More friendly filters dialog

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MKairys
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Joined: Tue Oct 07, 2003 10:28 am
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

More friendly filters dialog

Post by MKairys »

wI am setting up filters with many entries and I find the filters dialog annoying.

At least it should remember its column settings, so that every time I open it I don't have to resize the columns in order to see my filter list in its entirety.

Ideally it would offer a list-based editor with one file spec per line. This could work like a property page: you can see and edit the filter spec as a single line like now, but if you double-click the filter you get a list editor...

grigsoft
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Post by grigsoft »

Thank you for report! Have you tried new beta version (3.0)? Do you like the way filters are edited there?

MKairys
Posts: 63
Joined: Tue Oct 07, 2003 10:28 am
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

Post by MKairys »

grigsoft wrote:Thank you for report! Have you tried new beta version (3.0)? Do you like the way filters are edited there?
It is a bit tricky to figure out... There is the text box just below the Filter and Exclude checkboxes which I might assume is for a filter string, and the text box labeled Files which it appears is actually where a filter string would go...

I'm still not sure what the first box is for, but I note it is disabled unless subfolders is checked.

I see in the second box I can pick from a list of filter strings, which I can edit via Edit List in the dropdown or going to Options > Filters.

In general this interface seems to offer a lot more control over the comparison process, which is good. As to the filter editing, it seems it is still a one-line matter...

grigsoft
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Post by grigsoft »

The field under Filter/exclude is for folders filtering - version 3 can also include only specified subfolders.
Inplace file mask editing is one line, in Options/filters you just have more space for it. Hmm, I can probably make mask edit two lines in options, I will check this

MKairys
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Joined: Tue Oct 07, 2003 10:28 am
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

Post by MKairys »

I have a synchronization job which I would love to be able to do with Synch-It, between my desktop and my notebook. I do it now with a Perl script because of the exclusions and special cases which I could not figure out how to do with Synch-It.

What I would need, and what I think would be a wonderful enhancement in general, is to be able to exclude any partial, wildcarded path, e.g. *\\local\\*.exe or even *\\local*\\. I would also exclude specific files this way, e.g. *\\etc\\desktop.txt.

This would be wonderful, and of course an easy visual way to edit these wildcarded paths would be wonderful as well :)

Perhaps you would consider allowing the filter list to be kept elsewhere, say in a plain-text file whose name would be given to the filter dialog?

grigsoft
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Post by grigsoft »

There will be such editor - note a button at the right. You can check how does it work in 2.x version, new version will have the same.

MKairys
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Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

Post by MKairys »

Thank you for explaining the Exclude Folders feature in your other note I did not understand how that works.

As you say it has the list editor I would like to see! However it does not work with partial paths - and this is what I did not understand. I see now that if I want to exclude c:\source\bin I must enter wither a complete path (including drive) or the directory name only. Thus if I want to exclude source\bin I must enter either "C:\source\bin" or "bin".

If this were enhanced to allow wildcarded partial paths I think it would be exactly what I am asking for (including the list-based editor ;))

grigsoft
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Post by grigsoft »

Yes, partial pathes like source\bin* (or even source\bin) are not supported. I will try to implement it.

MKairys
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Post by MKairys »

Thank you, that will be quite wonderful!

I note BTW that if you can do this, then the partial paths list could be used for the sort of exclusions that the filter list is used for; e.g. *\*.obj

I think this would add a great deal of power and flexibility, and also provide a more intuitive interface.

MKairys
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Joined: Tue Oct 07, 2003 10:28 am
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

Post by MKairys »

... and while I am asking for the moon, how about a few planets too :)

I was thinking that the include/exclude functionality could be applied to partial folder paths too... I think the most general interface would be to completely merge file-type filters and folder exclusions. Then for example if I have source\project1, project2, project3 and I want to sync project1 and project3 only, I could:

> synch source\project1 and source\project3 as two configs in a projec
> synch source and exclude source\project2
> synch source and include source\project1 and source\project3

And if I wanted to synch all the files in project1 and project2 but only the c++ files in project 3 I could for example synch source and include source\project1\*, source\project2\*, source\project3\*.cpp, etc.

And finally (why not include the asteroid belt as well), how about full regular expression support in the filter/folder strings? Then I could do with Synch-It everything I can do with Perl! :D

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