Feature request: right-click menu on Address Bar offers "new folder tab"

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dsperber
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Feature request: right-click menu on Address Bar offers "new folder tab"

#1 Post by dsperber » 05.11.2020, 01:46

There are several different ways to create a new folder tab on the Address Bar of a panel with focus. One way, CTRL+T, requires two hands (so if one hand is on the mouse it must be removed in order to type CTRL+T). Or, you can do a lot of mouse movement using the Menu bar, View -> New folder tab. Etc., etc., for other meghods.

But for some strange reason, what is probably the simplest and most intuitive method (at least to my thinking) is that when right-clicking on the Address Bar with focus, the popup context menu produced DOES NOT INCLUDE the expected item (preferably near the top of the list, to minimize mouse movement down the list to navigate to it), namely "Add folder tab".

That way I wouldn't have to remove my hand from the mouse, I wouldn't need to hands to type two simultaneous keys on the keyboard, I wouldn't need lots of mouse movement and multiple mouse clicks.

==> a simple right-click somewhere on the Address Bar with focus, and select the new "Add folder tab" near the top of the context menu.

Why not?

Odamn-Ete
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Re: Feature request: right-click menu on Address Bar offers "new folder tab"

#2 Post by Odamn-Ete » 05.11.2020, 06:42

imho the requested feature is already implemented in the most intuitive way, just right-click on a tab.

Best regards

dsperber
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Re: Feature request: right-click menu on Address Bar offers "new folder tab"

#3 Post by dsperber » 07.11.2020, 04:18

I don't have any tabs showing. The address bar at the moment is just a single folder. Note that with my settings I do not always have at least one tab showing.

Image

That is the situation where right-click on the "empty address bar" does not offer an easy way to create the new folder tab (i.e. ending up now with two tabs).

Image

If you right-click on the "empty address bar" the popup context menu SHOULD offer "new folder tab". This is a reasonable request and improvement. It currently does not.

Image

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alf5000
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Re: Feature request: right-click menu on Address Bar offers "new folder tab"

#4 Post by alf5000 » 07.11.2020, 08:39

as a workaround I would suggest (and I think it's a good workaround): put "Open focused folder as a new tab in the same panel" in the adress toolbar - even saves you a click!
(win10pro x64) - (latest FCXE x64 portable)

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Dreamer
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Re: Feature request: right-click menu on Address Bar offers "new folder tab"

#5 Post by Dreamer » 07.11.2020, 12:58

More workarounds, all 1-click:
- toolbar new tab button
- address bar new tab button
- splitter bar new tab button
- middle click the address bar path folder, e.g. C:\One\Two\Three - you can click to C:, One, and Two to open these as a new tab
- middle click any folder in the file list

BTW Why are you using option to hide tab bar with 1 tab opened? You could right click tab and open new tab easily, try the option "Always keep one tab open".

dsperber
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Re: Feature request: right-click menu on Address Bar offers "new folder tab"

#6 Post by dsperber » 08.11.2020, 04:26

Dreamer wrote: 07.11.2020, 12:58 More workarounds, all 1-click:
- toolbar new tab button
- address bar new tab button
1. Both require very large mouse movements to get to, after possibly also having first clicked on an address bar to give focus to one panel or the other.

2. Unless I'm doing something wrong, there is no icon which corresponds to "new folder tab" button. It ends up being a vertical line when added. Yes, it looks like an icon when choosing that item from the list, but when added it appears as a vertical line.

And besides, I'd much rather just position the mouse on one address bar or the other, left-click if necessary to give it focus, and then immediately (with zero mouse movement) right-click and be able to move the mouse over a bit onto the new top context menu item "new folder tab" and left-click.

- splitter bar new tab button
I don't have a splitter bar. I'd rather have the space for detail rows in top/bottom panels.

- middle click the address bar path folder, e.g. C:\One\Two\Three - you can click to C:, One, and Two to open these as a new tab
- middle click any folder in the file list
Cute. I was not aware of this. Definitely a slick way to get a tab pre-populated with a folder without any real extra mouse/keyboard navigation.

But my Logitech MX Performance mouse doesn't have a physical middle button. It has a wheel that spins for scrolling up/down, which can also be pressed and then functions as a middle button. But I'm not comfortable just pushing it down because the wheel spins, and I'm much more accustomed to spinning it to scroll. So I would have to retrain myself to learn how to push it down without thinking. At the moment I find myself currently taking extreme care to try and just push it down, to accomplish the trick you suggest.

But thanks for this tip. Maybe with practice I would become comfortable with this technique.

BTW Why are you using option to hide tab bar with 1 tab opened? You could right click tab and open new tab easily, try the option "Always keep one tab open".
In the old days with smaller screens I was much more interested in available vertical space for detail rows in a pane (remember I use over/under split screen appearance). The loss of vertical space caused by the extra row for tabs was not something I wanted to give up. Maybe I shouldn't be so stingy.

Also, I actually don't normally use tabs (although I obviously realize it's of great utility and convenience). I find it hard to break the habit of just having a top/bottom and looking at no more than two folders at a time, both of which are shown in their Address Bar and always visible... with no tab needed above. I realize it's clearly no different than learning how to use multiple navigation tabs in any app, be it a browser window or Foxit etc, where there is simply always a tab bar and where it would be impossible to survive without tabs to easily navigate between many open items.

I just don't have the habit of leaving folders entered with FCXE open while then opening a new tab to go to another folder (although I probably should develop that habit since I do commonly find myself returning to an earlier examined folder in the same FCXE program session), so that I have 3, 4, 5, etc. open folders in the top/bottom panels... unless I want to or need to. But it's only occasional. I simply navigate through top or bottom panels, one folder at a time. Old fashioned and very elementary I know, and I'm not proud. I probably need to spiff up my FCXE techniques.

With today's larger higher resolution screens the precious vertical space is no longer really an issue. So maybe it's time for me to really "go into FCXE re-training" and just force myself to get accustomed to using tabs here as well, not to mention "favorites". Both of these features are really fundamental super-conveniences and I should avail myself of them, which I don't.


Still... I see no reason why it would be a bad thing to add "new folder tab" to the top of the right-click context menu on the Address Bar.
Last edited by dsperber on 08.11.2020, 04:31, edited 1 time in total.

dsperber
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Re: Feature request: right-click menu on Address Bar offers "new folder tab"

#7 Post by dsperber » 08.11.2020, 04:29

alf5000 wrote: 07.11.2020, 08:39 as a workaround I would suggest (and I think it's a good workaround): put "Open focused folder as a new tab in the same panel" in the address toolbar - even saves you a click!
I don't understand what you're saying.

Is this your own suggestion for a similar new feature?

Or are you pointing me to something that currently exists, which I could use in the meantime to accomplish what I am suggesting but in a different way that eliminates a click?

I don't see "open focused folder as a new tab in the same panel" anywhere in FCXE, so is that your terminology for your newly suggested feature? Or is it somewhere in FCXE that I simply can't find?

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ralfso
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Re: Feature request: right-click menu on Address Bar offers "new folder tab"

#8 Post by ralfso » 08.11.2020, 09:04

This means you can put an button for "open in new tab" in "Address bar - actions toolbar" or any other toolbar.
So you have a oneclick solution to open selected folder in new tab (also if you have not tab). As result you have 2 tabs.

https://freecommander.com/fchelpxe/en/D ... lbars.html

Choose "Address" in top left toolbar window.
Go to bottom right filter field and type "open".
In commands window you find "open in new tab" in the view section.
Add this button to the toolbar.
Define an icon for the button (because this command hasn't) by clicking on the ".." in details column.
Regards
Ralf

Win10 (64-bit), Intel i7-2600 (3,4 GHz), 8 GB Ram, 500 GB SSD, 2x2000 GB HD, NVIDIA GeForce 545

dsperber
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Re: Feature request: right-click menu on Address Bar offers "new folder tab"

#9 Post by dsperber » 08.11.2020, 13:37

Thank you for clarifying this. I've only customized the Standard Bar to have my own collection of useful buttons, and didn't really ever seek out anything more than that.

But I probably didn't pursue it much once I saw that these buttons are placed on the right-end of the bar (and since I am top/bottom the bars are horizontal, and they are very wide so that to get the mouse over there to click on a button represents a huge amount of cursor motion).

Nevertheless, I tried to see what it would look like if I added "open in new folder tab" to the Address Bar. I followed your directions, and got as far as the following:

Image

I don't follow the documentation, regarding how to set an icon for this button. This is what it says is supposed to appear when I click on the ".." value in the details column for the new row I just added for the "open in new folder tab" command:

Image

When I click on the ".." in the details field I do not get the popup window shown in the documentation. Instead I get the popup window shown in my screenshot above, which is for a "separator" which is what gets added when I push the "add" button having selected the "open in new folder tab" command.

What am I missing about getting an icon established for this command?

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Dreamer
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Re: Feature request: right-click menu on Address Bar offers "new folder tab"

#10 Post by Dreamer » 08.11.2020, 13:53

There are more "New folder tab" items in the list, one of them has the icon, at least in the latest public beta - 830.
fc newtabicon.png
BTW Try to use the mouse option "Enhance pointer precision" and faster speed, first it could be strange, it needs a bit practice, but then it's much better, I don't need to move a hand, just fingers, to go anywhere on screen, and it's still precise enough to click small icons/items.

I recommend to use big icons too, everywhere you can, in FC you can use big icons almost everywhere - main toolbar, splitter, tab-bar, address bar, search, multi rename, viewer.
dsperber wrote: 08.11.2020, 04:26Still... I see no reason why it would be a bad thing to add "new folder tab" to the top of the right-click context menu on the Address Bar.
I don't know if it will be added, it's not a "bad thing", but I see no reason to add "tab" option to address bar menu, everyone could request any number of options for every context menu, but it would be just unusable. I think this item would not be the first item, so you'd have to move a mouse to address bar, right click, move a mouse to "New folder tab" item, left click - it's not easier than 1-click to any toolbar button.

More workarounds, without middle button:
- keyboard shortcut, Ctrl+T by default, you can add any other, which would be accessible with left hand easier
- 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".

dsperber
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Re: Feature request: right-click menu on Address Bar offers "new folder tab"

#11 Post by dsperber » 08.11.2020, 22:42

Dreamer wrote: 08.11.2020, 13:53 There are more "New folder tab" items in the list, one of them has the icon, at least in the latest public beta - 830.
I had used "open" in the filter box as instructed. This other "new folder tab" did not show up. I've now found it using "tab" in the filter box as you've done. And yes, the command does appear to have an icon associated with it.

However adding that command still causes the "separator" to appear in the items/details pane. And once again, clicking on the ".." in the details cell still produces the separator popup dialog, not the real command one which supports specifying an icon.

Image

dsperber wrote: 08.11.2020, 04:26Still... I see no reason why it would be a bad thing to add "new folder tab" to the top of the right-click context menu on the Address Bar.
I don't know if it will be added, it's not a "bad thing", but I see no reason to add "tab" option to address bar menu, everyone could request any number of options for every context menu, but it would be just unusable. I think this item would not be the first item, so you'd have to move a mouse to address bar, right click, move a mouse to "New folder tab" item, left click - it's not easier than 1-click to any toolbar button.
Unless I have "always show one tab" (which always uses up one additional row of vertical window space per panel, even if only one tab exists which duplicates the full path shown in the address bar below it) there's currently no way to use mouse button (one or more clicks) while the cursor is on the left side of the window and address bar, other than using the middle-button method you've alerted me to. Adding a "new folder tab" button facilitating a single left-click will go on the right side of the address bar, which is quite a mouse move away.

Now if I set "always show one tab" with its always-cost of one vertical row of window real estate, right-click on a tab will produce a context menu that does have "new folder tab" as its top item. Turns out the context menu is sprayed up or down from the current mouse position depending on screen location for the FCXE window and whether it's the top or bottom panel's tab bar. So "new folder tab" can either be right next to where the mouse is currently sitting (if sprayed down) thus requiring very little movement to select it, or way high above the mouse (if sprayed up) which requires a good deal of mouse movement to select it. So this approach can be easy or more difficult, depending.

More workarounds, without middle button:
- keyboard shortcut, Ctrl+T by default, you can add any other, which would be accessible with left hand easier
True. But CTRL+T is really the universal keyboard shortcut to add a new tab in most/all apps. There's a lot to be said for sticking with this universal convention.

In the end, probably CTRL+T is really the least ambiguous and most convenient method of these option choices, even if it does take fingers of two hands off of the mouse.

More workarounds, without middle button:
- 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".
AHA!!! Now THIS ONE IS EXCELLENT!!

In fact, it's just about perfect. Simple, quick and easy, and almost always opens in a new tab precisely the folder you wanted to drill down into anyway! All in one right-click, move the mouse over just a bit, and select "open with FreeCommander". The navigation to and selection of the folder you wanted to be in the new tab in the first place is implicitly what you've done here, and using one single master-click to accomplish multiple functions at once. I think this approach is the winner.

Of course the location of this menu item again varies from very near to very far away depending on whether the context menu gets sprayed upwards or downwards from the location of the folder on the screen.

And I still don't think it can be wrong to add "new folder tab" to right-click context many on the Address Bar.

As far as using large icons, I honestly prefer the look of the smaller ones. Cleaner and less distracting to my eyes. Also, I have many buttons on my Standard bar and I don't want to waste two vertical rows which is what would result with large icons.

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Dreamer
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Re: Feature request: right-click menu on Address Bar offers "new folder tab"

#12 Post by Dreamer » 09.11.2020, 00:00

I don't understand that toolbar button issue, just double click "New folder tab" and then OK, no need to click to [..] item at all.

Why you're running FC as admin? It's not needed for normal usage, not even recommended.

dsperber
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Re: Feature request: right-click menu on Address Bar offers "new folder tab"

#13 Post by dsperber » 09.11.2020, 12:51

Dreamer wrote: 09.11.2020, 00:00 I don't understand that toolbar button issue,
Ok. My bad. The font is so small at my screen resolution of 2560x1440 and I'm so tired that I've been pushing the wrong button to add the command. My eyes and brain processed the "green arrow pointing left" as the button to be pushed. But of course it's "insert separator". What I should have been pushing is the button above it, the "red arrow pointing left" which is "insert command". Unbelievable.

Anyway, I'm straightened out now. I have gotten the actual command added, rather than a separator. And as you point out it can also be added by double-clicking. Or, as was clearly intended, select the command and then push the red arrow button at the top to "insert command". And either way it gets added to the left side.

However there appears to be a bug in FCXE adding that command. Whether using the red arrow button or double-click method, when I select the command row that has the icon and use either of the two methods for adding the command, the row selected drops down from the first of the two rows for "new folder tab" (which is the one with the icon) to the second row where there is a second "new folder tab" command but this one without an icon. And the actual command that gets added and appears on the left DOES NOT HAVE AN ICON!

Image

Furthermore, when clicking on the ".." in the just-added command for "new folder tab", the dialog window that comes up doesn't seem to have anything in it. How am I supposed to use this??

But the real problem is that the first command WITH THE ICON SHOWING did not get added. For some reason, when double-clicking on the selected row (i.e. the first "new folder tab" row which has an icon) the selection drops down one line, to the second "new folder tab" command that doesn't have an icon. And that's also what gets added, i.e. no icon.

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ralfso
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Re: Feature request: right-click menu on Address Bar offers "new folder tab"

#14 Post by ralfso » 09.11.2020, 16:19

dsperber wrote: 09.11.2020, 12:51 However there appears to be a bug in FCXE adding that command. Whether using the red arrow button or double-click method, when I select the command row that has the icon and use either of the two methods for adding the command, the row selected drops down from the first of the two rows for "new folder tab" (which is the one with the icon) to the second row where there is a second "new folder tab" command but this one without an icon. And the actual command that gets added and appears on the left DOES NOT HAVE AN ICON!

Furthermore, when clicking on the ".." in the just-added command for "new folder tab", the dialog window that comes up doesn't seem to have anything in it. How am I supposed to use this??

But the real problem is that the first command WITH THE ICON SHOWING did not get added. For some reason, when double-clicking on the selected row (i.e. the first "new folder tab" row which has an icon) the selection drops down one line, to the second "new folder tab" command that doesn't have an icon. And that's also what gets added, i.e. no icon.
You're right, the command "new folder tab" with the icon doesn't show the icon when it is added to the toolbar.
This is a pitty, but what's about adding an own icon? If you don't have icons, you can find some "new tab" icons here:
https://findicons.com/search/new-tab

I don't know where the FC-Icon are saved. I thought in FCIcons64.dll or FCIcons.dll but I couldn't open them to extract some icons.
Regards
Ralf

Win10 (64-bit), Intel i7-2600 (3,4 GHz), 8 GB Ram, 500 GB SSD, 2x2000 GB HD, NVIDIA GeForce 545

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Dreamer
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Re: Feature request: right-click menu on Address Bar offers "new folder tab"

#15 Post by Dreamer » 09.11.2020, 18:46

ralfso wrote: 09.11.2020, 16:19You're right, the command "new folder tab" with the icon doesn't show the icon when it is added to the toolbar.
This is a known bug, icon is not shown in that dialog (it's for any option), but it should appear on toolbar, as I said, try this:
Dreamer wrote: 09.11.2020, 00:00just double click "New folder tab" and then OK
When you re-open the dialog, icon should be shown also in that dialog. Re-tested again in 830 public beta and 832 donor.

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