XYplorer Beta Club

TheQwerty wrote:To be fair I did comment that it would likely still need an option to appease everyone that prefers the current behavior, but I really do believe that it's not actually needed. Without it, current users will do some groaning about changing their habits, but they'll have lost zero functionality.

TheQwerty wrote:

zer0 wrote:

TheQwerty wrote:Actually... I'll flip-flop, because I think we need to quit pressuring Don to add tweaks and options (not that I actually will stop. )

However, I fear that the more people move over to XY from WE the more likely people will ask for features of WE to be present. How often have we read "...I can do...in Windows Explorer, but in XY...". We're creatures of habit, plain and simple. Adding tweaks and options is the best way to take care of "WE compatibility priests", doing so means that only the asked-for features are integrated instead of blindly cloning the whole lot -> less waste and XY bloat.

Did you read the rest of my post? I outlined a very good compromise that would eliminate any need for a tweak or option. The difference between executing and selecting the item would be all of 1 character, which Don already said he'd want to make configurable anyway (though I disagree that any option is needed here).

Adding more and more configuration options is not the optimal solution.
1) It makes an overly complicated GUI/setup for the user.
2) It typically makes more of a mess for the dev.
3) It wastes huge amounts of time when tracking down bugs and offering support.

It is far better to implement WEs features in a way that is smarter and can be better extended than to have hundreds of settings that define (and typically lock you into) certain behaviors.

TheQwerty wrote:Did you read the rest of my post? I outlined a very good compromise that would eliminate any need for a tweak or option. The difference between executing and selecting the item would be all of 1 character, which Don already said he'd want to make configurable anyway (though I disagree that any option is needed here).

TheQwerty wrote:It is far better to implement WEs features in a way that is smarter and can be better extended than to have hundreds of settings that define (and typically lock you into) certain behaviors.

TheQwerty wrote:Actually... I'll flip-flop, because I think we need to quit pressuring Don to add tweaks and options (not that I actually will stop. )

With some recent changes we have a decent groundwork to achieve a better system, which allows easy access to both and eliminates the need for an option (assuming we can break current habits, though there could still be an OnExactMatch tweak)...

Essentially, the address bar will take the form:
'[Location[\Item]][Executor[Term]]'
or
'[::]Quick Script;'

Default behavior:
If you enter a location it browses to that location.
If you enter the exact address of a file, it opens that file.
If you enter '::...' or have the recognize scripts without '::' tweak enabled, it tries to perform the script.

Then we have the following special executor patterns:
'location>term' = Quick Spot
'location<term' = Quick Select
'location|term' = Quick Filter
'location?term' = Quick Find

In each of these cases the term may contain multiple parts separated by ';' or '|', and the location may contain the '*' wildcard.

Now the executor patterns cannot be combined into a single call (you can't quick find and quick filter all at once), but if the location is omitted (so the AB value starts with the executor) they will be added to the current state.


I know this breaks the new Type-ahead find in address bar/spot function but I think if the change was made now it would be acceptable. And while I'd prefer '>' was for Quick Select it was pre-established for Spot so no point in changing it.


Thus if you enter:
"C:\windows\" = Browse location "C:\windows."
"C:\windows\notepad.exe" = Open "notepad.exe."
"C:\windows>notepad.exe" = Browse location "C:\windows" and Spot "notepad.exe"
"C:\windows<notepad.exe" = Browse location "C:\windows" and Select items matching "notepad.exe"
"C:\windows|notepad.exe" = Browse location "C:\windows" and apply VF to show items matching "notepad.exe."
"C:\windows?notepad.exe" = Search location "C:\windows" for "notepad.exe."

Or you could enter in sequence:
"C:\windows?note*pad"
"|*.exe"
">notepad"
"<notepad01.exe"

Which would:
1) Search "C:\windows" for anything matching "note*pad".
2) Apply a visual filter to the results so that only items ending with ".exe" are shown.
3) Spot (highlight) all items containing "notepad".
4) Select items matching "notepad01.exe".


Yep.. I think that would rock.

admin wrote:Yep, not bad. Not bad at all! Especially the Quick Select is brilliant.

However I (still) don't like the part: "C:\windows\notepad.exe" = Open "notepad.exe." I would run apps thru the AB only if the user actively allows it by a new option "blah"... so, yeah, with an additional little checkbox I'm with you, WE compatibility priests!

Bump me later...

TheQwerty wrote:BUMP BUMP!