commands, but will not be listed in the command editor or manual.
    • Copies to and from plugin archives now preserve or ignore file and folder timestamps respecting the full set of possible overrides.

27 October 2012

Directory Opus 10.2.0.1 (Beta)

Directory Opus 10.2.0.1 beta is now available for all Opus 10 users.


This is a preliminary, beta release. Translations may not be fully up-to-date and some English text may appear in non-English versions.

The following is a guide to the changes in the Directory Opus 10.2.0.1 beta:

Windows 8

Windows 8 is now officially supported, with the new operating system's retail release.

Opus 10.2.0.1 beta fixes an issue on Windows 8 where double-clicking files would only launch Desktop apps, ignoring associated Metro apps.

(Although the "bug" provided what many people have been asking for in reviews of Windows 8: To be able to launch Desktop apps when using the Desktop and Metro apps when using Metro. If you wish you can configure filetype overrides to get similar behavior back; the new version just makes the default behavior match the standard behavior of the OS itself.)

Tab groups can now open tabs in both file displays

The new Specific Sides tab group option lets you create folder tab groups that open tabs in both the left and right file displays automatically.



When in this mode the tab group editor lists left and right tabs separately. The Change Side button () is used to move a tab from left to right or vice versa.
The tab bar context menu has a Save Both Sides command which lets you save a specific-sides tab group from the currently open tabs in the Lister.



The command Go TABGROUPSAVE=!both can also be used to save a specific-sides group.


Tab groups can now be organized into folders

The Tab Groups page in Preferences now lets you organize your tab groups into folders. The New Folder button () lets you create folders and you can move existing tab groups into a folder using drag and drop.

There is also a new Mark as hidden button (). When a tab group is marked as hidden it will only appear in the list of groups in Preferences -- it won't be displayed in the group list in the tab bar context menu or in the function editor.


Folder Tabs can be linked (in two different ways)

In a dual-display Lister you can now link a tab on the left hand side to one on the right. Clicking a linked tab to make it active automatically activates the tab it is linked to.



Each set of linked tabs is displayed in a different color and you can configure the colors that are used from the Colors and Fonts page in Preferences. In the above image, the My Documents tab is linked to the Backups tab. You can have up to eight sets of linked tabs per Lister.

A linked tab can also be designated as a "slave" tab. In this mode, the slave tab will follow its "master" tab whenever the folder is changed in the master, in a similar manner to Navigation Lock. The difference between slave tabs and Navigation Lock is what happens when the folder you navigate to in the master does not exist in the slave. Whereas Navigation Lock would go "out of sync" at this point, the slave tab will simply change to show the same folder that is shown in the master.

From the tab bar, you can link tabs and turn the Slave Tab option on or off using the context menu.



You can also define linked tabs in tab groups in conjunction with the new Specific Sides option.



The new Go TABLINK command will link the two currently active tabs in the active Lister.


Lister Styles now use tab groups instead of defining their own tabs

Lister Styles previously allowed you to define one or more tabs that would be opened in the left and/or right file display when the style was chosen. This system has been changed and Styles now offer this behavior through the tab group system. Any existing Lister Styles that define tabs will be converted automatically.


Improved Folder Tab appearance

The cosmetic appearance of folder tabs has been improved, particularly when not using visual styles to render the tabs.

Now: Then:


Additional options and changes for Folder Tabs

  • Added the new Preferences page Folder Tabs / Appearance. This contains the width options which used to be on the Folder Tabs / Options page, the visual style option (which used to be on the Display / Options) page, as well as new options to set a minimum size for tabs and to automatically reduce tab sizes as the number of tabs increases.
  • New options on the Folder Tabs / Options page:
    • When multiple tabs are open, the Lister close button closes active tab option causes the Lister window close button to close the currently active tab rather than the whole Lister.
    • The Display new tab button causes a small additional tab to be displayed in each tab bar that, when clicked, opens a new tab showing the specified folder.
    • The Open new tabs next to the active tab option causes new tabs to open to the right of the currently active tab rather than at the end of all currently open tabs.
    • The Show menu when tabs are reduced option will display the popup "overflow" tab menu when tab sizes have been reduced, even if they have not actually flowed off the end of the tab bar.
  • You can now drag a folder tab to the desktop to move it into its own Lister.
  • When clicking on a folder tab the Lister window is now not brought to the front until the button is released, in case you want to drag a tab from an obscured Lister to another one.
  • Middle-click (or double-click, with the Double-click tabs to close them option turned on) on a single tab in a dual display will now close the file display (this is the same behavior as tab close buttons).
  • The background color for "hot" Folder Tabs can now be overridden if desired (Display / Colors and Fonts / Folder tabs).
  • Added the new Folder Tree / Selection Events / Switch to existing tab if already open option. With this enabled, clicking a folder in the folder tree that is already open in a tab will switch to that tab rather than reading the folder into the current tab. The new TABFINDEXISTING argument for the Go command produces the same behavior.

The FAYT field can now be used to search and switch to open Folder Tabs

The Find-As-You-Type field has a new mode that lets you search all currently open folder tabs. By default the activation key for the Tabs mode is @ but this can be changed from the File Displays / Find-As-You-Type Preferences page.



A pop-up list of tabs that match the entered text is displayed, and selecting an item from the list will switch to that tab. The search is performed on both the path open in the tab and, if a title has been set, the title of the tab. The new CLI QUICKTABS command can be used to trigger the FAYT in Tabs mode programmatically.


The Folder Tree can now highlight the path to the active folder

The new Highlight path to selected folder option on the Folder Tree / Appearance Preferences page causes the folder tree to draw a path that marks out the route to the currently selected folder.



You can configure the color used for this highlight from the Display / Colors and Fonts page. The Set TREESHOWPATHTOSEL command lets you toggle the path highlight on or off programmatically.

The Highlight path to all currently open tabs option will show the path to all tabs rather than just the selected one -- the path for non-active tabs is shown fainter than the path to the selected folder. If you have tabs that are linked, the Use color from tab option will display the path using the color from the tab itself. Finally, the Only highlight paths when tree is active option causes the path to be visible only when the mouse pointer is over the tree, or the tree has input focus.


The new Group column provides an alternative to file group headings

When the file display is grouped, the new Group column provides an alternative to the traditional group headings. When this column is present in a grouped file display, the column itself displays the headings, making for a much more compact display.



You can add the Group column manually (or via a command like Set COLUMNSTOGGLE) as desired, or if you want to use the new display style permanently, turn on the Folders / Folder Display / Add 'Group' column automatically when file display is grouped Preferences option. When this option is enabled, the Group column will be added automatically when grouping is turned on and removed again when grouping is disabled.

The colors used for the Group column can be configured on the Display / Colors and Fonts page. You can define different colors for source and destination file display if desired. You can also control the maximum width of the Group column with the group_column_maxwidth option on the Miscellaneous / Advanced page in Preferences.


Control + mouse wheel can now be used to change font and thumbnail size

In Thumbnails mode, turning the mouse wheel while holding the Control key down lets you adjust the size of the thumbnails.

Similarly, in Details or Power mode, Control plus mouse wheel can be used to increase or decrease the size of the text in the file display. You can also use the new Set FONTSCALE command to do the same thing programmatically.


Enhancements to the ContextMenu internal command

The ContextMenu command has been extended to enable it to work with more command types, and to provide workarounds for issues with certain context menu handlers. Context menu items can now also be invoked by their label (as opposed to verb or command ID). Labels can also be matched using wildcards and regular expressions. See the updated documentation for the new ITEMMODE, LOOKUP, WANTSYNC, SHIFT and CTRL, LABEL, WILD and REGEXP arguments.


Miscellaneous changes and enhancements

  • Added an option to the Folder Tree / Contents Preferences page to display the User profile folder at the top of the tree instead of towards the bottom.
  • Added an option to the Duplicate File Finder to number the duplicate groups rather than using the search parameters to describe the groups.
  • Added the ability to configure the color of the toolbar separators and borders (Display / Colors and Fonts / Standard toolbar -- Highlight and Shadow).
  • Added the display_folder_extensions option to the Miscellaneous / Advanced page in Preferences. If this option is enabled folders are treated as having extensions (suffixes) for the purpose of display only (i.e. in the Name and Extension columns).
  • Added the keepext argument to the FileType NEW FROMCLIPBOARD function.
  • The filter at the bottom of the Customise / Keys page now lets you switch it to searching the names and functions of hotkeys rather than the keys themselves.
  • Added the Full path column which displays the full path and filename. If this column is used with the Print Folder function you are able to turn off the file name column (which is normally not allowed).
  • Alpha channels and transparency are now supported for PNG images using 1bpp, 2bpp and 4bpp palettes and grayscale. (Previously the alpha channel was only used for 8bpp and above images.)
  • New DOpusRT modes to help debug command line generation:
    • /ArgsMsgBox displays any remaining arguments in a message box.
    • /ArgsToClip puts any remaining arguments into the clipboard.
  • The Preferences / Colors and Fonts page now remembers which item was last selected the next time you open the page.
  • The Rename command has a new NOMATCHNOFAIL argument. When used in a multi-line function, files that do not match the rename pattern are still passed to the subsequent commands instead of being skipped.
  • Modified the way the Help function works with non-English languages (specifically German). Previously, if a help file matching the current language was installed it would always be used in preference to the English one. Instead, the English help is now always used by default (e.g. F1 in the Lister, or F1 context help in Preferences). The Help drop-down menu will now display a separate help command (e.g. Hilfe (Deutsch)) that opens the non-English help file. The Help command has a new LANG argument to support this.

Bug fixes

  • MP3 Release time was incorrectly adjusted for the current timezone when displaying the date (but not when setting it, so a side effect was depending on your local timezone it could appear as if the date was set to one day previous to the one specified).
  • Extracting a coverart image from an MP3 file via the metapane would save it as a PNG even if you selected to save it as a JPEG.
  • Fixed a problem with the third-party Link Shell Extension, where it would add the wrong items to the drag & drop menu if shift was held down.
  • Context menus triggered via the keyboard no longer highlight the menu item under the mouse if the mouse happens to be over them when they open.
  • Fixed crash with Select SIMILARBASE command and a huge number of filenames.
  • It's now possible to run the Find command programmatically multiple times from the one function.
  • Fixed bug where deleting a folder that was open in a locked tab would cause a new tab containing the folder's parent to be opened.
  • Fixed crash caused when deleting a folder that's currently open in a locked tab.
  • Fixed a problem with folder tabs where control+drag to duplicate a tab did not work if the tab was locked and its path had been modified.
  • Fixed Text-File Thumbnails plugin crash with files ending with specific characters.
  • Fixed crash caused when third-party column provider shell extensions failed to initialize.
  • Fixed a crash that could occur with label filters that referred to column providers (e.g. Tortoise SVN) if those columns were also displayed in the Lister.
  • Fixed problem with editing of label filters not cancelling properly.
  • Opening folders via Explorer Replacement mode now respects the 'Open external folders in new tab' option in all cases. Previously there were a couple of methods that would ignore this option (e.g. opening a folder from the Previous Versions properties dialog).
  • The default path field in the 'Create Self-Extracting Archive' dialog now scrolls if you type a path longer than the visible width.
  • The folder tab scroll buttons (if enabled instead of the pop-up menu) now respond to double-clicks as well as single-clicks. i.e. You can scroll by quickly clicking on the button without having every second click ignored.
  • If you group by Disc Number, the groups are now sorted numerically instead of alphabetically (9 comes before 10).
  • The metadata panel is now more resilient to bogus or missing ContentType data in the registry.
  • Fixed crash in Find Filter editor when editing Shell Column filters, if a blacklisted shell column handler was installed.
  • Fixed Ctrl-Shift-Right in the Find-As-You-Type field only selecting the first path component in certain situations.
  • Property Handler shell extensions are now ignored when saving tags to MP3 files, as they should not be needed and have caused problems in the past due to handlers that claim to have successfully saved tags which they did not.
  • Opus will no longer display (or overwrite) iTunes COMM fields in MP3 files.
  • Styles which turned on the Format Lock only affected the left file display(s).
  • If you run the "Find" command without specifying a path, and without any folders selected, such that it opens the Find panel for the current path (or opens a new lister with the Find panel for the lister's default path), then the Folder Lock is no longer initially disabled.
  • In the Find dialog, the Folder Lock is now visibly disabled when the search path is in a fixed state (which happens when the panel is opened via the "Find" command instead of the "Set UTILITY" command.). Also, the Folder Lock becomes enabled and effective if the path list is reset after being in that state.
  • Fixed crash which could occur if, starting with one tab, you opened two extra tabs, then closed them in the reverse order.
  • If a filetype's FriendlyTypeName points to a DLL/resource which does not exist, we now ignore it and fall back on the non-localized name (if any) or generic "XYZ File" string, as Explorer does.
  • On x64, when loading a localized string from a resource in C:\Program Files, we now look in C:\Program Files (x86) (and vice versa) as well if the original file can't be found
  • Fixed bug with zipping files with names like [0].jpg
  • In the standalone viewer, when launched via D8Viewer.exe and with automatic image rotation via EXIF enabled, rotation was applied to the file you double-clicked but not to other files in the same directory if you moved to them with the next/prev actions.
  • Fixed buttons which run SetAttr META (or Set DESCRIPTION) followed by other commands, not running the other commands for files that do not need changing. For example, if you had a button which cleared the file description and then renamed a file, it would not rename files which already had cleared file descriptions.
  • Fixed buttons which run Rename more than once on the same files, then run other commands on the results. (If a file was renamed from A-%gt;B and then B->C in the same button, commands that came after the second rename would try to act on B instead of C.)
  • A queued Copy AS / Move AS operation from a plugin archive (e.g. RAR) now works correctly.
  • Fixed an issue with locked tabs where when clicking away from a locked tab that had changed its folder, the tree would not correctly sync to the newly selected tab.
  • Fixed an issue with locked tabs where clicking away from a locked tab, on the right side of a dual display Lister, that had changed its folder, could cause the focus to be incorrectly given to the left file display.

24 September 2012

Directory Opus 10.2.0.0 + Directory Opus Light + Video Guide

Directory Opus 10.2.0.0 is now available as a free update for all Directory Opus 10 users.

Evaluation period reset:

  • If you have been test-driving Directory Opus 10.0 or 10.1 and your 60-day evaluation has run out, you can request a new 60-day evaluation for Directory Opus 10.2 to see what's new.
  • If you're currently using an Opus 10.0 or 10.1 evaluation certificate then you'll need a new 10.2 evaluation certificate as the old eval cert won't work with the new version (it will say the old cert has expired). You'll get a full 60-day period from the new cert.
  • If you've purchased Opus 10 already then you don't need to do anything. Your existing certificate will continue to work with all 10.x versions and never expires.
Downloads:
  • You can download the update via the GPSoftware website, or use Check For Program Updates in the program's Help menu.
  • If you use the German (Deutsch) version of Opus, go to Haage & Partner's downloads page for the program update, Help file and additional resources translated into German. (For all other languages, use GPSoftware's site.)
The 10.2.0.0 update includes everything from the 10.1.0.x beta versions: The update also includes the following new change:
  • Fixed issue where adding a file from a plugin archive (e.g. 7z) to a ZIP file could in some cases mean that files then extracted from that ZIP file would have their sizes set to 4 GB.
Additionally, 10.2 represents the official release of Directory Opus Light.

Highlights video:
  • The video below accompanies the new release and includes an introduction to Directory Opus Light and highlights of features added since the previous highlights video:

14 September 2012

Directory Opus 10.1.0.3 (Beta)

Directory Opus 10.1.0.3 beta is now available for all Opus 10 users.


This is a preliminary, beta release. Translations may not be fully up-to-date and some English text may appear in non-English versions.

New features and minor changes:
  • When using inline rename on a file, you can use Ctrl-Backspace and Ctrl-Del to delete the previous and next words, respectively. This behaviour has also been extended to most other edit fields.
  • Added FROMCLIPBOARD/S argument to the FileType command. This lets you make multiple new files at once using filenames that are on the clipboard (i.e. filenames put on the clipboard via the Clipboard COPYNAMES command).
  • When using the Filter Bar, if you explicitly add a * at the start or end of the pattern then Opus now assumes you do not wish to use partial matching even if it is turned on in Preferences. This allows you the convenience of partial matching most of the time while still being able to filter by the start or end of things when you need to.
  • Date and size fields now reverse sort by default:
    • For example, when clicking the Date Modified column to sort by that field, the first click will put the most recent files at the top rather than the bottom.
    • Changes have also been made to sort empty values to the bottom of the list when reverse-sorting Date and Time columns.
    • Folder formats from older versions, which sort by date/size fields that now reverse-sort by default, will be adjusted so that they put newest/largest files at the top of the list. This should ensure the affected formats do what is desired in most situations, both for people who still had the default sorting and for people who had manually turned on reverse sorting for those columns.
    • In cases where you want the oldest/smallest files at the top for certain folders, you will need to flip the sort order and re-save those formats (or the layouts, folder tabs, etc. which they are part of) as a one-off change.
  • In the Rename dialog, the last column of the Preview list now auto-sizes as the window is resized to avoid an unnecessary scrollbar when reducing the window's width.
Bug fixes:
  • When deleting to the Recycle Bin, a delete confirmation would only be shown if delete confirmations were turned on for both Opus itself and for the system Recycle Bin. Now, only the Opus setting matters and the system setting is ignored. This is important since Windows 8 has delete confirmations turned off by default. If you now see confirmations before recycling files that you don't want, you can turn them off via Preferences / File Operations / Deleting Files / Ask for confirmation before commencing delete.
  • Go OPENCONTAINER now works when you specify the path on the command line. Previously it only worked when run against selected files/folders.
  • Monochrome, high-DPI TIFF images are no longer scaled down to the screen's DPI. Instead they are displayed and scaled the same as any other image. (Forcing them to be scaled down made some such images difficult to read and is not what other TIFF viewers seem to do.)
  • It's now possible to drop folder shortcuts on the Find panel's Find In list to add those shortcuts to the list.
  • Fixed problem where thumbnail would not show for an MP3 even though the metapane could show it (involved the file having a corrupt cover art image listed before one that was valid).
  • Fixed various problems to do with sorting:
    • The sort arrow is now reversed for columns whose default sort order is reversed. (So the arrow is always consistent with the real sort direction, and the reverse option just lets you change which way around things sort the first time you click on the column header.)
    • When setting a Lister to sort by multiple columns, the way the Reverse Sort and sort arrows work is now more intuitive.
    • If file list is sorted by 'Size on Disk' column it is now resorted automatically after running the GetSizes command (previously the sorting wouldn't be updated and would remain "dirty" until you manually resorted the list).
    • Fixed bugs in how the following columns were sorted:
      • Recorded TV: Episode Name, Credits, Channel Number, Is HD, Is Repeat, Broadcast Date, Recording Time, Station Name.
      • Document: Last Saved Date. (Note: This is an extra datestamp inside Office documents and is unrelated to the standard Modified, Created, Accessed datestamps, which were unaffected.)
      • MP3: Release Date. (Files with dates were sorted consistently, but MP3 files without dates mixed with non-MP3 files in the dir could mean the dated files appeared in the middle of the list, instead of at the top or bottom, and sometimes meant they moved around within the list.)
  • Fixed several problems on the Prefs / Display / Fields Preferences page:
    • Resetting or Restoring the Fields page did not update the checkboxes in the list.
    • Fields which are reverse-sorted are now indicated by an arrow icon in the list. (We had this initially, then it was lost during the conversion to a themed list view.)
    • The checkbox in the list of fields is now updated when the "custom color and font settings enabled" checkbox on the right is toggled (and vice versa, which worked already).
  • In the Rename dialog, if you toggled "rename files in selected sub-folders" twice after generating the full preview, all items in sub-dirs were ghosted in the preview.
  • The Rename dialog left an empty Location column in the preview list after turning off "rename files in selected sub-folders".
  • The Startup shortcut Opus creates automatically (when configured to run on startup) should now localize the word "Startup" on newer versions of Windows.
  • The Startup shortcut now does nothing if Opus has already been launched via some other action. (Before, you'd get an extra Lister opening up.)
  • Adjusted the Licence Manager dialog so it fits on small screens again.
  • Fixed function editor bug, introduced in 10.1.0.1-beta, where the drop-down Arguments menu would not insert the argument name for a /K or /O argument that was last in the list.
  • Fixed the Advanced Button Editor and Rename Script Editor handling of Ctrl-Backspace and Ctrl-Del when at the very start or end of a word.
  • Fixed text viewer showing garbage for files containing just a UTF8 BOM and no further data, and some related issues.
  • The new label filters should now work properly in List and Thumbnails mode (without having to move the mouse over files to make their labels update), fixing the remaining glitch from the previous beta.
  • Fixed problem where label filters could cause Opus to crash if the Desktop folder was shown while configured to show File Collections as a child item.
  • If you did a Copy-As from a non-zip archive and the new name you gave for a file was already in use, the Replace File dialog opened proposing the file's original name, meaning you had to type the new name again if you wanted to overwrite the file. The prompt now uses the correct name.
  • Added checks to prevent a reported crash when copying text from Adobe software on Windows 8.

24 August 2012

Directory Opus 10.1.0.2 (Beta)

Directory Opus 10.1.0.2 beta is now available for all Opus 10 users.

This is a preliminary, beta release. Translations may not be fully up-to-date and some English text may appear in non-English versions.

New features and minor changes:
  • The {dlgfolder} external control code can now take the "expand" argument to cause specified folder to be automatically expanded (e.g. {dlgfolder||C:\Users|expand}
  • The Go TABCLOSE command can now close tabs in left/right/dest as well as source file displays.
Bug fixes:
  • Label filters did not work properly in the icon modes.
  • In the metapane, the "Release Date" field can now be set for WMA files.
  • The "Type" column now shows the correct name for file types, like .ps1, which have incorrectly registered localized names.
  • Fixed "Go up to ..." tooltip on ".." item - incorrect wrapping for long paths which don't have spaces.
  • In power/details mode, clicking a partially obscured item would give keyboard focus to the item above.
  • Improved the ability of the viewer panel to clear itself when a file it is showing is moved or deleted (prevents "file in use" errors when the file is being viewed by Opus).
  • Workaround for Quick PDF Tools Pro and other context menus which have bugs when asked to add themselves to an empty context menu.
  • Added problematic LibreOffice shell extensions to the blacklist to workaround e.g. crashes caused by the LibreOffice "Pagecount" column in directories containing PDF files.
  • Fixed "Open Containing Folder" from another application not always restoring the existing Opus window if one was already open for the folder but was minimized.
  • Fixed folder tree selection events when applied to collections. e.g. If the tree was configured to run "Go NEWTAB" for the middle mouse button, it did not open the correct folder in a new tab if you middle-clicked on a collection.
  • Fixed extra ".." in the target path when creating relative links to folders. (Was fine for files, and for everything when using absolute paths.)
  • The Print FOLDER AS argument now works correctly when printing to clipboard.
  • Initial cursor position/selection was not respected on inline rename in the icon modes (list, thumbnails, etc.) when cursoring up/down through files.
  • Folder Format wildcards can now use "grp:Archives" and similar expressions to match file type groups.
  • Fixed edits to file/folder labels not always updating the names displayed in the Preferences list until Preferences was OK'd and re-opened.

23 August 2012

Portuguese (Brazil) translator needed

If you're able to help update the Portuguese (Brazil) translation of Opus, please get in touch via info@gpsoft.com.au

(If you're the regular translator, we haven't been able to email you lately. Let us know if you have an alternative address.)

10 August 2012

Directory Opus 10.1.0.1 (Beta)

Directory Opus 10.1.0.1 beta is now available for all Opus 10 users.

This is a preliminary, beta release. Translations may not be fully up-to-date and some English text may appear in non-English versions.

New features and minor changes:
  • Added option for "label filters" to Preferences / Favorites and Recent / File and Folder Labels, which allows the use of advanced filter control to label files and folders (for example, you can make all files newer than 1 hour red). Also added checkboxes to the list of labeled files and folders which lets you turn filters off without deleting them.
  • There is now a button in the About dialog to copy the Opus and Windows version information to the clipboard.
  • The Filter Bar now shows a balloon tip when you type ( ) [ ] ' ~ # explaining that they are wildcard characters and need to be escaped with an extra ' if you want to match their literal values.
  • Added Display labels option in Preferences / File Display Modes / Thumbnails to make it possible to display thumbnails with no labels. Also added Set THUMBNAILLABELS command to make the change from a command.
  • Added Shell column clause to the advanced filter control that allows searching on the value of a shell column extension. Performs either a simple wildcard match against the value, or limited numeric comparison (supports != == < > <= >= && || and decimal numbers only).
  • Added "seconds" as a unit for the Time-within clause in the advanced filter control
  • Added Hide unaffected items and Reveal hidden items commands to the file display background context menu when using the Synchronize tool. Also added the Select HIDEUNAFFECTED and Select SHOWUNAFFECTED commands.
  • Added the @ifpath and @ifpathr command modifiers, which let you perform simple branching in commands based on the current source folder.
  • Added some new features for inline rename:
    • Rename INLINE=endstem command to position cursor at the end of the filename stem (but without selecting it).
    • If the Retain cursor position option is OFF, when moving up/down between files the original selection type is now preserved. Previously, the value of the INLINE argument was only looked at for the first file, and all others defaulted to "stem".
    • Added a new Preferences category - File Operations / Inline Rename. This contains the two existing inline rename flags which were previously in File Operations / Options, as well as a new option that lets you configure the default selection behavior when inline rename is initiated.
  • Improved change notification handling to better support programs that use "safe-save" techniques:
    • This makes Opus see "safe-save" and "ReplaceFile" events as if the old file was being updated rather than renamed/deleted and replaced with a new file.
    • It means you can select a Word doc and it should stay selected when you save over it. Or a PNG which you overwrite with Photoshop.
    • Similarly, it should fix larger JPEGs being de-selected when modified via the metadata panel.
    • It may also help collections keep track of files better when they are replaced with new versions.
  • In the standalone image viewer, you can now use * and / on the numeric keypad for Grow-To-Page and Original-Size
Bug fixes:
  • The Filter Bar's drop-down extensions list now escapes wildcards when building the filter, if the extensions contain wildcard characters like ~.
  • Fixed the Filter Bar's drop-down list truncating the display of longer extensions unnecessarily.
  • Fixed a problem in Vista/Windows 7 where Opus could incorrectly determine whether the recycle bin was enabled or disabled on a specific drive.
  • When moving a directory into a destination handled by the Archives plugin, the directory's contents would be moved but the (empty) directory itself would be left in the source, if a directory of the same name was already in the archive.
  • Fixed folder merge prompt not being displayed when moving a folder on the same device (i.e. by rename). Also fixed move operations aborting if there was an error at a folder level (very rare) and Skip was chosen.
  • Fixed images added via "Prefs ADDBACKGROUND" not working until Opus was restarted.
  • Fix for pasting clipboard images into files (ctrl-v in the file display) when the image data came from a .Net application (which used the .Net clipboard API rather than P/Invoking the native ones). (Workaround for apparent bug in .Net or OleGetClipboard.)
  • Changes to Collections are now saved every five minutes, even for Collections which are left open in a window. (Previously, they would only be saved when you navigated away from them.)
  • Fixed certain situations where changes to file collections would not be saved when a config backup was made, because the changes had not been written to disk yet.
  • Fixed truncated directory name in drag & drop tooltip when dragging into the sub-sub-folder of a Library.
  • Fixed button editor menus inserting the wrong arguments for the Set command if your system had more than a handful of shell extension columns installed (forum thread).
  • Fixed files being moved via slow copy-then-delete instead of rename when dragging folders below the Temp folder, using the folder tree. (Folders in other locations, or dragged via the file display, were not affected.)
  • Fixed pattern matching behaviour with certain nonsense repeated expressions, which could previously cause long delays or, in some cases, infinite loops
  • File-in-use errors now show which process is locking the file in a few more situations.
  • File-in-use errors now report the name of the application as well as its EXE path.
  • Fixed a problem where control sequences like {file} would fail to resolve library paths if a Select command had been used in the same function.
  • Copying files from an archive in a library is now much quicker.
  • Fixed "Close ALLLISTERS=collapse" (which moves all other open listers into new tabs in the active lister, and closes the other windows) with certain combinations of tabs in the current and/or other listers.
  • Workaround for Universal Graphics Viewer plugin causing PDF and some other document formats to be included in the viewer's next/prev image lists.
  • Fixed the progress dialog "jumping" around sometimes when changing from one queued copy to another.
  • Fixed what happened if you aborted a paused copy job while another was queued behind it. The next job would start running with parts of the progress dialog still indicating it was paused. Now, the next job remains paused and the dialog shows the correct state.
  • Workaround for conflict with "Actual Tools Multiple Monitors" which modifies the behaviour of Opus in a way which caused queued copy operations to abort if you changed folders (or various other actions) after queuing two or more file copies.
  • Filetype descriptions were not localized in some cases.

6 July 2012

Tutorial video: Creating complex directory structures

Here is a new tutorial video about creating complex directory structures.

Even if you don't need to do the actual task shown in the video, the techniques it demonstrates can be applied to a variety of different situations.

I hope you find it useful!



As always, the video is available in HD (720p) and includes optional subtitles and (if you view it on the YouTube page) a transcript.

5 July 2012

Directory Opus 10.1.0.0

Directory Opus 10.1.0.0 is now available as a free update for all Directory Opus 10 users.

Evaluation period reset:

  • If you have been test-driving Directory Opus 10.0 and your 60-day evaluation has run out, you can request a new 60-day evaluation for Directory Opus 10.1 to see what's new.
  • If you're currently using an Opus 10.0 evaluation certificate then you'll need a new 10.1 evaluation certificate as the old eval cert won't work with the new version (it will say the old cert has expired). You'll get a full 60-day period from the new cert.
  • If you've purchased Opus 10.0 then you don't need to do anything. Your existing certificate will continue to work with all 10.x versions and never expires.
Downloads:
  • You can download the update via the GPSoftware website, or use Check For Program Updates in the program's Help menu.
  • If you use the German (Deutsch) version of Opus, go to Haage & Partner's downloads page for the program update, Help file and additional resources translated into German. (For all other languages, use GPSoftware's site.)
The 10.1.0.0 update includes everything from the 10.0.5.x beta versions:
The update also includes the following new change:
  • It was not possible to adjust times by a negative number of minutes (less than one hour) using the SetAttr META command.

10.0 to 10.1 recap:
  • Here's a quick recap of the year-and-a-bit between Directory Opus 10.0 and 10.1:

    In total, we released 33 free updates, containing about 727 changes:

    10.0.0.0                  April 2011
     
    10.0.0.1    40 changes
    10.0.0.2    7  changes
    10.0.0.3    32 changes
    10.0.0.4    21 changes
    10.0.0.5    27 changes
    10.0.0.6    41 changes
    
    10.0.1.0    6  changes    June 2011
    
    10.0.1.1    36 changes
    10.0.1.2    9  changes
    10.0.1.3    15 changes
    10.0.1.4    11 changes
    10.0.1.5    10 changes
    10.0.1.6    6  changes
    
    10.0.2.0    9  changes    September 2011
    
    10.0.2.1    68 changes
    10.0.2.2    21 changes
    10.0.2.3    14 changes
    
    10.0.3.0    1  change     January 2012
    
    10.0.3.1    60 changes
    10.0.3.2    53 changes
    10.0.3.3    22 changes
    10.0.3.4    9  changes
    
    10.0.4.0    2  changes    March 2012
    
    10.0.4.1    40 changes
    10.0.4.2    27 changes
    10.0.4.3    45 changes
    10.0.4.4    6  changes
    
    10.0.5.0    3  changes    April 2012 (Opus 10 is now a year old)
    
    10.0.5.1    38 changes
    10.0.5.2    23 changes
    10.0.5.3    16 changes
    10.0.5.4    8  changes
    
    10.1.0.0    1  change     July 2012

    ...and we're not done yet!

28 June 2012

Directory Opus 10.0.5.4 (Beta)

Directory Opus 10.0.5.4 beta is now available for all Opus 10 users.

This is a preliminary, beta release. Translations may not be fully up-to-date and some English text may appear in non-English versions.

Bug fixes:
  • Fixed display error that could occur if an existing file was replaced/modified and a) the file display was grouped, and b) the "don't sort new files" option was turned on.
  • Fixed crash that could be caused by extracting a folder from a 7z-plugin archive with a % in the archive name.
  • We have added a new "API key" for ImageShack uploads that hopefully will fix the issue of anonymous uploads not working (they seem to keep changing things so there's no guarantee, unfortunately).
  • The Find tool's "Refine" checkbox effectively did nothing if "Clear previous results" was turned off. The "Clear previous results" checkbox is now ignored (treated as if it is turned on) when Refining, as it should be as it is disabled.
  • The music Protection column would incorrectly say "Yes" for MP3s with the "protection" bit set in their headers. The column indicates DRM while the protection bit in the MP3 header just means there is an extra CRC in the file.
  • Fixed per-item delete confirmations not appearing if exactly one folder and one file were selected.
  • Per-item delete confirmation options no longer apply when using the Recycle Bin, as per what it says in Preferences.
  • Set KEEPFOLDERSALPHA=On and Off buttons are now checked appropriately, so they work with @ifset as well. Previously only Toggle was checked.

21 June 2012

Directory Opus 10.0.5.3 (Beta)

Directory Opus 10.0.5.3 beta is now available for all Opus 10 users.


This is a preliminary, beta release. Translations may not be fully up-to-date and some English text may appear in non-English versions.

New features and minor changes:
  • Improved the performance of non-buffered file copies (which are used on local devices whenever the file size is above the configured threshold). Specifically, copies between different devices are now partially asynchronous, which can result in a dramatic speed up when one device is a lot slower than the other (e.g. copying from a HDD to an SDD), and copies on the same device now use a much larger buffer to avoid repeated seeking.
  • Updated the Raw plugin with support for several new cameras and the new version of DNG.
  • Added the "Initial key" column in the Music category.
Bug fixes:
  • Document fields like Author, Subject, Title and Comments now work correctly for PNG images.
  • In "List" mode, when using visual styles to draw selections, it was possible to click in between two items, incorrectly deselecting them.
  • Shortcuts that are set to Run as Admin through Properties->Shortcut->Advanced... now correctly run as Admin when double-clicked in an Opus Lister.
  • Go GROUPEXPAND/COLLAPSE buttons now activate/deactivate correctly.
  • Improved the intelligence of the Select RANGE command (it would select incorrect items if duplicate indexes/ranges were specified).
  • Copying a file in a sub-folder from a library in FlatView mode with the "recreate path" option now works.
  • Fixed crash in advanced filter control that could occur if the focus was on a child window (e.g. a text field) and a new filter was selected from the drop-down (forum thread).
  • If an MP3 file had both an ID3v1 and an ID3v2 tag, but strings like title/album/artist etc were only in the ID3v1 tag, they would be lost if the tags were changed (forum thread).
  • Fixed "Select SIMILARBASE" not working if the total length of the filenames was too long, and removed length limits on wildcard expressions in general.
  • Creating a new layout via the lister's Settings menu now triggers an immediate update of the jumplist in case the jumplist is configured to show layouts.
  • Fixed missing ampersands in labels of buttons created by dragging files to the toolbar when the filenames contained ampersand characters.
  • Fixed progress dialog's "From" and "To" folders showing the top-level source/dest paths while copying files directly below the first sub-folder (forum thread).
  • Fixed temp-file extraction loop/crash when going into nested archives both handled by the Archives plugin (e.g. RAR within a RAR).

29 May 2012

Directory Opus 10.0.5.2 (Beta)

Directory Opus 10.0.5.2 beta is now available for all Opus 10 users.


This is a preliminary, beta release. Translations may not be fully up-to-date and some English text may appear in non-English versions.

New features and minor changes:
  • When Explorer Replacement is set to open folders in new tabs, Opus now switches to an existing tab if one is already open for the folder instead of opening a redundant tab. (This new behaviour is automatic for most things but will not apply to Zip files and jump-lists until you make a change to your Explorer Replacement tab options.)
  • A new Explorer Replacement option can make Opus open all of your default folder tabs in addition to the folder being launched:
    • Turn on Preferences / Launching Opus / Explorer Replacement / Open all Default Lister tabs when opening a new window to enable this.
    • With the new option on, if there are no existing windows then your default lister will open -- including all of its folder tabs -- and then a new tab will be added to it for the launched folder. (If the launched folder is already in one of your default tabs, that tab will be selected instead of opening a redundant tab.) If you launch a folder and there is already a window open then a new tab will open within that window, as before.
  • The Go command has a new NEWTAB=deflister argument which can give you similar behaviour, regardless of your Explorer Replacement settings. i.e. Open a new tab in an existing window if there is one, else open your default lister, with all its tabs, and then open a new tab within that.
  • The Go command has a new EXISTINGLSITER argument:
    • This tells Opus to switch to another window if one is already showing the specified folder and to open a new window or tab (etc.) otherwise.
    • You can use EXISTINGLISTER=activetabsonly if you only want active tabs to be considered, so that another top-level window might be activated but no windows will change their currently active tabs.
    • As an example of where you can use this, you could create a User Command which runs this:
      Go /Desktop NEW KEYARGS "none:EXISTINGLISTER=activetabsonly"
      If you assign that to your Desktop Double-Click action then double-clicking the desktop will switch to an existing lister, if one is already showing Desktop in an active tab, and open a new lister showing Desktop otherwise. The KEYARGS part means that holding shift, ctrl or alt while double-clicking would override the EXISTINGLISTER check so that you can open multiple windows showing the Desktop folder when you want to.
  • Folder tabs no longer underline their labels when the mouse is over them, if Treat tab label as folder when dragged or right-clicked is turned off.
  • When opening the container of selected files (e.g. from the Find Results collection), the files are now selected after opening the folder(s), even if the OPENCONTAINER=target argument isn't used. You can use the new arguments Go OPENCONTAINER=noselect and Go OPENCONTAINER=target,noselect to prevent selection if you wish.
  • Improvements to the Print/Export Folder command and dialog:
    • It is now much faster to send large folder listings to the clipboard or a text file.
    • File outputs now use non-buffered IO and support UAC elevation if needed to write the file.
    • File outputs now allow you to choose the text encoding (ASCII or UTF-8, with or without a BOM), via a drop-down in the Browse dialog.
    • You can also specify the encoding via the Print command's new ENCODING argument.
    • The dialog no longer goes unresponsive while generating the listing or print-out, and some quirks of the window's behaviour have been ironed out.
  • Windows 7 taskbar progress "pause" (yellow) and "error" (red) states are now used in more situations to help you see when a background task is prompting for your attention.
  • Improved GetSizes MD5/SHA and Clipboard COPYNAMES=hash commands:
    • Byte-by-byte progress shown as each file is calculated (much nicer for huge files).
    • Full progress dialog including Pause button and time estimates.
    • Non-buffered IO used to read large files.
    • Better error handling.
    • Files can now be skipped.
  • Codes that insert paths into commands can now use escregexp to escape those paths for use in regular expressions. For example, you can use the following command when in Flat View mode to calculate the selected item paths relative to the current folder and put them in the clipboard:
    @nofilenamequoting
    Clipboard COPYNAMES REGEXP "{sourcepath|escregexp}(.*)" \1
  • Copy buffer-size changes:
    • In Preferences / Miscellaneous / Advanced, the copy_buffer_size and copy_nonbufferio_threshold settings can now take both KB and MB units.
    • The Copy command's BUFSIZE and NONBUFIO arguments also allow KB and MB units to be specified.
    • copy_nonbufferio_threshold now defaults to 1MB.
  • Re-organised some Preferences options:
    • Sort newly created and copied files is now in File Operations / Copying Options.
    • Use Tab key to switch source/destination in dual-display Listers is now in File Displays / Options.
    • Clipboard image paste format is now Miscellaneous / Advanced: clipboard_image_paste.
    • Allow docking of Listers is now in File Displays / Border.
    • Path completion options are now in Folders / Folder Behaviour.
    • Changing configuration mode (Private vs Shared) is now done via the Preferences dialog's File menu.
    • Removed the Miscellaneous / Options page.
    • Windows Integration option to add Open in Directory Opus to folder context menus is now only enabled if Explorer Replacement is disabled. (If Explorer Replacement is on then the menu item has to be added and the option does nothing.)
  • The default toolbar's old View Mode menu has been turned into a menu-button. The button part provides a quick, convenient way to toggle between Details and Thumbnails modes. The menu part provides the same menu as before, with the other view modes. You'll need to reset your Menu toolbar to defaults if you want to pick up this change.
Bug fixes:
  • Fixed 'dopus_changeprocessor' crash a couple of people saw while copying files to slow devices.
  • Fixed Windows 7's Set as Desktop Background menu item crashing when used within libraries.
  • Fixed unnecessary delay in the My Computer folder before information appeared for some drives.
  • Fixed disk-space graphs not always appearing in the My Computer folder on some machines.
  • Improved empty/non-empty drive detection.
  • Fixed the right edges of file icons being clipped if themed item selections were disabled in file-displays without background images when certain fonts were used in conjunction with ClearType anti-aliasing and file names began with certain characters which the operating system would draw significantly to the left of where Opus actually requested the labels to be drawn.
  • Fixed long delay when opening certain Zip files for the first time.
  • Fixed problem with 7z, RAR and other non-Zip archives below directories with names starting with spaces.
  • Fixed intermittent problem when deleting files open in the viewer via certain plugins. Opus did not always wait for the plugin to close the file before attempting to delete it. (Opus still won't wait forever, so if the plugin takes a very long time to respond then you may still see an error message or UAC prompt, but you should no longer see them under normal circumstances.)
  • Skipping files should no longer throw out the progress time-remaining estimation.

14 May 2012

Directory Opus 10.0.5.1 (Beta)

Directory Opus 10.0.5.1 beta is now available for all Opus 10 users.

This is a preliminary, beta release. It fixes a number of issues reported since the release of Directory Opus 10.

Because this is a beta version, translations may not be fully up-to-date and some English text may appear in non-English versions.

Only the English language has been updated for this beta. If you are using a language other than English, any new dialog controls described below will not be visible unless you switch the language to English. (They'd normally be visible but not translated into your language yet; in this version they won't be visible at all.) As a result, there also isn't a German-specific installer this time, but everyone can use the International installer.

New features and minor changes:
  • Added the option of using non-buffered IO for file copying. Currently this has to be enabled by specifying a threshold value for Preferences / Miscellaneous / Advanced / copy_nonbuffer_threshold (it defaults to 0 which means disable). Non-buffered IO can also be controlled on a per-function basis with the new NONBUFIO parameter for the Copy command.
  • Added NOAUTORUN argument to Find command to allow the find panel to be opened with a specified name, location and filter but without actually starting the find.
  • The @confirm command modifier now supports \n for embedded line breaks.
  • Added escnl modifier for {filepath} and similar codes, to escape \n sequences that might appear in the paths. This is mainly useful when using {filepath} as the message text in a {dlgstring} dialog.
  • Added an option to the Preferences / Folders / Folder Behaviour / Prevent automatic loading... section to prevent automatic loading of powered-down drives.
  • There is now a separate image_size_units setting, distinct from image_res_units (in Preferences / Miscellaneous / Advanced). For example, you can have resolution in DPI and physical sizes in centimetres.
  • Added option to Preferences / Display / Colors and Fonts for a separate "destination" folder tree color (i.e. the tree that is linked to the destination file display).
  • The folder alias system now supports accessing drives by their volume label, using /$ (e.g. /$Backup/ would refer to a drive labeled Backup).
  • Added Preferences / Zip & Other Archives / Zip Files / Set archive date to date of newest file within it option. When enabled, the last modified timestamp of a Zip archive will automatically be set to the time of the newest file within the archive.
  • When in Tiles mode with thumbnails enabled, thumbnails can now be displayed in popup InfoTips as well, provided the image in the infotip is significantly larger than the image displayed in tile.
Bug fixes:
  • Fixed problem when synchronizing with the root of a library.
  • Fixed unnecessary query of target folder when dragging a file over a non-active folder tab (prevents powered-down drives from spinning up and blocking the user interface).
  • Fixed problem with metadata for WMA, AVI and font files not working correctly in libraries.
  • The "My Computer" free-space bar-graphs were broken/invisible on Windows XP.
  • Fixed problem with file timestamps not being copied correctly (or rather, copied and then reverted back to the current time) when copying files across a network.
  • Improved file change update speed. (Should improve perceived responsiveness of functions like Rename, Copy, etc.)
  • Fixed problems with file selection changing, focus being lost, or focused item not being visible, at the end of an inline rename operation.
  • The BitLocker password prompt was not being triggered properly for a locked, fixed drives (only for removeable disks).
  • In Thumbnails mode, the shift-select starting point was not updated when a new file was pasted into the folder.
  • Creating a shortcut by dropping a server (e.g. \\SERVER) from the Network folder to a local folder now works.
  • Multiple delete commands on a button now display a separate confirmation dialog for each command.
  • Fixed a bug where the "Unknown file types" file type could incorrectly affect a shortcut pointing to a network share.
  • The right-click drag&drop menu displayed for items from the Network folder did not dismiss correctly when clicking outside of the menu.
  • Fixed bug with drops to folder tabs for system namespace folders (e.g. the recycle bin) not working correctly.
  • Archives plugin updated to handle command-line syntax change in WinRAR 4.20 beta 1.
  • Fixed problem where the owner of a file was not correctly copied (assuming the option to do so was on in Preferences).
  • The left folder tree was a pixel or two too thin after swapping the left and right sides of a dual-display lister.
  • cbr and cb7 extensions are no longer excluded from the Archives filetype group. (You can still remove them manually if you wish, e.g. so that double-clicking those formats opens them in a dedicated Comic Book viewer.) If you're upgrading from 10.0.5.0, the extensions will still be excluded and the quickest way to add them is via Preferences / Zip & Other Archives / Archive and VFS Plugins: Turn off the cbr and cb7 types, click Apply, then turn them back on and click Apply again.
  • Set COLUMNSTOGGLE buttons that specified the column position and width did not correctly appear as checked when the column was turned on.
  • Fixed flickering selection background if you dragged a folder from outside of Opus and then moved it over itself in an Opus window which was displaying its parent folder.
  • When saving a layout, the current layout's name was not used automatically if the layout had been loaded via the Settings->Lister Layouts menu.
  • Double-click on a softlink to a .exe file now works correctly.
  • Fixed the text/hex viewer blocking deletion of files, or triggering a UAC prompt, in some circumstances. (Files larger than 2MB, not using the recycle bin.)
  • Fixed problem with Comic-Book Thumbnails not working in libraries.
  • Fixed right-hand side of breadcrumbs path field not always repainting properly when Lock the Toolbars was toggled.
  • Nested archives now work, as well as nested archives work in Opus at all, within archives handled by the Multi-Format Archives plugin. If you double-click a nested archive it will be extracted to temp, and you'll then open the temp archive. Any changes to it will still be thrown away, the same as archives nested within zip files. (This is about things like zip files inside rar files. This is unrelated to *.tar.* nested archives which the plugin has always explicitly supported, treating them as a single unit and allowing updates.)
  • {filepath|noterm} now works for files as well as folders. In most cases you'd simply use {file} to get just the name, but {filepath|noterm} is useful if you need folder names to have a backslash at the end, which doesn't happen with {file}.
  • The quick filter (filter bar / FAYT) now supports patterns beginning with ~ (to negate) even when partial machine is enabled (e.g. ~.exe will show all but .exe files).

24 April 2012

Directory Opus 10.0.5.0

Directory Opus 10.0.5.0 is now available as a free update for all Directory Opus 10 users.

You can download the update via the GPSoftware website, or use the Check For Program Updates command in the program's Help menu.

If you use the German (Deutsch) version of Opus, go to Haage & Partner's downloads page for the program update, Help file and additional resources translated into German. (For all other languages, use GPSoftware's site.)


The 10.0.5.0 update includes everything from the 10.0.4.x beta versions:

The update also includes the following new changes:
  • The timestamps of copied files were not properly preserved if the copied file had associated metadata (ratings, tags, comment, etc) that was also copied.
  • The "Select previous folder when going up" option now really only applies to Go UP, and not whenever the new folder happens to be the parent of the old one.
  • Fixed bug that could cause the progress dialog’s percentage complete to be miscalculated.

Finally, if you haven't seen the 10.0.5.0 highlights video which was posted on the blog previously, here it is:


20 April 2012

Directory Opus 10.0.5.0 highlights video

We'll be releasing Directory Opus 10.0.5.0 in the next few days. Here's a video guide to some of the new features.

You can try most of these things already by downloading Opus 10.0.4.4-beta, if you don't want to wait.

The video is in 720p format with optional subtitles.



These are just the highlights and there are lots more changes and bug-fixes which you'll find in the release notes.

We hope you like the new version, and the video!

17 April 2012

Directory Opus 10.0.4.4 (Beta)

Directory Opus 10.0.4.4 beta is now available for all Opus 10 users.

This is a preliminary, beta release. It fixes a number of issues reported since the release of Directory Opus 10.

Because this is beta version, translations may not be fully up-to-date and some English text may appear in non-English versions.

Bug fixes:
  • Fixed a bug introduced in 10.0.4.3 where the Copy MOVE command would incorrectly copy+delete an archive file instead of moving it by rename when possible.
  • Fixed a crash caused when dragging a collection folder (not an item within a collection) over a Go toolbar button.
  • PDF metadata is now supported in files produced by PDFSharp.
  • In the image viewer, Ctrl-S now works to overwrite GIF images with cropped versions when the image is being viewed by the AnimGIF plugin.
  • The cd_thumb_coverart_file Advanced Preferences option can now be set to an empty string to completely disable CD cover art support if desired.
  • Fixed a bug in the music metadata system that could cause a crash if extracting metadata happened on multiple threads simultaneously.

13 April 2012

Directory Opus 10.0.4.3 (Beta)

Directory Opus 10.0.4.3 beta is now available for all Opus 10 users.


This is a preliminary, beta release. It fixes a number of issues reported since the release of Directory Opus 10.

Because this is beta version, translations may not be fully up-to-date and some English text may appear in non-English versions.

New features and minor changes:
  • Added PATH argument to the FileType NEW command to allow new files to be created in folders other than the current source.
  • Added "Path length" column and ability to search on path length to advanced filter control.
  • Added the PATTERN argument to the Copy command to allow better control of renaming during copy/move.
  • Added the {cp} status bar code to display calculated percentages.
  • Go TABGROUPLOAD now accepts the TABCLOSEALL argument to override the 'close existing' flag. Also added qualifier support to the folder tab 'Tab Groups' context menu. (Shift = don't close existing tabs, Ctrl = close existing tabs.)
  • Added "confirm" modifier for the {dlgpassword} code (e.g. {dlgpassword|Enter password||confirm}) -- the dialog will contain two password fields and the values must match before the OK button is enabled.
  • Comic Book Archive formats (CB7, CBR, CBZ) now have separate items in the Archive Plugins list, so you can turn them on and off individually.
  • Improved handling for archive formats with "multiple extensions" (for example, .tar.gz).
  • The file type column will now show friendly descriptions for archive formats handled by the 7zip plugin (if the filetypes are not actually registered on your system).
  • Added special rendering for comic book thumbnails.
  • In tiles mode, icon overlays (e.g. to indicate shortcuts or source-control status, or Opus's own copy queue) are now shown over the main, large icon or thumbnail. (Previously, they were shown over the smaller filetype icon which was only visible with certain configurations.)
  • Jumbo icons are now supported in Tiles mode.
  • Image conversion with the PRESERVEDATE argument now preserves the creation date as well as the last modified date.
  • Added option to ImageShack Preferences settings to disable thumbnail labels on uploaded images.
  • Clicking the "position" and "volume" sliders in the movie plugin viewer now jumps immediately to the position clicked, rather than stepping towards it.
  • Button tooltips now support multiple lines using \n as a line-break marker.
  • If you use the new ability to configure a background color when the quick filter is active, this color now overrides the background color (if any) specified by the current folder format.
Bug fixes:
  • Shift-select did not work in the icon modes immediately after a folder read or mode change (you had to change the focus using the keyboard or mouse before shift-select would work).
  • Shortcuts to archives did not get thumbnails generated from the target archives.
  • Fixed small filetype/overlay icons on thumbnails not rendering correctly on Windows XP when files were cut.
  • CD case thumbs now work in tiles mode and tooltips.
  • Fixed problem with Filetypes editor not noticing a change in case or removal of & character from file type context menu items labels.
  • Fixed problem with Filetypes editor - copy & paste of context menu items did not correctly set the type of the newly copied item.
  • Drag and drop TO an ftp site would ignore the configured drag&drop action if it had been changed to a non-default combination of Copy command arguments.
  • The filetypes editor no longer displays verbs in the context menu page that have a DelegateExecute command; this stops accidental deletion of non-standard system verbs (e.g. "opennewprocess" for folders).
  • Fixed a crash if the licence manager came up before the program ran (i.e. due to expired cert) and you clicked on one of the "reveal" links.
  • Fixed crash when copying files from a collection using the Copy command with a wildcard specified on the command line.
  • Fixed problem with the 'Refine' mode in Find not correctly limiting itself to only those folders already matched.
  • Thumbnails for archives no longer display image dimensions.
  • Fixed crash that could occur with a zip file containing items with ".." in their paths.
  • Remote desktop drives were not shown in the 'native' Computer view.
  • Fixed intermittent problem generating thumbnails for plugin archives.
  • Fixed doubled-up description for GIF files.
  • Deleting files from encrypted RAR archives could trigger an extra, unnecessary password prompt.
  • Viewer pane now shows the real image type in its title bar after loading a file with the wrong extension (e.g. .JPG file containing PNG data).
  • In the Delete error dialog which shows the EXEs with locks on the file, some of the EXE paths were slightly too wide for the space due to a Windows bug.
  • Opus now checks for the Explorer registry key that hides its collection icon from the desktop and removes it when the user turns the icon on. This fixes the problem of removing the icon from the desktop and then never being able to get it back.
  • The status bar in "simple" mode (e.g. when searching) no longer truncates at 127 characters.
  • Renaming a folder displayed in flat view/grouped would result in the items losing their indentation.
  • The item with focus is now made visible whenever the viewer/meta panes open/close.
  • The file display background was not always properly redrawn when quick filter first activated (important if a different background color was set).
  • Fixed bug where drag&drop of an ASCII file from FTP to the desktop (explorer) would result in the file being truncated if lf->cr/lf conversion happened.
  • Fixed problem with Delete Warning dialog showing a doubled-up "- Directory Opus" title.
  • Fixed error if only extracting dirs (no files at all) from an archive.
  • Fixed bug introduced in 10.0.4.2 where Opus would crash if you exited Customize mode while a three-button was expanded for editing.