Hello,
could it be imaginable to have a kind of command line window bound to a lister for firing console (and maybe internal) commands in the current lister directory? The "DOS Prompt Here" context menu is helpful, but the console window isn't able to follow to the next directory when browsing the file system. This could be docked like the Viewer pane.
regards,
Willy Dee
Well, you can already create a 'Command field' to execute Internal Opus functions against the current folder/selected files... but this won't let you run 'console/windows/dos' type commands.
If you want just internal Dopus command line - then goto Settings->Customize->Commands tab. Make sure the All Commands category is selected, then drag the Command Field icon to one of your toolbars.
Note- not all of the internal Dopus commands you type into this field will work as expected if you put this field on a 'floating' toolbar... i.e. I don't believe commands that you'd want to run against selected items would run properly. The field needs to be attached/docked to the lister where you're selecting the files...
Note 2- I believe some other file managers out there do indeed have a 'Command line' field that lets you run console/windows/dos commands... but I'm having trouble imagining what sort of commands you would run from such a field and expect useful results from inside a file display?
Okay, I think I have to explain my intention. I'm just starting some exploration of Ruby on Rails, which perfectly integrates with SciTe and consequential also with the Source Code Viewer (read: Editor) DOpus plugin. When editing source files in a Rails application tree I have to change directories very often, and because Rails is a bit "shell centered" in some places, it would come in handy to have a (single line would be perfectly adequate) command input. The output (if any) should be directed to the output window.
Et voilà - you'd get an almost complete Rails IDE just from customizing our most beloved tool.
I think you could make a button which asks you for a command to run, via a dialog, and then runs it in the current directory with the output going to a command prompt window. Would that be any use?
That would be a solution, also perfecly usable with a hotkey. Would it be possible to catch any output and sending it to the DOpus Output Window?
You can't divert output to the Opus Ouput Window (there isn't a tab in the Output Window suitable for program output nor a way to redirect output there) so it'd have to be to a DOS window at the moment.
That works pretty well for me most of the time, though. Add a pause command at the end and the window can be dismissed after checking it for any important messages.
You could also redirect output to a text file and then have another button which opens that for viewing, if it's output that you usually don't want to see but may wish to check on from time to time.
An idea I have been playing with for a while is to have a DOpus viewer plugin for directories. The plugin would show a DOS console with the selected directory as its working directory.
I tried some experiments with trapping a DOS console in a standalone application, but I had some trouble with properly capturing and/or embedding the DOS console in the application window. I can redirect input/output (i.e. text only), but that doesn't work when you launch DOS applications such as edit.
Perhaps somebody of you has more knowledge on how to do this. As of now, I have more or less given up on writing the plugin as I don't really have the time to look for a solution.
Anyway, it would ease the interaction with the commandline from within DOpus (currently I use a button which ask for a command, executes it and then pauses).
Would a button with
CLI DOSPROMPT
As the only command do it?
[quote]Would a button with
CLI DOSPROMPT
As the only command do it?[/quote]
No, it wouldn't. That's what I am using now but it would be nicer if the prompt was docked in DOpus.
I think you will agree with me that the source code viewer does have added value over a button which launches SciTE. This is similar.
But forget about it, it's not that important. I will take another look at it when I get some more spare time.
I might be wrong but my guess is that a full command prompt emulator/replacement is really hard to write because there's something weird about the official one which probably goes back to MS-DOS nastiness that nobody wants to think about.
Handling simple input/output with some terminal functionality (e.g. supporting codes to move the cursor around and change colours) shouldn't be too difficult (but still time consuming) but my hunch is that getting Edit and friends to work would be a lot more work, if even possible.
There's got to be a reason why every single command-prompt replacement that I've seen so far has, while possibly looking flasher, completely sucked to use (someone let me know if I've missed one that doesn't suck; I can't claim to have tried them all) and also why Microsoft have been reluctant to mess with the existing one, even to the extent that it's about the only window in Windows XP which forces the old-style Win95 titlebars even when Visual Styles are enabled.
All of that said, who wants to run Edit in a DOS window inside Opus anyway? 
A command prompt plugin could still be useful without fully replacing the Windows command prompt.
this is something that I'd like to have ... I abhor the command prompt that is included (I use console) but it would be cool to have the ability to have a tab that would be a command line interface. I saw a competing program that's a file manager today that does that called AccelMan ... ?
what about 4NT? I see there is a plugin for that already - would that be one that opens a tab/window for the console or is that something else?
hey, they have a product called "Take Command" and that is a graphical command prompt that looks good and isn't slow or clunky like console ... of course it costs $75 I think but still ... ?
[quote]what about 4NT? I see there is a plugin for that already - would that be one that opens a tab/window for the console or is that something else?
[SCV Configuration for 4NT and Batch files)
[/quote]
No, the link you posted is to a syntax coloring config file I made awhile back for the neat Opus plug-in called the Source Code Viewer.
You can open a 4NT command window in the current Opus folder by simply using the path to the 4NT command processor as a button command. e.g. if I have Opus in the C:\Program Files\ directory and press a button with the following command:
C:\Program Files\JPSoft\4NT7\4nt.exe
Then Opus will open a 4NT (current version 7) command console window in C:\Program Files\
I rarely use it however, sometimes I will for a quick down and dirty 4NT something I want to do on the fly, but otherwise 99% of my 4NT/Opus interface is done via Opus buttons launching 4NT scripts.