XYplorer not always showing as tab (XP)

[highstream]

Uncheck "Configuration | General | Check existence of subfolders in tree". Does it make a difference?

Mine was checked. So a little test. I unchecked it, closed and XYplorer restarted quiickly. I then opened and checked MiniTree, closed and it restarted slowly. Got rid of MiniTree and it restarted quickly again. Something about MiniTree is causing it. And this morning, after installing the new beta, no tab problem (tho just a sample of 1).

(Talking about the new beta, thanks for fixing (or adding) refresh the current tab. I haven't checked it out yet, but getting the program to quickly recognize the contents of a USB stick has been a continuing annoyance. Sometimes I've had the stick plugged in for quite awhile, but when I open XYplorer and a second pane with it showing from the last time, it's like the stick isn't there, won't refresh the pane, and I've had to focus on the drive in the tree to get the stick's contents to show. Hopefully that's all worked out now.)

[admin]

Uncheck "Configuration | General | Check existence of subfolders in tree". Does it make a difference?

Mine was checked. So a little test. I unchecked it, closed and XYplorer restarted quiickly. I then opened and checked MiniTree, closed and it restarted slowly. Got rid of MiniTree and it restarted quickly again. Something about MiniTree is causing it. And this morning, after installing the new beta, no tab problem (tho just a sample of 1).

(Talking about the new beta, thanks for fixing (or adding) refresh the current tab. I haven't checked it out yet, but getting the program to quickly recognize the contents of a USB stick has been a continuing annoyance. Sometimes I've had the stick plugged in for quite awhile, but when I open XYplorer and a second pane with it showing from the last time, it's like the stick isn't there, won't refresh the pane, and I've had to focus on the drive in the tree to get the stick's contents to show. Hopefully that's all worked out now.)

The Check existence of subfolders in tree setting starts to make a difference when your tree has folders with many files (thousands) AND no folders. The price for the gain of speed is that you get "plus"-symbols all over the place.

You can view and edit the makeup of your minitree in List Management. By trial and error (removing suspicious folders from it) you should be able to find the culprit... how many line has your minitree anyway? If it has several hundred lines (as Gandolf's) it's certainly not what the mini tree interface was made for. In that case the Maxi Tree is probably the wiser choice anyway. Especially since it can remember its state between sessions.

[Gandolf]

But how many drives do you have? How many directories and sub-directories? Try with 20 or so drives in the tree, each with a couple of hundred directories, all with 10 or so levels of sub-directories, and tens of thousands of files. Then what it the tree like if you go to a directory several levels deep on a drive, then change to another directory on another drive? I can make dinner while I wait, let alone a coffee!!!!


Back to not displaying XY:

Just tried with two old ini files, they are identical except one has the Mini Tree enabled, and the other does not.

201 directories, up to 8 levels deep. About 80,000 files totaling 5.1 Gig. Ten tabs displayed in a single pane.
4 drives, all mounted and spinning. I checked the list of directories (for the Mini Tree) in the ini file and made sure all paths were available.

With the Mini Tree enabled.
Using Process Explorer:
After 1 min 53 sec I/O activity stops.
There is no sign of XY anywhere, except in the process list, and XY is using 100% CPU.

Kill XY.
Re-start XY and it's almost instantaneous.

Using the ini file without the Mini Tree enabled, having rebooted to remove any file caching, XY is almost instantaneous.

[admin]

But how many drives do you have? How many directories and sub-directories? Try with 20 or so drives in the tree, each with a couple of hundred directories, all with 10 or so levels of sub-directories, and tens of thousands of files. Then what it the tree like if you go to a directory several levels deep on a drive, then change to another directory on another drive? I can make dinner while I wait, let alone a coffee!!!!


Back to not displaying XY:

Just tried with two old ini files, they are identical except one has the Mini Tree enabled, and the other does not.

201 directories, up to 8 levels deep. About 80,000 files totaling 5.1 Gig. Ten tabs displayed in a single pane.
4 drives, all mounted and spinning. I checked the list of directories (for the Mini Tree) in the ini file and made sure all paths were available.

With the Mini Tree enabled.
Using Process Explorer:
After 1 min 53 sec I/O activity stops.
There is no sign of XY anywhere, except in the process list, and XY is using 100% CPU.

Kill XY.
Re-start XY and it's almost instantaneous.

Using the ini file without the Mini Tree enabled, having rebooted to remove any file caching, XY is almost instantaneous.

"Re-start XY and it's almost instantaneous." This reads like a Windows/maybe hardware problem. "I/O activity stops" = XY is waiting for something to return but it does not. Something in your MiniTree is not always available.

[PeterH]

....but:

... and XY is using 100% CPU.

doesn't look like "waiting"

[admin]

....but:

... and XY is using 100% CPU.

doesn't look like "waiting"

OK, 100% CPU sounds like a tight endless recursion, but who knows exactly how CPU usage is measured? I'm just guessing. I have no good explanation for Gandolf's case. A huge MiniTree (which is not what he whole MiniTree concept was made for obviously) takes a while to load, but I never managed to freeze the app in such a way.

When I see erratic behavior like this I always think "hardware" (especially CD drives) or "network".

[highstream]

I didn't get any of these recent additions. For drives, I've got A to H, with J when there's a USB stick. Main drive is C, which has the most folders and subfolders, but there's also a C back on G. Doesn't sound like anything approaching Gandolf's.

[admin]

I didn't get any of these recent additions. For drives, I've got A to H, with J when there's a USB stick. Main drive is C, which has the most folders and subfolders, but there's also a C back on G. Doesn't sound like anything approaching Gandolf's.

How big is your MiniTree (count the lines in Tools / List Management / Mini Tree)?

[highstream]

48 right now.

[admin]

48 right now.

That's not that much.

Your only chance is to narrow it down to the culprit by removing line by line from the minitree. I cannot help you there.

[highstream]

Narrow what down? Are you saying to disable partitions, drives (HDD, DVD), folders or what? I'm puzzled because my XP set up is well within the range of normal, which makes me wonder what type of system MiniTree is programmed for.

- floppy drive
- 1T HDD with three partions (19gb for system drive, 280gb of mainly audio/video files in D:, 5gb used in E:)
- 750GB HDD (includes backup of D: partition, done with SyncBack)
- 160 HDD (mainly back of of C: partition, done with Acronis)
- DVD drive (usually empty)
- (J: drive, not pictured, is used by USB port when attached)

Btw, when there's a USB stick in the J: drive, why does the drive icon in the main (file) view always show with a red question mark next to it?

XYplorer My Computer.jpg (21.16 KiB) Viewed 1398 times

[admin]

Narrow what down?

The Mini Tree, not your system. You can do that in List management / Mini Tree.

[highstream]

Probably I should have cut things out one by one, but instead I cleared the list and recreated it - and more. Haven't been able to replicate the slow opening. Either just clearing the list solved it, it may take a while to find the key.

[Gandolf]

"Re-start XY and it's almost instantaneous." This reads like a Windows/maybe hardware problem. "I/O activity stops" = XY is waiting for something to return but it does not. Something in your MiniTree is not always available.

No. I/O stops means disk reading / writing has ended. XY has read the data from the disk, and (I assume) is then trying to process the large amount of data before displaying it.

Everything in the Mini Tree is available:

...I checked the list of directories (for the Mini Tree) in the ini file and made sure all paths were available...

I know that if items are not available for the Mini Tree it makes a mess.


Incidentally, "Tools | List Management | Mini Tree" only shows the loaded Mini Tree, any paths that are not available are not shown.

Hence, your theory that non-available drives are causing the problem, will not show the drives in the List Management list, but they will be in the ini file and, assumedly, XY will have attempted to load them.

... A huge MiniTree (which is not what he whole MiniTree concept was made for obviously)...

So perhaps a message should be displayed, or the Mini Tree prevented from loading, if the Mini Tree is too large.

[admin]

That's right. If you don't save settings on exit or otherwise, it's possible that an outdated MiniTree hangs around in the INI and possibly slows down loading the app.

@highstream, is that the case with you?

So perhaps a message should be displayed, or the Mini Tree prevented from loading, if the Mini Tree is too large.

Yes, maybe. I think about it.