Shell Object Editor query

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rose
  • Start date Start date
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Rose

Has anyone made use of this utility?

http://www.tropictech.de Shell Object Editor
This program is an editor for shell objects. You can create new shell
objects and delete them when you don't need or want them any longer

I've downloaded and made a desktop object for a frequently used folder but
its supposed to act just like My Documents. I expected the contents to
expand out into the columns of titles in the Desktop toolbar. The Shell
Objects that will expand have a black indicator over to the right when the
objects are displayed in the Desktop toolbar launcher (WinXpHome) I find
this a handy way to get to contents for e.g all the shortcut icons are in
a folder on the desktop rather than on the actual desktop. I was hoping the
folder of text files would just expand into a list without having to go
into explorer.

Basically, http://www.tropictech.de Shell Object Editor is an easy way to
create a Custom System Folder but its possible to delete it without going
into the registry. The author didn't respond to a query on this topic so I
thought I would ask here.
 
Rose said:
Has anyone made use of this utility?

http://www.tropictech.de Shell Object Editor
This program is an editor for shell objects. You can create new shell
objects and delete them when you don't need or want them any longer

I've downloaded and made a desktop object for a frequently used
folder but its supposed to act just like My Documents. I expected the
contents to expand out into the columns of titles in the Desktop
toolbar. The Shell Objects that will expand have a black indicator
over to the right when the objects are displayed in the Desktop
toolbar launcher (WinXpHome) I find this a handy way to get to
contents for e.g all the shortcut icons are in a folder on the
desktop rather than on the actual desktop. I was hoping the folder of
text files would just expand into a list without having to go into
explorer.

Basically, http://www.tropictech.de Shell Object Editor is an easy
way to create a Custom System Folder but its possible to delete it
without going into the registry. The author didn't respond to a query
on this topic so I thought I would ask here.
Click to expand...

I have tried this out a bit, just now.

Try this: drag and drop the desktop object that you created onto the
Start Menu button.

HTH
 
Sietse Fliege suggested for:

... http://www.tropictech.de Shell Object Editor
... This program is an editor for shell objects. You can create new shell
objects and delete them when you don't need or want them any longer

-supposed to act just like My Documents. I expected the contents to expand
out into the columns of titles
------------------
Try this: drag and drop the desktop object that you created onto the Start
Menu button.
---------------
Is the main word in the above instructions ONTO ?
I just did that and YES that is a satisfactory result.
Now the shell icon referring to a long list of collected text notes is on
the initial START menu in the upper section and the contents fly out,
including the subfolders!
VERY GOOD, thank you.
Now, I can quickly scan the alphabetical list with one swoop rather than
click, click click :)
Interesting that this procedure works and putting the same shell icon(system
folder) on the Desktop toolbar didn't....hmmm.
Rose
 
Rose said:
Sietse Fliege suggested for:

.. http://www.tropictech.de Shell Object Editor
.. This program is an editor for shell objects. You can create new
shell objects and delete them when you don't need or want them any
longer

-supposed to act just like My Documents. I expected the contents to
expand out into the columns of titles
------------------
Click to expand...

See below
I just did that and YES that is a satisfactory result.
Now the shell icon referring to a long list of collected text notes
is on the initial START menu in the upper section and the contents
fly out, including the subfolders!
VERY GOOD, thank you.
Click to expand...

You're welcome!
Now, I can quickly scan the alphabetical list with one swoop rather
than click, click click :)
Interesting that this procedure works and putting the same shell
icon(system folder) on the Desktop toolbar didn't....hmmm.
Rose
Click to expand...

After a bit experimenting : you can have it both in your Start Menu and
in e.g. your QuickLaunch toolbar. It seems to work like this:

To have it in your Start Menu : as described, drag and drop the desktop
shell object onto the Start button.
This does not create a shortcut, as you will see when you look at the
file type (in Explorer).
Rather, you'll see that on the desktop it is called a system folder
while the "copy" in the Start Menu is called a folder (with a read-only
atribbute). They are not real folders, but a sort of what is called
hardlinks to the original folder.

When you try and drag and drop the desktop shell object onto e.g. your
QuickLaunch toolbar, that won't work as it will only create a shortcut,
not a "copy", which makes it behave differently.
You also can not just copy and paste the desktop shell object into your
QuickLaunch folder.
Instead you must first take the intermediate step of creating the "copy"
in the Start Menu, as described above.
Then you can drag and drop or copy or move that "copy" to eg your
QuickLaunch folder. :)
If you don't want to keep the intermediate copy you can just delete it.
If you want to remove the desktop shell object, you can best do that
with the program. The copy in your QuickLaunch folder will still work
after that.

You may also want to have a look at a program called ShortPopUp.
It can enhance the QuickLaunch toolbar with the same functionality as
above, but also more and is very configurable.

<http://www.digitallis.co.uk/pc/ShortPopUp/index.html>
<http://www.digitallis.co.uk/pc/downloads/ShortPopUp.zip>

Review :
<http://modzine.net/magazine.php?request=Article&issue=3&articleid=55>

I just checked it and found that it recently has been updated.
More options and apparently also much faster when started, which was a
bit of an issue for some.
 
Sietse Fliege recommended:
-ShortPopUp.
It can enhance the QuickLaunch toolbar with the same functionality as
above, but also more and is very configurable.

<http://www.digitallis.co.uk/pc/ShortPopUp/index.html>
<http://www.digitallis.co.uk/pc/downloads/ShortPopUp.zip>

Review :
http://modzine.net/magazine.php?request=Article&issue=3&articleid=55

-just checked it and found that it recently has been updated.
More options and apparently also much faster when started
_________________
Got it, looks good.
Rose
 
Sietse said:
To have it in your Start Menu : as described, drag and drop the
desktop shell object onto the Start button.
Click to expand...

Un update, after having looked at it some more:

It turns out that for this you don't need Shell Object Editor at all.
In WinXP, Win2000 and apparently also WinME you can just drag and drop a
folder or disk drive icon to your Start menu.
The result is exactly the same as described above.
This creates what is called a folder shortcut, which is not the same as
a (conventional) shortcut to a folder.
A folder shortcut is physically a folder containing 2 files :
desktop.ini and target.lnk (which is just an ordinary shortcut). You can
check that by applying attrib -R to the folder in a console window.
As described above, you can move the folder shortcut to e.g. your
QuickLaunch folder.
Like in the Start Menu, it will, when you click it, show the contents of
folders as flyouts.
 
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