File View Designer/Editor


This is an advanced feature and is not meant for causal users. Understanding the system may require time and experimentation.


OneCommander uses dynamic columns (not classic column grid like Explorer) where the "columns" will show and hide depending on the view "design", set priority of the columns (removal order) and the total horizontal space available in the files list to display the file information.


The File View Designer is reached from the button in the Folder Pane Toolbar and selecting Edit File Views. The list of files in the current folders will be loaded into the designer so you can see it on your actual data. 


File Views designs are stored in .json files in the folder <Settings location>\Resources\FileDesigns (don't edit in text editor)


The File View currently being edited is shown in the "Edited view" field at the top of the window:



Most of the File View Designer is self-explanatory, and the easiest way of learning how to use it is to create a custom file view using the "Save as" button at the bottom of the window and experiment with it. You can see the effects of changes you make by clicking near the top of the window and viewing the changes in the Edited view pane. Specific points:


IMPORTANT

  • Don't overwrite the existing views - each program update will overwrite it with default values. So save them as different names
  • Thumbnail grid view cannot be edited as it is build by different parameters
  • Don't edit view files in text editor; the program may crash


Pro tip:

If you create your own custom view, you can set it in the root of the drive (ex: C:\) and all folders in that drive will have that view (unless you override them in individual folders, in which case all sub-folders within that one will inherit that view.


String Format Column (removed from UI)

This is for advanced use only. If it is left blank, all values in the column are taken from OneCommander's Settings. It allows the user to go into great depth with customizing formats. Examples that can be used include different date and time formats (see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/base-types/standard-date-and-time-format-strings), for example the time in a specific UTC zone or showing milliseconds, months written in words in the user's language, numbers formatted with commas, and so on.


Removal Order

When you make a Browser narrower, this setting determines the order in which columns disappear from the display. You can think of it as the reluctance of a particular column to disappear, where the higher the number the more reluctant the column is to vanish. So in the example above, if you shrink a Browser horizontally, Time is the first column to disappear and Name is the last. You can verify the Removal Order settings by clicking and then moving the resizing handle in the Edited view pane to left and right.


Minwidth - the least amount of space needed for this column and trigger to collapse. If there isn't this much space available after ordering other higher-priority items, the column will hide and the space given to Name column. The order of hiding is guided by the Removal Order field.


Some are auto-calculated and therefore disabled (there is no point in showing date as 2024-11...)


Buttons across the bottom of the window

Load: Loads a File View Design file (they all end in ".json") from the folder <Settings location>\Resources\FileDesigns. 
Save: Saves current File View Design file (i.e. the File View Design shown in the Edited view line at the top of the File View Designer window).
Save as: Saves current File View Design file under a new name.
Apply to current folder-pane and close (without saving): Applies the new File View to the current folder pane temporarily; the next time this folder is viewed, the File View will revert to the saved version.



Troubleshooting

Can't make the order I want

The most important option is Element Align (not text align) and the order of columns. The columns are built one-by-one. The first item is added and aligned either left or right, then the next one. You can change the order of items by dragging them by the drag-handle and then you update preview to see if that's the order you wanted.