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BrowserAssist (Free)

Plugins BrowserAssist (Free) BrowserAssist v1.25.1

JayJayWon

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JayJayWon
JayJayWon submitted a new resource:

BrowserAssist (Free) - Scene and Resource Browser with user configurable tagging. Alternative to VAM's Scene Browser.

BrowserAssist is a plugin that provides an alternative browser to VAM's built in Scene Browser. It has a range of features beyond those provided by the default VAM Scene Browser and aims to be more performant.
This is the Free version of the full plugin available here: BrowserAssist (Full)

Differences between the free and paid version are:
FeatureFree VersionPatreon's...

Read more about this resource...
 
Do you have delete button in there ? My ultimate wish is a way to delete ugly/inappropriate/boring scenes right after downloading them while keeping my VR headset on ... or just browse my scenes and delete one by one while viewing thumbnails... (I dont care about references as I'm gonna delete the scenes from Explorer anyways and explorer does not care about references so it's moot point). Delete button = insta Patreon.
 
Do you have delete button in there ? My ultimate wish is a way to delete ugly/inappropriate/boring scenes right after downloading them while keeping my VR headset on ... or just browse my scenes and delete one by one while viewing thumbnails... (I dont care about references as I'm gonna delete the scenes from Explorer anyways and explorer does not care about references so it's moot point). Delete button = insta Patreon.
There is no Delete button currently. I could potentially implement that for local scene files (i.e. those under VAM\Saves) - however Scenes in VAR packages are more problematic. You cant easily delete them without deleting the whole VAR file and that potentially deletes multiple things in the VAR packages.
I tend to use the Hide function - which this plugin does support. Any reason for not using that?
 
Deleting my own local scenes I can already do from the native gui so I'm fine. Deleting the var file (that I just downloaded) is exactly what I will need to do in explorer so I dont see why it would be more problematic in a plugin.. a var that has to go has to go no matter the tool used or the dependencies. Why not hide? I constantly download looks and scenes from patreon or the hub in search of gems or ideas and I want to remove the crap (not hide it). save disk space. reduce number of files. remove var that looks like child porn.... at this point I'd be happy with a look/scene browser plugin with 2 buttons (exit and delete VAR). ;)
 
Why the browser does not show the last added VAR files. I don't see an item in the menu to sort files by the date of addition. There is a file display option in the native browser: new files or old files first. Maybe I'm doing something wrong?
 
Pointing out a potential pitfall that I ran into with the symlinks.

If I ran CreateBASymLinks.bat with right click 'Run as adminitrator' it failed.
Don't ask me why. I don't know. I guess it's still somehow failing due to permissions!?
(edit: I'm not sure whether this is my system only, apparently using the right-click-run-as-admin never runs the terminal as administrator for me. It should be visible in the titlebar.)
That 'already exists' message is bogus.
I've added a 'pause' to the script here to make the output visible:
symlink creation failed_32colors.png


Now the same by searching 'powershell' and then 'Run as Administrator'.
Navigated to the .bat-file folder with...
cd V:\VaM\Saves\PluginData\JayJayWon\BrowserAssist
... and run it. Now it works correct:
symlink creation correct_32colors.png

Makes absolutely no sense to me. Am I stupid or Microsoft!?
 
Last edited:
Deleting my own local scenes I can already do from the native gui so I'm fine. Deleting the var file (that I just downloaded) is exactly what I will need to do in explorer so I dont see why it would be more problematic in a plugin.. a var that has to go has to go no matter the tool used or the dependencies. Why not hide? I constantly download looks and scenes from patreon or the hub in search of gems or ideas and I want to remove the crap (not hide it). save disk space. reduce number of files. remove var that looks like child porn.... at this point I'd be happy with a look/scene browser plugin with 2 buttons (exit and delete VAR). ;)
Yeah - I can see the appeal. I'll add it to my list of things to consider, although its not as simple to implement as you might imagine!
 
Why the browser does not show the last added VAR files. I don't see an item in the menu to sort files by the date of addition. There is a file display option in the native browser: new files or old files first. Maybe I'm doing something wrong?
Well it has the Sort by "Catalogue Date" - which should be a close proxy to date of addition in most cases. Unfortunately its not that easy to implement anything better. Due to security concerns, Meshed has locked down nearly all file access for VAM plugin authors - including the ability to read the modified/created dates of files. So BrowserAssist uses two dates to approximate a date of addition - the first is the date that a VAR was first scanned by BrowserAssist. This works well for new VAR packages added after you start using BrowserAssist. It also uses a date that the VAR was cached in VAM - which plugins can access. However, if you have deleted or cleared your cache before you start using BrowserAssist then this date point may be lost (it doesnt matter if you clear cache after you have first run BrowserAssist).

I'm hoping this works well for most people - at a minimum it should work for new VARs going forward. If not, please let me know.
 
Pointing out a potential pitfall that I ran into with the symlinks.

If I ran CreateBASymLinks.bat with right click 'Run as adminitrator' it failed.
Don't ask me why. I don't know. I guess it's still somehow failing due to permissions!?
(edit: I'm not sure whether this is my system only, apparently using the right-click-run-as-admin never runs the terminal as administrator for me. It should be visible in the titlebar.)
That 'already exists' message is bogus.
I've added a 'pause' to the script here to make the output visible:
View attachment 133295

Now the same by searching 'powershell' and then 'Run as Administrator'.
Navigated to the .bat-file folder with...
cd V:\VaM\Saves\PluginData\JayJayWon\BrowserAssist
... and run it. Now it works correct:
View attachment 133297
Makes absolutely no sense to me. Am I stupid or Microsoft!?
No idea - I'm hoping that's some anomaly of your system!
 
The speed compared to the native one looks amazing but haven't tried it out too much yet because I can't use this until the search resource feature works as the native scene browser.

Example:
If I search for "blow" in the native scene browser it also includes results if the package name includes "*blow*" or if any part of the path to the .json file contains *blow* anywhere. This makes it possible to find scenes where the name is part of the path or the var package directly and makes it easy to search for creators simply by typing part of the creator's name (as it's part of the .var package).
BrowserAssist only seem to care about if the resource .json file contains *blow* or not which limits the searchability.

Will custom scene browsing only work with symlinks btw?
 
The speed compared to the native one looks amazing but haven't tried it out too much yet because I can't use this until the search resource feature works as the native scene browser.

Example:
If I search for "blow" in the native scene browser it also includes results if the package name includes "*blow*" or if any part of the path to the .json file contains *blow* anywhere. This makes it possible to find scenes where the name is part of the path or the var package directly and makes it easy to search for creators simply by typing part of the creator's name (as it's part of the .var package).
BrowserAssist only seem to care about if the resource .json file contains *blow* or not which limits the searchability.

Will custom scene browsing only work with symlinks btw?
Hi - custom scene browsing (assume you mean those under Saves\Scene) will work without the SymLinks. You need to select 'Local' as the Creator.

I kind of deliberately kept the resource search the way it was because I felt that was more accurate, given you can filter by Creator and I was going to add the option to specify alternate resource names (ie. you can give resources a different name even if they are in package) - but @Hunting-Succubus made a similar comment about it not being a Contains(string) search also. Ultimately I can change it easily enough, but I think probably I should make it configurable so people can chose how they want the search behaviour to work. Ill put that on my growing list of to dos!

Thanks for the feedback.
 
I have a request. Instead of running that batch file with security risks, couldn't we have a safe version, where you add a hidden tag, and hide anything with that tag? I already make a "favorite" tag, and it works fine to show only my favorites when I select it, but hidden doesn't work for me because I have to select all other tags except for it. This could all be automated in your tool. Like, you could have a secret tag called 0000000HIDDEN that you make sure doesn't show up in the tag list, but your tool looks for it, and hides if that tag is present. Then shows if someone says to show hidden.

Of course, it won't hide it in the main browser, but the point is to replace that browser, so would that matter? As long as you communicate that this type of hidden is only for your plugin, it should be good. And if they run that batch file, you can make it affect the other browser too. Just a thought.
 
I have a request. Instead of running that batch file with security risks, couldn't we have a safe version, where you add a hidden tag, and hide anything with that tag? I already make a "favorite" tag, and it works fine to show only my favorites when I select it, but hidden doesn't work for me because I have to select all other tags except for it. This could all be automated in your tool. Like, you could have a secret tag called 0000000HIDDEN that you make sure doesn't show up in the tag list, but your tool looks for it, and hides if that tag is present. Then shows if someone says to show hidden.

Of course, it won't hide it in the main browser, but the point is to replace that browser, so would that matter? As long as you communicate that this type of hidden is only for your plugin, it should be good. And if they run that batch file, you can make it affect the other browser too. Just a thought.
So, I do intend to make an option so that any Tag can be treated as if it was Hidden or Favourite. I think I get what you are suggesting about the secret hidden tag, I did originally try implementing something like that - but it got so confusing and complicated having two different versions of whether a resource was hidden or not and trying to keep them in sync or not. There were loads of complicated edge cases to cater for and it just became too hard and confusing.
 
Hi - custom scene browsing (assume you mean those under Saves\Scene) will work without the SymLinks. You need to select 'Local' as the Creator.
Nice, that's exactly what I was looking for - "Local & Packaged" :)
I did some changes to the code (for my personal use only) to get the search to do exactly what I want it to do. The performance compared to the native browser is amazing! Instead of having to wait 10+ seconds for everything to load in the native browser this one is basically instant. NICE!
 
Last edited:
JayJayWon updated BrowserAssist (Free) with a new update entry:

BrowserAssist v1.1 Update

New features:
  • Double click to immediately load resources from their thumbnail resource image. Right Click (or long press in VR) to quickly access Hidden and Favorite tags.
  • Additional AcidBubbles KeyBindings to allow quick key press access to specific resource types and toggle the Show Hidden and Only Favorite filters.
  • Visual cues on Resource Thumbnails to indicate Hidden and Favorite Tags. Green dot means favorited, Red dot indicates hidden.
  • The gender tags (male or...

Read the rest of this update entry...
 
You are my hero! I've been struggling with the stock browser all this time. I hated it. And now you came to end my suffering. I love you!
 
JayJayWon updated BrowserAssist (Free) with a new update entry:

BrowserAssist v1.2 Update

New features:
  • A 'New' tag is now automatically applied to resources when they are first detected by BrowserAssist (BA). The 'New' tag is automatically cleared when a resource is loaded using BA. You can manually apply or remove the New tag.
  • Prominent label on resource thumbnails to show those that are NEW. Where new items are inside updated VARs packages, the label is changed to UPDATED.
  • Additional filtering toggle for just New items.
  • Brief Loading message now appears on...

Read the rest of this update entry...
 
Nice, that's exactly what I was looking for - "Local & Packaged" :)
I did some changes to the code (for my personal use only) to get the search to do exactly what I want it to do. The performance compared to the native browser is amazing! Instead of having to wait 10+ seconds for everything to load in the native browser this one is basically instant. NICE!
Hopefully v1.2 now does what you expect from the resource name search field
 
Is it possible to view folders? I have my appearance settings inside folders and it would be great to organise things the same way? Also, is there an option planned to allow the deleting of files?
 
Is it possible to view folders? I have my appearance settings inside folders and it would be great to organise things the same way? Also, is there an option planned to allow the deleting of files?
Both of those will be features in the future - but not yet.
 
JayJayWon updated BrowserAssist (Free) with a new update entry:

BrowserAssost v1.3 Update

New Features:
  • New launch button now available on the VAM Top Menu (can be disables in the Plugin Custom UI).
  • Completely new Plugin Custom UI (available under Session Plugins > Browser Assist> Custom UI).
  • Additional options to position the launch button on the main VAM UI. Includes the option to replace the default Scene Browser button.
  • Browser filter settings are now per resource. So if you switch between...

Read the rest of this update entry...
 
It shouldnt be that slow. If you set as a session plugin to load on VAM startup, then its just part of the VAM startup time - which is slow in any case.
It shouldn't but it's at least 2+ minutes longer to load set as a session plugin and I have top tier Samsung nve ssd, 65gb ram and a 3090ti, amd 39050x cpu. I cant be the only one experiencing this performance issue.
 
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