... The USBlink explorer would be pretty helpful. Go ahead and do it!

That USBLink is just plain awesome. Can't wait

Thanks guys for the overwhelming support!

Here is a beta release of the UsbLink explorer.
     after -->      
Features:
1. Drag & drop files between Nspire and a Host folder and vice-versa.
2. Multi-selection support.
3. ListCtrls have sorting capability
4. Easy to use (after the initial folders set-up).

Limitations and Instructions: (a bit longish...)
1. Transfers are (at this stage) limited to only document files (.tns)
2. I do not know yet how to get a list of the folders below the 'MyDocuments' (referred as 'top-folders' below).
According to HackSpire's documentation, we should use the root-path '/' for that, but it doesn't seem to work (yet?).
3. This actually a PITA, so my work around for that is the following:
   3.1 Initially the tree is filled up with some known folder names, like: Examples, MyLib and some others (ndless and gbc4nspire)
   3.2 We can Add/Delete folders to/from the tree. Use right-click context-menu for that. For Example, on the screen shot, i've added mviewer and nRGBLib.
   3.3 It is recommended that all the folders in the tree do exist on the calculator side!
   3.4 This work it 'only' required for the 'top-folders' (the ones just below MyDocuments).  All children folders are automagically detected and inserted in the tree.
   3.5 These top-folders will be persisted to/from the registry. You only need to do it once or whenever a new top folder is required.
       (I hope you don't use that many top-folders. Anyway, i still think its worth the effort. Maybe we'll be able to circumvent this limtation in the future, but right now i still dunno how.)

4. Start kArmTI and wait until the boot processes completes. Show the USBLink explorer (Alt+E).
5. To grab files from the calculator:
   5.1 Select a folder on the tree and you should get a list of its contents on the rhs (right hand side) list (nspire's).
   5.2 On the nspire list select the files you want to grab. Use the normal windows multi-select procedure: shift+cursor/mouse-click or ctrl+click
   5.3. Drag the files and drop them on the Host's list. This will start the multi-file grabbing procedure. It all goes well you should get your calc's files on the host side.
6. To send files to the calculator:
   6.1 Select a target folder on the tree (or use the already selected one).
   6.2 Select the files on the host's list you want to send to Nspire's side.
   6.3 Drag & Drop them on the Nspire's list. That will start the multi-file sending procedure.
7. Browsing nspire folders:
      Double-click on a folder (DIR) item on the Nspire list to launch a dir-list command that will show its contents.
8. Other:
       8.1 If you change a folder's name on the nspire that will be reflected on the tree, but the old folder will still 'sit' there.
       To purge this/these older folder(s) you may either force a tree refill (use the refresh button above the tree ) or individualy delete the folder.
       8.2 Open up the console to get a lot of log info.

Ok, enough of talk let's do the walk. Try it out and report your controlled emotions .
LBNL, I know it still needs some more work, but i feel i should show you something already 'kicking'.

Cheers,

Edit1: correcting some typos.
Edit2: I've just found the solution for the 'top-folders' nuisance mentionned above. Actually the HackSpire docs are correct. I can now confirm it. My bad, sorry. I'll get back with an improved solution, asap.
Here is the proof (for my case):
Listing '/' details...
dir: MyLib/
file: themes.csv; 191 (bytes);
dir: Examples/
dir: ndless/
dir: mviewer/
dir: gbc4nspire/
dir: nRGBLib/
Listing of '/' complete.

Edit3: You may just forget about my 'top-folders' work around crap and try my new fresh version v1.29 instead.

Just tested, it's awesome

Thanks SpiroH, your new version is very comfortable now!
About your USB-Explorer: ...A horizontal layout (Nspire and host windows side by side) would be nice.

Hi Franz, Nice to hear from you again! I'm glad you like the new Skin Editor (v1.07).
About the USB Explorer horizontal layout, well that shouldn't be a problem .
Right now i'm busy with higher priority personal stuff. My youngest daughter is applying for a place at the university in another city, so i must go there hunting for rooms. It shouldn't last long i hope.

Regards,

Do I need additional materials such as the OS and stuff?

Thanks for your interest. Yes you do. Please refer to the first post and follow the documentation links.

Anyways, I'm not sure if this is wrong with karmTI or with the underlying nspire_emu, but it's happened quite a few times now. The keyboard randomly loses connection to the emulator and I can't control anything with it. Mouse control still works and using the keyboard in other open applications work. It's quite inconvenient...

Some time ago Wayne detected a similar problem and i have cross related  it to a possible mviewer/ndless stdio lock-uk, but i'm still not sure about the very origin of the keyboard connection loss (post: http://ourl.ca/16585;msg=252286). If it ever occurs again (and certainly it will) my suggestion is the following: would you please try to establish some correlation between the application you're using (whether it runs on top of ndless or is ti's native software) and the keyboard connection loss. That would perhaps help to establish some clues. 'Random connection loss' is rather vague. Of course, we would all be much happier after this flaw is pinpointed. At this time, that's all i can say. Is not much, but is some feedback.

Great idea indeed, unfortunately not easy to use on a netbook. A horizontal layout (Nspire and host windows side by side) would be nice.

Hi Franz, I can see you're logged in. So here goes something for you:
 
Do you like it? Wait just a little bit longer...
Cheers,

Nice work SpiroH.
Could you add delete, create or rename file/folder to the USB Explorer?
I like the tree view Maybe you could add a second one for the "root".

Quote from: shmibs on August 24, 2012, 01:27:26 pm

why would there be two trees?

Nspire and Host.

That's what I meant.

Amazing how fast such a discussion can develop these days.

if a ".." is included in the file pane, then clicking on it would move the user up one folder. it might be easier for some, while the tree view would be for others, so there's no reason not to include it.

In this particular issue, I tend to agree more with shimbs's approach. Besides, the host's tree although not visible is already there behind the browse button. 

The reasons i'm not too keen (at this moment) on a host's tree are the following:
1. The host's folder (in my simple approach) is not (yet) supposed to change that often. I agree, it would be handy to have a host's tree (in a more mature version) because it would simplify the mirroring the nspire's contents on to the host, eg: for backup purposes.
2. Yet another tree requires more space on the dialog (form).
3. Higher flexibility has to be weighed against development effort and time. I gather I'll follow the simpler step by step procedure and then if/when it works well change a bit the GUI.
4. The important thing is that the underlying communication software is reliable (which still needs improvements), the rest can be adjusted a bit later.

Thank you all for the various contributions.

Here is a follow-up version of my USB Explorer that you might find handy to use on occasions.

How does it look? Well, it will try to match the type of skin you're using. Either vertical or horizontal. So, one of the following or both if you switch skins .

     

What can you do with it? I'm not going too much into details because you should be able to figure it out by yourself (a lot of clever guys around the place).

Basics:
On CalcTree (context-menu/toolbar): 1. Create Folder; 2. Delete Folder      
On CalcList (context-menu/toolbar):   3. Rename a Folder or File; 4. Delete File(s) - multi-selection also possible.
5. Copy Files using Drag&Drop from the CalcList to the target Folder on the CalcTree.
   
To copy file(s) do the following:
   1. Make sure the target dir where the files are to be copied to is visible on the CalcTree.
   2. Select the file(s) in the CalcList and drag them over the drop-target folder on the tree (which becomes high-lighted).
6. The normal file operations (send/receive) between Nspire and Host still work but were already explained before. Short: just use D&D.
7. Other: On the Nspire's side there's a vertical splitter that let's yout adjust the width of tree vs list. The toolbar is shared: 3 buttons on the left-side operate on the calctree the 2 buttons on the right operate on the caclist.
Except for the refresh buttons, the toolbar replaces the context-menus.

This is still a work in progress but i hope you can already enjoy some of its features (as i correct some minor bugs),

SpiroH