Is there any "command navigation" info to help fin

[spikey]

Is there a web page or perhaps even something in the TC help text to show where particular commands are located.

For example, the help text might say something like "Use RENAME to do ... blah blah blah". However for a newcomer or even a long-time user it can be a real problem finding where that RENAME command is to be found!!!

For example, I still can't work out how to do a FIND to scan all the files in the current folder and all the subfolders. (NO - I don't particularly want an answer to that right now.) The point is that the TC help text does not assist me to find where to go to do something like that FIND.

This could be easily overcome by putting at the top of the help page for a command (such as RENAME) the navigation which can be used to get to it.

How about it guys?

regards, Spikey

[Sheepdog]

If you open the TC Help you get the common windows Help box where you got a menuitem 'search'. This opens another window with two TABs. First is the "Index" TAB and second the "Search" TAB. And here you can search for the particular command.

The other way is to have a look either at the 'User Interface' page of the help, where you may look at a certain part of the interface and get a detailed description. Or you could have a look athe 'menu' section where the most important commands of TC are decribed thoroughly.

BTW 'use FIND' means the 'Command->Search' or 'find files' Dilaog box you cn open with [Alt]+[F7].

You are probably right that the helpfile could be improved. On the other hand this would take a huge amount of time that will keep @Ghisler away from programming.

So if you don't mind you should ask those questions here in the forum and will in 98% of all cases get an answer in within one hour (especially those beginners questions).

sheepdog

[spikey]

If you open the TC Help you get the common windows Help box where you got a menuitem 'search'. This opens another window with two TABs. First is the "Index" TAB and second the "Search" TAB. And here you can search for the particular command.

The other way is to have a look either at the 'User Interface' page of the help, where you may look at a certain part of the interface and get a detailed description. Or you could have a look athe 'menu' section where the most important commands of TC are decribed thoroughly.

-- snip --

You are probably right that the helpfile could be improved. On the other hand this would take a huge amount of time that will keep @Ghisler away from programming.

So if you don't mind you should ask those questions here in the forum and will in 98% of all cases get an answer in within one hour (especially those beginners questions).

sheepdog

Hi Sheepdog thanks for a detailed reply. I think I may not have described my problem fully.

The problem I have is not how to find help text on a particular command but on how to find the command itself!

So I might know there is command to change the font of the file listings in Total Commander from searching in the help text BUT where on earth is that command?

At the moment the TC help text does not help me NAVIGATE to that command.

Now this may not seem a big deal but the truth is that TC has got some very odd places where it places commands and the allocation of hotkeys is, well, unusual to say the least!

It would be only a relatively small amount of work to put a naigation line at the top of the help page for each command. So to change the font of the file listing we would have this:

Configuration > Options > Font > File List Font

And to edit a file name we would have this:

<shift> F6


This would be dead easy to implement. It may seem trivial for regular users but for beginners it is a PURE GODSEND.

[Clo]

2spikey

Hello !

- You might download and give a glance in the Tutorial, link in my signature below.

- All keyboard short cuts are shown - in the Help too - and you have the <Totalcmd.inc> file in the detail - it contains all internal commands for menus and buttons, and this is missing in the Help-.
- There are screen shots for all configuration page etc. etc.

Kind regards,
Claude
Clo

[spikey]

2spikey
- You might download and give a glance in the Tutorial, link in my signature below.

- All keyboard short cuts are shown - in the Help too - and you have the <Totalcmd.inc> file in the detail - it contains all internal commands for menus and buttons, and this is missing in the Help-.
- There are screen shots for all configuration page etc. etc.

Kind regards,
Claude
Clo

Thanks Clo. I have downloaded the Tutorial and will give it a close look. it seems quite useful! However I have the impression from what you and from the quick look that you do not provide the sort of facility I am seeking.

For example, I would like to know how to actually GET TO something like Dialog box: Compare by content. If you look at TC's help text for that command then it says this:

Dialog box: Compare by content (32 bit version only)

With this dialog box you can compare two text or binary files with each other. To do this, please proceed as follows:
1. Select the two files you want to compare in Total Commander
2. Select Files - Compare by content
3. With "Next difference", you can jump to the next difference found between the two files

When you open the dialog box, Total Commander will execute step 3 automatically with the first two files selected in the active file panel. You can also always choose two other files for a new comparison and press the compare button.

Compare Starts the comparison between the two chosen files. If the two files are identical, this will be shown with a dialog box only.

ETC
ETC
ETC

The dialog can be closed with ESC, ALT+F4 or the close button in the title bar. As with lister, multiple compare dialogs can stay open, and Total Commander can still be used!

Unfortunately the quoted text above does not tell me how to get to the command.

OK, so I could spend a few minutes and look around TC but if I have to go into each command "blind" then I will simply launch a different utility which will do what I want without giving me a puzzle to solve first!

I hope my posting is not seen as a pointless moan but as a constructive suggestion which is not going to be all that difficult to implement!

rgds,
Spikey

[Lefteous]

2spikey

nfortunately the quoted text above does not tell me how to get to the command.

. Select Files - Compare by content

If this not what you are looking for what is it?

[XPEHOPE3KA]

Unfortunately, Ghisler doesn't use quoting of menu entries in the help. You see the phrase "Select Files - Compare by content" and think that you should select files, which are to be compared, and then invoke the command.
It should have been written as "Select menuitem "Files"/"Compare by content"" or "Go to "Files - Compare by content" menu item"... Or at least there should be a help on the help saying that almost every word started with a capital letter in the middle of a sentence should be considered a first word of some menu item.

[Stance]

Hi and wellcome, spikey !

Total Commander is installed in a puristc style, because the developer wants it to be slim and fast either on elder computers.
But therefore it is quite customizeable:

Menu
The mainmenu isn't hardcoded like in other apps, you can edit it just like a textfile.
It can be fun to create a menu which fits exactly your needs but you can also download MNU -Files from other users.

Extended English Menus v3.2.6.52 from pdavit
Alternative English Interface 6.54 from petermad
Find more menus by search in http://www.totalcmd.net/

Save and change your mainmenu file (Allways a MNU -File) in your "Language" directory.
Configuration/Options/Language and select your new menu.

List of used commands
All commands are listed in the "Totalcmd.inc" -file inside of your TC -folder. We can't add commands in there. Have a look into it by pressing the F3 button. CTRL+Q will show files in the opposite window. These commands are used in the MNU and in the buttonbar.

Add a command in the buttonbar
To add an command in your buttonbar, use the menu: Configuration/Buttonbar or just rightclick onto the bar. Please remember to assign an icon to each command. By using blank fields without icons you can create a separator between some icon-groups. "Append" a new button, click on the downward arrow and choose this from the list: "cm_CompareFilesByContent".

Mark files
The menuitem "Compare by Content" is also in the menu. You will need to mark two files in one or both panels.
Mark a file in the filelist, press the tab key for "focus on the other panel" and mark the second file you wish to be compared. To mark files you can use the spacebar or right mouse button. You can change this behavior too:
Operation/Use right mouse button (As in Norton Commander). In this case the contextmenu wil appear after a "long right click".

Keyboard layout
Find a allmost complete list inside the TC helpfile: 3b "Keyboard layout"
Or use ALT, H, K on your keyboard. To assign new key for a TC-command see: Configuration/Misc/Redifine Hotkeys.

Kind regards
Stance

[XPEHOPE3KA]

All commands are listed in the "Totalcmd.inc" -file inside of your TC -folder. We can't add commands in there.

Well, we can. See here how.

[spikey]

2spikey

nfortunately the quoted text above does not tell me how to get to the command.

. Select Files - Compare by content

If this not what you are looking for what is it?

Unfortunately what you quote is not what I am looking for. How can I tell? I can tell because I have no idea whatsoever how to use what you have quoted or how to get to anything which seems to have something to do with it.

Now of course I am sure it is there and that is why you posted it. And it is porbably easy to get to IF YOU KNOW WHERE TO START.

Oh well.

[spikey]

Hi and wellcome, spikey !

Total Commander is installed in a puristc style, because the developer wants it to be slim and fast either on elder computers.

I would say that speed of execution should have no relationship at all with the usefulness of the help text. What I am asking for is a one line entry showing navigation to the command starting from the main TC screen.

Lean and mean and small does not not mean something has to be hard to use. Look at the free utilities provided by System Internals. http://www.sysinternals.com/ProcessesAndThreadsUtilities.html They are tiny with sizes like 70 KB but they nearly all have a wonderfully easy and definitely well-thought out GUI.

The mainmenu isn't hardcoded like in other apps, you can edit it just like a textfile.
It can be fun to create a menu which fits exactly your needs but you can also download MNU -Files from other users.

What you write above about the non-hardcoded menu is probably very useful for the more technically creative people but for the ordinary user the problem is simply finding the command they want. TC makes it hard to do by having a non-standard and non-intuitive GUI plus a help text which offers no extra help about navigating to commands.

List of used commands
All commands are listed in the "Totalcmd.inc" -file inside of your TC -folder. We can't add commands in there. Have a look into it by pressing the F3 button. CTRL+Q will show files in the opposite window. These commands are used in the MNU and in the buttonbar.

This is of no use to me as it does not tell me how to get to any particular command.

Add a command in the buttonbar

It's all getting fancier and fancier but the basics are missing. How do I find the command in the first place in order to see what it does before I add it to the buttonbar?

Keyboard layout
Find a allmost complete list inside the TC helpfile: 3b "Keyboard layout"
Or use ALT, H, K on your keyboard. To assign new key for a TC-command see: Configuration/Misc/Redifine Hotkeys.

Kind regards
Stance

I hope I do not seem to negative Stance but it can't be hard to write in the relevant help text pages:

New page: File > New page
New windows: File > New window

or

group rename: select files > Files > Multi-rename tool
and then refer to file selection because TC is weird for that too.

Good luck!

[Lefteous]

2spikey
Better help texts would be really nice. I support this.

However it's more important that commands can be found where users expect them. Can you describe if you had problems finding certain commands? If yes you could also describe where did you expect them to find.

[Sheepdog]

Maybe the tutorials especially the animated tutorials will help you to understand the basics?

sheepdog

[Sir_SiLvA]

spikey: since when do you work on a pc ?

[Sticky]

This seems like a very appropriate question. Or what I really would like to know is what first interested you in Total Commander?

TC makes it hard to do by having a non-standard and non-intuitive GUI plus a help text which offers no extra help about navigating to commands.

Spikey, everytime you see a hyphen, replace it with a > and the help may begin to make more sense to you. Although I understand what you are saying, many of us think that the TC GUI is very intuitive. Hence the reason Lefteous has asked you what, specifically, you had trouble finding.