Best way to use tabs for managing projects?

[Sheepdog]

unfortunately I don't know what are the meaning for the others

Please look here



sheepdog

[petermad]

2gbo

1|3|1|0|0|1|0
In this example the last but one option will lock the tab if put to 1, unfortunately I don't know what are the meaning for the others but with some testing I am sure it can be guessed

The flags are:

- display mode (full, brief, etc)
- sort order (name, ext, etc)
- negative sort order (ascending or descending
- archive? If yes, character at which the archive name ends and the subdir within the archive begins
- archive? If yes, packer type
- locked, or locked+dir changes allowed
- custom columns sort order (stored separately, otherwise older TC versions would crash)

[Robert_Charlton]

Gral - Thanks. I've printed out your post and am starting to try it out.

Almost immediately, I'm wondering whether there might be an easy way to retrieve the path to the project .tab-file folders. This is something I imagine I might be doing frequently... to memorize the tab setup for a task I might be doing, not only long term, but perhaps also for just a day or a week.

Giving proper shortcuts and subdividing the entries in the Directory Hotlist, you can eventually have a well-organised and functional approach.

For the initial setup of the .tab files... I wonder if you have any opinions, based on your experience, about whether it's better to use the same folder for all .tab files, or whether it's better to set up a different .tab-file folder for each project.

May I add that opentabs and appendtabs also works in the "Start Menu" (usermenu)

Before Windows, I used Norton Commander, a forerunner of TC, in DOS, and using the Start Menu was extremely simple and very useful. It was launched by the F2 key, and I believe presented a clickable list of commands. The syntax was also very simple. But, with TC, the Start Menu documentation is extremely bad. I've wasted hours of my time searching for information and trying to figure out how to open it, in fact, and have finally given up. If you can provide more background about how to set this up, and perhaps a hint about how to open the Start Menu, I'd be very grateful.

This is all getting into an area of the program where the documentation is not very good.

[Hacker]

Robert_Charlton,

For the initial setup of the .tab files... I wonder if you have any opinions, based on your experience, about whether it's better to use the same folder for all .tab files, or whether it's better to set up a different .tab-file folder for each project.

Hmm, that is completely up to your preference, the only thing that matters usability-wise is how you arrange the entries in the Ctrl-D menu (the Directory Hotlist).

I've wasted hours of my time searching for information and trying to figure out how to open it, in fact, and have finally given up.

You either press Alt-S, or click on "Start" in the menu, just below the window title.

HTH
Roman

[Robert_Charlton]

I've wasted hours of my time searching for information and trying to figure out how to open it, in fact, and have finally given up.

You either press Alt-S, or click on "Start" in the menu, just below the window title.

Roman - Well, I don't know whether to be embarrassed or not. I'd pressed "Start" on the menu a great many times, and it only provided options to change the Start Menu or the Main menu, not to open it. Now that I've changed the menu and added a command, the command also shows up in the "Start" list. While this may seem obvious to many, I was looking for an "open Start Menu" instruction. You get a mindset and sometimes it's hard to break.

[Robert_Charlton]

...the only thing that matters usability-wise is how you arrange the entries in the Ctrl-D menu (the Directory Hotlist).

What I'm looking at is the tradeoff between having all the .tab files in one short-path TC tabs directory... eg d:\mydocs\tc-tabs versus having each one at hand within the project directory... eg d:\mydocs\projectname\1tc-tabs (the 1 is for sorting). I could argue both approaches.

If there's a way in TC to extract a current pathname, either to the clipboard or to the command line, I think I'd be more likely to go with the second approach.

[petermad]

If there's a way in TC to extract a current pathname, either to the clipboard or to the command line, I think I'd be more likely to go with the second approach.

You can put the current source path in the command line by pressing Ctrl+P

You can copy the path for the source window with the internal command cm_CopySrcPathToClip and the path of the target window with cm_CopySrcPathToClip to clipboard.

In the Button bar and the Start menu you can optain the source path with %P and the target path with %O.

[Robert_Charlton]

peter - Thanks for that information. I'm beginning to think that having all the .tab files in one short-path TC tabs directory... along with a careful naming convention for my .tab files... probably makes more sense the a tab subdirectory in each project directory.

Main reason... many projects aren't easily localized to one directory, and file maintenance might tend to get scattered.

[pdavit]

2 Robert_Charlton

Also try this: http://ice.prohosting.com/inornate/guide.zip

It might be useful to you.

[Robert_Charlton]

It might be useful to you.

pdavit - I'm super-conservative about what I download, particularly if it's from a blinking advertising link. Can you tell me what it is and what the source is before I commit. Thanks.... Bob

PS: Well, I went up the pathname from your blinking link to http://ice.prohosting.com/inornate/ -- and found a link and description: Mastering Directory HotList [v1.4 - 25/03/2004] , telling me what the blinking link was.

I have much less hesitation downloading a file with a description on an obviously good page, so I downloaded the file and it looks to be extremely good. I'll work my way through it soon, and I'm thinking I'll return to your page for more. Lots of good stuff.

IMHO, you'd do better to send people to this page in the future. That blinking link in your posted url is the kind of link I'm generally very wary of. Thanks again.

[Lefteous]

2pdavit
What about integrating your tutorial into our wiki? I could do that if you agree?

[pdavit]

2pdavit
What about integrating your tutorial into our wiki? I could do that if you agree?

Be my guest!

[pdavit]

2 Robert_Charlton

This is the link to my personal web site with Total Commander related material
which you can also access via my signature.

Since it's a free web space provider your are "forced" to see the ads. Can't do
anything about it. It's totally clean though. You can also download the guide
via the totalcmd.net site.

[Robert_Charlton]

pdavit - I've now had a chance to read your full Mastering Directory HotList documentation, and it is superb. Thank you. It must have been a lot of work. It's already been helpful.

Since it's a free web space provider your are "forced" to see the ads. Can't do anything about it.

All the more reason to link to your page itself and not just to the intermediate link. I always prefer to be taken to a download page rather than directly to a file. In your case, your page is much more of a representation of the quality of what you offer than that intermediate link. Beyond the ads, I'm not even sure how to describe what's going on technically. The arrangement is confusing because when downloading a file I generally like to right-click the link and download it to disk, and that doesn't work with what your hosting company provides.

Lefteous - The TC wiki will be a great resource. I look forward to seeing it develop. With all the expertise around here, I'm probably only qualified to ask questions, but I will check in to the wiki and ask questions as I see things that apply to what I'm doing.

[pdavit]

Thanks for the kind words.

By the way, I have just updated the document. Please, download it again.