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SP2 and Quicklook problem under Leopard


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I read the new release notes for v2008 SP2 and was very excited about the new Quicklook support. After installing the update and even restarting my mac (10.5.1) I was unable to utilize the feature. After doing some digging I found the file VectorWorksQL.qlgenerator at the following path: /Applications/VectorWorks 2008/VectorWorks 2008.app/Contents/Library/QuickLook/VectorWorksQL.qlgenerator

It seems to me that perhaps this is a mistake in the installer. I copied the file VectorWorksQL.qlgenerator to my ~/Library/Quicklook folder and relaunched the Finder. Now it seems the feature works, but only on files saved with VW 2008 SP2.

Also, in the Library file of application there is VectorWorks.mdimporter which is for Spotlight. I created a folder Spotlight in my ~/Library and copied that file there. Theoretically Spotlight should now work with newly saved files.

I really don't think that one should have a Library folder inside an application package, although I don't know too much about programming. Perhaps the installer is faulty in some way.

[This is not true. The QuickLook and Spotlight plugins are properly installed in the application where they should be. Moving them into the system Library will only cause you future problems which will be hard to troubleshoot. Please do not do this. -editor]

I wonder if anyone has noticed the same issue.

Edited by Pharr
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Yeah it seems the the installer doesn't put the plug-in in the correct place.

I think the fact that it only works on files saved with VW 2008 SP2 is expected behaviour though as it appears support is very rudimentary, in that it simply saves an image of the last view at file save.

I hope this is developed a lot more so we can flip through Sheet Layers and the like.

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VectorWorks 2008.app/Contents/Library/QuickLook/ is the correct place for the plugin and it does work in that location.

However, you may need to launch the application at least once and perhaps restart your machine for things to start working.

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How is it temperamental? What problems are you seeing?

Ah, I think I realise what the problem is. If you have a file open Quick Look won't work on that file. It's as if the image is removed when you open a file.

On my machine, I have a file opened in VectorWorks 2008sp2 and can then select the file in the finder, press the spacebar and see the Quick Look preview for the file.

Is this what you are attempting as well?

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Looks like it may have to do with me using a server. If I copy the file to my desktop, open and view Quick Look, then it's okay. The problem only appears to occur when the file is on the server and open.

You are correct. Strange. I'll check with the Quick Look guy at Apple and see if this is expected behavior or a bug.

It looks like a Leopard bug to me since it does work when the file is on the local machine.

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I copied the file VectorWorksQL.qlgenerator to my ~/Library/Quicklook folder and relaunched the Finder.

I just wanted to comment on this as well...

We don't recommend moving the importer to this location as this may prevent an updated Quick Look plugin from being found by the OS in the future.

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I've had no luck in getting the Quicklook function to work. I opened an existing .VWX file, saved as a new file by appending a lowercase "a" onto the filename, then closed the file. Checked for a Quicklook preview in Finder. Nope. Quit VW - still no. Tried shutting down the computer, and still nothing happens when highlighting the file and hitting the space bar. Hmmm.

Could this be a permisssions issue? I do not have admin privileges on this account.

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I've had no luck in getting the Quicklook function to work. I opened an existing .VWX file, saved as a new file by appending a lowercase "a" onto the filename, then closed the file. Checked for a Quicklook preview in Finder. Nope. Quit VW - still no. Tried shutting down the computer, and still nothing happens when highlighting the file and hitting the space bar. Hmmm.

Could this be a permisssions issue? I do not have admin privileges on this account.

I don't think it would be a permissions issue.

Do you have more then a single copy of the VW 2008 application installed on your machine?

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Yeah, open a file or create a new file, save it, close it, go to the Finder, click on the file, hit spacebar. See a big VectorWorks file icon and no QuickLook.

Or - select CoverFlow and see lots of VectorWorks icons and no previews. No thumbnails of files.

Shut down the machine, had a cup of coffee, Restarted the machine,looked at the icon, launched VectorWorks, saved the file again, still no joy.

Apple should start naming their operating systems after insects instead of cats if this keeps up!

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Eric - nope, just the one.

Just want to eliminate something else...did you pull the Quick Look plugin out of the application package and move it somewhere else?

And just to be sure you don't have another copy of VW 2008, go out to the finder and:

1. Select File > Find...

2. Select Search: This Mac & File Name

3. enter: VectorWorks in the search field

4. For the additional criteria, have Kind is Applications selected

Here is a screen shot:

searchimage.png

There should be only a single search result for VW 2008. If you have older copies of VW installed, it will find those as well, but they would not be a problem.

Edited by EricG
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me too, no preview. Just installed the SP2.

Just saved a file to my desktop in VW 2008 SP2 and quit VW. No quicklook. Restarted my macpro 8 core with 4 Gb ram and saved a few more files under VW2008 SP2, quit the app and still no quicklooks.

Quicklook does not work in Leopard, sorry guys, you have to do more work. Hope the some other bugs are dealt with now, anyhow thanks for the update. Quicklook is not really a major thing to me. Still, it does not feel good to have a feature announced that could be fun but does not work at all.

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Quicklook is not really a major thing to me. Still, it does not feel good to have a feature announced that could be fun but does not work at all.

Quick Look has become an integral part of the workflow in our office. One of those features we couldn't work without now.

Edited by Christiaan
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I haven't moved anything from it's default location (as installed). Here's the result of the search for stray VW copies:

Well, for those of you having problems with Quick Look and feel comfortable working within the Terminal application, there are a few things that can be done to diagnose what is going wrong.

First, there is a command tool available only via the terminal called 'qlmanage' which can call Quick Look plugins:

~ $qlmanage

Usage: qlmanage [OPTIONS] path...

-h Display this help

-r Force reloading Generators list

-p Show a preview of the documents

-t Show thumbnails of the documents

-s size Size for the thumbnail

-f factor Scale factor for the thumbnail

-c contentTypeUTI Force the content type used for the documents

-g generator Force the generator to use

The flags of interest are -p, -t, -r and -m. For some reason, -m isn't mentioned (I have filed a bug with Apple), but is does exist and will output all of the Quick Look generators the OS is aware of.

So, the first thing to try is to enter:

qlmanage -m

somewhere in that list, you should see a line which states:

net.nemetschek.vectorworks.do13 -> /path/to/VectorWorks 2008.app/Contents/Library/QuickLook/VectorWorksQL.qlgenerator

If a line such as this does not appear, then the OS has not yet found the Quick Look generator.

The next thing to try is:

qlmanage -r

this will cause the OS to take another look for Quick Look generators - 'qlmanage -r' is a useful thing to try regardless. After the command completes, executing qlmanage -m would hopefully contain the 'net.nemetschek.vectorworks.do13' line.

If the output of qlmanage -m does contain the 'net.nemetschek.vectorworks.do13' line, the next thing to try is:

qlmanage -p /path/to/afile.vwx

This command generates the preview and produces a lot of output. The important lines in the output are at the beginning and end. At the beginning should be a line like:

2007-12-19 11:51:01.526 qlmanage[1086:5603] [QL] Preview test for /Users/egorr/Desktop/docs/PreviewGray.vwx. Content type UTI: net.nemetschek.vectorworks.do13

The important part of this line is:

Content type UTI: net.nemetschek.vectorworks.do13

which tells me that the OS has correctly identified the kind of file it is. If it contains what appears to be a random string of characters, it would mean that for some reason the OS is unable to identify the kind of file it is and I would suggest then trying:

GetFileInfo /path/to/afile.vwx

and the output should look like

file: "/path/to/afile.vwx"

type: "DO13"

creator: "VW13"

Near the end of the output from qlmanage -p, if there is a line which says something like:

2007-12-19 12:19:10.516 qlmanage[1163:5507] [QL] Ignoring CFBundle/CFPlugIn 0x173340 /To/VectorWorks 2008.app/Contents/Library/QuickLook/VectorWorksQL.qlgenerator> (not loaded) as a plugin with the same identifier (net.nemetschek.vectorworks.quicklook) is already loaded from a different location

It would tell me that there are multiple copies of the VectorWorks Quick Look plugin installed on the machine and things should start working once the duplicates have been removed.

Near the end, what we want to see is something like:

2007-12-19 12:21:49.750 qlmanage[1172:5f03] [QL] Loading Plug-in for

2007-12-19 12:21:49.751 qlmanage[1172:5f03] [QL] Previewing /Users/egorr/Desktop/docs/PreviewGray.vwx. Content type UTI: net.nemetschek.vectorworks.do13. Generator used:

2007-12-19 12:21:49.763 qlmanage[1172:5f03] [QL] Previewing /Users/egorr/Desktop/docs/PreviewGray.vwx finished

So, far, all of these commands are safe, but I would only recommend using the terminal if you feel comfortable in that environment...there is potential to completely break your system.

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Quicklook works fine for me after copying the plug into my ~/Library/Quicklook folder as I stated out the outset. I will try to delete this and see if it works from its default location in the app.

It should work.

You definitely don't want to keep it at ~/Library/QuickLook

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