here's the big one!

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nikos
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here's the big one!

Post by nikos »

version 5 beta for you fearless testers is now available for downloading!
www.zabkat.com/test/xplorer2_setup64_ult_beta.exe

I have tested a lot on windows 10, but not as much on windows 7 and older platforms, so please let me know if you see anything weird if you use older windows.

thanks for your comments/bug reports/or whatever feedback!
BIG FEATURES:

* MILLER COLUMNS. Bring an apple to your windows desktop, turn on with FILE > COLUMN MODE menu, then when you browse a folder (pressing ENTER or double-click) it opens in a new pane. If too many panes exist, a scrollbar is used to manage them. Each tab can have its own miller columns. The active folder in each set is what's used for dual pane comparisons etc. You can use left-right arrows to jump panes.

* MOUSE PEEK. A super-sized draft preview of the focused item (using VIEW > PEEK PREVIEW menu command), or enable the Mouse Peek option (Window property page) to preview holding down both mouse buttons. Advanced options editor allows you to choose the preview size. Any key or mouse button will dismiss the preview.

* QUICKACCESS TREE. Similar to explorer's quickaccess list, but not identical. Use TOOLS > OPTIONS menu and tick it in Window property page (tree options section). It shows some frequently used folders to begin with but you can put there whatever you like using drag-drop. Thus you have your own (flat) mini-tree with folders you access the most. You can rename and delete items in the QA list without affecting the real folders. You can even put network items in there and xplorer² shouldn't be too slow starting up. Functionality almost identical to miniscrap really :)

* PHONE BACKUP. Copy options like "overwrite if newer else skip" work for "fake" folders like phones and tablets. So you can copy from/to such devices and your local HD in backup mode. The user interface looks the same as explorer copy, but it supports advanced options -- you set then as usual in the F5 robust copy dialog (or TOOLS > BACKUP menu command). Sorry no wildcard/filters allowed at present. For zipfolders and other compressed archives, it can only be used to get stuff OUT of them (into a regular filesystem folder)

* MANUAL POSITIONS. In small folders set as large icon or thumbnail mode, use ARRANGE BY > MANUALLY menu command to move items with the mouse and leave them where you like. Then use ACTIONS > FOLDER SETTINGS > SAVE menu to put them inside DESKTOP.INI (with other custom folder settings), so when you come back to that folder you'll find the items where you left them. Autosaving changes in positions possible via CLVOPT_CUSTOMAUTOSAVE advanced tweak.

* FOLDER SIZE PIES. The command TOOLS > FOLDER STATISTICS will show a little pie chart of the biggest folders in your list, one for each level you browse. It should help the visual folks to see the big folders eating up your hard disk space. Drag the splitter to make it bigger or smaller.

* CAMEL CASE. Mass renaming has 2 new options, a camel that changes spaces into capitals (e.g. "hello world-son" becomes helloWorldSon) and one to remove accents, so the German "über" will become "uber".

* FAST DUPES. Ultimate version gets a new algorithm for duplicate files detection, that is 100+ times faster and it makes checking duplicates for your entire hard disk feasible.

for many smaller features see HELP > WHAT'S NEW but that file including all the documentation is work in progress!
pj
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Re: here's the big one!

Post by pj »

Can the beta be installed while keeping the currently released x2 installed, or does this overwrite the existing installation?
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Re: here's the big one!

Post by nikos »

it defaults to a separate installation directory which is the recommended procedure. Keep both versions, but you can only run one at a time (except if you use /P command line switch)
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Re: here's the big one!

Post by Robert2 »

It installs automatically to a separate folder. “C:\Program Files\zabkat\xplorer2_ult_beta\xplorer2_64.exe” vs “C:\Program Files\xplorer2_ult\xplorer2_64.exe”.
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Re: here's the big one!

Post by Robert2 »

Teething problems with the beta version.
At first I could not install because it said the current user did not have authorization. Then it installed automatically after I had dismissed the first warning. The current user was the same…
In Column mode, I could not delete a whole subfolder in “My pictures” (Shift+Delete). Even when I ran the beta in Administrator mode. I was not supposed to have enough elevated privileges.
Yet I was able to delete that same subfolder in the standard version without even using the Administrator mode.
The Peek Preview of a main folder gives a preview of the folder icon, instead of the folder contents. Useless.
Main folders like “E:\HEALTH” or “E:\MAIL” do not get their own columnar pane. I wish they did.
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Re: here's the big one!

Post by nikos »

i'm not sure what's wrong with your installation. Is there a * appearing in the titlebar of the beta? That implies administrator. Try a reboot?

as for the peek preview, when does the previewer show you folder contents? It is meant for pictures, documents and such
Main folders like “E:\HEALTH” or “E:\MAIL” do not get their own columnar pane. I wish they did
what do you mean?
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Re: here's the big one!

Post by Robert2 »

Sorry, I thought the previewer was meant to show folder contents. I stand corrected.
I have a folder named “My Bookmarks” located at “E:\My Bookmarks”. Some of these bookmarks are named “HEALTH”, “MAIL” and actually point to “E:\HEALTH”, “E:\MAIL”. If I press ENTER on the “HEALTH” or “MAIL” bookmarks, they open in the same pane, not in a “Miller” column. I wish they did.
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Re: here's the big one!

Post by otlaolap »

(1) In Miller-column view, when a column overflows vertically a very narrow scrollbar is put on the bottom of the pane. The scrollbar is only five pixels high -- too small to really grab reliably for me.

(2) The peek preview is nice, but the animation is very distracting when opening a peek. I see five or six rectangles blinking larger during the opening (in a 1/4 second or so), and it is very jarring. Wish there were a way to turn it off. As far as I know, there is no other animation in X2 (at least as far as I use it). I don't know of any animation that remains in Windows either -- all of it has been turned off by available switches.

(Both the above tested without AutoHotkey stuff active.)
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Re: here's the big one!

Post by nikos »

Robert2 wrote: 2021 Feb 06, 22:14 If I press ENTER on the “HEALTH” or “MAIL” bookmarks, they open in the same pane, not in a “Miller” column. I wish they did.
if you are inside a miller situation, the panes must be neighbors. If you browse someplace else, e.g. using the tree, the addressbar or a local shortcut that "jumps far off", then the present group gets busted. Miller mode is still on though
otlaolap wrote: 2021 Feb 06, 22:24 (1) In Miller-column view, when a column overflows vertically a very narrow scrollbar is put on the bottom of the pane.

(2) The peek preview is nice, but the animation is very distracting when opening a peek.
both these are tweakable, use TOOLS >ADVANCED OPTIONS then use the search box to find them (miller and animation respectively)
actually the "no scroll" feature was a b*tch to program, and is meant for mac-types (style over matter :)) to remind them of finder
miller columns are best operated with the arrow keys, where you don't need the scrollbars
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Re: here's the big one!

Post by mjbrookes »

Mouse peek - where in the advanced options is the setting to change the mouse-peek-preview size? what is it called?


Was mouse peek intended to meet my request for a file-preview Dock/Float custom key?
(the preview panel has the big benefit of being able to scroll through multiple pages , and to leave onscreen when not holding both mouse buttons)

regards
Mark
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Re: here's the big one!

Post by nikos »

search for "animat" if you are looking for the animation off option. Mouse peek can also be assigned to a keyboard shortcut, although again only pageup/down will work.

for your (old) request, the CMENU macro command can now function with dock panes, so you can use code like

Code: Select all

FINDWND preview 
CMENU float
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Re: here's the big one!

Post by Gandolf »

Should Column Mode be saved as a layout?

I turn on Column mode, then save a layout named Column.

Start x² with the /S:Column option, but Column mode is not selected.
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Re: here's the big one!

Post by otlaolap »

Advanced options for miller columns and for peek preview animation work nicely, thanks.

Peek Preview opens windows in a very unbalanced position. They are not centered on the screen; they are not centered on the X2 window from which they are opened. On my screen they are always toward the left. I've tried moving the windows, and they do move, but the next peek resets the position back to the skewed-to-the-left position.

Peek Preview also opens unreasonably large windows for text files. I have a ten-line file: peek preview covers 3/4 of my screen with it, and since the lines are short all I get is a huge white space. There seems to be no way to adjust the size of this window.

So I think Peek windows need a way to specify position and sizing.

In a peek window for text it would be nice if cursor-up and cursor-down worked. And if text wrap were not on (suppose this would need a horizontal scroll if long lines were present). And if cursor-left and cursor-right worked. And Home and End. So when you peeked at a text-mode file you would get a flat pane of text and could navigate in the standard way. The screen keeps disappearing on me when I try to navigate.
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Re: here's the big one!

Post by nikos »

Gandolf wrote: 2021 Feb 07, 13:52 Start x² with the /S:Column option, but Column mode is not selected.
miller columns are not remembered on exit. Miller mode itself is not remembered on exit, you must turn it on every time you restart. Do you want to have miller mode on all the time? It could be annoying
otlaolap wrote: 2021 Feb 07, 14:27 So I think Peek windows need a way to specify position and sizing.
the idea is that the preview tries to center around the focused item, but depending on the layout, this is never exactly over the item, but shifted. The size is something you can set with the advanced settings editor as a % of the screen. However you can't have big pictures and small text files, one size fits all
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Re: here's the big one!

Post by Gandolf »

nikos wrote: 2021 Feb 07, 15:32miller columns are not remembered on exit. Miller mode itself is not remembered on exit, you must turn it on every time you restart. Do you want to have miller mode on all the time? It could be annoying
I would expect it to be possible to save in a layout. "Layouts. Remember the position and the visibility of view panes and toolbars". If miller columns is not saved in a layout then that statement about layouts saving the view pane is not true!

I use several different layouts for different purposes and, if I'm going to use miller columns, I would want to save it to a layout. Otherwise, I probably won't bother to use it.
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