Separately Colored Open and Closed Custom Folder Icons (Not)

[fwcetus]

I have started playing around with the new custom folder icon functionality in XYP. Yeah, it's my new XYP toy... :-)

I started by copying a number of matching pairs of open and closed folder icons in several colors (all extracted from PowerDesk) to my <xyicons> directory. I intended to use matching open and closed folder icons for all folders in XYP, but with different colors for each drive's folders.

As the info for the new custom icon functionality said: "You can as well color folders by their drive and thus give a strong visual clue about the location of a folder. This might save your skin when moving crucial files in a high pressure situation."

I could indeed see the usefulness for that (I like saving my skin), but I also wanted to use closed folder icons for most of the folders on a drive, and use an open folder icon for the currently selected folder. OK in theory at least...

First, I tried using just one color for all drives, and I found that I could use "*\>" as the pattern for closed folders and "**\>" as the pattern for the currently selected folder. That worked OK.

Then, instead, I tried using a different color for all the folders on each drive (selected or not, using closed folder icons for all folders), and I found that I could use "C:\*\>" and "D:\*\>" (etc.) as patterns for specifying different colored icons for each drive's folders (using the variously colored closed folder icons). That worked OK, too, but...

I then tried ~also~ using "C:\**\>" and "D:\**\>" (etc.) for the patterns for specifying different colored icons for each drive's currently selected folders (using the variously colored open folder icons). This didn't seem to work - I ended up with the proper colors for each drive's folders, but with all of the folder icons open or all of the folder icons closed - I could not get each drive's folders to be properly colored ~AND~ at the same time get all folders to show closed folder icons except for the one folder that was currently selected. :-(

So, what am I missing? "C:\*\>" and "D:\*\>" (etc.), and "C:\**\>" and "D:\**\>" (etc.) together don't seem to allow me to specify separately colored open and closed folder icons. Is this a shortcoming in the new XYP functionality? Or is this a shortcoming in my mental functionality? :-) Has anyone else tried something like this?

[TheQwerty]

Which version of XY are you using?

My understanding is that in 12.40.0000 you could only define the open folder icon using "**\><icon>" but not in conjunction with any other pattern, so you cannot have a custom open icon on C:\ and a different one on D:\.

However, with the latest beta (12.40.0001) the manner in which you define the open folder has changed entirely making the "**\" pattern obsolete. Instead you should be able to use "C:\ /r><xyicons>\Open.ico|<xyicons>\Closed.ico".

For more info: http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic. ... 12.40.0001 - 2013-05-02 21:26
+ Custom File Icons: Now you can also define special icons for the
*open* (= selected) state of tree nodes. In the definition simply
append the desired open state icon to the normal icon, separated
by a "|" (pipe).
For example, this defines the normal and the open state icon for
all selected tree folders in E:\ (skipping items with desktop.ini-
assigned icons):
E:\ /rd>pot.ico|honey.ico
Notes:
- List Management does not fully support the double-icon
syntax. The icon is not displayed in the list, and the
"Browse..." button will only set the normal icon, so you will
have to type or paste the open state icon name.
- If no open state icon is defined the normal icon is used by
default.
- Pattern "*\" (generic folder icon) also supports this syntax, so
"**\" is obsolete (but continues to be supported for back
compatibility).
- Just to repeat once more: The open state icon is only shown in
the Tree. Its typical use is to make the selected folder stand
out from the crowd.
In post-XP Windows Explorer this functionality has been
completely dropped. Now you have it back in XYplorer.[/code][/quote]

[serendipity]

Which version of XY are you using?

I should point out that the new beta is not yet available. Atleast for me even after update it says 12.40 not 12.40.0001. Seems like Don uploaded the old beta.

[fwcetus]

Which version of XY are you using?]

V.12.40.0000 (release, not beta).

I guess I was trying to accomplish something that is not available yet.

Thanks for the reply.

[admin]

Which version of XY are you using?

I should point out that the new beta is not yet available. Atleast for me even after update it says 12.40 not 12.40.0001. Seems like Don uploaded the old beta.

Argh, yes, the noinstall version was not updated. Now it works!

[admin]

Which version of XY are you using?]

V.12.40.0000 (release, not beta).

I guess I was trying to accomplish something that is not available yet.

The recent BETA adds exactly what you want. And now you can even download it. (Sorry for my upload error.)

[fwcetus]

OK. I just downloaded the latest noinstall beta, V.12.40.0002, and tried out the "piped" closed.ico|open.ico functionality, with separate colors for each drive. I used the following three Pattern>Source lines to try this out with folders on three drives so far (including the three drive icons themselves):

C:\ /r>ylwclsdfolder.ico|ylwopenfolder.ico
F:\ /r>bluclsdfolder.ico|bluopenfolder.ico
J:\ /r>cynclsdfolder.ico|cynopenfolder.ico

This worked great, exactly as I would like it to. :-)

As the beta notes point out, this works only in the tree, and not in the lists, and not on the tabs. However, I don't see that as a significant shortcoming - it is only in the tree that being able to use separate open and closed folder icons is really useful (to me, anyway). Having the correct color for the folders in the lists and on the tabs is still very useful, even if they're always "closed" folder icons.

So, I am very pleased with how the custom folder icon functionality works in beta V.12.40.0002.

[Enternal]

Hmm... having odd issues. This is with 12.40.0003 Beta.

*\>|Icon_6.ICON
So every folder that is opened, the tree icon for that folder changes to Icon_6.ICON which is expected. However, for some reason now all icons for the folders in the listing are empty. It should not be affecting the icons in the list right? Well, nothing shows up for folders at all. Icons for files show up as normal so no problem there.

Another issue:
*\ /rd>|Icon_6.ICON
It does not matter whether /d is there or not but XYplorer will continue to skip customizing the icons of any folder that has desktop.ini in it.

[fwcetus]

*\>|Icon_6.ICON
*\ /rd>|Icon_6.ICON

Why use a pipe before a single icon? Isn't it just for separating two icon filenames (e.g., closed.ico|open.ico)?

Try "*\>Icon_6.ICON and *\ /rd>Icon_6.ICON (?)

[Enternal]

I'm using it because I'm testing out the examples that Don had put on his beta page:

v12.40.0002 - 2013-05-03 14:29
+ Custom File Icons: Enhanced possibilities for the definition of
open state icons.
- Show pot on normal and on open:
E:\ /rd>pot.ico
- Show pot on normal, system default on open:
E:\ /rd>pot.ico|
- Show system default on normal, honey on open:
E:\ /rd>|honey.ico
- Show pot on normal, honey on open:
E:\ /rd>pot.ico|honey.ico

[admin]

Hmm... having odd issues. This is with 12.40.0003 Beta.

*\>|Icon_6.ICON
So every folder that is opened, the tree icon for that folder changes to Icon_6.ICON which is expected. However, for some reason now all icons for the folders in the listing are empty. It should not be affecting the icons in the list right? Well, nothing shows up for folders at all. Icons for files show up as normal so no problem there.

Another issue:
*\ /rd>|Icon_6.ICON
It does not matter whether /d is there or not but XYplorer will continue to skip customizing the icons of any folder that has desktop.ini in it.

1. Yep, funny bug. Fix comes.

2. *\ is an exceptional pattern. By definition it only customizes generic folder icons. Switches have no effect. It's a catch all.

[fwcetus]

I'm using it because I'm testing out the examples that Don had put on his beta page:

OK - sorry for the poorly aimed advice.

And, I do see the logic of trying to achieve a "Show system default on normal, honey on open" effect.