I'm using DOpus 10.0.5.0.4497.x64. On the right-hand screen border I have a docked tool bar (always on top) which holds buttons for opening the layouts I use most often. (Same behavior as the entries in the dropdown menu accessed via the "Lister Layouts" button.) If a layout is already open, a second instance is opened, and so on. However, I would like DOpus to switch to a layout if it has already been opened previously, rather than open the layout again. Is there are way to do this? Any help is much appreciated!
If you update to the latest version (10.0.5.0 is six months old; there have been lots of free updates since then, with 10.2.0.0 being the current version) and link your account, I'll explain in detail how I do something similar.
I should have asked before, are the layouts you're using complex, multi-window ones? Or are you using layouts just as a way to open specific folders?
The thing I had in mind would only work well for simple, single-window layouts, but if you need something like this for multi-window layouts we could add it.
How it would work is a question, though. We already record the layout (if any) that each window came from. But, once a layout is open its windows can be moved around, navigated to other folders, have their display modes changed, or even be closed. Is a layout still considered open if only half its windows are still there, and have been changed completely? If you just move a window slightly you don't want that to break its connection to the layout that opened it, but it's not clear where to draw that line.
One way it could work is to simply close all windows that came from the same layout (whatever state they are in now) and then open the layout. That would prevent duplicate windows from being left on the screen, while ensuring the layout was always restored properly. On the other hand, it would mean that if you repurposed a window from a layout for doing other things, it would then be closed when you opened the layout again, which might not be wanted.
Thanks for your input. I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "window" - this could be a lister, a file display, or some other "pane". A typical layout in my working environment consists of a single lister, subdivided into two file displays, each with a number of tabs, and a folder tree. That makes three display areas altogether, integrated into one window/lister. I'm not sure if this would be considered a "complex" configuration. For my purposes, a "Go to layout 'XYZ' function" would simply move layout 'XYZ' to the foreground (regardless of whether the window has been resized or tabs have been altered/added/removed). Could that be accomplished with existing DOpus commands?
If it's only one window, what's the purpose of opening layout just to bring one Opus window to front? Isn't it easier to click the window on the task bar?
Doing this on the task bar has two disadvantages: First of all, the windows in the stack that appears on the task bar when hovering over the DOpus icon are identified by very long path names that don't always reveal the name of the corresponding layout. Using a button labeled with XYZ would mean less clutter. And, secondly, a button would give the added flexibility of assigning hotkeys for bringing certain listers to the front.
In my (freelance translator) environment, each layout represents a customer. The right file list contains project tabs that lead to the various project directory trees. The left file list contains tabs that lead to administrative data/resources belonging to the respective customer. So if I could just press, for example, CTRL+ALT+A for "Acme software, Inc.", that would be the fastest possible way to access that customer's layout immediately.
The Custom titles for Listers section of the Opus 10.2.0.6 beta release notes should be of interest. I think that gives you a good way to do what you wanted originally.