Dolphin requests

[royleith]

Dolphin 'Find' was well and truly dead in 15.04, but now it, and Dolphin, are running really well. I am now reduced to tiny annoyances to whinge about.

I configure Dolphin to use common properties for all folders. However, it always reverts to icon view mode each time I open a new folder or do a 'find'.

When doing a 'Find', it is pointless to be in icon-view mode as you have to know what the path is. However, on switching to detail-view, the path always has to be reselected.

It should be possible to select which view-mode is applied as the common property across all folders. It should also be possible to permanently add the path to details view with the option of turning it off when viewing just one folder's contents. Perhaps, the path should only be added when doing a 'Find' as it is not of much use when doing a detail-view of an individual folder.

If those features are already available, it is not obvious how to do it.

[bitzbox]

Select "View/Adjust View Properties"

Set it up like this:

View mode: Details
Apply View Properties To: All Folders
Use these view properties as default: Enable this option

That should do it

[royleith]

Dolphin Prefs: not there, yet

I thought you had it, but no.

There is now a "Control/Adjust View Properties"

View Mode can be set to 'Details' and 'Path' can be selected in 'Additional Information'.

These settings can then be 'Applied'.

There is no;

Apply View Properties To: All Folders
Use these view properties as default: Enable this option

I have 'Use common properties for all folders' set in "Control/Configure Dolphin/General"

Closing and re-opening dolphin has all the panels back at icon view. In fact, just opening a new sidebar entry such as 'Home' reverts to 'Icon' view. Setting a pane to 'Detailed' view and doing a 'Find' gives the results in 'Icon' view.

Changing the 'Find' results to 'Detailed' and back-arrowing to the directory list also reverts to 'Icon' view.

It looks like Dolphin preferences have been comprehensively 'improved'. At least 'Find' is now working well.

[bitzbox]

There is no;

Apply View Properties To: All Folders
Use these view properties as default: Enable this option

That's odd because from where I'm sitting, I can see those options.
See attached screenshot .....

[kubicle]

That's odd because from where I'm sitting, I can see those options.
See attached screenshot .....

Whether the lower part of the view properties dialog are shown or not depends on whether dolphin is set (Settings>ConfigureDolphin>General) to remember folder view properties independently ("Apply View Properties" shown) or to use common settings for all folders ("Apply View Properties" not shown, redundant).

[royleith]

Bingo!

Thanks kubicle and bitzbox. The moment I changed General to 'Remember properties for each folder' it changed to 'Details' view, which was where I left 'Adjust View Properties'.

That setting in 'General' should be changed such that dolphin opens all new panes with the view properties of the previous pane when the 'Use common properties for all folders' box is ticked and should remember the properties on a per-folder basis when the 'Remember properties for each folder' option is set.

[royleith]

As you were!

It makes no difference. Whatever you do to 'Adjust View Properties' gets reset the moment you leave the properties window. Go back in and it is set to 'Icon View'.

Setting the prefs and closing and opening again leaves you in icon view. Leaving dolphin open and going to another folder drops back to icon view.

Any other thoughts? Perhaps there is a system file I can hack.

[bitzbox]

Whether the lower part of the view properties dialog are shown or not depends on whether dolphin is set (Settings>ConfigureDolphin>General) to remember folder view properties independently ("Apply View Properties" shown)

Yep, that's how I have it set up here.

[claydoh]

As you were!

It makes no difference. Whatever you do to 'Adjust View Properties' gets reset the moment you leave the properties window. Go back in and it is set to 'Icon View'.

Setting the prefs and closing and opening again leaves you in icon view. Leaving dolphin open and going to another folder drops back to icon view.

Any other thoughts? Perhaps there is a system file I can hack.

probably your dolphinrc file has it's permissions changed - running dolphin with sudo (instead of kdesudo) is a common cause for this. Config changes can't be written back to the file so the don't stick.

look at the ~/.config/dolphinrc and see who 'owns' the file - it should be your user, not root or anything else.

[kubicle]

probably your dolphinrc file has it's permissions changed - running dolphin with sudo (instead of kdesudo) is a common cause for this. Config changes can't be written back to the file so the don't stick.

look at the ~/.config/dolphinrc and see who 'owns' the file - it should be your user, not root or anything else.

Here's a one-liner you can use to check for possible permission/ownership issues in your $HOME:

find ~ ! -writable -exec ls -l '{}' \+

This will list all files in your $HOME that are not writable for your user either because of ownerships or permissions. (Note that some files/directories might be unwritable by purpose), if you wish to filter out dolphin files (in .config and .local/share/dolphin), you can use:

find ~ ! -writable -exec ls -l '{}' \+ | grep dolphin

EDIT: added ls output to commands

[royleith]

@claydoh

I think you may have something because I tried to set up a sudo dolphin to go with the sudo kate that can be found in the K-Launcher edit window. I had problems and so deleted my red file icon and the sudo dolphin item in the Launcher. However, the blue dolphin icon does not appear in the task bar, any more, even though it appears in the bouncing curser at load time. Also, Opera Developer asks for a password every time I download a file and ask to open the download location. I've tried deleting various cache files in my home directory which get rebuilt at boot time, but the problem persists even after a clean install of Kubuntu root.

Anyway, @all,

SUCCESS!!!! Choosing 'Apply to all folders' with the individual folder properties settings does not stick, but it does stick for current folders and sub-folders (there is a progress bar as each folder has the .directory file created/edited). Since I mount my content partition in my /home/roy directory almost the whole system was set. Just the system files were unchanged. I tried with / as my current directory and it changed the lot! I checked dolphinrc and I do, in fact, own it and rw rights are given to Owner and Group.

[royleith]

@ all

The final solution was not completely final. I went nuclear and bombed all the hidden folders except for the application folders in /home/roy . Then I reinstalled Kubuntu. That resolved a number of issues including this one. It must have been, partly, an issue of file ownership other than dolphinrc. Not only do all the folders appear in the desired view, but Finds default to detailed view. If I could get path added by default, my joy would be complete.

As a result of scolding in another thread, I never sudo dolphin or kate: I always kdesudo. That has kept me legal up 'till now.

Thanks for all the guidance.