Link to More than One URL ?

[schferk]

1 )

By drag and drop any .url or other file, from a file commander or such, to any parent item in UR, it is possible to link to that file from within UR.

Then, not by "OpenItem" or "OpenItemInNewTab", but by "OpenDocument", it is possible to launch that file; if it's a .url file, it will then replace your current file in your current tab.

In the "Attributes", there is the attribute "URL", and there's then xyz.url, xyz being the filename.

Now my problem, I would like to launch (.urd files) FILE GROUPS, also, in this way. I experimented with adjusting the attribute file property,

x.urd y.urd
x.urd, y.urd
"x.urd y.urd"
"x.urd" "y.urd"
"x.urd", "y.urd"
"x.urd"|"y.urd"
x.urd|y.urd

but to no avail.

Is there any trick by which I can launch / load UR file groups in UR, i.e., for example, that the first urd file of the group will be displayed in the current tab, while the other urd files of the group will be loaded into the UR stack, so that they appear in the database list (= and thus, in the database toolbar if that is displayed, ready to be clicked there in order to replace the currently displayed database / file in your UR screen).

I say "for example" since all I want is to LOAD such UR file groups, just as I can load single UR files, and I want them to be shown in the database list / database toolbar, any of them being automatically displayed or not.

2 )

Of course, I can manually load file groups by control-o and then selecting a group (shift-click or control-click); if I could automate such group selecting = stick together predefined groups and then click on a tree entry in order to open that predefined group, that would be perfect.

Background of my question is, of course, project management, where you load several databases / UR files together, in the combination needed for that project.

(And since that is so, being able to integrate even non-UR files into such grouped launching would be helpful for many people I suppose, even if that's not (yet) my problem here.)

Perhaps, a "launching a command line" feature (or something similar) in UR would do it (but there isn't such a feature currently, I fear?), since

control-o
"a.urd" "b.urd" "c.urd"
Enter

would do what I want to do, and thus, being able to trigger such a command from within UR would be perfect... and for many a user here, that's for sure.

Am I overlooking something that exists already, or can something be done with regards to 1 or 2?

3 )

Just as UR has a limitation of just 50 favorites per database / file, thus not allowing for instant access to more than 50 "favorites" = "Standards" and / or "ToDo's" at the same time if you've got all your stuff in the same database, it also has a limitation of just 25 files / databases that can be displayed in the "Files" toolbar / menu, and that, even when your filenames are 1- and 2-character only, thus being plenty of room on the screen in order to display the names. Since for project management with many databases open at the same time it's necessary to have instant access to all those databases, it would be helpful to set up up that limitation to a higher number, just as with the "favorites".

In order to not mix up things, let me clarify that for the favorites-per-file, the limitation is 50, both for having those favorites, and (logically mandatory then) for having icons / entries in the toolbar; whilst the "only 25 files" limitation does NOT also apply to the number of UR files that can be open at any given moment, but "just" for their being visible in the toolbar's main file list.

Perhaps the 50-limitation could be brought to 128 (or even better, 255), and the 25-limitation could be brought to 32 or, much better, 64 (or 50, then) (the assignment of shortcuts in UR's "Windows" menu being NOT a valuable reason to limit the list in the toolbar to 25, btw).

Thanks for any short-term help with 1 and 2, and thanks for considering 3 for mid-term, kinook!

[kinook]

That functionality is not currently available. We'll add to our request list some sort of session management capability, and increasing the max # of favorites and databases shown.

[schferk]

1 )

Thank you very much, kinook, that's absolutely great. I'll do with macros, in the meanwhile. "Sorry" for just bumping on the limitations of this great program each time I use it, but amending those makes a fine program outstanding.

If this responsiveness continues, I'll share some "UR for Beginners" or something of that kind here, where I try to abolish the learning curve for anybody new to UR, and yes, that's possible; my memory being failing somewhat, I depend on various written-down reminders of what and how to do, and that could become a little manual for first (and second) steps.

2 )

Just one example here, the only ok-for-me "New Sibling" command is mandatorily put on Shift-Return, the only ok-for-me "New Child" command is mandatorily put on Insert - weird, weird, weird (and all the more so since in 19 out of 20 times, I /many of us I suppose need a sibling, not a sub), and a BIG obstacle for every newbie.

Thus, I have two "normal" key assignments for these, and, logically, the sibling to the left and the sub to the right (or a key beneath), e.g. F9 and F10 (in my case, it's Cherry 4700 (big) zero key and (to its right, tiny) comma key. (And thus, no need anymore to do a shift-enter, and thus, no problem anymore with that just pressing the enter key alone, triggering MS Word, and thus, no need to install that little UR utility to prevent that triggering).

But this is to say, without an additional macro program I would be completely lost in UR, so indeed, for "normal" users, the AMENDING of UR's quirks would be helpful: UR is very powerful, but, without having done a lot of macro programming, not straightforward enough to be pleasant (or even become usable) for first-time users, and it's a pity so many would-be users (including myself, for years!) put it down at too early a stage:

The amount of work a user has to put into it, before UR becoming useful for him, is simply too big, and thus, please lend me an ear when I try to convince you of amending those things one by one, by-ways might be possible here and there but are just too complicated for new users.

Another example is in the thread "Customization Annoyance" where I post today.

( And in some more days, I'll share my experiences with all those desktop search engines out there applied to UR in order to fellow UR users to benefit of the actual possibilites that exist even today (!), without having to put a work day into it first, like I currently do. )