RISC OS wish list

Filer

• Integrated compression (2013-09-14) - 37 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + 'New directory' would be a submenu which offered a list: 'New directory' and 'New zip archive'. Or, at least, a new 'zip archive' would be available somewhere, and zip archives would be 'browsable' like directories (a la SparkFS).
  • + Better would be a 'Squash' option - I can unsquash files just by double clicking, but I have to load squash to compress them.
  • + The ZIP format is so universally used today. It should be *included* as standard in RISCOS just like JPEGs for graphics, etc. RISC OS Ltd should add a read/write ZipFS system.
  • + Native rendering and drawfile support for PNG's as for JPEG's
  • + Yes!!!
  • + Yes please...all of the above
  • + Howabout building GZip into the squash module. It could tell how the file was compressed by the word at the start of the file.
  • + Brilliant idea!
  • + Thanks!
  • + IIRC this is one of the things RISC OS Ltd have said will be coming out soon.
• Plug in system (2013-09-14) - 27 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + I'd like to see a 'plugin' system for the Filer. So as a developer I could add extra things to the Filer Menu or even be able to discover what is currently selected in a Filer window or even control it to some extend. Developers have asked Acorn for this for years.
  • + A plug in interface for the Filer would allow extensions like that to me made. Indeed if you could combine plug-ins and virtual filing systems you could use the filter to have a single unified structure containing information on: Standard filesystem objects, Network topography, Tasks and memory usage, Open files, Internet sockets.
  • + Some generic interface for providing Filer-like displays, even for non-FS related purposes. For example, Paint could display its sprites this way, or a pot-plant database show its contents, without everyone having to write Yet Another Filer Interface (see SparkPlug, FTPc, HardBack etc).
  • + I wonder if developers have "Been asking RISCOS Ltd" for such a system for the past year ?
  • + Ooo, yes please. I'm fed up with writing YetAnotherFiler to handle different 'geometries' of filesystem. It would be so much easier if there was some sort of Wimp_Message sent out when you open a filer window so you can 'fill' it with entries, and when Menu is clicked over an object, so you can add items to the menu. Writing a filing system and letting the existing Filer isn't a solution, because there's no 'Set user account' entry in the Filer's menu.
• Refresh filer display (2013-08-30) - 20 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Ctrl-click on a filer close icon (or somesuch) to refresh the display - useful for network FSs that can't/don't know when server based directory contents have changed.
  • + What's wrong with allowing the use of Function key F5? ;-)
  • + Yuk, no, not F5! Double click on the title bar to refresh the window.
  • + Or, they could be polled infrequently and either set an icon showing that the display is out of date, or just redraw
  • - But why? The filer already autorefreshes!
  • + The filer only auto-refreshes if *it* knows that it needs to. That is, if a action on *this* machine has changed what *this* machine thinks the contents of the filesystem is. There is no way *this* machine can tell if another machine has changed the contents of the filesystem without occasionally relooking at the directory contents.
  • - ShareFS does. Anyway, you can just close and reopen the dir, or rename something or anything.
  • + How do you rename something in a read-onyl directory? How do you ensure that closing the wind and reopening it redisplays it in the same place? How do you remember that you haven't got the parent directory open, so you need to adj-close instead of sel-close? Menu item: Refresh would work for me, or configurable occasional polling.
  • + In the menu, under "Open Parent" add a refresh option.
  • + This wish been added to RISC OS Select!
• File sizes (2013-05-14) - 20 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + A smart rule for displaying file sizes, anything above 5120 bytes is shown in kb, anything above 256 Kb is measured in Mb, anything above 256 Mb is measured in Gb.
  • + I'd prefer a higher upper limit for displaying file sizes in each unit. Eg over 9999 Kb gets shown in Mb. This shows the file size more precisely, so I don't have to look at the file info box. It wouldn't take up any extra screen space either.
  • + How about a 'detail level' to give more detail on the filesize, e.g. up to so many significant figures.
  • + /* * returns string contain value converted to 4 digit value * plus magnetude character in bytes (' '), 'K' or 'M' or 'G' * uses next magnetude when value goes above MAX_VAL*magnetude * extended to use 64 bit numbers */ static char *value(uint v1, int v2) { static char string[16]; char *unit; double v, val; int mag; v = (double)v2*pow(2,32) + (double)v1; mag = (int)(log(v)/log(2)) / 10; if(mag4) mag = 4; val = v / pow(2,(double)mag*10.0); if(val
  • + Can you say OS_ConvertFileSize ? I find it's a little easier than citing C.
  • + Put a plug in !Configure to set limits on unit usage perhaps?
• Add Retry? button to floppy drive empty window (2013-02-07) - 20 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + When a floppy disk is not quite in the drive, clicking drive icon gets, 'The disc drive is empty'. We need a Retry? option.
  • - Alternatively, in the Spirit of Good Interface Design (TM), you shouldn't be allowed to click on the floppy disc icon unless there's a disc in the drive. Of course you'd have to notice when the user sticks a disc in the drive, but MacOS can do it.
  • + I like the 'click disabled' idea, but how about having the name of the disc in the drive displayed below the icon too, like with the HDDs? I remember writing a quick app to do something very similar ages ago.
• Local filer options (2013-02-07) - 18 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + I know people might find this too Windows, but I would find it useful to be able to set the options for a single directory, rather than the options being global. Foe example, I would like to be able to set the directories that I usually use for Apps as 'sort by name' but one where I store documents etc. 'sort by date'
  • + The same goes for the size of the icons being displayed. I generally use small icons to save screen space but for some dirs larger icons would be (if nothing else) then prettier. I know !SmartDir does this but it is not easy to use.
  • + Im sure some formula could be made to do this. Like - if there are more apps than files show small icons or - if there are 90plus files in directory show small icons
  • + Definately "a good thing"! There is a freeware utility to do this (SmartDir) and it's dead useful....
  • + I think 'intelligent' display options (which you could set using ConfigureFiler) is the key thing here - have a set limit for the number of files in a directory, above which small icons are used.
  • - No, please, I hate this !
• History of opened directories (2013-02-07) - 18 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + It's really annoying when you accidentally close HardDisc.$.DTP.files.work.it.coursework.2000.section1.blah.blah.blah and then realise you wanted to save there! Why not have some kind of history window so you can go back to a directory you have closed.
  • + Try StrongMen by Guttorm Vik or Director by Nick Craig Wood
  • + The point here is we want it added to the OS don't we? Not use a 3rd party addon. It needs added to the Task icon I think.
• File search (2013-08-30) - 16 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Add the possibility to search for a certain string, a word or something in selected objects ("PatchFSrtA" does it)
  • + I would like a submenu from the drive icons for this, that way you can search your whole HD without selecting all the root. (possibly even a system search on the tasks menu to search everything)
  • - And what if you only want to search a certain directory? Or would you like to keep this function as it is ATM, so that there a two possibilities to search?
  • + When searching large folders, when an odject is found clicking view does not take you to the exact position of the file, Try searching 1000+ files, it a nightmare.
  • + When an object is found you should be able to copy it without even opening the source. You should be able to drag it from the filer-action window. (via a save Box?)
  • + Auto-Skip when searching, so when you encounter archives which cannot be read it doesn't stop the search.
  • + My number one item would be for FilerAction to show Finding *foo* or whatever instead of just 'Finding an object'.
  • + How about an api for apps to support (through modules) which allowed searching of their files content from a central find "control". Actually, the module could support a number of messages, "Match text" being one, "Print" being another, so that files/data could be managed in a generic way, without needing to load the application UI.
  • - We have this already. Click menu on a direcrory or selection of files and go into the 'selection' menu. you'll find it nearer the bottom!
• Explorer type view option (2013-02-07) - 12 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + I know we have windows, but there's a lot to be said for something like the explorer view - a tree down the left, and the currently selected folder on the right
  • + Maybe. There are times when the 'freedom' that RO offers can be difficult. The restrictions of the Windows filing system can sometimes be useful. An app such as this would be better than none at all.
  • + Someone care to update !TreeMenu
  • - try Director instead of TreeMenu - www.axis.demon.co.uk
  • - how do you drag things to a menu?
  • + This should be a new Display option for the Filer - "Show tree". This would toggle an extensible directory tree down the left of the file window. You could navigate the main (normal) Filer display by opening branches of the Tree on the left.
  • - I've always found the Winblow$ implementation of this to be... bad.
  • + However, if the tree display is in a window of its own, rather than in a split-view window...
  • + You don't need to drag to the menu - use the menu to open the directory and drag to that.
  • + This should definitely be integrated into the OS. I've been using Director for many years and this is one of its most useful functions.
• Keyboard control (2013-07-22) - 10 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Keyboard control of filer
  • + Keyboard Control full stop. I hate using commands, its just 2 slow. Unfortunatley MS took the only decent way of using shortcuts. Damn those underlined letters.
• Iconise save boxes (2013-02-07) - 10 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + It could also be possible to iconise save boxes so you can bring them up later ?
  • + Could we have non-dissappearing save boxes, then anyone could type the name to be saved, realise that they haven't got the correct directory displayed, fix this etc. etc. and then drag the save-box which *hasn't disappeared*?
  • - Surely this already exists as an option open to programmers? For example, Browse happily keeps a save dialogue open whilst allowing me to go and find somewhere to put the save. Several other programs also allow this (though I can't think what they are at this time of night!) so it is clearly possible.
  • + I'm all for the idea of semi-permanent save dialogue boxes. But how about shading the OK option until a valid path is entered? This constantly trips up new users.
  • + How about decreeing that programmers should make their save boxes stay at the front until closed or used
  • + You mean, like the style guide says you should ?
  • + Which makes me think - how do you force a window to stay at the front?
  • + FLAG
  • - Or how about doing it the MacOSX way and have save boxes attatched to the window. Quite brilliant if you ask me.
• Display options inherit from parent window (2013-05-17) - 10 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Changing Display options from a filer window should not change the CMOS values, use Configure for that. Instead the options should only affect that window, and any filer windows opened from it.
• Keys in filer window (2013-02-07) - 9 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Would like to be able to use shift/ctrl + up and down etc for selecting files + ctrl C/V/X and delete for clipboards routines.
• Alt+space in file names (2013-02-07) - 9 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Why shouldn't the filer just substitute the correct character when a space is entered, instead of making the user to press 'alt'
  • + this of course is RO4 only ...
  • + This is not present in Risc OS 4 but it would be a good idea, so long as spaces in filenames were handled by the OS correctly.
  • + This has been present in RiscOS for ages. The Saloon Cars disc contains a directory whose name is ALT+SPACE.
  • - That would confuse ppl. Spaces in filenames are generally a bad thing (most CLI progs use spaces to delimit parameters, for example)
  • + Command line progs would have to use quotes, SWIs could accept normal spaces in filenames without a problem.
• Visual indication of Move-drag rather than Copy-drag (2013-02-07) - 8 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + If the user moves a file by dragging it with held down, then this should be indicated visually: The old file icon should disappear from the original filer window, and the icon being dragged should be solid rather than transparent.
  • + That should read "dragging it with SHIFT held down".
  • - Surely if it's solid, you can't see where you're dropping it... And shift-drag only moves if you drop in a filer window, not at any other time.
  • + Actually I feel that this is a feature missing. perhaps the origin filer window has a faded icon as well as the dragging icon. After using Vista for a bit, I forgot I moved a file upon returning to the light side.
• Have "Arrange by column" as a Filer display option. (2013-02-07) - 8 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Sometimes it's easier to scan a list of files if they're arranged vertically rather than horizontally.
• Open file with application (2013-05-14) - 7 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Possibility to open a file with an other than the default application. Eg. !Zap and !StrongEd are running - Click and keep menu pressed over a file in a filerwindow - a menu appears where you may choose the desired application.
  • - Just drag it to the correct icon on the iconbar?!
  • + The application you want to use has not to run! What when the filer has allready seen !Zap and !StrongEd and you doubleclick a text file? This is of more concern when you take a simple image viewer and eg. Photodesk!
  • + Kind of like the Windows95 "Send to" option I suppose? I like it, but usually only need to send to a text editor - which shift-double click handles fine. Graphics loading would be useful - eg one app for previewing quickly and another for editing images.
  • - No! Start the program first, then drag to the iconbar! we don`t need useless redundacies!
  • + we do need!!!
  • + Windows' "Send to" is actually quite useful. Take html files. You can edit them in notepad, a graphical editor, or a text editor with html mode. Maybe the ability for multiple programs to register a simgle file type (or mime type) and for those to show on the filer menu.
  • + I agree that sendto is very useful, but it's much better with an addon that I use which makes it hierarchic. That way I can organise the applications in the sendto menu into folders, so that it isn't one big list. It also allows you to send a file to any location on the hard disk by putting a shortcut to the hard disk in the sendto menu.
  • - I dont see how multiple programs can claim the same file type - Drag it to the Icon bar is best option. Only way to do this is to poll all active programs to see if they want to claim file type then list in sub menu - but its a really messy option for some thing that isn't a problem. A separate send to to directly print, email etc is a different issue and could be supplied as a submenu option Send to Printer, Serial, Null, Email, etc but not to individual apps.
• Have "Sort files by number" as a Filer display option. (2013-02-07) - 7 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + There should be a 'Sort by number' option for Filer windows to correctly order files of the same name except for a numerical component. Leading zeros would be allowed. In all other respects, it would be an alphabetical sort.
  • - What value would you pass to the message to cause selection of 'sort files by number' ? Remember, you've got 2 bits, three options at the moment and 0 means use the default...
  • + The Filer, as found in RO4, doesn't use CMOS RAM for the layout control bits.
  • + This option should replace "by type" as one of the mutually exclusive items. However, to lose "by type" would be a Bad Thing.
• RO4 sprite handling (2013-02-07) - 5 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + there's !Sprites for low res icons, !Sprites22 for high res and !Sprites23 for mono. How about !Sprites24 (or whatever) for RO4 icons. It'd stop the hacks in run and boot files...
  • + What is really needed is not specific "RISC OS 4" sprites handling, but a flexible icon loading system allowing icon sets of varying colour depths/resolutions/monochrome.
  • - um, the numbers are the x and y resolutions, 22=90dpix90dpi, 24=90x45 (which no extension is a synonym for) and 11 is 180x180dpi :-)
  • - See Theme Manager and Vantage for a good solution
• Multi drive display (2013-02-07) - 5 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Have a 'filer' window which shows all the drives (like My Computer on Windows) and replaces all the drive icons on the icon bar with one icon. You could provide the opportunity to select which drive icons you want to appear on the icon bar, so if you used, say, the floppy drive a lot, then having the floppy drive icon on the icon bar would be useful.
  • - Nooooo! That is one of the things I like about RISC OS. On Win 95, I have a list of shortcuts on the desktop relating to each drive I have, it's most useful!
  • + Before I gave up partitioning my drives (cheers ROS4), I had to have 10 Drive icons - which makes a mess of the IconBar!
  • + How about giving the choice to the user? Even a combo - All commonly used drives on the iconbar and the option to put other drives under one icon?
  • + Have the option to hide drives, if any are hidden a My Computer Icon is added to get at them.
  • - Except don't call it "My Computer", call it "Devices" or "Drives", or even "System". With the option to rename it of course, so us Unix people could call it "/dev" :-)
  • + I was being ironic with the choice of name:)
  • - Never, please!The present RISCOS way, combined with the smoothely scrolling iconbar makes fast access of the available drives a breeze, compared with the slow and clumsy Windows way. A second an other poster having set up a number of desktop short cuts in Win95 to mimic the RISC OS iconbar!
  • + Hows about the option to group drives so that you can say drives X, Y and Z go in this group and when you click on a drive icon a vertical menu of drives appears so you can select the relevant one. If you don't group any they appear as now, in a big long line (7 long in my case....Grr!).
  • + Try using the same approch that the maker of the Gnome Desktop uses. A drawer. When you click on this drawer icon, a small vertical bar containing all the draw icon should appear. Have a look at the Gnome Desktop to see what I mean.
  • - The RO4 narrower icons help here, but only of your hard disc isn't called My_Rather_Large_Western_Digital_Hard_Disc ;-)
  • + I think something like a 'second' iconbar could help. only one of them is visible. the first one shows the apps from the right and the second shows the drives from the left. Today you can pop up the iconbar by waiting with the pointer in the bottom line. additionally you could toggle the two iconbars by clicking in the last line. (sorry for my english:-)
  • + Ok, I made an app called !Storage which shifts the drives off the iconbar, and into a seperate window/another iconbar. It's nice and pluggable with plugin modules, etc. I'll tart the version I have up, and stick it on www.atomised.org when I have the time.
• Shortcuts/symbolic links (2013-02-07) - 4 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + So you can make a folder of links to an application, or to work you're doing. Show it in italics in filer windows
  • + How am I meant to be able to tell that it's a link then ? My standard font is italic...
  • + Simple - alternative font style for symlinks
  • + You could always super-impose a little curly arrow on the icon. ;)
  • + I have always wanted symlinks I did look into it but it was far beyond my codeing abilities
  • - Why not just use the pinboard?
  • - Go to http://www.lmrsale.demon.co.uk/rp/ and there's something similar to this.
  • + Freeware !LinkFS already does Symbolic Links. See the Acorn Cybervillage
  • - LinkFS only aliases directories (and therefore applications) - I wrote a true symbolic link system for RISC OS (so individual files can be aliased). I'm not sure how useful versus confusing it is. Its easy to do, but its not so easy to define a way for the Filer to notice its a symlink (without breaking other things that don't need to know).
  • - Well I have used Director and its ability to dynamically show the contents of a disc as a hierachichal display in menus, and it completely removes the need for symbolic links (IMHO).
• Dismount clears app sprites (2013-02-07) - 4 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Dismounting a disc gets rid of !app sprites from the OS workspace - prevent cluttering up of workspace eg. after viewing PD CD-ROM etc.
  • + Dismount HD would erase all iconised sprites then.
  • - What if apps (on that partition) are running? What if they assume that their icons are present in the WIMP sprite pool?
• Render image files in a Filer window as thumbnails (2013-02-07) - 3 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + I would like to see a Filer which renders any image files (e.g. Draw, sprite, JPEG, even Replay) in a Filer window as a thumbnail, so I can instantly know what each image looks like without having to open it. This is provided to some extent by !Album and !PhotoFiler. If more image formats were supported natively it would be even better.
  • - Try !Thump
  • + This process would have to be multi-tasking or it would be really irritating. It would be useful for application sprites to be loaded in the same way, as I think I have seen in either some PD or demonstration software.
  • + This might be more useful if an 'extra large' icon size mode existed (of course, you would need an option to set filer dispalys for individual directories (q.v.) as well) - possibly with the option to turn the filename off (a picture is worth 1k words...maybe).
  • - Surely this makes it more difficult to see what filetype a file actually is? I think that if introduced, it should be as an option in !configure.
  • + The user shouldn't need to know its type, just what it looks like (for a picture)
  • - Yes, but some users may want to be able to distinguish between different filetypes hence make it an option.
  • + This wish is in RISC OS Select
• Filetype menu (2013-08-30) - 3 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Filetype: Menu with one writable field and all common types (text, obey, basic...) and a submenu with all known types. I really miss it since upgrading to RISC OS 4 ("PatchFStrA" does it but not on an RISC OS 4 machine)
  • + A file somewhere in !boot could hold aliases for the filetypes so you can type MP3 and it will actually work !?
  • - That is possible since RISC OS 2 or 3. You can type "fff" or "text" if you want the Filetype to be text. In your example you should use "AMPEG" instead of "MP3" and it will work. My problem is that I don't want to type anything. I just want to use the mouse what is far more comfortable to me.
  • - MP3 is an evil DOS-ism. Avoid.
  • - MP3 is the name of the format though.
  • - The trouble with a filetype list is that it would be *very* long. So you'd find it would take up a lot of room. A much better idea would be if it only listed the filetypes the computer knew about rather than all of them!
  • - but the computer _does_ know about a lot of types by default - type *Show File$Type* for a list
  • + Put file type menus into a hierarchy of menus to avoid the length problem.
  • - No, the format is ISO MPEG-1 audio layer 3. Audio MPEG, or AMPEG is a sensible short name, but even MPEG3 would do. MP3 is a common three letter DOS extension, which has caused no end of trouble eg MP4. Filetypes and extensions are irrelevant now anyway, we should use MIME types like BeOS.
  • + A genrall type would come in handy. submenu's for Audio,Film,WP,Image etc
  • + I liked the way "Filer+" worked on ROS 3 - as above writable top line, mini icons (configurable left or right) names of each known type, scroll bar at side, sort options at bottom - by name ie alphabetical, or by type fff-000. Brilliant. REALLY miss this added feature. It also gave hidden files, allowed directories to be applications without ! so you could have individualised icons (also a feature I miss)
  • + This would be a huge improvement - no more guessing what a particular type name/number is.
• Display options inherit from parent window (2013-05-17) - 2 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Changing Display options from a filer window should not change the CMOS values, use Configure for that. Instead the options should only affect that window, and any filer windows opened from it.
  • + Too true!
  • + A 'make default' option would help.
• Change the "by type" sort option so that it can be applied as well as one of the others. (2013-02-07) - 2 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Currently, "sort by type" implies that files of the same type be sorted by name. It could be useful to, say, sort files of the same type by date or size.
• A Share option on the Dir. 'blah' menu. (2013-07-22) - 2 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + We need to be able to share directories that aren't the root easily. Maybe in the root filer menu?
  • + This is in Adjust!
• One Icon for all drives (2013-02-07) - 1 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Have one drive Icon with all drives reacheable through there. Menu = Drive menu with drive menus as sub menu; Select opens window with the old drive icons; Adjust opens drive menu with contents as submenu like Filer-
  • - Why? Surely it is better to have all the drive icons on the iconbar as at present rather than increasing the level of complexity like this?
  • + Sometimes the iconbar gets very crowded, I would like this as an option.
• HTML filer views (2013-02-07) - -1 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Filer views could be made into HTML documents so that you can dynamically modify them. You might even use a language like JavaScript to control them.
  • + That would be cool. Why not add support such that any application could access the HTML and JavaScript engines from anywhere in the OS ? Then anyone could use them.
  • - HTML filer views - like in Win98 I suppose? No thanks, it just makes things more complicated. And what about reliabilty and tolerance to bad code? I don't want my Filer to crash every 20 minutes (read: Fresco)
  • + Makes things more complicated: Tell that to whoever suggested arbitrarily shaped window borders then.
  • + Option so that if index/htm or /html exists in directory, double clicking opens it with web browser. Shift double click to open normally
  • - What is a BROWSER designed for?
  • + Sorry, thats me in red just above, ignore me - got confused :-).
  • - I think our filer windows are very nice as they are, thank you. The HTML displays in W98 look horrible, IMHO.
• Drag files on icons (2013-08-30) - -1 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + What I would like is an option where you could hold a dragged file over the hard disc icon for a configurable amount of time and the root directory would be opened. Holding the dragged file still over a directory icon for the same time would open the directory. This, in conjunction with the forward-popping icon bar would make saving files much easier IMHO.
  • - No No No - yuck! That is windows - the awful abortion where you cant drag files to icons on the task bar, but have to wait an annoying amount of time for the window to pop up. Windows 3.1 was better in this respect - you could drop files on iconised application windows and it would load then - but this got taken out of Win95 for some reason.
  • + RISC OS 4 allows you to save directly to a filer icon.
  • - Wow. If there's one thing that can't be improved it's the saving system! It's the dog's gonads. Nothing else on any other system can improve on it, I'm SO FED UP with having to constantly re-navigate disc structure on those stupid NT boxes in tiny little windows on a huge screen. You can drag files *into* an NT application, but not *out*.
  • - In practice this would probably be a nightmare, I'm sure there are countless PD apps that allow you to save a file by dropping it on the backdrop then dragging it to the correct place later, although if you do that then the app will then have the wrong location in its save box, so just clicking won't put it in the right place, but compared to the alternatives it's small fry.
  • - Dragging things onto icons is bad design. Icons are small, easy to miss, and give no visual verification of success or failure. Windows are easy targets, and give ready verification. You can SEE the new icon in place. This is a fundamental part of Risc OS's good design. I should hate to see this principle broken.
  • + This is actually, also used in Mac OS. It works very well and slightly different to Windoze. The directory actually opens allowing you to travel through a hierarchy before dropping the file in the directory you want
  • - I think the RO4 option is enough.
  • + You should be able to stop it opening the window after youve saved though
  • + How about having it set up so that pressing space opens a directory when the mouse pointer is over the icon. That way you could save a file by dragging the icon to the hard disk icon on the iconbar and pressing space to open it and move through directories to find the one you want. Then the open windows should close when you drop the icon, so that the screen isn't covered with windows. As you would have to press space for anything to happen you couldn't do this accidentally, and it would be a nice option IMO.
  • + The Mac system for opening directories by hovering a file over that directory is very nice and would well with those save boxes that disappear at the slightest provocation. This is nothing at all to do with the horrible windows practice of having to wait for an application to pop up before dropping a file into it.
  • - I think a better idea (which IIRC is implemented by myriad PD apps) is just an icon on the icon bar which saves in a temporary directory for if you forget to open the window. Probably doable with !TinyDirs, anyway...
• Highlight icon of drive that owns CSD (2013-02-07) - -2 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + !Printers highlights the iconbar icon of the currently selected printer. The filer could do the same for its drive icons, showing which one the CSD points to.
  • - We really need a separate CSD for each task (try running two compile sessions simultaneously) - the CSD is a command line thing anyway, and Filer users don't need to know what it is. Perhaps allow dragging an icon into a directory to start a new taskwindow with a CSD in that directory
  • + The CSD for the current filing system, or the CSDs of each filing system? And wrt multiple compilations, there's always DDEUtils.
  • + CWDSupport module @ http://bgilon.free.fr/RISCOS/CWDSupport/main.htm does this better than DDEUtils (IMHO)..
• Dragging a file or selection over a directory or device icon will cause it to be copied/moved there. (2013-02-07) - -3 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • - that`s crap! i don`t want to be slowed down with my work, just because i have to watch if i dragged over a directory instead of a free place in the filer window!!!!
  • + Would be nice to have the option, Turned off by default tho'
  • + Idea of having optional good compromise
  • + why not Ctrl When dropped then ?
  • - Bad idea - copying one of the features of other OS's which I hate the most and find the most irritating. Unless you are paying atention while dragging, files end up all over the place.
  • + If it only happens when you hold down a modifier key then it would be a very good thing. It would be nice to be able to save into the sub folders of my documents folder without opening them first.
• The Filer should not grey out all menu items, and refuse to open root directory during disc verifica (2013-02-07) - -6 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + It is silly that all the menu options for a disc drive are greyed out and the root directory cannot be opened, when you are verifying a disc. The actions of browsing the disc and even saving/loading from it during a verification are demonstrably harmless - you just need to open a directory before starting. The Free window is also harmless.
  • - The act of writing to the disc whilst you're verifying it could be an instrument of note for the verification. Surely if you've asked it to verify if there's a problem, you don't want to be introduce the possibility of more problems whilst in the process of varifying that there aren't any, do you ?
• Auto-scroll filer windows. (2013-02-07) - -7 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Simple enough. If I want to select a lot of files I might want to drag a box round all the files viewable in the window, and one row further down, for example. Most text editors now scroll if you select-drag off the top-bottom to select text, why not filer windows?
  • - Try buying RISCOS 4
  • - I'd like a bar at the bottom of the screen where my applications can live so that I can find them easily.
• NoIcons Option (2013-02-07) - -11 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Why is it that I *have* to have an icon? I'd like to be able to turn icons off in some windows - all the files are of the samne type so a mass of icons just wasts screen area and makes location harder.
  • + You mean, like setting the 'H' option in WinDos? Or the 'P' option on an MDFS?
• Overwrite confirmation (2013-02-07) - -13 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + I'd like the Filer to check with me before overwriting an existing file with the same name (... but, as someone hasn't already suggested it here, maybe there a way to do that?).
• Information display (2013-08-30) - -14 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + A Defined window display, you chose what is shown. eg. FileType, No-Icon, Size in (?), time ??:??:??, date, etc.
  • - No! This is just feature bloat.
  • + Well do you really need to know the exact time to the second a file was created. It would be nice to make it a bit simpler .
  • + Perhaps as a !bubblehelp like box which pops up if the pointer hovers over a file for long enough.
  • + Can you not do this by hacking about with the Filer's templates file?
  • + I wuld like a Info display that displays the internal info of selected files. So a mp3, shows the running length, quality setting. A TIFF image shows the height, width of the images.
• Multi filer window selections (2013-08-30) - -15 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Possibility to select objects in different filer windows so you can copy/move/delete files at once
  • - Multiple selections across Filer windows, maybe; copy/move/delete them all in one go, definitely not. When would all selections be lost? Clearing all selections if the user usesthe Select button doesn't quite work. What about when you mark a selection then realise that the directory to which you want to move or copy them isn't open? You'd need to be able to select/one/ object from a window without clearing the selections in other windows. Then there's the problem of that directory which you want to open being in the same window as those which you've selected. It just Doesn't Work unless you add a "undo (de)selection" function. I can see that it would be useful but that it could be, er, interesting to implement.
  • + Perhaps a compromise. Only de-select if it is a sigle click. That way you can run/load without erasing selections ?
  • + How about being able to pick up other files from other windows during a drag, that way you wont need the feature that much. Unless youre deleting, In which case Move to a recycle Bin ;-)
• Undelete function. (2013-05-14) - -3027 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + I'd like to be able to undelete a deleted file!
  • + Implement a waste basket system (like in Windows) - which can be turned off.
  • + A folder has been overwritten by a file of the same name - needs undelete urgently
  • + I don't understand that last comment. Elaborate ?
  • + We are in desperate need of this function.
  • + Retrieve deleted file from Mac OSX
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