How can I get Opus to do "more" with zip archives?

Help & Support
1

I don't mind Opus handling my zip archives, it's actually nicely automated, but there are a heck of a lot of what I consider default options that I can't seem to find a way to configure.

Mainly, I need to nearly always MOVE to an archive - it's a rare day indeed when I archive something AND keep a copy of it (bug reports excepted :blush: ). Is there a way to get Opus to move instead of copy?

The defautl Opus zip tools also don't work at all with big (>2G) source files, is this something that's going to be added in the future? Or can I add it now using my current 64-bit zip tool?

The last thing is really bugging me, and I'm sure it must be something I'm completely missing, but I don't seem to be able to have both Opus AND my preferred zip tool available from within the Opus interface.

I either get the Opus tool (Add to Archive..., etc), or, if I turn off Opus' zip handling, I get nothing at all - for some reason, the context menus within Opus don't seem to reflect the context menus in Explorer, so if I do turn off zip handling with Opus, then go to Winzip and enable context menu additions, I can't find the same menus in Opus. I can manually add Winzip to the "all files" context menu, but I'm not sure how to "import" application-added context menu items into Opus without manually adding them.

I'm thinking about adding the zip functionality to a global collection, but I need to learn a lot more about collections and external applications before I go down that road!

Any and all suggestions on how to improve/automate these things would be most welcome!

2

Well, personnally I have found that Opus is totally buggy with archives

WinACE bugs with Opus
IZarc bugs also with Opus (but can be used if you don't modify too much the context menu option)

And when I make Opus handling the Zip files, the program open them in the current tab folder.... I can cancel that by removing the event left double click "go"... however each time Opus restarts I have to do it....

yes I confirm it... but as I said, Dopus is totally buggy with archives files...
I did a several reports about that but the answers of the support are:
'not our fault, contact the creator of the program'
'reinstall Dopus' (that changes nothing, I tried the default configuration of Opus and I get the same problems)

So, I can guess the answer of the support, cause I asked that for WinACE, they will answer you to contact WinZip programmers... even if Dopus is bugging with nearly all archivers.

With WinACE the options appear.... at least only the ones to add files... not the ones to extract files.

3

Have you taken into account that they may be right?

7-zip and WinRAR doesn't seem to have problems.

X.

4

[quote="Xyzzy"]Have you taken into account that they may be right?

7-zip and WinRAR doesn't seem to have problems.

X.[/quote]

[quote="Xyzzy"][quote="Ralendil_"]
I did a several reports about that but the answers of the support are:
'not our fault, contact the creator of the program'
[/quote]

Have you taken into account that they may be right?

7-zip and WinRAR doesn't seem to have problems.

X.[/quote]

But Winzip, WinACE and ZipArc have... but they work perfectly with explorer

Also the zip integration of Opus is buggy... at least on my computer.... I tested it also on an another computer and same behaviour (and that is a pain to have to test something on an another computer to uninstall it just after...)

7 zip I tested it.... I dislike it a lot
WinRAR doesn't handle ACE files (and as I have bought WinACE + Sfx Factory, I need at least 1 program that can handle ACE files in Opus)
For now I have to use ZipArc that is not really good, but at least it doesn't bug (or there's only one bug with the integration of the context menu options when you remove the icons, so I know it, I just let icons...)

I tend to think that they tested opus with few archivers....

5

HERE's the link for context menu debugging procedure.

The point of integrated ZIP handling is opening in current tab. Disable ZIP integration to disable it.

BTW, WinRAR supports ACE archives (extraction/conversion).

PCPete, have you tried to change Opus command for ZIP filetype? For me Opus archive integration coexists with 7-zip with no problems.

X.

6

For such relatively long comments in this topic, I haven't read much "detail" about the actual problems ppl are experiencing with archive utilities and Opus... Let's also keep in mind that there is a world of difference between "Opus 'bugging' while trying to use other third party archive applications" and having "issues with Opus ZIP integration"... one has nothing to do with the other, so let's clearly separate the two going forward.

It's some of us can help more if we get a better description of what ppl 'want and expect' to be able to do or make happen with which other programs, and exactly what is not working as they would expect.

@Ralendil_:
I do know of some issues with IZArc... but only to do with the rendering of menu icons depending on whether cascading is enabled as well as the icons being rendered too large... I'm going to file a bug report about that as I think it 'should' be something Opus can fix.

I've never tried WinACE... but from the limited detail provided here I imagine you're actually doing something wrong if you've tried to manually add 'filetype contextmenu' commands to Opus and are not getting the expected results. If you're like me and otherwise DISABLE the full windows context menu in Opus so that you can tweak the appearance and arrangement of the menu in Opus by adding third party menu apps to the Opus menu manually then you should note that 'some' archive utilities register MULTIPLE context menu handler CLSID's for different operations (such as those related to adding to or creating an archive, and extracting an archive...).

[u]@PCPete:[/u]
Depending on 'exactly' what you want to do, it might seem a little tricky getting Opus to do what it "can" do with the supported archive formats while also being able to use other third party archive apps to fill in the gaps in exactly the way you want, but it can be done. Like Xyzzy, I've been able to do it with no problems but it takes a little manual tweaking (especially if you periodically install and uninstall different archive utilities as you evaluate them) which I'll gladly share...

a) Don't think there's any way to 'move' files when creating an archive. You may be able to create custom zip commands that will create the archives and then delete the original files...
b) Don't know what the prospect is for >2gb zip file handling... but I'm not sure what you mean by 'add it yourself using your 64-bit zip tool'? What do you mean there?
c) About your particular context menu confusion... the first 'issue' is probably that you've disabled the Windows Context Menu inside Opus (an option in preferences). So in that case, naturally third party context menus will NOT show up when you enable them in those other apps... that's specifically what the disable context menu option in Opus is for... so that you can manually control the layout of your context menu to make it more sensible to 'you'. From your post, I gather you're using WinZIP... Let's hash out what you want on your context menu, and take it from there... PERSONALLY... my feeling is that IF you're still going to use a third party archive utility to augment Opus native archive support, I don't see any reason at all to have Opus Zip context menu active. What for? At that point, just use Opus to be able to view the archive contents as folders, and leave the menu driven add and extract work to the other app... Let us hear what effect you're after with this part of integration.

7

@Ralendil_:

[quote="Ralendil_"]But Winzip, WinACE and ZipArc have... but they work perfectly with explorer

Also the zip integration of Opus is buggy... at least on my computer.... I tested it also on an another computer and same behaviour (and that is a pain to have to test something on an another computer to uninstall it just after...)[/quote]
What are the 'bugs' with WinACE and Opus... I just installed WinACE v2.69 and as I suspected from your post, there are SEPARATE context handlers for "add to..." and "extract" related operations.

If you add them to Opus "properly" then it works here for me...

Add-to related entry:
FileType CONTEXTMENU {8FF88D27-7BD0-11D1-BFB7-00AA00262A11} CONTEXTFORCE

  • Can be added to the 'All files and folders' filetype

Extract related entry:
FileType CONTEXTMENU {8FF88D21-7BD0-11D1-BFB7-00AA00262A11} CONTEXTFORCE

  • CanNOT be added to the 'All files and folders' filetype... and this may due to the design of the extension handler from WinACE. WinACE itself does NOT register this handler for all file types in the registry, but instead to each specific archive filetype supported by the application. So, the best way to add this 'manually' to Opus is to create your own 'Archive' Filetype Group within Opus, adding the extensions for the formats supported by WinACE, and then add the context menu command above to THAT filetype groups menu...

All works fine here...

8

@PCPete:

I know from past experience with WinZIP that it operates the same way (i.e. two separate context handlers for add and extract related ops... or at least maybe just two different handlers for regular context menu and DROP menu operations...).

Give a shout if you want help with WinZIP specific context menu entries and I'll pipe up... but first explain what you want "Opus" to handle, and what you want WinZIP to handle, and what version of WinZIP you're using...

9

To steje

How do you add what you wrote? :stuck_out_tongue:
Do you simply add this like a command? if yes I tested it and... it doesn't work :stuck_out_tongue: Extract options are yet missing when you have cascaded menus and I want these options cascaded.

well, anyways I just use 2 programs to make the job of one. I use winace to have the option to compress in ACE and Izarc to extract... it is annoying, but the Opus team said me that they can't repair that (something I can accept, I just ask for clear answers).

[quote]
The point of integrated ZIP handling is opening in current tab. Disable ZIP integration to disable it[/quote]

yes but... the Opus team said me that it is not normal and that was my fault if this behaviour appeared
They said that a reinstallation should solve the problem.... and here is the problem, cause the answer seems like "we don't care of eventual problem you have, you have bought the program..."

The fact is, you can configure Dopus to open the archives in another tab, but you have to do it each time Dopus restarts... so there's a bug. At least on my computer and the one of my mother... (the two computers have different OS, different motherboard, graphic card, sound card, memory (SDRAM for my mother), keyboard, mouse etc...) and the one of one friend that I had bought Opus after I made him discover it (but he likes the bug)

Also, when I let the archives files without an application linked to it, the archives are opened in Opus... no matter if the integration is checked or not (here again an another bug).

Regarding all the bugs I have found with the archivers and Dopus, I can't say that Opus is working perfectly with the archives and archivers.

Anyways for WinACE they said that they can't do nothing, well okay...
But when I wrote about a Opus bug (the zip integration) and when I receive the answer to reinstall the program (wich made no difference) I begin to think that they doesn't want to admit the problems with the archives.
[/quote][/code]

10

The last paragraph was for Xyzzy

(sorry we can't edit...)

11

Ralendil_, what are the bugs you are talking about? There's no point stating that something is buggy without explaining how.

Sorry if you have already said in this jumbled thread; I couldn't find it if so.

12

@Nudel:
No... it's not just you. Unless you take the time to try and reproduce without much to go on it's tough to tell 'exactly' what the some of the problems he's referred to may be... the little bit of detail is buried in all of the 'buggy buggy' talk :slight_smile:.

[quote="Ralendil_ sort of"]- The fact is, you can configure Dopus to open the archives in another tab, but you have to do it each time Dopus restarts... so there's a bug. At least on my computer and the one of my mother...

  • Also, when I let the archives files without an application linked to it, the archives are opened in Opus... no matter if the integration is checked or not (here again an another bug).[/quote]
    Well, certainly none of this 'sounds' correct... perhaps if you share how some of your other preferences and file type settings are set, we could help figure out what is happening here... One thing at a time though :wink:...

The first issue sounds like maybe WinACE might be stealing back the file associations in some way, and I'm not having this problem at all, and if that is the case... this is not an 'Opus' bug, but a compatability issue that would need to be solved by settings in WinACE. I'm not sure I understand what you mean about the second issue though...

In general, I find it hard to believe your requests for help (how did you make your request... through the GPsoft website?) were handled in exactly the manner you're describing... that has not been MY experience with official GPsoft support at all... I'm not disputing your point of view, I'm just very surprised if things happened the way you implied without there being more to the story we're not aware of.

I'll explain more in my next reply, but first... I've done some more testing, and seem to have uncovered the reason you're having some problems integrating WinACE with Opus. My last suggestions were based on the idea that you would have the Hide Windows items on file context menus option enabled, which I happen to use to eliminate all the crap that third party apps stuff in the 'regular' windows context menu. Doing so allows you to 'manually' add what you want, where you want it, so that the you control the orgranization and layout of the context menu to suit your preferences.

Having re-read your comments and your latest reply, I've enabled the 'cascading menu' option in WinACE and have duplicated what I assume is one of the 'bugs' you've referred to:

  • As I mentioned, the "Add" and "Extract" related functions of WinACE are registered by separate context menu handlers. You can actually sort of guess this is the case if you DON'T have the cascaded option turned on by seeing that the Add and Extract related items are quite far apart on the Windows Explorer context menu (see first screenshot) depending on how much other stuff you have installed.

  • When you enable 'Cascaded context menu items' in WinACE, the operations registered by the two DIFFERENT menu handlers are then loaded under a SINGLE context menu "sub-menu" (see second screenshot - both taken from Explorer, not Opus). I don't know how "normal" this is or is NOT to do, but would imagine that Opus doesn't support this way of instantiating two menu handlers. This may be the basis for why GPsoft would have said it's a "WinACE" issue.

The best way to go about getting this seriously looked at would be to see if 'both' software developers could look at what causes the issue... while it "works" in Explorer, it may be that it is is based on some things Opus does not or cannot support in order to also offer the ability to manually control the context menus through Opus.

The last screenshot is what the 'workaround' looks like in my manually organized 'Opus' context menu... but it's got a minor caveat that seems to have to do with the WinACE context menu handler behaving in a way that I find abnormal... more on that below.





13

As a workaround, what you could do is disable the cascading of the WinACE menu items in the WinACE options, and just use Opus to organize the menu into it's own submenu's...

To try this out:

  • go to Settings->File Types
  • in the File Types dialog that appears, double-click the All files and folders item
  • in the Edit All files and folders File Type dialog that appears, click on the Context Menu tab
  • click the New button and in Edit new action dialog that appears, in the Type drop down field, select Sub-menu (not supported in Explorer) and in the field that becomes the Label field type something descriptive like WinACE... (see first screenshot) then hit 'Ok' out of this Edit dialog (optionally, you can click in the little empty box to the right of the 'Label' field to select an icon for this sub-menu... such as one from 'C:\Program Files\WinAce\arcIcons.dll')
  • now returned to the main 'Edit All files and folders File Type' dialog, click on the New button again, but this time select Run an Opus function (not supported in Explorer) from the Type drop down field, and in the Action field type something like WinACE_extract, and in the bottom most section of the edit window paste: FileType CONTEXTMENU {8FF88D21-7BD0-11D1-BFB7-00AA00262A11} CONTEXTFORCE ...and click 'Ok' (see second screenshot)
  • again returning to the main 'Edit All files and folders File Type' dialog, click on the New button again, select Run an Opus function (not supported in Explorer) from the Type drop down field again, but this time in the Action field type something like WinACE_add, and in the bottom most section of the edit window paste: FileType CONTEXTMENU {8FF88D27-7BD0-11D1-BFB7-00AA00262A11} CONTEXTFORCE ...and click 'Ok' again (see third screenshot)





14

When you're done, the 'Edit All files and folders File Type' dialogs 'Context Menu' tab should look something like the picture below before you 'Ok' all the way out of the File Types editor...

a4801e50d4b75a2f4c3c3483b759a9a20146fafe.png735×426 23.7 KB

15

General comment:

Most other archive utilities I've tried do NOT have separate context menu handlers for add/extract functions... although I do see other utilities that have separate handlers for regular context menu's and drop menu's... which you'd never expect to see 'combined' under a single menu since they are triggered by different operations by the user (i.e. right click, or RMB drag-n-drop)...

Edit: also... WinACE seems weird/buggy to me in that the context menu handlers don't always seem to respect what sort of files they should display thir entries for... the "caveat" I mentioned about the workaround above is that for some reason the 'Extract' function items will now show up on files that are NOT archives... this can be worked around as well by the first ideas I suggested (about creating an Opus file type group for all supported archive formats, and using the extract related context menu handler just on THAT group instead of the 'allf iles and folders' type)... but I've vomitted alot of info over the past few posts and will wait for some feedback before spewing further steje-babble...

Edit2: I must not have added the 'Extract' handler properly during my very first tests... WinACE shows 'Extract' functions for ANY file you call the 'Extract' handler against... This in itself is weird... usually there's a single handler which figures out which menu items to show the user based on the applications settings and what type of file was used to call the menu handler... this is NOT what WinACE does and is part of why it registers two handlers and adds the 'Extract' handler all over the darn place in the registry for each archive format you tell it to associate with... messy.

16

Thank you Steje for this

I have succeeded to add it.
However, as I was not using the options you pointed to me (Hide Windows items on file context menus) the integration was not working before.
I have enabled it, and now I can see the option.

If I make all the menus (a lot of work as I did it via the registry previously) is there a way to save that for a future installation? (I would hate to spend 2 hours each time I have to reinstall the computer, even if I reinstall windows rarely).
if the answer is yes, then I am very happy.
If the answer is no, well, muchas gracias for pointing the problem and showing me how to repair it.

To Nudel

here the bug report message I submitted to GPS

[quote]I wanted also to add a context menu entry to open the RAR and

ZIP in Opus in a new tab.
It worked, I was happy...

However, adter few time I have found something strange
happenning at every reboot. The Zip files were continuously
reseted to be opened in Opus by defaut (and not in a new tab,
so something that is boring me...) It appears that every time
Opus restarts the Zip files are again associated with Opus via
the event Left double click 'go'
This behaviour doesn't happen with the RAR plugin, however it
is present with the Zip files...[/quote]

The answer was (I have removed uneeded text):

Off course this solved nothing.
I have tested on 2 computers (the one of my mother with install uninstall of opus) and one of my friend that has bought Dopus.
Same behaviour.

If you want, I can format my computer and install Opus with nothing on it to see if it happens... but only if you tell me that you have not that...
Precision: when I tried that, I had the archives files not associated with any archiver. I made Dopus handling RAR and ZIP and created a context menu entry to be able to open them in IZarc is needed.
WinACE was not associated, was not in the context menu, but yes it was installed on the computer.
No other archivers program on the computer (2 are enough, aren't it?)

17

First... @PCPete: this was your topic in the beginning, so chime in when you'd like to hash out your issues with WinZIP.

@Ralendil_:

Yes, I believe that since the 'regular' context menu (without the 'Hide Windows items' enabled) was loading the WinACE shell extension on it's own already, it probably can't be loaded 'twice' in the same menu (i.e. by the Opus context menu entry we added manually).

Yes, the Settings->Backup and Restore menu option completely backs up your current Opus configuration... I use it almost daily as I mess around with my own settings as well as make config changes to test and help others... Having one or more "known" good Opus config backup files let's you play all you want to with modifying your config, but easily revert back to a familiar working state if you mess things up...

[quote="Ralendil_"]here the bug report message I submitted to GPS

[quote]I wanted also to add a context menu entry to open the RAR and

ZIP in Opus in a new tab.
It worked, I was happy...

However, adter few time I have found something strange
happenning at every reboot. The Zip files were continuously
reseted to be opened in Opus by defaut (and not in a new tab,
so something that is boring me...) It appears that every time
Opus restarts the Zip files are again associated with Opus via
the event Left double click 'go'
This behaviour doesn't happen with the RAR plugin, however it
is present with the Zip files...[/quote][/quote]
I'm still a bit confused about exactly what was done... I understand from your description that you added a context menu entry to open zip and rar files in new Opus tabs:

  • How did you do this
  • where did you do this
  • what was the command used

What you describe about that sounds different from saying you also have a problem where Opus always resets the LMB double-click event to open the archive in the current tab. If you prefer to have a 'context menu entry' to open files in a new tab (click RMB and have a menu option that says something like 'Open in New Tab')... then what is it you want/expect Opus to do when you double-click the LMB on the files?

Side note: You mentioned before having done things through the registry... if any of what you're describing about what you want Opus to do with zip/rar files has anything to do with things you may have done in your registry, please provide the details...

18

[quote]- How did you do this

  • where did you do this
  • what was the command used[/quote]
    Simple.
    Settings->File Types => Zip
    Tab event
    Left double click change the event 'go' to 'go newtab'

Problem is, when the Zip integration is activated the event is reseted to 'Go' each time I restart the Opus process (so when I reboot, when I kill the tasks of Dopus (dopusrt.exe and dopus.exe)
If I desactivate the Opus integration, then I can't open the zip files in Opus.

[quote]
Side note: You mentioned before having done things through the registry... if any of what you're describing about what you want Opus to do with zip/rar files has anything to do with things you may have done in your registry, please provide the details...[/quote]
No link with that. The registry changes are not for the archives files.
It is simply an automated changes to the registry, instead of doing it via a program, I preferred learn to do it in the registry directly (and also, I don't know an effective program to do that, more effective than doing it in the registry)
So by exemple, removing the "explore" option of the context menu
Or associating 1 file type with a program.

19

Ok, I understand... this "should" be the way to do it, just needed to make sure.

So, the deal is... Opus certainly should NOT be resetting your Left double-click Event to 'go' when simply stopping and restarting Opus or rebooting...

However, it will do EXACTLY this each time you toggle on and off the 'Activate Opus ZIP file handling' option in Prefs... When you DISABLE this option, it removes any Left double-click Event you may have set (like go newtab), and when you re-ENABLE the option... yes it will assign the Left double-click event the regular Go command...

But this is only if you are toggling the ZIP file handling option in Prefs... Since you've mentioned doing that (since that causes Opus not to be able to open the file as a folder at all) then perhaps in your testing, this is what has been causing this to happen to you as you change settings to figure things out?

Note: you made some comments about how this problem doesn't affect RAR files, and it seems like you have correctly concluded that it's because that is all handled pseudo-externally by the RAR "plugin" and not affected by the ZIP file handling options in Prefs...

20

[quote="steje"]However, it will do EXACTLY this each time you toggle on and off the 'Activate Opus ZIP file handling' option in Prefs... When you DISABLE this option, it removes any Left double-click Event you may have set (like go newtab), and when you re-ENABLE the option... yes it will assign the Left double-click event the regular Go command...
[/quote]

unfortunately, after I configured it a long time ago I have not modified it or rechecked the zip integration.
I have verified again (cause I wanted to be sure even if I tested it more than 15 times) and it is yet happening on my computer

So, let's detail what I did before you ask :wink:

1/ I enable the zip integration in Dopus
2/ I change the event 'go' to 'go newtab'
3/ I test. The zip files are opened in a new tab.
4/ I open my process explorer. I kill dopus.exe and dopusrt.exe
5/ I start again Opus
6/ I test... and again the zip are opened in the current tab
7/ I check the zip files, and I see again the event 'go' instead of the 'go newtab' I had put 2 minutes ago.