tab switching looses selection

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calude
Posts: 355
Joined: 13 Aug 2008 10:16
Location: Switzerland
Contact:

tab switching looses selection

Post by calude »

Hello everybody
very happy to have discovered xyplorer lately and I'm as you may expect in the tryout phase.
here is an small thing I probably don't do right:

big file rename session
in tab "wav" are music files with their each individual names like clapton-layla.mp3 etc....
in tab "scans" are pdf of scanned music charts I write along the year for my guitar students. after the bulk scan they have sexy names like 20081308177.pdf
what I'm doing is check the pdf with the preview for the handwritten title, then go back and forth between those two tabs and pick up the file names on the music files and paste them on the pdfs. so at the end we have clapton-layla.mp3 and clapton-layla.pdf

as a new xyplorer user I try to do all that with keyboards shortcuts and it works fine except that when I come back to the "scans" tab with the file name ready to paste the focus/selection is lost. (the right file is highlighted but "f2" doesn't rename immediately) so, to select the file I have to type a "shift+tab" to make the selection ready to rename.
the sequence:

in "scanns" tab select a new pdf look at the title on the preview
"cont+tab" switches to the "wav" tab
by fast typing the two first letters and eventually some up and downs I get the file name I'm searching
"f2" then "copy" then "enter" lifts the file name in the clipboard
"cont+tab" switches me back to the "scans" tab. the pdf there is still highlighted but I have to "shift+tab" to get it selected
"f2" then paste the enter
select the next pdf etc etc

the problem seems to be that when the preview is open it steals the focus after a selection
With prewiew open select a file with the up or down arrows even with the mouse then you cannot use the arrows anymore.
you have to "shift+tab" to come back to the focus on the list...

a little annoying isn't it

Have a nice day

Calude

TheQwerty
Posts: 4373
Joined: 03 Aug 2007 22:30

Re: tab switching looses selection

Post by TheQwerty »

Welcome to the forum!

This is a known problem with Adobe's plugin - it's a big focus thief. Last time it was mentioned Don didn't have a solution, and since I see this in Firefox all the time I'm guessing one isn't widely known.

You could probably simplify your process and avoid this by using scripting. I don't have the time to attempt this today, but maybe someone else can, or you could give it a go. There's a lot of info on the XYwiki: http://88.191.26.34/XYwiki/index.php/Scripting

j_c_hallgren
XY Blog Master
Posts: 5826
Joined: 02 Jan 2006 19:34
Location: So. Chatham MA/Clearwater FL
Contact:

Re: tab switching looses selection

Post by j_c_hallgren »

I'll also welcome you to the XY world!

The issue of PDF's grabbing focus is something that (as I recall) is out of XY's reach/control, and thus the best way I have of dealing with it is simply to not have the Preview tab active when I know it'll be a problem...I switch to Raw View or Properties or whatever...

For a while, I was using Foxit Reader which seemed to help as it wasn't quite as "greedy" but somehow recently Adobe returned! I don't recall doing anything to cause Adobe Reader to be active, but must have...
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.

serendipity
Posts: 3360
Joined: 07 May 2007 18:14
Location: NJ/NY

Re: tab switching looses selection

Post by serendipity »

Welcome to XYplorer forums,

This hack might work.
1. Goto menu User>Manage user commands
2. From category select Run script, Click New and add this to script field:
#520; focus
3. Click "assign a keyboard shortcut" and use what you like.
4. Now the newly assigned shortcut will let you switch between last two locations plus always focus list.

Actually, I tried it here and it works for me.

calude
Posts: 355
Joined: 13 Aug 2008 10:16
Location: Switzerland
Contact:

Re: tab switching looses selection

Post by calude »

Hey thanks all

and sorry serendipity it doesnt work the pdf preview is still stronger than you
:D

yet

must go to sleep
sleep is good
html, css and IE6 are baad.

Calude

serendipity
Posts: 3360
Joined: 07 May 2007 18:14
Location: NJ/NY

Re: tab switching looses selection

Post by serendipity »

calude wrote:Hey thanks all

and sorry serendipity it doesnt work the pdf preview is still stronger than you
:D

yet

must go to sleep
sleep is good
html, css and IE6 are baad.

Calude
Oh Ok, Now I understand. Yup, no way to take away focus. But maybe like TheQwerty said a script might help a bit.

calude
Posts: 355
Joined: 13 Aug 2008 10:16
Location: Switzerland
Contact:

Re: tab switching looses selection

Post by calude »

Thanks all

Its not a big deal and I do this renaming once a year for 70-100 files...
until next summer I'll find a very cool way with scripts and all

8)

merci

Calude

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