Evaluating - Can I open multiple PDF's

[MattInLA]

simultaneously,********NEVER MIND I SEE HOW TO DO THIS NOW.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

HI MattInLA,

Welcome to the forums, and glad to hear you found the answer for your question.

Best,
Stefan

[RedSharpEye]

Hmmm, I can open multiple pdf's - but one at a time. If I highlight a number of pdf's in windows explorer and press enter, only the first pdf is opened. Or am I missing a trick?

Colin

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello Colin,

When you have them marked, drag and drop them over the Viewer Window, and they should all be loaded.

Best,
Stefan

[RedSharpEye]

Hmm, that works.

Opening from explorer seems to be the issue, up to 2 files seem ok but opening the 18 files and the viewer crashed. Looking at task manager I appear to now have seven PDFXCview processes running but no GDI.

Closing each process in turn finally allowed the GDI to appear.

Seems like I will have to remember not to open multiple files direct from explorer without dragging and dropping.


Col

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

[belier]

Hmm, that works.

Opening from explorer seems to be the issue, up to 2 files seem ok but opening the 18 files and the viewer crashed. Looking at task manager I appear to now have seven PDFXCview processes running but no GDI.

Closing each process in turn finally allowed the GDI to appear.

Seems like I will have to remember not to open multiple files direct from explorer without dragging and dropping.


Col

Select the desired files on explorer -> Right-click -> Open

That works for me (Win7)

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi RedSharpEye,

what version of Windows are you running? I'll try reproduce it.

[RedSharpEye]

Hi Paul,

I am running Windows 7 Home Premium on a HP Pavillion DV7 notebook

4GB ram
AMD Phenom Quad Core Processor

Even highlighting the required files and using right click open causes issues. I tried 3 file today and PDF viewer went a bit weird. Task manager showed one application but three processes.

Good luck with your testing

Colin

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Thanks RedSharpEye,

I am not likely to get to that today - early next week is my best shot. Will that works for you or is this urgent?

regards

[RedSharpEye]

That is fine for me, I will just remember to drag the files to the viewer for the meantime.

Cheers
Col

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

thanks RedSharpEye,

I hope to get this tested tonight or tomorrow.

regards

[RedSharpEye]

I have upgraded to version 2.5.188 to see if the multiple opening from explorer problem persists. It does

Dragging 8 files from explorer to the viewer window works fine, with all 8 files appearing as tabs in the viewer window. Task manager shows one process for pdfxcview.exe

If I highlight the same eight files in exploerer and then press enter, sometimes one file appears in the viewer (sometimes none) and I cannot close the viewer using the the big red x on the top right of the window. Task manager shows nine processes for pdfxcview.exe (screenshot attached). Closing each process in turn is like russian roulette, most leave the viewer on screen, one of them closes the viewer and any other instances of pdfxcviewer.exe

It is a bit of a fag trying to remember to drag files onto viewer window as my natural instinct is to highlight files and then press enter. Then I have mess around with closing processes.

Hey ho

Colin

[RedSharpEye]

Task manager shows nine processes for pdfxcview.exe (screenshot attached).

Just realised that uploaded files must be compressed or they don't upload - do here it is in a zip archive.

Colin

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

It depends on the setting in Preferences — Allow multiple instances. If you check that, each selected file will open in a separate instance, otherwise they will all open in the same instance of PDF-XChange.

Whatever the setting, if you use drag and drop, they will all load in the same (already open) instance.

The allow multiple instances setting is a way to overcome the 50 files limitation per instance. Fifty files is a reasonable limit — any more than that defeats the purpose of using tabs or the MDI.

[RedSharpEye]

Thanks Bhikkhu

I have the setting as one instance as it is handy to have the tabs, but the problem with opening multiple files (eight in this case) by selecting in explorer and then pressing enter is that there is only one GUI (with only one, none or a couple of pdf's loaded, never all of them) on the desktop but mutiple pdfxcview processes. This leaves the GUI in a state of confusion as to which process to serve and hence clicking on buttons and commands within the GUI give wayward responses.

This wayward action occurs no matter which documents layout I choose be it Multiple documents with or without tabs or single document.

If I drag and drop the eight files into the pdf viewer then there is one GUI on the desktop with all of the pdf's loaded and one pdfxcview process and all is well with the world, but force of habit is to open the files direct from explorer by selecting and using enter (the trouble with being an old school keyboard user I suppose)


I am wondering if the quad core processor might be the issue with it sending four requests in parrallel to open files instead of sending the requests one after another?

Col

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

I am using a single-core processor here. I don't see the problem. All selected files open in one instance on pressing Enter.

Try right-click, Open.

[RedSharpEye]

I have already tried that - still creates the same problems

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hi Col,

When selecting multiple files, and pressing enter - for a fraction of a second I do also see 8-9 instances of the pdfxcview.exe appear in my task manager - but those are then correctly closed, and all documents added to my currently opened Viewer.
I am using an XP here and more than one core, but we will try to set up a Win7 machine and simulate the behaviour you experience.

Best,
Stefan

[RedSharpEye]

Thanks Stefan - you might want to liaise with Paul, he was going to have a go at it on the 25/26th November?

Regards

Colin

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Yes,

He is the Virtual Machines guru
MY thought was also to see it set up and tested together with him.

We will keep you updated.

Best,
Stefan

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

HI RedSharpEye,

thanks for bumping me on this. I did test build 57 in a Win7 VM and found I could open multiple files using Explorer and selecting them with the CTRL+Click. This included text based PDFs, forms, images based (from a scanner) and files with lots of annotations. My apologies for not posting the results here.

The issue you are describing now sounds like a known problem with build 188 (beta). The fix for this (new build) should be ready within the week. I tested 188 beta with Win7 and was not seeing the problem with opening multiple files from Explorer. Perhaps my methodology is not he same as yours? I would go to a folder in Explorer and using the CTRL button and left mouse selects a number of PDF files then right click this selection and choose Open with PDF-XChange Viewer. All my files opened in the tabs as expected. Perhaps there is some particualr step I need to take to reproduce this that I'm missing?

I think we should keep the 2 issues separate, the issue with opening multiple files and the issue where an instance of PDFXCView.exe is left running with no GUI are different I believe.

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Stefan just pointed out to me that the method was to select multiple files in Explorer and then hit the "Enter" key. This also opens the files in tabs (my preference) for me.

Any other thoughts on what might be different?

[RedSharpEye]

Hi Paul

To recap...

I had this problem with version 2 and moving over to 2.5 did not cure it. Hopefully the new release later this week will do the trick.

Selecting multiple (in excess of 4 files) files using explorer (using either ctrl or shift) and then pressing enter (or right click open) causes the effect of not all of the files opening.

I actually think the files are opening in the other instances of pdfxcview but are not being displayed in the GUI.

Stefan mentioned when he opened multiple files he had several processes appear and then they disappeared. I watched task manager with viewer running (it had one process) and opened five files, five more processes appeared (making six) and then one disappeared (making five processes) one of the files displayed in the GUI the others stayed hidden from the GUI. I guess they were in each of the four additional processess that remained.

Is the version of windows 7 you are testing 64 bit?

Regards

Colin

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi Colin,

it was a Win 7 64 bit single CPU VMware Virtual Machine. I have just had word from the dev team that a build will be up today that explicitly addresses the issue with processes running without the GUI. It may be that the 2 are related as you suggest. Can I get you to test build 189 later today and report? My 'gut' feeling is that this and the open multiple files issue are not the same but we will see what happens in your test.

If you still see the issue we should discuss here how to best recreate this at my end as so far my tests have not been able to do so.

regards

[RedSharpEye]

Hi Paul

Just tried the multiple open with the new 189 build. The issue is still there but a dialogue box appears that didn't before.

Precis of method
Without viewer running
opening 7 files from explorer
select first and shift click seventh
press enter on keyboard
Got one file open and a dialogue box (screenshot attached)
Press cancel, the cancel button greyed out but nothing else happened
end last process on list, GUI still the same and stuck
end second to last process - all viewer processes ended and gui closed.

with viewer running
using same selected files
three files opened in tabs and dialogue box (another screenshot). GUI unresponsive due to dialogue
Press cancel, the cancel button greyed out but nothing else happened
ended all processes leaving the largest sized one until last, no change
ended last process gui closed

Would you like a copy of the files for testing purposes?

Cheers

Col

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello Col,

Yes it would be nice to have the same files as you to be as close to your environment as possible as we need to reproduce this at least once before we start digging for the trouble

Best,
Stefan

[RedSharpEye]

Hi Stefan

I have emailed the docs to Paul (pdfxview address)

Good Luck

Col

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Thanks Col,

We got the files, and will see to test again with them when Paul comes to work in a few hours (he is in the Canadian office).

Best,
Stefan

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi Colin,

thanks for the detailed procedure. I followed it precisely and all 7 files opened without issue. I have a fresh Win 7 Ultimate VM and installed the full bundle via the exe. I also started again and used the Viewer exe installer. Perhaps this is specific to the specific installer you used? Did you get to the current build using Live Update?

Perhaps you could try uninstalling the Viewer and running the exe from here https://www.pdf-xchange.com/product/downloads and let me know how that goes.

I just have not been able to reproduce this here.

[RedSharpEye]

I used the 64 bit msi installer - initially for pdf tools (which had the viewer pro bundled into it) in fact I didn't know I had viewer pro - until a couple of weeks after using tools.

I do think the viewer pro is very good and it's command structure are very similar to Adobe 8 Professional.

For the upgrade I used the 64 bit msi installer for viewer pro as the live update is not recommended for msi installed.

Shall I uninstall the whole pdf tools package?

Col

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi Colin,

let me test with the 64 bit MSI. We don't have an MSI for Tools. The Viewer comes bundled with Tools, the Print Driver , Viewer and Office2PDF in a bundle called PDF-XChange 4 Pro. That does have an msi installer. Could it have been this that you used then updated the Viewer with the Viewer MSI? Do you have a PDF-XChange 4 printer in your Devices and Printers in the Windows Control Panel?

It may be that I can reproduce your situation yet. If I do there will still be some time until a fix can be released so I'd suggest you uninstall what you have and reinstall using the exe installer. Exactly which installer to use will depend on your license. Can you tell me the first 5 characters of your serial key?

Please do not post the entire key on the forum here or we will be forced to disable it.

[RedSharpEye]

Hi Paul,

Yes it was pdf xchange Pro that I had purchased.

I do have a PDF-XChange 4 printer in Devices and Printers.

The first five characters are PXP40.

I guess I need to download the zip file as there isn't an exe choice.

I will carry out the uninstall and reinstall and report back

Cheers

Colin

[RedSharpEye]

Hi Paul

I had two msi's in control panel, uninstalled the viewer and xchange pro with no mishaps.

Downloaded and install the xchange pro zip file, rebooted

Tried the multiple file open from Explorer - still has the same problem with numerous processes appearing and only a few file actually displaying on the GUI - curiously though I didn't get the dialog box this time.

Cheers

Colin

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Thanks Colin,

the only thing I can think of at this point is that something is interfering with the read of these files. Can you confirm that they open OK individually? You reported earlier that other methods of opening files worked. Does this true for these same files?

Yes the zip file contains the exe and is a better option for single installs. Live Update works with the exe installed Viewer and is not yet supported through an msi installed Viewer.

thinking.....

[RedSharpEye]

Morning Paul

Yes they opening indiviually with no bother by double clicking in explorer

If I drag the same group files from explorer and drop onto the open pdfviewer then all files open with no bother.

I watched the processes tab of task manager whilst I did the drag and drop and no further processes were instigated during the drag and drop.

If I highlight two files in explorer and then press enter, the two files open in pdfviewer and task manager show additional pdfviewer processes starting and then ending, leaving one process, both files loaded into the GUI and a functional GUI. Any more than two files seems to cause the issue.

I only used the 64 bit msi as it seemed to be the logical choice for a 64 bit os?

Happy cogitating

Colin

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

hey Colin,

well I'll try that with the 64 bit msi also so as to reproduce this here (fingers crossed).

I would however recommend the exe and not the msi. The exe will auto-detect your system architecture and install 32 or 64 bit components accordingly so it will give you a 64 bit installation on your 64 bit OS. This is true for all our exe installers.

In fact the only way to get a 32 bit (Tracker) application on a 64 bit OS is to run the Portable VIewer as it is 32 bit only.

I'll try again to reproduce what you describe here using the PDF-XChange 4 Pro 64 bit msi.

thanks

[RedSharpEye]

I'll try again to reproduce what you describe here using the PDF-XChange 4 Pro 64 bit msi.

Hi Guys, any news?

Colin

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi RedSharpEye,

I've been away sick and haven't had a chance to do this. Will try it today and post.

thanks

[RedSharpEye]

Sorry to hear that Paul, I have been struck with the lurgy as well.

Hope you are feeling better.

Colin

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Thanks for the thoughts Colin,

thanks to Louis Pasteur...

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

HI Colin,

I started with a fresh VM of Windows 7 64 bit, fully patched. I then installed the Pro bundle using the installer PDFXCPro_x64.msi
I copied your 7 files to a local folder selected the first and using CTRL+shift the rest, then hit enter. PDF-XChange Viewer launched all the files in under 3 seconds.

I just don't seem to be able to reproduce your issue. Is there anything else here I missed?

[RedSharpEye]

Hi Paul

Seems like you are doing the same as me. It is a mystery.

My thoughts where the differences lie are :-

You are running Windows 64 is running on a virtual machine - could this have an impact on how the threads are handled?
I believe that your machine is a single core, here it is a AMD Phenom quad core. Could it be that on opening a large amount of files additional cores are invoked (perhaps by explorer which is outside the control of the viewer) which upsets the viewer?

You can probably tell I am not a programmer so I am clutching at straws here.

Cheers

Colin

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hey Collin,

while I've done plenty of scripting and simple web based apps I'm a network guy myself to the intricacies' of multithreading are beyond me also I must confess. Aaah but this is why we have a development team...

The coding in the Viewer is best understood by them. You are correct that my VM does have a single core - although I could create a multi core one to test on. Before I do that I will ask my dev team leader what he thinks..

One last thought - am I correct in understanding that this isssue was not seen when you removed the msi installed version and ran the exe installer?

thanks

[RedSharpEye]

Hi Paul

That is correct, I did uninstall the 64 bit MSI version for pdf xchange pro - and the msi for viewer (which got installed when I was looking for the new 2.5 version), then installed using the exe for xchange pro.

The problem remains.

Once uninstalled I was not asked to reboot the computer so I guess setup didn't need a reboot to release any files that were in use.

Cheers

Colin

[RedSharpEye]

Hi Paul

I have found a way where I can open multiple files from explorer and all of the files load and are stable.

It might also help the dev team where to look to locate the bug?

Click Edit, Preferences.

In the General category there, at the bottom of the window in the Application section, is the option to allow Multiple Instances. Check this option, apply, close and restart viewer. Now opening multiple files instigates serveral viewer windows but at least all of the files load and are usable.

How is your testing going?

Colin

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hi Colin,

It's 4:06 AM for Paul right now, but have you tried with the latest build and without "Allow Multiple instances" to see if this was resolved in 2.5.190?

Best,
Stefan

[RedSharpEye]

Hi Stefan

I didn't really expect Paul to answer straight away (unless he is an Insomniac ) but thought the message would be there for him when he arrives at the office.

Just downloaded the latest build (zip version) and installed.

Unfortunately the problem still exists if the allow multiple instances is not checked.

Cheers
Colin

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi Colin,

I am at a loss to reproduce this. I tried an MSI based install and again all the files opened correctly. The only other thing that I can think of here is as you mentioned - the difference between the Virtual machines and the bare metal ones. None of the machines here are AMD based, but I have a Phenom Quad core at home and am going to do something for you that I've avoided for the last 13 years since I fell in love with Linux....

<begin drum roll>
I will put Windows on my home machine.
<end drum roll><cymbol crash/>

Unfortunately I think Redmond must be psychically aware of my preferences and sending gremlins to 'test my resolve' because I'm having a devil of a time getting the Win 7 installer to recognise my hard drive.

I will not give up however and am hopeful that over the Christmas to New Year week I can get this done.

Will that work for you Colin?

[RedSharpEye]

Hi Paul,

That sounds like a plan, thanks.

I know that you will be able to battle through the gremlins and show your mettle. I will be cheering you on from the side lines.

Merry Christmas

Colin