TC Plugins page + plugins I use

[AlleyKat]

Ok, I've been spending half the night updating my TC plugins (badly needed in some cases, using some as old as 2001), but ran into a few snags and places where I'm in doubt, and given what expertise there is here on the forums, I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents and call out for help at the same time.

I'm using TC 7.55 rc3, if that should mean anything related to my comments and questions.


First of all, a couple of things I ran into at the
http://www.ghisler.com/plugins.htm page

under Packer extensions:
HA (site) <- seems to be down
SIS <- may be because I'm trying to open wrong format SIS Nokia files, see below...

under File system extensions:
Ext2+Reiser <- couldn't get this working correctly with my dualboot-installed Ubuntu files, but it could see one of the drives (no files) - may be my setup!
SFTP0.98 >> missing (?)
SymbFS <- site gone - Google reveals it available on many other sites however

Under Content plugins:
Anytag <- this doesn't seem to do anything for MP3 and WMA files, maybe because the native TC ID3-tag system overrules it?
ExeFormat <- same deal?

All the above are just friendly hints, I did not test exhaustively in any way!


My own plugins - problems, must-haves, too-olds
In my own plugins, I have some things I've been wondering about - some of it may just be me not understanding how it works, so hints/links are very welcome. Same goes for outdated plugins or missing must-haves - please enlighten me.


In Options > Plugins > Packer plugins, I have 2 plugins in the list starting with "0," - can this be correct? Or did I do something wrong during install?
0,C:\Program Files\totalcmd\wcx\msi\msi.wcx (works fine)
0,C:\Program Files\totalcmd\wcx\wc_rpm-1.5\cpio.wcx

And I have quite a problem using the SIS plugin on .sis files for my Nokia E51 (Symbian S60) - maybe these are not those EPOCH files?
192,C:\Program Files\totalcmd\wcx\sis\PDunSIS.WCX
- if I try to 'enter' into a SIS file, I get an "Error in compressed file".
- if I ctrl-pgdn TC terminates immediately without any error messages or anything.

Besides these, I have:
rpm, CatalogMaker, bzip2dll, deb, 7zip (5.5)
I don't suppose there's any special reason to update the 7zip to latest from here in the forums yet?

In Options > Plugins > File system plugins, I have only 3; NokiaFS for my phone, wincefs for my PDA, and Ghislers own sftpplug.

As for the last one, I mostly use Putty to access my webserver - and I know the other SFTP-plugin integrates closer with Putty, but this one is a big improvement over the old one and feels more convenient in daily use.

I would love access to my Linux partitions too, but I think the problem is the file system being EXT4 - and I don't use my Ubuntu all that much unless I'm coding on a project.

In Options > Plugins > Lister plugins, I have:
Imagine (.9.7 - newer ones had some bug)
ICLView
swfLister (is Flashview better?)
fileinfo
Font
emlviewer
SynUs

I'd love a good, fairly stable editor with color highlighting, but my experience with Syn and hgp_ed haven't been very good; too many crashes and blocking the use of the other viewers. But if anything has improved significantly with one of these, or a good alternative exists, please point me to it. Until then I manage with the above and Notepad++ as default editor.

For Content Plugins, I must be honest and say that I don't really use this - I'm sure it has its great advantages for highly customized file listings, but what I'm really interested in is having most of those functions as fly-over info for the files. And I do know that the 'xpiinfo' plugin has this feature - but how is this enabled for other wdx?

Any help, comments, pointers appreciated!

[petermad]

2AlleyKat

I have 2 plugins in the list starting with "0," - can this be correct? Or did I do something wrong during install?

That is OK. The number is the sum of all DLL capabilities:
1: Can create new archives
2: Can modify existing archives
4: Can handle multiple files in one archive
8: Can delete files from archive
16: Supports the options dialog
32: Supports packing in memory
64: Detects archive type by content
128: Allows searching for text in archives
256: Don't open with Enter, only with Ctrl+PgDn
512: Supports encryption
Total Commander will add the appropriate number on the first load of the DLL (wcx).

Imagine (.9.7 - newer ones had some bug)

The latest 1.1.8 wip version is very bug free - there is a problem with printing in some cases though.

[AlleyKat]

Hej Peter, ok, that explains a lot. Actually I should have known that, but focus haven't been on tweaking and customizing TC for quite a long while. Thanks for taking your time.

I haven't tested Imagine since 1.0.0.0 b5 it seems from my old plugins store folder, so you may be right - I honestly can't even remember what the issue was, I just recall that I found it quite grave and reverted to an older well-working version I had. I'll give it a shot, I can always repeat the process.. Appreciate the update.


The packers still seems to be a bit of a nightmare of versions but only ones really important and not included (for my use) in TC these days are bz2 and 7z, so I probably got it covered, even with these older plugins.

For Lister, I think I got most of what I need (still haven't tested); as for editors I'm just gonna have to give both hpg_ed and Syn a shot again I guess. I recall them both as being very promising, just somewhat buggy.

What I got for file system will also just have to do - any more'd just be bloat beyond need-to-have anyway.

And after a number of hours searching and reading forums, wiki and manuals on especially Clo's site, I've finally grasped the concept of the content plugins. I have rather limited use for the user-defined views personally, but the HintsCustomField feature is amazingly clever and can be quite useful. I've already collected a file of 100+ lines of definitions, and just need to sort out which is which, what I need myself and where to post the rest.

[fenix_productions]

I have rather limited use for the user-defined views personally, but the HintsCustomField feature is amazingly clever and can be quite useful. I've already collected a file of 100+ lines of definitions, and just need to sort out which is which, what I need myself and where to post the rest.

You forget that they are also used in "Overwrite file" dialogue, files colouring, "Custom filter (Ctrl+F12)", searches, Internal Associations and thumbnails captions (I think I've mentioned all use cases)…

One more thing: If you'll get an info about some nice plugin which is nowhere to be found any longer, give me a note. I think I have all of them (in any version you like) on my HDD so I can upload a few somewhere.

[AlleyKat]

Ok thx - yeah they are of more widely ranging usability than I first thought.

I actually think you missed multi-rename and Lister display!

I haven't found one that I couldn't locate on totalcmd.net yet, but its not impossible one turns up sooner or later.

What is really missing, is better descriptions and guides on the Wiki regarding content plugins.

I still haven't found out under [HintsCustomField] in which cases the Xexts= needs to have one or the other format (and what, in case of text) - sometimes it seems to be "0exts=*.*", at other times "0ext=>some text".

A Wiki-based page listing all (or at least those still on the net) would be immensely helpful. I'm no great Wiki-user, but a fairly simple template should do it, and then just list'em all on a single page for people to peruse at leasure. I'd imagine something along the lines of these fields in the template:

• Name
• Purpose/descriptive title
• Author
• Author homepage (if any)
• Alternative d/l page (if any)
• Filename
• Status (updated, in dev, outdated, unknown)
• License type
• Size
• Latest known release version
• Columns/field names in plugin (if known)
• HintCustomField example (if any (possible))
• Notes/comments

(maybe not enough or too exhaustive).

The biggest task is in listing them initially - I'd be surprised if most still-developing authors wouldn't contribute by maintaining their own plugins.

Call the page "The Complete(ly) Unofficial List of Content Plugins" or somesuch, and we're started...

[petermad]

as for editors I'm just gonna have to give both hpg_ed and Syn a shot again I guess.

You might want to look at:

SynPlus: http://www.totalcmd.net/plugring/synplus.html
Syn2: http://www.totalcmd.net/plugring/syn2.html or http://atorg.net.ru/temp/beta/syn2.rar or http://sepa.spb.ru/?syn

[AlleyKat]

I've insalled Syn2, it's great (except for lack of UTF-8 without BOM).