Dolphin can show the number of items in a folder/directory. However, it includes the number of hidden items in that folder as part of the normal count without indicating that the count includes hidden items. For example, if a folder has 8 non-hidden items and 30 hidden (dot) files, Dolphin shows the count just as 38 items. This is confusing, especially if a folder has only hidden items, such as a folder with only a .directory file in which case Dolphin shows the count as 1 item. This behaviour appears everywhere an item count is shown, including tooltips and panels, and also affects the folder view widget; I am not sure which component is the root cause of this. It would be better to have the count additionally show how many items are hidden, e.g., 38 items (including 30 hidden), or something similar. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Make a folder/directory. 2. Put one or more hidden files in it. Actual Results: The item count includes the number of hidden files as part of the normal count without any differentiation. Expected Results: The item count should indicate that the count includes hidden items, preferably showing how many of the items are hidden.
> 38 items (including 30 hidden) That would make the Size column really wide (and even wider when translated) in Details mode, so it should probably not be changed there.
(In reply to comment #1) > > 38 items (including 30 hidden) > > That would make the Size column really wide (and even wider when translated) > in Details mode, so it should probably not be changed there. Yes, but maybe it would be OK to make the change except in the Size column, letting the Size column be as it is. The tooltips and panels seem to be the best candidates for showing the extra information.
The "Size" column in Details View only includes hidden files if "Show hidden files" is enabled. If I understand you correctly, you are suggesting to change the behavior of the Information Panel and tool tips. I'll reassign the report to the widget which displays their contents.
(In reply to comment #3) > The "Size" column in Details View only includes hidden files if "Show hidden > files" is enabled. > > If I understand you correctly, you are suggesting to change the behavior of > the Information Panel and tool tips. I'll reassign the report to the widget > which displays their contents. I just verified that the Size column in Details view does not include the count of hidden files if hidden files are not being shown. The Information panel and tooltips do seem to be the main places to change the behaviour.
Created attachment 82654 [details] Screenshots showing the issue In the first and last ones, notice the discrepancy in the status bar and the Information panel.
Marking as CONFIRMED - Hidden files are always counted, they should be only counted if they are being shown or maybe what the reporter suggested.
Vishesh Handa's suggestion that hidden items should only be counted if they are being shown is probably better because that would ensure consistency with the behaviour of Dolphin's Size column which was discussed above.
But then I might believe a folder is empty, and blindly delete it. Having the information about hidden files in there could avoid that. I suggest the information to be displayed separately for hidden and regular items (or stating the totals, as requested in comment #0) regardless of any setting.
Changed affected version to 4.11.2 as this issue is present up to at least that version.
(In reply to comment #8) > But then I might believe a folder is empty, and blindly delete it. Having > the information about hidden files in there could avoid that. > > I suggest the information to be displayed separately for hidden and regular > items (or stating the totals, as requested in comment #0) regardless of any > setting. That is true. It also means that using only the Details view in Dolphin could lead to such inadvertent deletions based on getting the item count from the Size column, but this might be filed in a separate report; discussing here could be off-topic.
(In reply to comment #10) > It also means that using only the Details view in Dolphin > could lead to such inadvertent deletions based on getting the item count > from the Size column, but this might be filed in a separate report; > discussing here could be off-topic. Well, this is not completely off-topic IMHO. The things to consider are quite similar - we have three options: (a) Show the number of all files. This is what the MetaDataWidget does, and the reason why you filed the bug report is that you find this confusing. (b) Show the number of all files if "Show hidden files" is enabled, and only the number of non-hidden files otherwise. This is what the "Size" column in Details View does, This might make users delete non-empty folders accidentally. (c) Show something like "38 items (including 30 hidden)". It seems that (c) looks like the safest option, but Christoph said in comment 1 that this text might be too wide to show in a Details View column, and I agree with that. Moreover, even though this might look trivial from a user's point of view, implementing this would require quite large changes in the code, because the entire view engine does currently not support the case that more than one string or number is shown in one column. And the next interesting question would be how to "sort by size" - should it use the total number of files first, and then the number of visible files as a fallback? Or the number of hidden files as fallback? Or just ignore the number of hidden/visible files for the sorting? Either way, it might confuse people. The only advantage of replacing (b) by (c) is that accidental deletion of non-empty folders is prevented, but nobody has raised this issue (which exists since KDE 4.0, and I don't think that Konqueror in KDE 3.x used approach (c) either) until now. On the other hand, I see very good reasons not to change it (see above). Therefore, there is no need for a new report for the Details View from my point of view - it would look like a clear WONTFIX for me.
I too agree with the point that lengthening the string that much would make the Size column very wide. If hidden files are being shown, just the total number of files can be shown as is done now. However, if hidden files are not being shown, the string format can be changed to something like 8 items (+30 hidden) for all views. In this case, sorting should be only on the number of visible files because that is the most intuitive case and is also consistent with the sorting if hidden files are being shown (sort by 'number of items being shown'). Also, this is how the sorting is already being done now, just that the extra (+N hidden) part would be added, which can be ignored and should not affect the algorithm too much. The question is, would a string in this format (int items (+int hidden)) be OK for the Size column? I think it should be, considering that some other columns can be just as wide or even wider. All of this is an example and can probably be refined to further improve conciseness. Will this kill two birds with one stone? (In reply to comment #11) > implementing this would require quite large changes in the code, because the entire view > engine does currently not support the case that more than one string or number is shown > in one column. I had in mind that the whole text would be a single string. Apart from that, can the numbers other than the first one be ignored, as is applicable in the example above? The basic idea is to inform the user (like comments in source code); the software's point of view can be left more or less unchanged.
So should I implement (c) in the MetaDataWidget? It's fairly trivial and since it is not used to for sorting/anything else. It shouldn't be a problem.
Will any further work be done on this?
I confirm this with KF 5.19.0 + baloo-widgets 15.12.2.
Created attachment 108590 [details] Screenshot showing the issue all in one window
Doesn't this need to be fixed in Dolphin rather than baloo-widgets? the MetaDataWidget doesn't have any insight into whether or not hidden files are displayed in Dolphin, right?
Some time passes, and... If Dolphin is not displaying hidden items: A folder in the "details view" shows the subfolder with the size as number of items, without the hidden items. The Tooltips and F11 Information panel entry for the subfolder shows a line for items plus another line for hidden items The right-click properties box for the folder, under the General tab, shows the total number of files (hidden + non-hidden) with this broken down, under the Details tab, with a lines for items and hidden items (just as the F11 panel) If Dolphin is switched to display hidden items: A folder in the "details view" shows the subfolder with the size as number of items, including the displayed "hidden items" So it looks like the counts are following the "Show Hidden Files" option plus now the Tooltips and Information Panel have an extra line for the number of hidden files. I think, if I may be so bold, this can be flagged Resolved...