File locking - normal behavior?

[muranod]

Not sure if this is intended / normal behavior:

When I download a file into Photoshop from IMA, the file is locked and I can't save it back to the drive, even if I close the viewing window in IMA and switch to a different image. I don't remember that the last version worked this way.

[Mario]

IMatch does not use any kind of locking.
Which file format? If this is a JPEG file and you have the preview panel open in IMatch, maybe the WIC subsystem in Windows has locked the file, or DirectX.
Or maybe ExifTool was just updating the file?

Usually it's the other way round. PS keeps locks on files and IMatch cannot access them...

[muranod]

That's the way I thought it worked. These are tiff files over the network.

I'm fairly certain that this did not happen with the last version of IMA.

[Mario]

No change anywhere near this. But large TIFF files over a network implicate all kinds of timing issues.

Do you have the same problem when you repeat this with a locally stored image?
Do you have the problem when the Preview Panel is closed?

[muranod]

Same  problem after closing the preview and setting focus to a different image. Not sure about local images though - the database only references files on the other computer.

I can open and save them directly over the network from a file window. They take 15 seconds or less to save.

I just tried with a small tiff file  2.41mb, and had the same issue.

This is with a direct open in Photoshop (click download, open in Photoshop).

[Mario]

IMatch never locks files. It has no such function.
The only reason for a file being locked is ExifTool currently reading or writing. But that's fast and only happens when the file is changed on disk or you trigger a write-back. Not when just opening a file in Ps. Are you sure it is not the virus checker interfering or something?

If the preview panel is closed, Windows WIC / DirectX are also out of the loop. The sometimes keep a file locked for a while, even after IMatch has closed it (Windows, don't ask).

Are these files cached already in the IMatch cache? By default IMatch would produce a cache file and use that in the preview panel anyway. So viewing the file would not even touch the original file at all...

That's the only two reasons I know that would cause IMatch to lock a file.

[muranod]

I just tried on the computer with the database and IMA and same thing. BUT, the full path wasn't shown in the error message I posted above. The files are going to the temp folder before they are passed to Photoshop, so the files are locked because they are considered to be in use. It is working this way on both machines.

[Mario]

IMatch does not copy images into the TEMP folder. When you open a file from IMatch in another application, IMatch runs the shortcut (Favorites) or uses the ShellExecute command with the "open" verb to tell Windows to open the specified file (full file name to the original file) in the associated application. Basically IMatch does a "Hey Windows, open \\server\\share\folder\bla.tif". That's all.

[muranod]

OK, then it must be a Windows thing. I thought it might be related to Authentication, so I just turned that on, but now the only option is to actually download the file and not directly open it in Photoshop. It's an extra step, but I can live with it.

[Mario]

I apologize. Six weeks with 80 work hours to get IMatch 2017 out fried my brain. I need a vacation.
I did not recognize that you are talking about the IMatch WebViewer in your Web Browser to download a file.

This is different. When you download a file, IMWS just delivers the binary data. The browser receives this data and stores it somewhere on your disk. IMWS has no control over how your browser stores that data, where it stores the data etc. IMWS just delivers a byte stream. IMWS cannot lock files on your local PC or anything.

[muranod]

No worries. I appreciate the replies.

That makes sense. I did notice that different browsers have slight variations in how this works.

[Mario]

Some browsers also scan the file for threats after downloading, which may take several seconds for large files. Or maybe your virus-checker jumps in and scans the file after the download has completed...