XYplorer Beta Club

Here's the scenario. I'm using XYplorer 10.90. I have custom copy enabled, and queuing enabled, too.
1] I initiate a large copy operation.
2] In order to perform some other, more urgent, copy tasks, I pause the large operation.
3] Now I initiate a second copy operation, by dragging some files from pane1 to pane2.
However, this second operation just gets added to the queue and waits there, even though the first operation is paused.
If I open up the "background jobs" window I see the second operation listed as "pending", however, there is no option to initiate it.
Is there any way to do so? Or does the queue restrict the user to serial operation, such that the first job must be completed before any other file operation can be executed?

ashmid wrote:Here's the scenario. I'm using XYplorer 10.90. I have custom copy enabled, and queuing enabled, too.
1] I initiate a large copy operation.
2] In order to perform some other, more urgent, copy tasks, I pause the large operation.
3] Now I initiate a second copy operation, by dragging some files from pane1 to pane2.
However, this second operation just gets added to the queue and waits there, even though the first operation is paused.
If I open up the "background jobs" window I see the second operation listed as "pending", however, there is no option to initiate it.
Is there any way to do so? Or does the queue restrict the user to serial operation, such that the first job must be completed before any other file operation can be executed?

Hi and Welcome,
In the background jobs window, if you could pause and then locate your job you want done and right-click and select start job now.

When I right click on the pending job that I am interested in starting, I see only the following items: Details, Skip job, Copy Item, and Copy All Items. There is no "Start job". Where do you see this option?

serendipity wrote:

ashmid wrote:Here's the scenario. I'm using XYplorer 10.90. I have custom copy enabled, and queuing enabled, too.
1] I initiate a large copy operation.
2] In order to perform some other, more urgent, copy tasks, I pause the large operation.
3] Now I initiate a second copy operation, by dragging some files from pane1 to pane2.
However, this second operation just gets added to the queue and waits there, even though the first operation is paused.
If I open up the "background jobs" window I see the second operation listed as "pending", however, there is no option to initiate it.
Is there any way to do so? Or does the queue restrict the user to serial operation, such that the first job must be completed before any other file operation can be executed?

Hi and Welcome,
In the background jobs window, if you could pause and then locate your job you want done and right-click and select start job now.

Also check the "pause queue" checkbox in the Background window. You will then see that option.

OK thanks!
(That was NOT obvious - when I pause the initial job, there is nothing at all going on, so it seems superfluous and certainly not obvious to have to also pause the queue, even though nothing is happening. I would recommend to the developers that if all jobs are paused, the "start job" option should be available, without needed an additional step).

ashmid wrote:OK thanks!
(That was NOT obvious - when I pause the initial job, there is nothing at all going on, so it seems superfluous and certainly not obvious to have to also pause the queue, even though nothing is happening. I would recommend to the developers that if all jobs are paused, the "start job" option should be available, without needed an additional step).

This is how it works with Enable background processing and Queue file operations ON:
You start job#1 and then job#2, job#2 has to wait for job#1 to finish. So when you pause job#1 it stops every other job downstream. But if you pause the queue you can override this rule and start a downstream job immediately.

There are others who use the following setting: Enable background processing is ON while Queue file operations OFF:
Start job#1 and then job#2, both jobs go in parallel, you can pause/resume jobs independently. Obviously, the Pause queue here doesn't work because of OFF setting, but if at this point you want to queue a job you can enable queuing and start another job which will wait until you uncheck pause queue.
So, XY allows users to pick and choose what they want.

And, just so you know, Admin (aka Don) is the *only* developer of XY.
Feel free to comment/suggest if you think of better interface or options. Quoting Don: XY is closed source but open mind software.

OK, that makes more sense now. Thank you for the explanation.
I'm not sure whether this is the right place to post requests for enhancements, but here are the enhancements that I believe would greatly improve the custom copy queuing and backgrounding experience:
1] The Background Jobs dialog displays a convenient list of all running jobs, but the information and capabilities provided there are very limited. I think it would be much more useful if it would have the following enhancements:
a] It would be nice if the Background Jobs dialog would display the status of each of the jobs (is it paused or running? And what percentage has been completed? How much time left?) Right now, with regard to non-queued jobs, the Background Jobs dialog only notes "in progress", but it doesn't provide details as to the percentage completed, time left, or whether it is paused. In order to find this info, the specific copy window must be hunted down.
b] It would be nice if there were options to pause/resume/cancel any of the running items in the background job list at will. (Right now I have to go search out the relevant "custom copy" mini window and hit "pause" or "resume" or "cancel". True, if queuing is enabled and the queue is paused, there is an option to "start job", and queued jobs also have a "skip" option". However, after starting the job, there is no way to "pause" or "cancel" from the Background Jobs list. Additionally, if queuing is not enabled, background jobs can only be paused or resumed from their individual dialogs; I'd like to be able to control them all from the central location of the Background Jobs dialog.)
2] As I noted above, my main use case involves the case where I have several large copies queued up, and then I want to execute a small but urgent copy right now. I understand that in this case I can add the copy to the queue, open the Background Jobs dialog, click "Pause Queue", find the new copy job, right click and choose "start job", and thereby accomplish my objective.
I wonder, however, whether it would be possible to add an option to directly initiate an asynchronous copy, even with queuing enabled. Perhaps, for instance, instead of just dragging the item from pane to pane with Ctrl, I could drag the item with Ctrl-Shift, and thereby indicate that this copy should be initiated right away and not enter the queue. What do you think?

ashmid wrote:OK, that makes more sense now. Thank you for the explanation.
I'm not sure whether this is the right place to post requests for enhancements, but here are the enhancements that I believe would greatly improve the custom copy queuing and backgrounding experience:
1] The Background Jobs dialog displays a convenient list of all running jobs, but the information and capabilities provided there are very limited. I think it would be much more useful if it would have the following enhancements:
a] It would be nice if the Background Jobs dialog would display the status of each of the jobs (is it paused or running? And what percentage has been completed? How much time left?) Right now, with regard to non-queued jobs, the Background Jobs dialog only notes "in progress", but it doesn't provide details as to the percentage completed, time left, or whether it is paused. In order to find this info, the specific copy window must be hunted down.
b] It would be nice if there were options to pause/resume/cancel any of the running items in the background job list at will. (Right now I have to go search out the relevant "custom copy" mini window and hit "pause" or "resume" or "cancel". True, if queuing is enabled and the queue is paused, there is an option to "start job", and queued jobs also have a "skip" option". However, after starting the job, there is no way to "pause" or "cancel" from the Background Jobs list. Additionally, if queuing is not enabled, background jobs can only be paused or resumed from their individual dialogs; I'd like to be able to control them all from the central location of the Background Jobs dialog.)
2] As I noted above, my main use case involves the case where I have several large copies queued up, and then I want to execute a small but urgent copy right now. I understand that in this case I can add the copy to the queue, open the Background Jobs dialog, click "Pause Queue", find the new copy job, right click and choose "start job", and thereby accomplish my objective.
I wonder, however, whether it would be possible to add an option to directly initiate an asynchronous copy, even with queuing enabled. Perhaps, for instance, instead of just dragging the item from pane to pane with Ctrl, I could drag the item with Ctrl-Shift, and thereby indicate that this copy should be initiated right away and not enter the queue. What do you think?

I agree that in general there is room for improvement. Why don't you make a list of improvements to be made and put it in "Wishes" section. Others can join in and comment.
Regarding the last one about direct method, you can drag&drop files in another place and choose "Shell context menu" and do what you want which will use shell copy method.

some thoughts concerning point 2..
when i was using TC i was quite satisfied with it's copy system, where after pressing F5 i could either hit Enter and start job(any second F5 would make another parallel job) or press F2 to create a queue. as XY works differently, maybe a good approach could be an ability to define "method" for ways of starting jobs?. i mean, like there is a Configure buttons in File Operations, there may be another to set something like this:

Shortcut               _  [noQueue]
Context menu       √  [Queue]
Left-Drag'n'drop    √  [Queue]
Right-Drag'n'drop  _  [noQueue]

@serendipity:
Please explain, I didn't quite understand. How do I invoke the shell context menu within XYPlorer? Do you mean that I should drag the files I want to copy into another program entirely?
@eli
Thanks for sharing your experience from TC - indeed that is the type of flexibility I'd like to see in XYplorer one day, too.

ashmid wrote:@serendipity:
Please explain, I didn't quite understand. How do I invoke the shell context menu within XYPlorer? Do you mean that I should drag the files I want to copy into another program entirely?

Sorry, i forgot to mention drag and drop files using right-click into another pane and you see an option towards the end called shell context menu.

Ah, fascinating. If I right-click-drag, I can choose "shell context menu", and on that menu I can choose "supercopier" - which performs the copy with my beloved supercopier that I've been using for years.
So, it turns out, there is a way to do a supercopier copy within xyplorer. And now my question is - is there any way to streamline this process? Instead of a right-click drag and then two menu choices, is it possible to assign most of that to a hotkey (via a script perhaps?) so that a single hotkey will bring up the shell context menu regarding the copying of the selected files in pane 1 into pane2? That is - I realize that the fact that "supercopier" appears on my shell context menu is only a result of the way my machine is configured. But perhaps the first two steps (the right-click drag and the choice of "shell context menu") can be automated into a single key?

ashmid wrote:Ah, fascinating. If I right-click-drag, I can choose "shell context menu", and on that menu I can choose "supercopier" - which performs the copy with my beloved supercopier that I've been using for years.
So, it turns out, there is a way to do a supercopier copy within xyplorer. And now my question is - is there any way to streamline this process? Instead of a right-click drag and then two menu choices, is it possible to assign most of that to a hotkey (via a script perhaps?) so that a single hotkey will bring up the shell context menu regarding the copying of the selected files in pane 1 into pane2? That is - I realize that the fact that "supercopier" appears on my shell context menu is only a result of the way my machine is configured. But perhaps the first two steps (the right-click drag and the choice of "shell context menu") can be automated into a single key?

Not with a key, but when you untick "Configuration | Extended | Custom drag and drop context menu" you will get the menu with supercopier directly when doing a right-mouse drop.