Issues and suggestions

[SithLord]

Hi,

I'm a huge fan of TotalCommander on PocketPC platform. Eventhough RescoExplorer seems more polished, TC is IMHO much more configurable and well designed!

I have some issues to report as well as suggestions to make for further improvement.

IMPORTANT: For my first day of posting, I can't post URLs so I'll try to make them "readable"

Issues :

• * When entering \\Plugins dir, I can't select "registry" and use "Copy" to export the full registry, I get an error message. I have to enter it, select each HK* entry and then copy them to the destination and I get 3 separate *.reg files. It would be nice to be able to select "registry", use "Copy" and get a registry.reg file in destination folder containing the whole registry.
  
  * When using TC within a WM 6.5.x (with bottom StartMenu), the bottom bar of WM (containing "StartMenu" and "Close" button) is covered by TC instead of TC shrink itself to make the bar visible.
  
  If you need a WM 6.5.x ROM image to test within DeviceEmulator, Microsoft released it : On their site, in Download area, search for "Windows Mobile 6.5.3 DTK"
  
  Even better : If OS version is >= 5.2 then, switch automatically in WM6+ mode : Make menus "File" and "Show" become "Softkeys" entries (so WM would include them normally in the bottom keybar) and the toolbar become an independant toolbar.
  
  There's a PPC app called Beeline GPS (demo available) which does exactly that with user selectable configuration. You can switch GUI mode between oldschool CE "Menu + Toolbar" or modern "Softkeys" menu entries.

Suggestions :

• * Using the excellent "beta2 finger" release, the finger menu in the "\ | .. | >" buttons displays after a small delay. I suggest a new option to be available : "Finger menu only" that would replace the 3 buttons with a single generic button. Pressing it would instantly (no delay) display the finger menu. This way, everyone would use it the way he/she likes.
  
  * I've installed TC on a SD card and I oftenly plug it into other devices not having TC installed so no registry configuration already exist. Could you please make "Virtual 2 windows mode" the DEFAULT TC configuration ? It does not harm in anyway and avoid tedious configuration repeats on every device TC is used for the first time.
  
  * For testing purposes, I often use a tool named "SSnap" which takes an instant "snapshot" of the system. Basically, it creates a text file containing various configurable data exports (registry, full listing of filesystem). SSnap is quite old (2003) and suffers from serious issues (all registry entries are mixed up unsorted and/or reverse sorted. There's no clear separation in directories listings making file \foo\foo.txt appear as if it were part of previous \foo\bar\ subdirectory).
  
  TC features EVERYTHING needed to make a PERFECT replacement for SSnap! A new menu entry "Snapshot system" would open a window with various checkboxes, namely : Registry (with selectable subchecks: HKCR, HKCU, HKLM) and Filesystem (with selectable subchecks: With full path, ROM files). Below, a prefilled string entry with dest path and TCSnap_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.txt. Optionaly, a listview where one can enter exclusion patterns for the filesystem export but that's no high priority because in many years of using SSnap, I've seldom used it!
  
  For further info and testing, SSnap is available by.. googling it (SK Tools author)
  
  * In the registry plugin, for "hex" type data, it would be nice to have an ASCII representation of data, just like regular regedit on Windows.
  
  * As more and more devices are getting W/VGA display, an option to select "24/32" pixels high icons in toolbars would be nice, they're getting hard to reach in 16 pixels height
  
  * A small but useful set of commandline arguments would be perfect too :
  • * tc /regexport base [\path\to\export.reg]
    * tc /regimport \path\to\import.reg
    * tc /snap [\path\to\tcsnap.txt]
  * Add support for longtap Copy/Cut/Paste popmenu in edit fields.

Ok, enough for now, I'll find more in the future

EDIT : Wow! How did I miss the post about Beta3 ? I don't know but I already tested it a bit on a Touch HD (WVGA) running a 6.5.x ROM (5.2.28323, bottom StartMenu) and all is going fine. I found "16" to be quite good here for HDelta/HDeltaTop/HDeltaIcon. Anyway, I tried to put here some delirious values (ie: 50) but didn't see a real change... There must be some internal max value.

PS: I wish there was TC for Linux with the same set of features... All existing clones (Krusader, TuxCommander, etc...) feature, at best, 1/1000000th of TC The shell allows me to do everything imagination can think of and MC (Midgnight Commander) is enough for some visual operations but in the GUI environment for everyday use, nothing is approaching TC! I use it through Wine but, evidently, I face some inevitable issues as TC is designed for Windows OS.

[gbusch]

I can't speak for TC's developer, and have no programming knowledge myself, but it looks like incorporating those suggestions might make TC Pocket pretty demanding on resources (too heavy for one's pocket? ).

Since you mention portability and the problem of keeping TC's configuration settings, here's what I do: I keep a cooy of the registry key "HKCU/Software/Ghisler" handy in the program directory (ghisler.reg). If I need to restore the settings, I just copy ghisler.reg to the clipboard, open TC's registry plugin, and paste the file anywhere in the registry. It will turn up in the right place automatically.

Of course if you're running TC on a different device than usual, you may find that some of the icons you've selected for the custom buttons can't be found, and that some of the items in your directory hotlist are no longer valid.

[SithLord]

I can't speak for TC's developer, and have no programming knowledge myself, but it looks like incorporating those suggestions might make TC Pocket pretty demanding on resources (too heavy for one's pocket? ).

Which one exactly?

First one => This is an option, no resources asked

Second one => Making an already existing option the default setting. And read the next quote

Third one => This would add a new feature only consuming resources when called, otherwise nothing changed in day to day usage.

Fourth one => ASCII representation of HEX data is only consuming resources when you browse registry and read entries, otherwise nothing changed.

Fifth one => Well, bigger icons would consume a little more memory but even my oldest device have enough memory to handle a 10 icons toolbar with 24bit images, even 32bit images (24bit + 8bit transparency alpha channel). That would consume : 10icons x ( 32 x 32pixels x ( 24bit / 8 ) ) = 30KBytes of memory for displaying them. Which device do you own that isn't able to allocate 30KB memory ?

Sixth one => Command line arguments consume nothing by themselves.

Seventh one => This is a flag for the "string gadgets" to make them Copy/Cut/Paste enabled, nothing consumed here either.

Globally, TC executable would grow by 30/50KBytes at most with all these features added.

So I ask again :

1/ What in all these suggestions would make TC "pretty resources demanding" ?

2/ What kind of device do you own that isn't able to allocate 60/80KB more than with current version of TC ?

Since you mention portability and the problem of keeping TC's configuration settings, here's what I do: I keep a cooy of the registry key "HKCU/Software/Ghisler" handy in the program directory (ghisler.reg). If I need to restore the settings, I just copy ghisler.reg to the clipboard, open TC's registry plugin, and paste the file anywhere in the registry. It will turn up in the right place automatically.

That would be a excellent idea for a future version! When TC starts, if it finds a "tc_settings.reg" (or any other convenient name), it would import it automatically. TC would then start already fully configured to everyone's needs.

[gbusch]

SithLord, you're probably right; I had no idea how such modifications would affect the application's overall performance, but that's why I used the word "might", and mentioned my lack of programming knowledge.
Incorporating your suggestions is ultimately up to Mr. Ghisler, of course. I know he has said in the past that he wants to keep TC Pocket small and light. Nevertheless, he has done wonders with this app, which I've been using since 2003, when the OS was PocketPC 2002.