Bookmarks menu

[Maximus5]

Originally reported on Google Code with ID 829

Required information!
OS version: Win2k/WinXP/Vista/Win7/Win8   SP?   x86/x64
ConEmu version: 121125 x64

Navigating to certain folders can be a pain especially in case of multiple levels of
hierarchy even with tab based autocomplete. One way to improve usability is to consider
adding a bookmarks menu and add/navigate to the current path. 

Konsole on KDE does this and a similar feature for ConEmu would add to its awesomeness.

Reported by md.imad on 2012-11-26 18:11:09

[Maximus5]

Hm... Konsole is a shell *and* terminal. ConEmu is terminal only.

In the other words, ConEmu can't know how to navigate shell to specified location.
However, thought, is is possible to create menu for folders/files/anything else.

Btw, did you try Ctrl+Shift+D / Ctrl+Shift+F shortcuts?

Reported by ConEmu.Maximus5 on 2012-11-26 18:38:29

[Maximus5]

Thanks for the explanation. 

Ctrl+Shift+{D,F} both still require me to navigate to the folder every time so it's
not that useful in this case.

I understand it might not be possible to read the path from the shell, but the other
way round should be possible I hope. What I mean to say one should be able to select
file/folder from the menu (configurable via the GUI like in browsers) and the path
should then be pasted on the shell similar to what Ctrl+Shift+{D,F} does.

Reported by md.imad on 2012-11-26 18:46:51

[Maximus5]

Konsole is NOT a shell - bash/dash/zsh etc. are shells which can be launched under Konsole,
or any other executable. Konsole is in the same position as ConEmu.

Konsole simply sends a keystroke sequence, in the form of "cd /absolute/path/to/bookmark".
This feature is fragile, as it only works when the prompt is empty and in the normal
state (e.g. it won't work if you type something first, or if you press Ctrl+R).

Reported by thecybershadow on 2012-11-30 19:21:07

[Maximus5]

OK, at the same level feature may be implemented.
However, there is one more problem: on Windows there are many path notations :)
cmd: cd /d "c:\full\path"
tcc: cdd "c:\full\path"
ps: cd "c:\full\path"
mingw-bash: cd /c/full/path
cygwin: cd /cygdrive/c/full/path

grrr...
may be we need to "bookmark" not "paths" but commands?

Reported by ConEmu.Maximus5 on 2012-11-30 19:32:45

[Maximus5]

Suggestion:

This feature will only work in a specific shell (e.g. cmd.exe). Even if only the CMD
variant is implemented, ConEmu would need to check if the current process is cmd.exe
before allowing the user to send keystrokes to arbitrary applications (e.g. attempting
to use the feature with a program such as vim may be catastrophic). Thus, the feature
can be implemented by looking at the name of the top-level executable, and choosing
an appropriate syntax based on that.

Reported by thecybershadow on 2012-11-30 22:49:27

[Maximus5]

Suggestion #2: Allow the user to "favorite" macros? Then, the cd command can be created
as a "Paste" macro.

Reported by thecybershadow on 2012-11-30 22:52:23

[Maximus5]

I've found a nice workaround to use the print command in order to navigate within active
cmd shell
print("\ecd /d C:\Users\Administrator\WebstormProjects")

What would be really helpful is a macros that would show a menu of options, e.g.
print("\ecd /d ", ["C:\Users\Administrator\WebstormProjects", "D:\MongoDB", "E:\Wordpress"])

or even multiple menus with filtering options, where "*" stands for all commands, e.g.:
print("\enpm ", ["search", "start", "stop", "view", ...], ["*:-h", "start:{*.js}",
"view:item1|item2|item3"])

Reported by steven.pribilinskiy on 2014-04-11 13:12:50

[Maximus5]

@steven.pribilinskiy, try Far Manager. All there...

Reported by ConEmu.Maximus5 on 2014-04-11 13:18:22

[Maximus5]

i use Total Commander
and Direct Folders for Bookmarks that work in File Managers and also File Dialogs,
unfortunately not consoles

Opening FAR every time a new console is opened just to access bookmarked folders is
kinda obtrusive

Ok, menus and nested menus are probably an overkill, but a single command that would
just show a menu of all defined Macroses would be quite useful and would not force
to specify and memorise each Hotkey for Every Macros.

Reported by steven.pribilinskiy on 2014-04-11 13:47:56

[Maximus5]

FAR works great as a super-command-shell, try it. You can toggle the panels with Ctrl-O.

Reported by thecybershadow on 2014-04-11 23:55:24

[Maximus5]

I used Norton Commander and Volkov Commander and FAR about 15 years ago, but for historical
reasons sticked with Total Commander

Reported by steven.pribilinskiy on 2014-04-12 08:44:48

[Maximus5]

I'm not saying you should stop using Total Commander. I'm saying that you should try
using FAR any time you use cmd.exe.

Reported by thecybershadow on 2014-04-12 08:47:23

[Maximus5]

FAR is nothing new for me and there's nothing to try.
When you already use 1 file manager why would you use another?
Suggesting to execute FAR just to show a list of folders is funny.
Currently i have a solution to use Direct Folders through the file dialog that is accessible
with Ctrl+Shift+F.

Still a menu with all Macroses would be quite useful

Reported by steven.pribilinskiy on 2014-04-12 08:54:39

[Maximus5]

The following - my IMHO.
Absolutely agreed with thecybershadow. Far is good choice for a shell. If you are in
ConEmu, that means you run console applications rarely or often - does not matter.
Far can fasten and simplify your working process. It integrates your console tools
(arguments actually) with your file system. And Far has powerful scripting language.

PS. I have no plans to integrate powerful scripting into ConEmu because scripting already
exists in shells you can run inside ConEmu.

Reported by ConEmu.Maximus5 on 2014-04-12 08:56:58

[Maximus5]

> FAR is nothing new for me and there's nothing to try.

You might be surprised if the last time you used it was 15 years ago. It evolved quite
a lot since then.

Did you know that ConEmu was originally created primarily as a FAR wrapper? ConEmu
has very tight integration with FAR. Unlike Total Commander, FAR is free and open-source.

> When you already use 1 file manager why would you use another?

I don't see why not? Also I was not suggesting that you use it as a file manager, but
as a bookmark manager. FAR's hotkeys, macros and history plugins provide plentiful
ways to achieve that goal.

> Suggesting to execute FAR just to show a list of folders is funny.

I don't see the problem with this suggestion, personally.

Reported by thecybershadow on 2014-04-12 09:01:25

[Maximus5]

I really don't see any need for using FAR by having TC.
It's a question of habit and i use quite a few TC plugins, like e.g. Virtual Disks
(kind of Alcohol 120%), Task Manager, EnvVariables editor, Registry editor, Uninstaller,
Media files viewers etc. and the Button Bar.
While i believe that many of these can be substituted with Far versions, it would take
quite some time to get used to a new environment.

Anyway, a simple menu with all Macroses, similar to the Tasks menu, would be quite
useful, though perhaps this can be achieved with an Autohotkey script that would parse
the settings.xml.

Favorite folders can be also achieved with a simple ahk script that would simply 
Send {Esc}cd/d %selectedFolder%

If it is a huge challenge to simply add such a menu, then there's simply no reason
to ever ask for any new features in ConEmu, due to the attitude of the authors.

Reported by steven.pribilinskiy on 2014-04-12 09:11:14

[Maximus5]

Steven, sorry if I'm repeating myself but I'm just going to reiterate that I'm not asking
you to stop using TC or replace TC with FAR. I regret comparing TC to FAR already because
this was not the impression I was trying to make.

Here is how I suggest solving this problem:

1. Install FAR, and configure ConEmu to start Far instead of CMD (it will do so automatically
if you unpack it to where you installed FAR)
2. Open the user menu by pressing F2
3. Press the Insert key to add new items. You can type commands such as "cd C:\Path"
or any other commands.
4. You can trigger these bookmarks in the same way, just click or press Enter on the
items to run them.

This should not affect your existing CMD workflow, you'll just additionally benefit
from FAR's features. You don't have to use any other of its features if you don't want
to.

BTW, please ignore the "Project member" badge near my name, it's from a time I contributed
a little code and documentation from a while ago. Maximus is nearly the sole author
of ConEmu.

> then there's simply no reason to ever ask for any new features in ConEmu, due to
the attitude of the authors.

I agree that it makes little sense to ask Maximus to reinvent the wheel and reimplement
features that can be trivially emulated with existing open-source software.

Reported by thecybershadow on 2014-04-12 09:23:24

[Maximus5]

One more thing.
GuiMacro may be posted from any external application (like AHK). And they do not have
to parse settings. Just post strings encoded into ahk scripts.
Also, you may create a bunch of .cmd or aliases to run "in-console scripts" with menus
to execute some actions.

Reported by ConEmu.Maximus5 on 2014-04-12 10:29:30

[Maximus5]

I know FAR is Cool, it's Great, it have a long story, perhaps as long as TC, and i will
definitely use it in the future, but currently it looks a bit too excessive to include
it to every console. Anyway, thanks for the tip with F2 and this is indeed already
a good reason to include far into each console.

So i've configured to start far.exe instead of cmd.exe in the Startup section. Looking
at integration, the app could be named to FarConEmu :)

To open four consoles i would need to execute:
>far -cur_console:n
far -cur_console:s1TVn
far -cur_console:s1THn
far -cur_console:s2THn

what is the command-line switch to hide the panels at startup (the Ctrl+O switch)?
Couldn't find in the docs.

The idea behind a menu of macroses is:
1. A quick reference of macroses (alternative to Win+Alt+K, Alt+M)
2. Ability to run macroses from menu
3. Macroses can be used as a Bookmarks/Favorites for paths with print(), regardless
of currently used shell. E.g. in cmd.exe a user may put cmd/d then press the hotkey
that shows the macros menu to paste required path
4. Macroses can be used to run some commands inside of current/active pane, as Tasks
are not designed to run in current pane, the ambiguous -cur_console flag have a totally
different meaning despite of it's title.
5. Macroses can be used for ...

Currently there's no way to run a macros without defining a hotkey for each one.
And invoking a menu to show a list of all macros would imo make sense for those who
don't use Autohotkey.

Maximus, what do you mean by telling to "post strings encoded into ahk scripts".

Reported by steven.pribilinskiy on 2014-04-12 11:25:50

[Maximus5]

One more question about FAR Background Color
I see that it can be replaced successfully by some Background image
http://i.imgur.com/oOwHlYD.png
Is there a way to replace the background color (make it transparent) without using
an image?

Reported by steven.pribilinskiy on 2014-04-12 12:07:42

[Maximus5]

Take a look at wiki: http://code.google.com/p/conemu-maximus5/wiki/FarManager

I'll try to answer your questions later, when I get to PC
Some hints ATM

F1in Far is great. It even can show all  hotkeys used in Far, including users macros.

Press CtrlO and ShiftF9, panels will remain hidden on restart.

RCtrl+0..9 saves folder shortcut, LCtrl+0..9 restores folder. More in help. You may
even put several folders on one hotkey and select one from menu.

Far can get Folder path as argument, or you may automate it with any macro on startup,
just for example

Far "macro:post print(\"hello world\")"

Reported by ConEmu.Maximus5 on 2014-04-12 12:24:50

[Maximus5]

As for Far background... misunderstand what do you want exactly.
Far panels color can be set to any RGB value.
ConEmu background field can get not only path to the picture file, but any RGB value
too.
Background plugin is complicated way to change Far background to anything you want
due to user defined conditions. For example, highlight some critical folders with red
background, temp folders with gray, and so on...

Reported by ConEmu.Maximus5 on 2014-04-12 12:35:37

[Maximus5]

print() works, keys() are not, e.g. following doesn't work
far "macro:post keys(\"^O\")"

Saving panel state with Shift+F9 does work, but now you can't control that on startup.
E.g. to start 4 FAR consoles and one of which to be with panels shown
>far "macro:post keys(\"^o\")" -cur_console:n
far -cur_console:s1TVn
far -cur_console:s1THn
far -cur_console:s2THn

I know about the ability to set colors in FAR, 
it's done with following "small set of keystrokes":
* F9, o, l (Open Menu, Options, Colors)
* P, Enter, B, Left, Left, Left, Left, Down, Space, Enter, Enter (change color to Black
for Normal text)
* Down, Enter, B, Left, Left, Left, Left, Down, Space, Enter, Enter (change color to
Black for Selected text)
* do the same thing for Highlighted text, Highlighted Info, Border, ....

There's no indication that an RGB value can be set to the "Path" input field
http://i.imgur.com/IfYgzOE.png
unless you use your mouse pointer to get a tooltip

I use "Ubuntu" color scheme and just wanted FAR to inherit the background color.
With Background image/color is enabled, selected color scheme's background becomes
visible except the parts where a background image is located or that square that is
filled with the custom color
http://i.imgur.com/yQ9OS9V.png

I can select Stretch for selected color, but better i would like to see a Rectangle
size value, instead of going to Color section of the Settings dialog to copy/paste
the color#0 value
That's just unintuitive.

Reported by steven.pribilinskiy on 2014-04-12 13:09:16

[Maximus5]

Far doesn't support AHK notation. The proper call is Keys("CtrlO"). And as wiki said
you may record you keypresses to reuse them.

Reported by ConEmu.Maximus5 on 2014-04-12 13:28:57

[Maximus5]

with far "macro:post keys(\"CtrlO\")"
still got an error: http://i.imgur.com/rNRjmPD.png

Reported by steven.pribilinskiy on 2014-04-12 13:33:41

[Maximus5]

also there's a broken link in https://code.google.com/p/conemu-maximus5/wiki/FarManager
the one that targets
<a href='http://translate.google.ru/translate?hl=ru&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.farmanager.com%2Fru2%2Fmacro%2Fmacrocmd%2Findex.html'>Macro
Language</a>

Reported by steven.pribilinskiy on 2014-04-12 13:40:04

[Maximus5]

> "And as wiki said you may record you keypresses to reuse them."
Didn't get the point of recording keypress for this case.
To record "Ctrl+O" and assign to another hotkey? What's the point?

Reported by steven.pribilinskiy on 2014-04-12 13:42:21

[Maximus5]

The case matters. You may note, Keys but not a keys.

https://code.google.com/p/conemu-maximus5/wiki/FarManager#5._Automation

Reported by ConEmu.Maximus5 on 2014-04-12 14:19:58

[Maximus5]

That worked, thanks.

Reported by steven.pribilinskiy on 2014-04-12 17:47:11