Hello - Looking for Help

JDN · Post by **JDN** » 2004 Nov 30, 05:45

Hello,

I am trying to make the transition from Windows Explorer to 2XExplorer.

I'm afraid I don't understand the difference between the old and new version and the freeware and pro versions. I would like to try to learn about the freeware version before taking any other steps.

I have downloaded and installed what appears to be the freeware version. It installed itself in Program Files\2XExplorerZ1 if that helps you identify the version.

I have spent about two hours reading through the documentation and glancing at the text files in the install folder.

I would like to say that I very much appreciate many of Nikkos' attitudes and approach to this project. The documentation seems a little light but that is hardly a criticism. I publish some freeware apps as well and my doucumentation is insanely heavy. So it may just be a different attitude at work.

But, in my opinon, many of Nikkos' basic attitudes and insights are beautiful and I'd like very much like to use this application. The two things that really attract me are the use of filters and the ability to synchronize folders.

Please excuse me if I have missed anything obvious but I can't seem to find any explanations for the following terms which I would very much like to understand:

Mirror Browsing, Sync Scrolling, Sync on Contact, Sync Touch

I have tried to work with Mirror Browsing and Sync Scrollling and I get the idea that Sync Scrolling seems to lock the two panes so that most anything done in one pane is also done in the other. But I really can't tell just what operations are included and which are not.

The entire "Advanced" submenu of the "Mark" menu seems to be a total mysterty to me. I'm guessing there is probably some documentation somewhere to describe these six features. But I'm unable to figure out what all six do:

Advanced) Mirror Browsing, Sync Scrolling, Sync on Contact, Sync Touch
Containing Text, Scroll to Top

Also, I'd love to know what Sticky Selection does. I have tried many ways to get it to change from its "greyed out" state so that I may try it. But no luck.

It occurs to me that perhaps some of these features are greyed out pending my paying for a registered copy of the app? Is that correct?

In any event, I hope I don't embarass myself because I have missed some obvious documentation somewhere.

Any help that any reader of this forum can give me would be much appreciated.

If anyone is interested in looking at my freeware app - it is absolutely not a competitor to any of the products Nikkos has created) but users of 2XExplorer may find it useful,

It's called the XP Toolkit and it contains approx 100 new commands and filters that I wrote for Windows users to use on the command line. You may see it at http://blake.prohosting.com/jdnxxp It is tagged "The Commands that Windows Forgot"

I sincerely hope that telling people about my freeware app and posting its address does not contravene the rules of this forum. If it does, please delete that and excuse me.

But I thought it might be OK since it does not in any way whatsoever compete with any of Nikkos products and it is absolutely non-commercial open source freeware.

Post by **nikos** » 2004 Nov 30, 08:28

it looks like you are still using the old 2xExplorer
to get the new version, go to www.zabkat.com
there are tables comparing 2x and the new x2, and much better documentation that hopefully answers all your questions!

JDN · Post by **JDN** » 2004 Dec 01, 09:59

nikos wrote:it looks like you are still using the old 2xExplorer
to get the new version, go to www.zabkat.com
there are tables comparing 2x and the new x2, and much better documentation that hopefully answers all your questions!

Thanks for your reply. I visited the web site and downloaded the new version but was unable to find any help file in the install folder.

I saw under "Help" it said the help file was very large and available separately on the web site. I went back to 2 or 3 diff web sites (Simtel, Netz.com, etc.) but was unable to find any help files.

If you do not know about NSIS, it is a new installer comparable to Inno Setup but it produces EXEs that are typically 10 percent the size of the final install folder. That is what I use for my freeware and if you do not include the help file in the install folder due to size constraints - and if you have not heard of NSIS, you might like it.

If you know about NISS, please excuse me and can you tell me how to find the help file?

vserghi · Post by **vserghi** » 2004 Dec 01, 10:35

There is a quick start guide that comes as part of the installation. I'm not sure why your having difficulty in getting the manual, but here are the two mirror sites off Nikos's web site, where you can download the manual from.

http://www.ps.ic.ac.uk/~umeca74/x2docs.zip
http://netez.com/xplorer2/x2docs.zip

I think the problem is more to do with available bandwidth, rather than size constraints. But Nikos can help further.

JDN · Post by **JDN** » 2004 Dec 01, 13:41

vserghi wrote: I think the problem is more to do with available bandwidth, rather than size constraints. But Nikos can help further.

Thanks very much Vas. I have downloaded those files and will take a look at them now. I did see the guides but it didn't seem to explain the questions I asked in my original post, so I assume Nikos meant some other docs that explain the following features more fully:

Mirror Browsing, Sync Scrolling, Sync on Contact, Sync Touch, Containing Text, Scroll to Top, Sticky Selection

I still think there must be some more docs that do indeed explain them.

As far as bandwidth and size constraints go, I meant them in the same way. I see that the ZIP file downloaded with the modern Xplorer2_lite.zip setup is approx 800K and it expands into a folder containing approx 1.2 megs when installed.

Unless I am very mistaken, using NSIS will enable Nik to create an install program approx 10 to 20 percent of its current size (using its ZIP2EXE feature). I know that sounds crazy and I thought I was mistaken the first time I used NSIS but it uses some new method and by shrinking the setup file by a factor of ten, it makes it possible to transfer much bigger files over limited bandwidth. It actually does work for me. By the way, I am not affiliated with NSIS in any way other than the fact that I used it and it knocked me on my keyster (Canadian expression meaning "bum") due to the shock.

I hope that I am not going to embarass myself because I've missed something obvious. But I would like to try and make a small contribution to Nikos' great file manager if I can and I sincerely believe this would help things out.

In any event, I'm still trying to get the file sync feature working. I think I must be some kind of dummy if I can't sync some files in my hard drive to a floppy drive so that every time I change the content of the files on my hard drive, it automatically makes a backup to the floppy - or in my case - a handy drive. It would be such a great feature to get working. I shall persist. Thanks very much for your reply.

Post by **nikos** » 2004 Dec 01, 14:19

Mirror Browsing, Sync Scrolling, Sync on Contact, Sync Touch, Containing Text, Scroll to Top, Sticky Selection

looks like you are looking for answers to 2xExplorer's commands; you won't find them in x2's documentation!

there are similar commands in x2 and they should be explained somewhere: either the bitesize or full help or perhaps in the tips & tricks file. x2 does so much its documentation is massive and i admit rather disorganized. But if you search for a menu command by name in the docs you'll find where it is discussed

i am already using NSIS
the installer is so massive because it contains both unicode/ansi versions of the program+editor, not to mention 11 language dlls!

JDN · Post by **JDN** » 2004 Dec 01, 14:33

I see.

Thank you very much for your reply. I will continue to search for the info and I'd just like to compliment you once again for the beautiful job you have done.

hpp3 · Post by **hpp3** » 2004 Dec 01, 17:45

JDN, once you take a look over the help file take a look at Chapter 8. I started a thread a while back called 'Additions to chapter 8' and I think your XP Toolkit would be a great addition to that list, especially as users of the Pro version would be able to turn your toolkit commands into x2 commands. :)
Head on over and post!
-hpp3

JDN · Post by **JDN** » 2004 Dec 02, 20:53

Thank you hpp3. I will try to get over and take a look sometime this weekend. I have some things I need to get to first.

Thank all of you who tried to help me. I appreciate that very much and I apologize for being so dense.

I finally took a look at the xplorer2 Quick Start Guide and found it to be exactly what I needed. How excellent to have a single tool that will make automatic backups for any word processor, editor or other app I run. It reminds of a parallel situation where people create their individual hotkeys in a number of languages when they could use a single hotkey manager and standardize a lot of the hotkeys they use - such a better approach.

I would humbly like to make a suggestion. When the installation process runs, it does allow me to see the readme file - which displays a file named something like "changes.txt". That document says, "For more information please refer to the updated documentation."

During the installation process, that just didn't mean a thing to me. At that time, I had no chance of knowing to which file(s) you are referring and still don't. I would make a change to that file (or even better - one of the screens of the installation process) to say in emphatic terms that selecting the Help Menu and then "Quick Start" would display the "Quick Start Guide" and that guide is a very important source of info how some of the key concepts (like Filters, Synchronization, Mirror Browsing, Sync Scrolling, etc.) work.

That would have saved me a lot of time.

My intent is not to criticise Nikos at all. Having produced my own freeware/shareware packages, I know how terribly difficult it is to guide people with good documentation. It is immensely difficult to continually put yourself in the mind of the user and think whether everything you write in your documentation will be meaningful to people at the time they read it.

I have used hundreds of various apps and Nikos' apps are quickly becoming among my most favorite of all.

It is rare I find an app that makes me say, "Wow!" - usually because it means my productivity has just sharply increased or because it means that I have discovered a way to things in a way that is tremendously superior than what I was previously doing.

These apps made me say "Wow!" many times so far and I am continuing to learn more about them.

I sure wish I could figure out what a Sticky Selection does. But I haven't yet checked the Quick Start for that.

Anyway, thanks very much again.

Post by **nikos** » 2004 Dec 03, 08:39

many questions can be easily answered with experimentation

just turn sticky selection on and then use the arrow keys to scroll in a folder pane and see what happens!

JDN · Post by **JDN** » 2004 Dec 04, 10:36

Nikos,

Thank you for your suggestion. I like to experiment and learn a great deal that way.

Things continue to go well in my pursuit of learning Xplorer2. I have downloaded the full docs and have begun to get through the quick start doc. I really appreciate the quick start guide.

I now understand a great many more things than I did yesterday. In particular, I read in the quick start guide the section on Managing Files and Folders. It said:

To move the focus without affecting the existing selection hold down <Ctrl> or turn Mark | Sticky selection on.

I understand this and have seen it work when I hold down CTRL and move the cursor keys. But no matter how many times I try and in how many ways, I can't get the Sticky Selection Option to have any effect. In the main menu under "Mark", there is a sticky selection with a hotkey listed of Alt-S. There is a small blue pennant flag next to this selection and no matter how many times I click on this secletion or try to use Alt-S, it never seems to have any effect - neither on the flag - nor on the moving of the cursor keys and the affecting of the existing selection.

This is hardly a big problem. In fact it is quite small. But I just thought you should know.

JDN · Post by **JDN** » 2004 Dec 04, 10:52

Hpp3,

I had a look at that thread and your post.

Productivity has always been my main interest and focus when working with computers. I have developed a few productivity tools for my own use and have released some for the public as freeware. But I am not really in the same league as Nikos. I just create my tools for my own pleasure and release them as a hobby.

I have released two freeware apps that I think would be useful to anyone using Xplorer2. There is very little overlap. The toolkit is a command line tool and is not used in the same realm as Xplorer2. Yet I can see many ways in which it could enhance and support the use of Xplorer2.

I will post some info about those two apps in your thread.

Thanks very much for pointing me there.

Post by **nikos** » 2004 Dec 04, 12:31

if you can't turn on sticky mode, you must be using single click + track selection. The trackselect mode is incompatible with sticky; you'll have to use <ctrl> i'm afraid

JDN · Post by **JDN** » 2004 Dec 04, 14:52

Nikos,

Thanks again.

I am using single click. I have no idea what track selection is but I'm happy to have the mystery solved and I quite like using the CRTL with the cursor keys.

Now I have a new mystery to solve. I will try to find out what track selection is.

All in all, it is going quite well. I love using filters and hope to see how much I can automate the process of keeping a backup on my floppy/handy drives for my source files that have changed.

I remember back to the days of DOS when dealng with floppies was no problem because there was this SMARTDRV disk caching facility so I could write many small files to the floppy and it would carry on in the background. As I recall, reading many small files from a floppy worked quickly with some parameter to XCOPY or something else.

But I can't seem to find anything similar to do disk caching to a floppy today and I've been losing too many changes lately since I now use a second machine.

I really hope Xplorer2 will enable me to automate some facility such that every few minutes, it will scan the floppy to see which of my 100 source files have changed and then automatically back them up. That would be so beautiful for me today.

Post by **nikos** » 2004 Dec 04, 18:01

trackselect ... my bad! that's the technical term
you need to turn off Hover selection from tools | options | window if you want to see how sticky selection works

for your automatic backup needs see http://www.centered.com/