To make that wonderful editor just somewhat more usable to me, it would be a nice feature, if NotePad++ could open a session file functional by command-line (by the time it just shows the content of the session file).
When working on different projects, I drop the list of opened files into a session file in the appropriate project folder. When I come back to that project, I open NotePad++, close all potentially reopened files of a former session and then open the projects session file.
To give this a shortcut, I would prefer the following behaviour:
Walking to the project folder (Explorer,TotalCommander,or similar)
DoubleClick on session file
NotePad++ opens that session file, respectively the files listet in it, without reopening the files of last session, even if this should be configured.
Greetings
thrashbarg
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First of all... much appreciation for this feature. I use it to keep the work separate between different work areas of the same project.
The way I use it is
a) first I create a session.npp file at the top of each development tree
b) then for each session.npp I create a windows shortcut with
Target: "C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe" -multiInst -nosession session.npp
starting in the folder containing the corresponding session.npp file
This is cool. I can keep the sessions separate and launch them at will using the shortcuts either from the desktop, or the start menu or wherever..
Unfortunately however, at this point I noticed a few problems that "detract from the user experience" just a bit.
1) when you go to "save session...", the "file save as dialog" starts in the folder of the currently open tab, not that of the previously opened session. You have to go find the session file of interest to overwrite it with the new session data.
2) there is no tab (or other selectable proxy item) for the session (as there is for any other loaded file) otherwise I could just select it and then "save session..."
3) there is no indication in the UI anywhere of the identity of the "current" session so I can distinguish between open instances of the editor
It seems the editor has no concept of the session file once the individual files it refers to have loaded.
I don't necessarily want to suggest that you turn notepad++ into some sort of project file driven IDE monster, it would detract from the overall clean and simple approach to the UI.
But the ability to at least get back to the session file without having to laboriously navigate the save as tree every time would be a very "nice to have".
Cheers
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I have played around with this and I am of the same opinion as thrashbarg. When you associate a file extension with Notepad++ as a session, it takes away the ability to view the session file in its text/xml format w/o changing the filename. If there were a command-line argument to specify a file as a session, it would make it so the session file could keep its ".xml" extension, but be treated in two different ways by Notepad++.
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To make that wonderful editor just somewhat more usable to me, it would be a nice feature, if NotePad++ could open a session file functional by command-line (by the time it just shows the content of the session file).
When working on different projects, I drop the list of opened files into a session file in the appropriate project folder. When I come back to that project, I open NotePad++, close all potentially reopened files of a former session and then open the projects session file.
To give this a shortcut, I would prefer the following behaviour:
Walking to the project folder (Explorer,TotalCommander,or similar)
DoubleClick on session file
NotePad++ opens that session file, respectively the files listet in it, without reopening the files of last session, even if this should be configured.
Greetings
thrashbarg
First of all... much appreciation for this feature. I use it to keep the work separate between different work areas of the same project.
The way I use it is
a) first I create a session.npp file at the top of each development tree
b) then for each session.npp I create a windows shortcut with
Target: "C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe" -multiInst -nosession session.npp
starting in the folder containing the corresponding session.npp file
This is cool. I can keep the sessions separate and launch them at will using the shortcuts either from the desktop, or the start menu or wherever..
Unfortunately however, at this point I noticed a few problems that "detract from the user experience" just a bit.
1) when you go to "save session...", the "file save as dialog" starts in the folder of the currently open tab, not that of the previously opened session. You have to go find the session file of interest to overwrite it with the new session data.
2) there is no tab (or other selectable proxy item) for the session (as there is for any other loaded file) otherwise I could just select it and then "save session..."
3) there is no indication in the UI anywhere of the identity of the "current" session so I can distinguish between open instances of the editor
It seems the editor has no concept of the session file once the individual files it refers to have loaded.
I don't necessarily want to suggest that you turn notepad++ into some sort of project file driven IDE monster, it would detract from the overall clean and simple approach to the UI.
But the ability to at least get back to the session file without having to laboriously navigate the save as tree every time would be a very "nice to have".
Cheers
When you specify an extension for session files in the settings dialog, N++ will open the files in the session rather than displaying its contents.
I have played around with this and I am of the same opinion as thrashbarg. When you associate a file extension with Notepad++ as a session, it takes away the ability to view the session file in its text/xml format w/o changing the filename. If there were a command-line argument to specify a file as a session, it would make it so the session file could keep its ".xml" extension, but be treated in two different ways by Notepad++.