The Portable Freeware Collection Forums

Posted: **Sun Aug 15, 2010 4:52 pm**

Sh'elf 1.00

Sh'elf is an on-demand desktop with drag and drop.
Good for alternate shells, or as a second desktop.
Sh'elf is freeware.

Features and Options
--------------------
- Desktop view (items on desktop)
- Desktop access (open, rename, view text/image/archive, properties, recycle/delete)
- Shell operations (drag/drop, cut/copy/paste, shell context menu)
- Folder operations (new file/folder, refresh, select all, explore, command shell)

- Command line (inifile, folder)
- Portable (no install, settings in program folder, relative paths, link conversion)
- Language support (unicode, language files for translation)
- 32-bit and 64-bit versions included

Code: Select all

Operation
---------
1) Press F1 for the menu.

2) Sh'elf defaults to the desktop, but will display other folders (Sh'elf->Folder).

3) For recycle bin status, drag a Recycle Bin (shortcut) to Sh'elf.

4) A transparent Sh'elf can take a shortcut to itself (the folder) as a drop target.

5) Portable Sh'elf: edit the shelf.ini [Portable] section
   - set "convertlinks=TRUE", this does a one-time conversion of existing shortcuts
     to the portable Sh'elf drive at launch
   - set "savefolder=FALSE" (or use the "Settings->Save Folder" menu option)
   - use relative paths for the folder and tools


Command Line / Shortcut
-----------------------
Usage: shelf [inifile] [folder] | -translate

  inifile:     secondary settings file (filename.ini) overrides shelf.ini
  folder:      the folder to use as the desktop

  -translate   create a language file for translation

Contact the Author
------------------
Rick Xavier
www.xworks.ca

Posted: **Sun Aug 15, 2010 5:05 pm**

xWorks Portable Software posted @ http://www.portablefreeware.com/forums/ ... 442#p16442

Posted: **Sun Aug 15, 2010 5:55 pm**

oops..I used the search button..really

Posted: **Thu Dec 16, 2010 8:38 pm**

@Napiophelios
Are you still submitting this for the database?

I see no entry yet listed.

Have you submitted this as a private application?

Are you waiting for "I am Baas" to list this?

Posted: **Mon Dec 20, 2010 2:57 pm**

Shelf - tested portable and stealth.

The readme file has portability instructions:

- set "convertlinks=TRUE", this does a one-time conversion of existing shortcuts to the portable Sh'elf drive at launch
- set "savefolder=FALSE" (or use the "Settings->Save Folder" menu option)
- use relative paths for the folder and tools

Additionally: in shelf.ini under [portable] Set "folder=..\" to just make your desktop your portable software folder. For a portable drive you may wish to use "..\desktop" if you want a subfolder to contain your desk items. I'm not sure how to communicate this in the entry for people who don't understand relative locations.

Note: If you make the window transparrent, there's no obvious way to go back again. You have to hit F1 or delete ini file.

Posted: **Tue Dec 21, 2010 4:03 pm**

Added to TPFC @ http://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?id=2040

Posted: **Mon Dec 27, 2010 2:58 pm**

I updated the description a bit more and included some notes about portability. Please post or edit if it's opaque or not helpful.

The more I look at this program, the more I realize how critical a second desktop could be to portable software. Many applications have a sort of portable "My Documents" or "My Music" folder included in the program launcher menu, but I've seen none that provide a Desktop-style setup. As much portable software as I use, I still require the local desktop as my primary interface for whatever I'm working on. A program that replaces the local desktop has obvious privacy and simplicity advantages, since you only have one desktop across multiple computers.

Hopefully future versions will include applications associations so you can, for example, make a TXT file open with one program and a LOG file open with another.

Posted: **Wed May 04, 2011 1:00 pm**

Ran into some issues today:

Can create a folder and name it, but can't re-name it. The folder just pops up in another explorer window, unchanged.
Setting textviewer and imageviewer doesn't work with relative pathnames (I haven't tried them with hard links).
- e.g.:
  
  textviewer=..\notepad2\notepad2.exe
  imageviewer=..\FSViewer\FSViewer.exe

Has difficulty when the desktop is set to a folder with 100s of files.

Any changes cause the Sh'elf window to flash and refresh (which takes quite a while).
Can't create and then rename a folder

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