Filter what is displayed on a tab

[Mark1]

Where can I find all the additional filter options, to filter what is shown on a tab? I can see the basic filters when right-clicking on the tab and clicking on More... but I'd like to do more than just show/hide by file name/folder name. I saw an old thread that seems to refer to what I am looking for, but that looks like an old version of DO, and I can't see those options any longer.

Here is the thread:

How to filter items by location or sub-folder

Update/Note: Since this guide was written, the ability to filter by Full Path was added. You can now apply wildcards and regexps to each file's full path in one line. This is sometimes easier than separately testing the filename and the parent folde…

I also found this, but I'm not trying to perform file operations, just simply to filter the items I can see on a tab (eg. by modified date, path, or any number of other common attributes):

https://www.gpsoft.com.au/help/opus10/index.html#!Documents/Defining_a_Filter.htm

Seems like something like this should be pretty straight forward, not sure what I am missing?

[lxp]

@Mark1

I'd like to do more than just show/hide by file name/folder name

Items can be hidden with the Select command.

Hide all selected items (both files and folders). This is used either with the PATTERN argument to hide all files that match the pattern, or with the NOPATTERN argument to hide all currently selected files.

Example: Select *.tmp HIDESEL

https://www.gpsoft.com.au/help/opus12/index.html#!Documents/Select.htm

Unfortunately, unlike the show/hide/quick filters, this doesn't provide live filtering.

[Mark1]

Thanks. I'm not so familiar with using commands. From what I know, I understand I have to create a button to execute these commands? Is there any way to associate the command with a view or a tab, so that it gets applied to the items in the tab without having to click the button every time? Was there a reason that the more advanced filter options that could be set using a UI as described in this thread have all been removed? That seemed like useful functionality. There seems to be no straight-forward way in DO to easily construct a complete definition of a "view" (columns to display, sort to apply, filters to apply, view type: icons, list, thumbnails, etc and the display scope: normal, flat, flat with no folders, etc) and then associate that with a tab, and have that persist wherever I navigate to in that tab. But this feels like something so obvious to want to do that I must be missing something obvious in all the powerful complexity of the software. Can you please help me to understand how to do what I just described? That would be much appreciated.

[lxp]

@Mark1

I'm not so familiar with using commands. From what I know, I understand I have to create a button to execute these commands?

Yes.

@Mark1

Is there any way to associate the command with a view or a tab, so that it gets applied to the items in the tab without having to click the button every time?

Yes. With a button and via Layouts and Styles.

https://www.gpsoft.com.au/help/opus12/index.html#!Documents/Prefs/Layouts_and_Styles.htm

@Mark1

Was there a reason that the more advanced filter options that could be set using a UI as described in this thread have all been removed?

They weren't. Search filters are different from show/hide/quick filters.

@Mark1

There seems to be no straight-forward way in DO to easily construct a complete definition of a "view" (columns to display, sort to apply, filters to apply, view type: icons, list, thumbnails, etc and the display scope: normal, flat, flat with no folders, etc) and then associate that with a tab, and have that persist wherever I navigate to in that tab.

Layouts and Styles. Again

@Mark1

But this feels like something so obvious to want to do that I must be missing something obvious in all the powerful complexity of the software.

Don't worry, there are plenty of ways. You just have to find out which one works best for you. And these solutions will evolve the longer you use Opus.

[Mark1]

That's great to know I can do all of the things I have described. If you will bear with me, it would be great to work through these things if you wouldn't mind because I have not been able to figure it out. So for the first one, I would like to specify a date filter alongside the filename and foldername filters, so that I as view and navigate, or as the content in the folder change, only items that fall within that date range will be displayed alongside the other filters. I can think of a number of other filters that would be useful to be able to create in this way, but this one would be great to start with. Knowing DO vastly better than I do of course, could you please describe how I could achieve this?

[Leo]

@Mark1

I would like to specify a date filter alongside the filename and foldername filters, so that I as view and navigate, or as the content in the folder change, only items that fall within that date range will be displayed alongside the other filters.

The select command, combined with a filter, can remove files outside of a date range. But you'd have to keep re-applying it as new files were added; each invocation would be a one-off and it isn't like the name filters where it continues to alter what is/isn't displayed as things change.

Using colored labels or grouping by date may be a better option here, if you only really need to highlight things inside a date range (or recent things) rather than completely remove things outside the date range.

[Mark1]

Thanks Leo, good to know that at least I hadn't missed something, and this is in fact not possible to do in DO. I'm not sure how the feature request process works, but how can I request this feature please? This would be tremendously useful for me. It would be great to be able to include other items as criteria, such as the ones listed as "search filters" on the DO pages, but the date one is the big one for me.

[Leo]

No need to do anything special; posting about it here is enough.

[lxp]

@Mark1

describe how I could achieve this?

Step 1: Define a filter.

Step 2: Create a button. Adding a hotkey is probably useful.

Select NONE SHOWHIDDEN
Select PATTERN=MyCoolFilter FILTER FILTERFLAGS=hidenomatch
Select FIRST SETFOCUS

Button as XML

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<button backcol="none" display="both" textcol="none">
	<label>Hide MyCoolFilter</label>
	<icon1>#selectall</icon1>
	<function type="normal">
		<instruction>Select NONE SHOWHIDDEN</instruction>
		<instruction>Select PATTERN=MyCoolFilter FILTER FILTERFLAGS=hidenomatch</instruction>
		<instruction>Select FIRST SETFOCUS</instruction>
	</function>
</button>

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How to use buttons and scripts from this forum

This post explains how to add buttons to toolbars and menus, and also applies to raw commands for things like standalone hotkeys. For how to use Script Add-Ins, please scroll down to see the post below this one. Much of this assumes Directory Opus…

[Mark1]

Thanks Leo.

[Mark1]

Thanks Ixp. I will try this out, much appreciated. Would there be any issue with running the commands in a loop that executes say every X number of minutes?

[lxp]

@Mark1

Would there be any issue

No, apart from the button being a bit of a hillbilly, meaning it will make your file display flicker and mess with your selection

The best approach (although not exactly on level Opus 101) is probably a dialog that watches your tab and filters a bit more unobtrusively. It could also offer to change the selected filter