849: "Open with FreeCommander" on [..] for new tab no longer works

Bugs and issues - current donor version.
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dsperber
Posts: 221
Joined: 28.03.2010, 01:35

849: "Open with FreeCommander" on [..] for new tab no longer works

#1 Post by dsperber » 14.06.2021, 01:34

This is a new breakage, most likely due to whatever got partially (but not completely) fixed in 849 for the broken "loss of tree" when opening the first new tab.

It used to be that if you followed these instructions:
in settings - shell menu check the options: "Folders", "Always in the current instance", "Active panel", then click to "Update registry" and OK and then you can open new tab like this
- right click the [..] item line (right below the address bar) or any folder in the file list and click "Open with FreeCommander".
that you could initiate a new tab.

Image

No longer works. Here is a short video demonstrating the failure to open the new tab.

So with 849 there is also this newly born bug relating to failure of opening new tabs that now also needs correcting.

And just a reminder that the underlying 849 fix for originally reported bug of "lost tree" when opening the first new tab (I believe this fix is probably responsible in some way for this newly born bug I'm reporting here) actually only fixed the problem for 1/2 of the circumstances regarding the "loss of tree" failure when the first new tab is opened. The 849 fix only corrects this (and no longer loses the tree when opening first new tab) if "always keep one tab open" is UNCHECKED. However if "always keep one tab open" is CHECKED then then opening the first new stab STILL LOSES THE TREE. So this still needs correcting.

dsperber
Posts: 221
Joined: 28.03.2010, 01:35

Re: 849: "Open with FreeCommander" on [..] for new tab no longer works

#2 Post by dsperber » 14.06.2021, 02:37

Well, something is strange. I wanted to go to a second machine to re-record that short video. For some reason it is not playing with audio/video in Firefox or Edge on the machine it was recorded on. However if I download the video and can play it with a media player program, and there is perfect audio/video. So I assume something's not right in the recording made on that machine.

In contrast the two similar short videos I recorded on a second machine the other day and posted to my other bug thread play just fine in the same Firefox browser on the first machine. So again, it must be something wrong with the recording made on the first machine that is responsible. If I try playing the just recorded and posted video from the second machine using Firefox on the first machine it also fails to deliver audio/video, but the older two videos do. Strange.

So I wanted to make a new short recording on the second machine. And when I used FCXE on the second machine to click on the [..] and "open with FreeCommands" expecting to see the same failure, instead IT WORKED PERFECTLY! It did not fail as it is doing on the first machine. Both are Win7, and both are using the identical INI files (copied from one machine to the other when I rebuilt everything the other day).

I then checked on two other Win10 machines, and sure enough THEY FAIL AS WELL. I then tried five more Win10 machines and sure enough they all fail as well.

So I can't figure out why this one Win7 machines still works and opens the new tab as expected, but EVERY OTHER MACHINE IS FAILING! One hint is that this one machine which is "working properly" is the very machine I uninstalled FCXE from the other day, and completely reinstalled the 849 program and reconstructed all my customizations from scratch. All these other machines are still using a previously installed FCXE program folder etc., and I simply run the new installer right over it and then delete/re-copy the updated INI set from my first machine.

I'll have to do some more experimenting on "failing machines", both Win7 and Win10. It would be strange if this one particular feature was somehow tied to something in the INI file of the first/master machine which related to Shell and which prevented me from copying that INI file to another machine. Maybe a driver folder name in Registry?? Don't know.

I will investigate further. But for now it absolutely IS failing on all but one of my machines. The only one it WORKS on is the original primary/master. All the others (at least that I've looked at so far) and to which I've simply copied the "master INI set" are all failing to open that new tab using the right-click on [..] and "open with FCXE" method.

dsperber
Posts: 221
Joined: 28.03.2010, 01:35

Re: 849: "Open with FreeCommander" on [..] for new tab no longer works

#3 Post by dsperber » 14.06.2021, 06:39

Ok. CASE CLOSED. User error.

Turns out the instructions I was following left off two CRITICAL items in the dialog, which also needed to be checked but had not been mentioned:

(1) "ALWAYS OPEN IN NEW TAB" MUST BE CHECKED. This is actually the crucial option, which had unwittingly been left unchecked when I followed the previous instructions since it had not been mentioned.

(2) "CURRENT USER (RECOMMENDED)" should also be checked. If "All Users" is not checked then the next two checkable item (i.e. "Start program" and "Load items in" become grayed-out and cannot be chosen.

Apparently I must have discovered this a while back when I first implemented tabs on the "first" (i.e. primary) machine whose INI file was then propagated to other machines. But obviously I'd forgotten all about this.

Note that these Shell Menu items ARE NOT IN THE INI FILE!!! They actually get applied to the Registry on the host machine. So I needed to do this on the target machines where I'd copied my INI file. The INI file updating in this manner in order to clone almost all of my customizations works fine, but I now see that it is ALSO necessary to go into Tools -> Shell Menu and then make ALL of these tab-related tweaks and push "update Registry", in order to make the [..] tab-related "open in FCXE" tweaks operational.

Image

I had completely forgotten this. I've now updated all the other machines which were NOT WORKING PROPERLY, to now have the critical "Always open in new tab" checked. And now all machines are working properly.

Again, "User Error". No bug in FCXE.

==> The "instructions" should include one more item, that the critical "always open in new tab" box MUST BE CHECKED.

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