TC7.50b4/5: Editing a virtual folder in the path bar

[wanderer]

Hello

I believe an issue exists when editing virtual paths in the path bar (above the file panels). I originally reported it in this thread but i guess it might be more clear to have a new thread for it.

Let's say one of TC's panels is at "\\My Network Places\". Edit the path, enter "\\My Network Places1\" and press ENTER. You'll see that TC immediately returns to "\\My Network Places\".

I suspect that TC compares two strings, the previously entered path and the current path entered by the user but it does not compare the full strings. It seems to me that TC checks if the first 17 characters (the length of the old path) of the string "My Network Places1" are equal to the previously entered path ("My Network Places"), finds they are the same and ends edit mode by using "\\My Network Places\" as the current path when ENTER is pressed.

I base that suspicion on the fact that if the entered path is "\\My Network Place\" (missing "s" at the end), TC does not immediately replace it with "\\My Network Places\", as before. Instead it waits for a couple of seconds (as if searching for the virtual folder) and when it decides it does not exist, it reverts to "C:\".

Tested under Win2K-SP4.

Christian, can you please check if there is indeed such a case?

In any case if this is not a bug, is there a specific reason it works this way?

[ghisler(Author)]

TC does indeed compare the new string with the virtual folder up to the length of the virtual folder which was already there.

The idea behind this is to prevent the user from typing nonsense like e.g.
\\My Network Places\Computername\c

but allow him to type something like

\\Computername\c

I hope that this makes sense to you too...

[wanderer]

Well, indeed this seems to be useful but why typing "\\Computernam" always reverts to C:\ instead of the last path that existed before the beginning of edit in the address bar?

Example:

1. Address bar = "\\Computername\"
2. Start Edit, type "\\Computername\c" and press ENTER
3. TC reverts to "\\Computername\"
4. Start Edit, type "\\Computern" and press ENTER
5. If the virtual folder / PC name does not exist, TC could revert to "\\Computername\" again.

Or even better, in steps 3 and 5, if it fails to find the virtual folder, it could just stay in edit mode and beep, as it does if a folder does not exist. That way, it would give the user the opportunity to correct a typing error instead of having to type the whole virtual folder from the beginning.

[ghisler(Author)]

TC does this because the reason why the connection failed could be that the network connection is down, so TC has to switch to a local drive letter instead to avoid a hang.

[wanderer]

TC does this because the reason why the connection failed could be that the network connection is down, so TC has to switch to a local drive letter instead to avoid a hang.

When trying to connect to a network drive via the drive combobox, if some time passes, TC displays a "connecting..." window with a cancel button. Perhaps it would be nice to do something similar in path editing too and give the user a choice.

Example : "\\Computername\c" or "\\Computerna" entered -> Message displayed: "Cannot find path. Do you wish to continue trying or return to edit mode?"

If Yes is pressed, TC will try again to find the virtual folder/network path and after a timeout it will display the same message again

If No is pressed, TC will return to path editing mode. If ESC is pressed in path editing, it will just cancel edit mode and return to previously shown path without refreshing the panel, in order to avoid hanging if the connection to the previously shown path has been lost.

What do you think?