A few wishes (but otherwise an excellent program)

Features wanted...
Zigo
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Re: A few wishes (but otherwise an excellent program)

Post by Zigo »

admin wrote:
zer0 wrote:
admin wrote:
zer0 wrote:
admin wrote:Anybody here who has "History without duplicates" ticked and "History per tab" as well?
I have, I have! :D
And do you see that bug?
If it is a bug that RMB context menu list is not the same as that of a drop-down for the same button for the same tab, then yes -- I see that bug.
No, that is normal.

I think Zigo should explain again what he thinks is wrong here.
Ok I'll try....apologies if this is a bit long-winded:

1. I have one tab open, with the following history:
i. 03 - C:\Retail
ii. 02 - C:\Retail\10.5source\10.5.3
iii. 01 - C:\Retail\Reports

2. From 01 - C:\Retail\Reports, I go back to 02 - C:\Retail\10.5source\10.5.3

3. I then open a new tab. This takes the same location (C:\Retail\10.5source\10.5.3)

4. In the new tab, I then navigate to C:\Windows

5. If I left click the drop down button next to the back button in the new tab, I see one entry: 02 - C:\Retail\10.5source\10.5.3 (correct).

6. However, if I right click the back/forward area, I am shown the following:
i. 01 - C:\Windows (i.e. current location, correct)
ii. 03 - C:\Retail\Reports
iii. 04 - C:\Retail\10.5source\10.5.3
iv. 05 - C:\Retail

(i.e. it has completely missed 02, and is showing me the history from the other tab)

7. Furthermore, if I go to the first tab and then right click the back/forward area, I'm shown the following:
i. 01 - C:\Windows
ii. 02 - C:\Retail\10.5source\10.5.3
iii. 03 - C:\Retail\Reports (current location? Err no, I'm in C:\Retail\10.5source\10.5.3)

(which has mixed up the history from both tabs and got my current location wrong)

Zigo
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Re: A few wishes (but otherwise an excellent program)

Post by Zigo »

admin wrote:
Zigo wrote:
admin wrote:
Zigo wrote:2. If multiple files are selected, when navigating away and then back to the location with the multiple selection, the selection is lost. I notice Windows 7 (and Vista?) Explorer has lost this ability anyway but it was very useful in XP.
:? I cannot see this behavior with the XY Explorer. Just tried it.

But XYplorer does remember selections in tabs (on tab switch away and back).
I just tried it again to make sure, and it still loses the selection.

For 99% of the time I only have one tab open - I still like to have separate windows for separate locations (this is mostly helpful for keeping non-related work stuff separate from each other)

It's easy to replicate - select more than 1 file, go to a new location, then go back. The selection is lost, and you are just left with the focus around one of the files (even that isn't selected)
Yes, that why I added "on tab switch away and back" = only if you open another tab and then come back to the first tab, the selections in the first tab are remembered.
Yes, selection is kept between tabs.

But for navigating away and back in one tab - do you agree with me? I wouldn't call it a bug, just a minor annoyance :)

Zigo
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Re: A few wishes (but otherwise an excellent program)

Post by Zigo »

admin wrote:
Zigo wrote:5. I've never liked Explorer's "different view per folder" setting. I like everything to be consistent - that includes the sort order. However, it's possible to have different sort orders for each location (navigating forward to new locations keeps the same order, but going back to previous locations will restore the sort order from that location). Is there a way to set an option like "always use current sort order for every location", which is what happens in XP Explorer?
A thought about it and started to like the idea. So I added a tweak (next beta version):
RetainListSettingsAcrossTabs

(How to tweak: http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=3543)

If it's good I will elevate the setting to UI level.
Although that may be useful for some, that isn't what I was getting at.

I'm talking about something like RetainListSettingsOnNavigation, or even RetainListSettingsAlways :) (i.e. I only ever want the sort order to change from what it is now when I specifically change the sort order, not because a different location overrides the setting)

admin
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Re: A few wishes (but otherwise an excellent program)

Post by admin »

Zigo wrote:Yes, selection is kept between tabs.

But for navigating away and back in one tab - do you agree with me? I wouldn't call it a bug, just a minor annoyance :)
Ah, now I see and I also confirm that XP Explorer does it. I was not aware that you were talking about going by history. Interesting! I never knew about this Explorer feature and nobody ever told me.

Not sure if I like it though because it can be heavy on memory if thousands of files are remembered for each history node. But that's your problem then. :P I put it on my list (for later...).

admin
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Re: A few wishes (but otherwise an excellent program)

Post by admin »

Zigo wrote:
admin wrote:
Zigo wrote:5. I've never liked Explorer's "different view per folder" setting. I like everything to be consistent - that includes the sort order. However, it's possible to have different sort orders for each location (navigating forward to new locations keeps the same order, but going back to previous locations will restore the sort order from that location). Is there a way to set an option like "always use current sort order for every location", which is what happens in XP Explorer?
A thought about it and started to like the idea. So I added a tweak (next beta version):
RetainListSettingsAcrossTabs

(How to tweak: http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=3543)

If it's good I will elevate the setting to UI level.
Although that may be useful for some, that isn't what I was getting at.

I'm talking about something like RetainListSettingsOnNavigation, or even RetainListSettingsAlways :) (i.e. I only ever want the sort order to change from what it is now when I specifically change the sort order, not because a different location overrides the setting)
Wait and try the next beta version... to me it looks like what you want.

Zigo
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Re: A few wishes (but otherwise an excellent program)

Post by Zigo »

admin wrote:
Zigo wrote:Yes, selection is kept between tabs.

But for navigating away and back in one tab - do you agree with me? I wouldn't call it a bug, just a minor annoyance :)
Ah, now I see and I also confirm that XP Explorer does it. I was not aware that you were talking about going by history. Interesting! I never knew about this Explorer feature and nobody ever told me.

Not sure if I like it though because it can be heavy on memory if thousands of files are remembered for each history node. But that's your problem then. :P I put it on my list (for later...).
I can't believe you never knew about that, but I suppose you learn something new every day :)

I understand your concern on memory, but as you say, that's the user's problem ;)

Zigo
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Re: A few wishes (but otherwise an excellent program)

Post by Zigo »

By the way, I am a software developer myself, so I appreciate that some things which appear small and simple for a user can be really difficult to program, and that also sometimes a really small change can make the users go "wow, that's cool!" :)

Thank you for all your replies and looking into changes already - that's the fastest I've ever known a developer to respond to user's queries, and from someone completely new as well! 8)

admin
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Re: A few wishes (but otherwise an excellent program)

Post by admin »

Zigo wrote:4. The history numbering seems reversed to me. My initial location should be #1, and every subsequent location should be #2, #3 and upwards. However it always shows the latest (most 'forward') location as #1, and increments everything else when you go forward again. Is there an option to allow this to be reversed?
I personally don't care too much about this (History is not my main navigation tool), but I added a tweak to reverse the numbering (next version). If more people are into this I will make it an UI option or even reverse the factory default. So speak up, people!

admin
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Re: A few wishes (but otherwise an excellent program)

Post by admin »

Zigo wrote:By the way, I am a software developer myself, so I appreciate that some things which appear small and simple for a user can be really difficult to program, and that also sometimes a really small change can make the users go "wow, that's cool!" :)
OH YEAH! An example for the latter is excluding the extension from the preselection in inline rename which I invented and added in v3.02.0040 - 2000-02-24 12:04 in about 5 minutes and which got me buckets full of thanks and glory. Now I see many file managers having this feature (convergence or inheritence, who cares).

j_c_hallgren
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Re: A few wishes (but otherwise an excellent program)

Post by j_c_hallgren »

admin wrote:Well, the problem is that enabling keyword search in download.com costs 99 US$ / month. I'm not sure if that's worth it. The search for "explorer replacement" gets over 200 hits, and XYplorer is on top of the list anyway through a google ad.

But, my competitors all seem to pay that price, so... guess I'll do it...
Is that something you can try for a month or two and see if it's worth it? If you can show that you're getting at least a few more sales per month, then it pays for itself at least...
Zigo wrote:Thank you for all your replies and looking into changes already - that's the fastest I've ever known a developer to respond to user's queries, and from someone completely new as well! 8)
Zigo: Yes, that is why we SO love Don here! :D He's unusually fast in replies, fixes and enhancements...ok, so some changes take time but quickies can occur very fast!
Still spending WAY TOO much time here! But it's such a pleasure helping XY be a treasure!
(XP on laptop with touchpad and thus NO mouse!) Using latest beta vers when possible.

Zigo
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Re: A few wishes (but otherwise an excellent program)

Post by Zigo »

admin wrote:
Zigo wrote:By the way, I am a software developer myself, so I appreciate that some things which appear small and simple for a user can be really difficult to program, and that also sometimes a really small change can make the users go "wow, that's cool!" :)
OH YEAH! An example for the latter is excluding the extension from the preselection in inline rename which I invented and added in v3.02.0040 - 2000-02-24 12:04 in about 5 minutes and which got me buckets full of thanks and glory. Now I see many file managers having this feature (convergence or inheritence, who cares).
Yeah I noticed that behaviour in Vista and 7, and assumed it was someone at Microsoft, but really the credit goes to you! Great example 8)

Zigo
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Re: A few wishes (but otherwise an excellent program)

Post by Zigo »

j_c_hallgren wrote:
admin wrote:Well, the problem is that enabling keyword search in download.com costs 99 US$ / month. I'm not sure if that's worth it. The search for "explorer replacement" gets over 200 hits, and XYplorer is on top of the list anyway through a google ad.

But, my competitors all seem to pay that price, so... guess I'll do it...
Is that something you can try for a month or two and see if it's worth it? If you can show that you're getting at least a few more sales per month, then it pays for itself at least...
I don't know what sort of user base you have, but $99/month is a lot :o As j_c_hallgren says, if you could trial for a couple of months that would be good.
j_c_hallgren wrote:Zigo: Yes, that is why we SO love Don here! :D He's unusually fast in replies, fixes and enhancements...ok, so some changes take time but quickies can occur very fast!
I'm liking this product and the forum more and more :D

admin
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Re: A few wishes (but otherwise an excellent program)

Post by admin »

Zigo wrote:1. I have one tab open, with the following history:
i. 03 - C:\Retail
ii. 02 - C:\Retail\10.5source\10.5.3
iii. 01 - C:\Retail\Reports

2. From 01 - C:\Retail\Reports, I go back to 02 - C:\Retail\10.5source\10.5.3

3. I then open a new tab. This takes the same location (C:\Retail\10.5source\10.5.3)

4. In the new tab, I then navigate to C:\Windows

5. If I left click the drop down button next to the back button in the new tab, I see one entry: 02 - C:\Retail\10.5source\10.5.3 (correct).

6. However, if I right click the back/forward area, I am shown the following:
i. 01 - C:\Windows (i.e. current location, correct)
ii. 03 - C:\Retail\Reports
iii. 04 - C:\Retail\10.5source\10.5.3
iv. 05 - C:\Retail

(i.e. it has completely missed 02, and is showing me the history from the other tab)

7. Furthermore, if I go to the first tab and then right click the back/forward area, I'm shown the following:
i. 01 - C:\Windows
ii. 02 - C:\Retail\10.5source\10.5.3
iii. 03 - C:\Retail\Reports (current location? Err no, I'm in C:\Retail\10.5source\10.5.3)

(which has mixed up the history from both tabs and got my current location wrong)
I cannot reproduce the bugs you describe. There must be some other relevant factor here.

Note that the bold menu items when you right click the buttons are the ones that pertain to that tab's history, and the current item has radio dot in front of it instead of an icon.

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Re: A few wishes (but otherwise an excellent program)

Post by admin »

OK, now I did indeed find a minor flaw in History Per Tab (independently of History without dupes): One tab can steal items from the history of another tab. But this can only happen when you travel via right-clicking the back/forward buttons and select a non-bold entry. This will steal the entry from the tab (the tab's history) it belongs to. This cannot be fixed (other than not showing those items in the menu) and does not a fix very badly IMO.

Zigo
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Re: A few wishes (but otherwise an excellent program)

Post by Zigo »

admin wrote:OK, now I did indeed find a minor flaw in History Per Tab (independently of History without dupes): One tab can steal items from the history of another tab. But this can only happen when you travel via right-clicking the back/forward buttons and select a non-bold entry. This will steal the entry from the tab (the tab's history) it belongs to. This cannot be fixed (other than not showing those items in the menu) and does not a fix very badly IMO.
Yep that's the problem.

I agree it doesn't need an urgent fix or anything, I just thought I'd raise the point.

It's one of those things where I think: "surely that must be easy, don't they look at the same history when you left or right click?" - but I don't know how you developed the software, so it could be loads more complicated than that :)

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