XYplorer Beta Club

Paper Folders become real handy in many aspects since their introduction, one of which is temporary list for gathering items while making some operations. when PF is used as a collection/library, it's obvious one will want to save it, but when it's a "temp container" saving is just a waste of I/O operations(especially if used often).

so how about a "virtual" PF that is created with scripting [mode=t](for "temp"), stays in RAM without saving to HDD and gone on tab or XY close?(just like any tab when settings aren't saved) i hope i'm not alone to think about how many unnecessary I/O operation shorting HDD live cycle and love PF simple but powerful capabilities.

any answer? basically i ask for a way to switch off autosave for paper folders(i remember it used to be like this in past), so it doesn't auto-save each time i simply visit it, but let me decide if i want to to save it all.

I had a hard time understanding why I did not do this before. And I failed.

From next version onwards, Paper Folders are only saved to disk if necessary. Thanks for the hint!

"Necessary" = XY decides if it saves of by a flag (users choice)?

I like the current PF behaviour and often use results from previous sessions.
HDD live cycle is nothing we have to fear.
If changed it should hopefully be compatible with current scripts by default.

"Necessary" = if there are any changes. In the current version the PF file is constantly overwritten with its own identical contents. Completely useless.

admin wrote: ↑07 Mar 2021 10:15 From next version onwards, Paper Folders are only saved to disk if necessary.

thank you for adding!
still can you please add a way not to save Paper Folder at all/control saving manually?
i explain: unlike Horst i Do really care about HDD live cycle, and would really want to use paper folders in scripting for search results, temporary collections, etc, but what's really stopping me is that it will be constantly saving it to hdd, while i'd prefer to keep it all in RAM, "to use and forget" = simply creating one temp paper folder, using it in my scripts with no saving will allow me to have tab with results and no unncessary messing with hdd.
XY is quite friendly about hardware "pressure", plus i remember when paper folders were born they didn't autosave innitially, so maybe there is a chance for this feature?..

I see. Check out next beta.

admin wrote: ↑08 Mar 2021 15:38 I see. Check out next beta.

marvellous, just what i wanted! you may not think it that way, but this opens whole new usage of Paper Folders as comfortable visual sandbox for lots of scripting selection/results situations.
one last little thing to wish: may paperfolder() get a [mode= e] for switching this "Explicit Save Only" on/off?(so one can switch saving Off just for time of script and back On at the end, or vise versa make paper folder created by script saved while getting back to "no auto-save" after script is done) I quite like your change the day before, to make paper folders save only when they really get modified, so controlling "Explicit Save Only" while in script would make feature complete.

You are aware that it is a global setting for all Paper Folders in all tabs and panes, right? (Just in case you use more PFs at the same time.)

PS: Just thought of another strategy that might work even better: PFs with a certain name (e.g. "temp" or "throwaway") or name format (e.g. name begins with "~") are never auto-saved. Wouldn't that be easier and more powerful?

admin wrote: ↑08 Mar 2021 18:06 You are aware that it is a global setting for all Paper Folders in all tabs and panes, right? (Just in case you use more PFs at the same time.)

yep, i understand it's global, but script usually goes fast, and simple way to change this setting would be great(explicitly for scripting time or for usage in custom button, many variants of usage). the only think is i hope it can work like a toggle, so one can switch behaviour at start and if desired return back at end of script.

admin wrote: ↑08 Mar 2021 18:23 PS: Just thought of another strategy that might work even better: PFs with a certain name (e.g. "temp" or "throwaway") or name format (e.g. name begins with "~") are never auto-saved. Wouldn't that be easier and more powerful?

this approach is less flexible as one may want in certain scenarios save paper folder(for example script may ask if one wants to), but name may not allow that. mode-flag would be better and give more apportunities(though idea with ~ at start is not bad).
btw, in changelog you mentioned that user still needs empty paper folder to be "loaded" though nothing would be saved with "no save" activated - it's not a flaw, it's actually a feature!

The name approach would work just like the current flag: Explicit save would be always possible.

just for my understanding: if i would have "no auto-save" ON and use in script paper folder with ~[any name], how would i save it if decide so?(for example script will ask if user wants to)
probably it's a noob question, but it used to be that all PFs autosave, now with this switch there are 2 states Autosave-All or Autosave-None, so how with "no autosave" ON and ~[name] save specified paper folder?

Autosave happens on tab switch and app exit. Any active (=explicit) user "Save" will be performed.