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Remember tree settings for each tab, and other search wishes

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 20:22
by Stilez
I love XYplorer; the reason I can't use it instead of Windows Explorer is a limitation in tree and search handling which kills me, because I'd love to use it for everything.

When using Windows Explorer, I have many windows open. Each has the tree expanded to a different point, or has different branches expanded. The tree (branch expansion) state of each window is independent. So when I search, or navigate to a new branch, or change the tree state, in one Windows Explorer window, the other windows, search results etc that I might have open aren't affected (other than updates for list item changes such as deletion, copy, rename etc).

In XYplorer the tree state is not "per tab" but global.

It means if I expand or collapse branches in one tab those branches get expanded or collapsed for other tabs. It also means when the tree or location changes in one tab, the linked search results changes in other tabs causing search results to be affected. It also means there is only the possibility of one search results tab at a time in XYplorer where Windows Explorer allows multiple searches open simultaneously.

Please, can these be fixed or config options created to allow these behaviors? What I'd like in summary:
  1. Config option to keep tree state "per tab"
  2. A larger (or unlimited) number of tabs can contain "search results"
  3. If tree state is kept "per tab", then search results in one tab are not affected by tree navigation in another tab's tree.

Re: Remember tree settings for each tab, and other search wi

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 20:25
by Stilez
2nd wish in this area:

That search parameters are inherited from the original tab to the search tab, so that different search results tabs can have different search parameters. I visualise it like this:
  1. User calls up the "find files" panel, enters some parameters, and starts a search
  2. A new tab opens for search results. The search settings are copied over to that tab from the original tab when the search is first executed and the results tab was opened.
  3. Advantages - (a) the user can do other searches in other tabs without their parameters affecting this search, and (b) the user can easily modify or rerun the existing search in this tab even if different searches have been run in other tabs.

Re: Remember tree settings for each tab, and other search wi

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 20:33
by Stilez
(self deleted - double post)

Re: Remember tree settings for each tab, and other search wi

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 21:09
by avsfan
I would also love the option to have the tree remembered per tab...

So +1 from me!

Re: Remember tree settings for each tab, and other search wi

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 21:54
by highend
Yes, a different tree for each tab would be really awesome...

+1

Re: Remember tree settings for each tab, and other search wi

Posted: 23 Jul 2011 09:32
by admin
Are you guys thinking of Mini Trees?

Re: Remember tree settings for each tab, and other search wi

Posted: 23 Jul 2011 11:09
by Stilez
Nope. This is about the usual full filing system trees but optionally allowing the node expand/collapse state and current node to be kept independently "per tab".

Also allowing multiple search results tabs would be nice :)

Re: Remember tree settings for each tab, and other search wi

Posted: 23 Jul 2011 11:40
by admin
Stilez wrote:Nope. This is about the usual full filing system trees but optionally allowing the node expand/collapse state and current node to be kept independently "per tab".

Also allowing multiple search results tabs would be nice :)
Aha.

Is possible ever since. See config / find files / show search results in

Re: Remember tree settings for each tab, and other search wi

Posted: 23 Jul 2011 14:12
by Stilez
admin wrote:
Stilez wrote:Also allowing multiple search results tabs would be nice :)
Is possible ever since. See config / find files / show search results in
Ouch, I thought I had set that one years ago - and somehow it had been removed as an option! The remainder are valid:
  1. Config option please to maintain tree state (ie what nodes are expanded/collapsed/selected) independently per tab. This is for full tree or whatever else is in the navigation pane, that its state can be set to be independent per tab :)
  2. If tree state is independent per tab, then search location in one tab should be unaffected by changes to browsed locations in other tabs (even if auto-sync is enabled)
Also on the subject of search :) with caching off XYplorer recalculates the entire search every time you switch between tabs. Surely this is not necessary? Once a search is calculated and its results displayed, then it is enough to update the search when the filing system notifies a change to the location folders, and only to recalculate the search "from the start" when the user actually requests (F5 or choosing "find now"). Not every time the user just flips between tabs (without doing anything else).

Re: Remember tree settings for each tab, and other search wi

Posted: 23 Jul 2011 20:57
by admin
Stilez wrote:Also on the subject of search :) with caching off XYplorer recalculates the entire search every time you switch between tabs. Surely this is not necessary? Once a search is calculated and its results displayed, then it is enough to update the search when the filing system notifies a change to the location folders, and only to recalculate the search "from the start" when the user actually requests (F5 or choosing "find now"). Not every time the user just flips between tabs (without doing anything else).
Are you really saying that the cache should be on when caching is turned off?

Re: Remember tree settings for each tab, and other search wi

Posted: 24 Jul 2011 03:33
by Stilez
admin wrote:
Stilez wrote:Also on the subject of search :) with caching off XYplorer recalculates the entire search every time you switch between tabs. Surely this is not necessary? .....
Are you really saying that the cache should be on when caching is turned off?
On reflecting about it, I'm not an expert in how XYplorer does its caching and data management (a) when the user does a search and then (b) views a different tab. Maybe it would be useful for me to understand a bit about how search results (or list contents generally) are handled in memory/disk with caching on and off, before anything more on this :)

Not to distract from the main point though, this was a side-thought.

Re: Remember tree settings for each tab, and other search wi

Posted: 24 Jul 2011 08:35
by avsfan
admin wrote:Are you guys thinking of Mini Trees?
Either Mini or regular -- I typically use mini trees, so that would probably be sufficient for me. Not sure about what the others would want...

Re: Remember tree settings for each tab, and other search wi

Posted: 24 Jul 2011 08:44
by admin
Stilez wrote:
admin wrote:
Stilez wrote:Also on the subject of search :) with caching off XYplorer recalculates the entire search every time you switch between tabs. Surely this is not necessary? .....
Are you really saying that the cache should be on when caching is turned off?
On reflecting about it, I'm not an expert in how XYplorer does its caching and data management (a) when the user does a search and then (b) views a different tab. Maybe it would be useful for me to understand a bit about how search results (or list contents generally) are handled in memory/disk with caching on and off, before anything more on this :)

Not to distract from the main point though, this was a side-thought.
Yes, sorry, as a relative new user you cannot know this: In XY the tabs are not objects but only pseudo-objects (contrary to e.g. Firefox -- the difference in approach is visible form the memory consumption... :wink: ). So when a tab is backgrounded its contents are completely gone. Only explicit caching will change this for search results tabs: the contents are then written to a file when the tab is backgrounded (or when the app is closed) and read again when the tab is foregrounded (or the app is opened).

Re: Remember tree settings for each tab, and other search wi

Posted: 24 Jul 2011 12:39
by Stilez
admin wrote:... when a tab is backgrounded its contents are completely gone. Only explicit caching will change this for search results tabs: the contents are then written to a file when the tab is backgrounded (or when the app is closed) and read again when the tab is foregrounded (or the app is opened).
Thanks, that makes it clear. Two quick questions on it - can the cache location be added as a parameter in the .ini file? (I would keep any cached data on my ram drive or encrypted drive rather than my "C" drive for security, since I sometimes work with confidential material) Also for a search results tab, is it just file metadata that's in the cache (filename, dates, attributes etc) or any file contents also?

Re: Remember tree settings for each tab, and other search wi

Posted: 24 Jul 2011 12:48
by admin
Stilez wrote:
admin wrote:... when a tab is backgrounded its contents are completely gone. Only explicit caching will change this for search results tabs: the contents are then written to a file when the tab is backgrounded (or when the app is closed) and read again when the tab is foregrounded (or the app is opened).
Thanks, that makes it clear. Two quick questions on it - can the cache location be added as a parameter in the .ini file? (I would keep any cached data on my ram drive or encrypted drive rather than my "C" drive for security, since I sometimes work with confidential material) Also for a search results tab, is it just file metadata that's in the cache (filename, dates, attributes etc) or any file contents also?
Simply put your whole app data folder to the secure location. You can use startup.ini for that (see Help).