<SOLVED> dolphin split file-tree panels - can anyone explain

[tomcloyd]

The problem:

Open dolphin. Press F3 to get a split panel display, if you don't already have one. Make the panels display different partS of your filesystem, so you can tell the panels apart.

Place the cursor in one of the panels (or, to be more safe, as this won't open a file, place it in the filter input box at the bottom of a panel).

NOW - place your bets: when you press F3 again to toggle OFF the split panel display, WHICH PANEL WILL DISAPPEAR?

The answer to this question is one of the Great Mysteries. I have NO idea what will happen when I press F3, and there appears to be no pattern. And, the Dolphin manual offers no help on this.

This makes me absolutely nuts. I've tried hard to make sense of this and failed. That 's it not OBVIOUS is nonsense. And it's very disruptive.

PLEASE, what's with this nonsense? Isn't this simply NOT OK

Any explanations, anyone

[kubicle]

Re: dolphin split file-tree panels - can anyone explain

I'm currently on karmic, so it might be different, but on my end F3 always closes the pane that is currently selected (note that clicking the filter input box doesn't change the pane that is selected).

[tomcloyd]

Re: dolphin split file-tree panels - can anyone explain

ARRRRRGH!

From the CLI, after shutting down all Dolphin instances, I deleted /home/.kde/share/apps/konqueror and ./dolphin (for good measure).

Fired up a new Dolphin, created a 2 pane view, made 'em different, hit F3, and the panel I was NOT in closed. This is what it's always done. Except when it does the opposite.

I simply cannot predict what it will do. It essentially never keeps open the panel of interest to me.

This is nuts.

Any more ideas??

[kubicle]

Re: dolphin split file-tree panels - can anyone explain

Just to double-check...are you sure you had the pane you wished to remove selected (and not just hovering the mouse cursor over it or not just using the filter edit box for that pane)

It essentially never keeps open the panel of interest to me.

It removes the selected panel (which often is the one you are currently working on)...the active pane should have a different color from the inactive pane

[tomcloyd]

Re: dolphin split file-tree panels - can anyone explain

That's nuts. Seems to be true: if a panel contains in its list any file open anywhere in my OS (or an application program at least), THAT panel is not closed, in preference to one that does not contain such a file.

This is not intuitive, not simple, and nowhere documented, that I could find. Baaaaad human interface design. Wish I had time to complain to the developers about it. Have work to do. Thanks for the insight

[kubicle]

Re: &lt;SOLVED&gt; dolphin split file-tree panels - can anyone explain

That's nuts. Seems to be true: if a panel contains in its list any file open anywhere in my OS (or an application program at least), THAT panel is not closed, in preference to one that does not contain such a file.

Still can't reproduce it, so I can't really offer a solution (Then again, I'm on KDE 4.3 beta so perhaps it's fixed upstream already)...though I didn't notice any strange behaviour on Arch KDE4.2 either.

Can you check the toolbar button for "Split/Close"... the Close icon should change according to which pane should be closed when pressing the button (or F3)...the minus sign is either on the left-hand pane or the right-hand one. Definitely a bug if it closes the wrong panel than the icon shows.

[tomcloyd]

Re: &lt;SOLVED&gt; dolphin split file-tree panels - can anyone explain

Sorry to be slow to reply.

I checked - my Kubuntu (fully updated) is running KDE 4.2.2. And...Dolphin is still closed whatever damn window it wants to, and I usually guess it wrong. This is SO aggravating.

Re: the "Split-Close" toolbar button - you're right. It behaves as you describe. Which now means I can predict the behavior. So, here's the really dumb thing: it seems to be set to close the panel with focus. So if I'm working in one panel and want the other one to go away, I have to focus THAT panel, which requires explicit action. Worse, that action appears to be necessarily a mouse action. I have to reach a foot away from the keyboard, grab the mouse, and act. THEN I can hit F3 and close the focused window.

I don't see how this is good design, considering the alternative: close the unfocused window.

Well, at least you've made sense of things for me, and I thank you for that.

[kubicle]

Re: &lt;SOLVED&gt; dolphin split file-tree panels - can anyone explain

I don't see how this is good design, considering the alternative: close the unfocused window.

Sounds like a valid usability issue. However, I don't think switching the default is the best "fix", as this would probably clash with other people's workflow. I, for one, usually wish to close the focused pane once I'm done with it.

Possible solutions could be to make it configurable (this is KDE, we like configuration options, right? )...or to offer shortcuts/buttons to close either the left or right pane explicitly.

If this is a big deal for you, you could file a "wish" in kde's bug tracker (https://bugs.kde.org/)

[tomcloyd]

Re: &lt;SOLVED&gt; dolphin split file-tree panels - can anyone explain

Thanks - the big deal was not being able to predict what it would do, added to the fact that there was no usable documentation to solve the puzzle for me. This seems like far too major a piece of software to leave in that condition. Or maybe I was just a blockhead in figuring it out.

In any case, I now am no longer totally at sea as to what will happen when I press F3, and THAT IS a big deal!

t.