Option for sorting folder links as they were real

[PhilipSutton]

Hi Nikos,

This idea is one I mentioned ages ago, but now that you are rebuilding 2xExplorer I wondered whether it might be a good time to float it again.

I would love to have the *option* to set up Exporer2 so that links to folders are sorted in the file panels *as if* they were real folders and for folder links to display in the tree as if they were real folders.  The reason for creating a folder link is so that it acts as a folder in a new position in the hierarchy.  So it's just plain annoying and time wasting to have to look for 'folders' in two places ie among the real folders and among the 'files'.

You said last time that you thought users would find it confusing to have folder links treated as if they were real folders but I think Windows is moving further and further in the direction of folders being able to be displayed out of their normal tree hierarchy.  Eg. The "My files", "Recycle Bin", "Control panel", "Printers", "Dial-Up Networking", "Scheduled Tasks", "My Briefcase" and "Webfolders" folders all appear outside the normal hierarch position at the top level. As far as I can see what Windows is doing is logically the same as what I'm suggesting except that my suggestion gives users the chance to make use of this logic themselves.

Maybe the confusion issue could be handled by having an option to run Explorer2 in the way I'm suggesting. If people find the system confusing they just won't use the option.

Also it would be interesting to see whether other users do in fact find the idea confusing.

Cheers, Philip

[nikos]

if there's wide user demand for this, i'll cave in

but keep in mind that placing folder shortcuts on the tree is going to be performance-sapping, for the system only implicitly considers links as folders. I don't even want to think how am i going to get the autorefresh right...

another option in the new generation x2 would be to use hard links. This is an NTFS-only feature (win98 et al need not apply) but very sweet nevertheless. For those that don't know about it, it is something similar to unix hard links.

If you create a hard link to a file it's like you are creating another instance of it without actually eating up any extra disc space. It's like you have the same file accessible from 2 or more different outlets. Deleting a hard link is like deleting the real file, but only when the last link is gone. More on that when I introduce it in x2. I am not even sure if it works for folders, i'll have to look it up