IDEA: Folder name column in Windows Explorer

[murple]

Hey!

This is again relating specifically to Autodesk Inventor and even more specifically to Autodesk Inventor Vault. Inventor is a CAD software to create 3D models and drawing and Vault is a database which keeps track of all the files (Drawing numbers, revisions, links etc). It has a search feature which works fine but which doesn't display the folder in which the files are found which is important. The standard file search of windows does exactly what it should, it displays the file names of all files that meet the search criteria and it shows the names of all the folder in which the files are found. In Vault it is possible to select what file information you want to display for example modified and created dates, file sizes etc. These columns are the same columns which are available in the standard Windows Explorer. My question is, is it possible to create somekind of shell extension which will add a custom column to windows explorer? This column should display the path of the file name (with or without the filename itself). See screenshot attached.

Can this be done within a few hours of coding??


Thanks in advance,
Murple

[jgpaiva]

I'm not sure, but I think adding columns to windows explorer isn't exactly a trivial task.
In cae you can't find another solution, XYplorer does this, the search results also display the path of the file.

[tomos]

XYplorer[/url] does this

-jgpaiva (September 04, 2008, 03:59 PM)

hmm, I dont see that as a column option in xyplorer ? - I'm not that familiar with it but

it's called the "Len" column, I think, (strange name) but it doesnt show anything here -
help says:

Len: Length of the file name, including the full path) in characters. Note that for performance reasons the "Len" column will only be filled with data when visible.

Len (Full Path): Shows the hovered filename's length (including the full path).

any tips there ?

[edit] "Len" just shows length of filepath in number of characters [/edit]

[jgpaiva]

Tom: when on the normal mode, it isn't important to display the current path.
The only situation where XY shows the path (well, at least that I know of ), is in search mode.
Search for something, and that column should be the last one.

[gogogadgetscott]

Windows Vista has the option to add a Folder, Folder name, and/or Folder path. Another option is to install a shell extension that adds a item to the context menu allowing you to open the folder or copy path to clipboard.

Been using a small program I wrote in VB a while back to copy path to clipboard.
FileShellControl

[murple]

Thank you for the replies!

jgpaiva/tomos: I personally use XYplorer because it is one of the few explorer alternatives that supports portable file associations. It also has the "Copy fil path" built in to it which I use incessantly. For this purpose though, this is not an option. I need to add a new column to the standard windows explorer because the program in question (Autodesk Vault) uses the same columns as windows explorer.

gogogadgetscott: Vista's "Folder path" is exactly what I'm looking for and the fact that it's already a feature of Vista might be one of the reasons the developer hasn't bothered to address this issue. It will solve itself once people upgrade from XP to Vista. (I hope that last comment doesn't spark an entirely different discussion;) ). It's funny, I made an almost identical program in VB6.0 a while ago and created a tiny installer for it with NSIS. It's called "Copy Full Path" and does just that. But that doesn't solve this problem either because I need to be able to visually see the folder path of multiple files.

Any ideas?

[mattmas]

Unfortunately, it's not possible to customize the Vault user-interface to show another field. In fact, it doesn't even appear that you can configure the fields that are shown in the search results page.

The API for Vault definitely provides back the folder information along with the file - so it shouldn't be a problem. But short of writing your own, standalone, search tool - I don't think you can get there from here.

-Matt

[murple]

mattmas: "Unfortunately, it's not possible to customize the Vault user-interface", that's why I've been wondering if it's possible to customize the standard windows explorer instead. A few of the columns which can be selected in Vault's search pane seem to be standard windows explorer columns, so I was hoping that if we could add a column to the standard windows explorer it would also show up in the Vault interface. But by the sounds of it, it's not going to be worth the work.

[mattmas]

Murple,

It may look like Windows Explorer - but unfortunately it's not. They're using a grid control from DevExpress which is made to look like that.
It's all custom.

-Matt

[fenixproductions]

Maybe someone good with C++ and WinAPI can customize this code a little bit:
http://www.codeproje...l/DirectorySize.aspx

[murple]

fenixproductions: That looks like a great starting point, but if mattmas is correct it won't have any effect at all on the Vault interface.

mattmas: I thought Vault used the Microsoft Outlook GUI, but I suppose it's just made to look that way?

[mattmas]

murple - yes, it just looks that way.