Problem Accessing Affinity Photo 2 from a DAM

[GrahamMYC]

In the absence of a Serif DAM, I have been successfully using Daminion, which worked well fo all the series 1 Affinity apps. But I have a problem with the Affinity 2 versions. 

Daminion allows me to upload .afphoto files. I can see a thumbnail of the image, and I can open the image in Affinity Photo 1. But I cannot open it in Affinity Photo 2. This is because the link to the app file is stored in  C:\Users\Graham\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\AffinityPhoto2.exe. Daminion cannot access this.

It also means that Daminion is unable to create a thumbnail.

Advice please!

[walt.farrell]

If you're using an application that doesn't properly support MSIX-based applications, you have several choices:

1. Try just using the application alias instead of the path name: AffinityPhoto2.exe
   Some applications do support that, but not the full path.
2. Try creating a .bat file to invoke the application alias.
3. Uninstall the MSIX-based version and download the EXE version from your Affinity Store account instead.
4. Use a different DAM application that supports more Windows features.

[v_kyr]

Try to create a symlink of APh to some other Win OS path where the DAM has access to ...

• mklink
• junction

See also ...

... and the AFlaunch.exe tool mentioned in that thread.

[walt.farrell]

19 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

Try to create a symlink to some other Win OS path where the DAM has access to

Unlikely to help, long-term, as file names and locations will change with each update.

[v_kyr]

21 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Unlikely to help, long-term, as file names and locations will change with each update.

Shouldn't be a big deal to create/remove new/old pathlinks as needed, it's just a matter of seconds to do so!

[GrahamMYC]

Thanks walt farell. I suspect your warning is valid. Just the sort of simple action which an amateur like me can mess up.

[RichardMH]

aflaunch in v_kyr's link should work.

[GrahamMYC]

28 minutes ago, RichardMH said:

aflaunch in v_kyr's link should work.

All very  well , RichardMH, if you are familiar with that software. I am 81. I would not have a clue where to start!

BUT

I had a go, and got it to work for photo. I would also need it for publisher and designer. Do I just rename launcher.exe and go through the process again?

 

Edited April 9, 2023 by GrahamMYC
new information and question

[v_kyr]

1 hour ago, GrahamMYC said:

Do I just rename launcher.exe and go through the process again?

NO, just pass as an argument wich app to launch instead!

According to that posting here ...

• aflaunch usage

... you can pass over as an argument which app to launch ...

Quote

Usage: aflaunch -a name -b build [args]

-a name    : One of the following
    Designer2
    Photo2 [Default]
    Publisher2

-b build   : One of the following
    Retail [Default]
    Beta
    MSStore

args       : [Optional] All remaining arguments to be passed onto the target application (must be last)

... so ...

• aflaunch -a Designer2
• aflaunch -a Publisher2
• aflaunch -a Photo2        <--- the default when not giving any arguments at all

... and in case of launching a beta version then ...

• aflaunch -a Designer2  -b Beta
• ... etc. ...

[GrahamMYC]

Thanks v_kyr. However, I need to have three permanent statements that I can add to daminion, so thet, for example, if I wish to edit a designer file then I select that version, but if I want to select a publisher version I slect that without needing to add a new argument every time.

[v_kyr]

40 minutes ago, GrahamMYC said:

However, I need to have three permanent statements that I can add to daminion, so thet, for example, if I wish to edit a designer file then I select that version, but if I want to select a publisher version I slect that without needing to add a new argument every time.

Then making three accessable/executable BATCH-files or PowerShell scripts (where those then include the appropriate different aflaunch calls for launching APh, Apub, ADe), should do the wanted. So you can execute/start those *.bat/*.ps files then via some double-clicking from the Desktop or the like.

[Pšenda]

Uninstall MSIX version, and install MSI version. 

[GrahamMYC]

Update:

I was still struggling to get the "open with..." function in Daminion to work for all 3 Affinity apps. This is because of the menu structure within Daminion. I have no doubt it could be done with cooperation from Daminion. However, I decided that the simplest way was to use the launcher app described earlier in this thread. It worked, but in a rather strange way that I will not bore you with. This would open any of the Affinity files in the Photo 2 app (I am not sure how well this would work with a complex affinity publisher file). One could then use the studio function to switch to other apps. I tested this and it worked. (NB for Publisher files I tend to keep pdf versions in Daminion rather than .afpub files)

Then, I discovered that if I double clicked on the thumbnail of any Affinity image in the Daminion catalogue (whether created in version 1 or 2 of the Affinity app) , then that image would open in the appropriate Affinity app, version 2. e.g dbl click on a designer image thumbnail in Daminion, and it will start affinity designer2. The item can be edited and any changes will be saved in the image file stored in the Daminion Catalogue. Moreover on the tests I ran, that applied even if one changed to a different Affinity 2 app. e.g dbl click on a designer thumbnail in Daminion, and it will open the image in affinity designer 2. One can then switch to edit in Affinity Photo2, hit save, and the changes will be saved to the original file stored within the Daminion catalogue.

(For clarity, I am using Daminion Lite on a Windows 11 machine)

So I can forget the menu method of opening an Affinity file from within Daminion, and simply use this dbl click strategy instead. possible complications with changing from the standard MSIX installation are avoided.

Thanks for all your suggestions and help. I have no means of knowing whether this strategy works for all hardware configurations, but I felt obliged to place this on record for reference

[tetsu222]

Hi,
I tried to have application specific settings on my pen tablet driver, but then I encountered the same problem.
Let me post here because this one is the latest with this topic.

Put simply, these paths below worked for my case.
I assume the path needs to be updated manually every update though, mine is 2.0.4 MSIX fyi.

"C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\SerifEuropeLtd.AffinityDesigner2_2.0.4.1701_x64__3cqzy0nppv2rt\App\Designer.exe"
"C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\SerifEuropeLtd.AffinityPhoto2_2.0.4.1701_x64__3cqzy0nppv2rt\App\Photo.exe"
"C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\SerifEuropeLtd.AffinityPublisher2_2.0.4.1701_x64__3cqzy0nppv2rt\App\Publisher.exe"

You can get the path this way.
Run Affinity Designer 2
Task Manager > Processes > Unfold Affinity Designer 2 (2) > Right click Affinity Designer 2 > Open file location

Hope this helps!

 

[v_kyr]

47 minutes ago, tetsu222 said:

I assume the path needs to be updated manually every update though, mine is 2.0.4 MSIX fyi

Well even under Windows you can always easily find out by using "where.exe" in a cmd shell or "gcm" inside PowerShell, aka ...

In cmd.exe  --->     C:\ where Affinity*

In PowerShell ---> gcm Affinity*

... both will give/return you the full paths for the installed Affinity apps, similar to the Unix "which" command.

[tetsu222]

But those commands will return the full paths to Affinity*.exe which is size of 0kb, so other apps say cannot access? I don't know.
C:\Users\[UserName]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\AffinityDesigner2.exe

And this is the one worked for me, Designer.exe has actual file size.
C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\SerifEuropeLtd.AffinityDesigner2_2.0.4.1701_x64__3cqzy0nppv2rt\App\Designer.exe
I don't know how to find this hidden path in simpler way.
 

[walt.farrell]

52 minutes ago, tetsu222 said:

I don't know how to find this hidden path in simpler wa

If you're working with other applications that don't understand Windows MSIX applications, perhaps you should uninstall the MSIX versions of the Affinity applications and install the EXE versions from your Affinity Store account instead. 

Or, write a .bat file to invoke the Affinity application using the alias, and invoke the .bat file from the other application. 

Either approach will be simpler in the long run.

[v_kyr]

1 hour ago, tetsu222 said:

But those commands will return the full paths to Affinity*.exe which is size of 0kb, so other apps say cannot access? I don't know.
C:\Users\[UserName]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\AffinityDesigner2.exe

By default, the folder belongs to the "TrustedInstaller" and there's where the apps are installed. As a normal user you can't see much there, even as administrator you have limited access rights there. - However calling/execution ...

C:\Users\[UserName]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\AffinityDesigner2.exe

... from there will start Designer2.

BTW, that WindowsApps folder also contains the app installment subfolders ...

• ...\SerifEuropeLtd.AffinityDesigner2_3cqzy0nppv2rt
• ...\SerifEuropeLtd.AffinityPublisher2_3cqzy0nppv2rt
• ...

 

[MmmMaarten]

@walt.farrell Thanks a lot Walt! I was looking for the exact location to let Blender look at the exe and found your answer saying there are real exe install files now! Very appreciated! Very nice to now being able to getting rid of these old msix files and actually have a real location again!