// TODO: If you can't read this file properly, make sure that the
// "Word Wrap" view option is checked (press the F2 key)
/*
* ****************************************
* 2xExplorer v0.99 by N.A.Bozinis *
* -------------------------------------- *
* PROGRAM FEATURES AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION *
* Last revision date: 28 Apr 1999 *
* ****************************************
*/
In the good old days of MS/DOS some people had a strange fascination with a program called NC. I openly admit being one of this group. In fact I was missing it so much that I have decided it's high time I built it's equivalent for the Windows 95 environment.
2xExplorer is similar to the standard Explorer, the main file management utility shipped with Windows 95, both in function and "feel" (looks). The main difference and advantage of 2xExplorer is that TWO folders can be displayed simultaneously, enabling the head to head comparison of their contents. This is an indispensable feature for people constantly on the move, like myself.
2xExplorer was developed with the "advanced" user in mind. Programs that are meant to be used day in and day out, have to stand the test of time beyond the first impressions. As I see it, a long lasting "relationship" can only be sustained if all the operations are just an arm's length away, and all the main controls and status indicators are concise and clear. Why bother with target practising or do battles with clogged up and foul mouse roller balls, when all you want to do can be performed with the keyboard? Moreover all the program settings, even down to the width of each column in the "Details" view, are persistent properties. So each time you restart 2xExplorer it's like you pick it up where you last left it---no messing about with resetting your favourite options.
At the same time, less experienced users won't be driven/scared away. In most respects this is another Windows 95 Explorer, and whoever is familiar with that, will feel immediately at home using 2xExplorer. Most of the suggested protocols have been adhered to, including browsing of "special" folders like the "Desktop" and "My Computer". The look is not far off the standard Explorer either; one will even see the same "animations" in Copying operations. Description of commands is readily available in the form of explanatory text on the status bar and/or tooltips popping out of toolbar buttons. Dialog windows have embedded brief instructions of use---with complimentary icons too. ;-)
/////////////////////// FEATURES OF 2xExplorer ///////////////////////
* TWIN FOLDER VIEW
The contents of two folders are visible at any given time. The main advantage here is that the contents can be compared and ultimately "synchronized", i.e. having all files in both folders identical. The Windows 95 Briefcase is meant to offer a similar capability but it is badly constrained by binding to two SPECIFIC and fixed folders. 2xExplorer overcomes this limitation and assists the updating of projects shared between computers (usually via an intermediate copy to a floppy disk).
Each of the two "panes" behaves similarly to the right hand side pane of the standard Explorer. Except for allowing two different folders to be browsed at once, the existence of two panes can be utilized in many ways, since they can be configured completely separately in all property departments (e.g. view style, sorting method etc.)
* ONE-STOP COPY/MOVE OPERATIONS
Items can be copied or moved between panes with a single command, as opposed to a Copy/Cut followed by a Paste (double the trouble) that has to be the case with the standard Explorer. The presence of two panes in the 2xExplorer on the other hand, provides straightforward target and source folders for these operations. The active pane (be it the left or right one) is always the source folder. The target will usually be the "other" (opposite) pane; however, an alternative folder can be specified if necessary. Note that whole directory sub-trees can be copied/moved whenever a folder item is selected.
* EMBEDDED EDITOR/VIEWER
The contents of each file can be examined without resorting to the default associated application, by either viewing or editing it as "text" (naturally the double-click mechanizm is still supported). This feature in a sense provides a second "association" for each file. Since the editor is embedded in 2xExplorer, it provides access to the file contents much faster than e.g. using Notepad.
The embedded editor/viewer is packed with features and is perhaps what Microsoft should have done with the Notepad in the first place. The improvements include Font selection, powerful Search and Replace commands, Insert/Overwrite mode, etc. The programmers out there will benefit from many small yet important commands (too many to list here). Moreover, when viewing files it is possible to switch to Hexadecimal mode, where even non-text file contents can be examined---one for the hackers out there. Finally, the edit/view sessions are independent of the main program, so one is free to go back there mid-way, perhaps to simultaneously view another file (or two).
* COMPATIBILITY WITH EXPLORER
I strongly believe that the Win95 Explorer is a most impressive application, perhaps the best thing to come out from the Microsoft's lair (second only to Visual C++). Hence 2xExplorer tries to stay close to it. Each one of the panes in 2xExplorer behaves similarly to the right hand side pane in the Explorer. All four views are supported, namely large and small icons, list and details. The contents can be sorted by the usual methods (name, size, etc.). The list header in the details view can be clicked for quick sorting, as an alternative to selecting the respective menu command. By the way, sorting "by Type" in 2xExplorer means "alphabetically by file Extension", as it should be---no more ".INI" files before ".BMP" ones, what's the story Microsoft?
The visual compatibility is completed by a similarly looking toolbar and status bar. The menus however differ due to the different functionality offered by 2xExplorer. Finally, many keyboard shortcuts are retained unchanged (e.g. Alt+Enter invokes the item Properties page, Backspace moves to the parent folder, etc.).
In many respects, 2xExplorer relies on the natural MS/DOS file extensions being visible in its panes. Note that this "reliance" is too strong a word to use, since the program will run flawlessly without any file extensions shown. However, in such cases a number of operations offered may seem "mysterious" as e.g. the "Sort by Extension" command. Moreover, in the detailed item view there is no fourth column for the Win95 file types, since that information is basically intrinsic in the file extension. That is why sometimes 2xExplorer will show a message on the status bar (when first started) suggesting the user to turn MS/DOS extensions on, using the relevant option from the standard Explorer. Still the program will function properly even without these extensions.
///////////////////////// ADVANCED FEATURES /////////////////////////
As mentioned, 2xExplorer was developed for non-frustrating everyday use in mind. Following is a list of features that will be appreciated under this light, by all people poised with seeking maximum efficiency and optimization in their lives---some jealous and/or incompetent folk would maliciously use the term "control freaks" here. ;-)
* SWIFT SELECTION OF FOLDER TO BE BROWSED
Unlike Explorer, the folder selection drop-down combo box on the toolbar of 2xExplorer can be EDITED, i.e. one can go to any folder with a valid name. Either absolute or relative paths are accepted, including any combinations of the parent ("..") and root ("\") folder specifiers---which Microsoft seem to have "forgotten". In my personal experience it is much faster to type a known folder name rather than furiously clicking here and there, especially if the target folder is more than a single step away in the hierarchy tree.
Apart for accepting path names, the same combo box can be used to specify the filter of the files to be displayed in the pane, e.g. restricting the view to cover only "*.cpp" files. Hence a single multi-purpose box can be used either for path or filter selection, or even both at the same time. Many similar applications provide a separate command for setting the filter, which is bound to be time consuming in comparison.
The drop-down portion of the folder selection combo lists the names of the folders that have been recently visited. This allows rapid switching backwards and forwards between folders, if need be. The functionality of the Explorer drop down toolbar control ("Goto a different folder") is provided via an alternative route, the "Select Drive" command (Alt+F1/F2). Here it is possible to move quickly to any disk drive unit available on the computer.
Finally, it should be noted that all the boxes that accept paths in 2xExplorer (throughout the application, as e.g. in the Copy dialog), have similar "smart" parsers supporting them, and are fully path-"conscious", both for relative and absolute paths. For instance the difference between "C:" and "C:\" is properly resolved.
* COMPREHENSIVE ITEM SELECTION MECHANIZMS
In a sense, 2xExplorer is mainly an item selection engine. Any operations like Delete, Copy, etc. require a selection to act upon. As the folder contents seem to be steadily increasing nowadays, a smart selection procedure is an indispensable tool. 2xExplorer offers two levels of screening. The view filter mentioned in the previous section is the first level, helping to narrow down the items shown in a pane to those conforming to a traditional DOS pattern (using the "wild" characters '*' and '?').
Items shown in any pane can be further "Marked" as selected using a variety of alternative routes. Items can be selected or unselected using a wild pattern (different than the view filter), the selection can be inverted, etc. Individual items can be selected with the mouse as in the Explorer, by clicking on them while holding down the Control key. "Lasso" selection is also possible, as is selection using the arrow keys while holding down the Shift key. A nice little number is the selection of a file by entering the first character (or even sub-string) of its name---this admittedly is standard behaviour, but how many people are there being aware of it?
Slightly more "upmarket" is the capability to mark files that contain some user-supplied text. This is similar to an option in the Win95 "Find" utility (contained in the "Advanced" page), although in 2xExplorer the command accepts a larger degree of tweaking (e.g. case sensitivity, option to skip binary files, etc.). Unfortunately in the present version the string searched for is fixed, i.e. no regular expressions are recognized---as e.g. in the "grep" command. But I urge you to watch this space...
Except for the regular operations on selected files/folders, there is a special "treat" for all the old hands out there, that most probably would have wished for a similar capability all those years back in the dark (isn't it normal for places without windows?) DOS ages. Enter the batch file generator. Using a command template with special characters for the path/filename/extension, it is possible to apply the same series of commands on each selected item with minimum effort.
* SMART KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
A design specification of 2xExplorer is to provide keyboard shortcuts for all important and commonly used commands. Most accelerators are shown next to the respective menu command and are also included in the tooltips, acting as a quick reminder.
The really useful attribute here is that the Control key can be used to modify the scope of an accelerated command. For instance, the F5 key used for copying will normally summon a dialog box, requesting the target folder for the operation. Although the "opposite" pane folder name will be usually pre-selected, and the only action required from the user would be a single Return key press for acceptance, wouldn't it be better if one could do away with the dialog box altogether? That is exactly what the Control key does as a modifier to commands like Copy (F5): pressing Control+F5 will result in an IMMEDIATE copy, dispensing with the dialog. All commands that use an intermediate dialog box and could somehow accept a default answer without any user intervention can be similarly modified using the Control key.
* GENERAL USABILITY
The author has pledged for the utmost usability of this program---or your money back! ;-) All dialog boxes offer reasonable suggestions so that you won't have to do much typing yourself. Even in case you do need a bit of typing, the most appropriate field will be usually pre-selected so one can start altering the information immediately and mouse-free. Another anti-typing measure is the maintenance of history items, so there is no need to re-type what you just entered a short while ago. As a matter of course, most boxes meant for keyboard editing will have a drop-down part carrying the recent history information (combo boxes).
All this history information is saved when you quit 2xExplorer, and is made available next time you restart the program. This holds true for all the properties that affect the operation, as e.g. the overwrite confirmation in the Copy/Move dialog box. Incidentally I believe that all such properties should be accessible from the place they are used from---not from a general property-page type of dialog encompassing all the program properties, completely out of context. That's why one won't come across many property pages in this program...
* FOLDER SUBTREE DATA
Inquisitive minds will surely find the summary information offered by a standard property page of any folder to be rather on the brief and utterly unsatisfying side. 2xExplorer provides detailed information about a folder including detailed breakdown of the included files and sub-folders (and the respective storage space occupied) all the way down to the last sub-folder in the hierarchy tree.
* EXTENDED FILE DATE INFORMATION
All 3 pieces of file date/time information available (last Modified, first Created and last Accessed) are available in the details view---by selecting the relevant property from Options page---unlike the Explorer where only the last modified time can be seen. This feature, except for allowing easy access to file time stamp information, also enables the sorting of files using dates other than the modification one. This is useful in many cases where one would like to detect e.g. files that have been recently accessed (without being modified). Those nasty virus and/or install programs will no longer hide their activities from power users!
(*) NOTE: Care should be exercised when using the arrow keys and the other cursor relocating keys (Home etc.) on their own, since any unqualified key-press will UNSELECT all items except the one that the cursor will eventually end upon---hence running the risk of destroying a selection pattern in a swift stroke, which is definitely not amusing at all. Unfortunately this is the standard behaviour of the Windows95 List Control and there is no simple way around this "problem". However, it is possible to move around using the arrow keys and protect the selection state at the same time, if the CONTROL key is simultaneously kept pressed. Technically this causes the relocation of the focus item only, i.e. the one that has a dotted rectangle drawn around it (the so called focus rectangle).
//////////////////////////// C R E D I T S /////////////////////////////
2xExplorer was developed using Visual C++ v4.0 by Nikos Bozinis in 1999. Should you want to contact the author for any comments, suggestions, bug reports or just for a pat on the back, the details follow:
