FLAT Filesystem View bugs and request

[Isabelxxx]

http://forum.multicommander.com/forum/index.php/topic,1457.msg5289.html#msg5289

FLAT Filesystem View
If you find any bugs/issue with flat filesystem view, report it.. Flat view is not a mode I use my self and I will probably miss many of the issue when testing. And if people who uses it do not report the issues it will probably not be fixed.

Also I do not like the way it is activated now (from the viewmode popup).. Suggestions are welcomed..  Icon on toolbar?  Icon in another place?
Hot key.. (what combo), Menu ?  .. another ?

*Multicommander hangs indefinitely & crash when using Flat View with too many folders/files, checked several times. The behavior is really strange since it first cache all files from HDD, if the time doing that is too big then it will finally end the caching process (HDD stops reading) but the UI continue unresponsive. Then if I restart MC and try to Flat View the same path it usually works.
Can't say where is the limit... I work with +10^4  files, 2-3Tb total size
(TC works right anytime in same circumstances, not a HDD problem)

Features request:

*Create a new active window (at top) while caching the files showing the progress and sub-folders being analyzed; no more waiting without knowing how it is going.
Cancel button allows you to stop at any point without waiting MC to finish. It would load the partial list.

See attach. 1

*Hot key --> CTRL+B          (Button Window to ---> CTRL+SHIFT+B)

*Menu --- > Move to View.

See attach. 2

*In fact I would suggest to play a bit more with the menus, differentiating the general UI behavior (UI or Appearance) and the explorer panel options (view).
Flat view still goes to View, explorer panel width and options too. View modes not so hidden, just at bottom.  (stop/refresh should be there too, my fault!)
The rest of UI options not related to explorer panel would go to UI menu.

See attach 3

[Mathias (Author)]

I know. But it does not really hang even if it look like it (see task manager, it still shows that MC it working)
problem is that the main UI is blocked while doing the recursive scan because of technical reason, and after a while Windows think it might have hung and ask to close it.  and sometimes auto close it,  Often if you keep clicking it the none responsive window.  But if you leave it alone and done stress the ui by clicking it it. It will complete. 

It only happens if there are A LOT of files and the scanning and processing takes a very long time.

I know it is a bit annoying but the fix require a lot of redesign, And I do have that on my todo list.
Often when doing Flat view you do not do it on the root of a device with million of files or in a places where the result would be similar.
having that menu files in a list is not optimal, It happens. but it not a common use case for Flat view.


The viewmode can't be placed there. (Plugin/Extensions reason (Explorer panel is a plugin))
You also got in the the ViewMode option in the ViewMode button. (Last button after the free space field)

[Isabelxxx]

I would not report this if Im not sure it's not what you say...

I mean TC do that work in X seconds. But MC will hang indefinitely.

I'm not talking about the usual hang you talk about and task manager showing it does something, I talk about HDD not being read at all at some point while TC would have already finished. We can expect TC is faster than MC, ok, but it makes no sense if TC scan the same folders in less than a minute and MC hangs 30 min without doing anything. That's what I report.

There seems to be some point where it does not work as it should be.... below that point is what you say, task manager shows it's working, and then I suggested to just show another window as active with the progress. But that's independent to the previous problem.

[Isabelxxx]

Also not sure if I follow you... I'm suggesting to also add the Flat view option in the view menu, the same there is Show hidden files and all that.
Not to move the entire Viewmode to the view menu.

You asked about moving that option, and I suggest to move it there or at least replicate it there too, which seems to me the natural place to be. That along the hotkey change, commonly used in other file managers, and also simpler than 3 keys. In fact I would reserve 2-hotkeys for actions, used more frequently, instead of show/hide UI things like the log (ctrl+L), buttons (ctrk+b), etc.

You can not disable the explorer plugin so it must be always enabled, therefore no problem to have that menu option permanent there, the same there is already a Explore Panel submenu in the View menu (?).

Just asking, was not sure if I didn't explain myself right or it's really a limitation of how things works in the code.

[Mathias (Author)]

Strange, I can't get MC to hang.  Even if there are 3 Million files that I got on one of my drives here,  It takes a while to scan.. But I only get false hang, (Windows saying that MC is not responding, but it will wake up when done. And you get that because MC blocks the main UI. while TC does not. and it does it because of technical reason.)

And as I said.. It is on my list. But since the main UI is blocked.. showing a progress windows will not do anything since that would also be blocked.
the problem is that is main ui should not be blocked. But then there are a of other issues. and it is this other issues that need fixing.
But since this is a "minor" issue.. (FLAT view is not used by many, and often it is not used on a very very large mass of files, and I'm not using it my self) it is not top prio.. But it will be fixed, Not just yet.

[Mathias (Author)]

No they can't be top level. that you can'y turn off explore panel does not matter. it is still a extension. It would require quite a bit of architecture of internal stuff just to make that happen, and that is to much work to just move a menu item.

The shortcut what it is because ctrl+b is already taken and I do not want to remove something that is already in use.
 

Also not sure if I follow you... I'm suggesting to also add the Flat view option in the view menu, the same there is Show hidden files and all that.
Not to move the entire Viewmode to the view menu.

You asked about moving that option, and I suggest to move it there or at least replicate it there too, which seems to me the natural place to be. That along the hotkey change, commonly used in other file managers, and also simpler than 3 keys. In fact I would reserve 2-hotkeys for actions, used more frequently, instead of show/hide UI things like the log (ctrl+L), buttons (ctrk+b), etc.

You can not disable the explorer plugin so it must be always enabled, therefore no problem to have that menu option permanent there, the same there is already a Explore Panel submenu in the View menu (?).

Just asking, was not sure if I didn't explain myself right or it's really a limitation of how things works in the code.

[Isabelxxx]

Uhm... I get it. Then there must be another variable playing here... I'm sure it hangs indefinitely as I say, while other file managers do finish the process at some time (1-2 minutes), that's why I'm sure it's not only a HDD problem.

In fact just tried in a SSD, the SO disk and it hangs. CPU usage 0%. No I/O reads. No memory increase. I'm using the x64 portable. Running as admin.

Can not imagine what it could be, if you need any info or thing to test, just let me know. Not that I consider this top priority as you say but since you asked about testing it.
In fact I care more about the checksum part and the problems present with wrong checksum files I suggested in the other thread.

[Isabelxxx]

I think usability would be greater if Explorer submenu is top level or its own menu.  But no problem, just suggesting it.

Just noted we have the possibility to change existing menu hotkeys so it's user choice to make flat view Ctrl+B and show buttons ctrl+shift+B.
hahaha Forget anything I said about the hotkeys, sorry. You already let the user to change them! (and therefore I don't mind about the default value)

[Isabelxxx]

Tried again against 3400000 files/4TB and working right, then again against the SO disk SSD and hangs... could it be a security/permissions problem?

Like trying to access to specific folders... that would explain why it hangs and does nothing.

[Mathias (Author)]

Uhm... I get it. Then there must be another variable playing here... I'm sure it hangs indefinitely as I say, while other file managers do finish the process at some time (1-2 minutes), that's why I'm sure it's not only a HDD problem.

In fact just tried in a SSD, the SO disk and it hangs. CPU usage 0%. No I/O reads. No memory increase. I'm using the x64 portable. Running as admin.

Can not imagine what it could be, if you need any info or thing to test, just let me know. Not that I consider this top priority as you say but since you asked about testing it.
In fact I care more about the checksum part and the problems present with wrong checksum files I suggested in the other thread.

That is strange, Took me 45s to scan my drive (normal, not ssd) with 2.4M files. Lot of memory usage ofcouse  around 1.5G so do not try it with 32bit version or when you low on memory.  But it works.. not sure why it locks for you

Do not think it is permission, If it can't scan a folder it just skips it.

[Mathias (Author)]

A long shot.. But you can try to create a dump of the MC process from task manager when it has hanged for sure, and than compress it and then upload it to http://multicommander.com/upload/  And I can check and maybe see what it is waiting for.

[Isabelxxx]

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/what_is_hang.html

Hang report for C:\Utiles_x64\Exploradores\MultiCommander_x64_Portable_(5.9.0.2062)\MultiCommander.exe
Generated by using WhatIsHang on 01/02/2016 2:31:53
Web site: http://www.nirsoft.net


Remarks:
* The program hangs in a single system call. You can look in the call stack and  stack data to find out which API function cause this hang.


Strings found in the stack:
Default
C:\Windows\winsxs\amd64_microsoft-windows-i..plication.resources_31bf3856ad364e35_11.2.9600.16428_en-us_37b47fc8249b0283
md64_microsoft-windows-i..plication.resources_31bf3856ad364e35_11.2.9600.16428_en-us_37b47fc8249b0283
C:\$Recycle.Bin
\$Recycle.Bin

Will upload the dmp file tomorrow

[Isabelxxx]

Oh, I'm using win 7.

Something is wrong using MC in that win 7..  running it in compatibility mode for vista and finally works as expected, does not get stuck at that point.

[Mathias (Author)]

Running compatibility with vista on Win7 on MC can cause unexpected issues since MC is developed for Win7 first. (7 and 10 is the main target, other OS are tweaked to get working)

Sounds like some conflict. Most conflict are with Shell Extensions. All installed Shell Extensions gets loaded into MC, and most shell extensions are only tested for Windows Explorer and they assume that it is Windows Explorer that is loading them. and they can cause all kind of issue with the program that loads them.

[Isabelxxx]

Uploaded the dmp file.

[Mathias (Author)]

As I suspected it did not provide any clue.