Program to create hand-picked sets of frequently-used files?

[Ghopper]

Can anyone suggest a program that will let me easily create sets of frequently-used files, grouped by project or topic?

When I start working on a given project, I generally have to open a number of files that I'll need to cross-reference and refer to while I'm working on that project, and it takes way too much time to find and open them (and often I can't remember all of them). It'd be great if I could quickly and easily create and modify sets of files related to a particular project, and then quickly and easily open them without having to search for them.

This program is similar to what I'm looking for:
https://www.magnonic.com/ifo.shtml

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks -

[therube]

Maybe NirLauncher (though I've never used or even seen it)?

I used to use, Traybar (2.40).

[NotNull]

Some file managers have the option to create some sort of "virtual folder" where you can virtually put all needed files/programs together.

XYplorer and Directory Opus handle this quite nicely (Total Commander has rudimental support too)



But why not using Instant File Opener if that does what you want?

[Ghopper]

Thanks for those suggestions. I didn't know that XYPlorer and Directory Opus could do that.

Instant File Opener just feels kind of awkward and slow for me to use. It's good, and it's pretty ridiculous for me to look gift horse in the mouth, but I can't help but feel like there might be something better out there.

[Ghopper]

Nirlauncher sure has a lot of things it can do. Seems like Traybar stopped development a long time ago. Not sure it would work with anything more recent than Windows XP or 98.

[Thy Grand Voidinesss]

Some file managers have the option to create some sort of "virtual folder" where you can virtually put all needed files/programs together.
[...]

FreeCommander has this, where it goes under the name File Container Tab

In it you can also create Favorite Toolbars with menus hiding under icons, naming them as pleased

[horst.epp]

Some file managers have the option to create some sort of "virtual folder" where you can virtually put all needed files/programs together.
[...]

FreeCommander has this, where it goes under the name File Container Tab
them as pleased

I even have an Autohotkey script which creates a Free Commander File Container
from the Everything GUI search results and automatically opens them.
Btw. the same is available for Total Commander.

[Thy Grand Voidinesss]

I even have an Autohotkey script which creates a Free Commander File Container
from the Everything GUI search results and automatically opens them.
[...]

Would you be willing to share it?

I do it manually and not so rarely

[Thy Grand Voidinesss]

I even have an Autohotkey script which creates a Free Commander File Container
from the Everything GUI search results and automatically opens them.
[...]

Would you be willing to share it?
[...]

I guess not

[horst.epp]

Sorry, here it is.
Store it in a writable sub-dir Scripts of FC settings.
Make the changes for your environment.
Compile it and create a hotkey for the exe to start it.
It creates an ini file in the same dir after the first run.
Edit this if you want to make changes, no need for changing and recompiling.

Code: Select all

; Transfer Everything GUI results to FC
; Author: Horst.Epp
; Last modified: 21.10.2021
 
; Build AutoHotkey_L
; Build x64
; Build Kill=true
; Build Zip=false
; Build Run=true

#NoEnv
;#Persistent
#SingleInstance Force
SetBatchLines, -1

; Create / read .ini file settings
SetTitleMatchMode, RegEx
iniFile := RegExReplace(A_ScriptFullPath, "(ahk|exe)$", "ini")

if not (FileExist(iniFile)) {
    iniContent :="
    (( LTrim
        [General]
	; DestinationFile
        ;    Where to save the output (full path to DestinationFile.fcc)
        ; EverythingColumnPositions (Default: 2,1)
	;    The columns 'Name' and 'Path' must be visible in the Everything GUI Window
        ;    The first value is the position of the 'Path' column
        ;    The second value is the position of the 'Name' column
	; CloseEverything (Default 1 for yes)
	;    Should Everything GUI window be closed after transfering to FC
	; UseInstance (Empty for default instance)
        ;    Name of the Everything instance to be used for closing the GUI
	; FreeCommander
	;    Full path to the FC executable file
	; Everything
	;    Full path to the Everything executable file 

; The contents of the following lines must be adjusted if necessary, e.g. path and parameter adjustments.
;********************************************************************************************************
        DestinationFile = C:\Tools\FreeCommander\Settings\FileContainers\Everything.fcc
        EverythingColumnPositions=2,1
        AddEndSlash = 0
        CloseEverything = 1
        UseInstance =
        Everything = C:\Tools\Everything\Everything64.exe
        FreeCommander = C:\Tools\FreeCommander\FreeCommander.exe
;********************************************************************************************************

    )"
    FileAppend, % iniContent, % iniFile, UTF-16
}
IniRead, DestinationFile, % iniFile, General, DestinationFile, %A_Space%
IniRead, EverythingColumnPositions, % iniFile, General, EverythingColumnPositions, 2`,1

IniRead, AddEndSlash, % iniFile, General, AddEndSlash, 0
IniWrite, %AddEndSlash%, % iniFile, General, AddEndSlash
IniRead, CloseEverything, % iniFile, General, CloseEverything, 1
IniWrite, %CloseEverything%, % iniFile, General, CloseEverything
IniRead, UseInstance, % iniFile, General, UseInstance, %A_Space%
IniWrite, %UseInstance%, % iniFile, General, UseInstance

IniRead, Everything, % iniFile, General, Everything, "C:\Tools\Everything\Everything64.exe"
IniRead, FreeCommander, % iniFile, General, FreeCommander, "C:\Tools\FreeCommander\FreeCommander.exe"

DestinationFile           := ResolveEnvVars(DestinationFile)
EverythingColumnPositions := StrReplace(EverythingColumnPositions, " ")

; Force error if none is given (or path doesn't exist)
SplitPath, DestinationFile, , dstPath
if (DestinationFile = "" || !InStr(FileExist(dstPath), "D")) {
    Msgbox, 16, Fatal error, Destination file definition is missing or illegal named !
    Return
}
if (EverythingColumnPositions = "" || !InStr(EverythingColumnPositions, ",")) {
    EverythingColumnPositions := "2,1"
}

columnArray := StrSplit(EverythingColumnPositions, ",")

hWnd := WinExist("ahk_exe Everything(?:\d\d)*\.exe")

if hWnd
{
  ControlGet, winContent, List, , SysListView321, % "ahk_id" hWnd

  if (winContent)
  {
    fullContent := "#FreeCommander file cart" "`n"
;   Loop over row(s)
    Loop, Parse, winContent, `n
    {
      rowID := A_Index
      path  := ""
      name  := ""
      full  := ""
      Bad := 2
;     Loop over column(s)
      Loop, Parse, A_LoopField, % A_Tab
      {
        colID   := A_Index
        content := A_LoopField
        If (colID > columnArray[1] And colID > columnArray[2])
        {
          Break
        }
        Else
        {
          If (colID = columnArray[1])
          {
	    If !RegExMatch(content,"i)^[a-z]:|\\\.*?\\")
            {
              Break
            }
            path := content
            Bad -= 1
            If !RegExMatch(path,"\\$")
            {
              path := path . "\"
            }
          }
          Else if (colID = columnArray[2])
          {
            If content is Space
            {
              Break
            }
            name := content
            Bad -= 1
          }
        }
      }
      If (Bad == 0)
      {
        full        := path . name
        If InStr(FileExist(full), "D")
        {
          if (AddEndSlash == 1)
          {
            if !RegExMatch(full,"\\$")
            {
              full := full . "\"
            }
          }
          Else
          {
            If RegExMatch(full,"\\$")
            {
              full := SubStr(full,1,StrLen(full)-1)
            }
          }
        }
        fullContent .= full "`n"
      }
    }
    fullContent := RegExReplace(fullContent,"\R$","")

    If (FileExist(DestinationFile))
      FileDelete, % DestinationFile

	FileAppend, % fullContent, % DestinationFile, UTF-8
	DestinationDir := SubStr(DestinationFile,1,InStr(DestinationFile, "\",,-1))
   	run %FreeCommander% /C %DestinationFile%
	If (CloseEverything) {
             run %Everything% -instance "%UseInstance%" -close
	}
    }
    Else
;   Empty search result
    {
      Msgbox, 16,, Search result is Empty, Nothing to do ...
    }
; No Everything window visible
} Else {
    Msgbox, 16, Fatal error, Everything window does not exist!
}
SetTitleMatchMode, 1
return

; ==================================
; = GOTO: FUNCTIONS - ResolveEnvVars
; ==================================
; http://www.autohotkey.com/board/topic/40115-func-envvars-replace-environment-variables-in-text/#entry310601
ResolveEnvVars(str) {
    if sz := DllCall("ExpandEnvironmentStrings", "uint", &str, "uint", 0, "uint", 0)
    {
        VarSetCapacity(dst, A_IsUnicode ? sz * 2 : sz)
        if DllCall("ExpandEnvironmentStrings", "uint", &str, "str", dst, "uint", sz)
            return dst
    }
    return str
}

[meteorquake]

* The ordinary method would be to create folders of shortcuts - double click any of interest, or ctrl-click/shift-click to select several and hit enter to launch
Obviously any folder of shortcuts would be available in other programs in various ways such as Everything (make a bookmark to the folder)
* Command launchers like slickrun can also be very helpful for invoking files or several (duplicating a command code with different instructions will cause the code to launch all of them)
d

[Thy Grand Voidinesss]

I even have an Autohotkey script which creates a Free Commander File Container
from the Everything GUI search results and automatically opens them.
[...]

Would you be willing to share it?
[...]

I guess not

Sorry, here it is.
[...]

Thank you. But
#1] I created AHK file with this code of yours in it

#2] I adjusted 5 paths, so that they would lead to my Everything and my FreeCommander

#3] I have used the Ahk2Exe.exe to compile the adjusted code to an EXE

#4] Having created

C:\my portables\FreeCommander\Plugins\Transfer Everything GUI Results To FreeCommander\Transfer Everything GUI Results To FreeCommander.exe

I ran it and got INI file created out of it

#5] And now what? How do I incorporate it to Everything?

[horst.epp]

Thank you. But
#1] I created AHK file with this code of yours in it

#2][/u] I adjusted 5 paths, so that they would lead to my Everything and my FreeCommander

#3] I have used the Ahk2Exe.exe to compile the adjusted code to an EXE

#4] Having created

C:\my portables\FreeCommander\Plugins\Transfer Everything GUI Results To FreeCommander\Transfer Everything GUI Results To FreeCommander.exe

I ran it and got INI file created out of it

#5] And now what? How do I incorporate it to Everything?

1. Run the Everything GUI and make any search.
2. Start your "Transfer Everything GUI Results To FreeCommander.exe" with a Hotkey or Taskbar entry.
3. If all is correct, the GUI results are stored into an FC container and this is opened by FC.

[Thy Grand Voidinesss]

What hotkey? I have not found

Code: Select all

::

in that code, which would indicate existence of one in it

Or what Taskbar? Of Windows? How?

[horst.epp]

What hotkey? I have not found

Code: Select all

::

in that code, which would indicate existence of one in it

Or what Taskbar? Of Windows? How?

There is of course no hotkey in the code, as it should only run on demand.
Make a shortcut with Windows and assign it a hotkey.
For example, on your desktop

Screenshot - 07.01.2024 , 16_00_14.png (17.78 KiB) Viewed 6421 times

You can even pin the shortcut to the taskbar and don't use any hotkey to start it.

Or use any other tool which makes global shortcuts, I use Quick Access PopUp for example.

[Thy Grand Voidinesss]

It is just stunning how through all these decades I have not consciously noticed / remembered, that LNK files have a box described as Shortcut; thank you


Have you perhaps proposed to void using your solution as a basis for incorporating such feature to Everything?

[horst.epp]

Have you perhaps proposed to void using your solution as a basis for incorporating such feature to Everything?

No, as it would require some work from David to adapt it for many file managers
Currently, I have versions of the AHK script for the following file managers:
- Free Commander
- Total Commander
- XYplorer

[Thy Grand Voidinesss]

If you do not mind sharing them, you should publish them all on the forum - and then add them to the Greatest Hits topic [viewtopic.php?t=12667]