Just to throw another viewpoint into the mix... I use Vista 64 (running the 32-bit explorer for TortoiseHG), and have turned the overlay icons off, partly because they often don't update correctly (at least in the first version of THG I tried, maybe that's fixed now) and also because they flicker with a period of about a second, which got annoying really quickly. I assume that problem is specific to Vista 64, I haven't seen it on other systems.
I actually find THG perfectly usable without the icons; when I want to know the status I just bring up the status window from the context menu. The icons are definitely nice though, but _only_ if they give an accurate, real-time view of what's going on. IMHO misinformation is a lot worse than no information, so I'd prefer no icons at all than icons that are inaccurate or not up to date, and that goes for both file and folder icons. If keeping the folder icon up to date in real time is not feasible, might a good compromise to give folders a completely separate icon to indicate that there are controlled files in the folder but THG doesn't know their status? Otherwise I guess a taskbar daemon isn't a bad option, assuming you can't do it in the shell extension (it's been a while since I wrote a shell extension, I've forgotten what can and can't be done). Colin > -----Original Message----- > From: Steve Borho [mailto:st...@borho.org] > Sent: 21 May 2009 05:17 > To: Adrian Buehlmann > Cc: tortoisehg-discuss@lists.sourceforge.net > Subject: Re: [thg] some feedback on crew's shellext > > On Wed, May 20, 2009 at 7:41 PM, Adrian Buehlmann > <adr...@cadifra.com> wrote: > > On 21.05.2009 01:37, TK Soh wrote: > >> Unfortunately, I can't agree with that. It's already bad enough > to ask > >> user to run Update icons to update the folder icons the first > time, > >> and telling them "you have to run it every time you change > something" > >> is simply unreasonable. > > > > No it really isn't. There is a reason why there is a hg status > command. Running > > that command has a cost. > > > > Remember, we are talking about the icons on the _folders_, > covering the sum > > of whole subtrees. If it takes that long to compute them, I'd > rather turn > > the icons off on the folders (if I could). So if I want an update > on the > > folder icons, I'm fine with having to issue a context menu > command. > > > > But maybe it's just me who is working on large trees and is > willing to > > pay that price in exchange for being able to quickly navigate > inside it. > > I also like being able to say when I want to spend that moment for > updating > > the icons on the folders. > > > > Also, in my trees I'm working a lot in quite narrow subtrees > inside a specific > > clone (I'm doing a clone when I need to work on specific issue or > feature). > > For example, in one project we have the source files related to > storing > > functions all together in the same subfolder. If I have a bug to > fix about > > storing things, I work in that folder, editing files. > > So the set of modified directories doesn't actually change that > often > > in my workflow. > > > > But again, requirements can vary. I'm just not that obsessed with > up-to-date > > to the second icons on the folders in my everyday use. > > > > And remember, the icons on the files are still immediate (provided > that > > you can live with the already described consequences of the > shellext > > reading .hg/dirstate - I can, and the CuteHg project has decided > to do > > that too). One of them is that you have to hit F5 to update the > file icons > > of the files in a folder you have opened in explorer, if you do > something > > on the command line with mercurial on files in that folder (I > could > > call that doing something "behind the scenes", as you could have > done it > > with the context menu, which implicitly updates _all_ icons). > > > > But, for example, if I start editing a file that was not modified > before > > (green) and I have the folder containing that file open in > explorer in > > the background, the icon changes immediately to red when I save it > in > > my editor in the foreground, because explorer notices that the > file has > > changed an queries the shellext immediately. No need to hit F5 or > even > > execute "update icons" from the cmenu. > > > > Also, with current crew all the commands from the context menu do > > a hg thgstatus implicitly when needed. This for example means that > if you > > select some new files and add them with the context menu, > everything > > -- including the icons on all folders in that repo -- is updated > when > > the hg add command is finished. Same with commit. Same with update > from > > the log dialog. Same with clone from the clone dialog. Same with > adding > > or removing files in the status dialog. Etc. > > > > So I don't see it that dramatic as you say. Certainly nothing > unreasonable > > here, I'd say. > > > > And it is very nice to have folder icons on the repo _roots_. You > can forget > > that on the old system. I have a folder where I have all my > clones. > > I now have an overview, in what repos I have changes. Yes, I do > have to > > run that refreshicons.cmd in the base dir (where I have all my > clones). > > It takes about 20 seconds here to update that overview of which of > my > > clones is modified and which isn't. And I have some thirty clones > with lots > > of files in it. I would have to navigate into each of them to see > if > > anything is changed under the old system. > > > > This is quite comparable to having to issue a hg status on the > command > > line, as the linux folks are doing it all the time. And some > Windows users > > do, who don't use the overlay icons (because, maybe they were just > too slow). > > > > You can think of just seeing the result of your last 'hg status' > (Update Icons > > in the cmenu) on the folders in your tree while you navigate it > with explorer. > > Icons on the files in a specific folder you see show the state > according > > to what's in the .hg/dirstate, but file modification times freshly > compared in that > > very moment you navigate into it (the files having status 'n' in > .hg/dirstate) > > > > Is that really that unreasonable? > > I need to take a step back from this for a couple of days and come > at > this from a different angle. > > Perhaps what we want is a taskbar daemon that watches directories, > checks for changes periodically, and runs thgupdate when necessary. > It could be entirely detached from the shell extension. > > That would be the full-service approach, as apposed to Adrian's > preference of entirely manual. And each user could chose the > approach > they want on a repo-by-repo basis. > > Perhaps we want something entirely different. I tend to agree with > Adrian, though, that the overlay code needs to be as efficient as we > can make it, and as simple as possible. > > -- > Steve Borho > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > ---------- > Register Now for Creativity and Technology (CaT), June 3rd, NYC. CaT > is a gathering of tech-side developers & brand creativity > professionals. 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