strange characters in date column

andymax · Post by **andymax** » 2004 Aug 31, 18:32

I have a small screencap of the behavior here:

http://www.freedom-works.com/temp/xplor ... _thing.jpg

I tried a couple of searches and didn't see any relavent info.

What's with these extra characters in the date column?

TIA,

Andrew

fgagnon · Post by **fgagnon** » 2004 Aug 31, 19:50

I've not seen that before.
It should not be that way.
I note that it is anomalously different for the files, vs. the folder.
Is it the same for all files, or only files in that folder, or on that drive?
And does windows Explorer display the dates for those files the same way?
When did the strange characters first show up?
...
Unless you have set the x2 registry string variables
szCustomDateFormat & szCustomTimeFormat to a specific user preference, the date/time display format should be the same as what you see in windows Explorer.

[edit: fixed typo]

Gandolf · Post by **Gandolf** » 2004 Aug 31, 22:06

I've had a similar corruption to the time-stamp occasionally but never been able to reproduce it in a reliable manner. I'll keep a more careful eye on it now.

andymax · Post by **andymax** » 2004 Sep 01, 01:47

fgagnon wrote:I've not seen that before.
It should not be that way.
I note that it is anomalously different for the files, vs. the folder.
Is it the same for all files, or only files in that folder, or on that drive?
And does windows Explorer display the dates for those files the same way?
When did the strange characters first show up?
...
Unless you have set the x2 registry string variables
szCustomDateFormat & szCustomDateFormat to a specific user preference, the date/time display format should be the same as what you see in windows Explorer.

Here's another screenshot (uncropped, different folder):
http://freedom-works.com/temp/xplorer_date_thing2.jpg

It appears to be very quirky. As you can see in this screenshot, the left pane shows funky characters, while the right pane showing the same folder looks correct. Windows Explorer looks normal.

Almost every time I start xplorer2 the left pane starts out displaying this way. It might be every time, but I'm not positive. Clicking elsewhere in the directory tree seems to correct it, but hit <CTRL> + I from the RIGHT pane and it reappears. <CTRL> + I from the LEFT pane doesn't do it. In fact, I've never seen the funky characters in the RIGHT pane. Clicking Back or Forward seems to fix it. Clicking on the path above the directory listing seems to bring it back. And it doesn't seem to matter what drive I'm displaying.

As far as I can remember I've seen this since I installed the pro version a couple of month's ago.

I have not edited any registry settings.

Thanks,

Andrew

fgagnon · Post by **fgagnon** » 2004 Sep 01, 03:05

This is a strange intermittant ...
Almost looks like a timing issue or a non-current OS shell.
or even a display driver quirk (but I doubt it).
What is your OS and shell version (check shell32.dll properties).
& how much free resources does your machine have?

You might try setting explicit time & date formats in the registry string variables I mentioned earlier.
To use the same format as your screenshots, they would be
szCustomDateFormat = M/d/yyyy
szCustomTimeFormat = h:mm:ss tt

To have a fixed width date date & time, you might try
szCustomDateFormat = MM/dd/yyyy
szCustomTimeFormat = hh:mm:ss tt
(that's not the real issue here)

but, really, I am pretty much at a loss for what might be going on.

andymax · Post by **andymax** » 2004 Sep 01, 04:09

System Stats:

Win2000 Pro SP 4
ASUS A7N8X-X MB (NVIDIA NForce2 chipset)
AMD Athalon XP 2800+
512 MB total RAM (about 350MB free)
NVIDIA G-Force MX 420 64 MB graphic card

Shell32.dll version is: 5.00.3900.6922

I did notice one other oddity. The wierd characters appear to have little arrows pointing either up and right or up and left... when I select the right pane & hit <CTRL> + I they appear like this:

http://freedom-works.com/temp/xplorer_date_thing3.jpg

I then select left pane, hit <CTRL> + R, and the little arrows reverse direction!

http://freedom-works.com/temp/xplorer_date_thing4.jpg

I'll try setting the registry date format as suggested, but not until tomorrow.

I hope this info helps. It's kind of hard to describe.

At least one thing has been gained. From messing around for my previous post I found how I can clear it (clicking directory tree or back/forward button), although it's temporary depending on what I do next. It makes it kind of hard to see my dates, but at least the program is still usable.

Post by **nikos** » 2004 Sep 01, 07:51

this being a leap year, unless one is an incurable sceptic, one has to concede that x2 is always trying to point towards silicon valley, depending on the orientation of the computer at the time

i would also recommend checking your control panel date settings, playing with them a bit, although this is so quirky that i doubt it will have any effect

you can also try the other modified column supplied by explorer (use alt+K and scroll towards the middle of the list)

Gandolf · Post by **Gandolf** » 2004 Sep 01, 08:15

That's reminded me. I had the complex script and right-to-left language settings installed at one point (a friend staying with us wanted to send some e-mails in Hebrew). That may have caused the strange effects. I'll try and check if time permits!!!