Modal windows (e.g. reconnect) blocking whole app

Hello,

first let me thank you for WinSCP. It's a great tool that helps me stay connected and easily switch between ~10 to ~20 machines at the same time.

Some machines have bad connection and _will_ reconnect "randomly". Then a new _modal_ reconnect window opens which prevents me from using WinSCP untill it's done. "Aborting" does not abort, but just prevents next autoconnect. "Abort" should kill the modal window immediatly. "Minimizing" does not minimize modal window but the whole application (which is also possible with [Windows]+[Down] (Fullscreen: 2 times))

WinSCP could still try to reconnect the tab, but shouldn't block the whole application for that.

Possible quickfixes for me (but maybe not for you, thats why I ask)

- Make window non-modal
- Make window modal to only the tab, not the whole application (so each tab could have a modal window saying "reconnecting ..")
- Put the modal window to the bottom (where the "files to transfer" fifo is <- this opens only if files are being copied. Why not make the same with reconnecting: Open only if reconnecting)
- Dont autoreconnect but wait for user action (e.g. changing to this tab or save a editted file so WinSCP uploads it.)

I don't understand why using modal windows these days at all - at least not for developers and I think WinSCP is mostly used by developers. Forcing any UI item on developers is generally a bad idea, thats one reason why almost all dev's hate microsoft :D
In a multi-tabbed application it's a no-go to block the whole app just because one tab is busy, if you ask me. ESPECIALLY in applications used by developers.

Mysql Workbench does the same with ANY message it wants to tell the user. ANYTHING is modal and sometimes when a modal window opens in workbench, it forces itself to the foreground. I've switched to commandline only because of that (well, not ONLY because of that. Workbench crashes hour and each update increases rate by 10% ;D)

WHILE WE'RE AT THAT:
How about multiline tabs? (Right now more than 5 tabs means I need to use the arrows to navigate through them.)

Best wishes
Jannik

You are right, of course. But all these changes are huge, so it takes time to implement them.

I agree, but in relation to uploading files. When I upload files transfer speed is much lower than download speed, for a reason, so I want to open multiple tabs to upload files in parallel, but once I started uploading in one tab I can't switch to another one! So I have to open multiple WinSCP instances, not multiple tabs.

ks wrote:

I agree, but in relation to uploading files. When I upload files transfer speed is much lower than download speed, for a reason, so I want to open multiple tabs to upload files in parallel, but once I started uploading in one tab I can't switch to another one! So I have to open multiple WinSCP instances, not multiple tabs.

In recent versions of WinSCP, you can use the Proceed in Background button.
https://winscp.net/eng/docs/ui_progress#controlling
And you do not need to open multiple tabs for parallel uploads to the same server. You can use the queue on a single tab.

Thank you.

I can only add that "Proceed in Background button" is not supported for SCP and we use it.
But the idea with queue is correct though it has some drawbacks.
You have to increase the maximum number of connections in settings from 2 to smth like 5, and reload WinSCP as it doesn't use the new value on-the-fly.

Also, if you select multiples files and add them to the queue they are uploaded correctly but you cannot see which exactly files are being uploaded in the panel (even if you add files to the queue one by one). This is unlike regular uploading which shows the selected files and the progress by unselecting them.

I must say I don't often need this feature (uploading many files) so it's not important for me.

ks wrote:

You have to increase the maximum number of connections in settings from 2 to smth like 5, and reload WinSCP as it doesn't use the new value on-the-fly.

It should use the new value of the fly. Can you provide more details about this?

When I tried it didn't use 5 and kept using 2, after I restarted it it used 5. Perhaps it is related with the fact that by the moment I have already tried some queued uploads to the server, so the queue have already been created and initialized.

No matter, what I try, WinSCP always uses the new limit immediately. I'll need step-by-step instructions for reproducing the problem.

Hm. I'm sorry, I only used this feature once and I don't need it any more, so I don't find this problem worth dealing with. If the issue doesn't show for you it's Ok.