Using Mac OS File Dialog UI for Save/Insert/Open/etc

MrWhale · 05-17-2023, 12:21 PM

Hello, It appears that Sigil now uses it's own file browser dialog boxes for navigating your OS' files. I have some deep folder structures and it's very frustrating having to manually click through folders to get to the image file I want to add or select a new save location.

Is there a way to make Sigil use the computer's built-in file browser UI? Plugin? Pref adjusts?

Normally on Mac, for me, using the system UI equates to being able to drag folders into the save/open dialog box and instantly update the file dialog box to the dragged-in directory. With Sigil's built-in file dialog boxes, it appears manual navigation is the only option for getting to a folder.

I'm on a Mac, using Sigil 1.9.10. Have not seen another post on this or any options within Sigil itself to change this.

Thanks

DiapDealer · 05-17-2023, 01:22 PM

There is a reason, but I'll let Kevin explain it in detail. Basically, it's because using Mac's built-in file browser tends to expose a lot of Qt stupidity (they are Qt's file dialogs and not Sigil's, for what its worth). There is no preference to change it.

A few comments about it can be found at the end of the commit-list, here: https://github.com/Sigil-Ebook/Sigil...6a2838e26b4704

Perhaps we'll be able to revisit macOS native dialogs with Qt6, but Kevin's the Sigil-on-macOS expert, so I'll leave that up to him.

KevinH · 05-17-2023, 04:27 PM

And you can set Folders that are remembered in the left hand side window in these. So no functionality is lost.

Use the dialog to navigate to any folder you want fast access to and then grab it in the right hand side window and drag and drop it onto the left hand side window.

It will be remembered.

odamizu · 05-17-2023, 11:38 PM

Oh, cool! I didn't realize I could do this. Very useful. Thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinH

... Use the dialog to navigate to any folder you want fast access to and then grab it in the right hand side window and drag and drop it onto the left hand side window.

It will be remembered.

MrWhale · 05-18-2023, 12:47 PM

Thank you very much for the reply! Appreciate the info and the notes link. Thought maybe it was something in my settings since I think it used to be supported in older versions.

There are a few common/strategic start-point locations so I also appreciate that note on how to save favorites (drag folder to left hand favorites area). That should speed things up a bit for a good portion of things.

Thanks!

KevinH · 05-18-2023, 02:15 PM

We are trying to support building back to Qt 5.10 and back to MacOS 10.13 but various combinations had issues with crashing or missing native file dialogs over the years. Moving to Qt non-native file dialogs prevented those issues. Once we move to Qt6 and have to drop support for macOS versions less than 11.0 (or 10.14) I will try using native file dialogs again to see if they have fixed the issues.

05-17-2023, 12:21 PM	#1
MrWhale Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2023 Device: none	Using Mac OS File Dialog UI for Save/Insert/Open/etc Hello, It appears that Sigil now uses it's own file browser dialog boxes for navigating your OS' files. I have some deep folder structures and it's very frustrating having to manually click through folders to get to the image file I want to add or select a new save location. Is there a way to make Sigil use the computer's built-in file browser UI? Plugin? Pref adjusts? Normally on Mac, for me, using the system UI equates to being able to drag folders into the save/open dialog box and instantly update the file dialog box to the dragged-in directory. With Sigil's built-in file dialog boxes, it appears manual navigation is the only option for getting to a folder. I'm on a Mac, using Sigil 1.9.10. Have not seen another post on this or any options within Sigil itself to change this. Thanks

05-17-2023, 01:22 PM	#2
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,340 Karma: 203719142 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	There is a reason, but I'll let Kevin explain it in detail. Basically, it's because using Mac's built-in file browser tends to expose a lot of Qt stupidity (they are Qt's file dialogs and not Sigil's, for what its worth). There is no preference to change it. A few comments about it can be found at the end of the commit-list, here: https://github.com/Sigil-Ebook/Sigil...6a2838e26b4704 Perhaps we'll be able to revisit macOS native dialogs with Qt6, but Kevin's the Sigil-on-macOS expert, so I'll leave that up to him. Last edited by DiapDealer; 05-17-2023 at 01:27 PM.

05-17-2023, 04:27 PM	#3
KevinH Sigil Developer Posts: 8,438 Karma: 5702578 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: many	And you can set Folders that are remembered in the left hand side window in these. So no functionality is lost. Use the dialog to navigate to any folder you want fast access to and then grab it in the right hand side window and drag and drop it onto the left hand side window. It will be remembered. Last edited by KevinH; 05-17-2023 at 04:35 PM.

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05-18-2023, 12:47 PM	#5
MrWhale Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2023 Device: none	Thank you very much for the reply! Appreciate the info and the notes link. Thought maybe it was something in my settings since I think it used to be supported in older versions. There are a few common/strategic start-point locations so I also appreciate that note on how to save favorites (drag folder to left hand favorites area). That should speed things up a bit for a good portion of things. Thanks!

05-18-2023, 02:15 PM	#6
KevinH Sigil Developer Posts: 8,438 Karma: 5702578 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: many	We are trying to support building back to Qt 5.10 and back to MacOS 10.13 but various combinations had issues with crashing or missing native file dialogs over the years. Moving to Qt non-native file dialogs prevented those issues. Once we move to Qt6 and have to drop support for macOS versions less than 11.0 (or 10.14) I will try using native file dialogs again to see if they have fixed the issues.