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Torrent file list changes


ajones81

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In the Add New Torrent dialog, the file list cannot be expanded fully in one go. At present, one has to go to each top-level item and press the [+] (or * on the keyboard) to expand that item. But what if I want to expand and show all the files in the torrent in one go?

In earlier versions if I remember correctly the folders were not displayed and so all the files were displayed at the same level by default. But now this is not the case, so here's what I would like:

6falhld.gif

The left portion is the way it is now, while the mock-up on the right is what I propose it should be. As you can see, there's an extra top-level [+] there which can be used to display all the files in the torrent in one go simply by selecting it and pressing * on the keyboard.

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That kind of checkbox is entirely unintuitive. From a UI design perspective, those toggling (+) boxes are there to expand/hide any immediate child elements, not expand/hide all. Expand/hide all would do better in some context menu, or some button.

And just for the record (in case it wasn't known), gui.addpre_uselistview toggles the current treeview and the old listview, so it's not entirely missing :P

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Yes, but pressing * when an element with a [+] besides it is selected, serves to expand all child elements. This is standard Windows behaviour.

Let me demonstrate with an example:

6eyg4g6.gif

As you can see, the top-most level is the "Hard Disk (C:\)" drive. Below this is the directory structure. But even the C:\ drive level has one of those [+] boxes, so that we can, if we so choose, press * and expand the whole drive's contents in one go.

Similarly, the top-most [+] in the dialog's torrent file list should represent the torrent itself, and below/inside that should be the files. Select the top-most level and press *, and the whole list should expand displaying the torrent's total contents in one go. I don't think a separate menu item or button is required to add this feature, when the natural/intuitive thing to do would be to simply add a top-level [+]. So in the above image you could substitute "Hard Disk (C:\)" with "Torrent Name", and below it would be the folders and files, ready to be displayed and selected.

BTW, thanks - I didn't know about the gui.addpre_uselistview option! :)

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Making the * key work to expand everything in one go would be a fine request (TBH, I'd totally forgotten about this behavior).

(Again) from a UI design standpoint, though, it doesn't make any sense that expanding the root expand via the usual (+) widgets would expand all subitems and their subitems, no matter where in the heirarchy the (+) is at. I have never seen a treeitem's expansion box ever expanding all children branches' childrens' childrens' (etc etc) branches. The most I've ever seen it do is expand itself to unhide only the children items directly under it. All expansion boxes should behave identically, and the departure that this request is asking for is what's non-intuitive, and it's non-standard as well.

So how should it be done? I guess just a simple [ROOT] directory can be put at the very top that is expanded down 1 level by default, and is there for users to press * on should they want to expand every subdirectory. Its own (+) control should behave like any other (+) thing, expanding and showing its immediate children only.


lol I just reread your first post, and realized what you meant. Bad mockup image + my inability to read carefully = lots of misunderstanding fun! xD

rootrb6.png

I would say that [ROOT] should be replaced with the torrent name, but since the user can change the root directory simply by modifying the Save As field, I'm not sure if it would cause any problems. Probably not (seeing as how editing the Save As field manually correctly updates the disk space field)... but yeah, whatever :P

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Heh... You've got it now Ultima! :) Sorry for the bad mockup image - I guess there was a reason why I did miserably in art class! :P

You've hit the nail on the head re. the ROOT element, and as I had noted above, [ROOT] in your mockup could/should be replaced by the "Torrent Name". The user can of course change the root directory as many times as he pleases, but the root element in the torrent file list should remain static as it is the torrent's file list, and not a representation of how/where the torrent files will be saved to the user's hard disk.

The [+] of course would exhibit standard behaviour and would expand to show only the immediate child element when clicked, and show all child elements when * is pressed. Nothing extra to be programmed there.

So, hope you can pass it along to Ryan and the rest of the developer team (though I'm pretty sure Ryan can handle it alone! :P) Thanks!

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  • 3 years later...

More than 3 years on, this feature still hasn't seen the light of day, even in 3.0.0.21734 alpha. No ROOT element, nothing happening when I press the * key. When I open torrents with literally hundreds of directories and sub-directories, I have to painstakingly (and slowly, see here) move down to each and every one and open it, so I can select files within.

Really, is this so hard to implement? I know there are lots of other interesting things for the devs to focus on, but wouldn't you say 3 years is long enough to wait for a trivial but extremely useful UI enhancement to make it to the codebase? Seriously, if the app was open source, I would have learnt whatever programming language is required (probably C++) and implemented it myself 3 years ago! :rolleyes:

I'm making another effort to request this now since the 3.0 alpha's feature-set is slowly getting solidified, and as we all know, once a stable major version is released (i.e. 2.0 or 3.0), there are never any major changes made unless they're security-related. So how about it, eh?

P.S. Do the devs now focus solely on ideas added to the Idea Bank? If that's the case, let me know and I can do the needful ASAP.

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@paintball9: That request isn't the same. The request you linked to is asking for the Files tab to use the same control as the Add New Torrent dialog. ajones81 is requesting that something be changed about the control itself.

More than 3 years on, this feature still hasn't seen the light of day, even in 3.0.0.21734 alpha.

A priority queue is not an unweighted queue. It's not like this request was accepted anyway -- it just wasn't rejected. There was no guarantee that it was to be implemented in the first place. That said, I still don't disagree with the request, but I don't call any shots.

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It's not like this request was accepted anyway -- it just wasn't rejected.

Well that's exactly what's so frustrating about it. I mean, it's just stuck in limbo for more than 3 years now, with no indication of its status. Sure, you agree with me Ultima, as indeed anybody should I guess since I honestly don't see any downside to it, and IMO it will be a huge usability improvement. I know you don't call the shots, bu surely you know those who do. Why do you think I requested you to "pass it along to Ryan and the rest of the developer team" all those years ago?

Look, nothing's more frustrating than to be kept hanging indefinitely regarding a suggestion that is acknowledged to be good. If the devs don't like it, let them tell us why and then just close this darn issue once and for all. Either way, positive or negative, is better than this stupid infinite wait. I hope you agree that it's irritating to be simply ignored, when all you want to do is help improve your favorite program even more.

I'll add it to the Ideas Bank if that's what it takes for the devs to see it (not that I have great hopes that they will, but still). I guess there's nothing more I can do, so...

P.S. I know now why all those FOSS advocates want uTorrent to be open-sourced, I really do.

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Ryan isn't employed by BitTorrent Inc. anymore. I did pass the request onto him years ago, and recommended it strongly, but obviously there are different priorities. What more do you want? Just because a request has been in limbo doesn't mean it won't ever be gotten around to, so why should the thread be closed?

And don't bother dragging open source into the discussion.

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Ryan isn't employed by BitTorrent Inc. anymore. I did pass the request onto him years ago, and recommended it strongly, but obviously there are different priorities. What more do you want?

Well I didn't know that till just now, did I? Not that Ryan is no longer with BitTorrent Inc., nor that you had indeed passed this onto him. Look, I am justifiably frustrated, but it's not as if I'm accusing you personally of neglecting your duties or not doing your job or some such silly thing. None of my complaints are directed towards you, so please try not to take it personally. Also, as far as complaining goes, I don't think once every 3 years is so bad... :rolleyes:

Just because a request has been in limbo doesn't mean it won't ever be gotten around to, so why should the thread be closed?

Well I had expected 3 years to be long enough for a suggestion to be accepted or denied (and the thread closed), but apparently the actual schedule is somewhat different, so as I have acknowledged above, there's nothing else to do but wait indefinitely.

And don't bother dragging open source into the discussion.

Again you misunderstand me if you think that I want uTorrent to be open sourced. Frankly, I couldn't care less either way. However, what I meant was, one advantage that FOSS enthusiasts like to highlight is how bugs can be fixed or new features added far faster in general with open source, often by competent end users themselves (as in, they can download the code and create a customized version for themselves). This is the only thing I was referring to when I talked about why people might want uTorrent to be open-sourced too. It was a throw-away comment really, so let's not make a big deal out of it. I do not want to go OT and start an argument over open-sourcing uTorrent here.

I think this thread has seen enough excitement to last another 3 years, so frankly since there's nothing more to say, I'll stop now. I have added my idea to the Ideas Lab as well (see my sig folks and please do vote), so there the matter stands. If and when this issue is ever resolved, one way or another, I will revisit this thread. Or maybe I'll come back here when 4.0 alpha is on the horizon... Adios and cheers Ultima.

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