Traverse folders with left/right arrows

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trichard
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Joined: 06.03.2009, 13:30

Traverse folders with left/right arrows

#1 Post by trichard » 06.03.2009, 13:34

Hello,

Great tool....

Apologies if this question has been covered elsewhere - my searches didn't come back with much.

With the standard (non-tree) flat file view in a pane, is it possible to traverse folders with the left/right arrow key? So the left arrow key goes one folder up, and the right arrow key enters the folder that the cursor is on...

I'm trying to set it up like Gnome Commander, or Midnight Commander in 'Lynx-motion' mode.

Can it be done with HotKey assignments?

Many thanks in advance...

tylla
Posts: 8
Joined: 07.02.2012, 11:24

Re: Traverse folders with left/right arrows

#2 Post by tylla » 07.02.2012, 14:17

Hi!

I know that this feature request is a bit old, but...

As I found out it can be done, partly.

There is a "Go up" command, which can be associated with the Left key, but sadly there is no "Go down" command.

Naturally this whole thing makes only sense together with the Details view, but this would be an awesome addition. I'm soooo used with the Lynx-like-motionin Midnight Commander.

I would be thankful if I would get some response about the probability of the implementation of a "Go down" command.

Thanks and keep up the good work.

Marek
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Re: Traverse folders with left/right arrows

#3 Post by Marek » 07.02.2012, 20:57

First, try to describe how EXACTLY should it works - in detail mode, view mode.

tylla
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Joined: 07.02.2012, 11:24

Re: Traverse folders with left/right arrows

#4 Post by tylla » 27.02.2012, 10:13

This is how it should work:
The left arrow-right arrow keys are used in such a way that pressing left arrow leaves the current directory (goes up), right arrow enters the directory under the cursor (goes down). This can be regarded as a special tree mode because pressing the left-right arrow in tree view is a well known tree traversal mode but here only the current directory would be seen instead of the full tree.
Here by saying "the directory under the cursor" I mean the selected directory, the actual highlighted entry which would get activated if the user would have pressed the Enter key.

As about the implementation, I can imagine two ways:
1. a special "lynx-like motion" mode. Changes the way the left/right arrows works like said previously.

2. maybe the easier way would be to simply create a "Go down" command which when activated, would enter the directory under the cursor. The command would do nothing when the selection is not a directory - but the special ".." entry should be treated like any other directory.
Finally the user could map the "Go down" command to the Right arrow key and the already available "Go up" command to the Left arrow key and the goal is achieved.

This command would make sense mostly in the Details view as other views can have more columns and the user couldn't use the arrow keys properly.
Other file managers (like Midnight Commander where this whole thing originates) use similar approach, as it disables lynx-like motion when there are multiple columns.
But I think this makes no problem as those users who would like to use the "lynx-like motion", are used with the Details view.
At least I would happily restrict myself to the Details view if there were a lynx-like motion feature.

I hope I clarified this a little bit. If there is anything unclear than I would be more than happy to help.

tylla
Posts: 8
Joined: 07.02.2012, 11:24

Re: Traverse folders with left/right arrows

#5 Post by tylla » 06.08.2012, 17:15

Is my description enough? Or should I elaborate on that?
Does it sound plausible?

Thanks, and thank you for this marvelous software.

Ps: those who haven't tried the above directory traversal mode can't even imagine how efficient it is (with some added benefits like no danger of hitting Enter on other files).

Scott_Y
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Location: Colorado, USA

Re: Traverse folders with left/right arrows

#6 Post by Scott_Y » 14.08.2012, 17:33

tylla wrote:... There is a "Go up" command, which can be associated with the Left key, but sadly there is no "Go down" command.
Interesting that you bring this up Tylla, because it was recently answered for another poster here viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4404#p13210
The solution is to assign <right.arrow> to the command "open folder in same panel." I think that will meet your need (at least in FC-XE 597; I don't know if all previous versions have that command).

tylla
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Joined: 07.02.2012, 11:24

Re: Traverse folders with left/right arrows

#7 Post by tylla » 02.01.2014, 12:14

Scott_Y wrote:Interesting that you bring this up Tylla, because it was recently answered for another poster here viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4404#p13210
The solution is to assign <right.arrow> to the command "open folder in same panel." I think that will meet your need (at least in FC-XE 597; I don't know if all previous versions have that command).
It took a while to get back here...

Thanks Scott_Y for the cross-link, it perfectly solves my 2nd solution.

Nevertheless it would be awesome if a separate option would be available. That way the possibility would be available of enabling "Lynx-like-motion" only in the Details view (the key reconfiguration works the same for both views).

Anyway, I'm happy now! :)

@Dreamer: Didn't you mixed up two topics? This topic was about enabling going up/down folders with left/right cursor keys. The Next Subfolder/Previous Subfolder option you mentioned in your last post is something completely different.

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Dreamer
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Re: Traverse folders with left/right arrows

#8 Post by Dreamer » 03.01.2014, 00:16

OK, sorry, I have deleted my posts. I'll move the other request to new Feature Requests XE forum.

miki
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Re: Traverse folders with left/right arrows

#9 Post by miki » 16.01.2023, 00:07

I would also love to have the mode for traversing folders with left/right arrows in details view.

BTW Total Commander also has that option when you set `SpecialCursorMovement=2` in `wincmd.ini`.
They describe it as "2: Left key goes one directory up, right key opens directory/archive under cursor."
And other file managers also offer that option like Krusader or Double Commander.

In FreeComamnder, I've tried to set the left/right arrows for the commands `Go up`/`Open folder in same panel` and while it works perfectly in the Details view mode, it's useless in the Thumbnails mode, because it prevents you to move left/right in thumbnails. So, these left/right shortcuts should be effective only in the Details mode.

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