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Click a Datacard to Open a Directory (or more!)

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cci8j:
Hello Folks!

I hope you're well. I could make good use of this tool, if you're curious to create it.

I would like a way to use a list of simple graphic/text references to help me remember and navigate to certain directories.

There are perhaps tools that could help here, but I don't know of them, or if you're intrigued, maybe you could create this (or a similar item). Please see the attached image (this is completely vaporware I simply created to explain this request).

Click a Datacard to Open a Directory (or more!)

The tool I envision is rather simple-- (1) a graphic image (200x200 px) and (2) a short text area form a "datacard" (I'm not stuck on the name of course). These are assembled in a scrollable list (3), although I've only shown one here. Clicking the picture with the mouse (4) opens a specified directory (4). I have shown an example here using a datatype familiar to computer musicians. A soundfont is a file that groups a collection of WAV files, and this one relates to a piano. You can envision having many discrete soundfonts, each relating to a different instrument, and each having a folder of files. If I had 40 instruments I might have 40 "datacards."

However, I would like a generalized tool, as this idea of "clicking an annotated picture takes me to a directory" is one I know I would use in many domains. Consider a collection of datacards referring to vacation snaps. You might scroll through small pictures of cities, then click on the Eiffel Tower annotated with "Paris-- Christmas 1965" and go to that directory. Or any of dozens of other references. The pictures and small notes are the mental triggers for where you really want to go. For this reason, a "bonus" feature would be the ability to apply a "genre" label in the window bar (5), as I have done here.

If you want to generalize the on-click behavior to "do a specified action," that could be quite useful, as I could easily see this as a springboard for, say, using Mouser's MediaBrowser, or even opening a document based on the relevant image.

It's wonderful to be able to bring this to such a thoughtful group, and I hope someone wants to run with it. Or, as I said, let me know what might already exist.

mouser:
Moved this post here.

Stoic Joker:
The tool I envision is rather simple-- (1) a graphic image (200x200 px) and (2) a short text area form a "datacard" (I'm not stuck on the name of course). These are assembled in a scrollable list (3), although I've only shown one here. Clicking the picture with the mouse (4) opens a specified directory (4). I have shown an example here using a datatype familiar to computer musicians. -cci8j (March 04, 2016, 04:53 PM)
--- End quote ---

While I haven't time to try coding anything at the moment, it does occur to me that much of what you're looking for can be done with the already existing Windows Libraries.

Create a new Library and add desired folder (or folders) target(s) to it. Then just give it the icon (picture) that you want it to have. The folder contents views in Explorer can be adjusted independently, so if you set the main Libraries folder to 'Extra Large Icons' is should be close enough to your desired 200px target.

Just a thought.

cci8j:
Thanks for your reply. I've tried your advice and indeed it offers some help. These are the drawbacks I've hit-- not sure if there are workarounds:


* Only icons can be used for the folder graphics, not photos. That's kind of a bummer.
* Not sure how to add the annotating text (this would be needed to differentiate among similar images)
To be honest, I don't use the native library features much, but I will see how much I can get out of it. For such a front-line construct, I ought to use them more maybe? They aggregate disparate content without moving it, but there are features I wish were also available, similar to the above.

On the bright side, I've found this discussion of related tools (http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/2-tools-and-ways-to-manage-your-windows-libraries/) and will hunt around for more. Are you using libraries much and are there tools you find useful for them?

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