Xplorer2 integration with DirectFolders

DirectFolders is an application that makes file system folder navigation quick and easy. It’s sweet spot is when you’ve got deeply nested folders. You can create bookmarks for them which are accessible via hotkeys anytime, anyplace.

Xplorer² is a powerful, extensively customisable replacement for Windows Explorer. The Windows 7 native Explorer specialises in making life hard for anyone using it so turned to Xplorer² for the sake of my mental health.

There are free ‘lite’ versions of  both applications and they are well worth a test drive.

By default, DirectFolders launches the native Windows Explorer but it can be configured to launch Xplorer² instead.

Configuring DirectFolders to launch Xplorer²

To get DirectFolders to launch Xplorer²:

1. launch the DirectFolders ‘Configure…’ window
2. Select the Options tab
3. In the Misc section
1. Select ‘Open Folder in’: Custom
2. Enter the command to launch Xplorer²:
   C:\Program Files\zabkat\xplorer2\xplorer2_64.exe /R:%1
   Substitute the correct location of Xplorer² for your installation.

 

Configuring Xplorer² to load folders in a new tab

After making the changes above, DirectFolders will launch it’s shortcuts in Xplorer² but it will create a new instance of Xplorer² for each launch. To make the folders appear as new tabs in the same Xplorer2 instance do the following:

1. Open Xplorer² advanced options: Tools –> Advanced Options
2. Select the Layout Settings tab
3. Scroll down to Single Window Mode
4. Select ‘Always open new tabs in a single window’
5. Select OK
6. Restart Xplorer² and test launching shortcuts from DirectFolders. They should appear in new tabs in a single instance of Xplorer².

Xplorer² has a lot of shortcut functionality built in, so you could manage folder navigation entirely within it. I’m so comfortable with DirectFolders having used it for years that it suits me better to integrate the two.

Putty session locked up? Try Ctrl+q

If your putty session locks up and becomes unresponsive, try hitting Ctrl+q to restore it. I’ve had this problem many times but only today spotted that it happened when I hit Ctrl+s by mistake. According to this post at StackOverflow, Ctrl+s sends the XOFF instruction which results in the lack of response.

 

NetBeans 6.9.1 launches 6.9 instead, 64-bit Java and Windows 7

I love NetBeans. Sean loves MyEclipse. We both use whichever is most appropriate for the current task. Both have their sweet spots but I think NetBeans is a lot less fiddly to maintain and use…usually.

My most recent attempt to install NetBeans 6.9.1 failed. I couldn’t get it to work on Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit. Everything about the installation process seemed to work. No errors were thrown and the correct shortcuts were created but whenever I tried to launch 6.9.1 it launched 6.9 instead (I had installed 6.9 previously).

After some digging around and comparing my setup to Sean’s I suspected NetBeans 6.9.1 couldn’t find the version of Java it needed so 6.9 was launched instead. I had loads of Java and NetBeans  installations present but not Java 1.6.0_21. I read somewhere about the JavaFX updates needing 1.6.0_21 so I installed it but NetBeans continued to run using the older Java 1.6.0_18 that had been specified during installation.

Isolating the root cause would have been nice, but we’re working in a business here so the best solution tends to be the fastest solution. I removed all the NetBeans installations apart from 6.8 (so I could inherit settings from it). During uninstallation of NetBeans I also opted to remove the settings directory. NetBeans didn’t go quietly. Uninstall program list items remained after uninstallation and the uninstall process failed for second uninstall which prevented any further uninstall attempts until I rebooted. The joys of Windows 7. I then removed all Java installations. I decided to install the 32-bit version of the JDK 1.6.0_21 because the 64-bit version has auto-update disabled and we want auto-update. I then installed NetBeans 6.9.1. Upon launching NetBeans, all was well.

Lessons learned:

• need to do a bit of tidying up every now and again
• Windows 7 is still annoying
• 64-bit apps are often more trouble than they are worth.

Watch out for 64-bit Java/NetBeans issues:

• http://wiki.netbeans.org/FaqInstall64Bit
• http://www.java.com/en/download/faq/java_win64bit.xml