https://www.zabkat.com/test/xplorer2_se ... t_beta.exe
there have been many low-level changes so if you are using older windows (7, XP etc) please be extra vigilant
thanks for any feedback!
changelog:
* FAST SHELL PROPERTIES
A long overdue low level improvement, now xplorer² will show non-stock file properties much quicker, so shell properties are cached like [S]tock properties. You will notice the difference if you are using audio ID3 tags (duration, bitrate etc) and camera EXIF properties. Also works for {X]tended legacy column handlers and WDX plugins. This change affects many program features, showing file details, sorting, filtering and searching for shell column data.
This is a pervasive change, which hasn't been tested very well for older windows, so if you are still on windows XP or older and you discover anything weird with file properties please let me know
* [Ult] xplorer² can handle floating point properties like System.GPS.LatitudeDecimal, and also any real numbers returned by WDX plugins. If you are searching using such numbers as filter rules, note that at present the limits are integer, e.g. you cannot search for GPS latitude 23.35 but you can search for range from 23 to 24 which is almost the same thing.
* ESCAPABILITY. If xplorer² is busy reading or filtering with slow file properties, you can try pressing ESC key (keep it down for a while if need be) and it will abort whatever slow job it is currently busy with. More potentially slow operations like quick filtering and auto-refreshing will present a progress bar on the status bar, giving you an idea of the remaining time.
* Registry tweak nFastFilterCnt (=512) will switch to a quick sort order by NAME, in case you enter a big folder (with more items than this limit), if you are normally sorting by a slow property like MP3 Duration. This is a temporary measure, the next (not huge) folder you enter will be arranged by your default sort mode. Set nFastFilterCnt to 0 to disable this protection feature.
* FOCUSED DIALOGS. Whenever a dialog window or message appears, the main window is alpha-shaded, to help focusing on the message at hand. This behavior can be turned off setting the advanced registry option GAO2_NOSHADEDLG. This feature requires windows 10 or later.
* EDIT > COPY FILENAMES menu command copies just the filenames (without the path). The older ALT+C command has been renamed to COPY PATH NAMES so you can tell the difference. Each selected filename is copied in a separate line. If CTRL key is pressed, filenames are in one line separated by commas FILE1.TXT , FILE2.TXT
* [P] The results of TOOLS > CHECK DUPLICATES menu command are presented in bands of alternating background colors, so you can tell duplicate file groups apart. Now these bands are better indented using divider lines.
* [P] Custom folder status indicator. When browsing a folder with custom settings (a folder where you have used ACTIONS > FOLDER SETTINGS > SAVE menu command), a status bar icon will appear (next to free space indicator).
* [P] A registry tweak called nMaxMinisearch controls how many items appear in popup minisearch window (a feature introduced in v5.3). When more results are found, xplorer² stops searching and you can use CLICK FOR ROBUST SEARCH to see if there are any more results. The default value of 28 maximum results fits nicely in the available popup window screem area. If you increase this limit, you may need to scroll to see more results.
* Dead (unresponsive) folders in quick access list (folder tree) can be deleted with context (right click) menu as well as with pressing DEL key. Note this doesn't affect the real folder, it will just stop showing in the QAL
* When you click on QUICK ACCESS (top item) in tree's QAL, you get to browse the recent items folder, which will be arranged by DATE automatically, so you can easily see the files you've worked with most recently, regardless of your usual sort mode.
* Dark mode improvements, messageboxes and progress bars now paint in dark colors
* multimonitor DPI improvements
* Browsing into recycle bin is much faster, if there are many items inside. Sorry we lost autorefresh in the bin, but you can manually press CTRL+R to refresh the contents if necessary. In general you should empty the recyclebin from time to time, so you can browse it quicker, and clean up used disk space.
* [P] Delete files in deep folders automatically uses trash (permanent) deletion instead of an error message. Recycle bin doesn't support deep documents, so be careful, your deletions cannot be undone!
* Advanced option GAO2_MIDMOUSETAB (available in the advanced settings editor) lets you open new tabs using the middle mouse button. Click on any folder with the middle button and it will open in a new tab. This will work only when a single folder is selected. It is possible to simulate a middle button click with a 3-finger gesture on your mouse touchpad, see your touchpad windows settings. Without this option, middle mouse button toggles the selection state of the clicked item without harming any other selected items (like sticky selection)
* Folder tab right click menu has a FIND TAB command for ribbon users. Use it to search for a tab by a partial name
* [P] New macro command ADDTEXT can be used to add text to an edit control
* editor² version 2.992 supports ADDTEXT macro and also shading and dark mode improvements.
* [P] TOOLS > FOLDER STATISTICS command places a question mark icon overlay on folders that were not read for one reason or other (errors or junctions).
* SVG vector images can be previewed and will also show thumbnails
* [P] bigger boolean icons for file search and other similar advanced filtering dialogs
* bugfixes
