Dev:2.5/Source/Data system/FileBrowser

File Browser

This is a long lists of topics and todo's regarding the file browser and the data browser/asset browser. If anyone would like to pick up a topic, please put your name and current progress next to the item, so nobody wastes time on working on something that is already tackled. Also feel free to add topics to the Design/Decisions section and once agreed on they will be moved to the corresponding TODO. Mockups and images are welcome too.

Wintercamp mockup

Design&/Decisions

• done
    buttons for left panel (system/bookmarks/recent) (Andrea)
• left panel should have button for adding bookmark and next to each bookmark there should be a button with [x] or [-] to remove the bookmark again.
• done
    how to allow in-place renaming of a file
• done
    how to allow adding a new directory via a button (where should the name be edited)
• header buttons (suggestion):
  • done
      Navigation: up (parent), back, forward
  • done
      Sorting: Alphabetic, Time, Size, Type
  • Filter:
    • done
        by type (movie file, image file, python script, text file, .blend file...)
    • by pattern (*.bla)
    • A search button should be added to allow a user to quickly find files and folders.

• done
    scrollbar should be added to allow the user to better determine the amount of files in the current directory

File Menus

(WIP - Suggestions)

• Directory
  • Create New Directory
  • Refresh
  • Go to Previous
  • Go to Next
  • Go to Parent Dir
• File
  • Rename
  • Delete
• Bookmark
  • Add Current Directory

Functionality TODO

• done
   Add explicit operator buttons in header for refresh and parent. (Andrea)
• done
    List of recent directories (Andrea)
• done
    Human readable file sizes (Matt)
• done
    Hide backup file/ hide .dot files (Andrea)
• done
   add filtering header buttons(Andrea)
• done
   add current directory to recent directories in the fsmenu (channel area) on file_exec.(Andrea)
• done
    Bring back hide dot files (Andrea)
• done
    Add navigation to next and previous folder (Dalai)
• done
   add header menu(s) and add all operators that are only on hotkeys so far(Andrea)
• done
   Delete File Operator (XKEY) (Andrea)
• done
   Rename File Operator (NKEY)
• done
   tab completion
• done
   remove non-existing folders from the bookmarks (maybe with user confirm, since bookmark might just be temporarily unavailable)
• done
   Link/Append operators and support
• Touch File Operator (TKEY)
• done
   Create new directory needs button
• Importers should be able to put settings in the filebrowser
• Choose exporter type in filebrowser like image type
• Collapsed view for image sequences
• Filter string regex?
• File browser settings (sort by) as user preference
• Image views could be a little smaller, and/or zoom in/out
• show file hierarchy in left
• review font usage and text printing (should be able to use outline fonts, international fonts and special characters)
• improve scrolling with PGUPKEY/PGDOWNKEY
• scroll to begin/end (HOMEKEY, ENDKEY)
• store thumbnail of .blend file and display it in filebrowser as image (when in thumbnail view)
• automatically suggest (ie fills) the filename field when saving as scripts from Text Editor. Images as well, although images may be working.
• refresh on file browser open for system drives
• access to network files by giving UNC name '//server/share' for example.

Operators TODO

• IKEY, EKEY opens image editor or text editor.( Needs to be tested whether it works on Windows, I remember some issues ~~Elubie)
• done
   PLUSKEY/MINUSKEY - increment/decrement the last number in filename (or append number, if not there already)
• done
   fix highlight operator for files, it still highlights when in left (channel) region. (might need own poll function?)(Andrea)
• done
   review file browser invoke operators for reusable invoke funktion (Andrea)
• done
   write operators returning a list of files (image sequence)(Campbell)
• done
   operators should be callable without setting directory in the operator RNA, filebrowser should open most recently opened directory(Andrea)

Refactoring/cleanup TODO

• done
   remove '.' and '..' from file list(Andrea)
• done
   remove loadlibrary stuff from filebrowser (Andrea)
• done
   encapsulate the static fsmenu pointers(Andrea)
• done
   review whether it's possible to join the file_draw_previews and file_draw_list functions (Andrea)
• done
   review selection of files (possibly store position of the tile in filelist and check for mouse in rect. (Andrea)
• done
   separate retrieving images and icons in the filelist to allow displaying icon without shadow rectangle. (Andrea)
• done
   fix font handling and bounding box calculation for strings (use international fonts is broken)(Andrea)
• done
   replace custom threading code with wm_jobs

Bugs

Open:

• sometimes when loading old files, the icon for the 3d-view will still show a filebrowser icon once the file is loaded

Closed:

• done
   The root folder in Windows is \ instead of C:\. (it looks like missing BLI_make_exist() ~~ dfelinto)
• done
   if you manually type a folder skipping the last slash (eg C:\Blender) any extra folder you click get wrong (eg C:\BlenderMyOtherSubFolder). (In that case probably it needs to call: BLI_make_file_string ~~ dfelinto)
• done
   on most old files, trying to open a filebrowser using hotkeys (F1 and F2) will not correctly initialise the panels, so you're left with just a big list of files that you cannot do anything with
• done
   on old files saved with some view maximised, the above bug makes it impossible to use the filebrowser at all (from any location)
• done
   TODO item? -> increment/decrement buttons should use icons not text, and should probably take at least UI_UNIT_X each
• done
   crash when loading file that has filebrowser open
• done
   file size over 2GB/4GB? shows negative number