Multiple
Directories in Files Window
Purpose
Multi-directory (multi-folder) views provide a unique and powerful way to manipulate files. In general, this is a capability to add one or more directories to the same file window and then manipulate them as if they were in the same directory. Most menu operations are permitted.
When coupled with the filtering capability provided, it is easy to put all files matching a wild card filter, such as *.zip;*.bak;<1-1-95 (all zip and bak files dated before 1-1-95) from any combined directories in one window and delete, copy, move, etc. any or all of them. The uses for this capability are many and include searching for files matching a wildcard pattern. While it may be slightly slower that the builtin File Find function, the results of the search are presented in a semi-normal Files window where the matched files may be manipulated in most any way desired.
Multiple
Directories in Files Window
Operation
Combining directories is very easy. To add a directory to a multi-directory view, double click on the directory of choice in the tree while holding down the Ctrl key. The data window at the bottom of the tree will say 'Add directory' while the Ctrl key is down. You may also select 'Add dir' from the directory tree popup menu or the Directories pull down menu and eliminate the need to use the modifier keys.
To display an entire directory branch, double click on the directory of choice in the tree while holding down the Ctrl and Shift keys. The data window at the bottom of the tree will say 'Add branch' while the Ctrl-Shift key combination is pressed. You may also select 'Add branch' from the directory tree popup menu or the Directories pull down menu and eliminate the need to use the modifier keys. The directory file search recurses through the branch adding all files that match the filter to the window. If a branch search is desired it must be done first. You may add individual directories to the results of a branch search but not vice-versa.
To display the entire drive contents, such as shown in the screen shot above (25036 files and over 5 GB), perform a branch read on the root directory of a drive to load all the files on the drive into the same window. A filter should be used if possible to prevent possibly loading thousands of files. However the program is capable of finding/loading about a thousand files/sec on a Pentium 133 system.
To display the contents of an entire system in a window, first add multiple drives to the tree window. See Multiple Trees for how to do this. Then add each drive to the multi-directory (and now multi-drive) view through the process described above for adding a drive to the view. The limitation of adding multiple branches does not apply to multiple drives.
Release the modifier keys once the read has commenced. Any multi-directory view has the window titlebar re-colored to white foreground on a red background. These colors are not optional or user definable.
It is possible to read more that one directory at a time. It is not necessary to wait for a directory read to finish before selecting another.
A single directory scan will reset the mode to normal.
This method of control provides extreme simplicity and flexibility over what is added to a multi-directory view.
Once multiple directories (or drives) are read into the same Files window, the obvious question is how to tell what directory a file resides in. The unique moding of makes this easy. The directory of the cursored file is shown in the titlebar of the window and the directory of the cursored file is also the highlighted in the directory tree. Directory tree branches are expanded as necessary to see the correct directory for the cursored file.
Icon View
If an icon view is in use when reading a branch is commenced, it is switched automatically to text view for better performance. The icons are not loaded because of the extra memory resources and performance penalty that might be required to view an entire drive in Icon view. The user may select the view of choice after the read has finished via the simple Click and View moding. As in all other cases, use of the icon views (Name and Icon) is not recommended for performance and resource reasons unless viewing the icons is necessary.