Release 10.20



XYplorer 10.20 has been released on 29-Aug-2011. Here's a quick introduction to the main new features:

Droppable User Buttons. Create custom toolbar buttons within seconds which point to a location or an executable and function as drop targets. (Pro Edition Only)

A Droppable User Button (DUB) is a toolbar button onto which you can drag-n-drop files or folders. It goes by itself that this turns a very small part of your screen space into a very powerful area.

Creating a DUB couldn't be easier: Simply add a User Button to your toolbar via the Customize Toolbar (Ctrl+Shift+F9) dialog. Then right-click the new button in the toolbar and select Edit... from the context menu. Now enter a Location or Executable or File into the "Name" field and leave all other fields empty. Done! The button will now automatically show the matching icon and certain behaviors depending on what you entered:

        Location        Executable      File
        -------------   -------------   --------------------------
Click:  Go to           Run EXE         Open with Associated (PFA)
 Drop:  Copy/Move to    Open with EXE   (Nothing)

This means when dropping files onto a DUB that points to a location the files are copied or moved to that location. When dropping files onto a DUB that points to an executable the files are opened with this executable. Clicking a button that points to a location will bring you to that location, clicking a button that points to an executable will run this executable, clicking a button that points to a file will open that file with the associated application.

Here two examples for configurations of Droppable User Buttons:

Configuration of a Droppable User Button pointing to a location. A custom icon is defined (pointing to a 24x24 icon file located under the application data folder); see how the "Smiley Hearts" icon comes out in the toolbar screenshot below.

Configuration of a Droppable User Button pointing to an executable. That's all, no more is needed!

This is how the toolbar looks with the two Droppable User Buttons defined above:

Drag-n-dropping a PNG file onto the DUB pointing to IcoFX.exe to quickly convert it into an ICO file. Very comfortable. Note how the mouse cursor turns into a white arrow on a black square: this tells you that the dropped file will be opened by the executable the DUB points to.

Further Goodies

All portability feats are fully supported (XYplorer native variables, environment variables, portable paths). Also basenames (e.g. "ACDSee32" can stand for the full path to the Executable) are supported for registered applications.
Command line parameters work also when dropping onto the buttons. Fictive example for an executable identified by basename and with a command switch, in the "Name" field (quoting is obligatory when parameters are passed):
"ACDSee32" /fullscreen
Right-mouse dropping is supported, offering the full power of the drag-n-drop context menu.
From version 10.50 onwards, you can freely define a label for your button.