PM 5 no longer opening multiple RAW in Photoshop CC 2014

[Kirk Baker]

Everyone,

I have investigated this problem thoroughly.  Photoshop CC 2014 is receiving the WM_DROPFILES message sent by Photo Mechanic 5 but is not responding to it when run on Windows 8.1.  The same version of Photoshop responds to the message when it is run on Windows 7.  We are attempting to contact Adobe to alert them to the problem.

Photoshop CC 2014 does respond to OLE drag-and-drop and that's why you can drag items from Photo Mechanic and drop them on Photoshop CC 2014 on Windows 8.1 and have them open up as expected.  Unfortunately, only the operating system can broker the interaction between the two apps for OLE drag-and-drop.  I have experimented with PM calling into Photoshop's OLE drag-and-drop handler and it just isn't possible for PM to call into their process and execute code (for good reason, as it could be an easy way for security to be violated).  So either it's a bug in Windows 8.1 regarding the handling of WM_DROPFILES messages or there is some issue in Photoshop CC 2014 that needs to be addressed.

-Kirk

[olidie]

I think you can narrow it down to Win / PS 64 bit. On my just purchased Dell Venue 8 Pro tablet which runs 32bit Win and PS the "Edit selected picture" context menu works fine.

[JeffG]

Thanks for looking into this Kirk, at least I know I'm not going crazy and you can reproduce the issue now.   

I have investigated this problem thoroughly.  Photoshop CC 2014 is receiving the WM_DROPFILES message sent by Photo Mechanic 5 but is not responding to it when run on Windows 8.1.  The same version of Photoshop responds to the message when it is run on Windows 7.  We are attempting to contact Adobe to alert them to the problem.

[Kirk Baker]

We're in contact with Adobe now and have given them license keys to PM 5 so they can look into the problem.  Hopefully it's an easy fix!

-Kirk

[JeffG]

Just wondering if they ever got back to you and were able to confirm the issue and let you know if they were able to find a solution?

[Kirk Baker]

To my knowledge, not yet. I was not involved in the contact with Adobe.  The person that is in contact with Adobe is on vacation until Monday.  Hopefully he will have heard from them by then.

-Kirk

[Kirk Baker]

We have heard back from Adobe.  They have been able to reproduce the problem in-house and the bug has been assigned to one of Photoshop's architects.

-Kirk

[JeffG]

Thank you for keeping us updated Kirk.  At least we know it isn't an issue in PM.  Hopefully the next update they put out will include the fix.

We have heard back from Adobe.  They have been able to reproduce the problem in-house and the bug has been assigned to one of Photoshop's architects.

[JeffG]

Wishful thinking but just tried the new Photoshop CC 2014 Update 2 and it is not fixed.  Considering that they just started looking at the problem, I wasn't expecting it to, just thought I would try.  ;-)

I'm assuming it is still broken for everyone else after upgrading right?

[Hayo Baan]

Wishful thinking but just tried the new Photoshop CC 2014 Update 2 and it is not fixed.  Considering that they just started looking at the problem, I wasn't expecting it to, just thought I would try.  ;-)

I'm assuming it is still broken for everyone else after upgrading right?

If by everyone else, you mean people on Windows 8.1, then I guess you're right. For me (Mac) it still works as it should

[JeffG]

   Yes sorry, I meant, everyone else "affected" by this Adobe issue.

If by everyone else, you mean people on Windows 8.1, then I guess you're right. For me (Mac) it still works as it should

[Kirk Baker]

Hello everyone (those that are experiencing this problem),

Please download and try this version:

http://www.camerabits.com/download/PM5SetupR16097.exe

I think it will solve the problem of not being able to launch photos from PM5 to Photoshop CC 2014 on Windows 8.1 x64.  Here is the scoop on the issue:

Windows 8.1 x64 has a bug in it that causes global data (data that can be shared between applications) to be marshaled incorrectly between 32-bit apps (PM5) and 64-bit apps that are not linked with a fixed base address (Photoshop CC 2014).  Photoshop receives the data but the data is invalid (random bad data, not representative of what was sent.)  This problem does not occur if a 64-bit application sends the same message and data to Photoshop CC 2014.  So I created a separate and very small application (PMLaunchHelper64.exe) to do the work for PM5.  PM5 checks to see that it is running on a 64-bit OS and that the intended editor application is also a 64-bit application.  If both of these are true, PM5 creates a temporary file in its cache folder that contains the path to the editor and the paths to the photos to be opened.  PM5 then launches this helper application which reads the temporary file, creates the global data and sends it to Photoshop (or any 64-bit editor app since they would all have the same issue) and then deletes the temporary file and exits.  Photoshop CC 2014 receives the message and the data intact and the images open up!

Microsoft is aware of the issue and is looking into the problem, but we don't know if they can fix the problem or not.

Please try the build above and let me know if it works for you.  It works for me on my Windows 8.1 x64 system running Photoshop CC 2014.

Thanks,

-Kirk

[JeffG]

Please try the build above and let me know if it works for you.  It works for me on my Windows 8.1 x64 system running Photoshop CC 2014.

Wow, an issues seen in PM5, that seemed to point to Photoshop CS2014, but turns out is actually a Windows problem itself.

It works!  The only small issue is that if Photoshop is not already loaded in the background, you get a pop-up from PM5 saying "Error: couldn't send photos to editor application." and then PM5 launches Photoshop it is too late by that point.  If you click "OK" on the dialogue box, and try to open selected images again, it works since Photoshop is now loaded.

So not sure if there is a workaround for that, or if not, maybe modify the text to add  "... please ensure application is loaded first and try again" or something like that so the user has better instructions as to why there was an error.

Thank you for putting something together to get around a Windows issue, this will make my life a lot easier!

[Kirk Baker]

Jeff,

Please try the build above and let me know if it works for you.  It works for me on my Windows 8.1 x64 system running Photoshop CC 2014.

Wow, an issues seen in PM5, that seemed to point to Photoshop CS2014, but turns out is actually a Windows problem itself.

It works!  The only small issue is that if Photoshop is not already loaded in the background, you get a pop-up from PM5 saying "Error: couldn't send photos to editor application." and then PM5 launches Photoshop it is too late by that point.  If you click "OK" on the dialogue box, and try to open selected images again, it works since Photoshop is now loaded.

So not sure if there is a workaround for that, or if not, maybe modify the text to add  "... please ensure application is loaded first and try again" or something like that so the user has better instructions as to why there was an error.

Thank you for putting something together to get around a Windows issue, this will make my life a lot easier!

I could add that message, yes.

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.

-Kirk

[Kirk Baker]

I have made two changes to the launcher:

1) It now waits up to 30 seconds for an app to launch before it tries to send files to it.
2) If after 30 seconds the app still hasn't finished launching it no longer complains with a message box.

If you don't see your photos in Photoshop even after Photoshop has loaded completely, go back to PM and launch the photos again.

http://www.camerabits.com/download/PM5SetupR16100.exe

Please let me know how this build works out for you all.

Thanks,

-Kirk