Some small bugs and some requests

quietbritishjim · Post by **quietbritishjim** » 2005 Feb 28, 03:59

Here's a few bugs I've found in xplorer2, have fun!

Navigate (e.g. using back or up) to a folder... if an item near but not at the top is selected the display is scrolled so it's right at the top (should only scroll if needed to show it).
On the Desktop, My Comp and My Docs aren't at the top when sorting by name
You often get full row focus rectangle outline (NOT selection highlight) when full row selection is turned off (e.g. alt+tab once or more)
I have xplorer2 set up to remember all my tabs from last time, and only ever to load folders in new tabs (I forget exactly how I did this, but I'm sure you're familiar with the mode). I also have it set up such that the default folder action loads x2, which naturally just opens a new tab in the existing window - all fine. The only problem is when I try to open a folder while xplorer2 is closed... instead of opening all my old tabs and also opening a new one for this folder I'm opening, it opens my tabs and replaces the last tab from last time with the new folder.
If I'm in My Docs or on the Desktop when I close x2, when I load it back up again they're in C:\Docs and Setts\...blah blah instead of their special locations (presumably applies to other special folders too, including their child folders). A bizarre exception to this is that it doesn't apply to the tab that's active when I close x2.
(From another thread): in a folder choose the up action then directly return to the folder you were just in (e.g. using back or enter)... the first item should be focused but not selected, but instead the item that had been selected is again (multiple selections are reduced to one though). This might be my interpretation of a feature though
Worse: I really like the "calculate subfolders size automatically" option, but it seems quite buggy. Sometimes it doesn't do anything (folders just have "<folder>" for size), often it stalls tabswitching or freezes x2 on startup (instead of threading nicely (at least I think this feature is the cause)). I *think* it also doesn't update individual folders as it calculates them as should, but because of its other bugs this was difficult to test.

Here's a few suggestions too, though from looking through this forum it looks like you've got enough on your plate already :)

Scrap folders in tabs (surprise ).
When in the mode I talked about above (i.e. tabbed, single window), if I run xplorer2.exe again I'd like it to just focus the current window (without opening a tab or anything), rather than start a new one.
Middle click on a tab closes it (consistency with Opera, Mozilla)
A shortcut key switch to previous/next tab (ctrl+pgup/down is usual, although this appears to be taken...). Perhaps I've just missed it.
The thumbnail viewer only appears to support a small proportion of media... it would be nice if this were extended (especially to MPEG-1 and some .avi types).
Thumbnail viewer support for text files (ideally using something like small fonts 5pt to cram as much in the little boxes as possible). Perhaps something similar with hex dumps too, but I'm not so fussed about that.
A way to make xplorer2 associated with Win+E (I'm currently using AutoHotKey to do this).
(Complimenting the first one) It'd be great if the search dialog could appear in place of the tree pane, much like explorer in XP (possibly others) does.
If in one-pane view and the tree is focused, all commands that only apply to folder lists (e.g. views button) should apply to the file list instead of giving an error message.

Sorry I've asked for so much, I know you won't rush to your code to implement them but I thought I'd at least mention everything. Despite all these points (most of them minor, after all) x2 really is an amazing file manager, certainly the best I've seen (and I've tried a lot of them). It was well worth the cash, thank you so much for an amazing program!

Post by **nikos** » 2005 Feb 28, 08:45

If I'm in My Docs or on the Desktop when I close x2, when I load it back up again they're in C:\Docs and Setts

that's because tabs are saved by pathname whereas the last active folder is stored as a pidl. Doesn't make much difference anyway

"calculate subfolders size automatically" option seems quite buggy

i think you are being misled by the long time it takes to calculate subfolder sizes, coupled with the asynchronous (threaded) mode of operation. You can continue working with items while such sizes are being calculated

tab amenities: see changes.txt there are shortcuts for closing and navigating left/right

The thumbnail viewer only appears to support a small proportion of media

looks like you have to install some codecs for the missing functionality

quietbritishjim · Post by **quietbritishjim** » 2005 Mar 03, 18:11

nikos wrote:that's because tabs are saved by pathname whereas the last active folder is stored as a pidl. Doesn't make much difference anyway

In that case, consider it a feature request instead

It can be quite annoying when you've got lots of tabs open, the tree view can become quite messy.

nikos wrote:i think you are being misled by the long time it takes to calculate subfolder sizes, coupled with the asynchronous (threaded) mode of operation. You can continue working with items while such sizes are being calculated

I'm aware of how the threading should work, my point is that it doesn't (or at least hasn't for me, on occasion). Often the UI thread is blocked by the calculation - nothing redraws and after a while windows reports that x2 is "not responding" - and the harddrive is whirring away (as it should) indicating that it's probably the folder size thing that's causing the blocking. When the calculation finishes everything returns to normal and the UI defreezes. I think this most often happens when the second-from-top tab starts the calculation and I use double-click on the tab in front to close it, but I'm not really sure.

The other (less common) half of this is that sometimes it seems not to calculate the sizes when the option is on (the hard drive is inactive, so it's easy to tell). I think this might be related to terminating the program when it's half way through the process (in the situation above), but again I'm not really able to reproduce, sorry.

This feature is only useful in some situations, so I've just turned it off for the time being anyway. I still thought I should let you know about this bug though.

nikos wrote:
The thumbnail viewer only appears to support a small proportion of media
looks like you have to install some codecs for the missing functionality

I can play these files fine and I have another file manager that shows previews fine. Perhaps you are only using VfW codecs and not directShow filters (or vice-versa)? Even MPEG1 doesn't show a thumbnail!

Post by **nikos** » 2005 Mar 03, 18:43

x2 (or me!) doesn't know anything about codecs
if your WMP is setup properly, it will play, else not!

if you can reproduce any of the subfolder-related issues let me know
in general the auto-size is disabled for root and network drives as well as all non-filesystem folders

quietbritishjim · Post by **quietbritishjim** » 2005 Mar 03, 18:52

Oh sorry, I was talking out of my arse! When I said "thumbnail viewer" I didn't mean the WMP quick preview pane - that plays all my media fine. I meant the thumbnail view for the main folder pane.

Post by **nikos** » 2005 Mar 03, 19:27

in that case you are probably being bitten by the max thumbnail size limit set in tools | options. Thumbnails are only extracted for "small" files by default

quietbritishjim · Post by **quietbritishjim** » 2005 Mar 03, 19:51

Holy Smoke, you're right! I feel like such a newbie

Thanks very much for your patience nikos, if my mates didn't all use linux I'd recommend this program to them!