Setting Colored Folder Icons in x2 (Revisited)

A collection of especially useful xplorer² topics and ideas. New users may find it helpful to look here before searching the other forums for information. >>>>>> Please post new material in the relevant forum. (New stuff posted here will be removed.) Thanks. -fg-

Moderators: fgagnon, nikos

Kilmatead
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Posts: 4569
Joined: 2008 Sep 30, 06:52
Location: Dublin

Re: Setting Colored Folder Icons in x2 (Revisited)

Post by Kilmatead »

Update to 2.7.1.7 - mainly bugfixes, plus a few esoteric things I added just for my own amusement. Thanks to those who reported odd bugs. Link in original post above is current - if I ever touch this again, someone please shoot me first. :wink:
Changelog for 2.7.1.7 wrote:; Added: LNK Shortcuts to folders are handled identically to Reparse-Points (Ignoring/Querying/Following, etc - Reflection may be optionally embedded [bEmbeddedLNK])
; Added: Option to show warnings for assignments on removable drives when icon duplication is disabled (only queried once per instance) (bWarnRemovable)
; Added: Custom File entry will change to <Import to Menu> if no folders are selected, allowing ICO, EXE, or DLL icons to be extracted/copied directly into the icons folder (and thus the menu itself)
; Added: Option to remove the read-only attribute (ROA) after <Remove Icon> (if the folder has Comment [S] text associated with it, the ROA is left in place, as it's needed for text-display)
; Fixed: Last Accessed timestamps were not preserved alongside the last Modified timestamps (now API-level, not stock)
; Fixed: Menu-scaling (DPI) of icons could be distorted if conflicting with the current theme's DWM-Composition status
; Fixed: Memory allocations for icons were improperly released
; Fixed: (Regression) SymLinks and Junctions would not reflect target icons when targets were assigned root-folders
; Fixed: Icon paths were incorrectly reverted when duplication of temporary-extractions failed
; Fixed: Expected x2-pane refresh wouldn't occur if processing was aborted prematurely
; Fixed: Menu issues with recursion settings (tracked even when the entry itself was removed from the menu; initial <Ctrl> key state could be ignored on popup-opening)
; Fixed: Error-recovery modals were shown for each subfolder when they should have been suppressed after the first one
; Fixed: Queue-advancement could fail to completely reset internal definitions when recovering from previous errors which the user chose to 'ignore'
; Fixed: Failed to recognise x2-Lite's GAOPT_NOVISTAGLASS status
; Fixed: Disabling x2 integration didn't remove everything (pseudo-hooks, the configuration options in the GUI, etc)
; Fixed: Changes in settings were saved even when they were meant to be discarded
; Fixed: GUI irregularities (<Esc> key handling in edit fields; Custom-file dialog didn't track properly under XP; case-correction could be lost on path verification)
; Fixed: Folders could be assigned multiple times if link-targets overlapped
; Fixed: Recursion loops weren't detected
User avatar
kunkel321
Gold Member
Gold Member
Posts: 534
Joined: 2008 Jan 05, 18:58

Re: Setting Colored Folder Icons in x2 (Revisited)

Post by kunkel321 »

Kudos on this tool, Kilmatead! When you originally wrote v1, I did not yet have access to Win 7, so didn't use, and forgot it existed...
I've now rediscovered it and am impressed. Will play around more and see if I can break it....
Kilmatead
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Posts: 4569
Joined: 2008 Sep 30, 06:52
Location: Dublin

Re: Setting Colored Folder Icons in x2 (Revisited)

Post by Kilmatead »

kunkel321 wrote:Will play around more and see if I can break it....
If you could "play around" with Audrey Hepburn would you have tried to break her? Oh, the dearth of gentlemanly behaviour in this day and age is consistently amazing. :D Whatever happened to the innocence of courtship? Why do men have such differing levels of respect for the multitudes of objects in this world? Should not we all be awed daily just by the breaths we are allowed to take? No wonder the Gods despise our existence.

That said, I'd be surprised if you could break it - I use it daily under many strange conditions (reparse-hell), and I think I've ironed out all the major bugs and anticipated the "Doctor, it hurts when I do this" moments even the creakiest of users love to find. :wink:

The only thing left that bothers me is that the display scrolls-around when the (necessary) x2-Refresh kicks in - I will have a fix for this (at least in details-view) soon, so assigning icons will not only be instant, but virtually invisible and distraction-free.
moorpipe
Member
Member
Posts: 9
Joined: 2011 May 31, 19:51

Re: Setting Colored Folder Icons in x2 (Revisited)

Post by moorpipe »

Hi!

Just found this nice looking tool. In the unlikely event that it isn't my cup of tea after all, how do I remove it? Skipping through the source code, it looks like I have to remove some registry entries?
Second question -because I'm too chicken to test it my self- is this tool also capable of changing system folder icons like library icons and special folders icons like pictures, downloads and desktop? Can I change those icons back to their default settings?

Thanks in advance
Kilmatead
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Posts: 4569
Joined: 2008 Sep 30, 06:52
Location: Dublin

Re: Setting Colored Folder Icons in x2 (Revisited)

Post by Kilmatead »

If you don't use the context menu entry options and only use it (as suggested) from a toolbar button, then the registry is never used at all.

However, there are two keys that may be used, but these are automatically removed if you simply uncheck the context menu option before deleting the EXE.

That said, if you need to do it manually the first is HKCU\Software\Classes\Directory\Shell\Set Folder Colour

And the second (which only exists if you activate the "Embed .LNK icon references" extended option which is disabled by default): HKCU\Software\Classes\lnkfile\Shell\Set Folder Colour

Again, the best way is to just untick the context menu entry first and it's all clean. Or, better yet, just use it from a toolbar button and the registry is never touched. :shrug:

While my personal recommendation is just not to touch them, system folder icons can be changed, but the user is responsible for this themselves because not all folders act the same way. For example, you can change the icons on My Music, My Pictures, and My Videos, and those should be returned to their defaults if you later use this utility to remove the new icons... however this rule is not guaranteed for any or all such objects, due to their nature and the OS involved.

That being said, even if you take the bull-in-the-china-shop approach to physically removing desktop.ini's in those folders yourself (which this utility does not do), you can always just fix them manually, so you can never do any real damage. :wink:
xerkon
Member
Member
Posts: 15
Joined: 2013 Apr 28, 03:52

Re: Setting Colored Folder Icons in x2 (Revisited)

Post by xerkon »

Hi, Kilmatead. I've been working with about 4000 scanned photos which represents a lot of work so I have been paranoid about making backups. As was bound to happen sooner or later a lapse in diligence found me editing scans in a folder that was meant to be original, untouched photos. Oops. I was able to restore using one of my backups, so no harm done. I was telling my dad about what happened and, although he's as computer literate as dirt (compared to me--I'm at least earthworm level 8) ) he said to me, "You need to have colored folders so you don't get mixed up!" For a second I was tempted to lie: "Oh, good idea dad, but I thought of doing that yeeeaaaarrrs ago! I looked into it but it just can't be done." Instead I took the high road, and that's how I ended up here. Good ol' Dad!

Question one: (Screenshot below) Colored folders seem to have one thumbnail size and also don't show folder content. Is that just the way things are or did I miss a setting somewhere?

Image

Question two: (Screenshot below) Any way to have new folders automatically take on color of folders already there?

Image

Neither of those is really a big deal compared to now having a way to basically throw up a big "danger" sign in front of my will-somehow-manage-to-screw-it-up shenanigins! :wink: Thanks for your hard work!
Kilmatead
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Posts: 4569
Joined: 2008 Sep 30, 06:52
Location: Dublin

Re: Setting Colored Folder Icons in x2 (Revisited)

Post by Kilmatead »

xerkon wrote:Question one: Colored folders seem to have one thumbnail size and also don't show folder content. Is that just the way things are or did I miss a setting somewhere?
They won't show folder content because that sort of thing is handled by Windows itself and does not appear to be a live overlay, so Windows generates the whole image on the fly (folder, tiny content and all). As far as I know "that's just the way it is". :wink:

As to the icon size - well, you see, back on the school playground Nikos and I had a scam we used to play on the other kids: he was known as Nikos the Chince from his habit of teaching other children how to play poker with questionable rules, and he would take all their milk-money away from them.

Afterwards, I (who was known as Kilmatead the Kind) would let them win half of it back just so they didn't feel short-changed and run home to mummy complaining about us, and Nikos and I just split the profits without ever being ratted-out. :D

Now, though, 35 years later, it turns out that I was actually the cheap one because when I originally made this utility I just took whatever silly icons I could find - which had a top-size of 48x48 - but newer versions of Windows are happy enough to extract stuff like 128 and 256 and use them to "fill the space" properly. :shrug:

Ironically, if you look through the "default" icon collection I provided in the download, other icons like the Camera.ico found under "Miscellany" actually do provide the larger sizes, and so will expand accordingly.

Image

My basic idea was just to give people an idea as to what they could use and leave it up to them to source an icon collection they might find useful and more to their taste. I just use details view all the time so never saw a need for anything above 16x16, conservative old-timer that I am. :D

There's a user around here called Kunkel321 who is sort of a self-styled Icon-King and may be able to find something more suitable if he's paying attention and is interested in helping out for a change. :wink: (Feel free to send him lots of PM's about it, just so he gets a taste of his own medicine. :twisted: :D He may or may not demand half your milk-money, but I doubt it - he seems like a decent chap.)
xerkon wrote:Question two: Any way to have new folders automatically take on color of folders already there?
Not without writing a whole other utility (which would seem a bit overkill), or (in extremis) replacing the default icon-image in Windows itself, which you don't really want to do for all sorts of reasons. :D It wouldn't make much sense either, as ten folders in same directory could have 10 different icons on them - which to choose for the new folder? Hence, leave it up to the poor bedraggled user himself.
xerkon
Member
Member
Posts: 15
Joined: 2013 Apr 28, 03:52

Re: Setting Colored Folder Icons in x2 (Revisited)

Post by xerkon »

Based on how wonderfully entertaining your posts are to read, I would be shocked to find out that you aren't a published author. It's so refreshing, considering that the majority of forum posts seem to have come from the mind of an 11 year old cocker spaniel. Your posts unfailingly make me think to myself, "Damn, I wish I could write like that!" It usually takes me 5 paragraphs to say what boils down to a sentence a two. This paragraph is a perfect example. Here's what I should have written:

You write good.

See? Same thing in three words.

Anyway, thanks for your explanations and your wit. I'm not sure if I've earned the right to torture poor Kunkel. Maybe he'll come around on his own. Okay....well, it looks like my D: drive has about 4234 folders. I'm going to use your program to give each and every one of them a unique color of the rainbow. Wooo-Hooo, Yippeeee, here......I......GOOOOOOOO! (There's a little voice in the back of my head telling me that this is a bad, bad idea, but I hear little voices all the time and normally choose to ignore them! :shock: )

(***edit - just realized something--how will I get 4000 unique colors out of the seven-color rainbow? hmmmm.... :oops: )
Kilmatead
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Posts: 4569
Joined: 2008 Sep 30, 06:52
Location: Dublin

Re: Setting Colored Folder Icons in x2 (Revisited)

Post by Kilmatead »

xerkon wrote:...the majority of forum posts seem to have come from the mind of an 11 year old cocker spaniel.
11 years for Cocker Spaniel is actually a pretty good age for one so boney, droopy, and small, full of so much curly experience and blithely sleepy summers. I should think many of them have a great deal of knowledge to bequest. Then again, had you had been born with an undeserved Kardashian haircut, would you be surprised that the world didn't take you seriously either? The Spaniel brigade get a bad rap for all the good they've done. Think of them like the Trappist's of the dog world, brewing, brewing, forever brewing their beers for an ungrateful world who listen not to the message behind their wisdom. :cry:
xerkon wrote:I'm not sure if I've earned the right to torture poor Kunkel. Maybe he'll come around on his own.
And yet (by thy screenshots) you felt the need to torture poor Virginia's source-folders above? :shock: She'd be in tatters, she would, if she weren't already in mourning over the recent death of Joe Cocker, the Spaniel's last hope of recognition in this god awful human realm. Since Kunkel is always ranting about his x2 skins and icon-sets, the least he deserves is tonnes of fan-mail from the great unwashed! In these days so lacking in the dolorous warmth of canine sleepy time, we cling to what little appreciation we can get; when ye barbarians cometh into our quiet gardens banging your coloured drums, we humble ourselves in your attentions! :wink: Give him a good scratch behind the ears and Kunk will forget all about the milk-money he could be getting instead.

In any event, just Google for folder-icon sets, you'll find millions - if you're going to use a gypsy-lot of them, you best get it right the first time. Just stick them in the icons folder and presto, the shedding fur is whisked away from the oh so comfy old couch. :D
xerkon wrote:You write good.
The moderators are falling over themselves screaming at you: Please do not encourage the local wildlife! They have enough trouble as it is clearing away last-year's Kilmateadian detritus!
RightPaddock
Gold Member
Gold Member
Posts: 428
Joined: 2011 Jan 23, 18:58
Location: Sydney AU

Re: Setting Colored Folder Icons in x2 (Revisited)

Post by RightPaddock »

When I need an icon (doesn't happen often) I go here ==>> http://findicons.com/pack

RP
Windows 10 Pro (64 bit) version 1809 - Xplorer2 version: Pro 2.5.0.4 [Unicode] x64 2014-06-21
xerkon
Member
Member
Posts: 15
Joined: 2013 Apr 28, 03:52

Re: Setting Colored Folder Icons in x2 (Revisited)

Post by xerkon »

Holy Smokes! There be some icons, for Shizzle! I started browsing but quit in panic when I realized each and every neuron firing in my brain was starting to have its own icon! Thanks, though.

That makes me wonder. If one could freeze time at this very instant and count all of the icons in existence, how many would there be? It would almost have to be an outrageously unreasonable number!! :party:
pj
Gold Member
Gold Member
Posts: 471
Joined: 2006 Jan 26, 14:01
Location: Florida

Re: Setting Colored Folder Icons in x2 (Revisited)

Post by pj »

Another Sunday morning, another puzzle over a K-utility... :roll:

Installed a seemingly simple tool and it just doesn't work!

OK, it works, at least as far as Win Explorer is concerned. The changes show up in WinEx and in the Properties dialog, but even a restart of x2 can't force x2 to show the new folder icons.

What is my feeble, caffeine-deprived mind (SO's detox program "gift") missing???

---------------------------------
PJ in (it's NOT raining -- yet!) FL
Kilmatead
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Posts: 4569
Joined: 2008 Sep 30, 06:52
Location: Dublin

Re: Setting Colored Folder Icons in x2 (Revisited)

Post by Kilmatead »

Tools -> Options -> General (Tab) -> Item Icons -> Normal

Not 'Simple' or 'Plain', but 'Normal'. Normale, normaal, нормальный, gnáth, κανονικός, eðlilegt, kawaida, caadiga ah, normalny... :shrug:
pj
Gold Member
Gold Member
Posts: 471
Joined: 2006 Jan 26, 14:01
Location: Florida

Re: Setting Colored Folder Icons in x2 (Revisited)

Post by pj »

"Normal" - I'm anything but. :twisted:

However, the setting change did fix the issue. :beer:

---------------------------------
PJ in (cloudy but STILL no rain!) FL
Kilmatead
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Posts: 4569
Joined: 2008 Sep 30, 06:52
Location: Dublin

Re: Setting Colored Folder Icons in x2 (Revisited)

Post by Kilmatead »

Everybody wants to be different. You know, for a rocket-scientist, you seem to exhibit an awful lot of space-cadet tendencies. :wink:
Post Reply