Autoresize name column is not working

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johngalt
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Autoresize name column is not working

Post by johngalt »

Not sure what or how I've managed it, but even though the setting is enabled, it's not working.

Also, I cleanly installed Windows 10 back in December, and I cleanly installed and set up X² thereafter as well.

I have the setting enabled in Tools --> Options, but it is not working. I can manually resize the column to fit the longest filename in the directory, but it reverts on a refresh to truncating longer filenames.

Any idea on where I should start looking to try to fix? Already tried:
  • Disabling setting, then re-enabling it
  • Using default folder options
  • clearing folder options
  • deleting desktop.ini and then manually widening Name column width and saving folder options again
That last one has me troubled - because even with the new desktop.ini specifying a much wider Name column width, a refresh causes it to shrink, which it never did before.
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johngalt
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Re: Autoresize name column is not working

Post by johngalt »

Just to add to the confusion (or perhaps point to a fix / setting I'm not seeing) - it's only happening on a single folder, it seems - I tried in a different folder and created a new subfolder or large name length and the auto-resize worked perfectly fine.

So there is something about that one folder (My Windows designated "Downloads" folder" that it is happening to.

EDIT: Also happening to a few other folders, but it seems perfectly random as to whether it exhibits this behavior or not.
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Re: Autoresize name column is not working

Post by nikos »

see if these "exceptional" folders have custom folder settings in them in desktop.ini, see here
www.zabkat.com/blog/undo-custom-folder-settings.htm
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Re: Autoresize name column is not working

Post by johngalt »

Unless I'm missing something, it says to delete the desktop.ini - which is exactly what I tried to do.

I tried again just to be sure - as soon as I do the Name column shrinks and truncates it.

However, I think something else may be at play here. I found a file that had a name being truncated - and I used the rename function to add another character to the filename - and all of a sudden the Name column started showing the full file name. I then removed the added character and it shrunk by 1 character width.

So, for whatever reason, X² was not registering the filename being as long as it was.

I'm going to start testing more folders and seeing if I can find a common thread here, maybe going back to the root drive and seeing if there is something crazy going on - but I suspect it's a file name error itself, or perhaps something to do with the directory info.

This has never given me problems before other than the one time it was not taking into account bold typefaced fonts for directory listings, which I have since stopped using.

More info as I figure stuff out.
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Re: Autoresize name column is not working

Post by johngalt »

OK, this just got weird.

I'll try to create a GIF of it and post it so you can see *exactly* what it going on.

tl;dr - create a long file / folder, and name column auto expands upon refresh (CTRL + R).

delete said file, refresh, and Name column shrinks to too far, obscuring parts of longer filenames (as if it is shrinking to an exact value).

Refresh 2-3 more times and Name auto-magically widens to longest file name - the one I played with in last post.

Something is *seriously* wacky with my install, it seems.
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Re: Autoresize name column is not working

Post by johngalt »

And refresh it again after a random amount of time not using the program and the Name column shrinks again. *Absolutely nothing has changed from the end of my previous post until now, with the exception of the passage of time.

In fact, not a passage of time, but depending upon where the selection carat falls. If it falls on a file whose name is below a certain value (I'm going to try to calculate that value if I can with a screen-based ruler, or else a filename with an exact amount of a certain character in a monospace font), the Name column shrinks and ftruncates a few longer named files. If it falls on a file whose name is larger than this arbitrary value, it expands. But, if that file name is shorter than my longest file name, then it expands only to show that file, and still truncates the longest filename.

In all my years of using X² I've never seen anything like this. Either my OS is whacked (which very well may be true) or just this install of X² is (which I'm very much hoping - if it is the install, I should be able to fix by uninstalling and then reinstalling).

What's the easiest way to completely cleanly reinstall X2 (with no leftover settings, without having to cleanly reinstall my entire OS and productivity suite)?
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Re: Autoresize name column is not working

Post by nikos »

which NAME column do you have selected, is it the [S]tock title column or something else?
also note that xplorer2 doesn't check 1000 names to figure out a width, it does up to 80 I think and whichever has the longer name gives the width to the column. So chances are that the size is too small for some of the biggest files you have

also a reboot helps sometimes :)
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Re: Autoresize name column is not working

Post by pj »

nikos wrote: 2021 Feb 05, 07:20 which NAME column do you have selected, is it the [S]tock title column or something else?
also note that xplorer2 doesn't check 1000 names to figure out a width, it does up to 80 I think and whichever has the longer name gives the width to the column. So chances are that the size is too small for some of the biggest files you have

also a reboot helps sometimes :)
Seriously? Glad REAL programs like EXCEL don't behave like that.

So is the "80 I think" files from the top? from the currently displayed point in the folder? use the next files in the directory? use the next files per the current sort settings?

I mean if you're not going to set width to the widest name, but just kind of fudge it, why bother?

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PJ in FL
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Re: Autoresize name column is not working

Post by nikos »

so all these years you've been living a great compromise ;)
funny you noticed it just now though? perhaps it's not noticeable, that's why?
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Re: Autoresize name column is not working

Post by pj »

Johngalt noticed.
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Re: Autoresize name column is not working

Post by johngalt »

pj wrote: 2021 Feb 06, 17:44
nikos wrote: 2021 Feb 05, 07:20 which NAME column do you have selected, is it the [S]tock title column or something else?
also note that xplorer2 doesn't check 1000 names to figure out a width, it does up to 80 I think and whichever has the longer name gives the width to the column. So chances are that the size is too small for some of the biggest files you have

also a reboot helps sometimes :)
Seriously? Glad REAL programs like EXCEL don't behave like that.

So is the "80 I think" files from the top? from the currently displayed point in the folder? use the next files in the directory? use the next files per the current sort settings?

I mean if you're not going to set width to the widest name, but just kind of fudge it, why bother?

-----------------------------
PJ in FL
Well, you'll love this.

First of all, the Download folder only has 5 columns:

Name [S]
Extension [S]
Size [S]
Attribute [S]
Modified [S]

Secondly, the folder itself only has 103 items in it.

So, I tested it. I cannot figure out how it determines which 80 to test (and I've routinely had 200+ items in my DL folder before and it never exhibited this behavior) - so it must be with how it picks the first 80 items.

I'll keep playing to figure out how it is picking this 'first 80 items' - I suspect by filename though I have the directory sorted by date....

As for a reboot helping - I am well aware of that. I reboot incessantly, because my work is separate from my play, so I know that is not the issue.

As for me noticing - I noticed only after something caused it to stop working. Otherwise I'd have been happier than a pig in sh*t, as the saying goes around here, or, more appropriately, blissfully ignorant.

At least now I know it is not a bug. It's a result of the way that you programmed the interface, and though it drives me batty, there are steps I can take to remedy it (like move the stuff I don't need anymore to another folder - which, and this should really bake your boodle / tickle your fancy - *is exactly what I was doing, moving older items to another folder, when it first manifested for me in the first place.*
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Re: Autoresize name column is not working

Post by nikos »

statistically, if you have 100 items and I check the 80, it is very unlikely that a long name will be out
the "logic" bases the search around the focused item, it could be the first or something else if you visited the folder before
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Re: Autoresize name column is not working

Post by pj »

"Statistically". Hmmmm....

Well, if you're going for an "A" which in my experience was only a paltry 90% or better, then getting a 90% confidence level that a fixed sample of 80 will get you the widest filename means the population can only be 111 or less. If you're happy with a "B" (80%), then that satisfies folders with 152 or less files. If you just want to pass with a "C" (70%), then that can take you all the way up to 300 files in a folder and have a 70% confidence of getting the widest filename in your sample.

Just pulling your chain, Nikos. I understand the limitations although I'm amazed Excel does manage to get it right when I have THOUSANDS of rows of data.

I generally only have a few hundred files in a single folder, although I do have some with upwards of tens of thousands. But I'll be happy with the confidence level the sample of 80 provides.

-----------------------------------
PJ in FL

P.S. - If you are satisfied with a passing grade, then to cover 10,000 files with a confidence of 70% only takes 108 samples. Statistics ain't linear or logical!

P.P.S. - I probably misrepresented the statistics, and that's with a confidence level approaching 100%!

All numbers are from Sample Size Calculator at Calculator.net
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Re: Autoresize name column is not working

Post by nikos »

:)
xplorer2 like its author is a very frugal individual. Sure, I could tell it to go through (potentially) thousands of files to find that one longest name but isn't that pure waste of good CPU and electricity when you can go 90% with a fraction of the effort?
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Re: Autoresize name column is not working

Post by johngalt »

While I normally would have agreed with you, after having built my new custom system, I'd ask that the option be available to those of us with the resources - like I do:

https://valid.x86.fr/tf5prr

I doubt you could overtax this system unless I got really, really stupid and tried to index over a million files in a single directory....

Burying the option in, say, the Advanced settings (or even better, a 'hidden' registry trick that one would have to enable/ add *manually*) would be awesome. If it is feasible to do so, of course.
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