Columns
Posted: 2018 Apr 21, 13:33
A) By View-Pane Style-Details you display columns.
Then only (it's hidden when your current style is "List" for example), by "View-Select Columns", you select the columns you want to be displayed, and by arrow buttons, you determine their sort order.
Available columns come with or without an [S] indicator; "S" not being for "system" but for "stock", i.e. for non-system, i.e. for x2's proprietary columns.
For tags or other comments, you will probably use Comment [S] since Alt-z will display a dialog to enter/alter/delete these, and the contents (e.g. tags) of the "Comment" column will be properly displayed within that column.
B) Now for the problems:
1)
When I try to view or edit those proprietary tags by external tools, i.e. when I read or write to the alternate data streams x2 creates for its proprietary "Comment [S]" column, I don't get any useful result, x2 obviously writing to those streams in binary, not text format (why?):
The ADS in question are:
a) [ENQ char]SummaryInformation
Reading this ADS just displays some special chars, for a real length of some 110-130 chars, while most of the time, the allocated ADS size is a whopping 4096 chars (i.e. my hdd sector size); the allocated ADS size remains at a reasonable 120 chars only if the real content remains at below 120 chars - the irony here being that the real text content (i.e. what is visible as content) is just some tags, 1, 2 or up to a dozen a-z/0-9 chars (not even special chars), never more. In other words, the non-text-format storage of this proprietary x2 "Comment [S]" blows the ADS up to some quite crazy degree, all the more so since it seems that the allocated size of 4096 even remains after deleting some of the chars (before: 12 chars, then: 2 chars: size remains at 4096).
and
b) {4c8cc155-6c1e-11d1-8e41-00c04fb9386d}
Reading this ADS brings an empty string, which is not surprising, since the ADS is empty anyway (size: 0) - so why does x2 create these ADS anyway?
2)
Since as said, I can neither read nor write to these proprietary x2 "Comment" column / ADSs by external tools (which is the main problem, the ADS size problem just being an additional one), I tried to use the other, NON-proprietary, columns, e.g. "Tags", "Comments" (but which in Windows would rather be "Comment", not "Comments", "Keywords", etc. - in vain.
a) The columns are properly displayed, but without any content, i.e. the ADSs are not retrieved. I write, and then read, those ADS with external tools, in simple text format, e.g. I write "xxx" to the ADS "Tags", and then that "xxx" appears when reading that ADS, but nothing appears in the x2 "Tags" column.
b) Thus, needs x2 ALL ADS info, in order for it to be displayed within its respective column, in binary format, even for non-proprietary columns? In other words, in order to be any text to be displayed within the x2 columns, would I need a third-party tool which translates simple text into some binary format first, before then storing the string as an ADS?
c) And my assertion is correct that except for the (by Alt-z) editing dialog for its proprietary "Comment [S]" column, x2 does NOT offer any possibility to edit (i.e. create/alter/delete) any column content? (F2 will always just rename the file/folder name, does not work on any column; neither by mouse-rightclick.)
3)
a) In the blog, there is a page https://www.zabkat.com/blog/customize-details-pane.htm - the info there is only for individualisation of which-columns-are-displayed, for different folders, right, but the possible content (!) or those columns should be displayed though automatically (and without fussing around with that html page?) whenever the respective columns (!) are displayed, right?
In other words, if, JUST by my selects in the dialog "View-Select Columns", the wanted columns are displayed, their possible contents should appear in them, too, without my needing to do any other things?
b) If I must use that html file in order to have appear system ADS within the respective x2 columns though, could you bring a simple example, e.g. for making the system ADS "Tags" work in x2, instead of the "Tags" column in x2 remaining empty?
Then only (it's hidden when your current style is "List" for example), by "View-Select Columns", you select the columns you want to be displayed, and by arrow buttons, you determine their sort order.
Available columns come with or without an [S] indicator; "S" not being for "system" but for "stock", i.e. for non-system, i.e. for x2's proprietary columns.
For tags or other comments, you will probably use Comment [S] since Alt-z will display a dialog to enter/alter/delete these, and the contents (e.g. tags) of the "Comment" column will be properly displayed within that column.
B) Now for the problems:
1)
When I try to view or edit those proprietary tags by external tools, i.e. when I read or write to the alternate data streams x2 creates for its proprietary "Comment [S]" column, I don't get any useful result, x2 obviously writing to those streams in binary, not text format (why?):
The ADS in question are:
a) [ENQ char]SummaryInformation
Reading this ADS just displays some special chars, for a real length of some 110-130 chars, while most of the time, the allocated ADS size is a whopping 4096 chars (i.e. my hdd sector size); the allocated ADS size remains at a reasonable 120 chars only if the real content remains at below 120 chars - the irony here being that the real text content (i.e. what is visible as content) is just some tags, 1, 2 or up to a dozen a-z/0-9 chars (not even special chars), never more. In other words, the non-text-format storage of this proprietary x2 "Comment [S]" blows the ADS up to some quite crazy degree, all the more so since it seems that the allocated size of 4096 even remains after deleting some of the chars (before: 12 chars, then: 2 chars: size remains at 4096).
and
b) {4c8cc155-6c1e-11d1-8e41-00c04fb9386d}
Reading this ADS brings an empty string, which is not surprising, since the ADS is empty anyway (size: 0) - so why does x2 create these ADS anyway?
2)
Since as said, I can neither read nor write to these proprietary x2 "Comment" column / ADSs by external tools (which is the main problem, the ADS size problem just being an additional one), I tried to use the other, NON-proprietary, columns, e.g. "Tags", "Comments" (but which in Windows would rather be "Comment", not "Comments", "Keywords", etc. - in vain.
a) The columns are properly displayed, but without any content, i.e. the ADSs are not retrieved. I write, and then read, those ADS with external tools, in simple text format, e.g. I write "xxx" to the ADS "Tags", and then that "xxx" appears when reading that ADS, but nothing appears in the x2 "Tags" column.
b) Thus, needs x2 ALL ADS info, in order for it to be displayed within its respective column, in binary format, even for non-proprietary columns? In other words, in order to be any text to be displayed within the x2 columns, would I need a third-party tool which translates simple text into some binary format first, before then storing the string as an ADS?
c) And my assertion is correct that except for the (by Alt-z) editing dialog for its proprietary "Comment [S]" column, x2 does NOT offer any possibility to edit (i.e. create/alter/delete) any column content? (F2 will always just rename the file/folder name, does not work on any column; neither by mouse-rightclick.)
3)
a) In the blog, there is a page https://www.zabkat.com/blog/customize-details-pane.htm - the info there is only for individualisation of which-columns-are-displayed, for different folders, right, but the possible content (!) or those columns should be displayed though automatically (and without fussing around with that html page?) whenever the respective columns (!) are displayed, right?
In other words, if, JUST by my selects in the dialog "View-Select Columns", the wanted columns are displayed, their possible contents should appear in them, too, without my needing to do any other things?
b) If I must use that html file in order to have appear system ADS within the respective x2 columns though, could you bring a simple example, e.g. for making the system ADS "Tags" work in x2, instead of the "Tags" column in x2 remaining empty?