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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Location
    Skødstrup, Denmark
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    251

    Default XXP 5: The way import of various filetypes is done...

    Hi,

    One of the things which I have been curious about with the new release of XXP 5 was to see how it integrates with "the rest of the world". So I started dragging various filetypes into an open document. To my surprice I discovered that often when it said that no filter for at file type existed, it actually extracted some pieces of the content of the unknown filetype anyhow. Is this way of importing unknown filetypes a new feature, or have I just not seen it in previous versions?
    Cheers,

    Sten
    "Everything has two sides"

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Location
    Harwich, Essex, England
    Posts
    21,895

    Default Re: XXP 5: The way import of various filetypes is done...

    I'm not sure Sten. I often get the xtreme can't import this file type (a bog standard jpg) without a error message but drag and drop works perfectly.
    Egg

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  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Surrey, BC, Canada
    Posts
    566

    Default Re: XXP 5: The way import of various filetypes is done...

    I've run into this myself in the past, so I don't think it's new to X5 per se.

    I *think* the deal is that if you use the File->import method and choose a particular file type from the drop down, Xtreme tries to import the file as if it's that type, which if it's not, causes problems. If you drag and drop the image, or use "All Files" in the import dialog, then it has no alternative but to examine the file that you gave it to see what it might be. This gets sticky in the area of EPS files I think, since there are so many different variations of them.

    I'm not one of the developers or anything, but this is consistent with the results you see with the simple test below, and I've seen it in other places as well.

    Here's something to try:

    Take any JPEG file you have laying around, and rename it so that it's a GIF file instead. For example rename test.jpg to test.gif.

    If you do File->Import, select "GIF Files (*.gif)" in the dialog, and pick the file, Xara will tell you that the file may not be compatible, and then it fails to import.

    If you do File->Import, select "All files" OR drag and drop the file onto the window, the file imports just fine.

    I know some applications (I think irfanview or xnview, but I don't have either installed right now so I can't check) will open the .gif file and display it, but then also warn you that the extension is wrong.

    Some applications, like Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, will still display the file properly even though it's extension is wrong, and not tell you what the deal is.

    And then some applications, like Paint Shop Pro 8, will tell you that the file is not a valid GIF file without bothering to check to see what it might be. This is true no matter how you try to open the image.

    In this regard, Xara seem to be ahead of the game in that it actively tries to determine what your file might be in cases where other software doesn't.

    Of course this is an unfair comparison since I'm using a really old version of PSP. Also I would imagine that as the number of file formats that you support goes up, the less likely you are to want to try and guess what a file might be, because there would be a lot of checks to make, and chances increase for a false positive.

    This is likely why Xtreme only tries to determine file types when it has no other choice.

    Just my 2 cents...
    This signature would be seven words long if it was six words shorter.

 

 

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