Set so focus stays home position after a sort?

wsfindlater · Post by **wsfindlater** » 2004 Dec 11, 15:47

Love xplorer even more than 2xexplorer except when I sort a pane the focus stays with the file, and I have to hit the home key to go back to the top to see the eg biggest or most recient file.
Is ther any setting wherby I can change this behavior, so that the focus always stays at the home position after a sort?
Have not been able to find an answer to this question in the help pdf or this forum.

Thanks

Post by **nikos** » 2004 Dec 11, 18:09

this is by design
to get quickly to the top/bottom you can use Home/End keys

wsfindlater · Post by **wsfindlater** » 2004 Dec 12, 01:23

OK, then my wish list request is that there would be an option to turn this "feature" off. The main thing I use a sort for is to find the latest file. Now I have to use a mouse click and a button push instead of one click to get the newest, oldest, largest smallest.... Personally, I do not like clicking on the mouse, and then hitting a key all the time. The way it is in MS Explorer, and 2xexplorer if I wanted to "follow" a particular file after a sort I would select it, and then scroll to it after a sort. Both of these moves could be accomplished with a mouse only.

RickyF · Post by **RickyF** » 2004 Dec 14, 13:22

I want to endorse WSFINDLATER's request for an option to turn this "feature" off.

I too want to be automatically taken to the top of the page when I sort for descending chrono. I expect this to happen as it is part of the normal Windows UI, so I am always a bit jarred by having to remember to hit another key to get what I want.

In the grand scheme of the universe this isn't a big item but it would be nice.

fgagnon · Post by **fgagnon** » 2004 Dec 14, 15:40

I find the feature both useful and preferable, because I more often want to keep the focus on the file I have selected to compare it with its sorted neighbors. :)

But it sounds like there are others use the sort for different purpose, and (for reasons not understood by me) would prefer the focus to be released, and the display show the sorted list "from the top"

I would have no problem with the suggestion, as long as it remains a user option.

BRX · Post by **BRX** » 2004 Dec 14, 16:42

I'm never against new options.

Though I never considered it a problem to hit an additional key to get to the top or end.

But the current way has to stay the default. Often enough I want the focus on a specific file to watch files with same size, date or whatever around it.

While it's easy to hit home/end key it might be an effort to locate the file in question again manually. So the current sorting scheme make much more sense to me.

BRX

RickyF · Post by **RickyF** » 2004 Dec 14, 18:15

I believe the appropriate behavior should be that if an item is selected, not just has the "focus", then one would design the UI to hold the selection on any sort command; however, if nothing is selected than the focus should by design go to the top of the window. This, by the way, is in keeping with the UI of Windows Explorer.

It is my belief that without a compelling rationale for violating the "standard" set by Microsoft a software designer writing software for the Windows OS should always maintain user expectations by following the MS design. BTW, MS often violates this principle and consequently irritates people. An example of bad UI design is that F5 updates the Windows Explorer window, F9 runs calcs in Excel, while depending on what version of Outlook you have either F5 or F9 checks for new mail. Consistency across applications make for a better experience for all users.

dpupello · Post by **dpupello** » 2004 Dec 14, 18:20

BRX wrote:Often enough I want the focus on a specific file to watch files with same size, date or whatever around it.

While it's easy to hit home/end key it might be an effort to locate the file in question again manually.

BRX's comments set off a lightbulb for a possible feature request (or Menu item):

Previous Selection.

It would be nice to have a menu choice that would select what was just selected, say before you either hit Home or End, or perhaps lost your selection by changing the folder, or for whatever reason lost your carefully orchestrated selection.

Come to think of it, this would be quite hard to implement because Xplorer would not only have to keep a running tally of the selection, but also in some cases make an educated (AI) guess as to when & where the previous selection began and ended.

Ah well, blah.

Dennis
dennisfp (at) yahoo.com

Post by **nikos** » 2004 Dec 14, 18:21

that's already possible: see the range of selection clipboard commands (Mark | Selection)

ps wrt focus-without-selection reshuffling, i guess you have a point but it has so many repercussions throughout the program that it's a major hassle to change, whether as an option or not. And since the workaround of <Home> isn't really the end of the world, i'd rather left it the way it is

dpupello · Post by **dpupello** » 2004 Dec 14, 18:44

Nikos, it's possible, but only if you choose to first save your selection manually. And yes, this is a great feature!

However, though I could have stated it more clearly, what I was aiming at was a sort of "Auto Previous Selection."

So that the "Previous Selection" command would work without the user having to manually store the selection before restoring it.

A sort of selection Undo for those times when you've carefully selected a bunch of files and then you lose the selection accidentally (or through clumsiness, or an errant keyboard macro, etc.)

Because let's face it, at least in my case, there are many times when the complicated selection is lost before you even realize it -- or just as you realize it. Doh!

Ah ha, after some fiddling, I guess the current answer may be to turn on Sticky selection before attempting any complicated highlighting!

Dennis

fgagnon · Post by **fgagnon** » 2004 Dec 14, 19:21

RickyF wrote:It is my belief that without a compelling rationale for violating the "standard" set by Microsoft a software designer writing software for the Windows OS should always maintain user expectations by following the MS design. ...

There are standards and then there are "standards" -- de facto, or otherwise.

... I had forgotten that what you describe is the default windoze exploder behaviour. :shock:
When I tried exploder again today, I re-recognized that one of the reasons that I do not use it is specifically the "standard" behaviour you are suggesting

A standard is only worth keeping if it has positive value; for me that behaviour causes extra work.
I will stay with the new xplorer² "standard", thank you.

RickyF · Post by **RickyF** » 2004 Dec 14, 19:51

I think x2 pro is a marvelous product and I am not endorsing MS, dog help me!

I am endorsing good and consistent UI design. If one uses a Windows OS than that is the standard, like MS or not.

It appeared to me that both wsfindlater and I expect "standard" behavior and we don't see it here. There is no real good reason not to emulate it as I described above, which I believe satisfies the "already selected state" that you want. I am sorry if you take umbrage that someone has a different opinion than you. I did not intend to offend, just to express my agreement with wsfindlater.

wsfindlater · Post by **wsfindlater** » 2004 Dec 14, 19:54

OK, Nikos, and others. Thank you for the response.
Still think xplorer is a great program.

fgagnon · Post by **fgagnon** » 2004 Dec 14, 21:41

RickyF,
I did not mean to apear to "take umbrage" -- in fact I supported the suggestion as an option at my earlier post, and still would support it as an option.

I only meant to point out that others like myself saw during our review-and-decide-to-buy process, and continue to see during daily use good reason to depart from the default behaviour shown by winExplorer.

I believe nikos did not provide this behaviour casually, but with improved useability intended (& extra lines of code to achieve it).

This thread is the first time (in my recollection) that some folks have expressed a preference for the (annoying to me) behaviour of the MS product, and I simply wanted to express what I believe to be the majority opinion on a rather minor topic. No offense intended.

RickyF · Post by **RickyF** » 2004 Dec 14, 21:54

Thank you for the clarification.