I can't find a way to hard-link a file using DOpus. I'd expect that when right-button dragging a file to a new location, the copy menu should show a "Hard Link" option, in addition to the Copy, Move, and Shortcut options. Or that there would be a Paste Hard Link option.
For that matter, there's no way to show a file's link/reference count, either in the column list, as icon overlay, etc.
These seem like requirements for an advanced file manager...
Creating Links:
These Opus commands make the three types of links:
Copy MAKELINK=softlink
Copy MAKELINK=hardlink
Copy MAKELINK=junction
You can put any or all of those on to the Drop Menu context menu for the All Files & Folders file type if you want the ability to create links via drag & drop. (You can also use them via toolbar buttons and hotkeys if you prefer.)
Show reference count:
I don't think Opus has the ability to show how many items link to each file at the moment. I imagine it would be fairly easy for GPSoftware to add if someone asked them for it. Send them a request via their support page: gpsoft.com.au/Support.html
If you need the information in Opus then you should be able to get it via Link Shell Extension since its columns should appear in Opus the same as in Explorer. The columns will be under the Special category in Opus. They will work with Opus on Vista even though they don't work in Explorer on Vista, since Opus continues to support the old columns API which Microsoft have (somewhat oddly) dropped.
Show target of links:
The description column will tell you where a softlink or junction points to. Hardlinks don't have a "master" item which the other's point to -- they're all peers or each other and the data exists so long as on hardlink points to it. I don't think the OS does provides a way to find the other links to the same file (except by scanning the entire drive) either.
Actually, installing Hermann Schinagl's Link Shell Extension gave me all the functionality I wanted 
Thanks.
The "references" column exposed by Link Shell Extension works just fine as a way to quickly determine which files have >1 hardlink references them when your dopus lister is in details view. In explorer, LSE adds icon overlays for hardlinks, is there any way to get dopus to show those icon overlays when the lister is in thumbnail view, or is there any way to script dopus to add an icon overly for any file it checks the "reference" column value for when that value is >1.
I'm not sure at what level LSE is adding those overlays, but if there is any way to get dopus to interface with LSE so those overlays show up that be awesome... otherwise, any kludge where dopus can be made to do it's own check based on the reference column value would be just as good.
Thanks for any help in advance.
Hi Leo, thanks, but yeah, that setting is turned on. All I see however is a little overlay that identifies the given folder of hardlinks as "jpg" files when viewed in thumbnail mode. When I view the same folder in thumbnail view using explorer, I see the little arrow LSE uses to denote hardlinks.
Does the LSE overlay work properly for you in dopus?
Thanks
Oh, nevermind, it didn't seem to want to kick in the first time, but I just restarted windows again and it seems to want to work now.
One minor nitpick though, at the moment, the red arrow overlay LSE generates sits ontop of the filetype overlay that is usually visible in dopus when in thumbnail mode. Is there any way you know of to tell dopus to place the overlay icon on say, the left side of the image, or to use a custom overlay icon to achieve a similar effect. In essence, I'm wondering if there's any way to be able to view both overlays without one blocking out the other.
Thanks again for your help.
There's no way to move the overlay part of the icon that I know of. It's effectively part of the icon.
