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 Post subject: Re: Winstep Wish List
PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 9:21 am 
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winstep wrote:
Alas... forget multi-threading.

When all this started - because me and John T.Folden wanted to emulate the look of NeXT style menus on Windows 95/98 and there was nothing back then that did this - I used the best tool at the time to make a quick mockup: Visual Basic 5.0.

I had no idea this 'mockup' would eventually develop into NextSTART, a full blow application, and eventually into Winstep Xtreme, etc... I had no idea that I would still be doing the same thing 20 years later, or that Microsoft would some years later scrap what was - at the time - the most popular development environment ever and replace it with that DOT Net abomination.

Hindsight is 20/20 vision, as they say, and had I known back then what I know now I would have used C++ instead of VB 5.0. But I didn't, and so I am now committed to using VB 5.0. That you can STILL do so much with it - and even applications like Nexus etc which you CANNOT do with DOT net because DOT Net isn't fast or lean enough - is a testament to how powerful classic VB was.

Re-writing the whole application(s) into C++ from the ground up is not a realistic option either, as Netscape learned when they tried re-writing their browser from scratch. By the time they finished the world had moved on, and all they had in their hands was a buggy mess - stability is also the result of years and years and years of bug fixes on top of bug fixes, something you do not benefit from when starting from scratch.

Problem is: classic VB is single threaded and this is a limitation of the language - it was never developed further to support multi-threading. I can only 'fake' multi-threading by using several tricks, and/or off-loading certain tasks to an external executable.

For instance, counting how many files are in the Recycle Bin and their sizes is actually done by winstep.exe, not the main application, so that the main application does not come to a screeching halt waiting for the API call to return when there are thousands of files in the Recycle Bin. Likewise, copying/moving a large number of files via drag & drop is also done by winstep.exe - this way the main application can remain responsive while the copy/move operation is still ongoing.

I guess emptying the Recycle Bin could also be offloaded to winstep.exe, if it's taking that long in your case.



thats quite a history, thank you for explaining the details, it really has been a long way since then.

question, is there really no way to adjust popup/down delay of dock to less than 100ms? surely if it can go higher, it can go lower and it's not a limit of VB language is it?

if possible, please give us the option to go lower than 100ms.


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 Post subject: Re: Winstep Wish List
PostPosted: Sat Oct 24, 2020 2:17 am 
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wtfiwinomgs wrote:
if possible, please give us the option to go lower than 100ms.

The human optical system and brain are incapable of detecting any interval smaller than 1/10th sec. and most people would barely notice that or even not at all.

At 40ms you'd have to be a fly - compound eyes are very good at detecting even the fastest motion.

Given how many far more important issues are waiting to be addressed in Winstep, I would hope that you can see the nonsensical nature of your wish. You can always turn of the animation for zero delay.

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 Post subject: Re: Winstep Wish List
PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2020 8:38 pm 
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I just installed Winstep Nexus. I just got my first Windows computer after being on mac for many, many years and am messing around trying to make myself feel more at home by replicating the macos experience!

I have to say, the Nexus dock is an EXCELLENT piece of software. I purchased it just hours after testing out the free version. Really amazing job!

The biggest reason I was looking to purchase was to gain access to the grid stacks functionality. I take a lot of screenshots for my job and being able to quickly preview a file from the dock and then drag it into an application is an integral part of my workflow.

As far as my feature request: would you ever consider adding "Fan stacks" to Nexus? Visually, it's easier for me to parse a single column of files fanned out, as opposed to a grid of files, when trying to find the most recent file in the list.

Second, would it be possible to differentiate the animation for "cold booting a program" and "focusing a running program?" Currently there is one animation assigned to both these functions. On macOS, when you cold boot an app, the app will bounce in the dock. But when you just focus an already running app, no animation occurs. Would love to replicate this functionality in Nexus.

Aside from these, the software is perfect in my opinion. Thank you so much for your work!


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 Post subject: Re: Winstep Wish List
PostPosted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 9:24 am 
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caseyls wrote:
As far as my feature request: would you ever consider adding "Fan stacks" to Nexus? Visually, it's easier for me to parse a single column of files fanned out, as opposed to a grid of files, when trying to find the most recent file in the list.


Well, one could say that the equivalent of a "Fan Stack" in the dock is a sub-dock, but alas, docks and sub-docks were never build for showing an undetermined number of files (they don't even have scroll buttons) so you cannot use them as 'windows' into existing folders, only as a repository for shortcuts you previously place there.

You could try forcing an existing Grid Stack to only show one column of icons though, see if that works for you (Right click on Grid Stack -> Grid Stack Properties -> Appearance tab -> Grid Stack Size).

caseyls wrote:
But when you just focus an already running app, no animation occurs. Would love to replicate this functionality in Nexus.


Noted, thanks.

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 Post subject: Re: Winstep Wish List
PostPosted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 4:06 pm 
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winstep wrote:

You could try forcing an existing Grid Stack to only show one column of icons though, see if that works for you (Right click on Grid Stack -> Grid Stack Properties -> Appearance tab -> Grid Stack Size).


Hey, this actually worked pretty well for the type of look I was going for! If you could put labels to the left of the icons (current preferences allow only above or below icons) and have persistent label backgrounds (a la the real thing) this would almost completely replicate fan stacks. Maybe some drop shadow settings for icons as well, the current drop shadow sits pretty far below the icon itself when enabled. But! For the moment, I am happy. Not high priority asks haha.

One final question, maybe I'm stupid and apologies if so, is there a way to open the grid stack folder from the grid stack itself? As in, I have a grid stack for my downloads folder, I click on the grid stack, is there any way, from here, to open Downloads in Explorer?

Thank you so much!


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 Post subject: Re: Winstep Wish List
PostPosted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 4:17 pm 
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caseyls wrote:
One final question, maybe I'm stupid and apologies if so, is there a way to open the grid stack folder from the grid stack itself? As in, I have a grid stack for my downloads folder, I click on the grid stack, is there any way, from here, to open Downloads in Explorer?


Right click one of the files inside the Grid Stack and select 'Show Container' from the context menu that pops up. This will show the containing folder in Explorer.

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 Post subject: Re: Winstep Wish List
PostPosted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 5:55 pm 
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winstep wrote:
Right click one of the files inside the Grid Stack and select 'Show Container' from the context menu that pops up. This will show the containing folder in Explorer.

This reminds me - wouldn't it be possible to globally configure the 'Show Container' option to open in the user's choice of file manager? I never use that ghastly File Explorer so the option is useless to me.

Have found the near perfect perfect file manager some time ago now, thanks to mainly running Linux and using it there. It's called Double Commander, and it's available for multiple platforms inc. Windows. Well, not perfect yet, but getting there. And incredibly fast - leaves DOpus eating the dust. And it's free software as well as free of cost.

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 Post subject: Re: Winstep Wish List
PostPosted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 8:21 pm 
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I think a better method is to change the default file manager globally, rather than having each program handle its own "open with this" option.

Toward that end, I used Google to find the following, which is on Total Commander's forums:

It's in German. The first set of codes is for making 64-bit TC the default file manager. The second is for putting the default back to File Explorer.

https://www.ghisler.ch/board/viewtopic. ... 08#p307808

N-Ric, I'm giving some of the "beginner" advice below not because you wouldn't know how to do it but in case other people stumble across this and want to try it.

I'll provide the code below. Please note, I didn't test this because my file manager optionally handles this automatically. But, the registry entries look correct to me. This is your reminder to back up the relevant sections of the registry before making changes (or make a restore point).

Specifically, I would right-click the "shell" folder in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell and choose Export.

Image

To make 64-bit Total Commander your default, use this:

Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell]
@="open"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\open]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\open\command]
@="c:\\tools\\wincmd\\TOTALCMD64.EXE /O \"%1\""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell]
@="open"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\open]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\open\command]
@="c:\\tools\\wincmd\\TOTALCMD64.EXE /O \"%1\""


To put it back to Windows Explorer (aka File Explorer):

Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell]
@="none"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell]
@="none"


This should work with any file manager as long as you replace "c:\\tools\\wincmd\\TOTALCMD64.EXE /O" with the appropriate full path (and command-line switch, if necessary). Note the registry path entries usually require double-backslashes and this is one of those places.

Total Commander's /O is to open a path that's passed after the /O. This is apparently not necessary for Double Commander.

Final disclaimer: If you mess up your PC, it's not my fault. You take responsibility for messing around with this stuff. That's why you should create a restore point before doing this kind of stuff.


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 Post subject: Re: Winstep Wish List
PostPosted: Fri Nov 06, 2020 3:46 am 
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DesertDwarf wrote:
I think a better method is to change the default file manager globally, rather than having each program handle its own "open with this" option.

Toward that end, I used Google to find the following, which is on Total Commander's forums:

It's in German. The first set of codes is for making 64-bit TC the default file manager. The second is for putting the default back to File Explorer.

https://www.ghisler.ch/board/viewtopic. ... 08#p307808

N-Ric, I'm giving some of the "beginner" advice below not because you wouldn't know how to do it but in case other people stumble across this and want to try it.

I'll provide the code below. Please note, I didn't test this because my file manager optionally handles this automatically. But, the registry entries look correct to me. This is your reminder to back up the relevant sections of the registry before making changes (or make a restore point).

Specifically, I would right-click the "shell" folder in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell and choose Export.

Image

To make 64-bit Total Commander your default, use this:

Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell]
@="open"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\open]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\open\command]
@="c:\\tools\\wincmd\\TOTALCMD64.EXE /O \"%1\""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell]
@="open"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\open]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\open\command]
@="c:\\tools\\wincmd\\TOTALCMD64.EXE /O \"%1\""


To put it back to Windows Explorer (aka File Explorer):

Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell]
@="none"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell]
@="none"


This should work with any file manager as long as you replace "c:\\tools\\wincmd\\TOTALCMD64.EXE /O" with the appropriate full path (and command-line switch, if necessary). Note the registry path entries usually require double-backslashes and this is one of those places.

Total Commander's /O is to open a path that's passed after the /O. This is apparently not necessary for Double Commander.

Final disclaimer: If you mess up your PC, it's not my fault. You take responsibility for messing around with this stuff. That's why you should create a restore point before doing this kind of stuff.

Yep, definitely the best solution actually, thanks DD_Ric. Didn't think of that! I'll give it a go (with safety belt and braces, naturally) as soon as I get a chance.

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 Post subject: Re: Winstep Wish List
PostPosted: Fri Nov 06, 2020 4:20 pm 
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Posts: 10
Ok one more from me: I'm wondering if, within a grid stack, there could be a setting for folders to respect the "sort by date" parameter. As it works right now, folders within a grid stack will always be on top. When I sort by date, the expectation is that the most recent file will be at the bottom of the stack. But as it stands, the stack will always place folders first, regardless of their date created, and THEN my most recent files. This means that if I have more than a few folders in the stack, I have to scroll to see my most recent file.

Here's a mockup of what I'm talking about, just for reference. https://imgur.com/a/VNILIKG


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 Post subject: Re: Winstep Wish List
PostPosted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 11:34 am 
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Alas, folders ALWAYS show first (ordered by whatever sort order you have defined but always BEFORE files themselves). This is by design and same thing happens with Windows Explorer.

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 Post subject: Re: Winstep Wish List
PostPosted: Sun Nov 08, 2020 1:57 am 
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winstep wrote:
Alas, folders ALWAYS show first (ordered by whatever sort order you have defined but always BEFORE files themselves). This is by design and same thing happens with Windows Explorer.

Yep, and thank goodness for that. Anything else would get very, very messy. Now, if only all apps and all OSes could agree on a common alphabetical convention!

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nexter - so, what's next?

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 Post subject: Re: Winstep Wish List
PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2020 3:40 pm 
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It would be amazing if there were a preference for this type of sorting! Just as someone coming from MacOS (a type of user I imagine makes up a decent percent Nexus' user base), there is an OS level toggle for sorting folders first vs respecting sorting preferences. But, in stacks, folders always respect sort preference.

I generally also like to see folders at the top in explorer, but I use stacks solely to access the most recent file, regardless of whether it's a folder or a standalone file. Right now if I have more than 5 folders in a given directory, I need to scroll to access my most recent file, which isn't ideal.

I know this is possible to do on Windows, because while searching for file stack solutions before I came across Nexus, I was playing around with this very old piece of software called Standalone Stack, and this one sorts folders in this way, where it respects the date for every file type including folders! I would use this, but unfortunately it doesn't allow you to drag files out of stacks into other apps, which is the other main thing I do with stacks.

Just throwing my request out there one last time and then I'll stop pestering about it haha. Thanks for any consideration :)


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 Post subject: Re: Winstep Wish List
PostPosted: Thu Nov 19, 2020 10:29 pm 
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vectornut wrote:
technologywell wrote:
Spammy spammishness[/url]


Jorge, I think you need a moderator or two to take care of this kind of dreck when you're not around. I nominate Ric. And Ric. I'm sure neither one of them will ever delete legitimate posts. :wink:

Jorge, I think even though you're around again now, a moderator (or several) would be a very good idea. There are still quite a few spam posts around that keep popping up and stay around.

Another good plan would be to move to phpBB3 - can't be all that hard to do *and* keep the customisation... (which, BTW, is one of the nicest I've seen yet!)

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 Post subject: Re: Winstep Wish List
PostPosted: Tue Dec 01, 2020 8:33 pm 
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Please make the main window resizable:


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