Improve magnet handling.

[mabsark]

Instead of displaying the "Add New Torrent" window when you click on a magnet link, just add it to the client without any user interaction. Once the info dictionary has been obtained, then display the "Add New Torrent".

The way it currently works is pretty useless.

[Firon]

We actually don't want to do it that way.

It's intrusive (getting the torrent can take a very long time), and it means that your torrent won't start until possibly hours or days later if you aren't there.

[mabsark]

We actually don't want to do it that way.

It's intrusive (getting the torrent can take a very long time), and it means that your torrent won't start until possibly hours or days later if you aren't there.

When using magnet links, it usually takes a couple of seconds to download the info dictionary even for brand you content with a single seed. I've never had it take more than a minute using just the DHT and PEX. What you're saying is complete nonsense and easily proven false.

uTorrent's implementation of magnet links is flawed and totally useless and loads of people are complaining about it all across the web. With websites switching to magnet links only, those complaints are only going to increase. I've seen quite a few posts on these forums complaining about not being able to select which files to download and it's down to your useless implementation. Until you fix this incredibly silly flaw, I guarantee you'll keep getting users complaining about it.

Listen to what your users are telling you. They want to be able to select the files before they start downloading, just like they can when using .torrent files. This is such an easy fix, it'll take about a minute to implement.

Also, instead of needing to use a full magnet link, it would be nice to be able to just use the info hash when adding new torrents. Again, this would also take about a minute to implement.

[Adam_OSFP]

We actually don't want to do it that way.

It's intrusive (getting the torrent can take a very long time), and it means that your torrent won't start until possibly hours or days later if you aren't there.

Is this official stance of µTorrent developers? Torrent sites are switching to magnet-only, and you are saying selecting files for download, when using magnet link, will not be an option in µTorrent?

[Firon]

You can always select files after the fact. The files tab allows you to do so.

We'll have to evaluate our approach at some point, but I don't think popping up the add dialog after the .torrent metadata is received is the right approach.

I'm open to suggestions though.

[mabsark]

You can always select files after the fact. The files tab allows you to do so.

It's a lot easier to do in the "Add New Torrent" window though due to it's treeview structure. I've explained what you just wrote above hundreds of times now, but people just see it as a major inconvenience.

We'll have to evaluate our approach at some point, but I don't think popping up the add dialog after the .torrent metadata is received is the right approach.

I'm open to suggestions though.

It's pretty much the only way of giving people what they want. Magnet links are not torrent files so there's no reason to treat them as such. I'd suggest giving magnet links top priority or even force starting them to aquire the info dictionary in a timely manner. Once the info dictionary is obtained, it should then be added to the client just as any other torrent file would be.

Basically, magnet links need to be handled as a 2 stage process.

[Firon]

We're actually planning on replacing the Files tab with the treeview from the Add Torrent dialog at some point.

Also, perhaps we can just have the AT dialog refresh itself with metadata and showing a loading spinner. So if you really want to select files beforehand, you can just leave it open until it has the .torrent.

[mabsark]

We're actually planning on replacing the Files tab with the treeview from the Add Torrent dialog at some point.

It's long overdue so that's good to hear.

Also, perhaps we can just have the AT dialog refresh itself with metadata and showing a loading spinner. So if you really want to select files beforehand, you can just leave it open until it has the .torrent.

This combined with force starting the magnet links to aquire the metadata would solve the problem nicely.

[skraught]

bump!

When using magnet, it would be nice if the Add Torrent dialogue would grab the torrent info and populate dialogue/treeview info if i choose to wait for it.

[donalddonald]

Don't know if it was mentioned before, but when you want to reseed a torrent with only magnet links available, you have to follow these nasty steps:

1. Cklick on the magnet link if your torrent file isn't anymore on your HDD / torrent program

2. Wait for a peer for downloading the info

3. Stop the torrent while it begins to download / overwrite your files again

4. Do a force-recheck

5. Start the torrent again after the recheck is done.

It's very nasty and can take some minutes, but i hope the developers will insert an automatic system in a future version of utorrent, so step 3 - 5 isn't necessary anymore.

Thank you!

[WLS]

bump!

When using magnet, it would be nice if the Add Torrent dialogue would grab the torrent info and populate dialogue/treeview info if i choose to wait for it.

Where are you going to grab the torrent info from?

Do you want someone else entering the .torrent files stored on your hard drive, to extract that information, so they can populate that data?

Wait for the magnet link to get the. torrent downloaded to your computer. Safer that way, in my opinion.

[Vimlar]

Also, perhaps we can just have the AT dialog refresh itself with metadata and showing a loading spinner. So if you really want to select files beforehand, you can just leave it open until it has the .torrent.

That would be perfect. Lack of this precise feature has been driving me absolutely nuts since magnet links started to take over. I have basically used uTorrent right from the start for several years and it has been absolutely perfect. But now with magnets I will have to switch to another client if you don't include this option soon. It shouldn't be that difficult to implement anyway, I mean the program already has to download the .torrent file anyway, all you have to do is to make it do that earlier.

The ability to select files once you have started downloading is NOT enough, even if you give that tab a file tree. This is because by that time, the program might have started downloading a big file that you do not want, and now you have to close uTorrent, delete that file manually, restart uTorrent and force re-check the torrent to get rid of that file. Noone wants to waste this 15 seconds.

[Firon]

It hasn't downloaded the torrent when you add the magnet link.... that dialog pops up before it has even started trying to.

Well, you can always uncheck "Start this torrent" and it won't start downloading anything until you start it.

[Vimlar]

Well, you can always uncheck "Start this torrent" and it won't start downloading anything until you start it.

Oh, you mean it will download the torrent this way, but not any of the files?

OK, that constitutes the feature that I want then. But see, it didn't occur to me naturally (I would have thought nothing happens if I don't start the torrent) and I had to waste 1-2 hours searching on the internet to even understand WTF was going on (didn't even know what magnet links were until the file list stopped coming up). Still seems like a "download magnet link torrent from peers" button along with a progress bar right in the add torrent window would be appropriate addition. Dunno wether others are smarter than me or care about this though, so maybe it's not worth it for you to spend time on it.

[Guilherme Noronha]

I agree that a button at the AT dialog would be the best option. Something like "Query torrent file contents" button, followed by a loading spinner (like suggested above) would be perfect for me. This gives the user an option to start the download right away (as it is today) or wait a few seconds and check the contents of the torrent before starting it. This is very useful to identify fake torrents (passworded .rar file inside) or simply to avoid those torrents with several zipped parts when the next torrent on the list has the complete single file that you want.

I'm glad to see that A LOT of people feel annoyed by the current implementation too.

[WLS]

I agree that a button at the AT dialog would be the best option. Something like "Query torrent file contents" button.

I'm glad to see that A LOT of people feel annoyed by the current implementation too.

So you are willing to give access to your hard drive, to other users, so they can "Query torrent file contents", if you already have the .torrent file?

If not, where are they going to "Query torrent file contents" from?

The torrent host site isn't going to provide it. That is the reason for the switch to magnet links.

You click on the magnet link, the first peers get the .torrent from the original seed, then others get it from them, and it is passed along until everyone is happily downloading, and hopefully uploading after they have the completed file(s).

[Guilherme Noronha]

So you are willing to give access to your hard drive, to other users, so they can "Query torrent file contents", if you already have the .torrent file?

If I click OK at the AT dialog, won't it somehow load the torrent contents anyway? (and show it at the Files tab) Why can't this be done at the AT dialog, before clicking OK?

[Vimlar]

I agree that a button at the AT dialog would be the best option. Something like "Query torrent file contents" button.

I'm glad to see that A LOT of people feel annoyed by the current implementation too.

So you are willing to give access to your hard drive' date=' to other users, so they can "Query torrent file contents", if you already have the .torrent file?

If not, where are they going to "Query torrent file contents" from?[/quote']

I don't understand what you're getting at. If I am going to start downloading as it is now, won't this happen anyway?

[WLS]

So you are willing to give access to your hard drive' date=' to other users, so they can "Query torrent file contents", if you already have the .torrent file?[/quote']

If I click OK at the AT dialog, won't it somehow load the torrent contents anyway? (and show it at the Files tab) Why can't this be done at the AT dialog, before clicking OK?

Because YOU don't have the .torrent file.

Magnet links though are just links, they have no files associated with them just data.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/BitTorrent-Magnet-Links-Explained-132536.shtml

[Guilherme Noronha]

Because YOU don't have the .torrent file.

If I click OK at the AT dialog, it will get the torrent file anyway, right?

Why can't it get the torrent file before clicking OK at the AT dialog?

[Guilherme Noronha]

I just installed Vuze to test, and it does exactly what we are asking here. From the AT dialog (using a magnet link), you can see the files that you are going to download, and select the files you want BEFORE actually adding the download to the queue.

Loading contents from magnet link:

Let the user select the files BEFORE starting the download:

Too bad that Vuze is full of bloatware.

[Firon]

I actually said we're planning on having the AT dialog refresh itself once it has the metadata.

[Guilherme Noronha]

I actually said we're planning on having the AT dialog refresh itself once it has the metadata.

True, I didn't pay attention to the author, thought it was a suggestion.

[Blueshie]

Also, perhaps we can just have the AT dialog refresh itself with metadata and showing a loading spinner. So if you really want to select files beforehand, you can just leave it open until it has the .torrent.

This combined with force starting the magnet links to aquire the metadata would solve the problem nicely.

I definitely agree on this point, uTorrent needs to be able to fetch the metadata upon request or make it a priority, because the quicker I can see what files are in a .torrent, the better. And I'm not comfortable with seeing this data 'after the fact' as it were by starting the torrent.

How fast could changes like these be implemented? I think they are needed immediately as I, and I'm sure many others right now, are considering using alternative programs that offer this kind of functioning. I've been with uTorrent a long time and I'd hate to see it lose popularity due to magnet links.

[magnets]

Developers,

I created this account specifically to post to this thread. I usually do not contribute much to forums but feel strongly about uTorrent's mishandling of magnet link. Due to the increasing lack of .torrent downloads on the web, this needs to be addressed quickly and correctly the first time around.

- How uTorrent currently handles magnet links:

Currently, when I click on a magnet link, an "Add New Torrent" dialog box displays. This box has three sections, "Save As", "Torrent Options" and "Torrent Contents". Seeing as we do not yet have the torrent, the "Torrent Contents" section is useless, and (arguably) so is the "Torrent Options".

Once I hit save, I am no longer notified of any other actions happening within the program. Once uTorrent has gathered the .torrent file from other peers, it immediately start downloading all the contents in the torrent, giving me no option to pick and chose what contents to download. If I want to chose not to downloads contents of the torrent I must either uncheck "Start Torrent" or uncheck files after-the-fact.

- How I believe uTorrent should handle magnet links:

When I click a magnet link, I want the uTorrent to immediately start fetching the .torrent from peers, either with no indication at all from the UI, or indication from a status bar.

Once the .torrent is fetched, a dialog box analogous to the "Add New Torrent" should appear giving me options like where to save, what files to download, and other torrent related options.

- Why uTorrent's handling of magnet links is currently flawed

In my eyes, the "Add New Torrent" dialog box was mainly designed to handle .torrent files once they are already stored locally. The "Add New Torrent" box does not make sense when looked at through the perspective of magnet links. Some of the options in this box are useless since we do not have information about the files yet (though the .torrent file).

I hope you could follow my understanding of the situation. I am a computer enthusiast but to not understand the backbones of the program. My post attempted to be the perspective of an avid user of torrents. I love uTorrent, but is this is not fixed soon, I might have to consider other torrent clients. Please address this promptly.

If you need any clarification on what I wrote I will be checking back on this thread frequently and will answer any questions you may have.

Thanks