Browsing in the Panes is a Pain Now

[flvplayer]

First, let me say I like FC a lot; I tried a lot of other file managers, many of them NOT free, and whilst I use some of them for special purposes - some do better desktop searches than dedicated search programs, some allow for very decent photo browsing / flv playing, etc. -, for my bread and butter tasks I only use FC, and have been using it for years now; thus, a (reasonably priced) paid version would not put me off at all.

Unfortunately, the last versions of FC have got a horrible bug, i.e. 2009a has introduced it, supposedly (or it was even there in 2008), and in 2009b is has not been addressed, so after trying the new versions, I always revert to 2007, which is a shame for such a good program.

Let me explain; perhaps fellow users have brought this to the attention of dear Marek already, but not knowing how to specify this given problem, I cannot search for posts possibly having treated it.

You have two panes in FC. Now, when you browse with the up/down arrow keys in the entries of those panes, you'd expect (and FC up to 2007 does so, of course,) that the list of entries stays stable, on the left border of the pane; I'm speaking here of panes in which there are two or more lineages of such entries, i.e. when the pane has a horizontal mouse ribbon for going back and forth, i.e. when there are too many entries so that in the pane there are several COLUMNS of entries, not just one column.

So, let's say we browse, with up/down arrow keys, thru the second of two or three such columns of entries, let's say the pane can contain from top to bottom some 40 entries, and we're browsing thru entries 41 to 80, thus in the second "column".

No problem whatsoever up to 2007. And now 2009, a and b:

Every time a "long" entry "appears" = is selected by our browsing, the left border of our column of entries does NOT stay where it belongs, i.e. fixed at the left border of the pane, but the moment the "long" entry there is "selected" - I'm not speaking here of some special, real "selection", it's just the "selected line", the "cursor entry", the entry where the focus has come to by your up/down arrow keys browsing -,

the moment the "long" entry has focus by these means, the whole (second) "column" of entries (in our example) jumps to the left, i.e. out of sight, out of the pane! And then, you can only see the right part of all "long" entries in this block / "column", while all short entries cannot be read / seen any more, since they are placed to the left of the pane, out of reach.

Then, you press up/down arrow another time, so that now another short entry has focus / is "selected", and the whole block / "column" jumps back to its normal place; if you want to go, e.g., by pressing an up arrow key for some 300 ms, from entry 78 to 42 in your pane, i.e. from the bottom of the block of entries to the top of it, and if you have some 26 rather short entries between 42 and 78, but also 10 rather long ones, the whole block, within those 300 ms, jumps TEN TIMES forth and back, out of its place and back into its place, and so on...

Since this could even cause an epilepsy crisis, I would not distribute 2009a and 2009b in the US where people, even for freeware, could become rich by bringing an action against such a behavior.

Of course, I tried all the tweaks, but cannot imagine where it's me who has some setting set wrong in order to cause this, and btw, such a behavior of the panes' content is so without any sense, it simply cannot be caused by a setting, it must be a bug.

Since this bug wasn't there up to these last - and seemingly final - versions of this program, it's really a pity.

Can anybody tell me if this problem is a known one, and if so, why it persists from 2009a to 2009b? I, on different computers, can use this bug in order to decide which version, 2009 or 2007, I have installed on that computer, so it MUST be a known one and simply cannot occur just on my screen.

This behavior simply makes those final versions of FC unusable, so that people finally must search for alternatives when FC 2007 will perhaps not work on modern computers anymore ( I have XP, waiting for Win 8 ).

If FC wasn't such a fine program for everyday tasks in all other respects, I wouldn't bother to complain but simply leave, but it's simply too much of a loss; perhaps Marek should have introduced a (moderate) fee for his fine work years ago? Abandoning FC now, and introducing a bug that makes it unusable henceforth, is a pityful scenario at the end, FC deserves better!

Thank you for any enlightenment on this matter.

Let me add that this phenomenon does not affect a single column, nor the last column, but intermediate colums; thus, entries in that range 41-80 would be affected if there were more than 80 entries, in our example that the pane can contain 40 entries in any one column.

[Karol]

Have you tried the XE version http://www.freecommander.com/fc_beta_en.htm ?

[flvplayer]

Thank you for answering, Karol. I weren't aware there was a downloadable beta of that one, had thought it was only in planning.

So I tried. Took me some time to strip the "modern" = awful GUI to its bare minima = that's why I always preferred FC over all the competitors.

And then, I immediately discovered the first bug. If you option in settings, display, file/folder list, for "Full Row Selection: NO" (= it's yes by default), that NO setting does NOT affect the YES being on, and restarting FC doesn't help.

Since I use, for medical reasons, a program that does a mouseclick whenever the mouse is moved, I depend on file managers' ability to not make that full row selection mandatorily, either by not doing it from start on, or to let you have your choice with it.

BTW, for folders, even clicking 10 cm to the right of the (short) folder name will open the folder, while (my automatic) clicking to the right of program items will once open the program, and then not, even if the distance from the right end of the entry is equal.

Thus, this beta, with this feature not being put in yet, is unusable for me, unfortunately, and so, I'm wondering when this feature will be implemented, except for a dummy setting in the settings that doesn't change the default setting.

Another thing (be it a bug or a setting I overlooked): If you got rid of the tabs - there's no setting "don't show them", but you must close them manually -, even after restarting FC XE, the screen real estate for the tabs is not put to better use = to enlarge the list panes, but stays empty = unused;

correction: it's not the tab screen real estate that it's no affected to better use, but it's the screen real estate ABOVE the c: d: e: ... line / ribbon, just under the menu: That very large ribbon there stays without any use if you got rid of the tools pane, or whatever it is called; it's exactly those tools panes, with icons for commands instead of people using the menu, here and then, and keyboard shortcuts for commands they often need, that make "modern" programs so extremely ugly - not speaking of those horrible MS "command ribbons".

Thus, allowing for getting rid of them is a good thing, but not if then the big space on the screen they had been using, remains empty.

Thus, there are two things in FC XE I immediately found to be amended; can my thread be put into the "bugs" section for FC XE, so as to serve as a reminder there (if these things ain't known issues already)?

[Karol]

And then, I immediately discovered the first bug. If you option in settings, display, file/folder list, for "Full Row Selection: NO" (= it's yes by default), that NO setting does NOT affect the YES being on, and restarting FC doesn't help.

Try to set the option "Theme off" in settings, display, file/folder list.

[Karol]

That very large ribbon there stays without any use if you got rid of the tools pane, or whatever it is called; it's exactly those tools panes, with icons for commands instead of people using the menu, here and then, and keyboard shortcuts for commands they often need, that make "modern" programs so extremely ugly - not speaking of those horrible MS "command ribbons".

You can define the toolbar as you like, check extras, "Customize toolbar...".