Sorry for lack of update for near a year.

Although based on previous history lack of update usually means the I am working on a new product, together with the Windows 8 will be released soon. But no, I haven’t touched the UI part for many months, although once I got my Windows 8 tablet I will likely be tempted to port my FileExplorer to the metro interface, but nothing has been coded now, I haven’t read any new WPF/W8 books for months.

Several things noticed last year, which somehow shifted my direction of development:

Firstly, free online storage services become more and more common, services like DropBox exists well before, but it’s main use was to transport document. The new services last year including iCloud, Google Drive, SkyDrive etc are aim at storing your files online, provide some kind of cloud online file manager.

Secondly, because they are now file manager, they have to use your data, for examples, create index for text document, thumbnail for images, convert video to appropriate formats, user gave them the right to use their data, by accepting the license, but the terms favored the company and the user cannot oversee if the license is followed fairly.

Thirdly, most user, spent most of their time on their mobile computer running Apps, including native and HTML applications, which consume internet resources directly, including the user contents provided by those free online storage provider, DropBox, GoogleDrive and other all provides a set of API to access the user contents, user have to give permission to their Apps provider in order to access their files, over the time, user are giving more and more companies for permission to access all their files.  If document that’s intended to be private, is leaked, there’s no way to trace who to blame.

Lastly, Zipware was useful because people can zip a set of files and transfer to another computer (e.g. share with friends), but because of the above reasons, these zip achieves are considered as an obstacle for mobile access, and because bandwidth is not a factor nowadays, people tend to avoid compressing their files, or do it less frequently, and as the result is that most people would be satisfied with the unzip shell extension provided by windows.

I thought, although sooner or later most users will run thin client, and store their files on somewhere on the WWW, but beside relying online free or paid cloud storage services, people should have choice and have their own private cloud storage solution. To my surprise, there was no choice for that (was, I know there’s a few now).

These are the reasons makes me want to develop COFE2 as my next project, before continue, let me briefly explain what COFE is:

COFE1, or originally CAKE Operated File Explorer, is written as a component used by QuickZip 5.x to access the file system, it enable the program to treat archive as directory. Because COFE1 is a product written after my DirectoryInfoEx, so in addition to shell directory (e.g. Desktop), COFE1 can access user defined directory (e.g. Bookmarks and Archive), using a interface similar to the System.IO.FileSystemInfo class provided by the .Net library.

COFE2, or Cloud Over IFileSystemInfo Extension, is a rewrite of COFE1. COFE2 has a similar interface as FileSystemInfo, called IFileSystemInfo, in addition to that, a RESTful web interface to provide API for online access of shared directories (volumes).  Currently, a volume can either be a directory, or an Isolated Storage (.Net class).

All properties of a IFileSystemInfo, including file name and checksum are considered as metadata, this allows extensibility; developer can define and implement their own properties, and store them in database for search purpose, the syntax of search is similar to search engine.

My idea of COFE2 is simple, a private cloud storage running on your working computer, you can access your files via a mobile HTML5 web page, expose a RESTful API so other Apps can access the storage with some coding, while the back end is still IFileSystemInfo, something that’s familiar to most developers.

Some may argue that a personal FTP server, or some home network attached storage can enable file sharing among family members or friends with ease, and they exists since a long time ago. The major problem of these implementations is that their protocol disallow access of mobile devices efficiently. The another problem is that they serve as file sharing only, cannot perform other actions like search, their protocol simply don’t have that defined.

COFE2 involved many new technologies to me, including Entity framework, RESTful web services, HTML5, JQuery and CoffeeScript, together with the extremely large scope, COFE2 was a big challenge for me. On the another side, the experience learned from COFE1, and several extremely well written books, including REST in pratices for how to expose features to web services, it also have full examples for .NET although it was a little bit outdated, Brownfield Application Development in .NET for how to automate tests and build files, thus I don’t have to do it myself. This makes the development possible, enabling me to build the backend (IFileSystemInfo) and frontend (http://localhost/entry) from void.

COFE2 is uncompleted at this moment, that’s still a lot of work before the component can be fully functioning, but some basic functionality is written, for examples, browsing a specific folder, or search using parameters via a mobile web page.  On the another side, it doesn’t have everything required to run on production environment, specifically, it lacks of security protection, a desktop UI like Quick Zip 5, and the ability to change the filesystem via the web page (like upload or move).

New ideas do come in as I developing the product, for examples, can I log the Filesystem change events in database, and make it consumable via rss feeds?  This makes the scope growing over time.

Although not completed, I have released COFE2 under GPL open source license, so component and software user can know what is running on their system.  The development of COFE2 will continue, and I hope when COFE2 is becoming more and more functional, it can give user another choice of how to manage their personal files and use them online.

QuickZip 5.1 allow you to perform powerful archive operations over a wide range of archive types using a familiar explorer like interface. I have added the following improvements in Quick Zip 5.1.17.

Added : Catalan translation (by David Gimeno i Ayuso)
Added : Switch for toggle translation (see below)
Updated:  Starting ShellRegisterTool in Windows 8 no longer trigger download of .Net 3.5.

Download link #1 (Quickzip.org)
Download link #2 (OverFiles – English)
Download link #2 (OverFiles – French)

By default QuickZip 5.1 choose the translation script based on system language, I have added a switch for setting translation, but it’s not available to UI yet:

• Open notepad.exe using Admin mode
• Open “C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickZip\5.1\QuickZip52.exe.config”
• Look for the DefaultLang key, change it to something like the following:
  <setting name=”DefaultLang” serializeAs=”String”>
  <value>LangCode</value>
  </setting>
  You can find the LangCode from the Language directory (C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickZip\5.1\Languages).

QuickZip 5.1 allow you to perform powerful archive operations over a wide range of archive types using a familiar explorer like interface. I have added the following improvements in Quick Zip 5.1.15.

Autoupdate will be enabled in the next few days.

Download link #1 (Quickzip.org)
Download link #2 (OverFiles – English)
Download link #2 (OverFiles – French)

QuickZip 5.1 allow you to perform powerful archive operations over a wide range of archive types using a familiar explorer like interface. I have added the following improvements in Quick Zip 5.1.14.

Bugfixes :

• Fix – [87] Context menu doesnt work in subentries under library.
• Fix – [88] Use right click to initialize drag and drop does not work.
• Fix – [89] Rename or add files in multiple layers of archive. (archive in archive)
• Fix – [90] Wrong command shown for archive inside archive (Extract to %outer archive%), Removed.
• Fix – [91] Crash when Cancel Bookmarks folder creations.
• Fix – [92] Display gitch when mouse over an item in breadcrumb.
• Fix – [93] Shell context menu can not be enabled in 64bit system.
• Fix – [94] Shell context menu does not invoke command if  template is not defined (edited).
• Fix – [95] Wrong files copied when copy physical directories with archive inside to another physical directories.

If your system have Microsoft .Net framework 4.0 (instead of 3.5 SP1) installed, a new client is loaded, with some small enhancements.

• Window Icon now update as directory changes.
• Asynchronous loading for directory tree and breadcrumb.
• When selecting multiple entries, the status bar now contains multiple icons stacks together (up to first 10 entries)
• When dragging  entries, a ghost image shown next to the mouse cursor.
• Directory in directory tree expand automatically when drag over.

Autoupdate will be enabled in the next few days.

Download link #1 (Quickzip.org)
Download link #2 (OverFiles – English)
Download link #2 (OverFiles – French)

QuickZip 5.1 allow you to perform powerful archive operations over a wide range of archive types using a familiar explorer like interface. I have added the following improvements in Quick Zip 5.1.13

• Settings – allow setting of a number of options, use auto-translate and specifying external applications for toolbar.
• Auto Translate – create translation script automatically using Google Translate.
• Metadata viewer – browse metadata of a file, EXIF for jpgs.
• Faster file list loading – uses EXIF’s thumbnail when loading  jpgs  in Icon, LargeIcon and ExtraLargeIcon view mode.
• Crash fix – [62] Cinch is not compiled property in previous version, resulting in startup crash for a number of users.
• Crash fix – [80] SHGetImageList out of memory fix.
• Fix – Codepage problem when adding files to zip.

Autoupdate will be enabled in the next few days.

Download link #1 (Netvigator.com)
Download link #2 (Quickzip.org)
Download link #3 (OverFiles – English)
Download link #3 (OverFiles – French)

QuickZip 5.1 allow you to perform powerful archive operations over a wide range of archive types using a familiar explorer like interface.

I have added the following improvements in Quick Zip 5.1.12

• Bookmarks –  A directory in directory tree that act as a shortcut to other directories.  You can add a directory to bookmarks using the star button on the breadcrumb bar, or drag it to the Bookmarks directory or it’s sub items.
• Small fixes – including auto-scroll, a simple password input dialog, directory tree dragging fix, startup directory change,  and progress dialog graphic gitch.
• Crash fixes – I have applied fixes to the reported crashes mentioned in this post.
• Translation – German translation updated to 5.1.11 (Frett), added French translation script which translated by Google Translate API.

Autoupdate will be enabled in the next few days.

Download link #1 (Netvigator.com)
Download link #2 (Quickzip.org)
Download link #3 (OverFiles – English)
Download link #3 (OverFiles – French)

Previous version is running fine, bug crash after autoupdated.

• Cinch related
  When implementing new shell extensions in 5.1.9, I signed Cinch.dll but forgot to update the version number, so the file is skipped when auto-update, and QuickZip 5.1.9+ complaints about that.
  Re-install should solve the issue, I have updated the version number in next version.

Crash when start (every time)

• Unsupported .Net framework version
  I received a number of crash reports from computers running .Net 3.0 and .Net 3.5 (without SP1), please upgrade because Quick Zip 5.1 requires .Net 3.5 SP1 or .Net 4.0.

Crash when start (sometimes)

• Crash when raising BreadcrumbItem event
  BreadcrumbItem sometimes raise Show/HideCaptionEvent, which triggers changes in the ControlTemplate, it wont trigger if the control is not loaded.  Unfortunately, when a control is loaded it’s not necessary to be rendered, so it crashes if the event is raised between loaded and rendered.
• Crash related to CAKE3
  CAKE3 have a routine to check if a filename is an archive (CakUtils.IsArchive()), based on the dll in the install directory, it create a list of supported archives on the fly when the class is initialized, this list is then saved to a cache. It works okay in qzLite3.  but in QuickZip5, as the routines is called several times from different threads at the same time, it start causing crashes.

Crash when running

• Crash related to Selecting items
  File list crash if selection changes when either Current directory is changing or the file list is not completely loaded.
• Crash when AutoUpdate
  QuickZip do check for new version every 2 weeks (if not turned off in about dialog , which can be accessed by pressing F1), it downloads a file from quickzip.org to identify if a new version is available, it crashes if the downloaded file is invalid (e.g. when I updating the file).
• Crash when running a Toolbar Open command
  Crash when select an unassociated file and press “Open”, although I expect it should show the “Open with dialog”, it returns an error, “There is no application associated with the specified file for this operation”.

I have applied fixes to most of the bugs above, hopefully these bugs will disappear in 5.1.12.
Thanks for sending the crash reports.

• Translator – An easy to use application that can edit translation script, script opened is automatically updated to the latest version.
• Search archive – When you type a file path in the breadcrumb text box, it will display directory / archive that match the file path as hint (thats how it works in the previous version); if not, it will use Window Search to lookup archives with similar filename and display them.
• More responsive file list – Previous version returns the file list when it’s completely loaded, although it wont jam the UI (it’s loaded on separated thread), you have to wait a couple seconds to load a large directory. This version returns an item in file list as soon as it’s created.
• BugTrap report additional crash information – I am unable to figure out some reported crash because InnerException, the actual location of the crash, is not included.
• Media Player update – I have increased the viewport size (viewport is an area that holds the visible items, if items is in the viewport, it’s created, otherwise it’s freed to reduce memory usage), so the player wont flicker as much when scroll normally.

I received a number of crash reports in 5.1.10, they can be classified into 3 categories:

1. Crash after selected a file and pressed Open.
2. Crash when starting. (in MainWindow Constructor)
3. Crash in one of the components (in BackgroundWorker)

Because bugtrap in 5.1.10 does not produce sufficient data, I am unable to figure out the cause of crash in 2 & 3.

Autoupdate will be enabled in the next few days.

Merry Xmas and Happy New Year!!

Download link #1 (Netvigator.com)
Download link #2 (Quickzip.org)
Download link #3 (OverFiles – English)
Download link #3 (OverFiles – French)

I have updated the component with the following changes:

• Namespace changed to QuickZip.MVVM from AsyncBackgroundWorkerTest.MVVM.
• More constructor included in AsyncBackgroundTaskManager
• Improved performance.
• CompleteAction return exception if thrown.

Download – AsyncBackgroundTaskManager2.zip (3.37kb)

AsyncBackgroundTaskManager and AsyncObservableCollection is a BackgroundTaskManager/ObservableCollection that support a list and run asynchronously.

Download – AsyncBackgroundWorkerTest.zip (49.8 kb)

Introduction

Cinch included a class named BackgroundTaskManager, which offload cpu hogging work from UI thread, and notify the UI when a work is completed.

BackgroundTaskManager uses BackgroundWorker to do the tricks, but it is easier to use:

BackgroundTaskManager<string> _bgWorker = new BackgroundTaskManager<string>(
  () => { return CPUHoggingWork(); }
  (result) => { Result = result; }
);

The advantage of using BackgroundTaskManager is that you can write all related code in one place, and you won’t mis-write UI updating code in non-UI thread (and vice versa).

BackgroundTaskManager works for me in most cases except when I wanted to use it to return a list of items, BackgroundTaskManager only allows return all items when the computation is completed, but I want it return item as soon as it’s constructed.  So the result is AsyncBackgroundTaskManager, a BackgroundTaskManager that support async tasks.

Although ObservableCollection have a constructor that takes IEnumerable<T>, it still blocks the thread when it’s loading, so after I completed the AsyncBackgroundTaskManager, I derived a new ObservableCollection class, named AsyncObservableCollection, which uses AsyncBackgroundTaskManager to populate it’s items in a separated thread.

How to use?

The constructor of AsyncBackgroundTaskManager takes a couple parameters :

• taskFunc (Func<IEnumerable<T>>)  or taskEnumerable (IEnumerable<T>) - Specify what to return here, you can use linq or a method that returns IEnumerable<T>.
• newItemAction (Action<T>) – Runs in UI Thread when a new item is prepared.
• removeItemAction (Action<T>) – Optional, Runs in UI Thread when an item should be removed.
• completeAction (Action<IList<T>>) – Runs in UI Thread when taskFunc is completed.

_bgWorker2 = new AsyncBackgroundTaskManager<StringModel>(DispatcherPriority.SystemIdle,
    from fi in new DirectoryInfo(_path).EnumerateFiles("*", SearchOption.AllDirectories)
        select new StringModel(fi.FullName),
    (model) => { InternalCollection.Add(model); },
    (model) => { InternalCollection.Remove(model); },
    (modelList) => { _aborted = (modelList == null); });
_bgWorker2.RunBackgroundTask();

The constructor of AsyncObservableCollection takes similar parameters, taskFunc and completeAction :

_internalCollection2 = new AsyncObservableCollection<StringModel>(
    from fi in new DirectoryInfo(_path).EnumerateFiles("*", SearchOption.AllDirectories)
    select new StringModel(fi.FullName),
    (modelList) => { Debug.WriteLine(modelList.Count.ToString() + " polled."); }
);
_internalCollection2.Load(false);

How it works?

There are only 158 lines in the AsyncBackgroundTaskManager class, so you wont find any magic there.

The code below appears many times.  It alerts the UI thread when the collection should be changed.

 _dispatcher.Invoke(_priority, new ThreadStart(() =>
            {
                //Do something
            }));

So compared with BackgroundTaskManager, instead of using BackgroundWorker, it creates a new Thread to invoke TaskFunc, then loop the IEnumerator for items.   Then for each item returned, it alerts the UI Thread using NewItemAction.

Further Improvements

Performance affected because it invoke the UI thread every times when a new item is returned, this can be avoided if I change the component so instead of pushing new item to UI thread, the UI thread create a DispatcherTimer to pull new items when it have time.

Reference

Cinch MVVM Framework V1

This article have been posted on CodeProject.  You can find a list of my articles here.