NX8 NX9 Desktop Shortcuts in Win7 Common File Dialogs 3

[Xwheelguy]

I've noticed this for a few NX major releases - and due to the way my employer's computer nazis have NX setup, I'm unable to tell if this is an issue with NX, Windows or limited to within my company. I was wondering if anyone would care to test something out for me? NX8 is fine, but NX9 would be better.....Windows 7 is probably a must (64bit here).

Perform a CGM Export (or any other export) and under the Destination "area" of the dialog (make sure Destination is visible or expanded) click the Browse... button and a Common File Dialog should pop up (see attachment below for reference - stolen from Web). On the left, you should see shortcuts such as Recent Places, Desktop, Libraries, Computer, Network. Select Desktop, set the file name you want (such as test.cgm) and try to press OK. My dialog will NOT allow me to use this shortcut to save any exports - it always switches to computer and forces me to pick the path manually (C -> Users -> your username here -> Desktop.

Anyone else getting this or is it just me? It drives me insane to have to manually browse to my Desktop whenever this Common Dialog pops up in NX - yes, I know it saves the last location, but it makes the purpose of the shortcuts on the left useless if I change from Desktop.

Thanks in advance to any who help out.

Tim Flater
NX Designer
NX 9.0.2.5 Win7 Pro x64 SP1
Intel Xeon 2.53 GHz 6GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro 4000 2GB

 

[Arkance/PhoeNX]

Just you in my case. Tested in NX8.5 and NX9 and following your instructions to the letter, it works for me.

Anthony Galante
Senior Support Engineer


NX3 to NX9 with almost every MR (18versions) plus the NX10 Beta

 

[Xwheelguy]

Thanks Anthony, that's what I was afraid was going to be the outcome.

Tim Flater
NX Designer
NX 9.0.2.5 Win7 Pro x64 SP1
Intel Xeon 2.53 GHz 6GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro 4000 2GB

 

[hermhart]

I have this happen as well. But if you put double quotes around the file name that you enter, then it works.

 

[cowski]

If I click on the "desktop" icon in the left toolbar and press OK, it dumps me into the 'secretly selected' folder. By this, I mean that it takes me to the location that was last selected in the available 'desktop' locations. To see this for yourself, go to the desktop location by pressing the button in the left toolbar, now single click on some location in the list, single click in the whitespace so that nothing is selected, click OK - you would expect it to set your save location to the desktop, but instead it opens the last location you had selected.

However, hermhart's suggestion works for me too, star for that!

www.nxjournaling.com

 

[Toost]

Personally i don't get the grip on these windows 7 shortcuts at all... i simply hate that Microsoft has predefined where "documents" should be stored, In my case i have 1 SSD ( C:\) and 1 regular HDD (D:\) since SSDs are expensive in comparison i want software on C:\ and ALL files on the D:\ .
For some reason i cant make my computer understand that D:\users\tomas\ is THE place to put things...
- and not C:\users\tomas
I think it's meant to be smart and easy to use, i personally like to know WHERE i save the files.
- "way back when we ran unix, oh boy , then it was way ... etc etc"


Regards,
Tomas

 

[Xwheelguy]

Tomas,

They are editable/customizable - I think the name of the site is sevenforums; they have a how-to, although I've never tried. Probably involves editing the registry.

Tim Flater
NX Designer
NX 9.0.2.5 Win7 Pro x64 SP1
Intel Xeon 2.53 GHz 6GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro 4000 2GB

 

[cowski]

I hear that they like to 'modernize' the look & feel for new users and to take market share from other operating systems, even if it makes operations more cumbersome for the longtime users.

www.nxjournaling.com

 

[Xwheelguy]

Sounds like CAD software to me.

Tim Flater
NX Designer
NX 9.0.2.5 Win7 Pro x64 SP1
Intel Xeon 2.53 GHz 6GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro 4000 2GB

 

[HercalloY]

Personally i don't get the grip on these windows 7 shortcuts at all... i simply hate that Microsoft has predefined where "documents" should be stored, In my case i have 1 SSD ( C:\) and 1 regular HDD (D:\) since SSDs are expensive in comparison i want software on C:\ and ALL files on the D:\ .
For some reason i cant make my computer understand that D:\users\tomas\ is THE place to put things...
- and not C:\users\tomas\

Hi Toost,

I will assume you're on Windows 7. To change it is quite easy. Open a Windows Explorer window and go to the "Libraries" section. In here you'll see the usual library entries but for this example we'll use Documents. So right click on it and go to "Properties". In here you'll see its quite easy to add and remove entries and set an entry to a default. This feature is actually quite a good Windows feature (even though i myself don't use it for Documents, i do the same thing you do and use a separate SSD i ALWAYS allocate to D.

IMO Microsoft need to do more about the discover-ability of its functionality and how they intend it to be used. I came to this party late and even though i feel its just slightly lacking in a few areas to really appeal to power users (like in the "Documents" department, some long term, dependable meta data handling would be a good start)... its handy for some things (like creating a single location for all your video or music files even though you may have them spread in many locations on multiple installed hard drives.

I did hear on the grape-vine that the Libraries feature was going to be fazed out. I hope not. Or at least... i hope it would be replaced by something much more powerful (yeah right... since when are we getting things removed and replaced with MORE functionality?).

 

[HercalloY]

Slightly related... is it just me.. or has someone else wondered why these said shortcuts can't be customised? drives me crazy...

 

[Xwheelguy]

.

Slightly related... is it just me.. or has someone else wondered why these said shortcuts can't be customised? drives me crazy...

They can be, although it's not as simple as most users would prefer and probably not easy to do if you're not given admin rights at your place of employment. It involves editing your registry. Do a Google search for 'customizing common file dialog' and you should get started in the right direction. I would point you right to the steps, but I don't want to be responsible if something doesn't work as intended. Be sure to read any forum threads completely before diving in.....

Tim Flater
NX Designer
NX 9.0.2.5 Win7 Pro x64 SP1
Intel Xeon 2.53 GHz 6GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro 4000 2GB

 

[AlexLozoya]

It can be done !

use windows key + R and write gpedit.msc

see image attachment for mor info.

______

Alex ,

 

[AlexLozoya]

______

Alex ,

 

[HercalloY]

Xwheelguy,

Ahh yes. I was aware of workarounds actually, cheers though. Its very limiting and painful! i would have expected, by now, for the nx developers to have a much more powerful and user friendly dialog. Especially in such a used area of the UI. I propose something like this as a starting point for them:

 

[HercalloY]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5kqa7tvpyyz268n/nx_fileopen_dialog_2014.png?dl=0

 

[cowski]

i would have expected, by now, for the nx developers to have a much more powerful and user friendly dialog

These are standard Windows dialogs. The NX developers have limited control over them. They could create their own, non-standard dialogs but then there is the risk of users complaining that they don't follow the Windows standard...

www.nxjournaling.com

 

[HercalloY]

That's a pretty piss-poor excuse not to enhance such a heavily used dialog. Especially when there are that many dialogs in NX to begin with... not to mention the fact that you can still follow "Windows Standards" in a more user friendly and powerful dialog. Just like i showed in my screenshot. I hope the developers don't actually think that (no disrespect intended cowski).

 

[cowski]

No offense taken.

I was just trying to point out that the NX developers have wisely taken the path of least resistance. In a few lines of code, they can call up a standard dialog box that looks & feels like all the other ones in the OS. If someone doesn't like the dialog, they can say "it's a Windows standard, go complain to MS". On the other hand, if they create their own dialog, the code maintenance, testing, and complaints are all on them. I know which option I'd choose...

www.nxjournaling.com

 

[HercalloY]

I just can't seem to see why there would be complainers (not to any great degree). Yes i know there are always complainers (i'm one right now!). But considering i only see this bland... default 1998 dialog box in NX and every other piece of software under the sun users a slightly tweaked and more specific dialog, to great effect, and that its by far one of the easiest things to do.. seems baffling to me. I hardly see how you're turmoil could be so high. Its not as if we're enabling a Ribbon bar here.