Find by List.

[SkyFrontier]

In ways of Find By Tag, I'd like to be able to put a button to search for (display, in fact) several folders at once - and of course, avoiding the "search" dialog, load search templates, etc.
"Search" supports multi-location:

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C:\Temp\;C:\Test\

I'm looking for the easier way, say to load a predefined list like in the Simple file-based favorites tip and just have the target folders (files perhaps) listed in the active pane.
I'm probably missing something - but I just *can't* find a way to achieve this.
How?
---
Experimentally did:

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goto <clipboard>

with these values resulted as follows:

C:\Temp\C:\games2\
(pops a dialog asking to create "C:\Temp\C:\games2\" folder)

failed:
C:\Temp\|C:\games2\
(opens C:\Temp\ having C:\games2\ as filter)

failed:
C:\Temp\;C:\games2\
(pops a dialog asking to create "C:\Temp\;C:\games2\" folder)

failed:
C:\Temp\<crlf>C:\games2\
(pops a dialog asking to create
"C:\Temp\
C:\games2\"
folder)

Thanks!

[admin]

Already supported!

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v7.80.0020 - 2008-11-22 17:40
  +++ Name Search (aka Quick Search): Now multiple locations are 
      supported! They have to be separated by ";" (NOT "|" because this 
      would be confused with a Visual Filter).
      E.g., you may paste a line like this into the Address Bar:
        E:\XY\;C:\Temp\;D:\Backup\?*.gif
      The three folders E:\XY\, C:\Temp\, and D:\Backup\ will be 
      searched for GIF files.
      - The ";" may be surrounded by any number of blanks. Built-in 
        smartness will recognize a ";" that's not a separator but part 
        of a folder name.
      - Multi-Location Name Searches are remembered in tabs and across 
        sessions.
      - As always with Name Searches, the settings in the Find Tab are 
        not touched.

That what you mean?

[SkyFrontier]

Yes, I know about that.
I'm wondering if there's a way to only display the whole results via a simple search via Address Bar/assigned CTB+code (preferable, so I can build a huge predefined list). Can't do that except via CTRL+F, which as I told I'm trying to avoid...
Thanks!

[serendipity]

Yes, I know about that.
I'm wondering if there's a way to only display the whole results via a simple search via Address Bar/assigned CTB+code (preferable, so I can build a huge predefined list). Can't do that except via CTRL+F, which as I told I'm trying to avoid...
Thanks!

Yes, like Don said use:

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Path1;Path2;Path3?*

In your case:

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C:\Temp\;C:\Test\?*

[SkyFrontier]

Oh, yes - I did this.
I need to display those PATHS instead of their contents in the list, like

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C:\Temp\
C:\Test\

WITHOUT having to search for them first. Point and shoot, like in Find By Tags.

[SkyFrontier]

The more I use my method combining Propagate Files Across Selected Folders and Shows All Tagged Folders, the less I like it - but it's a hell of a way to spread files across the system (mobile+desktops). There MUST be an easier way...

[SkyFrontier]

I'm aware that behind the scene there's some searching involved in "Find by Tags" (v8.80.0103*). The thing is: why to search the whole drives, all partitions (regular "search" method) for folders which I know where they are? The concept is similar to Simple file-based favorites, more like Show all Tagged Folders - but without having to assign new tags each and every time I need to spread files around. If I am able to build a list, I can simply select which ones will be the destination folder for a certain job out of the list, or build several of those lists and load them via such "Find by List" function - then I can use Stefan's script to synchronize files on several folders at once, multi-partition/external devices visible by "Search results" list.

----
*v8.80.0103 - 2010-02-06 18:23
+ Toolbar: Added button "Find by Tag". Gives you one-click access to
global tag-wise searches. For example, to search all local drives
for items tagged "Blue" simply click "Blue" from the button's
arrow menu. Should take a split second... << that's key!!!

[SkyFrontier]

On the opposite side of the question:
Is there an easier way to apply the same tag to a group of folders?
Perhaps the new catalog features can help a bit, I don't know.
Maybe storing folders in catalog then applying a tag to all of them at once.
Is something like that currently possible by any means...?

EDIT: I'm NOT a Catalog user, but after this I may take better benefit out of it any way...

[SkyFrontier]

What about...

Pattern Switches: There are THREE switches to modify a name Search:
/r recurse subfolders
/f find only files, not folders
/fd find only folders, not files

So I could enter something like...

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My Computer?C:\Temp\|C:\Test\|Q:\Searches\|S:\Backup\|S:\Burn\Today\ /fdr

and have Search Results displaying, almost instantly:
Temp
Test
Searches
Backup
Today?
That way I could have quick access to several predefined folders at once on a single tab, instead of jumping over the whole computer after then and having several tabs to deal with at the end of the process...
Thanks.

[TheQwerty]

I'm pretty sure this is just Virtual Folders which is on the road map.

[SkyFrontier]

I'm pretty sure this is just Virtual Folders which is on the road map.

I'm pretty sure that the new listfolder thing may help me, but... have to play with.
The bad taste in the mouth is: it already DOES what I want via tagging... it's just heavy and slow having to tag a set of folders to get them listed that way, and start the whole process again (of course I'm talking about temporary sets of folders - fav ones are easy to manager via Find by Tags.
Anyway, let me see what Don has brought us today (I'd pray if I could)...
---

v9.60.0111 - 2010-10-27 16:25
* SC listfolder: Slightly revised the logic of the "flags" argument
(introduced in v9.60.0104):
...
2: NoFiles (= return only folders)

Thank you, guys!

[serendipity]

I'm pretty sure that the new listfolder thing may help me, but... have to play with.

Well, Listfolder will not allow multiple folders, so that won't work for you. However, if you just need to select one folder for some purpose, then use inputselect instead:

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inputselect ("Select a folder", "C:\Temp\|C:\Test\|Q:\Searches\|S:\Backup\|S:\Burn\Today\", "|");

[SkyFrontier]

I'm pretty sure that the new listfolder thing may help me, but... have to play with.

Well, Listfolder will not allow multiple folders, so that won't work for you. However, if you just need to select one folder for some purpose, then use inputselect instead:

Code: Select all

inputselect ("Select a folder", "C:\Temp\|C:\Test\|Q:\Searches\|S:\Backup\|S:\Burn\Today\", "|");

Thanks, Serendipity.
But the thing is to have those folders displayed in List so I can propagate files across them all at once - or throw different stuff to different folders listed on a single tab at the opposite pane.
I realized that I misunderstood the listfolder/NoFiles command, after some tests.
I'm dealing with the usage you suggested via the Simple file-based favorites, which is pretty flexible.

[SkyFrontier]

Don't laugh.
lol
...so what about XY storing tags info into an .ini so I could easily edit tagged folders, then having a practical way to deal with that Find by Tags feature and emulate what I'm trying to achieve (Find by List)?

[nas8e9]

Don't laugh.
lol
...so what about XY storing tags info into an .ini so I could easily edit tagged folders, then having a practical way to deal with that Find by Tags feature and emulate what I'm trying to achieve (Find by List)?

From the help file:

The Database: tag.dat

All tag data are stored in one file, tag.dat, located in the application data folder. The file is kept in an open and very simple text format (UTF-16 Text File) so that you can easily edit it manually using an editor or programmatically using any scriptable software.



File Format of the XYplorer Tag Database (version 1)

Line 1: Header and version info ("XYplorer File Tags v1")

Line 2: Tag schemes, separated by ";". Each scheme: Name|TextColor|BackColor. Colors are in RRGGBB.

Line 3: (reserved)

Line 4: Tagged item #1: Full filename|Tag ID|Comment. Comment is optional. Tag ID can be nothing if Comment is present.

Line 5: Tagged item #2: ... etc. ...

In case you edit tag.dat manually...

Sort Order. The tagged item lines must be in binary ascending sort order (A < B ... < a < b ...). If you manually edit tag.dat and are unsure about the correctness of the sort order, you can have the data sorted by using "Database Clean Up..." in Configuration | Tags.

Capitalization matters. You must care for the right capitalization of the file names. Reason: For better performance, the comparisons are done by byte, not by character.