Making it QUICK / Customize Keyboard Shortcuts

auwebio · 2011-09-06 07:47

For me, one of the very few things lacking in ReNamer is the ability to do, AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE:

ENTER the program already with a list of different files.
LOAD a preset (and automatically preview it)
PERFORM (commit) the renaming operation
EXIT the program

Right now, steps 1 and 2 are quite easy to configure shortcuts and takes less than a second.

But for steps 3 and 4 (PERFORM the operation / EXIT the program), there is no visible shortcut (ok, I just found out in the wiki that we could use F5 for Renaming and Alt+F4 for exit**).

You would have to manually move your mouse (taking your hands from the keyboard) over to the right place on the screen and click on th "Rename button" and after that then "walk your mouse" to the "exit icon" on the top to be able to exit the program.

I know it's just a few more seconds, but when you do it over and over and over again, you just wish you had more 'fast and smart' options like other programs that allow you to configure in the settings: "USE <ENTER> for commiting the changes" and "USE <ESC> to exit the program".

I know there is the "Close program after successful rename", but I find that particular option quite "dangerous" and would rather not use it indistinctly for ALL renaming operations. Changing this particular setting back and forth is also too cumbersome to be useful enough, so I always leave it unmarked.

We could either have a simple text file to store and edit ALL the program's KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS (just like in photoshop, for instance), or we could have a specific OPTIONS (I know it's not useful/secure for every single user) to enable/disable the use of <ENTER>/<ESC> for Reming and Exiting.

P.S.: **, but my main point is till valid, specially if you take into consideration that the "FN Keys" occupy a different place in many different keyboards and in some of them you are required to active them together with yet another key, let alone mentioning the fact that those "FN Keys" are never really "well located" and within a quick reach on your keyboard. Another annoying fact is that you always have to make a distinction between all the surrounding "FN Keys", e.g. make sure you're not pressing F2 or F4 when you really want F5; it takes a while longer to choose an "FN Key", in comparison to most other "regular" keys. I still think the use of the <ENTER> and <ESC> keys make much more sense and are easier to remember, besides the added bonus of being "global" to a vast myriad of different programs - they all use <ENTER> to commit and <ESC> to exit - so you don't even have to remember particular settings and keyboard shortcuts for each program. Yet another issue is the fact that the F4 key is used for both preview and add folders, and I think it would be better if they used different shortcuts; F5 would be much more suitable for Preview, since it is almost an universal key used for "refresh"/"reload" in many programs.

SafetyCar · 2011-09-07 08:01

F5 would be much more suitable for Preview, since it is almost an universal key used for "refresh"/"reload" in many programs.

The wiki was wrong, F5 is in fact Preview, F6 is Rename. I corrected it. Anyway, the shortcuts usually are displayed on the right of the menus. For example, open in the main bar the file menu, and you'll see the keyboard shortcuts.

But I think the enter and the escape are a little bit dangerous to use on the main window of ReNamer. The enter has many uses already, focused on a rule, opens the rule; focused on a file, opens the file (at least in beta). And the escape, is a little bit dangerous, not only that you can easily hit it by accident, but also if you are escaping from editing a rule, and you press it more than once you might close everything.

I've sometimes thought about some kind of action rules. For example, Action rule: "Rename right after preview" or, "Preview, rename and Exit". Or "Clear not changed", "Order by..." and "Preview again". But... I don't see it coming. Looks like too much work for Denis.

auwebio · 2011-09-07 08:56

SafetyCar wrote:

The wiki was wrong, F5 is in fact Preview, F6 is Rename. I corrected it. Anyway, the shortcuts usually are displayed on the right of the menus. For example, open in the main bar the file menu, and you'll see the keyboard shortcuts.

Oh, I see it now... Many thanks for pointing that out.

I still think that F6 isn't the ideal Key to use for renaming... (but it is better than F5, granted) It does take me a much longer time to look down, identify and press the combination keys in my keyboard to be able to use it efficiently (quick enough). The same goes to the Exit combination (3 keypresses to reach the Alt+F4), although it is indeed the "universal" combination for exiting most programs (that don't use or don't allow you to use the ESC to exit) in windows.

I would love to be able to use a single key to exit the program after a successful rename operation (I don't exit automatically, exactly because of the danger factor - the risks of exiting involuntarily by accidentally hitting the "EXIT Key" are much, much lower than the ones involved with exiting automatically every single time).

SafetyCar wrote:

But I think the enter and the escape are a little bit dangerous to use on the main window of ReNamer. The enter has many uses already, focused on a rule, opens the rule; focused on a file, opens the file (at least in beta). And the escape, is a little bit dangerous, not only that you can easily hit it by accident, but also if you are escaping from editing a rule, and you press it more than once you might close everything.

I absolutely agree with you. It is dangerous. But I really think it's not any more dangerous than some options we already have "Close program after successful rename" and even sometimes "Auto preview" (when used in conjunction with certain Pascal Scripts);

My point is: what might sound dangerous for me or for someone else, can possibly be the dream configuration for another type of user.

The ideal solution to this problem, for me, is to allow us to customize ALL the Keyboard shortcuts.

SafetyCar wrote:

I've sometimes thought about some kind of action rules. For example, Action rule: "Rename right after preview" or, "Preview, rename and Exit". Or "Clear not changed", "Order by..." and "Preview again". But... I don't see it coming. Looks like too much work for Denis.

I can see some use for that too... I personally would love that! But I understand the complexity involved in the logic of implementing this specifically could "put off" the developer from actually doing it.

What I don't understand is why not allow us to customize the shortcut keys:

we already have an INI file that would hold this type of configuration quite well
the complexity of reading those settings and assigning the keys in the program start is, well, quite frankly, inexistent

It really makes no sense for me not to have it, but not once since I started reading and participating in this forum I've seen the developer get involved in these kind of healthy discussions about the development of the program, so I would know for sure if I'm really only wasting my time here...

Stefan · 2011-09-07 14:41

Common notice

Please note that this is an hobby project of Denis, and all such improvements will take an great part of his spare time.
So please think twice is an wanted feature is really necessary for an renamer tool.

Read more at >> Great and not so great...

auwebio · 2011-09-07 15:52

Stefan wrote:

Common notice
Please note that this is an hobby project of Denis, and all such improvements will take a great part of his spare time.
So please think twice if a wanted feature is really necessary for a renamer tool.

Yes, indeed, Stefan,
I absolutely understand that. (I also have read that post a long time ago - I just read it yet again...)

Sometimes I even feel like "that guy" who receives a great shirt as a gift, gets quite happy about it, and a few months later starts complaining to himself that this shirt is too hard to wash... (and therefore I will start using it less, never mind how great the shirt is)

Something similar happens with ReNamer and me. I find myself using it ever so much and so often that I really want it (very badly) to improve. I'm quite content waiting for its improvement, as it has been happening for a while now; each version brings us something new and something better; I can clearly see the improvements both here in the forum and in the last version of ReNamer, there's no doubt about it.

What I was just mentioning on the post above is that sometimes I feel like I'm wasting my time coming here to the forum, in the hopes of having a bit of interaction with the developer, and this has never happened. I understand his reasons, and I respect his decision not to interact with us as his own personal choice. I understand it's just like drinking: if you drink one glass, there's good chances you'll drink two or even more (whether you're an alcoholic or not).

When it comes to doubts and operational problems and all sort of help, you guys here are just wonderful; never have I stood without an answer for any problem of mine; I have been always quite promptly helped by you guys, and I'm thankful for that.

I never thought that when it comes to doubts and problems of that sort, the developer should get involved, specially if the problems are being solved all so fast by you guys; but when it comes to bugs and suggestions for improvement, I would expect him (doesn't mean it has to be like that, it's just an expectation) to say at least a word or two, at least "once a month", like "this is never going to be implemented" or "i like this idea" or "this is in the plans" or, in terms of bugs, "I can't replicate that" or "this is a know bug, expect a correction by the next version", etc, etc.

Poor old Yogui just asked for Presets Sub Menus on subfolders of the Presets folder in January (2011-01-07) and, nine months (!!) later, never got a response, either to say it wasn't a good idea or if it could be implemented sometime in the future;

This doesn't mean that I'm not thankful for Denis's work, or that I don't understand, or that I will stop using ReNamer; I'll keep on using it "as it is"; it just means that I get frustrated and disappointed sometimes too... to the point where I start wishing very hard for ReNamer to go Open Source, despite its continuous improvement, but just for the fact that it won't improve as much or as fast as it possibly could.

More to the point:
• being able to Customize Keyboard Shortcuts is something so simple, yet so good and so powerful, that, as I said before, I don't see why not give us this option.
(even if it will only be implemented in a future version, whenever the developer has time for it; it doesn't really matter how long it will take to make into the program, as long as it's "in the plans")

den4b · 2011-09-19 11:55

auwebio, I can assure you that I am reading through every suggestion and feature request. Unfortunately, for the reasons which I clearly explained in the past, I can no longer answer every post and every request. I do, however, take into consideration all of the suggestions.

Customizing keyboard shortcuts does sound like a great idea, but there is quite a bit more work involved in building the whole framework to facilitate this functionality, providing very little benefit as this functionality is rarely used (1 user out of 100). For the same reasons, very few tools like ReNamer actually do have ability to customize the keyboard shortcuts.

auwebio · 2011-09-19 13:17

den4b wrote:

auwebio, I can assure you that I am reading through every suggestion and feature request. Unfortunately, for the reasons which I clearly explained in the past, I can no longer answer every post and every request. I do, however, take into consideration all of the suggestions.
Customizing keyboard shortcuts does sound like a great idea, but there is quite a bit more work involved in building the whole framework to facilitate this functionality, providing very little benefit as this functionality is rarely used (1 user out of 100). For the same reasons, very few tools like ReNamer actually do have ability to customize the keyboard shortcuts.

Hello, Denis,
I'm incredibly happy to hear you say that.
(and many thanks for taking the time to say it )

I was able to see the problem with getting too much involved with the forum and application support, as I read that mentioned post for the third time another day, and I realized that I wasn't very fair in my previous post. I do apologize for that; I was having a really bad day when I wrote it.

I have a very basic experience with Delphi development; and I've been using (and developing a little bit) an "IDE" for ReNamer Pascal Script within NotePad++, customizing the language and creating the auto-completion/help files/api (see picture below); Since NotePad++ is open-source, and I quite like the very simple interface for customizing all Keyboard shortcuts on it, I did take a look on its code and I think I'm quite capable of adapting it to Delphi. I could give you a complete functional module for reading, changing and assigning keyboard shortcuts for all available ReNamer commands, you would "just" have to connect it to the main program (or at least I wish it was "that simple"... ). I would love to help, but if you can't see that working for you, I completely understand.

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den4b Forum

#1 2011-09-06 07:47

Making it QUICK / Customize Keyboard Shortcuts

#2 2011-09-07 08:01

Re: Making it QUICK / Customize Keyboard Shortcuts

#3 2011-09-07 08:56

Re: Making it QUICK / Customize Keyboard Shortcuts

#4 2011-09-07 14:41

Re: Making it QUICK / Customize Keyboard Shortcuts

#5 2011-09-07 15:52

Re: Making it QUICK / Customize Keyboard Shortcuts

#6 2011-09-19 11:55

Re: Making it QUICK / Customize Keyboard Shortcuts

#7 2011-09-19 13:17

Re: Making it QUICK / Customize Keyboard Shortcuts

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