Windows Explorer Integration
============================

.. module:: explorer
	:synopsis: Windows explorer integration

.. _explorer-context-label:

Context Menus
-------------

TortoiseHg commands may be accessed via the context menu of Explorer
windows and other applications which use the standard File/Open dialogs.
Here is the context menu for a revisioned folder:

.. figure:: figures/cmenu-nofiles.png
	:alt: Context menu

	Context menu for a folder under Mercurial revision control

And here is the context menu for selected files or folders:

.. figure:: figures/cmenu-files.png
	:alt: Context menu

	Context menu for file or folder selection

TortoiseHg provides dialogs for the most regularly used Mercurial
commands.  Less frequently used and newly added Mercurial commands
may be accessed from the CLI (command line interface) through
:file:`cmd.exe` on Windows.

Overlay Icons
-------------

TortoiseHg provides visual representation of the file status via overlay
icons in the MS-Explorer windows. This is similar to those that found on
other Tortoise client, such as TortoiseCVS and TortoiseSVN.

TortoiseHg shares the overlay icons with TortoiseSVN (version 1.5.x or
later) and the other "Tortoise" projects via the use of TortoiseOverlays
(another project created by TortoiseSVN team).

.. figure:: figures/overlayicons.png
	:alt: Overlay icons

	Overlay icons in Icons view (XP)

The context menu has an :guilabel:`Update Icons` option which forces
TortoiseHg to refresh the icons in the currently browsed repository or
directory of repositories. The taskbar icon will turn green and the
directory icons will turn into question marks while this refresh is in
progress.

Shell Configuration
-------------------

The overlay handler and context menus are configurable.  From any folder
background (even the desktop), right click and select
:menuselection:`TortoiseHg --> Explorer Extension Settings`. This opens the
Explorer Extension Settings dialog.

On the tab "Context Menu" you can promote individual menu options to the
top level menu.

.. figure:: figures/shell-config-cmenu.png
	:alt: Explorer Extension Settings dialog, Context Menu tab

	Explorer Extension Settings Dialog, Context Menu tab

On the "Icons" tab you configure settings related to the overlay icons and the
icon of the "Overlay Icons Server" in the taskbar (in the notification area of
Windows).

.. figure:: figures/shell-config-icons.png
	:alt: Explorer Extension Settings dialog, Icons tab

	Explorer Extension Settings Dialog, Icons tab

:guilabel:`Enable overlays:`
	If checked, overlay icons are shown on folders and files in the
	working directory (woking copy) of Mercurial repositories.
	(Default: checked)

:guilabel:`Local disks only:`
	If checked, overlay icons are only shown for volumes on local disks, not
	on network shares. Scanning for Mercurial repositories over the network
	may result in high latency in the user interface of explorer. Check this
	option if browsing network shares becomes too slow and/or you do not need
	overlay icons on non-local volumes.
	(Default: not checked)

:guilabel:`Enabled Overlay Handlers:`
	These (per user) settings provide the possibility to disable overlay
	icon handlers in the shared TortoiseOverlays component.
	The TortoiseOverlays component is shared by all Tortoises (TortoiseHg,
	TortoiseSVN, etc), with the goal to avoid registering too many icon slots,
	by using a common set of icons slots for all Tortoises (thus using the
	same set of icons for all Tortoises).
	The total number of overlay slots available on Windows is fairly limited and
	depends on the exact Windows version. For example, on a pristine install
	of Windows 7, there are only 8 free overlay handler slots available.
	This section allows to disable certain non-essential overlay
	handlers, to reduce icon handler slot consumption by the TortoiseOverlays
	component. Unchecking handlers in this section increases the chances that
	important handlers like "Normal" (green checkmark) or "Modifed" (red
	exclamation mark) will still get an icon slot, even if there are too many
	handlers registered on a computer.
	Unchecking handlers that are not used by TortoiseHg (that is: Locked,
	Readonly, Ignored, Deleted) is highly recommended, if you know that no
	other Tortoises (e.g. TortoiseSVN) uses them. 
	Make sure the "Added" and "Unversioned" handlers are enabled, as these
	are used by TortoiseHg.
	(Default: all checked)

.. warning::
	The "Enabled Overlay Handlers" settings affect all Tortoises for a user.
	A logoff/login is required to make changes in that section effective.

:guilabel:`Taskbar:`
	Checkmark "Show Icon" to show the icon of the Overlay Icon Server in the
	taskbar in the notification area. "Highlight Icon" highlights that icon
	using a light green color while the icon server is busy updating cache files
	in the repository (files :file:`.hg\\dirstate` and :file:`.hg\\thgstatus`).
	(Default: both checked)

One can selectively disable overlay icons in a specific repository by
editing the :file:`.hg\\thgstatus` file inside the repository and
replacing its contents with a single line containing::

	@@noicons

.. vim: noet ts=4
