View Issue Details

IDProjectCategoryView StatusLast Update
0002744Far ManagerPlugins APIpublic2025-08-26 13:46
Reportertheultramage Assigned To 
PrioritynormalSeverityfeatureReproducibilityalways
Status newResolutionopen 
Platformx64OSWindowsOS Version7
Product Version3.0 
Summary0002744: save static entries in Network list
DescriptionI was looking into disabling NetBIOS, which disables the windows network browser, which in turn makes Far's network list show zero entries. Being able to add static server entries into the workgroup listing would be pretty useful in that sort of world, since no proper alternatives exist. And the plugin does not read the list created by Explorer's "add a network location".

The Network plugin used to have a 'favorites' feature, which would supposedly let you add static entries somewhere into the Network panel. I don't know how it actually worked, but the fact is, most of the code in NetFavorites.cpp got disabled by "#if 0" blocks in https://code.google.com/p/farmanager/source/detail?r=6369 . I see that there's an empty 'Favorites' item if you navigate to the Network plugin's root; if that's where the favorites go, that's too far away, I want the entries available right after opening the panel.
TagsNo tags attached.
Build

Activities

theultramage

2025-08-26 13:44

reporter   bugnote:0017637

Last edited: 2025-08-26 13:46

This was fixed in 2021 by f8e8cc35 that replaced the disabled registry storage with the plugin's sqlite storage, and restored Favorites functionality.
To save a network host, press F4 (ManualConnection) on it or any of its shares, and check '[x] Remember password'. This counter-intuitive action (instead of supporting the usual Shift+F4 and manual hostname entry) creates a new host in Favorites, which can be browsed to.

I'll note two issues I found, in case they turn out to matter. For me there is an extra delay when opening the host via Favorites. Also after a slight period of inactivity, upon any file access the plugin will say it's scanning (probably re-checking all shares), adding another noticeable delay.
Second, I tried to avoid the Favorites functionality and to keep network browsing via NetBIOS alive even on point-to-point links where broadcasts don't work, by configuring all hosts to use a WINS server. Unfortunately the APIs that Network plugin uses rely on broadcasts and immediately fail without contacting the WINS server. Someone familiar with the code might be able to tell if this is fixable or not. Also, NetBIOS is long deprecated and there are other new methods of host dscovery.

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
2014-07-22 10:23 theultramage New Issue
2025-08-26 13:44 theultramage Note Added: 0017637
2025-08-26 13:45 theultramage Note Edited: 0017637
2025-08-26 13:46 theultramage Note Edited: 0017637