To be honest, I'm kind of torn on this. On one hand, it seems like a very powerful feature, and that experts could get a lot out of it.

Oh the other hand it seems like feature creep, and it's always a warning sign when a new optional feature is added that's off by default.

Since the requested feature from Windows Explorer was itself implemented as an add-on, maybe this should be a plugin too?

In D20532#450234, @ngraham wrote:

Since the requested feature from Windows Explorer was itself implemented as an add-on, maybe this should be a plugin too?

Is there any documentation on plugin development for dolphin?
Do I have access to all the necessary parts (double click event, action collection, folder view, settings etc.).

I'm afraid I don't have the answers to those questions. :(

However note that I'm not formally objecting to this feature, just expressing a concern. If you want to keep it in Dolphin itself, maybe it should be on the Navigation page instead of General. What do you think?

I don't think the navigation is a suitable place, since it's not limited only to going up one folder.

Here is a demo

In D20532#506470, @ngraham wrote:

Finally, it feels quite slow. When I double-click, there's a noticeable delay before the action gets executed. Maybe this is because of all the scanning widgets to find the main window? That doesn't feel like the correct approach, just browsing the diff.

For me there is no delay, but I also don't like the loop. The alternatives I found are:

(DolphinMainWindow *)QApplication::activeWindow();
(DolphinMainWindow *)QApplication::topLevelAt(QCursor::pos());

Both work. Which should I use? If there's a better way let me know.

Oh and one last thing: every action seems to have an ampersand at the beginning of its name

That is the text set for the action.
I think Qt hides the & in widgets that support actions, but QComboBox doesn't support actions.
Since I just take the action text when creating the QComboBox item that is what is shown, will fix.

Also, since I'm at it, I think it will be good to add support for middle click too.
So there will be an action for double click and one for middle click.
What do you think?

In D20532#506590, @fbg13 wrote:

The alternatives I found are:

(DolphinMainWindow *)QApplication::activeWindow();

Probably this one.

Also, since I'm at it, I think it will be good to add support for middle click too.
So there will be an action for double click and one for middle click.
What do you think?

How about going with just double-click for now, but implementing it in a generic enough way that middle-click support could be added in a second patch?

The actions in the current patch were a few I selected for showcase.
These are the actions I think are useful to have for the double click:

"file_new" "New &Window"
"new_tab" "New Tab"
"edit_paste" "Paste Clipboard Contents..."
"edit_find" "&Find..."
"edit_select_all" "Select &All"
"split_view" "Split"
"editable_location" "Editable Location"
"replace_location" "Replace Location"
"go_back" "&Back"
"go_up" "&Up"
"go_home" "&Home"
"show_filter_bar" "Show Filter Bar"
"open_terminal" "Open Terminal"
"create_dir" "Create Folder..."
"show_preview" "Preview"
"show_in_groups" "Show in Groups"
"show_hidden_files" "Hidden Files"
"view_properties" "Adjust View Properties..."
"show_terminal_panel" "Terminal"

Thoughts?
@ngraham Do you think it still fits better in the Navigation page?

How about going with just double-click for now, but implementing it in a generic enough way that middle-click support could be added in a second patch?

Can you clarify this a bit? Do you want it added only if people ask for middle click too?

There we go, now the action triggers instantly. Looking better!

Regarding qobject_cast this is the error I get:

DolphinMainWindow *mainWindow = qobject_cast<DolphinMainWindow *>(QApplication::activeWindow());

src/CMakeFiles/dolphinprivate.dir/kitemviews/kitemlistcontroller.cpp.o: in function `KItemListController::doubleClickViewBackground(Qt::MouseButton)':
Dolphin/src/kitemviews/kitemlistcontroller.cpp:-1: error: undefined reference to `DolphinMainWindow::staticMetaObject'
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status

[3/70 8.8/sec] Linking CXX shared library bin/libdolphinprivate.so.5.0.0
FAILED: bin/libdolphinprivate.so.5.0.0

So what's happening? Do I have to change static_cast to qobject_cast?
If so then I don't know how to fix the error mentioned above.

We are waiting for @elvisangelaccio's review.

Sorry for the long delay. I don't think we should add an option to let the user choose what to do on double clicks.

But I could accept a patch that triggers the "Go up" action because:

• we have a feature request for that with a bunch of votes (#307505)
• in the past we had already 2 different patches trying to implement this feature: 1, 2

In D20532#539550, @elvisangelaccio wrote:

Sorry for the long delay. I don't think we should add an option to let the user choose what to do on double
But I could accept a patch that triggers the "Go up" action because:

• we have a feature request for that with a bunch of votes (#307505)
• in the past we had already 2 different patches trying to implement this feature: 1, 2

Is there a reason why you're against letting the user choose the action to trigger?
What if there was a feature request with people wanting this?
I'm asking since I made this patch for the custom action and not the go up one.

Another thing that I forgot: the double click trigger should only be enabled in single-click mode, probably.

In D20532#539606, @fbg13 wrote:

In D20532#539550, @elvisangelaccio wrote:

Sorry for the long delay. I don't think we should add an option to let the user choose what to do on double
But I could accept a patch that triggers the "Go up" action because:

• we have a feature request for that with a bunch of votes (#307505)
• in the past we had already 2 different patches trying to implement this feature: 1, 2

Is there a reason why you're against letting the user choose the action to trigger?

Adding a new setting makes the code and the UI more complex and harder to maintain in the long term. We should add new settings only when there is no other way (this usually happens if a new feature makes sense only for a subset of users).

What if there was a feature request with people wanting this?

Then we might reconsider this choice, of course.

I don't see a compelling reason why this feature shouldn't work when you're using the systemwide double-click mode. I use that mode and this feature works perfectly fine with it.

In D20532#542522, @elvisangelaccio wrote:

Adding a new setting makes the code and the UI more complex and harder to maintain in the long term. We should add new settings only when there is no other way (this usually happens if a new feature makes sense only for a subset of users).

But even if we go with just the "Go up" action, I think there should be an option to turn it off.
I often miss the file or folder when double clicking and going up would be annoying.

Then we might reconsider this choice, of course.

I asked on r/kde if there's interest for this feature and the response was good.
https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/de4sun/dolphin_are_you_interested_in_a_double_click_on/

@elvisangelaccio Hope that's enough.

In D20532#542673, @fbg13 wrote:

In D20532#542522, @elvisangelaccio wrote:

Adding a new setting makes the code and the UI more complex and harder to maintain in the long term. We should add new settings only when there is no other way (this usually happens if a new feature makes sense only for a subset of users).

But even if we go with just the "Go up" action, I think there should be an option to turn it off.
I often miss the file or folder when double clicking and going up would be annoying.

If a feature can be triggered by accident, we should fix that instead of adding an option to disable the feature. In this case, the double click should trigger the action only if it's not "near an item".

Then we might reconsider this choice, of course.

I asked on r/kde if there's interest for this feature and the response was good.
https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/de4sun/dolphin_are_you_interested_in_a_double_click_on/

@elvisangelaccio Hope that's enough.

Interesting. I personally like the idea of "selecting all" on double click. I also see very good arguments in favor of not adding the feature as-is ;)

So is this (the feature not the current patch) going to be accepted or not?

Not in the current version, I'm afraid.

As already said, we need a very good reason to justify the addition of a new setting that will make dolphin harder to maintain in the long-run.

TBH the "increased maintenance burden" argument doesn't sit well with me. Every new feature or net addition to the code adds to the maintenance burden. In and of itself, this is not a problem; you have to weigh it against the value brought by the addition or change in question. We should be thinking about whether this feature is worth adding. If we find that it is, we'll find ways to offset or reduce or deal with the increased maintenance burden, the way we do for all net code additions.

In D20532#581189, @ngraham wrote:

TBH the "increased maintenance burden" argument doesn't sit well with me. Every new feature or net addition to the code adds to the maintenance burden. In and of itself, this is not a problem; you have to weigh it against the value brought by the addition or change in question. We should be thinking about whether this feature is worth adding. If we find that it is, we'll find ways to offset or reduce or deal with the increased maintenance burden, the way we do for all net code additions.

What can be a better value then improving user experience? In most of Linux DEs middle mouse click is set to work as Ctrl+V, so isn't it great to provide the same functionality in Dolphin?
Double click action would be a very neat addition too. It can be seen from this discussion on Reddit, how many people actually liked this idea and will be interested in using it...
I think this feature suggestion must be reconsidered.

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=307505 has two duplicates. We might want to reconsider.

In D20532#601023, @ngraham wrote:

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=307505 has two duplicates. We might want to reconsider.

Any updates on this?

! In D20532#601023, @ngraham wrote:
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=307505 has two duplicates. We might want to reconsider.

I agree with Nate, I think we should reconsider, based on user feedback.
This is a power-user feature that should please this part of our user base.

One use case appealed a lot to me in https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/de4sun/dolphin_are_you_interested_in_a_double_click_on/ : the touchpad and touchscreen use case.
Touchpad mouse are slow to move and are less precise, this would make sense for those use case.

Plus the code is not that scary (just a few corrections left)

So @elvisangelaccio Has your opinion changed ?

+1, I agree

@elvisangelaccio
Please make it happen. This feature is very useful - especially middle button click on empty space, which can be assigned to "Paste file" function, as mentioned above.

I came here because Nate closed the bug 307505 with link to this discussion.
I wanted only go up by double click action. I see I commented the bug in 2018 january, but actually, I wanted it earlier. And I still want it very much.
But actually, adding more general feature with ability to choose action looks nice to me. Please, reconsider, at least for level up action.

In D20532#657339, @ashark wrote:

I came here because Nate closed the bug 307505 with link to this discussion.

Adding ME TOO comments to a code review tool is not going to make this feature happen. There are valid concerns with implementing this issue. So unless you can help with the maintenances, you're just going to have to wait.

@elvisangelaccio could we reconsider this? There seems to be quite bit of user demand.

Here's a recap. I might accept the patch if:

1. The double-click triggers a single action. Could be "Go Up" like requested in the past or could be "Select All" like suggested on reddit. We should carefully choose which action to use.
2. The double-click does not trigger the action if the user misclicks an item, because that would be very annoying. An easy solution could be to only enable the feature in single-click mode. Proper solution would be to check whether the double-click happens near an item, for some definition of near.

@fbg13, would you be interested in continuing?

Should I make a merge request on gitlab?

Yes please! :)

https://invent.kde.org/system/dolphin/-/merge_requests/40

Aah, a pity that is has been abandoned. For Windows, there is an explorer addon called QTTabbar which has exactly this function (going up on double-click) and I never thought, that such a small thing could increase my workflow that drastically. It would have been very nice to see this in Dolphin. Anyhow, thanks for the effort.

In D20532#647548, @emvaized wrote:

@elvisangelaccio
Please make it happen. This feature is very useful - especially middle button click on empty space, which can be assigned to "Paste file" function, as mentioned above.

In D20532#679475, @knecker wrote:

Aah, a pity that is has been abandoned. For Windows, there is an explorer addon called QTTabbar which has exactly this function (going up on double-click) and I never thought, that such a small thing could increase my workflow that drastically. It would have been very nice to see this in Dolphin. Anyhow, thanks for the effort.

Latest comment in latest related work https://invent.kde.org/system/dolphin/-/merge_requests/40

From Elvis (dolphin maintainer):

The original patch had problems too, but if someone wants to improve it feel free to work on it.

In the context it would be this diff here.

So it just depend on contribution.

There are been demand for this feature enough that Elvis, Nate or me would accept a patch as long as it is configurable.

In D20532#675987, @elvisangelaccio wrote:

Here's a recap. I might accept the patch if:

1. The double-click triggers a single action. Could be "Go Up" like requested in the past or could be "Select All" like suggested on reddit. We should carefully choose which action to use.
2. The double-click does not trigger the action if the user misclicks an item, because that would be very annoying. An easy solution could be to only enable the feature in single-click mode. Proper solution would be to check whether the double-click happens near an item, for some definition of near.

That's what was mostly what was left to do on this diff btw.

In D20532#679477, @meven wrote:

From Elvis (dolphin maintainer):

The original patch had problems too, but if someone wants to improve it feel free to work on it.

In the context it would be this diff here.

So it just depend on contribution.

There are been demand for this feature enough that Elvis, Nate or me would accept a patch as long as it is configurable.

In D20532#679478, @meven wrote:

In D20532#675987, @elvisangelaccio wrote:

Here's a recap. I might accept the patch if:

1. The double-click triggers a single action. Could be "Go Up" like requested in the past or could be "Select All" like suggested on reddit. We should carefully choose which action to use.
2. The double-click does not trigger the action if the user misclicks an item, because that would be very annoying. An easy solution could be to only enable the feature in single-click mode. Proper solution would be to check whether the double-click happens near an item, for some definition of near.

That's what was mostly what was left to do on this diff btw.

This makes it sound like the feature was accepted, but I didn't want to do the remaining work.
elvisangelaccio was clearly against the feature from the beginning and he never said he'll accept the feature, even if all problems are fixed, just that he might.
So I didn't wanna spend more time on something that most likely will be rejected.