Feature Requests Fluff FileMgr

[SamK]

BETA Version 0.6.x, November 2010

Given its early stage of development Fluff looks promising.  Here are some ideas to throw into the mix of possible enhancements.


Mounting/Unmounting
The idea here is to conduct this directly from within the Fluff GUI interface rather than loading mnttool and cycling through the mount points, then activating the one required.

Clicking on /mnt in the left-hand panel will simultaneously list all available mount points in the right-hand panel, enabling the choice to be made directly rather than moving through the list in a linear fashion ala mounttool.


Coloured Mount Points
The status of each mount point in /mnt may be indicated by applying the colour scheme currently used by mnttool.

Displaying the status of all mount points simultaneously will make mounting/unmounting a more intuitive and effective process from a user perspective.


Indicating Labels
This post http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=7949.0 announced that mnttool will include an ability to display file system labels via tooltips.  Fluff might also incorporate this ability.

Hovering the cursor over a mount point in /mnt can display the label and thereby assist in selecting the desired one; particularly useful where many partitions are available to choose from.
   

[MikeLockmoore]

Ooh, I knew this was coming!    I hope I'm successful at balancing the various wants of the TC user community with the philosopy and goals of the Core Team.  I will be following the general direction of the RobertS and the Core Team so that Fluff stays useful as a small, fast, and low-dependencies component of the base system.  

Fluff's code base is still undergoing some significant upheavals as a few other high-priority features are added.  Soon, I hope to begin collaborating with other developers on Fluff enhancements.  I've already had one person volunteer to work with me on FLTK projects, which could include Fluff. I will consider any submitted code changes/patches, but for anybody thinking about jumping in, I'd recommend waiting a month or two for things to stabalize a bit more.  TC 3.3 was released with Fluff beta 0.6.0.  I'm personally on version 0.7.4... fourteen snapsots later.  

@ SamK: Yes, I have considered adding mount/unmount features to Fluff.  Since we do have mnttool in TC, it has not been a high priority.  While having mount/unmount in Fluff would seem convenient, but I don't know how difficult it will be to include it and have it work in a wide variety of situations (various filesytems, various hardware types, etc).  I would like to look into it someday and hopefully get some advice on how to handle the stranger mount use cases.

For what it's worth, in my own .fluff.conf file , I have added a .iso filetype with an action label of "Mount" and the command:

 "sudo mkdir /mnt/iso; sudo mount -o loop %s /mnt/iso"

which makes working with .iso images easier.


NEW FEATURES ALREADY IMPLEMENTED AFTER VERSION 0.6.0 AND EXPECTED TO BE RELEASED
-----------
Note: While I hope the following updates will be accepted by the Core Team, they and I reserve the right to omit or revise the following list at any time.  So take this as an informal preview only...

* Built-in recognition of TC extension files (.tcz) and built-in association to "tce-run" them

* New Progress bar in the bottom status area (under the file details list on the right side) appears automatically when file operations are taking place;  currently only works with the current/total file counts, but internal provisions are made that could allow the progress to track total number of bytes processed

* New "Manage File Types and Hints" dialog box, e.g. a GUI editor for filetypes so you don't have to muck around in the .fluff.conf file to add custom types

* New "Type" button on the file properties box opens the above "Manage File Types and Hints" dialog for that specific type of file; however, if clicked for a "generic" file, the user will be prompted to optionally create a new specific filetype, and if done, the new filetype's indentification hint definition will be pre-loaded with the original file's filename extension (if there is one )

* "Undo Changes" box in the "Manage Associations" dialog box, and removal of the "Update" button (editing is immediately "saved", but not fully committed until the dialog box is dismissed)

* "Open with option for generic file" checkbox in the "Open With" dialog box... you can treat any file generically and use any of defined associated apps for generic text files instead of its type-specific associations

* Adding "use sudo" capabiltiy to more commands

FUTURE "NO PROMISE WE WILL GET TO THIS" FEATURES:
* Mount/unmount as discussed above

* Thumbnail/icon view of files as alternative to current file details list

* Three-pane view (e.g. tree plus two file detail lists) so you can easily compare contents of two directories and copy/move files between them

* Drag-and-drop between multiple instances of Fluff or between Fluff and other (specific?) apps

[TheNewbie]

FUTURE "NO PROMISE WE WILL GET TO THIS" FEATURES:
* Mount/unmount as discussed above

* Thumbnail/icon view of files as alternative to current file details list

* Three-pane view (e.g. tree plus two file detail lists) so you can easily compare contents of two directories and copy/move files between them

* Drag-and-drop between multiple instances of Fluff or between Fluff and other (specific?) apps

1) Mount/unmount - for any compatible filesystems, a normal mount command should work, shouldn't it? If not (ex. NTFS), then does mnttool provide that functionality? (specifically use ntfs-3g or similar to mount instead).

2) Thumbnails/icon views - for general comments, this would require some more associations, plus a large rewrite of the GUI, right? It seems like a bit too much trouble to go through until everything else is solid.

3) 3-pane view - seems like a reasonable task, the difficult part being the interaction between the 2 file detail lists. Also, if your file detail lists are each showing two different directories, how does it use only one tree?

4) D&D outside of Fluff - it seems complicated, but I've really no idea about it.

Also, between 0.6.0 & 0.7.4, was a ".." default directory option introduced? I've sorely missed it while browsing through deep folders... Just wanted to check if it's there and I'm blind, if it's been implemented in a later version already, or if I should be sad. btw, is there any official thread or changelog for Fluff?

[SamK]

@MikeLockmoore
Many thanks for such a comprehensive reply.  Such a glimpse into the future possibilities of Fluff greatly assists in understanding your effort and is genuinely welcomed.

It is interesting that you have placed dual file-panel operation into the category "FUTURE "NO PROMISE WE WILL GET TO THIS" FEATURES".  Having evaluated many, many, file-managers on both MS and Linux platforms, this is one of the core (forgive the pun) features which elevate a file-manager above the status of can be used to one of truly useful.  Well here's hoping.
   

[MikeLockmoore]

@SamK: The three-pane view has been part of my target features from the beginning, but its been lower priority than many other things.  I really do hope to get that done, but I may be taking time off Fluff to work on other things before tackling most of those "FUTURE" items. However, if I can at least get drag-and-drop working between two instances of Fluff, then you would have at least some of the three-panel benefit, yes? (Just with four panels and maybe lacking some convenience buttons.)

@TheNewbie: If you enable the "show all" option in the button bar, you will see the items "." and "..".  You can double-click ".." to move toward root.  Hmm, maybe I can change Fluff to always show the ".." item, even if "show all" is unchecked.  Maybe a keyboard shortcut could also be added. Ctrl+Backspace?

[SamK]

...maybe I can change Fluff to always show the ".." item, even if "show all" is unchecked. 

+1

[SamK]

...if I can at least get drag-and-drop working between two instances of Fluff, then you would have at least some of the three-panel benefit, yes? (Just with four panels and maybe lacking some convenience buttons.)

I will willingly test such a set-up and provide feedback if it helps with your development.  Also, I tend not to use "convenience buttons" (or icons in other file managers), indeed I tend to hide them if possible to obtain the cleanest interface.  My preference is to use drop-down menus or right-click menus.

For me, a file manager fulfills such a central role in the way in which I use a PC that, I can no longer envisage adopting one which does not provide dual file-panel operation (or equivalent), consequently I will not yet be moving to Fluff full-time.
   

[MikeLockmoore]

The "Always include directory .. in the file list" feature is now in version 0.7.5.  A one-line change.  Gotta love those!

[tinypoodle]

Having evaluated many, many, file-managers on both MS and Linux platforms, this is one of the core (forgive the pun) features which elevate a file-manager above the status of can be used to one of truly useful.

Very interesting viewpoint.

Having gone through the same procedure, what concerns my preferences I came to the exact opposite conclusion 

And this depite that for most other apps as e.g. browser, IRC, IM etc. I would absolutely prefer MDI or TDI apps over SDI apps, but different with file managers.
That only applies to general file managers under X, of course I would be happy to use mc or mtoolsfm for what they are worth 

Perhaps my different preferences may result from the fact that I often work with small screens resp. low resolutions, appreciating the least necessary demands of screen estate?

Therefore of course my personal wish by priority would be DND support between multiple file manager windows.