New: ShareX (Mar 27, 2023), Platform 24.1 (Feb 13, 2023)
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Eraser Drop is a great implementation of Eraser, but I think there is one function that would make it great. I think there should be an option to allow it to hook into the delete function of the computer. So if you highlight a file and hit delete (or right-click on a folder and select delete), rather than sent it to the recycle bin it would delete it with Eraser Drop.
This would obviously be optional, but I think it would be a great alternative to having to drag it to the icon.
The problem with that, is that it wouldn't be portable. While an app can hook into Explorer from a portable drive, it can't easily unhook without restarting explorer.exe. That requires shutting down the whole Windows UI really, including the start menu and task bar. This normally requires a reboot or logging out and in. It can also be accomplished by forcing explorer.exe to shutdown and restart. But none of those options are attractive.
Fair enough. I just thought it might be a nice feature, but since it's problematic I guess it's not worth it.
I would, however, like to use it on my personal computer, so maybe that functionality could be implemented with a note about the drawbacks? I know that this site does not recommend using portable apps as the default versions on personal computers, but since this is original software maybe there could be an exception.
It's possible, and fairly easily, but the thing is that once you remove it, explorer will tend to keep a handle on the DLL. It's possible to manually invalidate the handle (such a feature could be put into it) but this is more complex and I don't know exactly how to do it.
There's another way of approaching it, similar to how eXpresso handles file extensions, I think – detecting when the delete message box is coming up; I haven't tried it, but you (and Eric too possibly) might like to take a look at iBin and see how it does it.
I've done quite a bit of development and optimization on Cafe/eXpresso, and I can honestly say I don't want any part of that code within 1000 miles of EraserDrop.
It would be more feasible to implement a temporary context menu entry for files and folders like how PortableFileAssociator does, and like you can do with md5hash. This is, however, messy to implement unfortunately. I'll mull it over, but don't expect anything soon.
Have you looked at iBin's code though? It's possible it might just about fit the bill, I think.
No, but it either uses a hotkey or a keyboard hook. As I said, it's messy and inevitably gets in the way of something. I'd rather not go there.
I don't understand why it is impossible or difficult to add a context menu entry.
Others apps do it very well (WipeFile for exemple).
Remove the entry from a context menu seems to be very easy, what's the problem?
Explorer will tend to keep a handle on the DLL? Is it catastrophic?
We have to decide : or we accept one application let a DLL handled after unpluging our USB Key and we have a good feature for EraserDrop, or we don't have the feature just to respect the 100% clean philosophy.
I don't know, but if this is so important for you, ask an other software developer how he did, he should answer you if he had sense of common courtesy.
Whatever, the DEL key implementation is better than adding a context menu entry, I vote for it !
The DLL handle locking with Explorer means you *can't eject your drive*. That's about as bad as you can get with something that claims to be 'portable'. We do portable software only here.
What about asking other devs how to do it?
I mean, why focus on "we can't do it because", when you can ask others how they did the thing?
WipeFile can add an entry in folder's context menu, many other softs can do it. I have WipeFile on my key, and I add/delete context menu entrey in a snap. No DLL problems !
Please, we're all certain that it could be awesome to add the feature we're talking about.
What's so bad about closing and restarting explorer.exe?
It kills the whole desktop, start menu, taskbar and system tray. It then has to restart. Order of icons in the taskbar is altered. Some system tray icons will be lost and won't reappear. Exceedingly user un-friendly. Bad idea. We won't do it.
Beyond that it's exceptionally poor design you mean? It's a bit like expecting somebody to pour water into their car engine every time they want to stop the motor. Wouldn't it be so much nicer if the engine just stopped when you wanted it to?
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