Virtual Folders in Document Selector
Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 7:53 pm
I typically have something in neighborhood of 5 to 10 documents open in the Document Selector. These files originate from drives and folders all over my network and occassionally have the same names. I prefer to use TextPad without displaying the full paths with the file names because the paths tend to clutter the document tabs in the editor.
Thus I often find myself doing more work simply to FIND the file I want to edit than I should. One real life scenario - we were putting out a new update to one of our products and I was typing up a simple ReleaseNotes.txt document to accompany the install. For the most part, our release notes would be the same across the clientbase but a few clients had some customizations requiring tailored release note documentation. I opened up our "main" document in TextPad along with each of the "special" client's versions to customize. Every document had the same name and for the most part, I had to continually open document after document to see what I was editing. The ordeal was a tedious pain.
What I am looking for is a simple grouping mechanism for documents open in TextPad. Something like the Server Groups in Microsoft SQL Server - a simple virtual folder that exists to better organize my list of open documents. This would allow me to create one or more folders (in my example above, probably one for each client) to immediately tell what is was I was updating.
The way I would envision it, the Document Selector would have to display a tree view, with the "root node" being your workspace, and the top-level child nodes being either Document Folders or documents. Obviously, since a treeview would be needed for display, theoretically folders could be nested several levels deep - personally, I would be fine with not allowing nested folders.
What I would like to see made available using these folders is:
1. Create a new folder by selecting a Create Folder command from the menu or right clicking the Document Selector.
2. Allow multiple folders to exist.
3. Allow drag and drop to move files into or out of a folder (or between folders).
4. Allow closing a folder - if files exist within it either offer to close them all as well or move them out to the root level of the Document Selector tree.
5. Allow renaming folders.
6. Save folders with Saved WorkSpaces.
I can see a lot of minor but useful functionality being made accessible through these Folders.
1. Allow right clicking a file name in the Document Selector to display a new item in the context menu (Add To Folder) assuming at least one folder exists.
2. Allow right clicking on a folder to perform common actions against the group of files within the folder:
Thanks.
Rich
Thus I often find myself doing more work simply to FIND the file I want to edit than I should. One real life scenario - we were putting out a new update to one of our products and I was typing up a simple ReleaseNotes.txt document to accompany the install. For the most part, our release notes would be the same across the clientbase but a few clients had some customizations requiring tailored release note documentation. I opened up our "main" document in TextPad along with each of the "special" client's versions to customize. Every document had the same name and for the most part, I had to continually open document after document to see what I was editing. The ordeal was a tedious pain.
What I am looking for is a simple grouping mechanism for documents open in TextPad. Something like the Server Groups in Microsoft SQL Server - a simple virtual folder that exists to better organize my list of open documents. This would allow me to create one or more folders (in my example above, probably one for each client) to immediately tell what is was I was updating.
The way I would envision it, the Document Selector would have to display a tree view, with the "root node" being your workspace, and the top-level child nodes being either Document Folders or documents. Obviously, since a treeview would be needed for display, theoretically folders could be nested several levels deep - personally, I would be fine with not allowing nested folders.
What I would like to see made available using these folders is:
1. Create a new folder by selecting a Create Folder command from the menu or right clicking the Document Selector.
2. Allow multiple folders to exist.
3. Allow drag and drop to move files into or out of a folder (or between folders).
4. Allow closing a folder - if files exist within it either offer to close them all as well or move them out to the root level of the Document Selector tree.
5. Allow renaming folders.
6. Save folders with Saved WorkSpaces.
I can see a lot of minor but useful functionality being made accessible through these Folders.
1. Allow right clicking a file name in the Document Selector to display a new item in the context menu (Add To Folder) assuming at least one folder exists.
2. Allow right clicking on a folder to perform common actions against the group of files within the folder:
- - Close All in Folder
- Save All in Folder
- Copy All in Folder (to a common destination)
- Move All in Folder (to a common destination)
- Delete All in Folder
- Set Attributes for All in Folder
- etc...
Thanks.
Rich