ROX-Filer: Superfast bookmarks

[neerajkolte]

Many many Thanks MochiMoppel.

Any one has an idea or theory about why this was hidden by ROX.

[musher0]

I humbly offer my official "You're welcome". But please stop editing Groups.xml manually. Look closely at your screenshot and find the mistake...

Ah, yes, a typo! Sorry about that!
But please tell me how can I edit Groups.xml other than manually?
Thanks in advance.

[MochiMoppel]

Groups.xml is created and managed by ROX. You shouldn't edit it.

[musher0]

Groups.xml is created and managed by ROX. You shouldn't edit it.

Hello, MochiMoppel.

That's not an answer. Or it is, an ethical or normative, answer. But not a practical one.
You're telling me what not to do, not how to do it properly.

Ok. In communications theory, if you get the wrong answer, it's that you asked the
wrong question.

So I'll put my question another way: could you please tell me how you,
not somebody else, insert the folders in the Groups.xml file?

Thanks in advance.

musher0

[Keef]

See my screenshot. Couldn't be much simpler.

[MochiMoppel]

So I'll put my question another way: could you please tell me how you,
not somebody else, insert the folders in the Groups.xml file?

Step1: I open the folder in ROX which I want to bookmark
Step2: I press Ctrl+<number>

Was that practical enough?

[musher0]

So I'll put my question another way: could you please tell me how you,
not somebody else, insert the folders in the Groups.xml file?

Step1: I open the folder in ROX which I want to bookmark
Step2: I press Ctrl+<number>

Was that practical enough?

Ah, I see. Thank you very much.

[neerajkolte]

In Fatdog64-631 I open ROX. I press ctrl+<number 0 to 9>.
I get no error message. Will your script still work.
Although ROX has created a file /root/.config/rox.sourceforge.net/ROX-Filer/Groups.xml

[Keef]

You shouldn't get an error message - that is what happens when you press a number while in a Rox window, and that number has not been assigned.

[musher0]

Hello, all.

An interesting thing I discovered on my way to correcting a typo --
or why you should actually edit the Groups.xml file by hand.

* You can have more than 9 speed dial items
* The tens, hundreds and thousands act as a hierarchy for easy cataloging.

@ Mochi: I will not touch your script since it is your intellectual property. (It's not for
me to teach you anything, but perhaps you should actually date it and "sign" it.)

My request is as follows : is there a way to make the windows stretch in reaction to
the number of items in Groups.xml -- and to pin it at a fixed place on the desktop?

Thanks in advance.

BFN.

musher0

[MochiMoppel]

An interesting thing I discovered on my way to correcting a typo --
or why you should actually edit the Groups.xml file by hand.

musher0, you still haven't understood the purpose of this script and maybe you even haven't understood the concept of speeddials. The point is that you use the 10 number keys while you are in a ROX window. That's the whole beauty of this concept. And because the slots are limited to 0-9 (limited by ROX and your keyboard, not by me!), there is absolutely no point in increasing them in the Groups.xml file. Of course you can do your " interesting things" with the file and edit it despite all warnings, but be prepared that ROX will change it. If you really want to do what you are doing now, make a copy of the file, name it musher0.xml and change the variable INPUT in the script. It will work. But it is beyond me why you want to do this.

[Keef]

With my wonderful gift of hindsight, I think it may have worked better if Mochi had told us about this feature of Rox first, and how to use it.
A little later, when someone says "..but I can't remember what numbers I have used!", Mochi can announce "there could be a small script that can help you with that - here's one I prepared earlier".
As it happens, I haven't used the script myself - for me the speeddials are useful 'disposable' shortcuts, that I won't have to remember very long.

[musher0]

An interesting thing I discovered on my way to correcting a typo --
or why you should actually edit the Groups.xml file by hand.

musher0, you still haven't understood the purpose of this script and maybe you even haven't understood the concept of speeddials. The point is that you use the 10 number keys while you are in a ROX window. That's the whole beauty of this concept. And because the slots are limited to 0-9 (limited by ROX and your keyboard, not by me!), there is absolutely no point in increasing them in the Groups.xml file. Of course you can do your " interesting things" with the file and edit it despite all warnings, but be prepared that ROX will change it. If you really want to do what you are doing now, make a copy of the file, name it musher0.xml and change the variable INPUT in the script. It will work. But it is beyond me why you want to do this.

Hi, MochiMoppel.

User notes:
* I have been using the extended Groups.xml for 24 hours now, and it hasn't failed me.
* I routinely make back-ups of such configuration files.
* The slots are limited only in your concept of it, as I have demonstrated before.
* "But it is beyond me why you want to do this." Indeed, why would I?
___ As a developer, I need to go to more than 10 folders in a jiffy; it saves me time.

You brought to the fore a poorly documented "accelerator" feature of ROX-Filer.
Many thanks for that.

As for me, I am rejoicing that the feature that you uncovered can do more than advertised.
Obviously, you have a different feeling about this.

Respectfully,

musher0

[Puppus Dogfellow]

An interesting thing I discovered on my way to correcting a typo --
or why you should actually edit the Groups.xml file by hand.

musher0, you still haven't understood the purpose of this script and maybe you even haven't understood the concept of speeddials. The point is that you use the 10 number keys while you are in a ROX window. That's the whole beauty of this concept. And because the slots are limited to 0-9 (limited by ROX and your keyboard, not by me!), there is absolutely no point in increasing them in the Groups.xml file. Of course you can do your " interesting things" with the file and edit it despite all warnings, but be prepared that ROX will change it. If you really want to do what you are doing now, make a copy of the file, name it musher0.xml and change the variable INPUT in the script. It will work. But it is beyond me why you want to do this.

Hi, MochiMoppel.

User notes:
* I have been using the extended Groups.xml for 24 hours now, and it hasn't failed me.
* I routinely make back-ups of such configuration files.
* The slots are limited only in your concept of it, as I have demonstrated before.
* "But it is beyond me why you want to do this." Indeed, why would I?
___ As a developer, I need to go to more than 10 folders in a jiffy; it saves me time.

You brought to the fore a poorly documented "accelerator" feature of ROX-Filer.
Many thanks for that.

As for me, I am rejoicing that the feature that you uncovered can do more than advertised.
Obviously, you have a different feeling about this.

Respectfully,

musher0

so you get ten you can activate with the number keys and a new popup for an independent set of clickable bookmarks/favorites. the file appears to keep rewriting the newest change at the end (my copy of groups in .config/... has the whole thing between <groups> and </groups> as one line, line 4. is there any harm if i divide it up by <group name="x"></group>?)

musher's idea is easily done by highlighting, middle clicking, adding a digit to the name="_x" part. first step gives you a duplicate, which then frees the keyboard 0-9 activated slot for something else, keeping the original still a bookmark, keyable with the arrows and as clickable as the rest of the lot.

anyway, if rox just changes what gets defined by ctrl+[0-9], i don't see what harm musher's idea does. in fact, i think it's excellent. if Rox for whatever reason does wipe out all the "extraneous" data, then i'd like to confirm that

...name it [____].xml...change the variable INPUT in the script

gives a second bookmarks popup without affecting the original.

also, is

Code: Select all

 <?xml version="1.0"?>

at the tip of a text file enough to make it an xml file?


thanks in advance, Mochi.


musher, do you think you could plug the info from /root/.local/share/recently-used.xbel into Mochi's script somehow? would something like

Code: Select all

INPUT="/root/.local/share/recently-used.xbel" 

work?

...

also, it seems to me the reason for the ability to save selections is to make it a quick launch for files and programs as well as folders. takes an extra enter key press, but that's what it would be. you click a number while in a folder, it takes you elsewhere with a file highlighted, the highlighted thing launches with whatever the run action has been set to once you press enter. something like that.

[musher0]

Hi, Puppus_D.

I see you're been pushing this feature even further than I have!

I didn't even suspect that you could generate another "Groups.xml" (with
a different file name) with the same results.

I'll see what I can do to incorporate the xbel thingy. No promises, though.
As you suggested in another thread, some additional work is needed on
the MRUD script so it can pick up more file types. I should be tackling that
task first, in good (?) logic!

BFN.

musher0

[Puppus Dogfellow]

Hi, Puppus_D.

I see you're been pushing this feature even further than I have!

I didn't even suspect that you could generate another "Groups.xml" (with
a different file name) with the same results.

I'll see what I can do to incorporate the xbel thingy. No promises, though.
As you suggested in another thread, some additional work is needed on
the MRUD script so it can pick up more file types. I should be tackling that
task first, in good (?) logic!

BFN.

musher0

you'd have to get rid of the what would become the unnecessary block of reserved spaces for the actual keycuts--the secondary list would just be regular bookmarks with nothing to offset any as having a special ability--that info would come from the groups file itself...

[Puppus Dogfellow]

here'san icon for Mochi's script. it's supposed to evoke an old fashioned telephone with newfangled buttons. i tried to use a color i think is representative of ROX, though the original colors have been modded off my machines and only appear as tiny buttons in taskbars. so, "dial at the press of a button" in black and turquoise.


wish the forum had one of those : / emoticons...

[Puppus Dogfellow]

this is the contents of the file (/root/.config/rox.sourceforge.net/ROX-Filer/Groups.xml) that generated it:

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<groups>
  
<group name="7"><directory>/usr/share/applications</directory></group>
<group name="0"><directory>/usr/bin</directory></group>
<group name="01"><directory>/bin</directory></group>

<group name="3"><directory>/root/SpiderOak Hive</directory></group>
<group name="4"><directory>/mnt/sda3/Copysda3/Copy/My Documents-20gigsync/Software/custon icons</directory></group>
<group name="8"><directory>/etc/xdg/templates</directory></group>
<group name="6"><directory>/root/puppy-reference</directory></group>
<group name="5"><directory>/mnt/mmcblk0p2/Dropbox/MMMMMMMMM</directory></group>
<group name="9"><directory>/root/.jwm</directory></group>
<group name="11"><directory>/root/.config/rox.sourceforge.net/ROX-Filer</directory></group>
<group name="12"><directory>/root/.local/share/</directory></group>
<group name="1"><directory>/root</directory></group>
<group name="71"><directory>/usr/local/apps</directory></group>
<group name="72"><directory>/root/my-applications</directory></group>
<group name="91"><directory>/root/.recoll</directory></group>
<group name="92"><directory>/root/.config/xpad</directory></group>
<group name="93"><directory>/mnt/sdc1</directory></group>

<group name="2"><directory>/mnt/home</directory></group></groups>

the basic template is

<group name="91"><directory>[paste path here]</directory></group>
<group name="191"><directory>[paste path here]</directory></group>
<group name="911"><directory>[paste path here]</directory></group>
<group name="912"><directory>[paste path here]</directory></group>


a click takes you to a location, the single digit entries can be accessed thereafter (or any time if you're already in a rox window) by merely pressing the number. a rather evolved cheat sheet...that can be expanded with disapproval...



(it's a great script, Mochi, and it handles the hacking/abuse with aplomb. setting relative positions is easy; the popup must be closed and reopened for changes to show, whether they be created through the xml file or by pressing cntrl+ [0-9]. it appears the most recent change is listed last and numerous reboots confirms that no data gets lost or overwritten...)

[MochiMoppel]

a rather evolved cheat sheet...that can be expanded with disapproval...

And my disapproval expands with it
It's not a good idea. If you really need additional slowdials you should keep them in a separate file and not fiddle them into Groups.xml.

Here is what you could do:
1) Create your cheat file, say /root/customdials.txt (name and location don't matter)
2) Add one line to the script:
<label>"Key|Selection|Directory"</label>
'$TREE_ITEMS'
<input file stock-column="0">"/root/customdials.txt"</input>
<action>[ -d "$vDIR" ] && { rox -d "$vDIR"; [ $vCBOX = "false" ] && pkill -f ROXKEY_DIALOG ;}</action>

3) Add your custom bookmarks to customdials.txt. The format consists of 4 fields, separated by a pipe character ("|"). Only the last field is mandatory.
Field 1: Name of gtk-icon. Speeddial uses "gtk-jump-to", so it might be a good idea to use a different one
Field 2: This field contains the speeddial numbers and is sorted. Using letters would put your bookmarks below the speeddial list. If you choose numbers, as in your case, they mix with the speeddials.
Field 3: Only used for [s] marker. May contain anything.
Field 4: The bookmark path

Example:
gtk-no |01 ||/bin
gtk-no |11 ||/root/.config/rox.sourceforge.net/ROX-Filer
gtk-no |12 ||/root/.local/share

[Puppus Dogfellow]

a rather evolved cheat sheet...that can be expanded with disapproval...

And my disapproval expands with it
It's not a good idea. If you really need additional slowdials you should keep them in a separate file and not fiddle them into Groups.xml.

Here is what you could do:
1) Create your cheat file, say /root/customdials.txt (name and location don't matter)
2) Add one line to the script:
<label>"Key|Selection|Directory"</label>
'$TREE_ITEMS'
<input file stock-column="0">"/root/customdials.txt"</input>
<action>[ -d "$vDIR" ] && { rox -d "$vDIR"; [ $vCBOX = "false" ] && pkill -f ROXKEY_DIALOG ;}</action>

3) Add your custom bookmarks to customdials.txt. The format consists of 4 fields, separated by a pipe character ("|"). Only the last field is mandatory.
Field 1: Name of gtk-icon. Speeddial uses "gtk-jump-to", so it might be a good idea to use a different one
Field 2: This field contains the speeddial numbers and is sorted. Using letters would put your bookmarks below the speeddial list. If you choose numbers, as in your case, they mix with the speeddials.
Field 3: Only used for [s] marker. May contain anything.
Field 4: The bookmark path

Example:
gtk-no |01 ||/bin
gtk-no |11 ||/root/.config/rox.sourceforge.net/ROX-Filer
gtk-no |12 ||/root/.local/share

oh, so i can go to groups.xml and add names instead of numbers and not have to have six hundred variations of 9?


(just kidding, Mochi. Sorta. )

gtk uses a separate batch of icons and doesn't need to know the path with them? where are they located? what would it take to use a non-gtk icon? (because they're represented by pictures/thumbnails, i've long since taken the titles off my desktop folders (i still have a handful) and more or less have them consistent on my machines--it's a helpful visual cue and perhaps something i'd like to add to the speed dial pop up if possible.)

when you say field three may contain anything, do you mean any file names in that folder? could it be set up as a launcher with code similar to what works in the jwm menu? i don't use the selection feature much and i just discovered the one machine that still has a few such entries doesn't register them when i open those folders with the speed dial window but does when i actually press the speed dial key. so as it stands, i don't really use field three or at least haven't as yet found it useful/figured out how to make it useful. my idea that i could launch it by pressing enter appears to be false--i think it's just supposed to be a bookmark within a folder, which i guess is helpful if you've got hundreds of files in one...they're index markers of some sort, but at the moment i cannot remember the rox instructions for navigating to them, a two key combination of some sort or another if i recall correctly.

anyway, i read this and figured, nah, it's already good, but i'll probably redo it your way on all my machines by the end of the day regardless.

ah, just saw your invisopic--those'll do. those red dots are "gtk-no"?

cool. i'm sure this is easier in the long run.

thanks.