Classic Shell: Forum

I would like to control the right click context menu, and i think the easiest way to do this would be allowing multiple instances of classic shell to run, and adding an option to the controls tab, that allows you to set "Right Click opens:" (the right click context isnt really necessary, as anything on it you could add to your start menu already, and you could exit with task manager if you need to..)

I don't think actually adding a second set of options specifically for a secondary menu is a good idea however, because i doubt most users would need it, and it would be rather confusing.. (unless you can think of a better way to do it )

Also I previously requested an option to add the options you receive with win+x (on windows 8) with the right click context menu. but this request would be greatly preferable to that (and that option would be pretty useless with the power this one gives)

EDIT/UPDATE: actually, there might be a better easier way than running multiple instances.. and thats to load an alternate Menu Settings.xml on left click (or whatever options are set to open alternate start menu)

The thing is the real work happens inside the Explorer process. So:
* It will be very hard to keep track of two start menus inside the same process. They will have to work in isolation and have their own settings in the registry
* Killing the start menu process accomplishes nothing. It will not exit the start menu. You will have to also kill Explorer

As for Win+X, it already works that way, you just have to right-click in the corner.

it doesnt work that way with hot-corners disabled..

also i edited my post just after you read it to mention maybe reload an alternate 'menu settings.xml before displaying the menu' there may be a slight delay for that, but even a 1 second delay on the alternate menu would be fine for me... (and reload the old settings right after you exit the right click menu)

also the ability to load directly from the menusettings.xml would also make the app portable, as I, and tenzen requested previously..

Only re-posting because its likely you read the previous, and might miss an edit (since you were on at the time)

This is not the direction I am taking Classic Shell. The features I'm working on require even more information, which is collected on startup. So spinning up another menu will likely take a lot of time.

As for loading XML file - again, the bulk of the work happens inside Explorer. There is very little communication between the start menu and the ClassicStartMenu.exe proccess. So it will be difficult for any command line parameters to be passed. Your best bet is to have a .reg file and merge it before launching the menu.

so you believe it could work fairly stable and with 1 second or less delay?), if you were to set it up to silently merge the registry file, between right click and menu display?

@This is not the direction I am taking Classic Shell. The features I'm working on require even more information, which is collected on startup. So spinning up another menu will likely take a lot of time.

not sure what you mean by this: im guessing you mean that the amount of new features would mean that merging to the registry would take considerably more time than it would now? (would it still fall under 1-2 seconds delay for right click menu to appear?)

Or do you mean it would take alot of time to code..? running a reg file, before displaying the menu doesn't sound to complicated to code on the surface..?


and you're saying this isn't a feature you're likely to choose to implement? why? and im curious how many man-hours you would expect such a feature to take? (not coding a whole new set of options for an alternate menu, but simply merging a secondary .reg file before the alternate menu is displayed, and un-merging it after it closes)

and you couldn't just create a copy of all the registry settings with a suffix _2 and use them for the alternate menu?

That's not what I meant. I was suggesting merging the reg file instead of trying to load XML file as away to achieve portability. Not as a way to change the settings on the fly. That won't work because the menu only reads the registry when it starts up.

Having 2 separate menus in the same process is considerable amount of work. They will have to keep 2 separate sets of settings (in memory and in the registry). There has to be a way to edit both sets. Cached icons will have to be duplicated because potentially the two menus can use different sizes for the icons.

asfar as running, i think classic shells cpu/ram impact is already minimal, so doubling it wouldn't make a difference (and if it does, couldnt this feature be set to disabled on default, and require a restart to activate)

asfar as editing, what if holding shift(or alt) when you press ok at the bottom applies the settings to the secondary menu, and holding shift(or alt) while clicking a tab on top would open the tab for the secondary menu rather than primary. This would be unlikely to happen by accident, so users would know if they were editing the alternate menu or the primary. (maybe add the text (alternate) to the tab name, when editing the alternate menu)

asfar as work, how many hours would you expect? this is a feature i would really love to see...

It will require weeks of work. You are talking about modifying the settings system, which is a fundamental piece of code that's used by all components (like Classic Explorer). It will complicate the code, leading to potential problems down the line. It is a can of worms that I'd rather keep closed.

How about you put all those extra items in a sub-menu, like Tools? Then you press Win, then T, and you get your menu.

IMHO, two menus is an overkill. There is Win+X menu editor from Winaero to customize the Win+X menu. But if this limitation can be fixed that disabling all hot corners disables Win+X menu using mouse right-click, it would be awesome. Start8 does not have that limitation.

There are also plenty of Windows utilities to open a menu from the tray/notification area. For example, this one: http://www.desktopapps.org/

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Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and helped a little with Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

Also i've tried exiting classic explorer, and re-running it, and on my system it opens up within about 1/8th of a second after i double click the icon. so editing the registry, then forcing classic shell to restart shouldn't be more than half a second, and it should properly load the settings, with the only side effect being the icon disappearing for that half second?

and if that still really wouldn't work, how about adding just the simplest edits (allowing the user to add/delete links, and there names, plus separators in the right click menu, with no themes, or icons)
that would require another tab though

and if theres a win+x menu editor, even just allowing that to open on the right click context rather than your current right click menu would suffice