FS plugins provide data for panels. Is there a way to REPLACE panels?

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SinusPi
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FS plugins provide data for panels. Is there a way to REPLACE panels?

Post by *SinusPi »

More often than I'd like, I find myself needing to break out of the "folders within folders, containing files" hierarchy. I keep stumbling on cases where I'd welcome built-in sorting, grouping, sub-listing and keywording of files, as if every "folder" was internally a series of database queries, matching files with certain criteria, and presenting them in whatever crazy manner I could imagine - even a 3D cloud of icons, if need be. Is that in any way possible within the TC ecosystem? Can a plugin define its own panels or subwindows, instead of just defining custom columns for an (ultimately) flat listing? Or add inline buttons/hotkeys for actions strictly specific to this particular view (like, mark files as "done" or "to do", schedule them for handling later, transform them with a specific tool, or view them at angles or whatever)?
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Re: FS plugins provide data for panels. Is there a way to REPLACE panels?

Post by *Fla$her »

SinusPi wrote: 2023-03-20, 22:33 UTClike, mark files as "done" or "to do", schedule them for handling later
TwinKey > Sticky files/folders | Bookmarks on files/folders
I didn't understand the rest...
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Re: FS plugins provide data for panels. Is there a way to REPLACE panels?

Post by *Stefan2 »

Hi and welcome to the community.
SinusPi wrote: 2023-03-20, 22:33 UTC sorting, grouping, sub-listing and keywording of files,

Or add inline buttons/hotkeys for actions strictly specific to this particular view (like, mark files as "done" or "to do", schedule them for handling later, transform them with a specific tool, or view them at angles or whatever)?

You could maybe utilize File comments / descript.ion >> see viewtopic.php?p=355053#p355053

You could see the content of the descript.ion (comments on files) as column and also use a external script to parse the descript.ion for to do wanted actions on the so market files.




 
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Re: FS plugins provide data for panels. Is there a way to REPLACE panels?

Post by *Horst.Epp »

I use the NTFS_diz plugin to add comments to files.
This ADS streams are indexed by Everything, so I can find all files with a certain comment in a second.
Because the comments are part of the files they survive copies or moves with Explorer or other file managers.
The only restriction is that the Volumes must be NTFS formated.

For short term markers I use the bookmark function of the TwinKey plugin.
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SinusPi
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Re: FS plugins provide data for panels. Is there a way to REPLACE panels?

Post by *SinusPi »

Fla$her wrote: 2023-03-21, 12:36 UTC I didn't understand the rest...
Suppose I'm a "special needs" user. :)

Let's say I have a folder which will always contain two sets of files - think "before edits" and "after edits", or "version A, version B". I'd like them always displayed in a table with matching files in the same row - "File 001-A ...... File 001-B", "File 002-A ...... File 002-B Missing", "File 003-A incomplete ...... File 003-B", "File 004-A --identical-- File 004-B".

Or a folder which always contains photos formatted in a way that I'd like displayed in nice, graphical stacks.

Or a folder containing a flat bunch of thousands of files, which I'd like auto-grouped by year and month, collapsible or whatnot.

In a nutshell - I'd like to get OUT of the usual "table with rows and columns showing individual files", letting a plugin decide EVERYTHING that happens in the panel. Showing completely custom controls, if possible. TC has "table" or "thumbnails" or "tree" views only; I'd like to be able to add more, way more. Can plugins do that, currently? (Note: I am a coder with a stale but once decent background in C, I'm asking whether plugins are AT ALL ABLE to do that, were I take a whack at writing one, not how to accomplish it with the currently available ones.)
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Re: FS plugins provide data for panels. Is there a way to REPLACE panels?

Post by *Fla$her »

2SinusPi
Grouping with the collapse of short lists within the active panel is not implemented in TC. It's possible for Lister plugins, but it will be inconvenient.

And how does opening/closing folders (including virtual or in the form of symbolic links) differ fundamentally from grouping with folding in terms of usability?

Or, for example, why are you not satisfied with coloring files by some attribute (comment or streaming recording)?
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SinusPi
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Re: FS plugins provide data for panels. Is there a way to REPLACE panels?

Post by *SinusPi »

Because I'm not. I'm a picky user with a penchant for "rolling my own" if I can. :D

I'm simply asking if the current plugin API allows for letting the plugin completely take over the panel, or are listers limited to listing files in rows and columns (be they real or virtual). The examples were meant to describe what extent of taking over I had in mind.
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Re: FS plugins provide data for panels. Is there a way to REPLACE panels?

Post by *Hacker »

SinusPi,
No.
If you find a tool that can do what you want, please let us know.

HTH
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Re: FS plugins provide data for panels. Is there a way to REPLACE panels?

Post by *Dalai »

The WFX interface in particular just returns filenames to TC which then shows these (virtual) files in the regular panel. The interface also supports custom columns. What kind of information the plugin returns is completely up to the plugin developer. Maybe take a look at the WFX interface definition to check whether or not it can do what you want. Did you ever use a WFX plugin? Doing so would help to get a picture of what the interface can do, although the implementation depends on the specific plugin of course.

One thing to keep in mind is that TC always shows what's on disk, with some exceptions like redirected directories (e.g. SysNative, catroot) and both WFX and WCX plugins showing virtual files. And, as already mentioned, grouping is not possible in the TC panels.

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Re: FS plugins provide data for panels. Is there a way to REPLACE panels?

Post by *SinusPi »

Meh, still just flat structures, iterable with "first" and "next"...

A slightly different angle. Can a plugin activate on its own when entering a specific folder (by name or by type of content)?
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Re: FS plugins provide data for panels. Is there a way to REPLACE panels?

Post by *Dalai »

SinusPi wrote: 2023-03-21, 21:01 UTCMeh, still just flat structures, iterable with "first" and "next"...
Yes and no. WFX plugins can also return directories. But that's about it. Files and directories, you won't get anything else in TC's panels. However, WFX plugins can also show their own dialogs, e.g. when checking a virtual file's properties (Alt+Enter). This dialog's content and what it does is only limited by the plugin developer's imagination. But that's not in TC's panels either...
Can a plugin activate on its own when entering a specific folder (by name or by type of content)?
No, but TC can switch to a custom columns view and this can load fields from content plugins. Check the View Modes and Auto Switch Mode feature in TC's settings and the help file.

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SinusPi
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Re: FS plugins provide data for panels. Is there a way to REPLACE panels?

Post by *SinusPi »

This could be a nice development approach, I guess: let WFX plugins supply a "heads up" function each time the user navigates to a folder, letting the plugin familiarize itself with the folder and possibly raise an "I'd like to take over" flag, for TC to perhaps activate the eager plugin, if it wants to do more than just supply extra columns and, say, invent virtual folders and files based on the actual contents of the folder.
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Re: FS plugins provide data for panels. Is there a way to REPLACE panels?

Post by *SinusPi »

Wait a moment. I'm getting ideas.

Since a WFX plugin - executed manually, but, well, maybe it can't be avoided for the time being - can provide an entirely fictitious list of folders and files, who's stopping me from presenting a list of "executable" files, which - when Enter is pressed on them - function as menu items, with FsExecuteFile calling various routines depending on which file was executed? And, thus, simulate (for example) collapsing and expanding of item groups? 🤔
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Re: FS plugins provide data for panels. Is there a way to REPLACE panels?

Post by *Fla$her »

Isn't it easier to use a tree (Ctrl+Shift+F8)?
What you suggest with prepared menus (*.mnu) can be done without WFX: using internal associations + TCMenu/TcMenuPopup or TCFS2 + Autorun (SetMessageAction + ShowPopupMenu).
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Re: FS plugins provide data for panels. Is there a way to REPLACE panels?

Post by *SinusPi »

use a tree?
Not if the tree isn't really a tree, or if the files' properties can easily change and the plugin would need to quickly adapt.
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