how to assign an alias to a directory (like dopus GO)? alias

[urlwolf]

Hi,

I found TC after 2-3 years of Dopus. V 9 will be $43 for me, and I cannot afford it, so I looked for alternatives.

I'm really impressed with TC.

I'm making it my default file manager.

After ~10 hrs. I have mostly everything I need configured.

However, I still don't know how to make aliases to folders, and I have searched the forum.

I mean, aliases lie:

mp3 => GO c:/my/long/path/to/my/music/

I'm sure this is possible.

I can do aliases for the default actions. I want to do aliases for directory names. How? The equivalent dopus command is GO.

Thanks

[icfu]

TC configuration -> Misc -> Alias -> Enter mp3 -> Press the loupe -> Choose usercmd.ini on left side
New -> Enter em_mp3
Command: cd c:/my/long/path/to/my/music/

If you want to set target path too, just enter it in start path field. If you press F1 in command dialog, you see this info as well.

You can also directly edit the INI files:
1. wincmd.ini:

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[Alias]
mp3=em_mp3

2. Create usercmd.ini in wincmd.ini directory:

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[em_mp3]
cmd=cd c:/my/long/path/to/my/music/

You can also redirect the alias section from wincmd.ini to a separate INI file so you have a faster access, like that:

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[Alias]
RedirectSection=aliases.ini

Icfu

[urlwolf]

Thanks icfu, that was really helpful.

I have two problems with this approach.
(1) the aliases do not work on the address bar (blue line with path on top of the lister). I'd like to enter aliases there, not in the command line

(2) the aliases do not compose. That is, you cannot concatenate an alias and some dir insed e.g.

mp3/U2

Where mp3 is expanded to long path.

These are important features for me.
Is there any way to get those working, or a workaround?

Thanks

[icfu]

1) Feel free to create a request. Afaik noone has till now, regarding alias support in panel titlebar.

Anyway, you can use environment vars in there instead, like %mp3%\U2.

If the command line annoys you, you can disable it. It will temporarily appear as soon as it gets focus, for example by the command cm_FocusCmdLine or the usual shortcuts (Shift)+Left/Right. If you haven't configured quick search to react on letters, the command line will also appear automatically as soon as you start typing and disappear as soon as you execute.

2) Try that:

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Command: cd
Parameter: "c:\my\long\path\to\my\music"\%A

Then you can enter this:

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mp3 U2

%A is only documented in HISTORY.TXT till now...

If you regularly change directories you should take a look at xcd, available in English:
http://mitglied.lycos.de/matbal/

It makes use of the TC treeinfo.wc files (Alt+F10), so you can switch directories pretty easily without creating aliases.

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[Alias]
xcd=em_xcd

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[em_xcd]
button=%COMMANDER_PATH%\Tools\xcd\xcd.exe
cmd=%COMMANDER_PATH%\Tools\xcd\xcd.exe
param=/tree

Then you can:
Enter xcd to refresh all trees.
Enter xcd U2 to automatically switch to U2 directory if it's the only directory of that name, otherwise narrow down like xcd music\U2 or just pick from the box which pops up. It also has fuzzy detection, so you can also switch to directories you don't know the name of exactly. Well, take a look, it's worth it.

Icfu

[X-Byte]

I know it's about alias definitions, but did you try the "directory hotlist" (the * Button right to the address bar, or faster: Ctrl+D) for fast access to your favorite directories?
In my opinion it's even faster than using an alias because you can assign "hotkeys" by using the ampersand & in front of a specific character.
With a smart cascaded structure you can get do your directory by 2-3 keypresses.

[urlwolf]

Thanks for the ideas!

I have just started using TC...

I think aliases are esier to remember and create, and with completion, it'd take about the same number of keystrokes than using ctrl + D.

Is there any standard way here to fill a feature request, or just a post?

[icfu]

Just a post with [REQ] in title, best in this forum:
http://ghisler.ch/board/viewforum.php?f=14

It's not expected that this change will make it in TC 7 of course, but maybe the requests in there are used for TC 7.5 or so. It's a little grey after TC 7 release honestly...

By the way: If you think about Ctrl+D as an alternative, check out Favmenu, it doesn't enhance TC only:
http://www.ghisler.ch/board/viewtopic.php?t=10764

FlashFolder could be of interest as well:
http://www.ghisler.ch/board/viewtopic.php?t=15214

Icfu

[urlwolf]

Thanks icfu. I posted a request.
I use ahk and love it, will check favmenu.
But IMHO, aliases thrumps keyboard shortcut (ctrl+D) anytime.

[urlwolf]

BTW, xcd is too noisy for normal use.
Useful, but not a subscribe for aliases.

[icfu]

It's only noisy if you are too fuzzy with the entered string. Make sure that you check "Immediately change if only one match is found", then you won't even notice that it's running. If you don't need fuzzy detection, you can disable that too, also you can exclude directories from being indexed.

Aliases are better as long as you can remember all the aliases you created, no question.
I am also still using TypeAndRun to start my applications as it's much faster to enter "np" to start notepad than to use any menu structure. But, sometimes it needs more time to create a meaningful alias than to enter (parts of) the needed path directly with XCD.

Icfu

[urlwolf]

Yes, I can see that it can be quite useful.
BTW, I tried making the keyword shorter, like 'x':

usercmd.ini:
[em_x]
cmd=xcd.exe

aliases.ini:
x=em_xcd

but it didn't work. Any idea why?

I did check "Immediately change if only one match is found".

It takes a while to show up with results in my system, though! And it virtually never comes up with a single result. So the process is: type xcd (hopefully x), wait for a second, see list, find right one, press enter again. Room for improvement.

[m^2]

Yes, I can see that it can be quite useful.
BTW, I tried making the keyword shorter, like 'x':

usercmd.ini:
[em_x]
cmd=xcd.exe

aliases.ini:
x=em_xcd

but it didn't work. Any idea why?

I did check "Immediately change if only one match is found".

It takes a while to show up with results in my system, though! And it virtually never comes up with a single result. So the process is: type xcd (hopefully x), wait for a second, see list, find right one, press enter again. Room for improvement.

You didn't define em_xcd, just em_x. So you should use em_x in alias, or em_xcd in both places.

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usercmd.ini:
[em_x]
cmd=xcd.exe

aliases.ini:
x=em_x