Hi,
I'm doing something with the Shell Breadcrumb control which is probably "out of bounds" in terms of proper usage. What I want to understand is if this is a bug or working as designed…
Have a look at the attached screenshot. You will note the breadcrumb control is telling me I am in my "Temp" directory. But you will note from the TreeView that no Temp directory exists in my bfCommonDocuments loation. I manually typed "C:\Temp" to produce these results.
Effectively it couldn't be easier to get the ShellBreadcrumb control out of sync with the TreeView - a simple manual entry when the root isn't bfDesktop is all it takes.
So, what up with this? The form contains no source code just components linked up and the root of the TreeView set to bfCommonDocs.
More importantly: I need to understand this… When there are multiple shell controls all linked up, which one is actually "in control". My original guess was that since the breadcrumb control can link to all other shell controls that it is effectively the "controller". But given that I can get the controls out of sync so easily it makes me nervous - what is the "real" directory the user is pointing to?
And, in case you are wondering, the reason I am asking is the same as for issue http://www.devexpress.com/issue=Q492480. My little ShellBrowser form has a single "Directory" property. Think of it as a DirectoryPicker. So what should I be Getting/Setting to get the real folder the user is looking at? Here's a bit of source to clarify:
TfmSelectFolder = class(TForm)
private
function GetDirectory : string;
procedure SetDirectory(Value : string);
public
property Directory : string read GetDirectory write SetDirectory;
end;
function TfmSelectFolder.GetDirectory : string;
begin
// result := FolderTreeView.Path;
result := bcFolder.SelectedPath;
end;
procedure TfmSelectFolder.SetDirectory(Value: string);
begin
if bcFolder.SelectedPath <> value then
bcFolder.SelectedPath := value; // this will set the treeview implicitly
// if FolderTreeView.Path <> Value then
// FolderTreeView.Path := Value;
end;
end;
Currently I have it based on the breadcrumb control. But considering how easily I managed to mess it up - I'm not certain if it should be switched to the Treeview instead.
regards,
-randall
Hello,
I have reproduced this behavior only on a virtual machine on Windows XP. On my Windows 7 OS, TdxShellBreadcrumbEdit and TcxShellTreeView are correctly synchronized. I have forwarded this ticket to our developers for research. Please bear with us.
Hi Paulo,
So are you inferring that after the fix, it shouldn't matter which control I reference to get the current folder? Either ShellBreadcrumb.SelectedPath or ShellTreeView.Path? They will always be identical?
Finally, what is the expected/correct behaviour when the user types in an invalid path into the shellBreadcrumbEdit?
reagrds,
-randall
Hello,
Yes, these controls should be synchronized. Not sure that Windows XP is affected by the Linking shell controls does not synchronize their root settings problem we are going to fix soon, but for now please make sure that the Root property is the same for all linked Shell controls in your project. It should be sufficient to set it at design time.
As for your second question, the expected behavior in this case is the "Cannot find ~" exception.
Yes, the fix does fix the problem.
On a side note… We are actually taking advantage of the fact that I can change the TreeView's root.pidl and the BreadcrumbEdit stays where it is. See attached screenshot
There isn't a sample attached to B234191 so not sure if it will impact us.
I did notice that if I change the root.browsefolder - that is syncronized with the breadcrumbEdit. So instead I change the Root.PIDL of the TreeView. That changes our TreeView so our users are focused on a given sub-location (it is a deep path). But at the same time, the user can see and navigator to wherever they like via the BreadcrumbEdit.
So I guess I have to ask… Is the fix for B234191 going to break what we are taking advantage of? Am I exploiting a bug and didn't know it?
regards,
-randall
Hi Paulo,
I just ran a test to see if the breadcrumbEdit and TreeView are indeed in sync. They aren't. Here's my test code:
procedure TfmSelectFolder.SetDirectory(Value: string);
begin
if bcFolder.SelectedPath <> value then // this is the cxShellBreadcrumb
bcFolder.SelectedPath := value;
application.processmessages; // <-- makes no difference
if FolderTreeView.Path <> value then begin
FolderTreeView.Path := Value;
sendDebug('If you see this message, the controls did not syncronize themselves');
end;
I am getting my SendDebug message. So my question is - is the above test code valid?
I tell ya - Shell coding is not for the faint-hearted! :)
-randall
ps- in case you are wondering, yes the TreeView is linked to the BreadcrumbEdit
Hi again Paulo,
Small side note on this… things *are* syncronized under Win7. So this is clearly another XP/64 issue. I should also mention that the root is the same for both controls (bfDesktop)
cheers
rs
I kindly ask you create separate ticket for each question you wish to ask.
Well, I tried to create a test case that will get the Breadcrumb.SelectedPidl and TreeView.Path out of sync. But now I can't. So either one of my recent changes, or your recent changes, has sorted it out. If it comes up again, I'll be sure to let you know. But for now we can close this lengthy case.
-rs
Thanks. Closed.
Not so fast their Paulo :)
Well, I have a reproduceable case. See attached screenshot. I've created a demo app and will start a new ticket as the source is owned by my client and hence not for public viewing.
regards,
-randall
OK. Start it.