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"outliner mode" file manager
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Posted by SmallDog
Sep 13, 2019 at 01:22 PM
I wanted the same thing! And requested this feature on dopus forum
https://resource.dopus.com/t/feature-suggestion-outliner-view/31131
Not sure if they are gonna implement it though. But I did mention WizTree in that post which might be one more option you could check out
jimspoon wrote:
One of the defining characteristics of an outliner is the ability to
>rearrange items in a tree hierarchy very quickly using keyboard
>shortcuts. For example, Ctrl+arrow keys to Move the item
>Up/Down/Left/Right, Enter key to create a new item at the same level.
>
>Then I thought, why couldn’t a file manager work the same way? Now
>Ctrl+arrow keys would be used to move selected files/folders to be a
>under a different folder. Pressing Enter would create a new folder at
>the same level. Perhaps there could be a different shortcut could be
>used to create a new text file at the same level as the currently
>focused item.
>
>I think this might be more efficient than the existing methods of
>select, Ctrl+X/C, navigate, Ctrl+V, navigate.
>
>Also, the concept of ordinal position of items within a folder could be
>introduced to items in the file system. That is, the items
>(files/subfolders) within a folder would be manually arranged in a
>certain sequence, perhaps represented by a number. This ordering could
>be altered by the Ctrl+Up/Down keys. Sort commands could be used to
>change this ordering - the items could be resorted by different
>properties (e.g. filename ascending). Ideally, this ordering could be a
>persistent property of the folders/files - not just something done “on
>the fly” when we ask a file manager to display items in a certain sort
>order.
>
>Perhaps there is a file manager out there that already works this way?
>Or at least partially - I don’t imagine there’s a filesystem out there
>that incorporates the persistent ordering concept I described.
Posted by washere
Sep 13, 2019 at 02:33 PM
Actually the feature request above from dopus is part of many gui kits including Windows own (pop-up dialog boxes to set location for whatever). They wouldn’t even have to code much, just plug it in as a pane. As shown space analyzers, driver finders, location setters etc do.
The OP had a thread a few days ago with 2 requests. 1) whose essence was ignored by others and himself later on was: to pull in multi txt files into a single big txt file editor. That’s ok. But he wanted the changes in editor to be reflected back in all constituent little txt files. I explained this will never happen. Why? Because you need invisible borders for each little file in the big file. OK!?!! But as I explained this is illogical as bits & chunks can get inter mingled and inter woven. Then what is written back to each little file? As they are interwoven by re-edits? Where do you put the invisible borders between little files in the big file & write what back to each little file? Of course, completely illogical, no reply given nor even acknowledgement so my reluctance to post even here.
The 2nd request there was similar to this thread which has added further to that. I’ve tested dozens of apps in this genre and use about 5 regularly, for different purposes. It in essence wanted a preview of those little txt files (yep they’re back). As I said there I myself have lots of them in my process. So I use quick preview, as he needs, myself regularly. I use an app to break large note files by whatever delimiter I set, into lots of little txt files. Then I use quick preview in other file manager apps.
The other essential part of his request, jist of this thread, was to have keyboard shortcuts for most uses, switching panes & showing files/ folders quickly etc etc by keyboard. I myself use keyboard shortcuts in most regular apps. Anyone who has coded expertly and fast or seen one in action knows what I mean. I asked him for what platform he wanted one, Windows Mac or Linux? Again no reply came. This thread has gone into Miller columns which is ok by me. Usually I despise off topic divergences, but when it comes to Millers’? Thanks to those respondents who mentioned it. I just love Millers. :)
https://www.outlinersoftware.com/search/index/Miller+columns
Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Sep 13, 2019 at 10:31 PM
The thing is that putting everything on the tree can lead to overpopulation very soon. This is something two-pane outliners often face with information items, let alone file system folders which may easily hold hundreds of files.
In information outliners, the issue can partly be resolved by allowing infinite hierarchy, which encourages item grouping, thus reducing the average number of items per level/group. However, the file system has limitations in the maximum path length (at least Windows does, don’t others?) so, by definition, a tree which copies the file folder structure will as well; thus, infinite hierarchy would not be possible in such a case.
SmallDog wrote:
I wanted the same thing! And requested this feature on dopus forum
>https://resource.dopus.com/t/feature-suggestion-outliner-view/31131
Posted by Pierre Paul Landry
Sep 14, 2019 at 02:08 AM
Alexander Deliyannis wrote:
> The thing is that putting everything on the tree can lead to overpopulation very soon.
Indeed. In the sample video I linked to, files can be shown under the folder OR in a separate column. This flexibility is quite uncommon
Pierre
Posted by jimspoon
Sep 16, 2019 at 05:26 PM
Alexander Deliyannis wrote:
The thing is that putting everything on the tree can lead to
>overpopulation very soon. This is something two-pane outliners often
>face with information items, let alone file system folders which may
>easily hold hundreds of files.
>
>In information outliners, the issue can partly be resolved by allowing
>infinite hierarchy, which encourages item grouping, thus reducing the
>average number of items per level/group. However, the file system has
>limitations in the maximum path length (at least Windows does, don’t
>others?) so, by definition, a tree which copies the file folder
>structure will as well; thus, infinite hierarchy would not be possible
>in such a case.
Very true! Pierre mentions a good solution where the display of files under the folders can be toggled on/off.
Trying to understand your point about the infinite hierarchy and maximum path length. (Nice thing there, is that I think there’s a registry setting in Windows for increasing the maximum path length from 256 characters to something like 32K !!) I guess in the case of outliners, when you’re traversing an infinite hierarchy of subitems, you’re actually just displaying other items that don’t actually “exist” at the displayed locations, but “really” exist at another location. Maybe similar concepts could be employed in “outliner-type” file copy/move operations. Seems like it would be possible for such a file manager to alert you when a copy operation would create path lengths exceeding the maximum. In most cases, however, the max length limitation would not come into play.