x2 .32 many remarks for a great product :)

pila · Post by **pila** » 2003 Jun 18, 09:53

Hi,

First, x2 is really great tool. I just like selections, quick jumps (letter and shift+letter), filters, synching,

But it could be even better

At least in my opinion.

- I would appreciate x2 to kill Read Only attribute from the files when I copy them from the CD to the disk

- folder locking prevents user to delete folder in the folder pane - this feature is killing me. I have lots of data organized in the folders and I constantly delete or move folders. But: if I right click to the folder, I can delete it!? Typicall poweruser does not prefer to use mouse

I suspect it is also related to second issue: I open one x2 where I can see my digital camera (E:\dcim...) and open second x2 with root folder of my photos. After I transfer fotos from the camera to my PC, I close x2 insance used to view the camera. But, it still keeps locked my camera folder and Win 2x and XP will not let me stop the USB device. So, I must close second x2 (that was open with "/r:C:\my folder" and could not see digicam at all) in order to remove locking of E:\dcim...

- when I first enter a directory, I would like to see the size of it, not only the file count in the status line

- active directory when dual panes is not marked good. I should have menu switch to have "Locate in tree" allways active if I wish

- it would be even better improvement if I could have two folder trees when I use horizontal panes orientation and each folder pane is synched with the tree in front of it. As I said, I have lots of folders and when I have to do something it is pain to make sure that I have the right folder. Often, their names do not mean much to me, but their position in the tree does (I am moving aoruhd photos and texts a lot, I am a journalist. SO for each articel I can have one or several sets of the illustrations, some articles might not go into the current issue but I must move them to the next or to the archive...). I did not like Norton Commander and used PC Shell

Ideally, I would be able to define root folder for each pane separatelly. I would also appreciate command line parameter that would let me define if x2 would open with two panes or in single pane mode. I often copy images from my digital camera to a PC. All images share the same root folder and digicam is removable disk E: Why not open finished setup that would let me see what I want?

- when I have two file panes open, I can hardly distinguish which one is the active? Why? I have changed my default background color from the white to the gray (typicall thing to do if someone is working with photso professionaly). So, if you can make a frame around active pane and give a user the choice of active pane color, it would be great.

- when I have two panes and am switching back to one pane layout, pane with the cursor in it (active one) should remain open, and not the first pane.

- synch tool is great, would it be possible to extend it so it can search a tree instead of just the current folder?

- x2 is slow to show the correpsonindg icons when I hit some folder for the first time in the session. It can take several seconds, even for just 29 files (as I just tried).

- would it kill you to include in the menu horizontal/vertical panes switch

I am betting this is drag for many users. I know how to do it, but I must remember to take a peek to my home computer

Post by **nikos** » 2003 Jun 18, 10:28

x2 is under development so it's a bit rough around the edges at the moment, but more stuff are being added nearly on a daily basis

we've discussed about folder locking many times in this forum, please use the search feature to locate them. I'm not sure if you are talking about the deactivation of the [Del] key in the tree though (this is by design to protect accidental deletes). Deletion is only available through the context menu

the digital camera issue is interesting because such locking shouldn't have happened (unless you have used the "synchronize" command between your camera and "c:\my folder" which locks both folders till you stop viewing them both). It could suggest memory leaks in your camera software. It's hard to tell without any hardware to test it on

> when I first enter a directory, I would like to see the size of it

the total size is not calculated from the beginning for efficiency purposes. If you want to see the total just press [Ctrl+A] to select everything. Efficiency wise, x2 delay loads the icons, that's why you think it is "slow to show the correpsonindg icons". It isn't; you can start working immediately without waiting for the icons to load

> menu switch to have "Locate in tree" allways active

see FTCOPT_AUTOSYNCVIEW in alpha.txt
there's only one tree per frame, you'll need to clone another frame to have a second tree

> command line parameter that would let me define if x2 would open with two panes or in single pane mode

use /1 or /2 as explained in alpha.txt

> I can hardly distinguish which one is the active

x2 uses the background window color and the foreground button color for the active and inactive views respectively. Just make sure they are not the same!

> synch tool is great, ... extend it so it can search a tree ?

you need to open a dual scrap frame for that and use the flatten path command

remember: alpha.txt is your main resource to figure out the features that you think may be missing. I know I haven't been updating it lately but most of the commands I added are in the menus for all to see

and I promise that for x.33 I'll do some writing!

pila · Post by **pila** » 2003 Jun 18, 11:43

we've discussed about folder locking many times in this forum, please use the search feature to locate them. I'm not sure if you are talking about the deactivation of the [Del] key in the tree though (this is by design to protect accidental deletes). Deletion is only available through the context menu

I read a lot about it. I know you want this, but I think it is an annoyance. And obviously, I am not alone since I have seen this question pop up frequently.

I am talking about both deactivating the Del key also. What is to prevent me to press Delete in the files pane? So, there is no reason to prevent it in the folders pane. Ask me if I want to delete the folder and all its subfolders, and if it is empt just delete it. At least, give some configuration option that would let powerf users return del key.

the digital camera issue is interesting because such locking shouldn't have happened (unless you have used the "synchronize" command between your camera and "c:\my folder" which locks both folders till you stop viewing them both). It could suggest memory leaks in your camera software. It's hard to tell without any hardware to test it on

I did not use synch. I did open two x2, each with its own root folder: one was root "c:\my documets\my pictures" and other was d:\dcim... I do not use any camera software. it is connected via the USB and Windows 2k, XP see it as a "removable hard disk". For my home computer with w98se, I had to install small USB driver to get the same result. But, it reacts the same in all 3 OSs

> menu switch to have "Locate in tree" allways active

see FTCOPT_AUTOSYNCVIEW in alpha.txt
there's only one tree per frame, you'll need to clone another frame to have a second tree

sorry, my mistake

I managed to miss it

> command line parameter that would let me define if x2 would open with two panes or in single pane mode

use /1 or /2 as explained in alpha.txt

Well, I can not find it. alpha.txt I got with the ,32 version explains ,29 as the latest one

> I can hardly distinguish which one is the active

x2 uses the background window color and the foreground button color for the active and inactive views respectively. Just make sure they are not the same!

They are not the same, but due to my photoediting and photo viewing needs, I have (for such uses) typical all grey colour scheme. So, there is a difference. One pane is slightly lighter and second one is slightly darker, but they are both vrey similarily gray

Thanks for your speedy response and keep up the good work

Regards,
Davor

pila · Post by **pila** » 2003 Jun 18, 11:53

> menu switch to have "Locate in tree" allways active

see FTCOPT_AUTOSYNCVIEW in alpha.txt
there's only one tree per frame, you'll need to clone another frame to have a second tree

sorry, my mistake I managed to miss it

Now that I have tried, I remembered what the real problem was. Yes, I did try this tweak, but it introduces a bug that is important to me: when I change this value from dec 3 to dec 19, and start x2, it opens folders pane without exploded subfolders, showing only the root folder.

Post by **nikos** » 2003 Jun 18, 12:53

i can't reproduce what you observed about tree's autosync; when I set the registry value to 19 (decimal) it goes as advertised. Please make sure you are not entering a hex value in the registry editor (the default)

wrt [Del] in the tree, I guess you're right, I shouldn't be that protective of users! I'll turn it back on

for /1 just open alpha.txt and search for "/1" and you'll find it described for build .21

I haven't got a clue why your camera gets locked. Perhaps there's a leak in the windows code that makes it look like a folder, perhaps there's something wrong with x2, I can't tell for sure

pila · Post by **pila** » 2003 Jun 18, 13:08

i can't reproduce what you observed about tree's autosync; when I set the registry value to 19 (decimal) it goes as advertised. Please make sure you are not entering a hex value in the registry editor (the default)

OK, try the My Documents folder and make sure there are subfolders in it. Now call x2 with the:

"C:\Program Files\x2alpha\xplorer2.exe" "/r:C:\My Documents"

and with the binTreeOptions set to 3 dec and afterwards with 19 dec (13 hex).

In the first situation, it will open My Documets as a root and will show all the folders inside it at the fodlers pane. In the second case, it will only open root directory and wil show nothing else in the folders pane.

Post by **nikos** » 2003 Jun 18, 15:56

this depends on the active folder you start browsing from

if it is "c:\your docs" then yes it won't open up sub-branches
but as you browse in that part of the namespace, branches will be automatically opened and kept in sync

pila · Post by **pila** » 2003 Jun 18, 21:51

yes, I know and I wrote that. But, should it not behave in the same manner. Ideally, I would like to be able to control opening of the branches.

I have circumavented this bug (in my view) using my macro generator. But, now it bothers me that when tree is synched, it will not open up the branches if I do enter folder in the files pane. It will just move to it in the folders pane, but will not open its sub-branches.

How about making it behave by default one way, e.g. "automatically expand the branches" with the switch to kill this behaviour and turn it to "do not expand branches automatically" when they are open in the files pane. I am talking just about the first level of the sub-branches.

I would still like to be able to define the color for the inactive pane. It is quite problematic for me to destroy whole balance of my desktop just to be able to differentiate active and non-active files pane

Also, double folders pane in the horizontal view would be great. Although, now I do solve it by opening two x2, eah with just one files pane.

I use it in horizontal pane layout, but I am not able to get scrap to display horizontal panes. Am I missing something?

Post by **nikos** » 2003 Jun 19, 07:42

ok now in autosync mode the tree opens the branch below the selected folder at all times. I hope this will satisfy all autosync users -- I am not one of them!

for the inactive pane color, you'll need to be patient till I add the title bars for the panes. In the meantime you can tell the active pane from its selection which is usually displayed in bolder colors

for the scrap frame you need to edit binDualPaneFlags[/u] under the ScrapFrame Settings key (its separate from the main frame)