New Release: 3.2.0 RC 1

[Xanashi]

Good Afternoon Everyone,

Just another late release, nothing new here. ;)

This is primarily a stability release, fixing a number of reported bugs and getting FFmpeg up-to-date.
I do have a slightly more interesting build coming up, but it still needs a bit more testing.

I wanted this build to be the final 3.2.0 build, but the latest FFmpeg gave me a few regressions, that I
want to make sure has been ironed out, before I officially can call this build final.

So please keep the feedback coming. Even if I don't always reply right away, I do look into every issue.
I also really appreciate the positive feedback. It makes working on Icaros so much more enjoyable and worth it.

And once again thanks to everyone who has donated and helped with translations!
You're all amazing.

And for the sake of full transparency, here is the combined amount of donations received in 2020:

2020 - $203,5

Enjoy the new release! ^__^


[Icaros v.3.2.0 RC 1]

- Shortcut thumbnails can now be refreshed in IcarosConfig
- Fixed TAK thumbnailing
- Fixed 'Display icon overlay' option (inconsistent behaviour)
- Fixed crash on Debug page if accent color had been changed
- Fixed crash on Debug page if user clicked in specific area
- Fixed crash on Cache page if cache location no longer exists
- Fixed rare crash during Property Handler registration
- Fixed Property Handler unregistering other property handlers that has overwritten Icaros
- Fixed a few file specific issues
- Added 'Channel Count' and 'Sample Rate' to Explorer detail pane for audio files (see notes below)
- Only add PSD as default filetype if no other shell extension is already handling it
- Allow using Enter to open file location of selected file on Debug page
- IcarosConfig glass now updates properly in various cases (e.g. wallpaper change etc.)
- Enable localization for a few missing strings
- Improved some FFmpeg settings
- Improved MKV seeking slightly
- Updated Russian localization (Thank you Ligre!)
- Updated Polish localization (Thank you Xyzzy!)
- Updated copyright to 2021
- Updated FFmpeg

[Notes]
This change requires that you deactivate properties in your current version of Icaros before upgrading to 3.2.0 RC1


Icaros 3.2.0 RC 1 Installer: Download
Icaros 3.2.0 RC 1 Portable: Download


Issue Tracker

[CoreyVidal]

Added 'Channel Count' and 'Sample Rate' to Explorer detail pane for audio files (see notes below)

This is great. I have Sample Rate showing up in Explorer's detail pane.
Is it possible to have Sample Rate show up as one of the clickable/sortable columns across the top, when a folder's View is set to "Details"?

"Bit depth" works, because of Icaros. It's showing up as one of the columns. But I can't seem to find/force "Sample Rate". Is it not possible?

[LongKick64]

Great! You have fixed almost all the bugs that I wrote to you about.

---

- Allow using Enter to open file location of selected file on Debug page

File Explorer opens in the background. It would be better if it opened on top of the Icaros window.

[Xanashi]

Great! You have fixed almost all the bugs that I wrote to you about.

File Explorer opens in the background. It would be better if it opened on top of the Icaros window.

Oh, wrote to you on mail about this one!
Just to get the reply public, here it is again:

It works exactly like you described on my machines.
When I hit Enter the File Explorer window pops up on top of Icaros and selects the file.
Any idea how I can recreate your scenario?

[Xanashi]

Added 'Channel Count' and 'Sample Rate' to Explorer detail pane for audio files (see notes below)

This is great. I have Sample Rate showing up in Explorer's detail pane.
Is it possible to have Sample Rate show up as one of the clickable/sortable columns across the top, when a folder's View is set to "Details"?

"Bit depth" works, because of Icaros. It's showing up as one of the columns. But I can't seem to find/force "Sample Rate". Is it not possible?

I want to believe that this is an oversight by Microsoft and not by design, but unfortunately it is not possible to have Sample Rate as a column in Explorer.
All Windows properties basically has various attributes determining how they can be used in File Explorer, how they should be formattet, used in searches and so on.

One of these attributes is called "isViewable", and it decides whether a property can be viewed as a column.
This attribute is disabled by default, and need to be explicitly enabled for every property to make them show up in the column selector.
Unfortunately this attribute has not been set on the SampleRate system property, meaning it is by default disabled.
And I don't believe it is possible to modify the attributes of any native System Property. I'm not 100% sure though.

[javacatpaul]

I noticed a difference in the way 2 different flac files were displayed [in the Details Pane].

The first flac file has no TAG at all, so the Details pane [col 1] shows name, length, size and then [col 2] shows the format info: channels, depth, sample rate etc.  this format info came from the flac header.  There is a 3rd col that shows date created, but only if the window is wide enough.

The second flac file does have a [flac-type] TAG;  col 1 shows same info, but col 2 now shows info from the tag:  year, size, track#, title.  The format info  has been moved right into col 3, and date created into col 4.  But again, you only see it if the window is wide enough; at first I thought it simply wasn't there, then I max'd the window and saw it.

My Nit Pic -->  I think the tag info, if present, should get added to the right in col 3 rather than displace the format info.  IMO format info is higher  priority than tag info.  Yeah, it's a true nit pic!   Just my 2 cents, and worth every penny!    It's still a great product.

Thanks for listening.

-=Paul=-

[Lem]

I have Properties for .mka enabled in Icaros, but no tag information is visible at all in Explorer for that file type. The same mka files all show their tags correctly in other software.

Running an Icaros debug test some of the mka files shows that certain file format information (such as sample rate and number of channels etc.) is visible in Icaros, but Bitrate is missing (even though bitrate can be seen in other software).

Icaros does correctly display the name of the tool used to create the mka file, but essential basic information such as artist, album, comment/description is all missing in Explorer.

Update: Bitrate is also missing of .ogg files, but the rest of the tag info (e.g title, album etc.) seems to be displaying ok.

[Zelanium]

I noticed a difference in the way 2 different flac files were displayed [in the Details Pane].

The first flac file has no TAG at all, so the Details pane [col 1] shows name, length, size and then [col 2] shows the format info: channels, depth, sample rate etc.  this format info came from the flac header.  There is a 3rd col that shows date created, but only if the window is wide enough.

The second flac file does have a [flac-type] TAG;  col 1 shows same info, but col 2 now shows info from the tag:  year, size, track#, title.  The format info  has been moved right into col 3, and date created into col 4.  But again, you only see it if the window is wide enough; at first I thought it simply wasn't there, then I max'd the window and saw it.

My Nit Pic -->  I think the tag info, if present, should get added to the right in col 3 rather than displace the format info.  IMO format info is higher  priority than tag info.  Yeah, it's a true nit pic!   Just my 2 cents, and worth every penny!    It's still a great product.

Thanks for listening.

-=Paul=-

Hi Paul,

the order of how the tags are displayed is handled by Windows. Windows prioritizes certain properties above others, and does the same with all media files it supports out of the box. However, you can indeed change these settings. They are stored in the Registry, under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations. The appropriate value is "PreviewDetails", where you'll have to move "*System.DateCreated" ahead in the queue and reboot. This is valid for all Windows versions since at least Vista. If you do not know what I am talking about, I'd ask you to read about the Registry and Registry editing on the internet (always backup the respective key). Ultimately, this is a Windows issue, and English is not my first language.

---

I have Properties for .mka enabled in Icaros, but no tag information is visible at all in Explorer for that file type. The same mka files all show their tags correctly in other software.

Running an Icaros debug test some of the mka files shows that certain file format information (such as sample rate and number of channels etc.) is visible in Icaros, but Bitrate is missing (even though bitrate can be seen in other software).

Icaros does correctly display the name of the tool used to create the mka file, but essential basic information such as artist, album, comment/description is all missing in Explorer.

Update: Bitrate is also missing of .ogg files, but the rest of the tag info (e.g title, album etc.) seems to be displaying ok.

I don't use the RC. It's possible that this post is pointless, but your issue could be related to the post I made earlier. Please read the following text until the end before you make any changes.

Which tags are displayed in Explorer depends on a Registry setting read by File Explorer (see post above). Please open Regedit and check whether the desired information labels are present under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\.mka or HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\.ogg. I don't use Icaros for audio files, and there is a problem: Sometimes Icaros uses custom entries (they start with Icaros) and sometimes it passes the data to the built-in Windows entries (they start with System). For example Icaros.ContentCompression and System.Media.Duration. I don't know whether Icaros has its own bitrate entry for certain file types or whether it's all supposed to be System.Audio.EncodingBitrate.

Anyway: First you should check whether the mka file type is, uh, checked in the IcarosConfig app (I assume you already made sure of that), and the next stop would be to test whether the entries mentioned above (like System.Music.AlbumTitle) are present under SystemFileAssociations in the Windows Registry. If they are there but Explorer fails to retrieve the data, then there's either an issue with the files or indeed with Icaros's property handler.

On my system, Icaros has registered the value "System.Video.TotalBitrate" (not Audio.EncodingBitrate) for mka files. I have zero mka files and can't test whether that should normally return the correct bitrate value or whether that's the wrong tag and Explorer tries to calculate a non-existend total bitrate by searching for a non-existent video track. You however should check whether there's any tag for bitrates at all present. If the System.Video.TotalBitrate is missing then that could be the issue.

More importantly: There are no tags for album and artist present under mka on my system.

(The full string is prop:*System.Media.Duration;*System.Size;*Icaros.AudioTracks;System.Audio.ChannelCount;System.Audio.SampleRate;*Icaros.ContentCompression;*Icaros.ContainsChapters;*System.Video.TotalBitrate;*System.OfflineAvailability;*System.OfflineStatus;*System.DateModified;*System.DateCreated;*System.SharedWith;*System.Video.FrameRate)

The question is whether they are missing on purpose because Icaros can't handle mka tags, or whether they just were forgotten. You can test whether you can make Explorer show the fields by adding System.Music.Artist;System.Music.AlbumTitle;System.Music.Genre;System.Media.Year;System.Music.TrackNumber;System.Music.AlbumArtist;System.Title to the prop string. Please note that prefacing the individual entries with a * makes them read-only (e.g. *System.Music.AlbumTitle), which you should do just to be safe.

Again, on my system Icaros has not added typical music metadata for mka files to the Registry - perhaps because it is not able to handle it. At least it's no suprise that it's missing for you too. In addition, I don't know whether System.Video.TotalBitrate makes Explorer see the audio rate - no idea. It seems that Icaros treats mka files as video files, which is perhaps due to mka being just a renamed mkv video container.

I apologize if I couldn't be of help, but it's hopefully still better than radio silence for perhaps months. My lack of mka files doesn't allow me to test it on my own. I also apologize that I do not have the time to give a detailed explanation of how the Windows Registry works. That is done better and in better English on a vast number of different sites.

[javacatpaul]

the order of how the tags are displayed is handled by Windows. Windows prioritizes certain properties above others, and does the same with all media files it supports out of the box. However, you can indeed change these settings. They are stored in the Registry, under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations. The appropriate value is "PreviewDetails",....

Very cool, I did not know that was in the reg, another thing to tweak, yeah!!

Merci...

[Xanashi]

@Zelanium
Thank you so much for getting back to javacatpaul and Lem!
I can definitely be really slow when it comes to providing support,
so your help is truly appreciated! Thanks for going into so much detail!

@javacatpaul
I hope you got your issue resolved with Zelaniums help! 
That is definitely the way to do it. If I had more time I would create a GUI
to help users reorganize their properties the way the like to view them in 
Explorer. That would be useful. 

@Lem
Zelanium is correct that both .mka and .ogg should show the Total Bitrate in Explorer (via the System.Video.TotalBitrate property).
If it doesn't you may have deactivate properties in Icaros, and clear the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\[.mka/.ogg] keys
from the registry, and the reactivate properties in Icaros to quickly get all the valid properties restored. 

Please only modify the registry if you know what you're doing, and have taken a backup beforehand. 

Now with that said, Icaros doesn't generate an audio or video specific bitrate for .mka/.mkv or .ogg. Only the total bitrate.
This is simply because none of the bitrate values are readily available and need to be calculated manually. 
MkvMerge can add bitrate tags though, and I do plan to improve the property parsing of mkv/mka files soon, 
so bitrate will mostly likely start to show up for those at some point in the near future. 
Other tags such as 'Album artist' and 'genre' etc. should work then as well.

I'm not sure about .ogg though. I would have to look into that one, when time permits.