Long Filename Browser for ZX-UNO / esxDOS

[Pobulous]

Ah, sorting on the 8.3 filenames looks to be the issue, when combined with some odd 8.3 names that have been created.

For some reason, some daft shortnames have been created by Windows, eg for a bunch of directories starting with "Star"
Some of them are startr~1, startr~2 etc, others are st9662~1 so those ones are appearing much further up the folder list than would be expected.

It would be useful to find a way to bulk rename the 8.3 folders to be first 8 valid characters, with the number in dot 3 part
On a side note I also discovered another odd behaviour in Windows 10 sorting - it sorts names starting with numbers in numerical order -
So 20 Tons is listed before 180 in Windows
Apparently it's been doing that since Windows XP and I can't believe I only just noticed!

[Pobulous]

It looks like Windows gives up on useful 8.3 names after startr~4, as it also happens with folders beginning with street after street~4 they become the same format of stnnnn~1

[bob_fossil]

Ah, sorting on the 8.3 filenames looks to be the issue, when combined with some odd 8.3 names that have been created.

For some reason, some daft shortnames have been created by Windows, eg for a bunch of directories starting with "Star"
Some of them are startr~1, startr~2 etc, others are st9662~1 so those ones are appearing much further up the folder list than would be expected.

It would be useful to find a way to bulk rename the 8.3 folders to be first 8 valid characters, with the number in dot 3 part
On a side note I also discovered another odd behaviour in Windows 10 sorting - it sorts names starting with numbers in numerical order -
So 20 Tons is listed before 180 in Windows
Apparently it's been doing that since Windows XP and I can't believe I only just noticed!

This isn't the first time this has cropped up. I sorted on the 8.3 filename as it's less work and I thought the 8.3 filename might bare some resemblance to the long filename. I've built an updated BROWSE.BIN file which you can get from here. This should sort using the long filename. I've given it a quick spin here and it doesn't seem noticeably slower. Would appreciate feedback from people. If there's no issues, I'll make the new sort the default for version 0.09.

[Pobulous]

Thanks for the test build.
It certainly fixes the sorting order and it didn't feel any slower to me.

One small issue did crop up - after a while it won't display the current folder contents after pressing the NMI button until I push a cursor key.
This happens after a few times of pressing NMI, loading a program, pressing NMI, loading a different program, pressing NMI, etc.
Eventually it will stop displaying the folder contents after pressing the NMI button, and won't start again until the reset button is pressed.
It displays Working for a while, then that changes to the folder path as expected, but it doesn't display the folder contents.
It's possible that this issue also exists in the older builds and I didn't do enough testing in one sitting to trigger it.

It's slightly odd that a reset fixes it, as that doesn't reset the DivMMC, and the current folder on the SD card is preserved.

[bob_fossil]

Thanks for the test build.
It certainly fixes the sorting order and it didn't feel any slower to me.

One small issue did crop up - after a while it won't display the current folder contents after pressing the NMI button until I push a cursor key.
This happens after a few times of pressing NMI, loading a program, pressing NMI, loading a different program, pressing NMI, etc.
Eventually it will stop displaying the folder contents after pressing the NMI button, and won't start again until the reset button is pressed.
It displays Working for a while, then that changes to the folder path as expected, but it doesn't display the folder contents.
It's possible that this issue also exists in the older builds and I didn't do enough testing in one sitting to trigger it.

It's slightly odd that a reset fixes it, as that doesn't reset the DivMMC, and the current folder on the SD card is preserved.

It would be helpful to know if this is a regression from 0.08 or whether it has always been an issue as the current version has some changes to the code that displays the files.

[Pobulous]

I just tried with .08 and I couldn't get it to happen, so it does look like something introduced in the new version.

[Pobulous]

Sorry I just realised that I was testing with version .06 not .08. I will try again with .08

[Pobulous]

OK, confirmed that .08 doesn't have the issue either.

[bob_fossil]

Updated test version here.

This also fixes a bug I noticed with the new long filename sorting method. Files starting with lower case characters were being sorted at the end. The old 8.3 filenames were ALL CAPS so the sort didn't need to be case insensitive.

[Pobulous]

There's a new issue with that beta - Shift X and Break do not restore the memory properly - the screen stays with the directory listing on it and the running program will crash. If no program is loaded it does the same.

I even managed to load a program, from a crashed state, and ended up with a new program running with the File Browser listing still on the screen!

Went back to the previous .09 just to confirm it wasn't a sudden hardware issue and that problem doesn't occur.

[Spezzi63]

shift+x works here, but the help page (shift+H) with 009-a1 and 009-a2 does not.
I have not checked the sequence of the file names!

[Pobulous]

shift+x works here, but the help page (shift+H) with 009-a1 and 009-a2 does not.
I have not checked the sequence of the file names!

Perhaps it's machine dependent - I have a +2a (actually running a +2e ROM, but that shouldn't matter), what model do you have?

On mine it seems to behave like it's in read-only mode (ie not saving/restoring the pre NMI memory state).

[bob_fossil]

shift+x works here, but the help page (shift+H) with 009-a1 and 009-a2 does not.
I have not checked the sequence of the file names!

Perhaps it's machine dependent - I have a +2a (actually running a +2e ROM, but that shouldn't matter), what model do you have?

On mine it seems to behave like it's in read-only mode (ie not saving/restoring the pre NMI memory state).

You haven't got the 'No NMI Write (Slow SD Cards)' option enabled in BRWSCFG? Shift +X from the NMI is working for me here.

[Pobulous]

Nope, I haven't modified the brwscfg settings at all.

OK, it seems like I can't recreate the issue I was having. It's possible that the card was playing up and removing and reinserting to swap the files around has fixed it

I do have a Z80 file that when loaded still has the list of files from the browser on the screen - so something is odd there. It's a snapshot I created in Inkspector 2 of a TZX file, saved from an emulated +2a

Shift-H also displays a blank screen

[Spezzi63]

Shift-H also displays a blank screen

Here also a +2A (+3e-Roms 1.43), DivIDE, 1 GB Transcend, 0.8.8 ESXDOS

[bob_fossil]

Nope, I haven't modified the brwscfg settings at all.

OK, it seems like I can't recreate the issue I was having. It's possible that the card was playing up and removing and reinserting to swap the files around has fixed it

I do have a Z80 file that when loaded still has the list of files from the browser on the screen - so something is odd there. It's a snapshot I created in Inkspector 2 of a TZX file, saved from an emulated +2a

Shift-H also displays a blank screen

Can you load the .z80 file in from BASIC with the .snapload .dot command? Does it work if you save a .SNA file from the emulator?

[bob_fossil]

v0.09

• Added setting 'Save last selection' to BRWSCFG. When enabled this writes a file /TMP/BROWSE.BMK which holds the current directory and selection index when you select an item for autostart or exit the browser. The next time you enter the browser - so long as the current directory hasn't changed - the selection is restored to the index from the bookmark. This may add a slight delay to autostarting and exiting as the 'bookmark' file is written to the disk.
• BRWSCFG now has settings categories: Look, Input, Misc and Advanced - to allow the addition of more options. You can switch between the categories with cursor left and right.
• Symbol Shift + I / O will eject the current input / output .tap.
• Symbol Shift + X will now exit the browser with a reset.
• Caps Shift + H now displays multiple help screens (/BIN/BRWSHLP1.SCR /BIN/BRWSHELP2.SCR).
• If you tried to erase a folder with Caps Shift + E, you got an error code 16.
• .SCR files are now shown if selected.
• Fixed bug where you couldn't display file information or delete the first item in the root '/' folder.
• File sorting now uses the long filename if available to avoid issues with 8.3 filenames that contain random characters that cause the sorting to put them in the wrong place.

Download here.

If you need to rollback to the previous version.

[Pobulous]

I do have a Z80 file that when loaded still has the list of files from the browser on the screen - so something is odd there. It's a snapshot I created in Inkspector 2 of a TZX file, saved from an emulated +2a

Can you load the .z80 file in from BASIC with the .snapload .dot command? Does it work if you save a .SNA file from the emulator?

The issue above happens with .snapload as well, so presumably is either an issue with the file or an issue with .snapload. Inkspector doesn't let you save .sna files in 128 mode for some reason - I'll run some tests from other emulators.

Version .09 is looking good, not seen any issues.

In case you needed any suggestions for enhancements...
How about using a proportional font? That would increase the number of letters displayed for most filenames.
In the same vein - how about an option to display the full filename of the selected file, or scroll the selected filename or all the displayed filenames left/right to check the full name.

[Cgonzalez]

v0.09

• Added setting 'Save last selection' to BRWSCFG. When enabled this writes a file /TMP/BROWSE.BMK which holds the current directory and selection index when you select an item for autostart or exit the browser. The next time you enter the browser - so long as the current directory hasn't changed - the selection is restored to the index from the bookmark. This may add a slight delay to autostarting and exiting as the 'bookmark' file is written to the disk.
• BRWSCFG now has settings categories: Look, Input, Misc and Advanced - to allow the addition of more options. You can switch between the categories with cursor left and right.
• Symbol Shift + I / O will eject the current input / output .tap.
• Symbol Shift + X will now exit the browser with a reset.
• Caps Shift + H now displays multiple help screens (/BIN/BRWSHLP1.SCR /BIN/BRWSHELP2.SCR).
• If you tried to erase a folder with Caps Shift + E, you got an error code 16.
• .SCR files are now shown if selected.
• Fixed bug where you couldn't display file information or delete the first item in the root '/' folder.
• File sorting now uses the long filename if available to avoid issues with 8.3 filenames that contain random characters that cause the sorting to put them in the wrong place.

Download here.

If you need to rollback to the previous version.

Thanks for this!

[bob_fossil]

I've updated the download to fix a small issue I found earlier today with the ZX-UNO turbo mode and machine timing status texts not updating correctly.

[bob_fossil]

In case you needed any suggestions for enhancements...
How about using a proportional font? That would increase the number of letters displayed for most filenames.
In the same vein - how about an option to display the full filename of the selected file, or scroll the selected filename or all the displayed filenames left/right to check the full name.

The current code doesn't store the full filename, just the truncated 42 character version to keep down on the memory. It may be something that could be added into the Caps Shift + F file information.

[akeley]

I've just tried the latest version on my +2A. It's all good. And my whole esxDOS experience has been elevated from "Metro UI" to "Total Commander" level It really makes me want to use my DIV & ZX more, before it was a bit of a chore.

Many thanks for accomodating all our feature requests, it's really nice to meet such a responsive dev. I have a final* little one: any chance for a file position/total files counter like the one in esx? You know, the one at the bottom of the page saying eg "115/786" or some such. It helps with orientation in bigger directories.

*seriously, can't think of anything else, it's already quite perfect anyway

[Cgonzalez]

Bob,

Is possible to add a settings for the key repeat time? When tiping filenames on a rubber keyboard, the keys get repeated, maybe by placing a long delay they will be ok.

Regards

[bob_fossil]

Bob,

Is possible to add a settings for the key repeat time? When tiping filenames on a rubber keyboard, the keys get repeated, maybe by placing a long delay they will be ok.

Regards

I've built a test version with an increased delay which you can get here. Is this any better? If it is, I'll go with that code rather than adding in another setting if it solves your problem.

[Cgonzalez]

Bob,

Is possible to add a settings for the key repeat time? When tiping filenames on a rubber keyboard, the keys get repeated, maybe by placing a long delay they will be ok.

Regards

I've built a test version with an increased delay which you can get here. Is this any better? If it is, I'll go with that code rather than adding in another setting if it solves your problem.

One Word, Perfecto!

Thanks!