Thumbnails cache and size

[rpeyron]

Hi,

Thanks for Comics++

Here are two feature requests in the File browser :
- add a cache for thumbnails : I use folders with 100+ pdf files, and Comics++ is very slow to display thumbnails and restart from scratch every time i use the file browser
- change thumbnails size : allow the user to change thumbnails size as in windows explorer would be very nice

I can provide some help if you want (never done specifically C++/CX but experienced in C++)

Best regards
Rémi

[Ninja_Gah]

I would recommend using list mode if you have hundreds of files in a single folder (you can keep the view mode on auto and it'll show folders in list mode if there are many books). Comics++ was always meant to be a lightweight reader managing thumbnails creates too much maintenance overhead for the app. Also pdf files are the slowest because we rely on Microsoft's pdf library (it was readily available and was easy to add), but it is super slow. We may use an alternate renderer in the future.

[rpeyron]

Thanks for your reply, but thumbnails view is essential for me ; too bad, will stick with explorer/acrobat (and the problem is not that the thumbnail is super slow to create, but that it has to be recalculated on each display ; an alternate renderer would not fix this problem, but a very simple cache will)

[Ninja_Gah]

a cache is not simple... you have to account for lots of things

- storage management (thumbnails are not cheap)
- if the users doesn't stay in the file browser long enough, do you pause the cache and resume later? if resume the app needs to keep track
- what if the files was changed (added, deleted, removed, renamed, modified) outside? what thumbnails do I keep or discard? does the app scan in the background? what if the folder is never touched again or deleted? what happens to the thumbnails?
- the above problems propagates the more files in the folder

so it's not as easy as a problem as you think. That's why I said maintenance overhead is huge and if we were to implement this properly it'd take a long time, and it'd be only useful for people who keep large amounts of files in a single folder, and usually they are content with list mode (see other thread). If more people in the future request something like this then we'll add it.