More Extra lines below cursor problems, this NEEDS to get addressed!

[Perplexer]

The issues with "Extra lines below cursor" are literally killing me and my productivity, and I've seen some others post about it also so I'm hoping it will get addressed and fixed. As usual with my posts, this is going to be little longer because I like to be precise and detailed, so I hope you will bare with me (at least the developer)!

I'll try to explain the issue so it can be reproduced. This is a MOUSE ONLY operation (I'm not touching the keyboard!):

I go to a drive or folder which has many subfolders inside (let's say 500), so the list of them fills the pane and shows a slider. Then I scroll down to some folder in the middle of the list (for example folder 250). This is important for some reason. It can't be a folder near the top of the list. Then I double-click on a folder near the top of the current pane view, for example the 5th one from the upper pane border, to enter it. Then I exit it by double-clicking the ".." link. Instead of being brought back and seeing the folder selected at position 5 from the upper pane border (same position as it was before I entered it), the folder is now shown selected near the bottom of the pane, 4th from the bottom! Extremely annoying!

This doesn't happen if I enter and exit a folder at the very top of the folder list (when the slider is at the very top) but it gets progressively worse the lower down I go. I figure it is related to "Configuration -> Options -> Operation -> Extra lines below cursor" which is set to 4 by default. If I completely un-tick this option (= set it to 0) and try it again (scroll somewhere to the middle of the list, enter the folder at the very top of the pane and then exit it), the folder will now be shown selected at the very bottom of the pane!

This makes it literally a torture to browse folders one-by-one with a mouse like I'm doing, since it's first: confusing me, and second: causing me to move the mouse cursor from the very top of the pane (where I double-clicked the ".." link) to the very bottom of the pane to double-click the next folder. On a 32" inch monitor this is a major pain, causing an absurd amount of mouse travel as well as constant head/neck/eye movement causing strain, at least in my case.

I would like to have TC behave in such a way that if I clicked and entered a folder in the middle of the pane, then it should show it again in the same position in the middle of the pane when I exit the folder. And same for every other position in the pane as well.

Please fix this. Thank you!

[Horst.Epp]

Maybe this buttons from user Fla$her helps you.
They need the TCFS2 TC add-on installed.

Code: Select all

TOTALCMD#BAR#DATA
%COMMANDER_PATH%\Plugins\TCFS2\TCFS2.exe
/ef msg($0B,0) tcm(2002) tcm(3303) tcm(2054) tcm(2003) tcm(2918) msg($0B,1) redraw()
WCMICON2.DLL,18
Go to previous folder in the parent directory

0
-1

Code: Select all

TOTALCMD#BAR#DATA
%COMMANDER_PATH%\Plugins\TCFS2\TCFS2.exe
/ef msg($0B,0) tcm(2002) tcm(3303) tcm(2053) tcm(2003) tcm(2918) msg($0B,1) redraw()
WCMICON2.DLL,19
Go to the next folder in the parent directory

0
-1

[Perplexer]

As much as I'd love to solve this issue, I feel like this TCFS2 thing is way above my skill level. I don't even know how to install it, let alone how/where to write that code/script/commands for using it. I have never used any plugins with TC. I'm just a regular user trying to browse through my music folders without discomfort. I'm hoping this "Extra lines below cursor" thing will get fixed eventually since reproducing the steps quite clearly shows the absurdity of current TC behavior.

[Fla$her]

2Perplexer
If you only use the mouse, then instead of positioning the cursor on [..] and double-click, it's easier to press one of the side mouse buttons to go to the previous folder in the directory history. In this case, the location of the list will be restored in the detailed mode.

At the same time, you can use the button to open the folder under the cursor in another panel. Or use the directory tree (Ctrl+F8).

[Perplexer]

It's not so much about needing to go into the next folder down as it is about having the selected folder that I exited be shown at the exact same position as when I entered it. That's currently not the case, which is the crux of the problem.

I have managed to figure out *Horst.Epp's suggestion and it's really not what I was looking for. I need to be able to actually exit a folder and see the parent folder contents again and go on from there.

I also already have the side button on my mouse used up so that's not a solution either. In fact, I have it configured as "keypress:Enter" in my mouse driver so in reality I sometimes exit the folder by pressing the mouse thumb button since ".." is already selected if I don't click on any file in the folder, allowing me to quickly exit the folder.

But yes, that's exactly the type of behavior I'm looking for in TC in this case! "Go back" command should be the way to exit a folder. Would also work for keyboard navigation I think.

[Fla$her]

I also already have the side button on my mouse used up

Is there only one side button in this mouse?

[JOUBE]

It's probably clear to you: you need to (if you already use this term) adapt your behavior to your system: the system includes here the OS (windows), mouse, monitor(32"). This is the same with programs, in this case with the TC: you need to (if you already use this term) adapt your behavior to the conditions of the TC. Which in your case in a simple case could mean that you don't have 500 folders in one folder, but a tiered subdirectory structure that fits to the behavior of the Tc.

Joube

[Perplexer]

JOUBE, I disagree with that. I think ideally the tool should be adapted to the user. For example a glove should fit my hand, not the other way around. Even you who apparently never encounters this issue must agree that TC behavior is unusual here (you enter a folder on top of the pane but when you exit it, it is at the bottom of the pane -- that's not how it should be). And suggesting that the user should therefore organize his data in a different way is absurd. A user often doesn't have control over how data is stored. For example the folder c:\Windows\WinSxS\ contains a lot of subfolders and browsing those can be awkward because of current TC behavior. And there is nothing the user can do about the folder's structure. The most reasonable thing would be to make TC work better in situations like these.

[Fla$her]

2Perplexer
I don't see the answer to my question.
The behavior of the mouse buttons can be substituted using the Autorun plugin or the AHK script.
Navigating through the directory history can logically be linked to the previous display of the list, but opening the parent folder via [..] is not, so auto-scrolling is not expected here.

[petermad]

I would like to have TC behave in such a way that if I clicked and entered a folder in the middle of the pane, then it should show it again in the same position in the middle of the pane when I exit the folder

You can obtain that by pressing Alt+ArrowLeft to exit the folder.

The problem with double-clicking the [..] entry or pressing Backspace is that you could have entered the subfolder in other ways than just double-clicking on it in the parent folder - you could have used the Directory hotlist, a button, a shortcut, the command line or the bread-crumb bar, so it is uncertain where you where before you went into the subfolder. By using Alt+ArrowLeft TC goes back via the History that also stores the cursor position.

[Fla$her]

You can obtain that by pressing Alt+ArrowLeft to exit the folder.

>>>

This is a MOUSE ONLY operation (I'm not touching the keyboard!):

[joe910]

I may be seeing this wrong, but using the "out of the box" install, the button bar has cm_GotoPreviousDir has the desired effect.....icon left arrow.

[petermad]

You can obtain that by pressing Alt+ArrowLeft to exit the folder.

>>>

This is a MOUSE ONLY operation (I'm not touching the keyboard!):

The full quote is:

I'll try to explain the issue so it can be reproduced. This is a MOUSE ONLY operation (I'm not touching the keyboard!):

Perplexer informs us on how to reproduce the problem - not that he is against using the keyboard.

He also writes:

I would like to have TC behave in such a way that if I clicked and entered a folder in the middle of the pane, then it should show it again in the same position in the middle of the pane when I exit the folder

This is what I am addressing in my post - and here he does NOT state that he explicitly wants to exit the folder with the mouse.


But, if Perplexer only wants to use the mouse, he can use joe910's suggestion. If Perplexer has deleted his cm_GotoPreviousDir button, he an make a new one to exercise his mouse on.

Anyway - the problem is not an "Extra lines below cursor" problem - I can reproduce it with this option either disabled or enabled.

[Sir_SiLvA]

This is a MOUSE ONLY operation (I'm not touching the keyboard!):

OT: Then why use TC at all and not stick to Explorer?

[Usher]

2Sir_SiLvA
You can imagine many emergency cases when you have to work with a very limited toolset and limited time.