TC Features: what are the most popular ones?

Only forum where polls are allowed. You may announce a new poll in the matching support forum.

Moderators: white, Hacker, petermad, Stefan2

Post Reply
Russianbear
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 4
Joined: 2010-09-09, 19:19 UTC

TC Features: what are the most popular ones?

Post by *Russianbear »

Hi everybody.

Total Commander allows one to do certain things in a variety of ways. For example, the same thing can often be done through User Menues, Buttons, Hotdirectory menues, aliases, etc. So I decided to take a poll and see how popular some of those features are. Also, if you could explain why you prefer one instead of the other. I figured it could be interesting/useful to see which features are used by (what I assume are very advanced) users who post here and how those numbers differ from person to person.

So, please answer these (most of these can be answered by looking at the corresponding sections of your wincmd.ini file):

1)How many buttons do you have? (open DEFAULT.BAR in the TC dir and scroll down to see the number. Let us know if you use more than one button bar).

2)How many custom colors do you have defined for different file types? (See [Colors] section in your wincmd.ini)

3)How many Keyboard Shortcuts do you have? (See [Shortcuts] section in your wincmd.ini)

4)How many Aliases do you have? (See [Alias] section in your wincmd.ini)

5)How many User/Start Menu items do you have? (See [user] section in your wincmd.ini)

6)How many DirectoryMenu (CTRL+D) items do you have? (See [DirMenu] section in your wincmd.ini)

7)How many plugins do you have installed?
User avatar
MVV
Power Member
Power Member
Posts: 8702
Joined: 2008-08-03, 12:51 UTC
Location: Russian Federation

Post by *MVV »

DEFAULT.BAR is not the only buttonbar file. :) it is just predefined one, and many users rename it or create new one with their own buttons - path to this file is specified in INI.
User avatar
fenix_productions
Power Member
Power Member
Posts: 1979
Joined: 2005-08-07, 13:23 UTC
Location: Poland
Contact:

Post by *fenix_productions »

Work PC:

1) 6 bars with 37 buttons in main one
2) 7 colours
3) 46 in [Shortcuts] and 2 in [ShortcutsWin]
4) none
5) 1
6) 2
7) WCX - 18; WDX - 28; WFX - 6; WLX - 22;

Home PC:
1) 8 bars with 42 buttons in main one
2) 7 colours
3) 48 in [Shortcuts] and 3 in [ShortcutsWin]
4) 1
5) 9
6) 20
7) WCX - 54 ; WDX - 44 ; WFX - 36 ; WLX - 31;

P.S. WCX count may be inaccurate (some plugins set couple of times for various types of archives).
Last edited by fenix_productions on 2010-12-13, 19:25 UTC, edited 3 times in total.
"When we created the poke, we thought it would be cool to have a feature without any specific purpose." Facebook...

#128099
User avatar
Vochomurka
Power Member
Power Member
Posts: 814
Joined: 2005-09-14, 22:19 UTC
Location: Russia
Contact:

Post by *Vochomurka »

open DEFAULT.BAR in the TC dir and scroll down to see the number
Or just read what the Buttoncount key says.
1) 59 common bars, 6 local bars. Total number of buttons is 827 in common bars, and some 100 ones in local bars (bored to collect all the locals);
2) 13;
3) 25 in [Shortcuts] and 3 in [ShortcutsWin];
4) none;
5) 24;
6) 163;
7) 5 wcx, 10 wfx, 6 wlx, 20 wdx (These had been more numerous before I've made a great revision. Now these are ones I really use).
Single user license #329241
PowerPro scripts for Total Commander
User avatar
Balderstrom
Power Member
Power Member
Posts: 2148
Joined: 2005-10-11, 10:10 UTC

Re: TC Features: what are the most popular ones?

Post by *Balderstrom »

Russianbear wrote:Hi everybody.
1)How many buttons do you have? (open DEFAULT.BAR in the TC dir and scroll down to see the number. Let us know if you use more than one button bar).
~148-152, including: ~37 - 41 on the Main ButtonBar, of which I frequently add Temporary buttons and remove them later or add them to a subBar if they are useful.
Plus 111, in SubBars, including some BARS that still use MGP's TCMenu.exe for custom drop downs.
Summed the Bars with:

Code: Select all

@ECHO OFF
CLS
SET total=0
FOR /F "tokens=2 delims==" %%F IN ('Find "Buttoncount" *.bar') DO CALL:SETTOTAL %%F
SET total
GOTO:EOF

:SETTOTAL
SET /A total=%total%+%1
2)How many custom colors do you have defined for different file types? (See [Colors] section in your wincmd.ini)
Almost none. I colorize Junctions (white) primarily. I use a darkish green filepanel background with Yellow text --- very easy on the eyes. Which isn't very conducive to using other text colours.

Now if I could do background AND foreground for different file-Types, I might use that more often, But I probably wouldn't as there's no way to easily enable a fileType highlight temporarily and then turn it off. You would have to create the highlight, define its string, pick the color. Then delete it. When you wanted to enable it again... multiple dialogs to go through and pick the color again --- no way to just disable a Highlighter and retain the chosen color in the wincmd.ini

3)How many Keyboard Shortcuts do you have? (See [Shortcuts] section in your wincmd.ini)
20. But I have at least that many AHK shortcuts for TC. As well as extensive AHK modifications to my mouse to interact with TC.
4)How many Aliases do you have? (See [Alias] section in your wincmd.ini)
2, and I never use them.
5)How many User/Start Menu items do you have? (See [user] section in your wincmd.ini)
3 (StartMenu), for different versions of Opera + plus some empty test layout (subFolder) items. Almost always forget to use them, and launch the Opera versions from the TaskBar's quicklaunch.

32, user-defined commands.
6)How many DirectoryMenu (CTRL+D) items do you have? (See [DirMenu] section in your wincmd.ini)
Half a dozen or so, only use a couple with any regularity. Otherwise I just browse to where I need to be, or have junctions.
7)How many plugins do you have installed?
32 - MIght use half-a-dozen of those somewhat regularly. At least half of them I almost never use.

And multiArc never works as the path I most often want to use it with has a † character in it - so it chokes -- cuz don't you know it's 1985 and programs only understand alphanumeric characters.
Russianbear
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 4
Joined: 2010-09-09, 19:19 UTC

Post by *Russianbear »

MVV wrote:DEFAULT.BAR is not the only buttonbar file. :) it is just predefined one, and many users rename it or create new one with their own buttons - path to this file is specified in INI.
Yes, I only mentioned DEFAULT.BAR for those (like me) who only use the default. Those who tweaked it know where to look for, anyway :)

My own work TC has the following:

1)How many buttons do you have? 56 (This is the number of Items in the file, though about 10 of them are separators. I probably only use about 10 buttons with any degree of regularity).

2)How many custom colors do you have defined for different file types? 4

3)How many Keyboard Shortcuts do you have? 46 (lines in the Shortcuts section, though I use only about one third of those)

4)How many Aliases do you have? 36, many pointing to a user-defined command.

5)How many User Menu items do you have? 7

6)How many DirectoryMenu items do you have? 179 - a significant portion of those are submenues/delimiters used to group things, but the number of actual entries is probably still over 100. I have so many of them that the menu takes up a large part of the screen once I do CTRL+D and start to navigate to the subgrouping I want - and often mouse gets in the way as a submenu gets drawn over where the mouse pointer is and something gets highlighted with a mouse and throws my keyboard-based menu selection off. That is why I have been switching some of the tasks to aliases.

7)How many plugins do you have installed? 0
User avatar
Balderstrom
Power Member
Power Member
Posts: 2148
Joined: 2005-10-11, 10:10 UTC

Post by *Balderstrom »

@Russianbear

Your usage of the DirectoryMenu, is one of the reasons I really don't use that feature. It becomes another structure that needs to be organized. It sounds like you've let the DirMenu become more of a hindrance (than help) to navigating your files.

I try and keep my harddrives organized, and I generally know where something is. If it's a path I need to access frequently:
1) I'll have a locked Tab open to that path, Otherwise
2) A few strategic junctions and I can get to most places in a few clicks,
Without needing to search through TC's DirMenu.
And with a little AHK "magic", RightClick + ScrollWheel cycles through the Active Panel's Tabs :-)


TC is one of my most used programs, but it's DirMenu is of no help when I need to save an updated App from Opera (download), or open a file from a program that's already running. Thus in "My Documents" there are a few junctions,
e.g. "_APPS_" points to "P:\_P_\__APPS__"


NOTE:
I also have a highly organized custom MainMenu ".mnu" file. That includes:
"File", "Edit", "Mark", "View", "Go", "Tools", "Options", "Start" .... "Help"
The 'longest' drop-down has 17 items ("View"), and none of the items are deeper than 1 subMenu.

All of my favorite Programs are highly customizable, TC, Opera and EmEditor. All of them allow for Customized MainMenu's, ContextMenus and Buttons. (Although I've been liking CodeLobster lately, it can be tempermental and crashy).
Russianbear
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 4
Joined: 2010-09-09, 19:19 UTC

Post by *Russianbear »

Balderstrom wrote:@Russianbear

Your usage of the DirectoryMenu, is one of the reasons I really don't use that feature. It becomes another structure that needs to be organized. It sounds like you've let the DirMenu become more of a hindrance (than help) to navigating your files.

I try and keep my harddrives organized, and I generally know where something is. If it's a path I need to access frequently:
1) I'll have a locked Tab open to that path, Otherwise
2) A few strategic junctions and I can get to most places in a few clicks,
Without needing to search through TC's DirMenu.
And with a little AHK "magic", RightClick + ScrollWheel cycles through the Active Panel's Tabs :-)


TC is one of my most used programs, but it's DirMenu is of no help when I need to save an updated App from Opera (download), or open a file from a program that's already running. Thus in "My Documents" there are a few junctions,
e.g. "_APPS_" points to "P:\_P_\__APPS__"


NOTE:
I also have a highly organized custom MainMenu ".mnu" file. That includes:
"File", "Edit", "Mark", "View", "Go", "Tools", "Options", "Start" .... "Help"
The 'longest' drop-down has 17 items ("View"), and none of the items are deeper than 1 subMenu.

All of my favorite Programs are highly customizable, TC, Opera and EmEditor. All of them allow for Customized MainMenu's, ContextMenus and Buttons. (Although I've been liking CodeLobster lately, it can be tempermental and crashy).
Thanks for your comments, Balderstrom.

I try not to use mouse as much as I can, as I think going back between mouse and keyboard slows one down, and program like TC can be operated faster with a keyboard.

I too use locked tabs for the directories I use the most - and I have aliases to quickly switch between the locked tab layouts I use for different projects.

What I use CTRL+D for in most cases - is something other than just changing directories. I use it to launch programs with the right parameters. I also use it as a IE/Firefox favorites alternative, and I use it to launch scripts. So most of the things -at least, most of the simple and repetitive things- that I need to do on my PC are a few keypresses away in the CTRL+D menu - so they are basically 1-2 seconds away. It is a matter of organizing it properly.

Maybe I overstated the difficulties I had with CTRL+D. Now that I think about it, the menues takes up a lot of my screen space because sometimes I use very long paths as item names, which makes the whole menu wider. If I change/reorganize it they'd be much more manageable. But the way I have set it up works fine for my purposes - it just needs a little refinement now and then. But I am always open to suggestions :)
User avatar
Balderstrom
Power Member
Power Member
Posts: 2148
Joined: 2005-10-11, 10:10 UTC

Post by *Balderstrom »

You might like this script:
DirHotList.ahk :: Navigate Hotlist by Menu Position#
It could be compiled, so AHK wouldn't be needed. But there's been no demand for that, and compiled also bumps a < 1k text script to ~200KB.
User avatar
ND
Member
Member
Posts: 150
Joined: 2006-04-10, 16:24 UTC
Location: Sibiu, RO

Post by *ND »

Win7 Ultimate x64, TC 7.56, wide screen (16:9), @home
1) 68 (53 actual buttons) in non-DEFAULT.BAR, +2 other bars (one with 16 fixed buttons, another with 10..20 variable buttons)
2) 1 custom color for alternating rows (BackColor2)
3) 13 shortcuts
4) 0 (don't have that section in my .ini)
5) 1 entry (to reveal button bar when hidden)
6) 0 entries (none)
7) WLX = 11, WCX = 15, WDX = 5, WFX = 16
8) lefttabs = 9+1, righttabs = 12+1
9) (usercmd.ini) 9 custom commands

WinXP Pro SP3 x32, TC 7.55a, normal screen (4:3), @work
1) 39 (32 actual buttons) in non-DEFAULT.BAR, +5 other bars (some +100 buttons)
2) 1 custom color for alternating rows (BackColor2)
3) 13 shortcuts
4) 0 (don't have that section in my .ini)
5) 1 entry (to reveal button bar when hidden)
6) 12 entries
7) WLX = 10, WCX = 8, WDX = 5, WFX = 14
8) lefttabs = 8+1, righttabs = #n+1 (dynamically via buttons)
9) (usercmd.ini) 30 custom commands
aNDreas Bolotă
The truth always carries the ambiguity of the words used to express it. (Frank Herbert, God Emperor of Dune)
User avatar
petermad
Power Member
Power Member
Posts: 14739
Joined: 2003-02-05, 20:24 UTC
Location: Denmark
Contact:

Post by *petermad »

1: 69 Buttons in my main button bar which again has 4 subbars with 24 buttons. Moreover 3 additional button bars with all together more than 200 buttons.
2: 5 Custom colors: "LNK", "Compressed", "Description", "< 1 day old", "< 1 hour old".
3: 13 Shortcuts
4: 1 Alias
5: 39 Start menu items
6: 22 Dirmenu items
7: 15 WCX, 10 WFX, 24 WLX, 27 WDX Plugins
8: 4 Customized menus each with 600 extra items
9: 259 user commands (wcmd_xxx_yyy.ini)
10: Lefttabs =0, Righttabs=0
11: 5 ini files (wincmd.ini wcx_ftp.ini plugins.ini user.ini history.ini)
12: 12 External tools, developed for use with TC.

1, 8 and 9 can be downloaded - see my signature.
License #524 (1994)
Danish Total Commander Translator
TC 11.03 32+64bit on Win XP 32bit & Win 7, 8.1 & 10 (22H2) 64bit, 'Everything' 1.5.0.1371a
TC 3.50b4 on Android 6 & 13
Try: TC Extended Menus | TC Languagebar | TC Dark Help | PHSM-Calendar
Post Reply