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New file open/save dialog

Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 8:55 pm
by Russ Pitcher
I see that the latest build of PS2009 has had a new file open/save dialog that replaces the Windows standard one. I personally find this a bit of a pain as, whilst it looks nice, the functionality is not the same as the Windows one and the form elements are laid out differently. I find that this slows me down as actions that have become automatic now require me to look over the form to find the element I need and some actions/shortcuts don't work.

Is there a way of reverting to the default Windows dialogs?

Thanks,
Russ

New file open/save dialog

Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 9:00 pm
by Alexander Riedel
No, there is no such option. The Windows Vista and Windows 7 dialogs are basically not customizable for us while retaining compatibility with XP and Server 2003. Staying with XP style dialogs meets the disapproval of many customers.

What functionality exactly do you miss? Can you be specific about what does not work?



New file open/save dialog

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 8:46 am
by Bob Denny
My main complaint is that you cannot expand the folder area from its skinny width. My folder trees always exceed the width of the folder pane, and I have to scroll back and forth just to navigate down the tree. Most of the time I can't even see where I am without scrolling way to the right, then I lost my situational awareness.

Just putting a splitter between the folder pane and the file list pane would be a great improvement.

New file open/save dialog

Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 6:07 am
by Bob Denny
I just installed .518 and the file dialog is still very difficult to use. So I am bumping this so you won't forget :-)

New file open/save dialog

Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 1:31 am
by Russ Pitcher
Sorry it's taken so long to reply. Work & holiday got in the way :)

I suppose the main thing I don't like is that, whilst it's similar to the standard dialogs, it's not the same and doesn't really behave in the same manner. I would much rather have the standard Windows file...Open and file...Save dialogs.

For example, I tend to paste paths into the filename box and I expect the dialog to navigate me there. I also like the ability to rename/delete files in the dialog. There's quite a lot of minor functionality which just isn't there and I find it quite irritating to use because things just don't behave as I would expect them to.

Of course, I'm coming at the issue from the user's direction rather than the developer's and I appreciate that I might be missing something. Can you tell us what it is about the Windows dialogs that means you can't or don't want to use them?

New file open/save dialog

Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 5:28 am
by Alexander Riedel
Thanks for your input Russ. The standard file dialogs are surprisingly complex and provide a lot of functionality.
The new dialogs provide a means for quick places management across platforms and a folder tree that the standard dialogs cannot or cannot consistently provide.

You can right click and delete in the new dialog, you can rename files (the context rename is disabled because of a major Windows 7 bug) and you can paste path names into the file box and it will go there. So if yours doesn't I would like to explore what build you have and why it wouldn't.

There are a number of other things that we will do with the new dialogs that I can't talk about quite yet but that wouldn't be possible with just the standard dialogs.

So if something isn't working the way you expect, please let us know as specifically as possible.

New file open/save dialog

Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 11:13 am
by Bob Denny
While the new dialogs offer some wonderful features, and more to come, I would like a way to bypass them. Maybe holding down shift or better yet a preference?

New file open/save dialog

Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 11:21 am
by Alexander Riedel
No, not possible. Much of the code depends on the new dialog. The purpose of this is to move forward and not stay on the Windows 2000 file dialogs.

New file open/save dialog

Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 12:07 pm
by Bob Denny
OK, I won't bug you any more. I thought that calling the Windows API gives you the dialogs that are native to that OS. At least other apps that use these dialogs seem to offer the Vista ones when running on Vista, the XP ones when running on XP, etc.

Anyway, I'll shut up.

New file open/save dialog

Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 1:13 pm
by Alexander Riedel
No, since PrimalScript 2.0 we had a custom dialog with additional functionality. Just using the default dialog of any given OS removes items that you want and simply is not an option.

But no one here wants you to shut up. As a matter of fact, I much rather have you qualify "still very difficult to use".
The basic File - Open - Select - Click Open is the same. So please, let us know what the difficulty in comparison to the old dialog is and why it deserves the *very* amplifier.
It would also be good to know what puts you off that much that you feel the need to bypass them. Is it just because you don't like the look?