WishList: Enhanced Copy/Move Dialog

[JohnFredC]

The link below connects to a mockup of an enhanced TC file copy dialog that I would find useful. It would also be useful for the Move dialog and some modification of it good for the Pack/Unpack dialogs.

Copy/Move Dialog proposal

Destination:
Combo containing recent destinations chosen in the dialog. Editable.

Name:
Combo containing recent names chosen in the dialog, with the filename part of the Destination as the default. Editable, with automatic update of the filename in the Destination value.

Folder:
Combo containing recent folders chosen in the dialog, with the path of the Destination as the default. Editable, with automatic update of the path part of the Destination value.

Folders, Favorites, History:
A selection from one of these lists would update the Folder value and the path part of the Destination value. 'History' would be the combination of Left and Right panel History Lists.

Dialog would maintain the values selected from the combos in the INI file upon execution of the OK button.

This dialog would work great for a single file, though it might have to morph a bit when copying (or moving) a multiple file selection. In that case, I was thinking that some sort of linkage with the multi-rename tool might be useful, too.

Feedback, anyone?

[ghisler(Author)]

Looks nice, especially the comboboxes are a good idea. I'm not so convinced about the target tree, I think that it's better to have this in a separate dialog so the main copy dialog doesn't contain too many elements which could confuse the user.

[JohnFredC]

Hi Christian...

Thanks for the comment!

>> it's better to have this in a separate dialog
>> so the main copy dialog doesn't contain too
>> many elements which could confuse the user.

In my applications, I like to avoid modality except when a sequence of actions must be strictly followed, so all choices presented at once in one dialog usually works best for me.

Perhaps a "More..." button on the current Total Commander Copy/Move dialogs could uncover these additional controls while maintaining the their initial simplicity.

By the way, I just love the new plug-in capability. Wonderful!

[jb]

Perhaps a "More..." button on the current Total Commander Copy/Move dialogs could uncover these additional controls while maintaining the their initial simplicity.

I think that would be good solution.


On this occasion I would like to suggest a little improvement in the TC V5.51 Copy dialog. Let's assume that you copy something from directory C:\Data to directory D:\DataBackup. Basically there are 3 cases regarding the selection of the source:

1. Single file (eg: Hello.txt).
2. Single directory (eg: TestDir).
3. Multiple objects of type file or directory (eg: Hello.txt and TestDir).

In these cases the TC copy dialog says:

1. Copy "Hello.txt" to "D:\DataBackup\Hello.txt"
2. Copy 1 file(s) to "D:\DataBackup\*.*"
3. Copy 2 file(s) to "D:\DataBackup\*.*"

It is important to note that in all cases the destination specification is presented in an editable text box.

And now comes my point. I think case 2 is not convenient (and actually not strictly correct either). In case 2 the dialog should say:

Copy "TestDir" to "D:\DataBackup\TestDir"

In this way the destination could be changed as easily as in case 1. A small change is typically needed when the source directory and the destination directory are equal. For example you might then just append ".OLD" in the text box.

Of course the same is also true for the Move dialog.

[ben hub]

2jb
I agree with you.

curiously, this feature exists when you strike Shift+F5 :

the dialog box says : Copy "Testdir" to "Testdir"

so it should be no problem to extend this behaviour to F5 ?

[Black Dog]

[face=courier]On 19-03-2003 17:30:36 +0000 ghisler(Author) wrote:

g> Looks nice, especially the comboboxes are a good idea.

Does it mean that you seriously consider the possibility of adding "Copy" dialog's history? I just can't believe!!! I do hope it would be multisessional (i.e. not cleared every time you close Commander). And what about autocomletion from history?

2JohnFredC&jb
I agree with you both.
But I do miss one more thing. As you know Commander has Transfer Manager providing ability to queue copy routine. But the way it is integrated in Commander now makes me think Christian ashamed of it.
So I think it would be a good idea to add at least two functions to subj: "Start queue" and "Add to existing queue".[/face]