ANN: Classic Shell 0.9.8 -now with skinnable start menu

[neuneu2000]

Does it fail for both files and folders?

I just noticed it only fails for files. It's working fine for folders. I have the simplified message with the "other..." option on the bottom left.

Are all other Classic Shell features working for you?

Yes, i think so. I haven't noticed any other bug.

What OS are you running?

Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. The theme setting is set to a classic one (without aero) and Classic Shell startmenu is set on classic. The OS language is primarily in english but i downloaded the french language pack from windows update. I'm the only user and i'm administrator. The UAC is disabled.

Anything out of the ordinary you can tell me about your system? Like do you have any other shell extensions already installed?

- Right before using your Classic Shell, i've tried CSMenu but uninstalled it the same day.
- I might have used some other little softwares to tweak my interface, though. For exemple, i have used a software to change the picture on Logon screen.
- I have removed the unwanted directories from "explorer" and "my computer" by fetching their CLSID item in the registry and editing the shell integration (to turn them off).
- And i also used that "ShellExView" programm to disable and remove the ATI Catalyst Control Center icon from the contextual menu when i right-clic on the desktop area.

Other than that, i didn't do much or didn't experienced any issue.

 

[Ivo]

OK, my primary suspect is the language. Classic Shell looks for a specific window title to detect the file dialog.

Can you post a screenshot of the file copy dialog (the one that is supposed to be replaced), and the folder copy dialog (the Classic Shell version).

 

[neuneu2000]

Here it is. I hope you don't mind the french. This is what shows up when i copy a file:
file_copy.jpg

This is what shows up when i copy a folder:
folder_copy1.jpg

And this is the default folder copy dialog (when i clic "other..." on the classic shell):
folder_copy2.jpg

The Classic Shell folder dialog box displays an english title while the OS is in french but it's correctly working. And you were right about the language. I switched the display language back to english and repeated the copy actions, and now the file copy works properly.

 

[Ivo]

OK, found the problem. I was looking for title "Copier le fichier" (string 16876 in shell32.dll), but it is "Copie de fichiers" (string 17024). Both say "Copy File" in the English shell32.dll, so I picked the wrong string by mistake.

I'll try to fix it for the next version. If all goes well it should be ready in the next 2-3 days.

 

[neuneu2000]

Hey, i'm glad i could help! French speaking users will be happy Thank you again.

 

[Ivo]

ANN: New version 0.9.10 just released

Hi, everybody

A new version of Classic Shell was just released. Download it from http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/

The major new feature is the ability to create your own toolbar layout in Explorer. You can add buttons for Undo, Redo, Refresh, CopyTo, and many others. You have to provide your own icons and text labels though. See the attached screenshot for a glimpse of what you can do.

There is a new option to offset the sub-folders in the Navigation Pane by the full size of the icon instead of half size.

Most of the reported bugs are fixed:
- the crash when Explorer restarts
- the crash when Windows restarts or logs off
- the file dialog on French systems was not replaced (the bug also affected Hebrew, Croatian and Slovenian languages)
- accessibility wasn't working on 64-bit systems
- UAC prompt was sometimes appearing in the background

Enjoy
Ivo

 

[jerrytom]

Thanks for the new release!

It looks very nice and runs smoothly. The less technologically literate among us could probably use a little more info. as to how to customize the Explorer toolbar. I.e. how do you make a toolbar like the one you showed in your screenshot? Thanks very much.

 

[Ivo]

Yeah, I believe this can use better explanation. I will write something up tonight.

BTW, I don't expect I will be adding any new features for the next version. Instead I will focus on stability and improved documentation. It will be the official release 1.0.0.

 

[Ivo]

HOWTO: Customize the toolbar

Here's how to customize the toolbar: http://sourceforge.net/projects/classicshell/forums/forum/1049756/topic/3530818
The icons in the screenshot are downloaded from here:
http://www.glyfx.com/products/free_vista_le.html

 

[jerrytom]

Before installing 0.9.10, one needs to remove older one

Thanks for the additional instructions. Apparently, since I had already modified the explorer.ini file in the 0.9.9 version (in order to change the icon size), when I installed the new 0.9.10 version, it didn't overwrite the explorer.ini file, so I didn't have any of the instructions in the file itself (that's why I had no idea how to customize). After I deinstalled 0.9.9 and reinstalled 0.9.10, the explorer.ini file now contains the necessary instructions.

 

[bamajon1974]

I have read the instructions for customizing the toolbar and Explorer. Is there a website that lists the necessary commands, tool tips, and names for additional functions such as copy to folder, move to folder, refresh, select all, invert select, undo, redo, etc. that I can correctly edit the *.ini file?
Thanks!

 

[Ivo]

No, there is only the ini file itself and this: https://sourceforge.net/projects/classicshell/forums/forum/1049756/topic/3530818
The full list of commands is in the ini file. The names and tooltips are up to you. I'm sure you can come up with the text for undo, redo, etc. Hint - "Undo", "Redo", "etc" . You have to translate them in your language. That's one of the reasons I don't provide default texts - because I have to come up with translations for 35 languages and I am not fluent in all of them.

 

[bamajon1974]

Ok I got the toolbar to look exactly like the sample picture you posted recently in the thread (adding back, forward, undo, redo). I specified the gfx icons for vista. I noticed in this icon pack that there are disabled and hot icons. Is there a way in the *.ini file to add commands that would grey out functions that are not possible at the moment? For example, grey out forward command button when you have just opened a window and not navigated to any subsequent directories or not being able to use undo or redo when you have not performed any file operation in the first place.
Thanks!

 

[Ivo]

There is no need to provide grayed out icons. The toolbar will use the color icon and desaturate it. That's how the Up button works.

The trick is to detect when the button should be grayed out: Classic Shell FAQ

For the Up button there is special code that disables it if you are currently viewing the Desktop folder. But there is no code to detect if there is previous or next folder, or if there is something to undo/redo. I don't know how to do that in my code. It would require accessing Explorer's internal data and I don't see any API to do that. I'll keep an eye out for a solution and over time I will be perfecting the behavior in future versions, but for the moment I don't have an answer.

 

[bamajon1974]

Gotcha. I figured that you would have mentioned this issue of graying out and disabling of file management operations you would have mentioned it in your documentation. I found this website
Adding custom buttons to the Explorer command bar winJade
that discusses how to add file management operations to the existing toolbar via taskitemsselect and taskitemsnoselect registry keys. Don't know if it will help you but sent it as an FYI in case.

Thanks!

 

[gb2010]

Like many people, I'm desperately looking around the internet for a way to disable the auto arrange in Windows 7 Explorer.

I discovered this link where somebody claims to have a way of doing it in Vista and I thought I'd bring it to your attention Ivo as it "seems" like something that could be incorporated into your program.

How do I kill Auto-Arrange?

I'm not a programmer so I don't really understand it and it's probably no good - but I had to try as this issue is driving me crazy.

 

[Ivo]

@bamajon1974 - I found a way to disable back/foward (but not undo/redo). It will be in the next version.

@gb2010 - The link you posted is for Vista. IMO for Windows 7 there is no such functionality. Because the code is not there at all, you just CAN'T "enable" it with registry tweaks. Read more about my opinion on the subject here: Classic Shell FAQ

 

[cretaceous]

I only just noticed the stupidity of removing "auto arrange: off" while moving some files
MSoft are amazingly dumb sometimes

so I googled and found this W7 specific link - (havent tried it yet though):
How to Disable Full Row Select in Explorer in Windows 7? - The Winhelponline Blog

and then I thought ah, maybe Ivo has it fixed it..
and I see I'm not the only one to think that

 

[Orbidia]

Thank you

Ivo,

I just wanted to say thankyou for making this. I've been using XP forever and jumping to Windows 7 has been extremely frustrating because it seems to have lost a lot of basic usability features. Classic Shell has restored a good amount of them.

I have a couple feature requests I'm sure many people would enjoy.

1. The new "folderband" bar with "Organize ... preview toggle" is a waste of valuable verticle space. I found a couple methods to get rid of it.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/65416-window-explorer-toolbar-remove.html
The forum discussion for the above method.
http://www.sevenforums.com/customization/20032-remove-explorer-toolbar-3.html

In the forum discussion is also a link to this which may do the same:
2shared - download Shellstyle Replacement.rar
(To get the file from the above link, look for:
Save file to your PC click here near the bottom right side.)

The main button missing on that band is the old "explorer" button in windows xp which toggled the navigation pane on and off.
With the folderband, one must go to "organize / layout / navigation pane"

There are a lot of people who want that functionality as per these discussions:

How do you add a button to add/remove the Navigation Pane in Windows 7 Explorer?
Is there a way to add a button on folder to toggle navigation pane?
http://dumbwin.blogspot.com/2009/10/standard-toolbar-in-windows-explorer.html
It would be great if a simple "navigation pane" toggle (explorer) button could be incorporated into the Classic Shell Toolbar. And since the goal is to run explorer without the "folderband" ribbon thing, I would think that making the preview button toggle and a button to cycle through details/list etc would also be very valuable.

I read somewhere of the registry entries to turn on and off the navigation pane and preview but I lost the forum link.

I guess a "new folder" button and "sort by" cycle button would be nice on that toolbar as well.

Basically, this would finish replacing the new pathetic ribbon with a wonderful customizable toolbar which shares the same vertical space as the classic menu. Very classic like if its even possible!

2. In XP, there was a way to make the drop down box of the address bar just show all the file tree so one could select from a single list instead of individual breadcrumbs. Is this possible to implement when clicking the address bar drop down icon. It seems like its always just blank now which makes no sense to me.

3. There is one bug as well which I found a workaround for:

When I click the explorer button on the task bar, I set the default folder to go to my computer with this as the target for "windows explorer":
%windir%\explorer.exe /root,::{20d04fe0-3aea-1069-a2d8-08002b30309d}
The page describing this is:
Change What Windows Explorer Button on Taskbar Performs - Windows 7

With that setup, when I then use Classic shell to browse to any folder, it seems to open a that folder in a new window. The new window works correctly. I'm on win7 64 bit and I have "show all folders" and "automatically expand to current folder" checked.

But if I use this instead:
%windir%\explorer.exe ,/e
as the target for windows explorer, classic shell seems to work fine. I don't know if this bug matters or not - I'm just pointing it out.

Out of all the suggestions above, the most important would seem to be the "explorer button" (navigation pane toggle) which is unexplicably missing from Windows 7!! What was microsoft thinking getting rid of all these basic usability features??

As for the Classic Start Menu - Wow! - totally customizable and feels just like XP. I love it!

Thanks again for making the program.

 

[Ivo]

1. Unfortunately, No. The band is not a separate control and can't be manipulated through standard means. Even if I add a button to edit the registry for you, it won't work until you open a new Explorer window.

2. It is on my list of things to look at someday. I disabled the breadcrumbs, but had to enable them again after few days precisely because the dropdown doesn't contain the parent folders. So now with no breadcrumbs and no dropdown there is no way to examine the parents and go to a specific one.

I'm thinking of something else though. Maybe instead of changing the address bar I can add a dropdown to the Up button (similar to the Back/Forward buttons) that does the same thing. So you want up one level, press the button. You want up more levels, press the dropdown and pick a parent.

BTW, the dropdown is supposed to show the history of visited folders. It is blank for you because you probably disabled the history feature.

3. I don't believe this is related to Classic Shell. I don't control when Explorer will open a new window. Can you verify by uninstalling Classic Shell, rebooting, then trying again the same thing?