Special Background Colour for Zip Files

[mjbrookes]

Hi

By using the Advanced Options editor - When I apply a visual filter I can get a 'reminder' that I am within a filtered selection by changing the background colour

I would like to be able to set other background colours for when I am browsing within:-
* Compressed files Xip, Arc, Rar etc
* Encrypted files
* any others I think of

... is there any way to do this?
... for example, Is there a way to use Custom Colour coding to set background colours depending upon folder criteria.

regards
Mark

[Kilmatead]

No - the background colour of the pane itself is essentially a "constant" (aside from manual changes), the filter-colour is simply an exception (and the only exception, aside from active-status).

So, unfortunately, you can only identify the object itself with colour-coding, not its internal browsing state. (Considering you can't browse into RAR's anyway...)

[mjbrookes]

That is a disappointment.

I feel it would be quite useful to have a visual reminder of what 'environment' the pane's display is operating.

but presumably if this was easy, or in great demand, it would have already been done.

what do you think?

regards
Mark

[Kilmatead]

For my part, the idea is sound enough, though personally I find it hard enough to keep a set of colour-coding rules which are clearly visible across active/inactive/filtered panes alike, without worrying about what may become rather hard to see when the background starts going willy-nilly on me.

That and the notion that it would be leapt upon by all sorts of smart-alecks who would then want all manner of rules to be applied: "I want my C drive to be red, but not all of it; I want my F drive to be green, but only when there's a "touch me girl" in the current pane-path; I want zip folders to be brown, but only when there's a full moon and daylight-savings is not in effect."

Like I said, the idea is sound - but... nikos was never much of a visually oriented guy so what we have now is mostly a response to a decade's worth of popular-demand.

If you could drum up a million good reasons and a million user-demands, and especially a way to shoot the smart-alecks on sight... then perhaps...

[nikos]

so what will happen in a folder that has two kinds of your colored files, will it show zebra stripes?

[FrizzleFry]

you can change the background color for the file names using the path property with ".zip"

[pj]

you can change the background color for the file names using the path property with ".zip"

The OP requested the ability to change the background when browsing WITHIN a ZIP file or encrypted file, not when looking at a list of files that includes .ZIP files.

The information that one is within said environment is (buried) in the titlebar of the tab, as, for instance, the .zip file is listed within in the path, but who wants to read when we can have pretty colors!

[Kilmatead]

FrizzleFry's suggestion is a valid enough "kludge", as it does provide a method of de facto changing the background colour (albeit not of the pane itself, but of all displayed elements). As long as the colour rule (to change the background of objects whose Path [S] contains '.zip') is placed at the "top" of the rules list, it will take precedence over any other matching rules for filetypes. Naturally, this negates those other rules (if not modified by their own sub-exceptions placed "above" that primary rule), but it's a decent stab at accommodation.



(The first colour-coding rule to match wins, any others are immediately discarded. Nikos is not a combinatory sort of guy.)

This is not as refined in display-terms as the built-in variant (the filtered-pane colour), but it's an effective workaround for the desperate of heart. (It does, however, fall apart when there's zero items in a folder, or only a single item and it's selected - but beggars and choosers are the devil's own bedmates. )

[mjbrookes]

If you could drum up a million good reasons and a million user-demands, and especially a way to shoot the smart-alecks on sight... then perhaps...

Hi Kilmated,
HEY!
I aspire, one day, to be a SMART alec

so what will happen in a folder that has two kinds of your colored files, will it show zebra stripes?

Hi Nikos

Gooood Question ... ok ... how about ... instead of a new Background Option Colour would it be possible to add a thick Red border to the Pane?
The thick red border would then be an indicator that I was currently within a Zip environment, and should disappear when I browsed out of the Archive file. Presumably the Options setting would allow me to specify what file extensions I wanted to include as "zip/archived/compressed" files

If adding coloured borders is possible are there any other 'environments' that it would be useful to distinguish for other users?

This is not as refined in display-terms as the built-in variant (the filtered-pane colour), but it's an effective workaround for the desperate of heart. (It does, however, fall apart when there's zero items in a folder, or only a single item and it's selected - but beggars and choosers are the devil's own bedmates.

Hi Kilmatead
Hi FrizzleFry
What a very clever work-around for the desperate
I'm impressed with such a practical answer using what already exists
(thanks for the specific demonstration Kilmatead, helped me understand the idea)

I find the user-defined colour coding of files to be one of the Very Big and Most Obvious benefits of X2.
It is one of the first things that colleagues comment on when they see me using it, and usually ask me how I got Windows Exporer to do it
Adding to the coloring options by adding extra background colours, or possibly thick borders, seems to me to be a useful supplement.

Thank you all for your comments and ideas

Regards
Mark

[pj]

FrizzleFry's suggestion is a valid enough "kludge", as it does provide a method of de facto changing the background colour (albeit not of the pane itself, but of all displayed elements). As long as the colour rule (to change the background of objects whose Path [S] contains '.zip') is placed at the "top" of the rules list, it will take precedence over any other matching rules for filetypes.

Thanks for the "off-label" usage of color coding! I'll be adding that today...

-------------------------
PJ in FL

[Kilmatead]

It's funny - when I made that puke-lilac colour-coding rule for "inside zips" it was just as an example, but oddly I don't feel the need to remove it. I don't like effectively "losing" all my other rules when inside the zips (and adding 15 more rules to complement just this one is a bit much to expect even of my OCD-ness) - but there might be something worthy in the idea of doing it "properly" (since filters already have it there's no reason it can't be made a "global" rule option as part of the colour-coding page in general).

No doubt Nikos will consider the "kludge" approach to be more than enough to allow him to avoid actually having to work for a living; there is merit to the suggestion, as the kludge is seriously let down by the unavoidable "no items" or "one selected item" fubars.

In short, I'd vote Yes - though initially I was a No - especially never having been a fan of zip-browsing in the first place (gives people the wrong idea about archives).

[nikos]

I suppose we could have a registry tweak for a background color depending on the folder clsid (type), for zipfolders or any other kind of non standard folder

[mjbrookes]

so what will happen in a folder that has two kinds of your colored files, will it show zebra stripes?

Hi Nikos

(oops... after posting this, I have just found your latest reply, which may make all the comments below redundant )

I have been thinking more about your comment...

I was not (originally) thinking that the background of the file name would change colour,
instead I was proposing to change the background colour of the whole-folder-pane.
It would change once I browsed into a Zipped/encrypted file (/volume), rather like I have chosen the background colour when I am displaying filtered results.

so...
If there were more than one background-colour-criteria being met then;
* no, I would not propose stripes
* I would propose that there be a hierarchy of priorities ... like there is for Custom Color Coding file names:



Ideally I would imagine...
under the Customise menu:-
* Color Coding of files
* Colour Coding of Folder Panes
*** filter rules ... If selected-file is within a Zip folder, then pane-background-color = Cyan
*** filter rules ... If selected-file is within an {encrypted} folder, then pane-background-color = pale Yellow
*** filter rules ... etc .. other user defined criteria
*** filter rules ... etc .. other user defined criteria




So for example
Case 1
*** filter rules ... If selected-file is within a Zip folder, then pane-background-color = Cyan
*** filter rules ... If selected-file is within an {encrypted} folder, then pane-background-color = pale Yellow
If I am currently browsing a Zipped folder within an encrypted volume
Then the background would be Cyan

Case 2
*** filter rules ... If selected-file is within an {encrypted} folder, then pane-background-color = pale Yellow
*** filter rules ... If selected-file is within a Zip folder, then pane-background-color = Cyan
If I am currently browsing a Zipped folder within an encrypted volume
Then the background would be Pale Yellow


However if it were possible to specify both the
Pane-Background-color
and the
Pane Border color

Then I could set a rule like:-
* Colour Coding of Folder Panes
*** filter rules ... If selected-file is within a Zip folder, then pane-background-color = Cyan
*** filter rules ... If selected-file is within an {encrypted} folder, then Pane border color = thick Red

Case 3
*** filter rules ... If selected-file is within an {encrypted} folder, then Pane border color = thick Red
*** filter rules ... If selected-file is within a Zip folder, then pane-background-color = Cyan
If I am currently browsing a Zipped folder within an encrypted volume
Then the background would be Cyan and the border would be Red

what do you think

[nikos]

color coding already consumes a lot of CPU power so I don't want to make the system any more complex than it already is

in the beginning I misunderstood the suggestion. Now the idea is that if xplorer2 is browsing inside a zipfolder (which is a special kind of folder) it could have a custom background color. That's easy and no zebras in sight

[mjbrookes]

color coding already consumes a lot of CPU power so I don't want to make the system any more complex than it already is

this would be a good reason to not add more options

in the beginning I misunderstood the suggestion. Now the idea is that if xplorer2 is browsing inside a zipfolder (which is a special kind of folder) it could have a custom background color. That's easy and no zebras in sight

Wonderful





have a good day,
regards
Mark