My WPF based alternative to Windows Explorer

[link8506]

Hi,

I'd like to share with you a preview of an app I've been working on over the last few weeks.

It's an alternative to the file explorer included in Windows 8, designed to be more touch screen friendly and with a metro style UI (however it is not a metro/winRT app because the WinRT sandbox wouldn't allow full access to the file system).

Most features are not yet implemented, but some are already usable (md5/sha1 hash calculation, photo viewer).

btw, it should work on Windows 7 too if you want to give it a try.

Download link and other screenshots available here : http://www.julien-manici.com/immersive_explorer/

[Nazmus Shakib Khandaker]

Wow, this looks nice! Can't wait to see more features added. Does this auto-update?

[link8506]

Wow, this looks nice! Can't wait to see more features added. Does this auto-update?

It will tell you if an update is available, but it won't install automatically.

I will release a new version every few days, so you should try it again next week, you'll see a lot of diff?rences ^^

[Steven P. Administrators]

Impressive, added to main (Y) http://www.neowin.ne...rer-for-windows

There needs to be a way we can pin this to the start screen as well ;)

[Xerax]

If you want a few pointers in WPF to give it that *special* touch, hit me up on Skype: alexerax. ;)

[TheJudge]

it just crashes when i try to run it on my work PC (Win7 x86, intel pentium 4 CPU 2.8GHz, 2GB RAM)

[link8506]

Impressive, added to main (Y) http://www.neowin.ne...rer-for-windows

thanks :)

There needs to be a way we can pin this to the start screen as well ;)

yeah it's ugly right now... I didn't create an icon yet because I didn't expect people would want to pin such an early beta of my app on their start screen.

[rfirth]

Works pretty well here, but randomly crashes when buttons are pressed. Never seems to consistently crash, but it doesn't take long.

Pretty nice. I'm impressed. Obviously needs work, but you already know that :p

[link8506]

If you want a few pointers in WPF to give it that *special* touch, hit me up on Skype: alexerax. ;)

thanks. I'll add you on Skype to talk about that.

it just crashes when i try to run it on my work PC (Win7 x86, intel pentium 4 CPU 2.8GHz, 2GB RAM)

indeed, I accidentally forced the compilation for 64 bit only on the two libraries used by the main EXE.

I just published the version 0.1.1 to fix that.

Works pretty well here, but randomly crashes when buttons are pressed. Never seems to consistently crash, but it doesn't take long.

Pretty nice. I'm impressed. Obviously needs work, but you already know that :p

yeah there is still a lot of bugs. I've seen it crash on one of my computers but not on my development machine. I will have to install visual studio on it to understand why it crashes randomly. It seems that it happens when some picture thumbnails are loading.

[LightShadow]

Love it. Very well made even for a very early version, well done!

One feature I'd like to request in a future version, is the ability to pin folders to the Common Folder section. I use SkyDrive folders a lot so it would be useful :).

[link8506]

Love it. Very well made even for a very early version, well done!

thanks :)

One feature I'd like to request in a future version, is the ability to pin folders to the Common Folder section. I use SkyDrive folders a lot so it would be useful :).

yes, I was planning to implement favorite/pinned folders on the main screen. It wasn't a priority for this preview version, but it will come before version 1.0 comes out.

[Steven P. Administrators]

I didn't get an update notification, is there an about screen somewhere that I can't find? :p

[Jarrichvdv]

Dude, keep it up! Awesome work.

[link8506]

I didn't get an update notification, is there an about screen somewhere that I can't find? :p

That's because I didn't mark the version 0.1.0 as outdated on my server. When I'll do it, an ugly message box will be displayed at startup asking the user to upgrade ^^

I'll improve the updating process in a future version.

Dude, keep it up! Awesome work.

thank you :)

[Steven P. Administrators]

Okidoki :)

[Detection]

If you copy the files for this into the windows 7 explorer for windows 8 patch folder, then rename ImmersiveExplorer.exe to explorer.exe and run the patch, it sets this explorer as the default

If there was a way to keep Metro and use this explorer instead of the normal desktop one, you have more or less created Windows RT for x86_64 :D

Great work, I like it

[Arkose]

Is it possible to make hot corners accessible in fullscreen mode? That would be a really useful addition. :)

[lol51312]

if you could use bigger icon because i have wide screen

[link8506]

If you copy the files for this into the windows 7 explorer for windows 8 patch folder, then rename ImmersiveExplorer.exe to explorer.exe and run the patch, it sets this explorer as the default

But that would kill the taskbar and the desktop icons.

Anyway, my app doesn't need to replace the shell. A shortcut in the taskbar or the start screen is perfectly enough for the user to decide to use my app when he needs to browse files.

No system hooks, no instabilities :)

[link8506]

Is it possible to make hot corners accessible in fullscreen mode? That would be a really useful addition. :)

indeed, but I don't known yet if there is an API to reactivate them on full screen windows.

if you could use bigger icon because i have wide screen

yes, the ability to change the tiles size may be interesting for high resolutions.

[link6155]

Thought I would design some icons for this:

The icons are based on Microsoft Office 2013 icons. The first one was design to be similar to the windows 7 explorer icon while the second one matches Office 2013 icons.

[Nazmus Shakib Khandaker]

The Back/forward arrows are NOT metro style. Check how your arrow looks compared to the Windows 8's metro style arrows. You will notice that for metro style arrows, there are flat edges on the two ends of the arrow.

Your Arrow (not metro style)

Windows 8's Arrow (Metro Style)

[psyko_x]

awesome work link. I think the UI is very innovative. looking forward to seeing what other features you add!

[Ice_Blue]

Very good. This has some serious potential.

Keep up the good work, and thanks for sharing it with us.

[Praetor]

lot's of potencial, needs more animations (the folder photo preview could match W8 photo preview, for example).