Additional Documentation Request

[CollinChaffin]

Many addons after years still have absolutely zero documentation not more than a single line of hard to understand text, so we have to read source code to try to figure out how to configure them, let alone what some of them even do. Even the wiki does not mention or show many in the list, and other than their one-line description there is nothing but the actual code.

Such as Folderlistview What does this entire addon even do? I've read the code multiple times and still trying to even determine the purpose.

Is there anywhere that has even a real description and a single screen-shot of ALL the add-ons and even a single example of proper configuration? I realize you are busy and translating to english many strings, but things like this make no sense to many of us (and I've been a developer myself for 30yrs) and have been lacking this documentation now already for years that TE has been growing in popularity.

Several addons such as the "Remember Folder" addon have this as parameters:

(Advanced)
Normal
Path
Key

What on earth is "normal", "path", and "key"? I love the features/functionality and your work, but it is becoming very frustrating because many of these it seems only you (the author) know the purpose and without us being able to decipher your source code it would just be nice to know how to properly configure all these amazing addons! Thanks!

[CollinChaffin]

EDIT:

Hey Gaku,

When you get a minute on this what I was hoping the mysterious "folder list menu" that loads from a text file (which I cannot get to work) is that I know there must be a way to have a simple favorites menu that expands - like in the Chrome favorites bar when you place a folder to hold shortcuts. I ask because coming from Clover, a tabbed explorer addon I found that actually is based on very early revisions of Chromium and creates it's tabs and toolbar favorites menu using the Chromium bookmarks which can even be exported as bookmarks.html.

So, that is about the one major feature I know TE must have a way to do but I have been unable to get it working. Can you help?

Thanks!

This is all that is listed in the wiki:

/~https://github.com/tablacus/TablacusExplorerAddons/wiki/folderlistmenu

Here is all the documentation of how this addon works:
Show a menu of folders listed in a text file

The code really does not show what text file it is supposed to even be reading, I wonder if that is being passed from TE to the addon?

Thanks for the help!

[tablacus]

I've added documentation of folder list menu.

/~https://github.com/tablacus/TablacusExplorerAddons/wiki/folderlistmenu

Would you mind helping me?
Regards,

[CollinChaffin]

Hi Gaku!

I see that - thanks that's perfect! Note there are still quite a number of other addons in the same boat without even a wiki page created let alone any usage example/info.

As it relates to this addon you just added doc for, it looks very much like what I was hoping it would do. I got the example dropdown menu set up but opened a separate issue (#41) to ask if/how it can be set up to handle links/shortcuts/apps/folders.

Thanks again!

-C

[ccfs]

Hi Collin,

You can find brief descriptions of most add-ons here.

Regards,
ccfs

[CollinChaffin]

@ccfs and @tablacus Thanks I had seen most of that in the wiki but it is nice all in one pdf. The issue is, it is FAR from complete nor descriptive. I've spoken to several others that religiously use TE for years that still like me to this day don't know what things like this found on numerous addons even means:

I've been in this over 30yrs and even I cannot tell them what on earth "normal", "path", "key" means. Can you yourself even shed light on that one? It's things like that which scare even veteran users when they see controls like that and no description as to the purpose. I can't even say that after years I am using TE addons correctly - and that is troubling considering how much I keep recommending it to others.

Nobody can write his documentation for him if he won't initially explain how things work. I cannot put my name on wiki entries because I was forced to spend 1000 times the time as it would take him for me to reverse engineer the source code to the point where I "think" I know now how that addon works. I'm just not comfortable doing that and I cannot seem to get direct answers to my questions I'm asking him for some time now. But I would love to help so hopefully I can get some answers, some commented code, etc. as I have 2 little ones and simply do not have the time to keep having to reverse multiple addons and debug how they work together, when he already knows and can answer in 10 seconds what will cost me a full day. :)

[ccfs]

"normal" "path" "key" are used to change the format describing a folder view internally in config files. You can try them in "Remember folder view settings", "Take over folder view settings" and "Folder settings" add-ons, and you will see a difference in the config files.

I don't know why they are provided as options, as this internal format should be transparent to users.

"Nobody can write his documentation for him if he won't initially explain how things work."
Well, I personally have proven the contrary. By months of hard work, I wrote (and am still kept updating) the add-on documentation PDF file. The wiki materials were mostly taken from the PDF file with my authorization. Needless to say, I assigned each add-on a category. Before that, the add-ons were just a bunch of unorganized and (almost) undocumented stuff.

The PDF / wiki is not complete because:

• Through a lot of testing, I tried to figure out what the add-ons and their options did.
• Some options are too obvious to understand. To keep the PDF compact, I do not mention them at all.
• Some (very few) options are mostly not needed by anyone (like "normal" "path" "key"). To keep the PDF compact, I do not mention them neither.
• I cannot (yet) figure out the others, so I cannot mention them too.

Anyway, the PDF should be sufficient for most users as a quick reference. But don't expect me to sync the material in PDF and wiki - keep testing add-on updates and updating the PDF is already a tedious task for me. You are already lucky to have a silly volunteer document writer.

[CollinChaffin]

Your pdf is nice but saying it is in ANY WAY "sufficient" when so many are still MISSING is just absurd and they are absolutely not "self explanatory". Your own explanation of "normal" "path" and "key" tell me you yourself perhaps do not understand them either. Care to share the magic example of those 3 "file formats" you refer to? :) I've read the code (or tried because this is an English speaking non JS DEV trying to translate JS code clearly written and translated from Japanese) and if it were that simple I wouldn't have brought it up. Those 3 are some kind of modifiers that appear everywhere and no explanation - ANYWHERE. They have been there for YEARS without ever being explained and that's my point that's why folks to whom I recommend TE quickly abandon it because there is no documentation and they cannot figure out these addons.

Here's one of frankly MANY not even FOUND in your PDF to prove my point:

"DLL Directory"

It's right there near top of the list for EVERYONE to install and execute. Now read the code. Tell me WHAT ON EARTH that thing does. Even as a fellow DEV some of these are frankly madness to figure out their purpose. There are NUMEROUS others like that without so much as even a HINT as to what they do. All I'm asking is that he provide some basic documentation or ask someone to help but to do that, he first needs to share with his helper what the things do or they are at an impossible disadvantage.

EDIT:

I Hit ctrl-enter too fast and posted. Are you a DEV yourself also writing this code? It is very disconcerting that you are behind the little documentation there is here. I commend the effort you put into your PDF and give you a ton of credit and again I love TE and what I can figure out it does but some of your statements are just absurd that these things are self-explanatory. I know as a DEV I would certainly not churn out 100 more addons without first taking the time to at least do the most basic documentation of the ones completed knowing if I don't nobody will use them or worse yet, destroy their systems and come back for help/support. If I had time to complete 100+ addons I wouldn't expect any of my first 100 to still be sitting without a shred of documentation after 3+yrs. After all, this stuff WILL DAMAGE users systems if they just "load up" some unknown addon that is in the install list, and activate it without having any idea of what it does.

Here is a perfect example of why I opened this issue: Your PDF doesn't list HOW to actually configure the "master view" text file for "takeoverfoldersettings" addon - if it's so straight forward I would ask you to post it. I now know it myself only because I spent painstaking time reversing the code to produce my own from scratch but I am curious since it's not in your PDF if you actually know how to set up your own master view for the original takeoverfoldersettings addon since it has NEVER been posted anywhere for the users. I refuse to post it because reversing it without knowing the authors intent I have no idea if he already knows he's changing to a new format tomorrow, etc. - HE needs to take the 5 min to update the wiki and CTRL-C/CTRL-V paste and write even a single sentence with a single example.

I suggest you and Gaku join one of many available free voice chats with any other DEVs/prospective team members for this project and start with a mere hour (much less time than coding yet another addon) and let Gaku verbally explain to DEVs like me with 30+yrs in this what the goal of some of these is, the design, etc. and THEN maybe we can help produce the proper documentation for the masses.

[CollinChaffin]

And just to clarify for the above mentioned "DLL Directory" I use as an example - I am well aware of what that WIN32API call does - the question is what the ADDON here does.....based on the code it sure looks strange to me because with that particular API call, if you use it (ie. enable the addon) and set BLANK string - it will actually KILL the existing search paths for the app......again it is merely one of what could be MANY examples of addons that have no info not even a real single descriptive sentence, yet are there to potentially cause damage if not used properly.

[ccfs]

The PDF is targeted at the general public (like me) to:

• find out an add-on that provides the functions he/she needs
• have a good start to use an add-on
• have a quick reference

Therefore I don't care about those features not appear to be useful (like "normal" "path" "key").

If anyone is curious about anything not mentioned in the PDF, he/she can try and find out. Most add-ons will not damage your system, otherwise I have marked a warning in bold. Anyway, TE and the add-ons are freeware. Use at your own risk, no matter documentation exists or not.

The PDF is surely not self-explanatory enough, because I want it compact so that everyone can browse it quickly. If you want a full explanation with screen illustration, you should visit the wiki page, if it ever exists. Creating and updating the wiki pages is assumed the responsibility of the application author. Unfortunately Gaku seems to have difficulties:

• no time, maybe
• not fluent in English, probably

I agree that one big problem of TE is a lack of documentation. Therefore I tried to solve the problem, not by asking for, but by writing it by myself.

Now 14 add-ons are still missing from the PDF. 9 of them seem to be developer tools, by looking at their names and descriptions:

• X-Finder
• Async script
• Branch bar
• Dll directory
• External script
• Firebug Lite
• Debug
• VBS InputBox
• Copy Data URI Scheme

Again, the PDF is targeted at the GENERAL PUBLIC. So I have no plan to add them to the PDF at the moment. More importantly, I AM NOT A DEVELOPER. I do not need these add-ons. I don't know what they do, too.

If you are eager to know, talk to Gaku.

Config files are managed by TE. Users do not need to know their internal formats, nor to edit them. But you can delete the whole file to reset some settings. For example, you can delete "remember.xml" to reset all folder views stored by "Remember folder view settings" add-on.

See my reply in "Feature Request: (2) new addons to also serve as developer examples/templates" post regarding "Take over folder view settings".

[tablacus]

Advanced

How to save columns.

Everything is the same unless you use it in multiple environments.

Normal

Save columns by Name.

Example

• Size
• Date modified

pros

Simple

cons

It’s different in language.

English	German
Size	Größe
Date modified	Änderungsdatum

Path

Save columns by Path (Cannonical Name).

Example

• System.Size
• System.DateModified

pros

It's same even if language is different.

cons

It's different in Windows XP / Vista or lator.

Vista or lator	XP
System.Size	Size
System.DateModified	Write

Key

Save columns by Key (Property key).

Example

• {B725F130-47EF-101A-A5F1-02608C9EEBAC} 12
• {B725F130-47EF-101A-A5F1-02608C9EEBAC} 14

pros

It's same in different environment.

cons

It looks long and complicated.

Regards,

[tablacus]

I have written the "DLL directory" on the wiki page.

/~https://github.com/tablacus/TablacusExplorerAddons/wiki/dlldirectory

Regards,

[duarteframos]

Added wiki about Normal Path and Key to /~https://github.com/tablacus/TablacusExplorerAddons/wiki/remember

[tablacus]

Thanks for helping wiki.

[duarteframos]

Most welcome :)

[xelab]

Hello, someone can explain how the "branch bar" addon works? I installed it and nothing happens on my git folders...

[duarteframos]

From my admittedly superficial look could not figure out what it does. Gaku will have to help

[tablacus]

Branch bar requires "git for windows".

Please try to install it!
https://gitforwindows.org/

git branch --contains

Regards.