faster directory browsing via lazy file info query

[oli]

hoi,

one thing i noticed while updating xyplorer and temporarily switching to the regular windoze explorer was the performance difference on opening directories with a fairly large amount (10+) of files.
explorer seems to quickly read the directory contents and immediately displays them while asynchronously querying the application/mime icons and updating queried items in time. xyplorer behaves the other way around and shows the contents at the time when all info is read (i assume), leading to less responsive behavior.
for instance when i want to quickly browse into lower level directory nodes (and don't care whether all file icons are displayed correctly) i have to wait for the query to finish until i can choose to continue to a lower directory in the filesystem tree.
it would be nice if you'd implement this kind of -lazy query- behavior, perhaps making this optional.

anyway thanks for this awesome piece of software, i always looked for some simplistic, none bloated, yet powerful explorer replacement like this.

keep going!!
oli

[serendipity]

Hi olli!

It is strange that its slow for you, but XY has an advanced option for faster browsing. Go to tools>configuration (F9)> advanced tab and check the 6th checkbox i.e. 'use generic icons for superfast browsing'.
And by the way, welcome to the XYplorer experience. enjoy.

Update: by the way if you are talking about slow thumbnails, then there is also an option called 'superfast thumbnail creation' in thumbnails tab.

[oli]

hoisen!

Thanks for the reply. i'm aware of that option (use generic icons...), which also has a downside of not displaying the accurate icons (which i'd like it to do :) unless they're cached in some kind of way. i just wanted to make a suggestion to replicate the workings of the regular explorer for that specific use case, because to my mind it makes perfectly sense not being locked down by some kind of query.

cheerz,
oli

[admin]

I personally dislike that Explorer behavior of displaying the icons later. So I opted to show the icons immediately. However, XY is not dumb either: it shows/retrieves only the icons that are actually visible in the view port (about 20-30 rows)! So, this alone cannot be the reason for less responsiveness. Many, many things play a potential role here...

[jacky]

I personally dislike that Explorer behavior of displaying the icons later. So I opted to show the icons immediately. However, XY is not dumb either: it shows/retrieves only the icons that are actually visible in the view port (about 20-30 rows)! So, this alone cannot be the reason for less responsiveness. Many, many things play a potential role here...

20-30 or more, my List shows 47 rows

oli: do your folders have many subfolders with lots of files? Maybe what takes time is for XY to know whether or not they can be expanded on Tree?
Try unchecking Config/General/Check for existence of subfolders in tree and see if it makes a difference.
I know I usually never go on my C: drive, but whenever I do, especially in that stupid "Documents & Settings" mess, I uncheck that option to make things much faster!

[lukescammell]

I have to say that I do support this "lazy" kind of thing as my list displays 62 items. On the network shares I too have to wait a little bit (0.5secs to a few seconds) between directory changes on the larger directories, so this kind of feature would be very welcome.

It's not an issue on local drives, but on networks shares it would make XY feel snappy - something it currently doesn't.

[admin]

It's not an issue on local drives, but on networks shares it would make XY feel snappy - something it currently doesn't.

Is it snappy when you use generic icons on browsing network?

[lukescammell]

Snappier, but still not fantastic.

Although the icons didn't seem to change... even after clearing caches etc. Hmm.

[admin]

Snappier, but still not fantastic.

Although the icons didn't seem to change... even after clearing caches etc. Hmm.

The XYwiki will tell you what "generic icons" are... (you usually note the difference only with EXE and ICO and some other file types --- the keyword is "embedded"...)

The still not fantastic-ness is known to me. It is not related to icons nor to lazy browsing. There's still something to discover for me concerning network speed browsing. And I will eventually...

[kiku]

Hello,

I guess that there wasn't any developments on this matter, because I also notice a "hang-up" of several seconds when browsing a folder with lots of diferent files, specifically, folders with lots of .exe files. Windows Explorer lists contents very fast and later on starts updating icons, but never blocks you from doing whatever you want.

Using the "generic icons for super-fast browsing" is indeed super-fast, but then all the .exe files will look the same, even though they have specific icons.

So is there any possibility to display folder contents immediately and update files with specific icons later?

Best regards and keep up the good work!

[admin]

So is there any possibility to display folder contents immediately and update files with specific icons later?

That's what I actually do since 2 years or so. Only the icons you currently see in the view port are retrieved.

I do not have such hangups. How big are those folders, how many EXEs?

[kiku]

How big are those folders, how many EXEs?

Currently 22 .exe files but it varies. It's my "junk folder" with downloads, test applications, updates, ...
Also, My "Dreamweaver CS3" folder with one 300 Mb exe file takes 1 second to display when I browse it the first time

[admin]

How big are those folders, how many EXEs?

Currently 22 .exe files but it varies. It's my "junk folder" with downloads, test applications, updates, ...
Also, My "Dreamweaver CS3" folder with one 300 Mb exe file takes 1 second to display when I browse it the first time

And according to your report it's clearly the icon retrieving that takes that much time... weird.

Does Explorer first show the generic icon and then copies the specific icon over it later? If it takes 1 second you should be able to see this.

PS: you don't have Show Icon Overlays ON? This would explain such long times....

[kiku]

Yes, Windows Explorer first displays all the folder contents, the .exe files appear with the generic icon and then WE starts to update those files with specific icons.
XYplorer is much faster to display these folders if I browse them with Windows Explorer before.

Icon overlay is off

[admin]

Yes, Windows Explorer first displays all the folder contents, the .exe files appear with the generic icon and then WE starts to update those files with specific icons.
XYplorer is much faster to display these folders if I browse them with Windows Explorer before.

Icon overlay is off

Okay, I changed the behavior and I think it was a very good idea! Snappy is the word...