Explorer type view in the Filesystem burning menu

[smu johnson]

Hi.

 

ImgBurn is great! I do have a good suggestion that could potentially swap people away from using Nero altogether for their burning needs... (I would definitely be one of them). The suggestion:

 

Please consider implementing an explorer-type interface to the part of the program that burns files and directory trees.

 

Right now it kind of reminds me of Nero Express / CDRWIN where you have to manually add stuff... Sure this works... but having the ability to rename only the "CD Layout" and move stuff around as you please, browse the folders of your layout, etc etc... It just is really damn nice.

 

Just a thought... maybe in the future someday?

 

Keep up the GREAT work.

[blutach]

In addition to the build mode options already present, the next version will have a "drop zone" (a small, partly opaque window that can be placed anywhere you like on your desktop and stays on top of everything else). You can fire up Explorer and drop files onto it to your heart's content.

 

Regards

[LOCOENG]

Well now the cats out of the bag....

[smu johnson]

In addition to the build mode options already present, the next version will have a "drop zone" (a small, partly opaque window that can be placed anywhere you like on your desktop and stays on top of everything else). You can fire up Explorer and drop files onto it to your heart's content.

 

Regards

 

Pimpin'!

[weisborg]

I know this sounds great and all and many other apps usually add a drop window lately because of Vista issues and 64bit issues and such not allowing linking to the shell, etc. But to me it doesn't sound like this would be an improvement. The current Window already has D&D, and it isn't that hard to just keep it open and still drag files...even if it isn't topmost, all you have to do is drag the files to ImgBurn's Taskbar button to have windows bring it up so you can drop to it.

 

I'd much rather see a tree type structure, or at least an option for when a folder is selected and the recurse sub folders is on it adds all files/subfolders to the list so we can more easily select which files/folders we want/don't want, etc.

[blutach]

I think I saw that somewhere weisborg. Oh yeah, it was in Ner0. You get that, along with another 1Gb of wasted crap if you use it.

 

Regards

[weisborg]

Well, I didn't mean that far...Ner0 has a Treeview and Listview...which would be ideal since it is like Explorer. I'm just trying to see the advantage of only adding a drop window. Right now the paths of the files are tied directly to their location on the drive. What Ner0 does that needs done here is a break away from tied to the file structure of where the files came from and more of how you want the files to look on the disc when burned. Being able to change path/dir/folder structure, selecting exactly what we want to have, etc.

 

Say for instance right now I want to make a disc from scratch with a folder called MyStuff...how do I do that? I must have a folder on my hard drive called MyStuff to add to the file/folder list. In this new D&D Window, what determines the path where the file you drop will be put? In the current App, what is the purpose of the Copy/Paste in the right click menu? Copy copies Text Only, Paste seems to only pay attention to the file structures put in the clipboard when you copy a file in Explorer and ignores text...so it still copies the full path of the file on the drive, etc. Everything is linked to the path on the drive.

 

I know linking like this makes it safer and harder to make mistakes or create something with invalid chars, etc...but it also limits it. 1GB is not needed to make this happen. I have some very quick and small file search routines. I even have API calls to use the System image list that makes Windows get the icons for the files and you don't have to deal with icons at all...no memory is even used by the app. It uses the already existing Windows imagelist that all M$ apps use. He already has experience with Listviews in the log, so he knows howto use them. If help is needed with Virtual/OwnerData Listviews, editing labels in the listview, tieing them to files, imagelists, etc...I can help out. Right now the current file box may or may not use a listview...but it isn't taking full advantage of it...it operates like it is only a listbox. Being able to customize your paths and have full control of what files and folders will be a big improvement.

[smu johnson]

Perhaps I should just ask the question flat out:

 

Will ImgBurn ever have this List / Explorer view that Nero has with the 2 windows to see the ISO tree as well as the fires on your HDD? If no, why not? This won't add that much to the executable size, ... if you look at Nero Micro / Lite, you can see that someone has packaged just Nero Burning Rom 8 in around 20 megabytes... So I don't see anything taking an entire gigabyte to implement... (I don't mean the take what was said earlier out of context, so I'm not necessarily quoting here).

[JDaniele]

Hi,

this is my first post.

 

I've just subscribed this forum to say: PLEASE, make a build user interface like Nero!

 

I usually build backups of my files with Nero.

I have tons of files, folders and subfolders all around my disks that i organize in a precise stuctured tree when it's time to burn.

Using Nero is very easy and straightforward, having a double explorer interface to pick-up files and create folders and trees as i need on the other side.

 

On my 24" full HD LCD, the Nero interface fits very well, letting me to have a "bird sight" to the overall tree structures.

 

I think ImgBurn is a great software, very stable and with a lot of features, and I wanna take advantage of this opportunity to thanks all developers and beta testers, spending their time on this product.

 

The only thing it lacks is an intuitive user inteface for building CD/DVD projects.

When I switched to the ImgBurn's build page for the first time, i wandered how to use it: nearly useless for my needs!!!

A very little white box, even without the ability to see a tree of the CD/DVD.

 

No guys, i'm very sorry, but i can't use it.

 

So, please, let me hope a day, not too far, i will see ImgBurn with a build interface at the same quality level of the rest of this product.

 

That day, i will unistall the bloated buggy monster called Nero.

 

Since that day, I'll be forced using ImgBurn just to write ISO images created with Nero. And that is a pity!!!!

 

Bye and have a nice develop day...

 

JDaniele

Edited May 13, 2008 by JDaniele

[dontasciime]

A very little white box, even without the ability to see a tree of the CD/DVD

 

Try adding some files to it then or a folder

[blutach]

Welcome to the forum JDaniele.

 

Give the Drop Zone a chance when the next version is released. It really is very convenient - you can use windows explorer with folders open to drag and drop till you please.

 

Regards

[JDaniele]

Welcome to the forum JDaniele.

Thanks blutach!

 

Give the Drop Zone a chance when the next version is released.

Yes, for sure. I think ImgBurn would be the Nero killer, with a little bit better GUI.

 

 

you can use windows explorer with folders open to drag and drop till you please.

Yes, i could but....when i drag a folder containing subfolders and files, I can't see wich files and subfolders i got nor i can see the size of each folder.

OK blutach, maybe i have to explain me better showing you some workflow example.

 

What i usually try to do is to fill up any DVD nearly to its maximum capacity.

Rarely i leave more than 15-20 MB unused.

To success in this process, i have to try several file and directory structure combinations until i reach the best one.

So i add some dir, then delete some sub dir.....no, let me try to reinsert this e leave that one out, and so on....

Having the entire view of current directory tree and size of each subfolder and file, help me a lot.

 

Explorer, for example, does not have the same flexibility to see the size of every subfolder at once.

 

The only way would be to create the exact directory structure on the HD and then drag its root in ImgBurn, but composing it would be very difficult without the automatic calculation of total tree size. I whould have to check it again and again, many times, moving dirs back and forth. Too much time consuming and error prone, IMHO.

 

In my workflow i have 3 main directories:

 

DanyToCheck

DanyXDVD

Dany

 

The first one is where all downloaded files (and subdirs) will be stored. From there i start to organize, file by file (checking it out and renaming it if necessary) and dir by dir, the intermediate shape of group of application or document files locally linked.

As soon as a dir or group of file is ready to be burned, i move them in DanyXDVD.

 

So DanyXDVD contains only ready to be burned files and dirs.

 

Usually this directory grows a lot, with a large number of files.

For example now is about 15 GB and DanyToCheck is over 180 GB.

 

Then i start to pick up group of files and dirs logically connected, adding them to a fresh new DVD project in Nero.

The root directory of DVD will be named "Dany" as the name of final destination (so it has a different name than the source dir "DanyXDVD").

 

After a DVD has been burned, its contents is indexed by Cathy (a simple and powerful catalog application) and all corresponding files contained in DanyXDVD will be moved to Dany (my library root directory for definitve storage).

 

And the process starts again for the next DVD, pickinig up files from DanyXDVD until there are enough files. If not, i go back to DanyToCheck.

 

Now i think you can better understand that the whole process is not so simple to do with Nero and would be nearly impossible to do using ImgBurn and its build user interface.

 

 

Regards

 

Bye

Edited May 14, 2008 by JDaniele

[LIGHTNING UK!]

ImgBurn just wasn't designed with your needs in mind, it was designed to build an image from an existing hdd structure and the current interface is fine for that.

 

When I change it to make it more flexible I'm sure I'll implement some sort of explorer type tree view.

[JDaniele]

ImgBurn just wasn't designed with your needs in mind, it was designed to build an image from an existing hdd structure and the current interface is fine for that.

 

When I change it to make it more flexible I'm sure I'll implement some sort of explorer type tree view.

 

Lightning UK, thanks for your answer.

 

Yes, i agree with you.

 

Ok, i'll quietly wait for that change.

 

Have a nice day.

 

Regards.

 

JDaniele

[smu johnson]

ImgBurn just wasn't designed with your needs in mind, it was designed to build an image from an existing hdd structure and the current interface is fine for that.

 

When I change it to make it more flexible I'm sure I'll implement some sort of explorer type tree view.

 

I do realize it wasn't designed with our features in mind, yet at the same time, you've made it actually have functionality to burn files to CD / DVDs which isn't burning images. So, it doesn't seem too much of a stretch to improve that part and have everyone and their log using ImgBurn for this task instead of Nero. If this one facet was improved with an explorer type interface, it would just be... how do you say... pimpin'! The current interface feels too much like CDRWIN's terrible implementation for this idea, although not quite THAT bad.

 

Now I see you are considering implementing if time permits. Wicked. If this ONE thing was done, and more people spread the word through the grapevine as I would happily do, I could see a TON of people (like myself) switching from Nero to ImgBurn permanently. I doubt I'm the only one. I would even donate some money I have lying around cause then I'd never have to pay for a Nero license.

 

As far as the interface thing, I completely agree with JDaniele. My complaint about the simple interface in place is that you can see what folders / files you've added to be burned, but you don't quite see the way the tree layout will look like because the folders you place in that box have the flag option to be part of the root iso tree or preserve the files, etc. etc. In a nutshell, you simply see what are going to burn but not what the true layout will look like, even if it will look "kinda" similar.

 

Thanks a ton Lighting UK! for considering it.

[LIGHTNING UK!]

You misunderstand me... build mode was not designed to be anything more than it is now.

 

I wanted it to look and work exactly as how it does. (I actually like cdrwin, it's what I grew up with!)

 

The bigger explorer type window obviously won't fit with the current program layout/interface/design and for obvious reasons, I'm hesitant to change that.

 

I have no doubt that the build interface will be changed at some point and with it will come the addition of other new features that go hand in hand with the more advanced disc building/authoring window - like multisession etc.

 

So nobody else needs to 'request' this, I'm not daft and I'm well aware of what needs doing in the program to make it appeal to more people.

[smu johnson]

I have no doubt that the build interface will be changed at some point and with it will come the addition of other new features that go hand in hand with the more advanced disc building/authoring window - like multisession etc.

 

Lightning UK!, if it is improved a bit, this will be much appreciated. The only reason I was writing about this is because I have a lot of scenarios where I would like to burn, let's say, 10 files, where 3 of those files preserve their full path names, 2 of them relative, and the other 5 to be in the base root DIR of the CD, ignoring the pathnames.

 

With the interface as it now, I am not able to "verify with my eye" that this will be guaranteed a success on the image. If there was even just ONE more column to the right of the files to be burned showing the directories that the ISO tree will create for them as their "burned" path, then I won't need an "Explorer type view", though it would be nice I suppose...

 

What do you think of the column idea?

 

Much appreciated!

[LIGHTNING UK!]

Well you can't ignore pathnames on some files / folders and not on others so I don't really see how the column would help.

 

With preserve full pathnames off, if you drag a file to the source box it'll be in the root. If you drag a folder it'll be in the root (unless it's the ONLY thing in the source box in which case that's optional).

 

With preserve full pathnames on that files / folders you drag over will be exactly as they are on your hdd - with only the drive letter being different.

[zara]

It would be cool if (well for vista anyway) the little drag and drop box used the areo look. So we (well vista users) have this nice looking translucent, blurry box with that cool streak look.