Ability to set current date more easily when time stamping?

[j_c_hallgren]

I was changing some files to current date/time for mod/create dates and while it will do so by setting value to blank, there doesn't appear to be a quick/easy way to actually set the value to blanks.

When one selects the date, it opens the field in edit mode but then you have to select both fields to be able to delete/clear it....now...

The context menu at this point shows "Select all" but that still means one has to right-click, choose that, and then use Del...so could this process be optimized in some way?

[TheQwerty]

I hate to make this more complicated and perhaps less likely to be implemented soon, but..

I think there needs to be a date/time picker there, so that it would be easy to not just choose today, but also 2 Fridays ago.
And a little calendar icon beside the +X would look good in my opinion.

[j_c_hallgren]

I think there needs to be a date/time picker there, so that it would be easy to not just choose today, but also 2 Fridays ago.
And a little calendar icon beside the +X would look good in my opinion.

Yes! I fully agree! That would make this even so much more useful!

[avsfan]

Something that Quicken does that can be very useful is increments/decrements the focused value (could work for both dates and times) when hitting the "+" and "-" keys... It's a fast enough scroll that moving even a month at a time or more is quite painless...

Might be a good solution (and is very likely much easier for a quick implementation than the date-picker)...

[j_c_hallgren]

Something that Quicken does that can be very useful is increments/decrements the focused value (could work for both dates and times) when hitting the "+" and "-" keys...

Correct..I went looking on Download.com for category of "File date change utility" and what appears to be the most popular one (a freeware single function app) has this for a screenshot which is essentially what you described, right? Or close?

[avsfan]

Something that Quicken does that can be very useful is increments/decrements the focused value (could work for both dates and times) when hitting the "+" and "-" keys...

Correct..I went looking on Download.com for category of "File date change utility" and what appears to be the most popular one (a freeware single function app) has this for a screenshot which is essentially what you described, right? Or close?

Actually, all I was thinking was to use the current date and time fields in the info panel, and being able to hit "+" or "-" and whatever field was highlighted would increment or decrement. For example, putting the cursor on the day field and hitting (and holding) "-" would decrease the date until it got to "1" and then it would decrement to the last day of the previous month. Hitting "+" would go the opposite direction. This would mean no additional UI changes, though obviously the underlying code would need to be developed....

[j_c_hallgren]

Ok...I was thinking more of the roller(?) style vs +/- as shown in that JPG...it could easily apply to the entire sub-field (date or time) as you suggest.

[avsfan]

Ok...I was thinking more of the roller(?) style vs +/- as shown in that JPG...it could easily apply to the entire sub-field (date or time) as you suggest.

Sure -- I was just trying to minimize UI effort

Though perhaps both could work -- if Don were to implement such a function to increment/decrement the fields based on where the cursor was, it'd be (I would think) relatively trivial to trigger either by the +/- and/or the up/down buttons.

(what's up with talking about pushbuttons, anyway??? Since you're a touchpad guy, I would have thought you'd be in favor of the +/- keys! )

[j_c_hallgren]

(what's up with talking about pushbuttons, anyway??? Since you're a touchpad guy, I would have thought you'd be in favor of the +/- keys! )

Why? For either one, I have to do exact same thing (AFAIK)...navigate to the control and hold down left click...the spin/roller type control is quite common...

[admin]

I was changing some files to current date/time for mod/create dates and while it will do so by setting value to blank, there doesn't appear to be a quick/easy way to actually set the value to blanks.

Check this, sunny: Miscellaneous / Timestamp / Set Modified Date to Now

[j_c_hallgren]

Check this, sunny: Miscellaneous / Timestamp / Set Modified Date to Now

Ok...but...is that accessible strictly via mouse only without doing anything special to set it up? In other words, "straight out of the box"? And, as others have said, being able to adjust it to a prior/future value from existing also without use of keyboard would be helpful.

[admin]

Check this, sunny: Miscellaneous / Timestamp / Set Modified Date to Now

Ok...but...is that accessible strictly via mouse only without doing anything special to set it up? In other words, "straight out of the box"? And, as others have said, being able to adjust it to a prior/future value from existing also without use of keyboard would be helpful.

An interface similar to the suggested ones is planned since a while. Its time will come...

[j_c_hallgren]

An interface similar to the suggested ones is planned since a while. Its time will come...

Glad to hear that!
Anyway, for now, what I did was create a couple of one item/cmd scripts with the commands #1034 & #1035 so I can access them via User>Run Scripts via mouse/touchpad...

[Mesh]

I have to admit that I like having the date/time be editable in a single text field the way it is now. It allows me to copy and paste, which is significantly more efficient than if I had to pick each sub-item from drop down menus.

To address the original poster's issue of being able to set the field to blank more efficiently, aside from Don's command to do so, a small modification that would make this (and other editing) easier and more efficient is if - when you clicked to edit a date/time field - it came up with the whole field pre-selected. That way you could just hit Delete and Enter, and be done. Or, just start typing, or hit Ctrl-V if you've already copied the date/time you want to set it to.

Personally, a move to a sub-item drop field would make things more difficult. However, the idea of a calendar icon to bring that up - thereby giving the choice of both options, would be a good compromise.

[admin]

To address the original poster's issue of being able to set the field to blank more efficiently, aside from Don's command to do so, a small modification that would make this (and other editing) easier and more efficient is if - when you clicked to edit a date/time field - it came up with the whole field pre-selected. That way you could just hit Delete and Enter, and be done. Or, just start typing, or hit Ctrl-V if you've already copied the date/time you want to set it to.

Sounds good to me. Let's see how it works....