Windows Explorer Libraries request [2020]

[Darthagnon]

Greetings, XYplorer team.

Are there any plans to eventually add Windows Explorer Libraries support to XYplorer? I find they're very helpful for grouping folders together in "open" views and use them all the time in my workflow. XYplorer is an excellent file manager, but falls short in this respect.

I looked through the forums, and most topics requesting libraries were from 2014 (e.g. viewtopic.php?f=5&t=12699). The most recent request (2019) was unclear (viewtopic.php?f=5&t=21170). Libraries have now been with us from Win7, through Win8/8.1 and are still in the latest Win10.

The best option I've found so far was a workaround script that lists Libraries folders as a Paper (virtual?) folder viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11421)

Thank you for making a very good file manager!

[highend]

This will probably be a non-issue by itself once the new 64-bit version comes out: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=21626

Until then, use the scripted solution, it's still the best option...

[Darthagnon]

Thank you so much for the info! Glad to see these exciting new developments!

[admin]

Well, the development did not happen, and Windows Explorer Libraries are not planned either I'm afraid. I just never got the idea behind this feature.

[Filehero]

I just never got the idea behind this feature.

Paper Folders.

[admin]

But Libraries are by type, right? One for pics, one for music, and so on.

[Filehero]

But Libraries are by type, right? One for pics, one for music, and so on.

Preface: I'm not not even an educated layman in this area.

In my understanding their just normal folders (1) with additional inbuild logic on top(2).
(1) Normal folders:
In a quick test I could easily move an xml-file into the music library.
-> no hard constraints
-> normal folder

(2) logic-on-top
Additionally one can create his own library.
All source manually added via the windows explorer context menu ("In Bibliothek aufnehmen") are added as a link (don't know the concrete type). This is the "Paper Folders" functionality, imo.

The inbuild standard libs like music etc. must have some more (simple) logic, because they appear to gather all the matching types automatically. For instance, my iTunes lib is shown there as well. I think it's just polling some other standard locations for music, image files etc. known to Windows.

highend already has provided a cr*p, erm .NET program which converts the library paths to Paper Folders. Maybe it's not that much of a mystery then. But I don't know.

[admin]

Ok, thanks.

[PeterH]

Many years ago I had looked a bit at Win Libraries, but seeing that XY won't support them...

So, as much as I remember:
- a Library is kind of a virtual folder, created from the "addition" of the contents of real folders.
- as much as I remember: if one file occurs multiple, the version from the first defined folder is shown/used
- all folders but the first one are kind of read only.
- if you modify a file, it's always saved in the first folder of the library

So e.g. if you have a L containing documents with a private and a shared folder, you can see all, but changes are always saved in your private folder. In the future you will just see this now "private" file / copy.
To migrate a change to the original in the shared folder, you must, if permitted, do this explixitely to the real folder.

I think this kind of logic can be perfect for some use cases.

[admin]

I dislike this kind of machine smartness. My ideal tool is fast and reliable, for the smartness I care myself.

[PeterH]

I dislike this kind of machine smartness. My ideal tool is fast and reliable, for the smartness I care myself.

Strange answer.
This is not some machine smartness, this is one form of organization of files and folders. And you don't want it.

But that's ok - and I could live years without it. (Though I had some ideas those days.)


Just to compare: think of a file inside a folder.
But the file isn't in the folder, only the name and a pointer are there. The file is on disk, without respect to any folder.
I'd call that machine smartness, almost magic, and it's good.
(Sure it's also on organizational concept. You even don't need to care for it: you create a file in a folder, and that seems to be it.)

[Gandolf]

Strange answer indeed!

XY is bloated with "smartness", ah, but that's Don's smartness, and not Microsoft, so it's OK. He even uses the word smart(ness) in the help file descriptions. Illogical!

Libraries are very useful, and a part of the Windows system.

[Filehero]

Just to compare: think of a file inside a folder.
But the file isn't in the folder, only the name and a pointer are there. The file is on disk, without respect to any folder.

Yes, it's just (another) hard link, I think. When you move a single file in there, then indeed it's "in this folder", just like in the one it was before the move - but still a hard link on the file system. In the end, that's NTFS core business.

It appears to me magic, because so far MS predominantly uses mostly symbolic links throughout an os installation.

[admin]

Strange answer indeed!

XY is bloated with "smartness", ah, but that's Don's smartness, and not Microsoft, so it's OK. He even uses the word smart(ness) in the help file descriptions. Illogical!

Libraries are very useful, and a part of the Windows system.

Congratulations! Although you are not using XYplorer you still muster the enthusiasm to spread bad vibes in the forum. Respect!

[Darthagnon]

I use libraries a lot, as they work something like folder junctions (might actually be junctions under-the-hood), difference being within the GUI of Windows Explorer the folders are displayed as "open", e.g. instead of having to double-click on a library folder to see the contents, library folders are displayed as horizontally-dividing collapsible headers, with their contents beneath them.

Some lovely Microsoft weirdness is that saving files to libraries will save them to Folder 1 within the library for some reason.

Such a pity that they're not coming to XYplorer.

There's probably some weird logic whereby the same thing could be achieved using tabs and shortcuts and stuff, just that I've got used to using libraries as folder shortcuts with their contents "open". Maybe I liked them because they feel like a folder-tree with large icons and files displayed.