Multiview - problems with word proc files

Help & Support
1

I've read other discussions of the viewer problem, but mine seems a bit different, and the new viewer doesn't solve it, hence this new topic.

Since I've installed 9.1 the Opus viewer doesn't properly display word processing files: DOC, RTF or WPF. If the "text" plugin is selected, these files display as if they were opened in Notepad -- that is, what I understand to be hexadecimal. If I deselect the "text" plugin then the text viewer doesn't handle them at all, and displays the message "...doc (or .wpd) is invalid or not a recognized picture format."

From other posts, I gather the problem has to do with the multiview plugin. (It was selected throughout the testing I described above.) By opening the "configuration" module to multiview I discovered that Opus is looking to my X1 folder structure, the Stellent\filters subfolder. But I noticed that Opus also has a "multiview.dll" in its \viewers folder. So thinking that the X1 DLL might be the problem, I uninstalled X1, and made sure to delete the folder structure.

But now, when I go into the Multiview configuration module, Opus is still looking to the X1\Stellent\filters folder. And there is a message: "Viewer DLLs could not be located." So I click the "locate" button. I'm able to navigate through my folder tree OK to the Opus\viewers folder, but when it is selected, the "OK" button is grayed out. Opus refuses to accept that folder.

I noted that GP in the last few days released a repaired "multiview.dll." I downloaded and installed it. But that doesn't help. Of course, Opus evidently refuses to recognize it.

I tried copying multiview.dll to the the main "Directory Opus" folder, on the chance there was a problem with the "viewers" folder, but same problem: The OK button remains grayed out.

And I just now downloaded and installed Opus 9.1.0.0.2893 x86. Didn't help.

Help, please.

(I've been running Opus for several years, and recently upgraded to 9.1 from 9.0. I have a Dell Dimension 4100, 1.7 MHz, 512MB RAM, plenty of disk space, WinXP SP2 kept upgraded.)

2

The Opus MultiView plugin uses the Stellent viewers, which you have uninstalled - which is why they can't be located. You'll need to reinstall them and make sure the plugin is configured to point to the correct location.

3

Thanks.

But I don't want X1 on my system. Can you tell me where to find the Stellent viewers?

And I am a bit puzzled. If I read it correctly, another post said mutiview was distributed with Opus, and multiview.dll is located in the Opus viewers folder.

How make sense of that?

Bill

4

Multiview is an Opus plugin, but it doesn't do anything without the Stellent viewers, which are available in a number of ways (as part of QuickViewPlus, as part of PowerDesk, as part of Yahoo Desktop Search, and as part of the X1 stuff.) How you obtain them is up to you. I've heard that you can make a copy of the Filters folder and then uninstall the actual X1 software, but whether it works or not I couldn't say.

5

Thanks for the advice, Jon. I reinstalled X1 and Opus is now "viewing" just fine.

I think what happened is that the problem originally arose when I upgraded to Opus v 9.1, which initially had a defective version of Multiview (see this thread: resource.dopus.com/viewtopic.php ... tiview+dll).

In an attempt to troubleshoot the problem I uninstalled X1, which I had not been using. Then when I downloaded the fixed Multiview.dll file and put it in the Opus plugin folder the Stellent filters weren't available.

If it is not too much trouble, could you provide a further explanation of the Opus viewer system?

First, in my experience with programs that used plugins (which includes things like browsers and audio file editors), the plugin is a single file which is dropped into the main program's "plugins" folder, and voila, things work. In the case of Opus, additional "Stellent viewers" are needed.

Just what are the "Stellent viewers?" (Although you use the term Stellent "viewers" they are actually installed in a "filters" folder, which on my system contains 198 files.)

Why are the "Stellent" viewers needed; that is, why isn't Multiview.dll sufficient? How does Stellent and Multiview.dll. interact?

Second, I've used third-party file managers for many years, and if I remember right they always were able to easily preview files, especially such common formats as DOC and WordPerfect WPD. Opus is by far the most powerful file manager I've ever used, and yet it's viewing capabilities seem limited. Why not just provide all the viewing capability with the program, rather than requiring the user to find a set of third-party files? Why is this so complicated?

Thanks again.

6

If you have Microsoft Office (or Microsoft's free standalone Office viewers) installed then you can view Office documents with just Opus's ActiveX viewer plugin which uses the same technique that Internet Explorer uses to display files.

Opus's alternative MultiView plugin is basically an adapter for the Stellant viewers which ship with some other programs for people who prefer to use them. (Stellant are the company who wrote the viewers which ship with X1 and so on.)

MultiView and the Stellant viewers aren't required to view any of the popular formats; it's just an option for people who want to use them instead of ActiveX.

Because the Office formats are closed and undocumented and Stellant quoted a very high fee to licence their viewers for shipment with Opus.

7

Also, I think the multiview plugin is the only one that interacts with external components to actually show you the things that it can... it was created specifically to take advantage of work that someone else (Stellent) had already done.

The other Opus plugins are 'self-contained'...