One-Pane (Merged) Synchronized Browsing?

[metal450]

I’m trying to find a file manager for a very specific purpose, and was wondering if it might be possible in XYplorer.

What I’m after is a way to navigate a directory structure in a single pane, where the listings come from two parallel sources. The goal is to split my data between internal storage & NAS, but view it all combined, just by browsing one directory structure. I envision it looking like a directory listing where "externally sourced" items are interleaved in the normal listing, perhaps indicated by a different color or something.

Note that this is very similar to Filezilla’s File->Synchronized Browsing & File->Comparison, except:

1) The results are shown interleaved in a single panel, not dual-pane, and

2) It should work even if the full identical directory structure isn't on both sides. In Filezilla, Synchronized Browsing only remains active as long as the identical paths remain available in both panes; if you navigate into a folder i.e. on the left where no such folder exists on the right, Synchronized Browsing gets disabled. In my usage, navigating into a folder that's "missing" on the other side would simply result in no supplementary file entries being taken from that side - but if you back up a level and then navigate into a folder that IS there on both sides, you’ll see files from both again.

Could something like that be possible?

[jupe]

You can combine paths in the same pane like this as sample address bar input:

<path 1>;<path 2>? /n

so eg: c:\tools;c:\utils? /n

drop the /n if you want it to recurse. As far as the the FileZilla comparison I am not sure, but you can test it yourself.

[metal450]

Thanks for the quick reply

That does indeed show merged contents for one pair of directories. However, as soon as you browse into a folder, it returns to a single-sourced listing (in other words, it doesn't seem to do any form browsing synchronization). I tried Panes->Sync Browse, but that only seems to apply to dual-pane browsing - so again, it doesn't maintain the merged session.

Any pointers?

Thanks again

[jupe]

So you want to navigate into one of the folders that is in the merged listing and get that folders contents re-merged into the same pane?

It is possible, but you would have to script it, it isn't a base feature, and I would say it would be an advanced script to write involving PFA

I'll let someone who has knowledge on the FileZilla feature for comparison reply from now on.

[metal450]

I'll let someone who has knowledge on the FileZilla feature for comparison reply from now on.

It was really just an example, but direct experience with that feature shouldn't be necessary.

So you want to navigate into one of the folders that is in the merged listing and get that folders contents re-merged into the same pane?

Nope, not exactly. Here's another example. Imagine you have:

C:\StartDir
C:\StartDir\Dir1
C:\StartDir\Dir2
\\NAS\StartDir
\\NAS\StartDir\Dir2

You start by viewing a pane that contains the combined listing of C:\StartDir and \\NAS\StartDir.
You double-click on Dir1. Now it shows the listing of just C:\StartDir\Dir1, since there is no corresponding Dir1 on the NAS.
You back up, and then navigate into Dir2. Now you're viewing a pane that contains the merged listing from C:\StartDir\Dir2 and \\NAS\StartDir\Dir2, since there is a Dir2 available from both sources
...And so on, as far deep as you go. So you're navigating like a "combined directory tree" from two sources.