Find following folder links & Save find settings to file

[admin]

Interesting, too!

1) If the templates are stored as standard .INI files, do you plan to include all the settings for the GUI-appearance in it as well?

I was and still am thinking only about the Find-settings.

2) Does it have to be a hard-coded subdir?

Yes. I don't like the idea of spreading additional files all over the disk.

... why not make it a link to the TrackerV3.exe with the .INI to be used as a start parameter. (And, with that the hard-coded subdir would make sense again)

Funny, that has been wished not long ago by Spinner!

3) Adding another start parameter to run the find automatically, would give TrackerV3 even more power as a tool for instant, real-time information gathering.
Imagine: A double-click on the link "Find all .wav files on c and follow links" starts TrackerV3 with the corresponding find template (.INI, as defined in start parameters), runs the find and displays the results. (maybe even with special GUI-settings, see 1 above)

Now that's a thought! I'll wait again some time... obviously creative things are coming up from the user base! Let's hear it, folks! ...

[Leopoldus]

2) Does it have to be a hard-coded subdir?

Yes. I don't like the idea of spreading additional files all over the disk.

May be as a compromise: neither all over the disk nor a hard-coded subdir, but the only dir assigned by the user according his/her needs?

[admin]

2) Does it have to be a hard-coded subdir?

Yes. I don't like the idea of spreading additional files all over the disk.

May be as a compromise: neither all over the disk nor a hard-coded subdir, but the only dir assigned by the user according his/her needs?

Hmm, maybe here's a misunderstanding but I cannot see the point in having the files in any user-definable path. The templates will be opened only via an internal/programmatical mechanism, just like a normal INI file -- you don't need to browse to them. So only TV3 needs to know where they are, and as long as it knows, it's totally irrelevant where that is. Naturally the best place is somewhere in TV3's installation path.

Loading a template will work like this: You click a button, then you get a list of all existing (previously saved) templates, then you select one and load it.

[Leopoldus]

Hmm, maybe here's a misunderstanding but I cannot see the point in having the files in any user-definable path

I mean that for some reasons (rather of confidentiality than of usability) user may wish to save his template in some directory on external drive, or virtual secret drive etc.

[admin]

I mean that for some reasons (rather of confidentiality than of usability) user may wish to save his template in some directory on external drive, or virtual secret drive etc.

As long as it is one directory for all templates, ok.
You're aware that whatever you search will also be stored and remembered for some time in the main INI (search term, location)? So you can hide your template, but you can't hide the INI.

[RalphM]

Hi Donald

It seems the discussion is focused on where to store the templates.

Maybe you should let us know the current state of your thougths for the implementation of this.

1) Do you still plan to split the .INI files for the find templates and the general settings.

2) Do you plan to include start parameters someway as I posted earlier (i.e. INI to be used and run find automatically)
Because then I don't care where the INI's are stored.

Hi Leopoldus

Since Tracker doesn't need registry entries to run, you could still copy the entire Tracker installation directory to a "secret" location, change the settings for that instance of Tracker and run it from there. Without access to that location, no one will see your INI settings either.

Donald, please correct me, if I'm wrong about that.

But still I think the cleanest solution is to tell Tracker on startup, which INI to use.

[admin]

Maybe you should let us know the current state of your thougths for the implementation of this.

Ok. As I see it we have two tasks here which can and should be separated from each other.
(1) give user the possibility to save and load Find Files settings into a running instance of TV3. These settings, aka "templates" are simply INI files containing all the info concerning the Find Files tab. It's only this task I have been discussing in my recent posts.
(2) give user the possibility to run TV3 with start parameters that determine the INI file (or just the Find Files subsection of it?) to be loaded, and maybe auto-run a file search at start-up. This looks interesting at first sight, but I have not yet really thought about it seriously.

I'm planning to build in the first feature (which is very easy and straightforward to program) and then see what happens and think about the other one (which needs a little more premeditation...).

Since Tracker doesn't need registry entries to run, you could still copy the entire Tracker installation directory to a "secret" location, change the settings for that instance of Tracker and run it from there. Without access to that location, no one will see your INI settings either.

That's correct.

[Leopoldus]

Since Tracker doesn't need registry entries to run, you could still copy the entire Tracker installation directory to a "secret" location, change the settings for that instance of Tracker and run it from there.

Thank you, RalphM. I see, this is another way to solve the problem, and it has its own positive and negative sides as well.

[admin]

So, the templates are there. Check the new BETA and share your opinion.

[RalphM]

Hi Donald

So, the templates are there. Check the new BETA and share your opinion.

Checked the new Beta and it seems to work as expected, except that I was wondering about the inconsistency of not including the Exclude folders tab in the templates.
Why's that?
I'd say those settings are as relevant for a specific search as the rest of the settings.

[admin]

...I was wondering about the inconsistency of not including the Exclude folders tab in the templates.
Why's that?
I'd say those settings are as relevant for a specific search as the rest of the settings.

Ok. I thought (without thinking very long about it) that Exclude Folders is rather or typically a global setting. Myself I never changed the excluded folders since years... But, since it does not harm, I'll include them.