InfoQube IM - Community

Submitted by WayneK on 2016/05/12 15:56

Is it possible to drag file links directly from a file manager to the HTML pane? I haven't been able to get it to work. An icon pops up on the cursor like it's going to do something, but when when I release the drag, nothing happens.

It does work for the grid but even there it's not ideal because it makes you type in a link name each time. By default, shouldn't it insert the file name?

I use file links a lot and it's pain to have to navigate to the file location inside the link dialogue each time. It's a little easier to copy the path in the file manager and paste that into the link dialogue, but even that's extra steps.

I drag and drop browser links all the time, and it'd be nice to be able to do that with file links, too.

Wayne

Comments

hi Wayne,

first, I dont know about the HTML pane.

Re the grid:

I'm not sure how exactly you're making the links - if I drag and drop a file to the grid (the method I always use), it creates a new item and it uses the filename as the text for the link. See screenshot (I'm not sure if this the default, but it does remember settings): I dont have to type in anything, the filename is used

[This not my usual machine: I usually have the link point to a shortcut to my file / second choice there above]

Note:

I do remember trying to add a link to an existing item being more problematic.

[quote=WayneK]

It does work for the grid but even there it's not ideal because it makes you type in a link name each time. By default, shouldn't it insert the file name?

[/quote]

There's an option to not show the dialog each time (bottom left corner), and -- as Tom said -- the dialog also offer to use the file name by default.

So you can basically just drop the file to the grid ans everything happens transparently, without any other action involved. Wel... this what happens on my setup.

IQ geek

Windows 8.1

CPU: Intel i5 2.6ghz

Confirmed that dragging a file to the HTML pane does not work. I'll fix that for v77

Pierre_Admin

IQ Designer

Pierre,

Thanks. That will be a helpful improvement.

Tom and Armando,

Yeah, sorry: I was missing the fact that the "file name" option on the right was unchecked.

Wayne

yeah,

it remembers the settings.

If you're linking a lot of files, it's worth considering the option:

Link should point to:

actual file
shortcut to the file

Note: this is not shown in the manual.

Actual file adds filepath to relevant fields in the item.

Shortcut to the file creates a shortcut in the IQ file folder, and has some advantages: if the actual file gets moved, the OS can actually still find the file -- so long as it's still on the same partition.

There may be disadvantages to same -- maybe someone else can chime in?

@Pierre, I was wondering would the shortcut option be the better default? Or is there a reason for sticking to the filepath?

(Defaults are as per my screenshot above)

Well, I just learned something and verified it by testing. If you create a .LNK shortcut to a file and then move the target file to another location (on the same partition), clicking the .LNK file will still load the target file. Neat.

I guess sometimes one might want IQ to show the path of the actual file rather than the shortcut - so you could see inside Infoqube where it actually is. There might be other reasons to link to the actual file than the shortcut LNK file.

[quote=jimspoon]

[/quote]

IQ shows the actual path on the status bar. It will even resolve and update the link if you've moved the file since it was last opened.

HTH !

Pierre_Admin

IQ Designer

[quote=Tom]

@Pierre, I was wondering would the shortcut option be the better default? Or is there a reason for sticking to the filepath?

[/quote]

It is a personal thing I guess. I don't move files around much so prefer to see the actual file than an obscure lnk file.

And it remembers the setting, so one needs to select the link type only once.

Eventually, there are 2 things I'd like to add:

Command to turn a list of file links to Windows shortcuts and vice versa
A check if there is already a link to this file in the IQBase and offer the option to use it instead of creating a new one

HTH !

Pierre_Admin

IQ Designer

yes, that helps,

good to get another perspective.

And these sound great:

[quote]

Command to turn a list of file links to Windows shortcuts and vice versa
A check if there is already a link to this file in the IQBase and offer the option to use it instead of creating a new one

[/quote]

Drag-drop in the HTML pane is more complicated than expected. What I did for v77 is support copy / paste files from Windows Explorer to the HTML pane. It will do the same thing for now...

Pierre_Admin

IQ Designer