Now I know, I know, XY already has one. Kind of.
How would those custom buttons work? Well the user would have to define:
- which icon to use. It would be choosing one from an XY internal list (including all icons used on "traditional" TB buttons, maybe a few more) or specifying the path using the standard path[,index] syntax. That way it could be ICO files, but also DLL/EXE... And, of course it would support the XY's portable syntax (?:\ and relative paths from app folder)
- what command will be executed when clicked. Basically, the exact same list used on CKS would be used there. What this means, yes, it would bring the full power & customizability of CKS to the mouse people.
This would really be awesome for all people who "use mouse more than keyboard". For them, but many others too I'm sure, the toolbar can be seen kind of as mouse shortcuts. So it'd be only fair that they could benefit from the newly added CKS power too.
Obviously this does not mean the "traditional" buttons should be history, far from it! Because we need great looking icons
But with such buttons one could create his perfect toolbar. Because some might want buttons for "Rename Special", "Focus List" or any other features that would not, otherwise, get a "traditional" button. Or, it could allow one to "change" the way a "traditional" button works.
For example, create a custom button with the same icon as the Refresh one, but assigned to command "Refresh List" (F5). That would mean no nice context menu on right click, but the exact way of refreshing the user wants to be done when clicking it, which might not be the way implemented on the "trad." button.
Scriptable Hotkeys you say?
You've already mentioned they would be coming, and I can't wait
Probably not under that name, since a "Scriptable Commands" sounds more like it, as they'd be available for CKS, but also Go to, AB, Catalog, etc
And, they would so too with custom buttons. So one could have buttons to automatically rename files according to a predefined regexp, or move files to a predefined destination, etc
Also, this means one could have a button on his TB to start whatever application he wants. Sure, you can already start you favorite text editor (for example) using Catalog, and you wouldn't be able to drop files on its TB button. But still, I'm sure many people would like that, because it's simply not the same. One could not use(=have visible) the Catalog (all the time), or want a very easy one-click solution available all the time, without ever the need of scrolling...
I do think that CKS are a truly great addition to XY as they allow the user to really "shape his tool" the way he wants/needs, but having such custom buttons on the toolbar would really complete this by bringing all this power under one click of the mouse.
With this feature, I'd say the XY toolbar would be almost perfect, not quite there yet but pretty close. (yeah, it cannot be perfect - at least to me - as long as I can't have it on the menubar
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