Yes, xplorer2 DOES have a Launchbar

[Gary M. Mugford]

This was a question I had when I first came to xplorer2. I'm still nowhere near an expert in the program, but I can now safely say, xplorer2 DOES have a launchbar. I've seen responses in this forum to the question from newcomers, and frankly, those answers can be a bit defensive and/or abrasive. The Way-As-Designed for xplorer2 is logical but counter-intuitive to some users from other programs, where drag and drop launchbars are a much-used feature. So, I have written a tiny tutorial for a simplified approach to the launchbar issue. I hope this helps other newcomers researching xplorer2 as a possible alternative to their last file manager of choice.

 GM

YES, xplorer2 DOES have a launchbar ability. The difference is that it is NOT a drag and drop kind of launchbar.

Coming to the program from such other programs, such as Powerdesk and ExplorerPlus, the expectation is that a modern-day file manager will have a launchbar, an internal feature that will mimic a quick launch toolbar where you can drag shortcuts AND drop data files onto pre-existing shortcuts. xplorer2 does have a version of the drag and drop effect in the mini-scrap feature, but it tends to be transitory. In reality, the launchbar feature in xplorer2 requires extra work, but it results in a more powerful feature set.

And the result is that you don't have to drag at all!

The first task is to set up a user command. Do that by clicking Customize|User Commands|Add new. For the sake of argument, I will be using setting up a text editor with a blank page as the first example. When the dialog box comes up, type NewTxt into the Name field. Then type in the following in the description field (again, this is specific to MY editor, change according to your specs):
> "E:\apps\utils\metapad.exe"

The > is one of several command initiators available in xplorer2's user command language. The documentation will show you more. I habitually enclose the actual command in double-quotes, although strictly speaking they aren't needed when the file and full path to that file are free of spaces. It's a good habit to fall into.

Click OK. I know you will be interested in the icon and the keyboard shortcut, but they are disabled for the time being. You CAN press the info button. It will give you info you are not quite ready for, so ignore it too. So, I repeat, just click OK.

If you now go into Customize|User Commands, you will now see at the end of the list of commands, your new NewTxt command, probably with a number beside it. Pressing that number OR clicking on it, executes the command. Test it out. Now, go back to Customize|User Commands and click on organize this time around. Within in this dialog, the two key buttons initially are the delete button and the edit properties button. Delete is self-explaining. It deletes the highlighted user command. The properties button (Equivalent to hitting enter), then brings up that same dialog you used to add the command. But this time, everything is enabled.

You can see the icon xplorer2 automatically assigned to the command. It is the icon from the application you used within the description. If you change the default icon to custom, you will get a change icon dialog similar to any desktop shortcut change icon feature. I'm going to recommend you go spelunking for a different icon for this command, for reasons I will explain later. After finishing that process, click OK to the Change Icon dialog. At this point, you can add a shortcut. You have the option of using any number in combination with any of the control, alt or shift keys. It's a little limiting, but if you are a mouse-clicker, it can be ignored completely.

It's now safe to click OK.

Now, we are going to repeat the process to add a command I call OpenTxt. In it, I do exactly the same, but this time I type in:
> "E:\apps\utils\metapad.exe" $F

This is where those command tokens found in the INFO button come into play. The $F is the full filename, including path, of the currently selected file. Read the INFO list and check out the documentation. Those tokens can really break up the information about the currently selected file(s) to an amazing degree. But we are trying to keep it simple right now.

Test out the latest user command, by selecting some text file in xplorer2. Then traverse the menu to the command and give it a try. SHOULD bring up the file in your preferred editor. If it doesn't, go in and edit the user command to include double-quotation marks around the $F. They are sometimes needed.

We have now duplicated the inherent Windows capability to edit a text file with three clicks on the menu, rather than just mundanely double-clicking on the file!! But the power of doing this is more readily evident by looking for non-text files that are, in fact, text and using the command on them. Examples would be html files, bat files, ini files and programming language files, like .pas, which is used for Pascal programming. All should work, coming up in the editor, rather than launching their application, and then loading.

Still, three clicks on the menu are still cumbersome. The final step is to set up our OWN launchbar. To do that, go to Customize|Toolbars|Add new. This will create a toolbar, which I named ME. You might want some other name (G). You will be able to fill that bar with any command, not just user commands. But we are going to stick with that right now. On the left, scroll down about half-way. You will hit the user commands area, which will start with User Commands 5. In fact, NewTxt and OpenTxt will be right above them. You can add them using the Add button or drag and drop. Re-ordering the buttons on the bar can be accomplished using the mouse or the Move Up/Move Down buttons. When finished click on Close.

And finally, we have our LAUNCHBAR!

The difference, as stated earlier? No dragging. Instead of dragging a file and dropping it on OpenTxt, just click OpenTxt. Meanwhile, starting a new file is as simple as clicking on NewTxt. YES, there are two buttons for the task your old program used one button for, but big monitors mean lots of toolbar space. And even if you are constrained by using a laptop with limited screen space, the extra button isn't all that space-consuming. And you can use this template to add whatever buttons you need, to handle your file management and use requirements.

For example, I trust Windows' default extension handling for lots of files. And I use the launchbar for doing things differently (Yes, I could also use the Open With shell extension, but I prefer a single click). For example, I use Foxit Reader for PDF files. But I have an Adobe Reader button on my launchbar for those rare PDF's that Foxit chokes on. Similarly, I normally use Windows Media Player Classic for media files, but I have a VLC button for those files WMPC has issues with.

The user command language, which will bring back your batch file programming skills, is rich and has the ability to do much, much more than just launch programs, with or without, opening specific data files. It's worth reading the documentation just to open your eyes to the possibilities. But that's beyond the scope of answering the question initially posed by many.

So to answer the question I had, and others have had over the months, xplorer2 DOES have a launchbar. It's just different.

[fgagnon]

Thanks, Gary, for that explanation/tutorial.   :)
Maybe narayan can even incorprate something like that into the UM.

[nikos]

as an extra feature the latest 1.8 beta allows command buttons to be drop targets, which means that you can have a notepad button and drag-drop a text file on it so that it opens with notepad

[Gary M. Mugford]

Well, I tried. Guess I should have asked if it was a good idea to document my experience.

On the other hand, I have to admit, this old dog likes his old tricks and drag and drop in 1.8 will be welcomed.

Appreciate the heads up.

[Kilmatead]

Well, I tried. Guess I should have asked if it was a good idea to document my experience.

All documented experiences are welcome, especially arduous ones (drug-addiction, social isolation, marriage break-ups, etc.).  And x2 learning curves as well.

The hesitation that comes from answering this question broadly (what you rather accurately called "defensively"), is that it's hard to address the simpler question new users have, which is "Why isn't it easier? My last programme <x> just worked, why make users with no knowledge (or interest) in words like 'parameter' and 'argument' and 'token' bother with them if they don't want to?"

The "more power/flexibility" argument is in itself a philosophically defensive stance - it has the virtue of being true, but suffers the humiliation (in the cold light of day) of an incomplete/insincere posture.

I had a physics professor many years ago who refused to answer any question that started with the word "Why?"  He was quite adamant on his distinction: Scientific method is very clear on the how of things, but it cannot answer the why of things.

Taken literally, the professor's strictions were perfectly reasonable - science is, after all, the dominant religion of this age, so it gets to define "what the truth is" - everything else is philosophical hypothesis.

The problem is, humans are not wholly rational, wholly compromising beings; they like their familiar quirks, their total-denial-of-reality opinions.  They would claim such esoterics as a "Right" (which in itself would indicate something of their fears) - pretty much what Shakespeare was all about.

Not a fond man for scientific method, was our Shakespeare.

My point, in a round-about way, is that no matter how helpful the coaching Method for dressing up User-Commands in mufti ("Launch Bar") may be, it is ultimately unsatisfying for some new users to have to jump through hoops just to do what "my old application <x> did all by itself".

Which is why drug-addiction, social isolation, and marriage break-ups are all so necessary in the real world.

(No offence Gary, I'm not hijacking the thread, this is just my role around here: view things through a wide-angle lens, within reason.  Doesn't always work, but I try.  I applaud, not detract, your tutorial experience; I harbour some suspicion that Nikos finds a secret glee in forcing us to learn these things as we do.  The Marquis de Sade may have been his distant cousin.)

[fgagnon]

(ROTFL!)

[Kilmatead]

this old dog likes his old tricks and drag and drop in 1.8 will be welcomed

It should also be clarified that the 1.8 addition comes with caveats, mainly that you will still have to manually set up the user commands and toolbar association yourself (as in the above tutorial) - 1.8 will only add the (curiously limited) ability to drag and drop objects onto the aforementioned buttons, not the ability to drag and drop new links to a bar.

[nikos]

i've said it before and i'll say it again? what's wrong with the miniscrap? there's your true drag=drop launchbar. Put it in a narrow strip to remind you of a toolbar if you want. Or switch to detailed view mode and make it really narrow reminding you again of a vertical toolbar

[Kilmatead]

Nothing's wrong with it per se, it's simply the awkwardness of not being able to (easily) arrange them as desired, and, in the case of folders, the inherently dangerous capacity to accidentally delete the folder itself, rather than the link, if desired.

Given a choice, I would always use user-commands anyway - the miniscrap always struck me as an idea you had for greater flexibility in general use (as opposed to a permanent toolbar) - and then one day you woke up to Perseus' Whisper and said "Hey, I know, it'll work for this other thing too!" which you interpreted as having one less thing to code that day.

As any decent (usually dead) Greek hero will tell you, if they could speak, nothing beats a bespoke implementation of features.  Achilles probably didn't rely on plug-ins for his sword and shield to get through the day - he had them forged by the Gods.

Would new users expect no less?  

[RickyF]

3 steps to launch a program

1. Click the Start button or press the Windows key and the system focus is placed in the Start Menu Search bar.

2. Type a few letters for the program you want to launch. For example type "wor" for Word and almost instantaneously the search will return WordPad and Microsoft Word (if installed).

Use the cursor keys to move down if the wrong one is selected

3. Press Enter.

The program launches.

No special set up or additional utility is required.

[FrizzleFry]

The simplest from of launch bar is just a folder of shortcuts.

You can then just add a bookmark to that folder in x2...

Or you can open a tab for that folder...

Or you can dedicate one of the panes to that folder...

Or you can create a simple layout and then load it like this:

<path to x2> /S:<simple layout> <folder of shortcuts>

You can add an x2 user command and toolbar button for the command above or you can add a shortcut to your desktop.

[Gary M. Mugford]

Well, I tried. Guess I should have asked if it was a good idea to document my experience...

No offence Gary, I'm not hijacking the thread, this is just my role around here: view things through a wide-angle lens, within reason.  Doesn't always work, but I try.  I applaud, not detract, your tutorial experience; I harbour some suspicion that Nikos finds a secret glee in forcing us to learn these things as we do.  The Marquis de Sade may have been his distant cousin.)

None taken. I have 'rules' my programs follow and, on occasion, a customer will ask why. And I answer, cuz it's more comfortable for me. (dialog edits of records rather than in-place edits being a favoured complaint from one and all). So, I understand Nikos' stance in the matter as much as the next user. Do I agree with his choices? No, not completely. But it's HIS program.  He's earned the right by sheer force of effort to do things as he will.

That said, I applaud his meeting us 'launchbar loonies' halfway with the drag and drop of data files. It means if I forget (and I've already done it once), NOT to drag a datafile to my nice pretty editor icon, it will work. But I AM doing my best to resist the urge. But I'm old.

And NOT pressing ctrl-shift-Z to zip up a file or files is driving me batty!

GM

[Gary M. Mugford]

It should also be clarified that the 1.8 addition comes with caveats, mainly that you will still have to manually set up the user commands and toolbar association yourself (as in the above tutorial) - 1.8 will only add the (curiously limited) ability to drag and drop objects onto the aforementioned buttons, not the ability to drag and drop new links to a bar.

Having prematurely bounced in with a post that's out of date with the release of 1.8, I'm going to await its release before saying anything more or ask any questions that it might answer. Sometimes its better to be thought a fool that to hit a reply button and confirm it.

GM