TC Pocket v2.5 beta 2

[ianl8888]

I'm a long-time user of TC, both PC and PDA (WM5 now). I regard TC as the best file manager I've ever used, bar none.

My question relates to the Pocket version (I'm using v2.5 beta 2)

I find the \\Plugins\LAN absolutely brilliant in conjunction with the virtual 2 screen mode for connecting to my PC's for file transfer.

So when I click the LAN icon, I'm presented with _Quick open or <new server> icons. Tapping the _Quick open allows me to type in the LAN name of the PC I want to connect to (so far, so simple)

Q: is there any method of assigning a LAN address to an icon so I don't have to laboriously type the same LAN address each time I want to connect to the same PC ? If so, how please (and how about 5 or 6 different assignations)

I've searched the forums but found nothing on this (doesn't mean I haven't missed it, of course).

[AlleyKat]

If you tap the <new server> and define your path to the server there, it's saved in the list below <new server> and _Quick open. This way you can have a bunch of pre-defined quick network connections in PTC.

New network link made

And, after having made such a predefined server path, you can drag it to the button bar, to have direct access buttons to your network(s).

Dragging the link to buttonbar

When you drag the shortcut to the button bar, it may not get an icon assigned (it doesn't on mine, PPC2002) so the button will for starters be invisible. Just tap and hold over the button, choose Change (Edit? Mine's in Danish) in the shown menu, and assign it a new icon instead of the 'blank' one.

Change the 'invisible' button

Assign it an icon

Voila, buttons to your LAN. Yep, PTC truly rocks.


[edit] Sprinkled post with a few screenshots.

Tiny bug report/feature request for Mr. Ghisler: Renaming such a link in the network list doesn't seem to work. And maybe assign it a default dummy icon instead of leaving it blank.

[ianl8888]

Thanks for that - brilliant !
Clicking on the network link works great.

But this next bit confuses me:

"Dragging the link to buttonbar"

I did that and there is an "invisible man" - but it tells me it has no file association when I click it. So nothing useful happens.

"Assign it an icon"

I can easily find the "invisible man" and put up the Change menu almost like your screen dump picture - but it will not assign an icon from any \windows file I pick.

So as it stands, I have a working network link (several in fact) that did not previously exist - thank you.

But no working button bar icon

[AlleyKat]

Hmm strange, maybe something about WM5?

Buttons in TC

First (custom) is with \Windows\shell32.exe and second is with \Program Files\cabinstl_en.exe (where I usually put that).

Could it be that there are spaces in the Command path for the button?

[ianl8888]

OK thanks. The network links work extremely well.

I've made some progress on these button bar icons:

1) I can now assign an icon to the invisible man (this is dependent on which EXE file I pick - none from \windows - and some have 3 or 4 possibilities). The icon pick does stay in the bar, so some progress

BUT

2) there is still no file association, so when the new button icon is clicked still nothing happens

Progress is coming along, though

[ianl8888]

Further to these posts, I have tried the same network links/button bar icons on an iPAQ 6910 as well as the Eten X500. Both devices run WM5.

Results are the same for both devices.

Network links work fine, "invisible" button bar man accepts icons from a range of programs.

BUT then the new button icon refuses any file association with the \\\LAN command so clicking it produces nothing.

Seems like a WM5 issue - so perhaps a bug in TC ?

[Gerry Busch]

Wow, many thanks for that great post! Using your technique, I just created a button that gets me right to the login screen for my default FTP server.

[ianl8888]

OK,good.

But how did you get the button to associate ? Are you using a WM5 device ?

That's where I've stopped - the button on my WM5 device will not associate with the \\\LAN command.

[Gerry Busch]

ianl8888 wrote:

OK,good.

But how did you get the button to associate ? Are you using a WM5 device ?

That's where I've stopped - the button on my WM5 device will not associate with the \\\LAN command.

Yes, I'm running WM5 in an Axim x51v.

I didn't use a reference to the plugin directory (\\\ftp in my case), but to the FTP server named within it, i.e. \\\ftp\Atspace. I did this by dragging the name 'Atspace' from the ftp directory onto the button bar. Nothing further was necessary to make it work, although I wanted a more appropriate icon than the default file folder icon. One of the icons in \Windows\backup.exe served my purpose (it represents file transfers).

[ianl8888]

Yes, I dragged the \\\LAN\c-pio\test name onto the bar (this is my default PC directory for transient files).

This created the "invisible man" which I was subsequently able to attach an icon to.

But clicking this icon only produces the valueless message:

"The file 'c-pio-test' cannot be opened. Either it is not signed ... restore this file".

But clicking this entry in the \\\LAN\ folder connects straightaway.

Who knows ?

[ianl8888]

Trying to understand this odd behaviour - where the network link in the folder works instantly when clicked, but it's icon in the button bar does nothing.

All the network links I've made (4 so far) have 0 bytes to them, as does <new server> and _Quick open

Is that normal ?

[ianl8888]

Trying to understand this odd behaviour - where the network link in the folder works instantly when clicked, but it's icon in the button bar does nothing.

All the network links I've made (4 so far) have 0 bytes to them, as does <new server> and _Quick open

Is that normal ?

Trying to resurrect this older topic.

Same problem - I have an iconised button bar icon dragged from a working \\\LAN link, but the created icon just tells me "file cannot be opened. Either not signed with a trusted certificate, or one of its components cannot be found"

Yet as I understand the situation, this button is simply a copy of a network link that I already know works. Same thing happens when I drag <new server> to the button bar, same message.

Anyone have a clue where the problem lies ?

[Gerry Busch]

I can't reproduce your problem using the LAN plugin, as I don't have a LAN to try it on, but just for the sake of comparison, here's what happens when I drag a working FTP connection to the button bar:

It works as it should. When I tap and hold the button and select Change (to edit the button parameters), I notice the name I've assigned to the connection has automatically been preceeded by the "change directory" command, e.g. cd \\\ftp\Atspace. In other words, the connection is treated as a directory. What do you see when you edit the buttons you've created? Does it say something like cd \\\LAN\ConnectionName? If not, you might try using that syntax.

[ianl8888]

I can't reproduce your problem using the LAN plugin, as I don't have a LAN to try it on, but just for the sake of comparison, here's what happens when I drag a working FTP connection to the button bar:

It works as it should. When I tap and hold the button and select Change (to edit the button parameters), I notice the name I've assigned to the connection has automatically been preceeded by the "change directory" command, e.g. cd \\\ftp\Atspace. In other words, the connection is treated as a directory. What do you see when you edit the buttons you've created? Does it say something like cd \\\LAN\ConnectionName? If not, you might try using that syntax.

Thanks for your reply, Gerry

First up, these comments apply to both WM5 and WM6, and to two separate PDA's. So we know it's not O/S versions or specific PDA quirks.

change (to edit button bar icon parameters) produces:

\\\lan\c-pio-test

where c-pio-test is the name of the PC directory in the LAN I want to log onto

same for:

\\\lan\<new server>
\\\lan\_Quick open

All of them just give the "file cannot be opened ..." message when the button bar icon is clicked. All work when clicked in the main screen, of course.

So I tried the cd syntax, just puts TC into an empty \\\lan plugin directory, like \\\lan\c-pio-test\

So I tried the \\\ftp plugin

Works as you said, with the cd syntax. The iconized button bar shortcuts also work in the \\\ftp plugin, but not in the \\\lan plugin

Conclusion ?

A bug in TC \\\lan plugin

[Gerry Busch]

Conclusion ?

A bug in TC \\\lan plugin

You're probably right. I tried that "cd" approach on a dummy, non-existent LAN connection, and got an empty directory, just like you described. By the way, I'm running TC on a WM5 device, not that it makes any difference.