Development process of the new WpfUi based version of the app

[Alex4SSB]

In this discussion I'll post updates on the development of the app in the WpfUi branch (#256) which currently comprises most of the development, and will eventually replace the current app version.

Feel free to offer suggestions so that we can make the app better.

[Alex4SSB]

I started with the app settings, which was redesigned to resemble more modern apps:

Instead of settings pane, it now has its own page, as per the page centered design, with the settings groups now displayed as categories on the left, and selecting a category will display its sub-settings in the center.
Each setting now has more room for activities as each of them resides in a CardControl.
Settings which were previously groups of RadioButtons are now displayed as ComboBoxes, and were merged into other groups.
Each group and most settings now have their own icons to make them more distinct.

Since this is a full app redesign, I used this opportunity to implement full support for Right to Left on the app level:

On the other hand, support for Windows 10 non-fluent design and the Segoe MDL2 Assets font, has been dropped.

[Alex4SSB]

The devices view has moved to its own page as well, although it is still in early development:

[Alex4SSB]

Next, to complete the settings page redesign, the about section was redesigned as well, now with logos:

[Alex4SSB]

Next up for redesign is the devices page, with the connection methods in the right column (displayed in two columns when no devices are connected), and the actual devices in the left column (along with saved devices).

The device container is no longer an expander since there's no need to collapse, having a whole page for this.
The mDNS & QR panel still requires some more work to display all the info properly.

[Alex4SSB]

The latest addition we have, in the folder view, are special folders icons:

*Special - Windows special folders - exactly the ones that are displayed here with their Windows icons (with small and large variations).

[Alex4SSB]

Now the time has come for the thumbnails in the icon view.
Thumbnails are currently supported for photos & videos on Android 11+.
A whole new settings category has been added since this is a heavy feature.
Currently thumbnails are displayed at a max size of 140x120, but other sizes will be added, like in Windows file explorer.

[Alex4SSB]

The next release is adding the aforementioned thumbnail sizes:

And with a new setting enabled, the app remembers thumbnail size for each location:

Additional settings for thumbnails:

Also, a snackbar has been added, currently displaying thumbnail loading progress:

With the thumbnails feature complete and integrated with all explorer features, the focus returns to porting all remaining features from the Modern WPF branch.

[Alex4SSB]

The next mechanism to be ported from the old project is file operations. Here the file ops have been split: running ops are displayed in a snackbar (snackbars are overlayed on top of all the pages), and a separate page for all other file ops (pending and completed).
Also, the remaining time for the file operation to complete has been added.

Screen.Recording.2026-04-27.125043.mp4

With this, we are nearing the completion of the migration to WPF UI, and an official release is closer than ever.

[Alex4SSB]

This time, it was time to re-implement the text editor from the stable version. Now since the text editor was always a weird addition, being an external part to the explorer, I decided to move to a Windows Explorer - like implementation: a fully integrated preview / details pane.

Now since we already had a text editor, that feature is preserved, only now it is part of the preview pane when a valid file is selected. The text editor has been upgraded since the stable version days, overcoming the major flaw we previously had - moving / resizing while the editor is open, which caused significant lag since the whole text was rendered.

Also, I found PDF preview very useful, so those are now rendered into a collection of images representing the pages, which can be scrolled inside the preview pane.

The details mode of the side pane was modeled to resemble the one in Windows Explorer, displaying all available information, including the thumbnail if available. The thumbnail info also has been expanded to include all usable data.