Howdy,
Before I ask my questions, I just want to say that I'm a new user, I used the demo for a couple months, and I was pretty sure I wanted to pay for this software. What put me over the edge? I pressed F2 to rename a jpeg file and prepared to strain my eyes so I could position the cursor before the extension... and to my delight, I didn't need to! Only the filename charaters were selected, and not the whole damn thing. Silly, I know, but thats how they got my money:)
OK, My Issue...
The check box mode is extremely useful to me. I have a texture map directory full of thousands of image files, and over the years I began to store some of these on another hard drive. Now I have a bunch of duplicate files and each drive also has many unique files. The task of organizing them is now going to be a bit easier, but it will still take a while, so I needed to save a lister layout with two listers, each in flat view, and each i check box mode.
This works fine as long as I dont close down the Listers. I can change styles and directories, go about my other work, and when I want to do some more organizing I just click the button I created to return to my flat check box listers opened to the correct drives and folders.
But... if I close either of the listers and then try to restore the views, the Listers no longer remember that they were in check box mode.
So I decided I could simple put another button (check-box mode toggle)next to my Layout Button not a huge deal although I do have to go to both listers (which are on opposite sides of my desktop) to turn check box mode back on. Furthermore, If I Float the toolbar (the one that has my Lister Layout "recall" button and the Check-box mode button on it), the check box button doesn't work at all (it becomes disabled).
Don't you think the state of the Check box mode ought to be saved with the Layout? Or is there a logical reason against that (and why does the button not work on a floating toolbar)?
It's something to do with the way checkbox mode is handled by Opus. It's not remembered when reopening a closed lister with the new Go UNDOCLOSELISTER command either. I think it may have been requested that this be changed but just in case it hasn't feel free to post an official feature request.
Do you want to use Checkbox Mode because of the way it looks or just because it allows you to easily toggle selection for individual files without accidentally deselecting everything else?
If it's just the latter then there are alternatives which do "stick" when saved in Layouts etc., unlike Checkbox mode:
[ul][li]In Details mode, if you click on files with the middle mouse button then it will toggle the selection of just the file you clicked, leaving all the others alone.
This is the same as a Ctrl-left-click, except you don't have to touch the keyboard.
Of course, you can still accidentally left-click somewhere and deselect everything, so this isn't ideal when working on a huge list of files.
[/li]
[li]In Power mode, you can change (via Preferences - Lister Display Modes) what each of the mouse buttons does.
You can configure Opus so that left clicks in Power mode always do the same kind of toggle select that middle clicks do in Details mode, removing the possibility that you click somewhere by mistake and lose your file selections.
(I think this is the default configuration for Power mode, too.)[/li][/ul]
If you're using the Preview Pane then Power mode is probably your best bet since it allows you to left-click on a file to view it in the preview pane without deselecting everything else.
Of course, another alternative is to put the Checkbox Mode toggle in an easy to reach place so it's not much hassle to turn it on when you need it. I'd probably put it on a hotkey myself but it'll work in a lister toolbar as well. It's only floating toolbars where it won't work for some reason. (I'm not sure why that is. Probably something nobody has tried/noticed before.)
I think the floating toolbar thing has come up before...
If you had multiple listers open, which lister should a floating toolbars commands operate on? The last 'active' lister is a logical answer... but it doesn't look like Opus tries to figure that out with commands run from a floated bar.
CLI field commands to try to operate on lister elements don't work from floating toolbars either... like 'select' commands or other such functions.
It does work with some commands. For example, put a button which toggles Dual Display on a floating toolbar and it will toggle Dual Display in the last active lister.
It could be an accident that it doesn't work with the Checkbox button. Equally, it could even be a happy accident that it does work with the Dual Display button.