XYplorer Beta Club

admin wrote:I also thought about additional toolbars again, and I definitely prefer a set of 5 selectable toolbars to scrolling or dropdown. But this still has a little time to ripen...

I think it really depends on how/why one would use this ability...for me, the ">>" dropdown ability (especially if it could be available more than once, like within each group as defined by separators at max, or two as min) would really be preferable as I'm just running out of room on my small screen!

And it's not likely that I'd be doing one task long enough to swap in/out another toolbar, but it IS likely that I could use an icon that I don't use so often that I need to see it constantly, but still having it available via dropdown would enhance usability/productivity...

For example, on my Quick Launch bar, I have 4 icons showing (which seems to be the minimum one can have) but I have another 12 available via the ">>"...I have IE, Desktop, WinExpl (Downloads folder) and CoreFTP showing...and I have a nbr of my most common other app's as the other 12...I find it much better than having them on Start menu.

Addendum:
Now IF these 5 toolbars were partial bars that would only occupy a portion of the full row, and they could be selected/activated by dropdown, that might be a workable compromise...maybe.

j_c_hallgren wrote:

admin wrote:I also thought about additional toolbars again, and I definitely prefer a set of 5 selectable toolbars to scrolling or dropdown. But this still has a little time to ripen...

I think it really depends on how/why one would use this ability...for me, the ">>" dropdown ability (especially if it could be available more than once, like within each group as defined by separators at max, or two as min) would really be preferable as I'm just running out of room on my small screen!

And it's not likely that I'd be doing one task long enough to swap in/out another toolbar, but it IS likely that I could use an icon that I don't use so often that I need to see it constantly, but still having it available via dropdown would enhance usability/productivity...

For example, on my Quick Launch bar, I have 4 icons showing (which seems to be the minimum one can have) but I have another 12 available via the ">>"...I have IE, Desktop, WinExpl (Downloads folder) and CoreFTP showing...and I have a nbr of my most common other app's as the other 12...I find it much better than having them on Start menu.

Addendum:
Now IF these 5 toolbars were partial bars that would only occupy a portion of the full row, and they could be selected/activated by dropdown, that might be a workable compromise...maybe.

Now with CTB, you can easily emulate this dropdown behavior: Write a multi-script resource that features all the commands you want to have in the dropdown and assign it to a User Button. Done.

admin wrote:Now with CTB, you can easily emulate this dropdown behavior: Write a multi-script resource that features all the commands you want to have in the dropdown and assign it to a User Button. Done.

Emulate in a somewhat primitive mode, I'm thinking...because (and correct me if I'm wrong here!) I believe I wouldn't have the current various TB icons available on those commands, and I'd not have their rt-click/context menus available which I'd have via a true TB dropdown...and both of those make the command most recognizable and useful.

j_c_hallgren wrote:

admin wrote:Now with CTB, you can easily emulate this dropdown behavior: Write a multi-script resource that features all the commands you want to have in the dropdown and assign it to a User Button. Done.

Emulate in a somewhat primitive mode, I'm thinking...because (and correct me if I'm wrong here!) I believe I wouldn't have the current various TB icons available on those commands, and I'd not have their rt-click/context menus available which I'd have via a true TB dropdown...and both of those make the command most recognizable and useful.

True, but better than nothing.

BTW, a context menu for context menu items is currently not supported in XY anywhere -- not sure if possible at all ATM.

BTW 2, menu icons for scripts has been wished before and is on my list.

admin wrote:I never thought of handling User Buttons (UB) like separators in the Customize Toolbar dialog. Interesting idea, but there's a difference to separators of course: when you remove a UB from the current buttons, shall it remain in the available buttons or not? Probably yes, but then you'd need an extra command to actually delete a UB for good.

Conc. the context menu: brilliant! Will be added in CTB 2.0.

Well, I would be fine with removing the US meaning it is gone (i.e. would not remain in available buttons list). Because one can always recreate any button at will, so while different I would see that like a Catalog item: you can't remove it while preserving it somewhere, but you can always (write down its "definition" and) recreate it at will at a later date.
(Plus, am I wrong to think that in the future and through those little things whose name I can't remember right now - snippets maybe? - one will be able to like "save" a CTB definition inside such a text file, and then recreate it at will without having to redefine everything?)

Stefan wrote:Don, can we use ICL too?
Such are downloadable f.ex. from http://www.iconempire.com/iconlibs/computers.htm
Or is this too much work?

I was able to use "Tools\computer.icl" to load the first icon from the list
but "Tools\computer.icl, 5" didn't work.

OK, I added basic ICL support but I will keep it undocumented because it is not very satisfying.
The syntax is "Tools\computer.icl /5" (space-slash-iconindex). The problem is that the icon will not look very good unless it's 24x24 pixels. Try it... (next beta)

admin wrote:OK, I added basic ICL support but I will keep it undocumented because it is not very satisfying.
The syntax is "Tools\computer.icl /5" (space-slash-iconindex). The problem is that the icon will not look very good unless it's 24x24 pixels. Try it... (next beta)

So, is that for *.icl only, or also others, such as *.exe/*.dll?

jacky wrote:

admin wrote:OK, I added basic ICL support but I will keep it undocumented because it is not very satisfying.
The syntax is "Tools\computer.icl /5" (space-slash-iconindex). The problem is that the icon will not look very good unless it's 24x24 pixels. Try it... (next beta)

So, is that for *.icl only, or also others, such as *.exe/*.dll?

Exactly, also exe and dll.

admin wrote:BTW, a context menu for context menu items is currently not supported in XY anywhere -- not sure if possible at all ATM.

I may likely have been mistaken on how I described it as working...it's been a while since I had the situation...in any case, when icon is on the TB, one has access to context for it, and for some XY icons, not having that makes that icon somewhat useless (like "tags")...that's why doing it via scripts isn't a real alternative...sorry.

admon wrote:BTW 2, menu icons for scripts has been wished before and is on my list.

Could users access the TB icons that are built-in to XY when this occurs? Presuming that doing so would be for the workaround as discussed.

admin wrote: Try it... (next beta)

Am i to early?
(v8.30.0011, 09-sep-2009)

Or did i make something wrong?
i get always the default icon only:
E:\a\xyplorer\Tools\computer.icl /3
C:\WINDOWS\system32\shell32.dll /3
c:\Programme\Microsoft Office\Office10\EXCEL.EXE /261
c:\Programme\Microsoft Office\Office10\EXCEL.EXE /00261


BTW: IconShop is one tool to see the icon resources in an file
http://users.telenet.be/liontech/Downloads.htm

Stefan wrote:

admin wrote: Try it... (next beta)

Am i to early?
(v8.30.0011, 09-sep-2009)

Or did i make something wrong?
i get always the default icon only:
E:\a\xyplorer\Tools\computer.icl /3
C:\WINDOWS\system32\shell32.dll /3
c:\Programme\Microsoft Office\Office10\EXCEL.EXE /261
c:\Programme\Microsoft Office\Office10\EXCEL.EXE /00261


BTW: IconShop is one tool to see the icon resources in an file
http://users.telenet.be/liontech/Downloads.htm

Your code looks ok and it works fine here. Vista?

You can see embedded icons with XY as well. Tick the last checkbox on config / advanced.

admin wrote: Your code looks ok and it works fine here. Vista?

No DELL D600 XP SP2 and DELL GX745 XP SP3
Tried it now on both pc without luck,... will see why and report back.

You can see embedded icons with XY as well. Tick the last checkbox on config / advanced.

Oh, i see, very fine, thank you.

Instead of making Don go through all these code machinations , why bot just use a utility (e.g. IcoFx) extract the icon you're so fond of and place it in a folder.

Problem solved, Q.E.D.

If I may, I have a few grunts about Toolbar and CTBs in their current state. I know they (well, the latter of them is) are a work in progress, so this is a good time to raise concerns, right?

1. Not being able to add an toolbar button below selected in "Customize Toolbar" - first you have to add it from the left-hand menu and then move it down.

2. No context menus in Customize Toolbar config - I think this is a given, especially with CTBs since you can actually customise them.

3. Icons don't become embedded in CTBs - this removes quite a bit of portability from XYplorer, because in order to preserve images you'd need to copy them over.

4. Using the suggested 24x24 size doesn't produce good results - it appears that an icon of that size still gets scaled and this results in a distorted image.

5. It's not possible to DnD icons onto buttons - makes applying icons more time-consuming, especially if all icons are grouped in a folder.

6. Browsing for an icon opens a window different from a typical one when browsing for a file - should be like the one when clicking "Browse..." when wanting to upload a file here. That window will allow use of breadcrumb in AB and also Recent Places, which will simplify finding an icon immensely.

zer0 wrote:1. Not being able to add an toolbar button below selected in "Customize Toolbar" - first you have to add it from the left-hand menu and then move it down.

But this is nothing different from how it's always worked, right? It may not be ideal but I don't see this as a new issue.

2. No context menus in Customize Toolbar config - I think this is a given, especially with CTBs since you can actually customise them.

I see it as the Customize TB being used to select which icons and in what seq they appear on TB, and any custom values of the actual icon being handled by some other context or dialog.

3. Icons don't become embedded in CTBs - this removes quite a bit of portability from XYplorer, because in order to preserve images you'd need to copy them over.

This could be an aspect that may benefit from some more enhancement...not sure how best to do so to maintain portability...will leave that to Don and/or others.