Feature request - add option to modify settings of "Open File" dialog

[explor202]

Is there any way to add an option in WinSetView so the "Open File" dialog can be customized, similar to how the folders columns and views can be? Two things that have ALWAYS annoyed me are: A name field that extends all the way across the dialog, when most names take up maybe 1/3rd of that space. That makes me have to drag the separator over to the left so I can at least see the date column, or get to a blank spot to allow clicking and sorting of any other column that might be displayed. The second annoyance is that most of the time, the default display is Tiles, where I prefer to have it Details.
Yes, I can always resize the dialog box, and chances are it might save the change, but it'd be much easier to set and save it my preferences for all of the dialogs using WinSetView.

[LesFerch]

Whatever views and options you set for each folder type also applies to file open/save dialogs. Additionally, you can separately set the default view mode (List, Details, etc) for file dialogs. But you can't set the file dialog column layout specifically for file dialogs.

Note: If you have file dialogs that are not updated, the usual reason is because the app was still open (possibly still in system tray) when WinSetView was run.

As for Name width, you can only set a default that is reasonable. The "size column to fit" cannot be preset as it's not actually a setting (it's just an action that's applied when clicked).

[explor202]

Hmm, maybe I'm missing something. On the PC I'm using to type this, it looks like I used WinSetView on 12/27/2024 and settings included showing "Details" wherever applicable, including "This PC". When saved and checked, all of my NAS's displayed as "Details" as I expected. I then proceeded to open all of my folders and apps as I normally would. I restarted the same PC on 12/29/2024, but made no changes.

I just restored the app uView Player and clicked "Open Media File", then "Select Video File(s)". When I pointed it to my NAS, it was set to "Tiles" instead of "Details". I did something similar with ThumbsPlus when opening a database. When "Network" is selected, all devices are listed using "Tiles" instead of "Details".

[LesFerch]

Is it possible your NAS is mounting the same way as a phone? That is, if I connect my Android phone to any Windows PC, all folders will open in Tiles view. I have an option in WinSetView to force phones (and similarly connected devices) to instead use your "General items" view mode, so that may help, but I'm not sure that's what's going on. Do you see Details view for all the NAS folders via Explorer or does Explorer also now show Tiles?

[explor202]

My NAS's (WD PR4100's) are connected to my router by Ethernet cables, just like all the other PC's. They are part of my Workgroup and are configured to use the SMB 2 protocol. Until I started using WinSetView, they would always display in "Network" as Tiles, unless I manually changed that setting and closed/reopened the respective window (same with some attached PC's, mostly the "User" folder though). Any reset of Explorer would set them back to Tiles though, and I'd have to change it again.

I have set WinSetView to use the "General Items" view for all connected devices, and set the view for "This PC" to "Details". That setting does stick for every device on the network, when viewed in Explorer. I'm just not seeing it when I trigger the "Open File" dialog.

[explor202]

I would also love to see options to disable columns "Type" and "Comments" (when viewing a list of NAS folders), then "Category", "Workgroup" and "Network Location" when viewing the list of network devices.

[LesFerch]

OK, I replicated the issue using my phone. In order for the file dialogs to open in Details view for MTP devices (like your NAS) you have to explicitly set the File Dialog view to Details. Do that for Global by clicking the gear icon ⚙️, check "Set a separate view for Open and Save dialogs ", and then select Details from the dropdown menu. Click OK and then click Submit to apply the changes.

Unfortunately, that's the limit of what you can set with such devices. There's no way to preset any of the column details. As far as I can determine, those presets are hard-coded into Explorer for devices that connect via MTP/PTP.

It would be much better if your NAS could be set up to provide SMB shares. Then all the normal folder view handling would be in effect. I think it may have that capability from the bit of searching I did, but I can't say for certain.

[explor202]

Thanks for the research and details on how to set the dialog. I made the changes on a test PC and they look very good!

You probably already know about this, but I didn't. There are some settings within Windows to adjust the column names and width within the "Open File" dialog. Right clicking on the column names displays a menu with a "More" button, which when clicked, brings up a separate window with options very similar to what you provide in WinSetView. I've been able to set the dialog to show only the name column at a width of 350 pixels for most apps that I have open. It will be interesting to see if the changes are saved after a reboot.

[LesFerch]

Yes, you can make those individual changes to folder views whether it's in Explorer or a file dialog, but they are stored in a undocumented binary format within the Bags registry key.

The base defaults, that are in text format in the FolderTypes key (which is what WinSetView works with), unfortunately do not include any templates for virtual folders such as those created by an MTP connection. So I would have to extend WinSetView to do more with the binary view format in order set defaults for MTP devices.

Some of that format is simple, such as the view mode, which is why I have a setting for that. And some of the column layout stuff has been reverse engineered, but there are significant gaps in the knowledge and it's tricky changing stuff like that without an API even if you figure out the format. Another approach I'm looking at is to capture the current view from a folder the user specifies as a template. That way it's a binary blob that Explorer has created so there's no chance of messing it up. There are some implementation challenges remaining, but it's possible you'll see that in a future version.

Hopefully your manual settings for those folders will stick. They do stick in the tests I've done with my phone.

[explor202]

Good info, thanks for sharing.

[LesFerch]

Try the new beta (WinSetViewJScriptBeta.zip). Download from here.

I added the capability to make the General Items column settings apply to MTP devices, such as phones (and hopefully your NAS).

You'll see the new option in the Folder View Options page:

With those items both checked, you will see an Explorer window to C:\ open and close after you click Submit. That's WinSetView capturing the binary view values for a General Items type folder so it can propagate those settings to virtual folders that share the General Items GUID.

[explor202]

These changes look great, thanks for adding them!