Total Commander

Proceed following operations if you wanna delete some files via application:

1) in list of files select some (in next step you wish to delete them);
2) press DELETE button. RESULT=moving selected files into TRASH;
2a) in this situation, when delete confirmation dialog with buttons YES/NO/CANCEL appears, question_mark_icon is visible into it always only;
3) in list of files select another existing files (you wanna continue with delete of files, but don't wanna move them to the TRASH, now you wanna delete them immediately from hard drive);
4) press combination of SHIFT+DELETE buttons. RESULT=files should be removed from hard drive immediately, not moved into TRASH;
4a) in this situation, when delete confirmation dialog with buttons YES/NO/CANCEL appears, question_mark_icon is visible into it always only.

Suggestion: it will be handy to change icon from question_mark_icon style into another style, to let user immediately see that application really detected SHIFT pressed, and counts on operation "delete immediately", not "move to TRASH".

Beside the fact, that this suggestion would be nice to have, there's one more question in my mind:

What's the difference between "No" and "Cancel" button in the confirmation dialog?`

ricobautsch wrote:Beside the fact, that this suggestion would be nice to have, there's one more question in my mind:

What's the difference between "No" and "Cancel" button in the confirmation dialog?`

Description: now look at YES/NO/CANCEL options as a global option available in all software applications sometimes, not only TC.

Basically in all those global situations YES/NO/CANCEL means:

1) YES=I accept operation's request, proceed with operation requested by dialog;
2) NO= I don't accept operation's request at specific question, but the rest of operation's purpose may continue.;
3) CANCEL=cancel whole operation (immediatelly).

Now here is look at global points from TC application point of view (in all other applications it should be same):

Sample_situation: we wish to delete selected files in list. First proceed following steps:
-in TC application select some files you wish to delete in folder;
-press DELETE button, and question dialog appears with YES/NO/CANCEL buttons. What will happen if you will press one of those 3 buttons:

4) YES=TC will begin with DELETE operation you requested;
4a) during progress of DELETE operation TC will find some fle with READ_ONLY attribute set;
4b) in that situation TC will ask you something like "I found READ_ONLY file. Do you wish to delete this file and all next files found with same READ_ONLY attibute?" This can be situation, where YES/NO/CANCEL button is handy:

4b1) YES=operation DELETE will continue and TC will not ask you again "READ_ONLY file detected. Delete it really too?". He will delete READ_ONLY file quietly and will not disturb you with same question again;
4b2) NO=operation DELETE will continue, TC will not delete found READ_ONLY file, and also will leave all another files with READ_ONLY attribute set untouched, what means, READ_ONLY files will not be deleted;
4b3) CANCEL=operation DELETE will be aborted immediately, and TC will cancel progress of DELETE operation immediately too. This button is handy especially in DELETE operations. It can abort process during some stage of DELETE operation, and save your life sometimes (or life of your files). It's very good option in case you will notify (thanks to question dialog visible) that you're really doing something what you didn't want to do.

In some TC details I made mistake of cause. Because TC is asking in some situations not exactly like I said right now. But as sample I think it can help you to understand global meaning of YES/NO/CANCEL buttons much better.

I understand the general meaning, "No" answers the single question, "Cancel" aborts the whole operation.

In case of your sample (read-only files) TC asks with self-explaining buttons (Delete, All, Skip, Cancel).

But when starting the delete operation, in the confirmation dialog "Do you really want to delete the selected files?", the Buttons "No" and "Cancel" do exactly the same, aborting the complete delete-request.

It is a question of this special dialog, not the general meaning.

ricobautsch wrote:What's the difference between "No" and "Cancel" button in the confirmation dialog?`

Christian has already explain it on this forum. The simple "Yes/No" dialog is not closed when user presses Esc. The "Yes/No/Cancel" dialog is closed, and this is more convenient.

Suggestion: it will be handy to change icon from question_mark_icon style into another style, to let user immediately see that application really detected SHIFT pressed, and counts on operation "delete immediately", not "move to TRASH".

IIRC the Windows API documentation gives no clue if a file will be deleted to RecycleBin or direct. Therefore TC gives not possible false information about that. Workaround: plz use Explorer method instead of TC deleting (Configuration or context menu).

Note: Explorer Delete Method is incompatible with NTFS junctions, at least in Win2k + XP: Deleting a junction will delete the files behind it instead of only the junction. This is MS's fault.
Unfortunately I have no information yet if this MS-bug is finally fixed in Vista.

If you don't know what a junction is, then you probably don't have/use them (so you can safely use the Explorer Deletion Method) - except in Vista, which uses some sort of junctions in standard installations itself.

StatusQuo wrote:Unfortunately I have no information yet if this MS-bug is finally fixed in Vista.

IIRC, yes. BTW, it's also possible to fix this bug in WinXP by installing NTFS Link program.

2Flint

IIRC, yes. BTW, it's also possible to fix this bug in WinXP by installing NTFS Link program.

Thanks for the feedback and the hint, testing NTFS Link is on my ToDo-list...