Pressing down on name edit moves to next item

[Gandolf]

Certainly the way DO works is a disaster. I often change the extension and in DO the down/up arrow then moves me to the next file AND changes my edit position to the name. If it remembered which part of the name/ext was selected then it might be useful. I gave up on DO long ago because it tries to be too clever, and clever software never works.

Keep the navigation keys as they are in the edit mode.

[j_c_hallgren]

So navigation keys not doing actual navigation is more intuitive? That seems odd, especially now when you hit down once the key is now redundant and has no functionality.

The navigation keys ARE used for navigation in XY...just that in XY it is within the edit box, which is more intuitive IMO...and about the second down: When you're at the end of the file list, and hit down, you don't go anywhere either...so does make THAT redundant? I do NOT want a key to have a second unrelated function that differs when I hit a key twice...we must remember users who have trouble with mobility and may hit keys twice by accident.

On top of that, you also have two keys doing exactly the same thing in the current setup, HOME and up do the same thing and the functionality of going to previous and next now requires three key presses in each case.

Yes, Home and Up are the same because (AFAIR) we copied the function of Home to the Up key to make it easier to use, yet keep it as it was for old/prior users.

It seems like my only option is to convert back to Directory Opus for file editing then? Filename editing is a core feature of a filemanager afterall. Or use a third party app to override default behaviour?

That's your choice, but it really depends on exactly what type of editing you're doing...for the type of editing that I and other users here do, the current setup seems to work best for us...maybe you could give some better examples of exactly what edits you are doing?

And maybe have Ctrl+Enter, or Ctrl+Up/Down, or PageUp/PageDown to do what you want :

I'd hate that because your having to reach all over the keyboard to achieving something that is performed much more regularly than the current use of up and down. Its the current up+down functionality that is the rarity surely, not the editing multiple filenames. At least i'd be utterly amazed if it wasn't.

I think that the current up+down is used just as much, if not more than, moving to another filename...because...I tend to rename files that are here and there, so movement within the edit box is much more critical than moving to next file in list...

BTW, while it may be your opinion that DO does this right and XY doesn't, it is my opinion that the reverse is true, so it's definitely personal preference...

[admin]

Puuuhh, lots of text. Result: I'm not convinced. I'll certainly will not redefine any of the existing navigation/selection keys. Using PageUp/Down... hmm, too counter-intuitive.

What I could offer: 2 "Misc" new functions in CKS: "Rename Next" and "Rename Previous".

Or, what I have on my mind since long: a rename interface that's a multi-line editbox. So you just move the caret around in a list of names as in a normal text editor, and when done you press OK. You could also copy/paste lists of file names and map them onto the selected files...

[lukescammell]

What I could offer: 2 "Misc" new functions in CKS: "Rename Next" and "Rename Previous".

Or, what I have on my mind since long: a rename interface that's a multi-line editbox. So you just move the caret around in a list of names as in a normal text editor, and when done you press OK. You could also copy/paste lists of file names and map them onto the selected files...

Dude, LOVE that idea 2nd idea, although the 1st one would be a good plan too, since then spamalam can do exactly what he wants (and others?)

Here's a litle mockup with a couple of suggestions The button for changing the text from LTR to RTL and the box selection ability work hand in hand as they can really help with mass editing file extensions (yes I know this only works with 3 letter extensions, but that covers most no? )



Perhaps CTRL+SHIFT+F2 could activate this editor?

[admin]

Here's a litle mockup with a couple of suggestions ...

Nice work! We'll come back to this after 6.2 is published. And after user hotkeys and undo...

[lukescammell]

And after search results caching eh Don?

[j_c_hallgren]

Or, what I have on my mind since long: a rename interface that's a multi-line editbox. So you just move the caret around in a list of names as in a normal text editor, and when done you press OK. You could also copy/paste lists of file names and map them onto the selected files...

After seeing those mock-ups by Luke (BTW, nice work!), my concern for that mode of editing would be: What happens when files in the selected group get changed/deleted by another application while this edit is in progress?
Because the sub-list of, let's say 10 files, could become 8 files...
Just something to consider...

[admin]

Or, what I have on my mind since long: a rename interface that's a multi-line editbox. So you just move the caret around in a list of names as in a normal text editor, and when done you press OK. You could also copy/paste lists of file names and map them onto the selected files...

After seeing those mock-ups by Luke (BTW, nice work!), my concern for that mode of editing would be: What happens when files in the selected group get changed/deleted by another application while this edit is in progress?
Because the sub-list of, let's say 10 files, could become 8 files...
Just something to consider...

Yep... that's one of the reasons why I have this on my mind for some time now and do not come down to actually do it.

[lukescammell]

Surely the behaviour would follow exactly what happens now when you are editing a single file's name? I haven't got a clue what that behaviour is, but can't it just be applied to every file/directory in this edit box?

What about XY locking the files in the edit box until the operation is complete?

[admin]

Surely the behaviour would follow exactly what happens now when you are editing a single file's name? I haven't got a clue what that behaviour is, but can't it just be applied to every file/directory in this edit box?

What about XY locking the files in the edit box until the operation is complete?

Yep, these issues are not unsolvable. They are just the difference between a spontaneous 20 minute hack-in thing (as the "Len" column) and something that is a bit less comfortable to do.

BTW, how can you live with those Vista folder icons??

[lukescammell]

Do you know what, I didn't even notice they were different - besides, that mockup was done on my work machine

[mwb1100]

Has anything along these lines been put into XY (or can scripting/UDC's be used to implement it)? Looking through the help file, the wiki, and the config dialogs didn't get me anywhere.

I've recently had need to perform renames on a sets of files in a serial fashion, and something like using the down arrow to accept changes, move to the next file, and put that next file into rename mode would have been helpful.

I'm not saying it should be the 'down arrow' keystroke (there seems to be significant opposition to that), but some keystroke, any keystroke would be helpful - as long as I can know what it is.

[j_c_hallgren]

So would the ability to pass certain basic control keys to the script solve this issue? Like the arrows, <enter> and such?

[mwb1100]

So would the ability to pass certain basic control keys to the script solve this issue? Like the arrows, <enter> and such?

If you're asking me then I'm sorry to say that I have no idea (I just don't know anything about scripting).

If a script can be set up to do this, I'd be more than happy to try it out.

[admin]

Has anything along these lines been put into XY (or can scripting/UDC's be used to implement it)? Looking through the help file, the wiki, and the config dialogs didn't get me anywhere.

I've recently had need to perform renames on a sets of files in a serial fashion, and something like using the down arrow to accept changes, move to the next file, and put that next file into rename mode would have been helpful.

I'm not saying it should be the 'down arrow' keystroke (there seems to be significant opposition to that), but some keystroke, any keystroke would be helpful - as long as I can know what it is.

Sure, it has been added months ago!

Code: Select all

v6.40.0035 - 2007-11-01 14:37
    + List: Now when in rename mode, pressing the Tab key will apply the 
      changes and immediately open the rename box for the next item in 
      List. Shift+Tab will do the same for the previous item in the List.
      The function wraps around the upper and lower ends of the list.