Single instance only

Whitman · Post by **Whitman** » 2005 Jan 08, 14:08

Any chance of getting a setting (registry tweak or otherwise) to disallow multiple instances of x2?
Don't ask me why but I prefer working with single instances of applications, but sometimes I forget that I have x2 open if it is hidden between many other apps so I end up opening another instance. :)

Post by **nikos** » 2005 Jan 08, 15:27

(didn't i just reply to that?

)

each new x2 window is in fact in the same process
it won't cost much to your system, only a little more than opening the folder in an extra tab! You can have as many open as you like without problem

Whitman · Post by **Whitman** » 2005 Jan 08, 15:38

It's not a resource issue, it's an organisation issue.
I'd prefer it for the same reason that I use Firefox in single window mode and for the reason that I hate Microsoft Office apps opening each new document in a new window. I don't like cluttering up my taskbar to such an extent that the buttons on the taskbar become so small that there is barely any text to distinguish which button refers to which document.

Robert2 · Post by **Robert2** » 2005 Jan 09, 04:10

Have a look at http://www.p6c.com/Products/P6Just1.html

Whitman · Post by **Whitman** » 2005 Jan 09, 21:13

I don't really want to pay for the option to only have one window open at a time.

wsfindlater · Post by **wsfindlater** » 2005 Jan 09, 21:14

You can get this "run or start" action for free along with a world of other great stuff using Powerpro.
http://powerpro.webeddie.com/

pila · Post by **pila** » 2005 Jan 09, 23:15

as the previous post says, get the PowerPro. I use it for 8 years (originally it was named Stilleto), and this is the single best application for Windows I have ever seen (and I have provessionaly reviewed tons of them in my 18 years as a professional journalst)

Only problem with it, it is not as easy on novices since it has so many features and can solve practically all and any problems one can encounter working on a PC and significanlty improve and spped up the quality of your work. It is best used for starting applcaitions, and I use it to add macro commands to my Windows.

O, and it is free (no catch).[/u]

edbro · Post by **edbro** » 2005 Jan 10, 20:42

How do you get Powerpro to allow only one instance of Xplorer2? I am fairly proficient with powerpro but I don't know how to do that.

By the way, I have built many add-ons to Xplorer2 with Powerpro. I have an iconized drive bar in the middle of my caption bar and a right click on the right side of the caption bar brings up a list of often used commands, etc.

snakebyte · Post by **snakebyte** » 2005 Jan 19, 20:41

Even I'm dying to have single instance feature enabled in Xplorer2. If xplorer2 is launched again with some other folder as command line parameter, I want xplorer2 to simply add a new tab of that folder to its current instance.

I dont want to make Xplorer2 as my default explorer, but if Xplorer2 is launched using folder shell context menu with the above feature, it will avoid taskbar clutter of multiple X2 instances.

Having this feature in Xplorer2 will make it more cool :)

Post by **nikos** » 2005 Jan 20, 07:45

what i don't understand is why, once you are running x2, you are using something else to launch folders and then expect them to load in x2? why not manage the whole play from x2 in the first place?

Whitman · Post by **Whitman** » 2005 Jan 20, 12:22

Like I mentioned in my first post, sometimes I'll forget that I have it open, especially if I have a lot of other applications open.
Also it just becomes habit to move the mouse to a certain position on screen which is always visible and click to run xplorer2.

Robert2 · Post by **Robert2** » 2005 Jan 20, 19:47

Greetings–
I can see 3 practical solutions for this:

1. Why not press Alt+Tab? You would immediately see if xplorer² is running.

2. Why not resize your Windows Taskbar when the xplorer² tab gets too small for correct identification? The Windows Taskbar can display running applications on several rows. Program tabs get bigger as there are more rows.

3. If too many programs are cluttering up your Taskbar, you could put some of them in the System Tray. I am using TrayIt for this purpose. If you register explorer² with TrayIt, it is automatically minimised to the Windows System Tray. It can then be activated by a single click on its “new” System Tray icon. In this way, you would never run 2 instances of xplorer². Xplorer² is only minimised, then reactivated from the Tray. TrayIt is freeware and is available from http://www.teamcti.com/TrayIt.

Cheers
Robert

Whitman · Post by **Whitman** » 2005 Jan 20, 23:08

Robert2 wrote:1. Why not press Alt+Tab? You would immediately see if xplorer² is running.

Alt+Tab requires my hand to be on the keyboard. Also it would still take longer to navigate to xplorer2 through Alt+Tab than it would to single click on an icon that is always visible on my desktop.

Robert2 wrote:2. Why not resize your Windows Taskbar when the xplorer² tab gets too small for correct identification? The Windows Taskbar can display running applications on several rows. Program tabs get bigger as there are more rows.

I don't use the explorer shell.

Robert2 wrote:3. If too many programs are cluttering up your Taskbar, you could put some of them in the System Tray. I am using TrayIt for this purpose. If you register explorer² with TrayIt, it is automatically minimised to the Windows System Tray. It can then be activated by a single click on its “new” System Tray icon. In this way, you would never run 2 instances of xplorer². Xplorer² is only minimised, then reactivated from the Tray. TrayIt is freeware and is available from http://www.teamcti.com/TrayIt.

That's impracticle as the system tray wasn't designed for that use. It's more of a notification area and for apps that run in the background and only occasionally need things changing.
Also, having an app in the system tray then looses the ability to see the window title. You're probably going to say that the window title can be seen by hovering the mouse over the icon, well yes, it can, but that is time consuming and requires more interaction than simply glancing at the taskbar.

It's all about efficiency.

Robert2 · Post by **Robert2** » 2005 Jan 21, 00:35

Greetings–
I don’t get it. Do you mean that your Taskbar is not resizable?

If your problem is to have only one instance of explorer² running, I don’t understand why you’d need to have a look at its window title. You only need to bring it up to the front. This is what the TrayIt icon does. The TrayIt xplorer² icon is perfectly identifiable at first glance.

Quite often window titles are not required before you can make up your mind whether you want to bring applications up or not. Especially with applications that have only one instance or one window running…
Cheers
Robert

Whitman · Post by **Whitman** » 2005 Jan 21, 12:21

Robert2 wrote:I don’t get it. Do you mean that your Taskbar is not resizable?

No, it's not, not in the sense that I can just drag it to make it bigger anyway.

Robert2 wrote:If your problem is to have only one instance of explorer² running, I don’t understand why you’d need to have a look at its window title. You only need to bring it up to the front. This is what the TrayIt icon does. The TrayIt xplorer² icon is perfectly identifiable at first glance.

Quite often window titles are not required before you can make up your mind whether you want to bring applications up or not. Especially with applications that have only one instance or one window running…

See my first reason for not wanting to use the system tray. It wasn't designed for harbouring active applications but as a notification area.
Also it's a habit and ease of use issue. If I send xplorer2 to the tray then I need to find a 16x16 icon which could be in an arbitrary place in the system tray. Not difficult but annoying at 1600x1200. As it stands now I have to move the mouse to the same location onto an icon approximately 32x32 which expands to be bigger on proximity. I use a dock application, similar to that of the mac dock.

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Single instance only

Single instance only

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