Opus having issues Caching Folder Views!

Help & Support
1

Ok heres the set-up that I'm gonna use for example.
My music collection is like this, Music/"Artists"/"Album"/"Tracks"
I want the "Artists" and "Album" folders to be viewed as Thumbnails and i want the tracks viewed in Details with relevant columns & all that.

I disabled Folder Content Type detection, and I created some Favorite Formats so I could go and make the Music folder show all the "Artists" folders as Thumbnails. It worked, But once I navigate away from that folder, every folder is in Thumbnails mode, even the music tracks inside the "Albums" folder. I thought it would only work for the "Artists" folders, but no this was like setting the global view or something. So when I go to another folder, I would have to change the view back to default, every time. =(

I just read the entire "HOW TO: Understand and Configure Folder Formats"
and it said,
"If you change the format or view mode while viewing a folder then Opus will remember this if you go to another folder and then return to the original via the Back button or folder history."
Help..

So what i tried Next, was to use Folder Formats to make the Artists folder specifically view as thumbnails, which worked. But what about all the hundreds and hundreds of "Albums" folders inside those "Artists" folders? So I checked "Use as the default format for all subfolders" which then put my Tracks in thumbnail view too. aw crap.

So for now I have to configure each and every one of my "Albums" folders so my music Tracks show in Details view, not thumbnails.

I'm wondering if Opus is having an issue with caching my folder views..

By the way I've already had to reinstall Opus Due to the toolbars list in the Customize options not responding at all. And also it was sucking the life force out my CPU for some reason. Anyhow I read some stuff on the forum and I found that Opus might've be saving the settings to the wrong directory. Like Shared Configuration Files or Personal Configuration Files. So when I reinstalled I chose Personal Configuration files this time. Opus has been working Wonders ever since.

The weird thing is, when I go to Prefs, Misc., Misc., it says that i'm "Currently using shared configuration files"..???. I tried checking the option to Change config mode next time Opus is run, restarted, and it's Still saying that I'm using shared config files. Weird. But as long as it's not causing any problems then I'm not worried about it. Well sorry for rambling.

Thanks in advance for any help.

-Jaden

2

Why not set up a couple styles (PREFS/LAYOUT/LISTER STYLES) to do this? Then you could toggle from one view to the other with the simple touch on the styles tab (if you have styles on a toolbar that is). Depending upon your other settings the view you change to with a style could stay the way you put it until it's overridden by another style, custom folder format, or content type for music.

FWIW I generally use folder formats for only simple things, like only setting a background image for a specific folder or set of folders.

Also you might want to check out Opus Collections for organizing your music, they work great for that. For example you could have one collection for rock music, another for country, other colections to be by artists, and so on.

I can't really answer your question about shared config files, that's the way I have my Opus installation set up as well and I've never had a reason to want to change it. In other words I'm the only one who uses this computer so I want total access to Opus whether I'm logged on as the administrator or as someone else.

3

I would have said the the best way to go might be re-enabling contet-type detection and turning off (uncheck) any content types you didn't want to be processed. I thought you should have then been able to set your 'thumnails' view as a folder option for JUST your top-level 'music' folder with the "use as the default format for all sub-folders" option enabled, but that content-type detection would have kicked in under the 'album' folders if the threshold settings matched up to override the top level 'music' folder format.

But I just tried it before 'suggesting' it here and it's not working... though I'm not sure why. Is the folder format for the top-level folder overriding content-type detection? I don't normally use either specific folder formats (just custom) or content-type detection... but I've re-enabled content-type detection in Prefs and made sure the file type group I've set up for .mp3 files is listed in the 'Current Type' field which I've put back onto my toolbar.

Can anyone say what is wrong?

4

Folder Formats are applied from the top down and, since formats for specific paths are at the top, above content-type formats, the behaviour makes sense (even if it isn't what's wanted in this case).

This same question (applying a folder format to several hundred folders but not their parent(s)) came up a few months ago as I remember. I can't think of anything good to search for to find the thread, though, sorry.

In an ideal world you could define a folder format for a "path" using wildcard characters but that isn't possible right now.

Total crack-pot idea that is probably best ignored:

If you can put up with copying one or more special files into the artist directories then you could make a fake file format (*.opusthumbnail or something) which trigers a content-type format that switches to thumbnails mode and hides *.opusthumbnail. Then you could copy that file to any folder you want to show in thumbnails mode, which is a bit easier than defining a format for each folder. In theory... But that's quite a mess, and if you have 100 files in a folder then you'd need to copy two .opusthumbnail files into it even if the content type format had a threshold of 1%... A nasty hack.

Stupid idea #2:

I don't know if it'll work, nor whether keeping it in sync would be too much of a pain, but someone could maybe make a script or small program which copies the folder formats in the registry so they're applied to other paths... There seems to be a registry key for each path that has a format so I'm assuming you could duplicate the keys for additional paths. Still not a particularly nice solution, though! Sorry. :frowning:

5

JohnZeman, that sounds like a really good idea but that still means that I would have to change the view everytime I navigated to another folder no? This is what I'm trying to avoid [if possible].
To be more specific, I only want the Details view for Inside my "Albums" folder, specifically [for my music tracks]. I want all the folders that my tracks are in to be shown as Thumbnails. For instance, when I open up my Music folder, I want to see the "Artists" folders as Thumbnails, and when I open up any "Artists" folder, I want to see their "Albums" folder(s) as Thumbnails. And when I open up any "Albums" folder, I want to see the Tracks in Details view, with corresponding columns n stuff.

Also, 'Opus' Collections wouldn't be useful to me for this task because it's more like a virtual folder right? My Music is already organized almost perfectly the way I want it, so that's not the problem. I just want to be able to view them how I want. Also I'd need to keep my folders organized phsically not virtually. Reason is that I have other music management software [Helium] that I have to deal with.

And yea about the Opus installation, that's how i set mine up at first too [Shared Config], but I think this made Opus an unhappy panda. With all the trouble it was giving. And it seems to have been working correctly ever since I reinstalled and used the Personal Config. But don't you think it's weird that it's Still telling me that I'm currently using 'Shared Config' ?

6

Hey steje,
Thanks for the advice, though I'm not too found of the Content type detection option. I don't like the idea of it guessing what it is that I want to see. I want full control over whatever is happening, since I'm always adding new music + cover/album art to the Music folder.. Content Type detection might guess wrong. But yea something definitely seems like it's overriding something.
My only option now is to probably set the Music folder [and subdirectories] to Thumnails and then go in and set each Albums folder to Details, manually.
is it trying to Streamline or is it laziness? lol

7

Hey nudel
From your reply I'm understanding more about the Folder Formats.

Your crack-pot idea is pretty nice. I guess i'm just trying to avoid unpredictable results from enabling 'content type'. But yea that would be a mess... as I have a decent amount of music on my PC.

Your idea #2 I can't really understand, cuz i have zero experience with scripts or registry keys or any of that mumbo jumbo lol, but i'm sure it's not that stupid of an idea.

Thanks for your help anyway :smiley:

8

Have you exited and restarted Opus since changing the shared-config setting? Note that closing all Opus windows won't exit the program, you have to run the Close Program command, which is in the tray-icon's menu by default.

9

Nudel, why yes, yes I have.. many times, right after I changed it even. Right-click Exit on tray-icon right? Yup yup. Did that.

Perhaps a second reinstall might be in order? :unamused:

My main problem right now is whenever I change a Folders Options, and I Save it, it offers to save it for 'this folder' or 'all folders'. I wonder if it's getting the directions mixed up cuz when I navigate away from that particular folder, now all the other folders have adopted that format. The format that I made sure to select "This folder" and not "All folders"

Does that do the same thing on ur pc?

10

Also, for an example, let's say that i go to.. Folder "A" and I change it's options/format via the Folder Options in the top toolbar, but I DON'T save.. and then let's say I navigate to Folder "B", and I change and DO save Folder "B"'s options [for 'This Folder' only], when I go back to Folder "A", it will be using Folder "B"'s options/format.
And any other folder for that matter will be using Folder "B"'s options until I change the options back to default. [In which case Folder "B" will be showing the saved options, like it's supposed to, and any other folder will be in default mode, which is what I wanted it to do from the beginning].

If Opus is supposed to cache the folder settings, shouldn't my folder options for Folder "A" been saved automatically??

Maybe I'm not understanding the 'cache' thing properly... ?

11

Ok I found a way to do this... using Nudels first 'crack-head' idea ('DOH that's crack-pot). Leo, the 'special' file idea is not so crak-pot dude... it's actually a GREAT way to invoke content-type detection in a way that will solve nightchild's concern over Opus 'guessing' how to show what...

@child:

Using Nudel's idea I created a file called .contentmask0 and placed it every one of my album folders along with my .mp3 and .ape files. To match up with this file, I then went into Settings->File Types... and created a new File Type Group called Content Mask 0 to which I added [/b.contentmask0[/b] to it's list of extensions. I then went into Preferences->Folders->Folder Formats and under Content Type Formats sat my newly created file type group (which in case you didn't know is tied to the file type groups...). I edited this new content type format and set up the Display tab for a 'Details' view, sorted by filename; the Columns tab with various music related columns; the Filters tab with a 'Hide Filter' for *.contentmask0 Filenames, and finally the Options tab to set the 'Content threshold' at 1%.

What this acomplishes is a way to key a dynamically invoked content-type format to a specific file that should NEVER appear anywhere than in places you want it to be... By doing it this way, all the 'guess-work' is eliminated and returns full control back to you.

When you start browsing your root level 'Music' folder, you can then simply set the view-mode to thumbnails manually, and it should persist as you browse you artist folders, be overriden by content-type detection under the album folders, and then return to thumbnails if you switch back into your artist folders, root 'Music' folder, or any other folder...

However, I also recall a way to get around the problem of content-type detection being subordinate to the specific folder-formats you've otherwise been looking into and which Nudel clarified as taking precedence in the order they're listed in the Folder Formats dialog...

If you switch to loading your listers from a saved "Layout" then what you can do along with that is add a tab opened to your root 'Music' folder after you've manually set the view-mode to thumbnails. When you save a Layout, the view-mode a given folder tab is set to persists for all folders you view in that tab until some other set of 'rules' (like content-type detection) comes along to override it. These 'Layout based' view-mode settings are stored in the registry FOR that Layout, and are separate from ALL other format and view controls normally used in Opus through the dialogs and menus. The only drawback I can see is that if you're in a lister and manually browse to your music folder in some other tab, you won't get the thumbnails view-mode unless you hit it manually... the view is saved per-each tab. Using BOTh methods give you a tab already opened to the music folder and ready to go the way you want it in thumbnails every time you open a lister as well as a single-click away in any other tab...

12

Hey child... I was busy rambling on in my reply when you posted your follow up. About folder format 'caching' and the apparent conflicts you're seeing with saving a folder format change for 'this' or 'all' folders (or not saving at all):

When you go into Folder Options and change 'stuff', that change generally persists as you navigate through folders, even if you don't 'save' it at all... but just in the current lister you're in at the time of the change. The value in 'saving' a folder format is it's effects on future listers when browsing to the folders you've saved formats for.

13

Yeah, if you change a bunch of folder formats it's always a good idea to open new listers, rather than re-use old ones, when you want to make sure everything is configured how you want it. Otherwise you may be seeing locally cached formats (which can be useful and are not a bad thing but can also be confusing in this situation).

Couldn't this be done automatically by a folder format for the path (which doesn't affect its children)? Failing that, it could be another "crack-pot" custom content-type format, but I'd expect the simple option to work in this case, unless I'm missing something.

14

Steje and Nudel, u ppl are great thanks for helping me. From your advice I'm understanding more and more. By the way, Nudels 'hack' type idea, Is a great idea. Steje really explained it in detail though.

I'm going to start experimenting with Layouts and see what I can come up with using ur advice and instructions.

Only thing is I don't like having to click a button everytime I want to view a folder a certain way. I want it to be how I left it. Without having to click a Styles or Favorite Folders Tab. But its a reasonable solution though. For sure.

Re: Your 2nd post steje, I did not know that I was causing the problem myself by going into the Folder Options menu in the first place. See ya learn something new everyday. Thanks for telling me that. So what I Should've been doing it just changing the folder view mode through the right click menu View, "whatever". Anything other than messing with the Folder Options. Doing this, Opus would've remember how I view that folder???

Wait.. Nope, I just tried it and it's Still keeping the same view for all folders even when I right-click, view, thumbnails. Hmm.

Can I set Opus to remember that when i set the view in one folder that it's JUST for that one folder and not the whole thing?

Nudel, so youre saying that I should refrain from using the same lister once i change a folder format? Just close it and open a new lister? and the views that i set for the old lister should persist in the new one?

ok nope that didn't work, Im starting to understand now that setting a view sets the view for the entire lister not just the folder that youre in at the moment, unless Content Type or Folder Formats takes over and tells it to do something else... hmmmmmmmm

Am I right you guys?

15

I think you're right. (Sorry don't have time to respond in detail right now.)

By the way, you can define new folder formats via Preferences which you might find easier than using the Folder Options dialog. At least then you can instantly see the results beside all the other format definitions, and you can also control the "use for sub-folders" flag.

Don't forget that you can assign hotkeys to change to specific formats or view modes. Of course it isn't as good as it happening automatically but it can be faster than clicking a toolbar for certain actions that you want to perform frequently.

I've got all my albums in a single, flat directory so I don't have the issue that you do with needing to set the format for hundreds of subdirectories, but even then I haven't defined a format for my Albums dir; I leave it to display as normal Details mode like any other folder. But, I've made a saved Layout which opens the Albums dir in thumbnails mode when I want to browse for an album. That works well for me since it means when I want to do some file management on the Albums dir I don't get put into thumbnails mode, which would be annoying, but when I want to browse for an album, using a nice view that features cover art, I can do so at the click of a button.

16

That's great advice nudel, thanks a lot. I suppose I will have to start getting used to changing views often when i'm not in a folder that i have configuered already with Folder Formats. Shoot this is still WAY better than my microsoft way of browsing. 1000 times better.

It would be great if one could configure the "Use as default format for all subdirectories" option to further define the subdirectories Inside those subdirectories, even if it only offered support for the first 3 or so Levels into the directory, u know? But I'll take what i can get for sure. I'm either being too demanding or too lazy to click a button. Just one single button, sheesh, it's not that hard [or hotkey as you said, which probably is exactly what i'm going to do, lol]

Plus i have the option of using that hack that you mentioned.. man that's good stuff. Also I can just do what i'm doing now, which is just define a view for each one of my Albums folders containing my music tracks. It's working great for me so far, so i have my work cut out for me haha
but i have a feeling the Folder Formats list is gonna start getting rather crowded isnt it :smiley:

so just to make sure, one last time, is there ANY way that I can set Opus to remember that when i set the view in one folder that it's JUST for that one folder and not the whole thing? weather i set the view by right click or folder options??
Sorry and thanks again.

17

My take on it is the ideal would be to allow wildcards in the path, so you could save a folder options definition for G:\Music\Artists**\ to apply it to all directories two below Artists, or something like that.

Heh, yeah it will, but the list of folder paths is collapsed by default so it shouldn't get in the way too much.

When you do Save For This Folder in the Folder Options dialog it should be saved just for that folder. Opus might also interpret this as changing the old "default" format that the folder used to inherit, and then apply the same change to other folders in that lister only which also use the default format. (That is so hard to explain in words but actually pretty simple.) I'm not sure to be honest, but if you close the lister and open a new one then the change you saved should only affect that one folder.

18

Yea i'm quite fond of ur "use wildcards for sub-sub directories" idea. if only huh?...
keep ur eyes peeled for shooting stars.
lol jk

but yea the folder formats IS collapsed by default isn't it?? did they think of everything?? nice!

and to your last paragraph, I have tried the save to "This Folder" option, it Still made every other folder in that lister adopt that view. But yea if it's interpreting it as changing the old default format, then that would Really explain a few things now wouldn't it?
And yea if i close the lister and open a new one it would definitely only show that one folder u configured that way because by Saving it, it transfered that set up to the Folder Formats right?? but ur saying that THAT would make sure all the other folders remain in their default view...

hey i Just tried what you said and it Worked! only that folder is now in the view that i set for it, all other folders remain in default. Worked perfectly! So the cure is just to close and reopen the lister once i set the view eh?? that is WITHOUT navigating to another folder first!!! woohoo!
got it, thanks and thanks :smiley:

19

child:

[quote]I have tried the save to "This Folder" option, it Still made every other folder in that lister adopt that view[/quote]Yes, and like I said before even if you did NOT save the format change at all it should persist in other folders WITHIN the current lister. If it's that Opus assumes the 'default' format has changed or whatever is incidental - I don't think there's anyway to prevent it :slight_smile:. I guess it's more for saving the format changes for specific folders for 'later' and not so much an 'on the fly' mechanism to affect JUST one folder in the current lister.

nudel:

[quote]Couldn't this be done automatically by a folder format for the path (which doesn't affect its children)?[/quote]Sure, but I guess then he would only have the 'artist' folders showing in thumbs and not the actual 'album' folders. And as you've gone along, you guys started talking about how big the folder format list might get if he started saving every artist folders format...