More (?) bugs and Hey ! A suggestion ! :)

[Stefan]

Hello, and Uh, sorry in advance as much text is coming your way

First of all congratulations - x2 is the first file manager I seriously consider to replace the MS windows explorer. Well, provided that there's a solution for even some of these problems:

1) x2 works noticeable slower in relation to windows explorer. Moving about 30 files with 50 kb each I can really watch them being shifted in two turns - like there's a prematured window refresh at half-time (maybe that's the point ? anyway, it's quite irritating)

2) SO annoying: Practically any application semms to be able to mess up x2's icon cache, causing the wrong (or no visible) icons to be used. Restarting x2 or using TweakUI is the only way to fix this bux which happens over and over again.

3) There's a really seamy bug when deleting objects: x2 doesn't adjust the scroll bar so the focussed object is not in view. I don't think this is intentional, unless it's intentional you're in no-man's-land after deleting a huge block of files.

4) Finding duplicates with x2 ... hmmm ... I regulary need to compare two (sometimes more) folders with constantly changing content. All right: Saving those folders as a scrap preset in order to -> Open content file -> Select all > Check duplicates. But unfortunately the scrap containers don't seem to work this way. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but scrapped folders always become handled as file objects instead of being accessed. Therefore I have to collect the whole content of these folders (one holds 5000+ files which freezes x2 about 20 seconds when put into the scrap container !) before I can start searching for the duplicates (which by the way isn't very fast as well). Facing this, a "look-here-for"-functionality within the scrap containers would be very welcome.

5) A bothersome visual flaw: When "Full row selection" is OFF and "Autmatically shift focus to after activation" is ON, the full row focus frame still gets applied as soon as the window frame becomes inactive or an object is going to be renamed. Frequently this full row focus frame is left behind on the screen, cut off beyond or before the "name" column (see screenshot below). I get this with both Windows XP and ME.

6) I added a recycle bin to "My Computer" using this .reg (Windows ME):

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}]
@=""

In windows explorer the bin remains nameless ... now take a look how x2 calles it (and please take notice of the incomplete full row focus frame):



would be fine if both gets fixed

7) If succeeding files are going to be renamed, auto-re-sort causes a LOT of trouble as it always catapults you out of the queue. Disabling automatic re-sort again and again would be maddening of cause. So here's something that does not only get rid of this problem, it even enhances x2 by a new function. Fancy a "Semiautomatic" button inside the Mass rename window, already owning the focus. Simply hitting enter now would cause a rename-one-by-one-mode: Keeping the focus in progress, x2 "serves" automatically the given names one after the other for the purpose of indiviual renaming. This would significantly speed up this quite common task and on the other hand get rid of the problems caused by auto re-sort.


Well, that's it. Thanks for reading this through and for any response...
 

[nikos]

here goes:

1. the refresh timing has nothing to do with the actual moving. x2 has some internal logic to hold back instant refreshes that results in overall efficiency improvement despite the apparent delay

2. I haven't seen that; must be something else you have installed

3. i'll look into it

4. the dupe checker could be improved; the easiest way to do it is to switch to dual pane, put the folders that interest you in one pane, select them, press alt+enter to flatten them and then check for duplicates. You say the search is slow: compared to what? also check your command options, comparisons by content are slow and there's no helping it

5. nobody's perfect but that's a small thing

[Stefan]

Thank you for your response, nikos

1. x2 has some internal logic to hold back instant refreshes that results in overall efficiency improvement despite the apparent delay

In Windows ME i do get 2 refreshes ! Most of the time. A "Hey take a look i'm nearly finished", and the final one. What of course gives the impression of slowness. I'm sure it's not caused by the cache settings, because there is never a third refresh even if a huge amount of files is being moved. And even in that case, the first refresh always appears immediately before the final one. In Windows XP all is fine - the final refresh is the only one i get (and i don't think it's later than the one in ME, but that's hard to judge). Think the internal x2 logic does not correspond with the internal ME logic (maybe one is female ? just a thought)

2. I haven't seen that (icon corruption) ; must be something else you have installed

well - that would be a pity. I removed any 3rd party startup stuff using msconfig, but no change... guess i have to leave the needle in the haystack and look forward to the next clean windows setup. But let me tell you i get this only in Windows ME, and it only affects x2 - windows explorer retains the icons.

Time for some positive things: Thank you for your suggestion how to track down duplicates within multiple folders more quickly. As you mentioned - it needs to be improved/simplified, but for the time being the alt+enter trick is OK for me.

And thx for taking a look into #3. This will help: Make sure the "Details" view is in use. Create a folder with 200 numbered files and adjust the pane to 20 lines. Select the files between 50 and 100, so that only the ending of the selection is seen. Now delete them. In my case (both Windows XP and ME) the pane will display the files from about 140 upwards, far away from the joint at 49/101. It looks like the view has been scrolled down (!) because x2 did not budge when the files 101+ got 'pulled up'.

#8 ... unfortunately i have to add that one to the list. But it's rather another suggestion than a bug report as windows xplorer does it the same way: thumbnail view causes something like a 'rectangle selection'. That's a good thing when the mouse is used, but i'm sure anyone will agree that it would be a big improvement if the single leftclick / shift+leftclick method still selects ANY file between the first and the last one, and not just the ones that fit into this made-up rectancle, causing an incomplete selection that is basically purely coincidental.

5. nobody's perfect but that's a small thing

Somebody told me it's always the small things that make the difference

[nikos]

win ME is totally screwed up and anything could happen!

x2 caters for small things but puts substance before appearances

[Stefan]

win ME is totally screwed up and anything could happen!

your're late, man - i already heard that line one or two times before  :biggrin:

[Stefan]

more stuff:

"Swap panes" needs to have a toolbar button, and well, does not swap the panes - just the contents. The attached style (details, thumbnails etc.) does not come along.

And i agree with those people who would like to see the active pane maintained when switching back to single pane mode. What makes sense/what's more likely: Getting rid of  a pane that's already inactive, or the one that's at a certain place within the layout ? A switch that leaves it up to the user might be a good thing...

[miles_muso]

Hi Stefan,

If you look at my recent post, I've asked the same question on the Mass Rename function.  Note that XP's Explorer allows you to do this in filmstrip view - you can drag the files (jpgs or whatever) into the order you need and then rename, so the function must be possible in xplorer2

7) If succeeding files are going to be renamed, auto-re-sort causes a LOT of trouble as it always catapults you out of the queue. Disabling automatic re-sort again and again would be maddening of cause. So here's something that does not only get rid of this problem, it even enhances x2 by a new function. Fancy a "Semiautomatic" button inside the Mass rename window, already owning the focus. Simply hitting enter now would cause a rename-one-by-one-mode: Keeping the focus in progress, x2 "serves" automatically the given names one after the other for the purpose of indiviual renaming. This would significantly speed up this quite common task and on the other hand get rid of the problems caused by auto re-sort.

[Stefan]

Hi miles_muso,

i really like your suggestion. Presorting files by drag & drop ... think we got a timesaver here!


well, great minds thing similar, but not the same. Me i thought of a supplement to the mass rename mode that supports renaming a stack of files which need to get completely different names by taking over the whole "Selecting the next file and hitting F2"-stuff, which becomes nerve-racking after the 10th file. It would ease the whole process a LOT when all that's left do do would be entering the new name(s). Shouldn't be difficult and could be included by button within the mass rename config window itself.

regards

[Stefan]

Hello again, Nikos

I have taken a look at v1.5.01 over the weekend, and I'm happy to see that at least bug #3 is fixed and the inactive pane became the one which gets closed now.

But please check this out:

- Open folder A in pane 1 , and a different one in pane 2
. Remember the focussed file within pane 1,  and change the folder of that pane
- Now let pane 2 have folder A, focus a different file now, and switch back to one-folder mode. OK, pane 1 gets closed - but xplorer2 remembers the focus it had when it contained folder A and forces it on the remaining pane 2.

Finally let me ask you about the mass renaming $?-token. I always receive this message that objects the question mark: "The name template contains characters that are illegal for files." How does it work ?

[nikos]

looks like this $? isn't used when renaming. At any rate the way it's designed wouldn't have helped you; it's asked & substituted ONCE, same for all files in the batch