TC 9.50b13: USB device (phone) isn't active on Drive panel

The behaviour described in the bug report is either by design, or would be far too complex/time-consuming to be changed

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TC 9.50b13: USB device (phone) isn't active on Drive panel

Post by *Slavic »

Since Beta 7, TC is able to show the connected USB device without assigned drive letter on the Drive panel. For example, the connected Android phone is shown as "u1" with a phone icon.

However, the usefulness of this button is limited. If we press it after connection of the device, it doesn't become active (selected by a coloured rectangle). Instead, TC shows the active icon "Network Neighborhood". Any operation in a phone file system don't make the phone icon active. On the other side, Network icon works as expected, moving us from the phone to the \\Network. So, user may be confused of which device he or she is working with at this moment. Explorer, on the other side, shows such device in the Computer tree, not in the Network tree.

1) Show the Drive panel in the Options.
2) Connect a USB device, like a phone or tablet; switch it to the data transfer mode.
3) Click on the button "u1" on TC drive panel. You will see the device directory, like \\<device_name>\Internal share storage
4) Note that device icon is inactive, but Network Neighborhood icon is active.
5) Click the (apparently active) "Network Neighborhood".
Desktop: Windows 11 Pro 23H2, TC 11.03(RC). Mobile: Pixel 5a, Android 14, TC 3.42b5
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Re: TC 9.50b13: USB device (phone) isn't active on Drive panel

Post by *ghisler(Author) »

Unfortunately there is no function to determine wether a virtual folder is on a specific USB drive. Therefore these buttons are just to go there, they don't indicate whether you are on that drive in one of its subfolders.

I will move this to "will not be changed" in a few days.
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Re: TC 9.50b13: USB device (phone) isn't active on Drive panel

Post by *Slavic »

I couldn't imagine that such simple (apparently) task isn't that simple.

OK, maybe it's possible to find an indirect way to create an internal logical link between the button and the connected device.
What have I noticed: when I connect the device, even before switching TC to it, the tooltip to the "u1" icon shows the device name, "Pixel 3" in my case. So, TC is able to request the name and show it. Then after I click the button, TC shows the directory \\Pixel 3\*.* and "Internal shared storage" inside. So, if we check the full path, we can determine a device name (if it's unique, of course) and make a conclusion that the button is linked to this device.

There may be a problem, however, if we have 2 or more devices with the same name on different USB ports. Maybe it's possible to obtain a unique device ID, which we can see if right-click on the icon, Properties, Serial number: xxxxx. Of course it's only my assumption and may be needed additional tests with different config to confirm or decline this way. Maybe you will be able to implement it in the future, if it's harder than I suppose...
Desktop: Windows 11 Pro 23H2, TC 11.03(RC). Mobile: Pixel 5a, Android 14, TC 3.42b5
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Re: TC 9.50b13: USB device (phone) isn't active on Drive panel

Post by *ghisler(Author) »

Yes, I could easily show the u1 button pressed when you are in the root of the device, but not when in a subfolder.
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