xplorer2 v2.0

[TheHatMan]

I am about to start work on x2 v2 with the following main additions:

docking toolbars for quickview, tree etc
new unlock keys (sorry about that )

Does that mean one has to purchase the new version?

[nikos]

all people with lifetime upgrade insurance will get a new key free of charge. Other people will have to pay some upgrade charge, not sure exactly how much. But once in 7 years I am entitled a little salary raise, no?

[dburns]

To Kilmatead and IneedHelp,

I really appreciate the time you took to look at my QuickJump issue.

Once again I reinstalled X2 (as Explorer Replacement), and now everything is working fine. I can use FireFox to dl a file, open QJ, and the dl window updates to my chosen destination directory. X2 doesn't appear at all, which I guess from your posts, is the expected behavior.

I don't know what changed, or what I am doing different, but it seems X2 works fine with QJ, so please ignore my feature request.

Again, thanks folks for commenting and troubleshooting.

[IneedHelp]

I don't know what changed, or what I am doing different, but it seems X2 works fine with QJ, so please ignore my feature request.

Does it even work when you focus the address bar in X2? Normally, after you click the address bar in X2 and you invoke a path with QJ, it should send you to the desired location (in the same window, same tab). That isn't working for me currently.

I just see QJ trying to send me to the requested path but X2 steals focus right before it (QJ) sending "Enter". If you clicked a folder previously (before focusing the address bar) you'll see that it opens the folder in the end.

[Michaelm]

Sure you are Nikos

About that GAC support.
I've been doing a bit of read up on it myself and it turns out that since .NET Framework 4 shfusion.dll  is obsolete.
Turns out you can better use the gacutil /l command to get a list of files installed in the cache and then parse it and show it nicely in the pane
I agree it's not the most elegant but the output can be easily parsed so that shouldn't be a problem, even on systems with different cultures.
Beats showing only an empty 'Download' folder as it is now if you ask me.
I'm sure you could even handle offering installing with drag and drop or copy & move but I would be happy with just being able to view and sort the files like the windows explorer has.
Shouldn't even take that much time for an experienced programmer like you.

[dburns]

Does it even work when you focus the address bar in X2? Normally, after you click the address bar in X2 and you invoke a path with QJ, it should send you to the desired location (in the same window, same tab). That isn't working for me currently.

I'm seeing the same thing, now that you mention it. If I highlight the address bar, QJ will not go to a folder. If the X2 address bar is not selected, QJ works correctly.

I tried the same thing in Total Commander and QJ worked fine.

I'm not sure I'd call this a bug, because it's easy to work around. But, there it is.

[IneedHelp]

If the X2 address bar is not selected, QJ works correctly.

Yeah, but doesn't that cause QJ to open a new Xplorer2 window?

I think the correct functionality we're looking for is QJ opening the requested path in the currently active tab.

[mjbdiver]

all people with lifetime upgrade insurance will get a new key free of charge. Other people will have to pay some upgrade charge, not sure exactly how much. But once in 7 years I am entitled a little salary raise, no?

I personally wouldn't mind paying a small (hint, hint) upgrade fee.

I have a suggestion for the F7 key, which creates a blank file with the TXT extension. Xplorer2 should ask which extension I want to use for the file as I don't always want to create TXT files. Sometimes I create batch files or just a blank INI file for some applications to run portably on my flash drive.

I would also like to see enhanced file renaming functions in which I can rename just the extension of a file.

Mike

[Kilmatead]

Xplorer2 should ask which extension I want to use for the file as I don't always want to create TXT files.

Under Tools -> Advanced Options -> Layout Settings -> New File Extension, simply enter a '.' and F7 will create files with no explicit extension, allowing you to add whatever extension you want at the time.

I would also like to see enhanced file renaming functions in which I can rename just the extension of a file.

Ctrl-F2 will highlight the whole filename (including extension) when renaming, which also has the added benefit of removing that daft Windows warning about changing filename extensions.

[Kilmatead]

I think the correct functionality we're looking for is QJ opening the requested path in the currently active tab.

My first inclination would be to say that's up to QJ to implement, not x2 - however, as x2 is impertinent enough to think it can replace explorer on the registry level, Nikos opens himself up to these types of requests, which is fair enough.

That said, as QJ appears to be a seriously overpriced utility for something that can be done with a little scripting (AutoIt/AHK) for free (which would then allow you to add whatever options/compatibility you could think of) I'd say caveat emptor instead.  (This is just my opinion, of course.  Developers seem to fall into two distinct classes when it comes to dealing with compatibility conflicts: those who think the world should adapt to them, and those who go out of their way to build in exceptions for every Tom, Dick, and Harry utility in the universe.  Hard to say which might get the upper-hand in the end.)

[IneedHelp]

My first inclination would be to say that's up to QJ to implement, not x2

If you've noticed, when you focus the address bar in X2, QJ tries to send you to the requested path, but fails to do so as X2 steals focus (right before QJ sends 'Enter' to the address bar), so when dburns said that If the X2 address bar is not selected, QJ works correctly, I was curious to find out what he means by that.

Does it open a new xplorer2 window or does it open the desired path in the currently active tab.

I have a hunch that he'll say it will open a new window which is the correct behavior when you don't have the address bar selected, but I want to hear it from him. The functionality we're looking for is QJ changing to the requested path, but we know that's broken, so I want to know what dburns considers to be correct functionality.

[Kilmatead]

QJ tries to send you to the requested path, but fails to do so as X2 steals focus (right before QJ sends 'Enter' to the address bar)

As I've since removed QJ, I won't test it again, but I don't recall seeing this - for me it just opened another instance of x2 whether the address bar was being used or not, and I saw that as the "expected" result.  I suppose it's rational enough to assume integration if you're using tabs, but if it's "trying" to send the folder location to the address bar in the first place, how does another instance get spawned instead?  Or is that only when x2 is default, so the registry kicks in?

Explorer replacement mode is generally accepted as banjaxed and largely unnecessary - it came about originally from people doing it on their own anyway (indeed some of the solutions were rather ingenious in their own right and better implemented than the "official" means).  But unless an application is prepared to replace explorer wholesale (not just the superficial interface people seem to dislike so much) it does tend to end up in limbo-esque (would "limbotic" be a word? ) circumstances such as these paired with 3rd-party utilities.  Actually, more interestingly, how does QJ interact with other Explorer-substitutes as regards address-bar/tab injections?

[IneedHelp]

Actually, more interestingly, how does QJ interact with other Explorer-substitutes as regards address-bar/tab injections?

I think it's acting more like a macro tool. When it recognizes and address bar or a dialog that asks to browse for a location, it quickly sends the path and then confirms it (by simulating Enter).

I believe that because when I focus the address bar in xplorer2, QJ quickly copies the requested path to x2's address bar, but fails to confirm it because x2 steals focus (or at least it seems it does that) and Enter doesn't get to be sent while the requested address is active and instead it opens the previously selected folder in the current tab.

[mjbdiver]

Under Tools -> Advanced Options -> Layout Settings -> New File Extension, simply enter a '.' and F7 will create files with no explicit extension, allowing you to add whatever extension you want at the time.

Amazing. I've been using xplorer2 for years and had no idea it can already do the things I'm wishing for. Thanks for the tips, Kilmatead.

[Tuxman]

Just for the record:
Directory Opus 10 added native view of virtual folders like "My Computer".

Really funny to see that x² did it years ago.