I've had my share of problems trying to get DOpus to bend to my will concerning folder formats. From reading here it appears I am not alone in this. I realize this is at least partly because the formatting system in DOpus is powerful and complex.
While it won't make the formatting any less complex, it struck me that it might make it a bit easier to deal with if the user was provided with a way to determine what format DOpus applied to a specific folder. Did it use a specific folder format? Did it use a content type format? Did it use a default format? And which variation of these did it use?
I'm having an issue right now where DOpus appears to inconsistently apply the auto-size columns in detail and power modes feature. I have it turned on in what I think to be all formats that would apply, yet the columns are sometimes auto-sized and sometimes not. I'm sure DOpus is following its rules of formatting, but I can't for the life of me figure out what format it's applying to some of these folders where the auto-size feature is disabled. It would be extremely helpful if there was some way for me to know what format DOpus applied.
I agree, it'd be a very useful feature. Even something visually simple would be excellent, like a button which opens a window with a grid where there's a line for each aspect of the format and next to it the name of the format that the setting came from.
With your auto-size problem, make sure you close the lister and open a new one each time you change things, else cached formats can cause confusion. The setting should come from the first (highest in the list) matching format which has View ticked on the Display tab.
Also remember that Auto-Size only applies to Power and Details modes (like the checkbox label says).
I see this as well. I started an issue report a while ago, but I haven't been able to notice any kind of a pattern or trigger for when Autosize works correctly and when it doesn't. Without that information, it will be difficult for GPSoftware to recreate the issue, verify it , and fix it. If you could keep you eyes peeled when you see it, let me know.
To work around it when it happens, I bound a hotkey (Ctrl+Space) to this command:
Set AUTOSIZECOLUMNS
This allows me to very quickly resize the columns with a key press.