Author Topic: MultiCommander v10 (Alpha VERSION) Darkness is coming  (Read 17890 times)

Mathias (Author)

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There are lots of code changes in version MC 10.
And they are almost all because of one feature. Dark Mode

Some background
Dark mode is somethings I wanted my self for sometimes and also a feature that is often requested.
However. It is also somethings that is not exactly easy to add.
Windows do not have any support for dark mode for standard desktop apps. (only for new UWP styled apps)
But Microsoft is working on some sort of dark mode support for standard desktop apps. Windows Explorer does support it in Windows 10.
However, it is using undocumented functions in Windows but ONLY the UI controllers that you see in Windows Explorer is supported in dark mode.
And that list is very very very low. The colors in most standard UI controller can be tweaked, Some more than other. some only in part.

So do be able to support Dark mode MC have to use undocumented features that can change between releases.
Also It require that I create custom variants of UI controllers like ComboBox (Dropdown list), Checkbox, Radio Button, and more
It also requires that current custom UI controllers must be updated to allow dark mode.
And MC contains more than a 100 dialogs and each one of them need to be tweak.

So, What is done ? And known issues.

The most common dialog does now support Dark mode, (CopyTo / Progress. Conflict dialog and more)
But not ALL of them will be fixed. there are too many, and some is very rarely shown.
But if you have one that popup a lot and want that fixed. Post a request about it here.

I created a new ComboBox like controller. Its default look of it is almost the same as the standard one.
But it might have some different behaviors. That is somethings I wanted to do for some time anyway. since I got other plans in the future that required
a combobox where I got full control of the popup that is shown.
This is used anywhere where a dark mode combobox is shown. The Command Line Field.  Device DropDown. and other places.

The option for dark mode in settings only changes the default UI, The list view. since all those colors can be customized.
If you want a full change to dark mode that also changes all the other colors go to Quick Look'n'Feel Setup and selected a new darkmode option in cutomize.
There should be a configuration for that.  (might need to restart, app for now)

MenuBar is not dark. MC is currently using the standard menubar in Windows and there is no way to change the color of that.
and I had not bad the time to create a custom menubar controller for MC. The Menubar is very deeply connected into the core of standard application.
So creating a custom menubar require a lot of work.

When a ComboBox is in NOT a dropdown list mode, it has a edit field. Like the commandline field.
This edit field is not a custom controller. creating a custom controller that is an editor is A LOT of work. because there are a lot
of language depended things it needs to support. so, the standard edit controller is used. And it is possible to tweak its background and text colors.
However. some of the edit controls in MC have a cue banner text.  this is the text that is shown if there is no text in it and it is not in focus.
And this text color can NOT be changed. That makes the text hard to read in dark mode. And there is nothing I can do about it for now.

When showing the dropdown from a ComboBox, it is shown directly. it is not animated like it was pulled down. Like the standard one. But I almost sees that as a features. It is faster to just show it.
There are some minor bugs still with the dropdown.
There might be some issue in high DPI mode, I have not done any testing with high DPI yet.
And finally, Dark mode is ONLY support on Windows 10 and because MC is using the limited support that is in Windows for it. And Windows 10 Dark mode is a theme. You will get a weird look (I assume) if you turned of all theming in Windows 10.

IMPORTANT.

Bugs you find in version 10 report them here. BUT only if there are unique for version 10.
like Darkmode stuff or other UI issues that can have been affected be the dark mode changes or new UI controllers. For other not UI released bugs please check if they are in the latest version 9.x. if they are report in normal place. Else report them here.
I really need to separate issues that are version 10 unique or not, My time is very limited since I also have a day job. And the more clear the bug reports are the the better

Also this is a ALPHA, There will be issues with it. DO NOT upgrade current version to this without creating a backup first.  Recommended is to run the portable edition

Version 10.0 (2709)  Contains all fixed that are in 9.7

Changes:
Custom CombBox controller supporting custom colors.
Custom Checkbox/Radio Button supporting custom colors.
GroupBox controller updated to a 3rd party that support custom colors and more UI options.
Some icons updated to work better with dark mode.
Default font changed to Segoe UI (if MC is upgrades this is not changed)

Other Changes:
- Everything in 9.7
- When searching for files using content matching, Binary files are not searched by default, New option added to include binary files.
- Command line filed command ":setpos x y" or ":set pos x y h w" to set pos and size of MC window.

Know issues:
- Some of the controllers may have high DPI issues. (please report issue with DPI you find)
- Device Dropdown list is not calculating the correct width. So it is not expanded if needed
- Dark mode only works with Windows 10 1903+ (Minor issues in 1804 that can be fixed)
- Menubar is not dark. And right now it can't be fixed without major rewrites. Hoping Microsoft will add DarkMode support for that. (Or if I find a good 3rd party option)
- Many dialog is not change to DarkMode. All of them will not be change. But request the dialogs that pops up often for you that you want to be updated.

2020-06-06 2716
FIXED - ComboBox Popup fixes with High DPI mode
FIXED - High DPI Issues with Checkboxes
ADDED - ComboBox now support dynamic width with the popup
ADDED - Makesure Alt+Arrow Down and Alt+Up withs in Combobox to show/close popup
FIXED - Sometimes device combo was not updated.


32bit Portable : http://multicommander.com/files/alpha/MultiCommander_win32_Portable_(10.0.0.2716).zip
64bit Portable : http://multicommander.com/files/alpha/MultiCommander_x64_Portable_(10.0.0.2716).zip

32Bit Installer : http://multicommander.com/files/alpha/MultiCommander_win32_(10.0.0.2716).exe
64Bit Installer : http://multicommander.com/files/alpha/MultiCommander_x64_(10.0.0.2716).exe

« Last Edit: June 06, 2020, 13:38:27 by Mathias (Author) »

AlanJB

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Re: MultiCommander v10 (Alpha VERSION) Darkness is coming
« Reply #1 on: May 01, 2020, 19:11:49 »
I created a new ComboBox like controller...But it might have some different behaviors.

Hi Mathias,

Personally, I do not use (nor want to use) dark mode.  But...

I hope the "different behaviors" do not include changes to the basic behaviour of comboboxes.
For example:  Alt+DownArrow to open the combobox; scrolling within it using Up/Down arrow keys and Enter to select an item?

Mathias (Author)

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Re: MultiCommander v10 (Alpha VERSION) Darkness is coming
« Reply #2 on: May 04, 2020, 11:21:39 »
I created a new ComboBox like controller...But it might have some different behaviors.

Hi Mathias,

Personally, I do not use (nor want to use) dark mode.  But...

I hope the "different behaviors" do not include changes to the basic behaviour of comboboxes.
For example:  Alt+DownArrow to open the combobox; scrolling within it using Up/Down arrow keys and Enter to select an item?

I know F4 work. (show dropdown) Not sure if Alt+down is added yet. If not, It will

AlanJB

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Re: MultiCommander v10 (Alpha VERSION) Darkness is coming
« Reply #3 on: May 04, 2020, 15:28:45 »
Good news - thanks!

Stéphane P.

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Re: MultiCommander v10 (Alpha VERSION) Darkness is coming
« Reply #4 on: May 04, 2020, 23:13:52 »
Hello Mathias,

Regarding translations, can we start on this version, or is it better to wait for a more stable version?

Regards.

Mathias (Author)

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Re: MultiCommander v10 (Alpha VERSION) Darkness is coming
« Reply #5 on: May 05, 2020, 11:59:06 »
Hello Mathias,

Regarding translations, can we start on this version, or is it better to wait for a more stable version?

Regards.
Better to wait.. lots of things may still change

Stéphane P.

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Re: MultiCommander v10 (Alpha VERSION) Darkness is coming
« Reply #6 on: May 06, 2020, 17:23:04 »
Quote
- Many dialog is not change to DarkMode. All of them will not be change. But request the dialogs that pops up often for you that you want to be updated.

Hello Mathias,
I think it might be a lot of work, but what about the MultiDataViewer? I often use it, so I'm trying my luck.

Regards.

Mathias (Author)

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Re: MultiCommander v10 (Alpha VERSION) Darkness is coming
« Reply #7 on: May 06, 2020, 17:46:08 »
Quote
- Many dialog is not change to DarkMode. All of them will not be change. But request the dialogs that pops up often for you that you want to be updated.

Hello Mathias,
I think it might be a lot of work, but what about the MultiDataViewer? I often use it, so I'm trying my luck.

Regards.
That is on my list on windows that going to get DarkMode support. But it also need other UI changes that Im planing on doing at the same time.

Matthias515566

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Re: MultiCommander v10 (Alpha VERSION) Darkness is coming
« Reply #8 on: May 12, 2020, 13:55:17 »
I have a Problem with Network-Paths in my Tab Sessions. They are now no longer shown in the address-bar and the Explorer Panel have only the Name Explorer Panel and not the name of the Network-Folder.
« Last Edit: May 15, 2020, 17:28:53 by Matthias515566 »

Mathias (Author)

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Re: MultiCommander v10 (Alpha VERSION) Darkness is coming
« Reply #9 on: May 16, 2020, 16:38:26 »
I have a Problem with Network-Paths in my Tab Sessions. They are now no longer shown in the address-bar and the Explorer Panel have only the Name Explorer Panel and not the name of the Network-Folder.
Thanks, I will look into that.


Matthias515566

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Re: MultiCommander v10 (Alpha VERSION) Darkness is coming
« Reply #11 on: June 10, 2020, 12:05:45 »
Thank you very much, it works very good, no longer like a alpha version. Operations with network Paths and MTP Devices are now again possible, but if somebody saved a Tab session with Network-Paths - they was deleted with the older version of v10 :)

Hoping you go sometimes professional with MC and not only spare time.