Folder Cache and Re-open - open your used folders and files quickly

[MilesAhead]

Frankly, if you use Re-open, there's no need for FolderCache, as its features are a subset of Re-open. I'd focus on Re-open only.

Regards

I know what you mean, but some people may only be interested in reopening the last folder. A bit leaner on resources. Plus it's the first thing I did that got any notice. It would be counterproductive to just make it disappear after people started to find it.


I have an include file with the hotkey dialog and some other useful functions, that I use for both. At this point it's pretty much a matter of just a recompile. All the new code is going in the common include script.

[MilesAhead]

I found a glitch in the hotkey assignment routine. The fixed versions ReOpen 1.53 and FolderCache 2.03 are available for download:

http://www.favessoft.com/hotkeys.html

Note that I changed the hotkey format in the .ini file to avoid slow program startup due to looking up the hotkey. You may get an error the first run with the new version but it is automatically corrected. Worst case is if you changed the hotkey the default will be reset. You can just use the Set Hotkey command in the Tray Menu to customize it. There needed to be error checking for the .ini file read anyway. (The error dialog reminds you what the default hotkey is and how to customize it.)

As an alternative you can avoid the error on startup by just deleting the .ini file when copying the new .exe files into their home folders.

Sorry for the inconvenience but this method is much less prone to error. I only have to look up the 4 modifier keys. The main key can be used as is with the brackets.
The reason for the slowdown is Windows .NET has a Scripting.Dictionary object. I thought it would be cool to use it to look up the hotkey by it's name. The trouble is the first time it's invoked, it has to load up .NET. If you have the hotkey program starting with Windows then that bogs it down waiting for .NET to load off the dime.

Oh well... I guess simpler is better. I think these 2 apps are stabilized now. Unless a bug surprises me I won't be updating them for awhile.

[MilesAhead]

Well, I was wrong. There have been some additional changes:

http://www.favessoft.com/changes.html#FolderCache

corrected a hang caused by accessing a drive with no media.
Also spiffed it up with some Glass for Vista/W7

[blutach]

@Miles - I'm not sure if you're aware, but Re-open in XP looks horrendous! There's this huge solid black border.

Regards

[MilesAhead]

@Miles - I'm not sure if you're aware, but Re-open in XP looks horrendous! There's this huge solid black border.

Regards

Ok, I backed it off to only use non-theme colors if Glass enabled. XP should look normal now. Please let me know if you find any weirdies.

[blutach]

Much better! Thanks!

Regards

[MilesAhead]

Much better! Thanks!

Regards

I wanted to be able to let the user select background color of the form but it turns out, unless I can find out some unknown info, that the Glass region stuff in Vista only works correctly if the transparent color is black. So might as well go with how it was before.

[MilesAhead]

Fixed another quirk. If app was starting with Windows then paths with a network drive letter would be seen as invalid and purged from the list. I delay path validation until the window opens, rather than during reading the folder and programs lists. This gives the system, or user manually, a chance to map the network drive(s).

[MilesAhead]

Yet another update

I found a work-around to get rid of the semi-transparency on the Vista Glass border. So user-selectable color customization is back in the .ini file for Vista or W7 with Glass enabled. Supported colors and details are in the Readme.

If there are no unpleasant surprises then I'll update ReOpen next.

[MilesAhead]

ReOpen customizable in W7/Vista

Now that I have the background color thingy working I can gradually add more colors. As you can see, Purple works.

Edit: If Glass is enabled, there's now a command in the tray icon menu to choose from the available colors via a combo box. No more need to edit the .ini file. Also I added a few colors like Plum and Navy etc..

[MilesAhead]

I updated the Vista Color dlg in both Folder Cache and ReOpen. As soon as you select a color, the dialog box itself changes color as preview. The change isn't permanent unless you press OK.

[blutach]

Posts moved to own thread - it was clogging up the free software of the day thread.

Regards

[MilesAhead]

Looks like the apps are stable. I haven't noticed any real bugs. Last revision is just a new About box that uses a form instead of MsgBox. Like the SetHotkey and ColorDlg dialogs, the About dialog now has color and Glass if glass enabled on the system.

[MilesAhead]

To keep up with changes use this link:

http://www.favessoft.com/changes.html#FolderCache

Apps seem stable so no need for a bulletin on every update.

[MilesAhead]

ReOpen now available for download via SoftPedia:

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/File-Management/ReOpen.shtml