second pane as a folder preview for the first pane (gif included)

[xy123]

I don't know how to call it, but it's like using the second pane as a folder preview for the first pane.
Please see the gif to understand how useful this could be:



What do you think people? I can't find a file manager with this feature.

[admin]

Funny and even cool idea, but might quickly become irritating if this is a fixed setting. What about a variant where some keyboard shortcut does it: "Browse focused folder in other pane".

Welcome to the club!
Don

[xy123]

Thank you. I've seriosly started looking into alternative file managers recently, because I am going to upgrade my hardware soon and my beloved XP Explorer won't survive that upgrade. I have XYplorer Pro 15.90 (Giveaway) and the last free version, but I'm testing the latest to see reasons for upgrade.

What about a variant where some keyboard shortcut does it: "Browse focused folder in other pane".

Do you mean On/Off behavior, that's what I was thinking. I've noticed a command "Open folder in other pane", but it's too annoying to press it everytime. And just using Arrow Up/Down to quickly preview a bunch of folders is really fast and natural (without limitations of a tree).

[admin]

I've noticed a command "Open folder in other pane", but it's too annoying to press it everytime. And just using Arrow Up/Down to quickly preview a bunch of folders is really fast and natural (without limitations of a tree).

Oh, it exists already. Wasn't aware of that! Well, you just assign a handy keyboard shortcut to it and you are ready to go.

"really fast" ... well, depends on the folder to open. That's why I think it's not a good idea to couple this with arrow keys.

[xy123]

OK, what do you think about Mouse Down Blow Up on a folder to "Open folder in other pane".

Off-topic:
Even better, Mouse Down Blow Up on a folder to calculate its size in a tooltip, like Shift+F5, but in a tooltip. Of course, if in Details view it will be shown in the Size column, too.

[Marco]

Wouldn't a PFA suffice?

[highend]

Or just:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=12675

[klownboy]

Hey highend, since you referred to your Preview Folder script above, I've been meaning to tell you that particular script is ideally suited for use with UMC - with a left click and hold on a folder in the list. I've been using it for many months now. The only thing I changed in the script was the location of the stats line. I preferred to have it as the last item on the list not at the top at least when the folder clicked on contains folders or files. It would make a good option for the script - stats on top or bottom.

[xy123]

Wouldn't a PFA suffice?

I don't get it. To associate folders with what?

[xy123]

Or just: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=12675

Thank you. I can't find a link for the mentioned UMC? I test apps with Sandboxie, so I won't shoot myself in the foot and I promise I won't ask for support. If there are sample configurations included, I can figure it out.

[klownboy]

Hi xy123 and welcome, my referral to UMC was intended for highend. He hasn't published UMC yet.

[bdeshi]

Try this script. Incidentally I was already writing a pattern-based sync-select "addon" script. This thread's concept is structurally quite similar to that.

==STARTING THE SCRIPT=
You have to be on the first (top/left) pane. Already there? Run this script. Now select a folder on 1st pane. Its contents will show up on 2nd pane in a dedicated preview tab.
Here's the magic: the script runs continuously in the background (in a while loop! with wait). So you can keep selecting other folders and preview them on-the-fly!

==STOPPING THE SCRIPT==
So many ways to stop it! Press ESC. Or switch to a different tab. Or switch active pane. Or turn off Dual Panes.
The preview pane is usually destroyed when the script exits.

==NOTES==
+ It's quite rough around the edges now. Be cautious of your precious tabs.
+ Running any other script that calls the wait command will terminate this script.

[NOTE: latest version of this script is here: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=17968&p=152778]

Code: Select all

"Preview Folder In Other Pane : dirpanepreview"
  global $previewtab, $endmsg, $scriptname;
  $previewtab = '';
  $sourcetab = tab('get');

  while 1 {
    if !(get('#800')) { $endmsg = 'Enable Dual Pane||stop'; end 1; }
    if !$previewtab && (get('pane') != 1) { $endmsg = 'Start on pane#1||stop'; end 1; }
    if (tab('get') != $sourcetab) { $endmsg = 'Tab_Change_Exception||stop'; end 1; }
    if !($previewtab) {
      focus 'P2';
      $previewtab = tab('new', %computer%);
      tab('rename', $scriptname . '|:fp', $previewtab);
      focus 'P1';
    }

    $curitem = <curitem>;
    if ($curitem != $lastitem) {
       $lastitem = $curitem;
       if (exists($curitem)==2) {
         #1062;
      } else {
        status $scriptname . '::Not a Folder',,'alert';
      }
    }

    wait 5;
  }

"_Initialize"
  global $previewtab, $endmsg, $scriptname;
  $scriptname = 'DirPanePreview';
"_Terminate"
  global $previewtab, $endmsg, $scriptname;
  if get('#800') {
    if (get('pane')==1) {
      focus 'P2';
      tab('close', 0, $previewtab);
      focus 'P1';
    } elseif $previewtab && tab('get') != $previewtab {
      tab('close', 0, $previewtab);
    }
  }
  status $scriptname.'::'.gettoken($endmsg, 1, '|'), gettoken($endmsg, 2, '|'), gettoken($endmsg, 3, '|');

[xy123]

That's it, your script works really great. Thank you very much SammaySarkar.

[bdeshi]

Happy to help. It's going to be quite useful to my self as well.

[calude]

so simple and useful should be integrated in XY UI