Seperate Preview Vault Application - Fast Browsing Compatible Version available?

For clarity, this is not an official extension and it was never really "released": rather, it is a small Proof of Concept that was created a couple of years back. Anyway, we'll see if something could be done for the fast-browsing compatibility in the near future.

Thanks Joonas, this would be very useful.

Reading through some other questions in the partner forum, this could be a very useful feature for other partners too, to allow a side-by-side view of metadata and document content.

Popped out Metadata Card has a problem, it doesn't remember its Window Size when switching the File.. I'd like to to use a second Monitor only for the Metadata & Preview (maximized).. Are you aware of this behaviour? I think it is the same when adding multiple Documents..

For Previewing PDFs I can recommend QuickLook (https://github.com/QL-Win/QuickLook), just select the File and hit SPACE and you get a really fast and minimal Preview which can also can stay open..

DMSFactory also recently released a Preview Addon (https://www.dmsfactory.com/dmsfactory-m-files-previewer/)..

Also note that the separate preview app was started to be rolled into a "UI samples" repository: M-Files/Samples.UIHelpers (github.com)

The built versions aren't directly published (on purpose), but if you have some developers in your company then they could build these and see whether they help.

To clarify why the built versions aren't released: these are sample applications in varying states of completeness.  If you want to use these for your own use, or your own reference, then feel free to.  If you want to deploy them for someone, however, then you need to take ownership of all bug fixes and maintenance work.

I was able to build and install the UI Samples and Preview Module but I don't see a button for preview in M-Files Client for opening the preview..

Also Visual Studio asked me if I want to change the Build Target to 4.8 and I did, is this correct?

Check that the application was installed correctly (it's listed in the applications list in the vault), and check that each module is enabled in the configuration.  Then make sure that you log out and in again.

The build target doesn't need to be updated to 4.8 (the project is 4.7.2), but it will depend on what dotnet version targeting packs you have installed; if you don't have 4.7.2 then it'll probably say that it wants to bump it to 4.8.

Sorry, didn't know that there is a Configuration.. Activated both Modules and it is working now

This is something I'd like to give more love at some point.  The general idea was that the "common" project could contain common functionality, with the modules then just implementing the little bits they needed.

Having tried to use it for another PoC, though, I have found areas that I didn't manage to make configurable when building these initial samples.

Hopefully I can move it forward, but there's a lot of projects asking for my time at the moment.

Great Project, appreciate it and looking forward to future additions!

Can you give me a hint where to remove title and close button? I tried removing some lines in the "dashboard.html" but the button is still there..

You'd need to comment out lines 14 and 24-26 on this page.  Or you could set them to display: none in the CSS.

You'd still have the whitespace for them, though.  You'd then need to alter the CSS to move the top menu bar upwards (that is somewhere in this file, I think, probably the "div.menu.top" declaration), and to position the previewer correctly (the previewer declaration in here).

Note that the common stuff is used in both applications.  If you wanted to remove it from just the previewer then you'd need to instead override it in the previewer-specific dashboard CSS file.

That's what I already did (remove lines 14, 24-26 from dashboard.html), but the button is still there.. The title is also not gone..

Did you recompile the app, re-deploy, log out of the desktop client (not just shut it), then log back in?

I'm not sure what to say, provided you altered the correct dashboard (there's two - make sure you're altering the preview one).  These items aren't created by the script, they are simply altered (e.g. the text) or have event handlers attached (e.g. close).  They physically come from those lines of HTML.

Did you recompile the app, re-deploy, log out of the desktop client (not just shut it), then log back in?

I'm not sure what to say, provided you altered the correct dashboard (there's two - make sure you're altering the preview one).  These items aren't created by the script, they are simply altered (e.g. the text) or have event handlers attached (e.g. close).  They physically come from those lines of HTML.

Recompiled, uninstalled from vault, restarted vault, installed and of course logged out of vault.. Still investigating

One thing I should also say is that the code in the "editing" branch is significantly newer (if you look at the two available "modules" and the name of the branch then you can probably work out what it started to do).  I don't think that changes anything with respect to this conversation, but it's worth highlighting.

I think it broadly worked, but I'd need to go back and check whether it's in a state where I could merge it to the main branch.

Thanks for mention, will look at the editing branch instead.. Regarding my problem, maybe Im deploying wrong, should I use

install-application.ps1

instead of installing the mfappx?

The install-application.ps1 file is designed to allow you to easily build the application and deploy it.  It simply automates the connection to the vault, installation of the application, and restart of the vault.  Fundamentally what it does is no different to you doing it manually.  It is simply a short-cut for developers who are constantly making changes/fixes and deploying to a local vault to see the results.

Okay,

found a bug in

Samples.UIHelpers/appdef.xml at editing · M-Files/Samples.UIHelpers · GitHub

Double Version Declaration prevents from install.. Removing one entry lets me install it manually but still dont get installed automatically with uihelpers mfappx..

Well, that's embarrassing.  That's obviously either a copy/paste issue or a merge issue.

I've pushed a fix, but it does highlight that the editing branch is more bleeding-edge.

Edit: looks like I broke it here: Added warning to dashboard. · M-Files/Samples.UIHelpers@3d37633 (github.com).

More human than embarrassing ;) Thanks for fixing!

With editing branch I get an error on opening preview/metadata:

CustomControlSite.cpp, 1051, Die Eigenschaft "addEventListener" eines undefinierten oder Nullverweises kann nicht abgerufen werden. (0x80040008)
View all metadata UIX: common-dashboard.js, 288, Die Eigenschaft "addEventListener" eines undefinierten oder Nullverweises kann nicht abgerufen werden. (0x80040008)
MErrorHelper.cpp, 2457, Die Eigenschaft "addEventListener" eines undefinierten oder Nullverweises kann nicht abgerufen werden. (0x80040008)
(M-Files 23.1.12196.5 2023-01-25T14:01:13.872Z)

I had time during a call, so made a fix for this.

I can confirm the fix is working!

Can you give me a hint on how to set a Window Title for the Preview and Metadata Window? I simply want to call the Preview Window "Preview" and Metadata "Metadata"..

Background is I'm using a tool (Display Fusion) to split a Monitor in several Areas and I then I could automatically place the Windows on differant Screen Areas based on the Window Title..

And Regarding 

Craig Hawker said:

You'd still have the whitespace for them, though.  You'd then need to alter the CSS to move the top menu bar upwards (that is somewhere in this file, I think, probably the "div.menu.top" declaration), and to position the previewer correctly (the previewer declaration in here).

Should there be a separate common.mfapx generated? Cause If I edit these files they won't be in the compiled mfapx files..

Additionally I noticed that Preview doesn't work for PDF Files in a Multi File Document, is there a possibility to add this function? This possibility would also help me for my own scripts where I show a button for a file to open with a specific application this also works only for Single File Documents..