Auto-Update Subfolder Sizes

Q & A for the old 2X Explorer file manager. For other topics, please use the corresponding forum.

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Brad
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Auto-Update Subfolder Sizes

Post by Brad »

I just started trying out x2alpha, and so far love it.

Is there a way (And from looking through the docs I don't think there is) to enable the "Subfolder Size" feature to always be on, and running in the background?

This would then be a complete replacement for the original command in 2explorer, for which I was drawn to your program in the first place.

Thanks for the great work!
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zippit
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oops

Post by zippit »

What are you trying to acomplish ? Live what it has to offer,no more.
:roll:
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JRz
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Post by JRz »

@Zippit: we seem to be running in to eachother on every post ;)

@Brad: it is planned for X2 to be optional whether you want folder sizes to be calculated or not by default in the future (cnfigurable through a menu item at some point).

The reason it is not done is a performance question. It simply takes too long in most cases to have it on by default. For the time being you have t hit Alt-D o get folder sizes.
Dumb questions are the ones that are never asked :turn:
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Post by narayan »

And do be careful: if you press ALT+D and then add/edit a file in deep inside that folder, the size is not updated!

So it is more of a "one-time use" command: the figure may not be valid after some time if your downloader or some other application is doing something to the files in that folder.

Partly that's the reason it has to be a single-shot peration: the constant monitoring and recalculation would be too resource-consuming!
Brad
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Post by Brad »

@Zippit: For example, When trying to trim disk space it is nice to jump around in folders looking for specific folder/files that are occupying a significant amount of disk space. Currently I can do this, but I have to hit Alt-D after every directory change, and the old numbers are not cached.

I look forward to the option being available, and fully understand why it would be user configurabled. (Especially when you consider network drives).

The limitations mentioned are fully understandable and expected, considering the task.

When it is an option, will it be possible for the size values to be cached, and then updated in the background as I change directories?
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nikos
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Post by nikos »

such caching would only be considered in a situation like 2x's Ctrl+D command. So the x2 equivalent could have an autorefresh mechanizm so as to sense any changes you make while it is being shown. (Not easy though!)
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Post by Brad »

Well I don't want to be responsible for making the program any bigger. If the simplest solution is to have an option to enable the 'Alt-D' feature whenever the directory changes, than I'm all for it! Thanks again.
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Post by Brad »

I just noticed that sorting by directory size (after pressing Alt-D) doesn't work completly correct. Most the directories are sorted, but there are always a few that show up out of order.

Here's a clip using 'copy columns' (Another great feature I might add!), sorted by 'Size'

Name Size Attributes Modified Version Comment
john.d 1,970,087,091 ------ 10/23/2003 7:26:09 AM
fred.d 1,629,634,686 ------ 10/20/2003 1:42:25 PM
barney.r 999,203,067 ------ 8/19/2003 1:55:53 PM
betty.r 836,798,324 ------ 3/11/2003 3:16:27 PM
homer.s 500,212,982 ------ 11/10/2003 12:48:43 PM
bart.s 200,283,395 ------ 10/23/2002 11:05:30 PM
lisa.s 192,856,064 ------ 9/3/2003 7:41:15 AM
marge.s 74,774,131 ------ 10/20/2003 9:02:38 AM
abu.t 70,999,060 ---A-- 5/14/2003 11:21:39 AM
jane.d 21,911,411 ------ 11/3/2003 10:17:07 AM
fred.r 3,488,720,087 ------ 11/11/2003 1:04:50 PM
anyone.c 3,308,710,211 ----C- 10/19/2002 8:10:44 AM
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zippit
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Post by zippit »

JRz wrote:@Zippit: we seem to be running in to eachother on every post ;)

@Brad: it is planned for X2 to be optional whether you want folder sizes to be calculated or not by default in the future (cnfigurable through a menu item at some point).

The reason it is not done is a performance question. It simply takes too long in most cases to have it on by default. For the time being you have t hit Alt-D o get folder sizes.
As long as 2x and x2 are grouped together i guess so.Heres my sollution,
I had no problem accomplishing this stuff with 2x.Do it there and as a "beta" x2 tester send a comment. :wink:
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nikos
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Post by nikos »

brad, some of the folders must have been calculated after you did the sorting command. Since sizes are calculated in the background there's no easy way to tell when all have finished
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Post by Brad »

Unfortunately not (I had thought of this). But a little investigation showed the problem is a little more comples. Heres how to replicate it.

1) Sort based on name
2) Change into a directory whos directory listing takes more than one screenfull to display (i.e. has a vertical scrollbar)
3) Press 'Alt-D' to calculate sizes, and wait until completion
4) Sort based on file size. You should now see that some folder (those that were not shown when you changed the sort column) are not sorted correctly.
5) Another interesting side effect: Press Alt-D again to see the incorrectly sorted folders change their sizes to 0. I would guess this is probably related to why it is being sorted wrong in the first place.

Example: (I've marked the sort columns)

After step 2:
Name (v) Size Attributes Modified Version Comment
Test VI Builder 83,610 ---A-- 11/5/2003 4:46:32 PM
Test VI 18,311 ---A-- 10/24/2003 9:54:59 AM
Linux ET 284,633,601 ---A-- 10/6/2003 7:46:45 AM
HS Config 2,038 ---A-- 7/25/2003 2:51:43 PM
DWRCS Uploads 0 ---A-- 7/6/2003 9:36:29 PM
backups 90,514,290 ---A-- 11/7/2003 12:49:38 PM
TestZipo.zip 26,584,741 ---A-- 8/26/2003 12:44:06 PM
install.txt 2,484 ---A-- 11/10/2003 10:58:10 AM
calc05.pdf 66,887 ---A-- 11/13/2003 1:59:59 PM

After step 3:
Name (v) Size Attributes Modified Version Comment
Test VI Builder 83,610 ---A-- 11/5/2003 4:46:32 PM
Test VI 18,311 ---A-- 10/24/2003 9:54:59 AM
Linux ET 284,633,601 ---A-- 10/6/2003 7:46:45 AM
HS Config 2,038 ---A-- 7/25/2003 2:51:43 PM
DWRCS Uploads 0 ---A-- 7/6/2003 9:36:29 PM
backups 90,514,290 ---A-- 11/7/2003 12:49:38 PM
TestZipo.zip 26,584,741 ---A-- 8/26/2003 12:44:06 PM
install.txt 2,484 ---A-- 11/10/2003 10:58:10 AM
calc05.pdf 66,887 ---A-- 11/13/2003 1:59:59 PM

After step 4:
Name Size (v) Attributes Modified Version Comment
Linux ET 284,633,601 ---A-- 10/6/2003 7:46:45 AM
TestZipo.zip 26,584,741 ---A-- 8/26/2003 12:44:06 PM
Test VI Builder 83,610 ---A-- 11/5/2003 4:46:32 PM
calc05.pdf 66,887 ---A-- 11/13/2003 1:59:59 PM
Test VI 18,311 ---A-- 10/24/2003 9:54:59 AM
install.txt 2,484 ---A-- 11/10/2003 10:58:10 AM
HS Config 2,038 ---A-- 7/25/2003 2:51:43 PM
DWRCS Uploads 0 ---A-- 7/6/2003 9:36:29 PM
backups 90,514,290 ---A-- 11/7/2003 12:49:38 PM

After step 5:
Name Size (v) Attributes Modified Version Comment
Linux ET 284,633,601 ---A-- 10/6/2003 7:46:45 AM
TestZipo.zip 26,584,741 ---A-- 8/26/2003 12:44:06 PM
Test VI Builder 83,610 ---A-- 11/5/2003 4:46:32 PM
calc05.pdf 66,887 ---A-- 11/13/2003 1:59:59 PM
Test VI 18,311 ---A-- 10/24/2003 9:54:59 AM
install.txt 2,484 ---A-- 11/10/2003 10:58:10 AM
HS Config 2,038 ---A-- 7/25/2003 2:51:43 PM
DWRCS Uploads 0 ---A-- 7/6/2003 9:36:29 PM
backups 0 ---A-- 11/7/2003 12:49:38 PM

Notice how the size of the backup folder has changed! The correct size is shown in step 4, but in that step it is sorted in the wrong order.
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nikos
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Post by nikos »

something's wrong there for sure, i'll look into it!
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