[MaxPower2k3]

I've been trying to think of an app to make, and i thought that it might not be too hard to make a file browser. Obviously, though, it has to offer something that Finder (either new or old) doesn't have. What i came up with is a split-pane style interface, where there are two adjacent file lists. Browsing would be accomplished by "bouncing" back and forth between lists. (i.e. click a folder in the left list, the contents come up in the right; click a folder in the right, and the contents come up in the left) one side might also be able to be 'locked' so that browsing can continue solely on the other side, making dragging more convenient. Also, at the bottom would be a list of files that had either been copied or cut. Whenever cmd+C (or +X) is pressed, the file(s) are added to the list at the bottom and can be dragged out to either list above. As many files as the user wants can be here. It would also have built in compression (zip/tar/gzip) and decompression of files. it would also have a 'Compare Files' feature where the info of two files are opened side by side for comparison. i'd probably include labels of some sort, too (maybe with an option to display all files on the hard drive with a certain label). Another feature would (eventually) be Rendezvous sharing of any files the user wants, not just ones in the Shared Files folder. These could be browsed by someone else on the network who also uses this app. I think there were some other ideas too, but i'm not remembering them right now.

i'm somewhat new to Cocoa still, so this is probably a somewhat ambitious project, but i think i could do it.

oh, and it's not Brushed Metal

Here's a screen shot of a quick (as in 2 minutes) nib i made in IB, tentatively called Seeker:


so, does anyone think it's worth making?

[11011001]

For practice, ya.. it would be a good exercise.

But for practicality, it would be kind of slow to use. You would have to keep moving your mouse from side to side.

However, I do like the idea of easily copying files with 2 browser views in the same window. I wish the current finder did something like that, so I didn't have to spawn so many fugly windows.

[Mithras]

what i'd like is a Terminal application with an attached Finder-like Column View.

If you could change directories and reference files just by clicking in the column view... and if the column view updated every time you cd'd to a new directory in the shell.... that would be really handy.

[disco_stu]

Originally posted by Mithras:
what i'd like is a Terminal application with an attached Finder-like Column View.

If you could change directories and reference files just by clicking in the column view... and if the column view updated every time you cd'd to a new directory in the shell.... that would be really handy.

OK, I've spent way too much time thinking about this. I agree - I always though that it'd be cool to have a graphical representation of the stuff I do on the command line, such as cd'ing into a directory and seeing its contents. But that's just basically a 'cd' and an 'ls'. It would be 'cool', but I haven't really come up with a convincing argument as to why it would be useful.

After a few hours tinkering in Photoshop and Interface Builder, though, I have an inkling of an idea...

Let's start off with your basic shell commands: 'cd' and 'ls'. These commands don't really do anything revolutionary in the grand sceme of things. They just get you to where you want to go and show you what you want to see.

Then you have your other commands. Your 'action' commands, such as 'rm', 'mkdir', 'mv', 'cp', etc., not to mention developer tools such as 'javac' for compiling java classes, and similar tools.

So. Long story short, here's what I came up with:



You type the directory you want to work in in the NSComboBox. You, of course, hit return and all the files in that directory appear in the browser view. That's basically a 'cd', followed by an 'ls'.

But, with the filter section, you can filter those results. So, say you want to see all .class files in the directory you're working in, then you just add the appropriate filter, which essentially acts as 'ls *.class". And there you go - all your .class files are displayed, and every other file in the directory has been filtered out.

Now to the 'useful' part...

It is a plugin-based application, a la Watson. Each plugin is an 'action command' that is added to the toolbar (as you see: 'rm', 'javac', etc.). So, you navigate to the directory you want, filter out the files you don't want, and then, you can act on these unfiltered files by choosing an action from the toolbar.

If this isn't making any sense, here's an example:
You're a Java developer. You type '~/Projects/Java/Foo' into the ComboBox and hit return, bringing up all the files in that directory. You filter the results so that only all the .java files are shown. You click on the 'javac' action in the toolbar, and that automatically compiles all the .java files in this directory.

Now, that's what it would do - the question, though, is still: is it worthwhile? Isn't it just easier to type 'javac *.java' into the command line? The only semi-useful thing I can see from an app like this is that you can do a good amount of batch processing, depending on the action commands in the toolbar. But, again, it might be 100x faster via the CLI. I've essentially just created a 'FilterableFinder'.

And now, I'm going to bed. I'm spent.

Sorry to hijack your thread MaxPower2k3 - applications such as yours always make me wonder: what is the best way to find, organize, and manipulate your data?

[Uncle Skeleton]

I was thinking some kind of switch to toggle your windows between gui finder and cli terminal windows (all windows at once or one at a time). So you could navigate and drag with the gui (you can already filter with the finder), then when you get where you want to go you hit the switch and start typing. I don't know if it should be a tabbed window or a hot key or a fourth stop-light button, or all three...

[11011001]

Originally posted by Mithras:
what i'd like is a Terminal application with an attached Finder-like Column View.

If you could change directories and reference files just by clicking in the column view... and if the column view updated every time you cd'd to a new directory in the shell.... that would be really handy.

I think putting the column view in a drawer off to the side would be a good thing.

But, personally, I hate touching the mouse when I am in the terminal, it takes too long. Typing with completion is quite fast. But it wouldn't be a bad thing if one could see their path graphically. Even navigate it with the arrow keys.

Meh, that would be cool.

[MaxPower2k3]

thanks for the ideas, but i think full terminal emulation is a bit out of my league right now... Anyone have any other ideas that they can't do/don't have the time to do?

[Wafflestomper]

Sorry max, no more ideas for you. I just wanted to say how much I like the idea of the terminal/column view app. The column view would be a drawer off the side, and it would follow along and update as you did whatever file navigation/copy/moving files. Definately have hot-key access to hide/show the drawer, and possibly a freeze on updating in column view so you could go back and forth.

Any takers on the new app idea