DEV Community

Cover image for I wrote a fully-functioning File Explorer, using TypeScript.

I wrote a fully-functioning File Explorer, using TypeScript.

Justin Maximillian Kimlim on September 25, 2021

I am very happy to introduce Xplorer to help you organize your files and/or folders. Features Designed Out Of The Box Xplor...
Collapse
 
hb1998 profile image
Habeeb

Electron is ram hungry. You should consider tauri github.com/tauri-apps/tauri
It uses edge view and is very light weight.
It will definitely suit your needs. Although watch out for some incompatibilities, it's still in beta.

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Migrated to Tauri! Wrote a blog about it, check it out!
dev.to/kimlimjustin/xplorer-a-mode...

Collapse
 
urielsouza29 profile image
Uriel dos Santos Souza
Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

I'll try it when I got time :) Thanks

Collapse
 
posandu profile image
Posandu

And please remove that tilt effect

Thread Thread
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Removed, you can try the master branch if you want to

Collapse
 
piperunner profile image
Pipe Runner

Recently came across tauri. Definitely planning to use it soon. As compared to other UI libraries for rust, do you think tauri consumes more resources?

Collapse
 
hb1998 profile image
Habeeb • Edited

Definitely no. It consume less resources and its almost 1/50th of the storage space compared to electron for a hello world app. My only problem was its still in beta and I was stuck in places where I couldn't find any solution or libraries.. So i was forced back to electron.

Thread Thread
 
piperunner profile image
Pipe Runner

Aah. I see. Thanks for the heads-up.

Collapse
 
mohithgupta profile image
K.Mohith Gupta

Impressive Justin!! Will try to contribute if I can....
Keep up the good work, you are an inspiration....

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Thanks! Any PRs will be welcomed :) Also, please drop a star if you like to haha

Collapse
 
Sloan, the sloth mascot
Comment deleted
Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

TYSM for your feedback :)

Collapse
 
djekanovic profile image
Dimitrije Djekanovic

Just checked it.
First few things i noticed:

  • On resize, windows are slow and buggy.
  • Icon spacing is really low, doesn't feel right.
  • Design needs more work but it's a good path.

In terms of stability, I am wondering, is it possible to happen that some file gets corrupted or lost?

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Thanks for your feedback, I'll try my best to improve it.

For the stability, I've never experienced nor got report about files getting corrupted.

Collapse
 
halimsamy profile image
Halim Samy

I would say that the word "AWESOME" isn't expressive enough! Keep going!

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Thanks haha

Collapse
 
ledmirage profile image
ledmirage

impressive work, just some quick feedback

  • need better support of shortcut key, preferably similar to existing windows explorer, just personal preference, but should not matter if its configurable
  • if aiming to be a productivity tool, i would suggest to cut down on the animation and focus more on getting the feature to work fast (memory not so big a concern for me tho, but good if we can reduce memory usage)
Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Thanks for your feedback, if could, could you please list the shortcut keys and the features you want to add into? (you can open github issue/discussion if you want to).

Collapse
 
dkhd profile image
Diky Hadna 💡

Ah, totally forgot to drop a comment on this post 😅

Great job, @kimlimjustin !

I never realize that you're still JHS right now. This is amazing.

Keep up the good work! 🔥🔥🔥

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

TYSM, actually I went to Senior High School just this June haha, is there any place I forgot to update my bio or smth? (though I'm feel I'm still a JHS bcuz of the covid xD)

Collapse
 
dkhd profile image
Diky Hadna 💡

Man, your profile card just beside this post is still showing the junior high school 😄

Thread Thread
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Ehhh, don't realize it lol, dev.to setting UX is quite confusing haha, and I rarely use dev.to xd.

Collapse
 
evyatarel profile image
evyatarel

Very impressive !!!! wow, gorgeous application.
I have one question; Does it support column view like mac file explorer does?

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

You can change layout by right clicking -> click on Layout -> select one of four default layouts. (Will add more in future release)

Collapse
 
evyatarel profile image
evyatarel

Thank you Justin

Collapse
 
codewithpom profile image
Padmashree Jha

I am on windows-7 I liked the graphics in the images but I cannot use it on my computer when I start it it does not open and the task manager shows that it's processes are running. Please help I want to use it.

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Does your windows 7 on 32 bit? If your computer use 64 bit and the processes are running, try restart your computer and open it again, if you use 32 bit, actually Xplorer doesn't officially support it for now, but I can build it for you (Please note that it will crash everytime Xplorer release a new version that you have to ask the latest 32 bit binary installer from me, this is because Xplorer use electron-updater which will automatically fetches the latest update and if I enable this for 32 bit, the installer will go as bigger as twice, hence I decided to not offcially support it for now, but I will try my best to support 32 bit officially)

Collapse
 
javaxnani profile image
JAVA NANI

Cool app but I am a noob, can you tell me how you get the information of files and directories using typescript 🤔🤔😅

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

You can do this by using the node js fs module, note that this only can be done the node process

Collapse
 
javaxnani profile image
JAVA NANI

Thanks and any resource for learning ts I didn't find one

Collapse
 
zayidu profile image
Zayidu A

Wow, its very nice, Tried it! Keep up the great work!

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Thanks!

Collapse
 
martin2844 profile image
martin2844

This is amazing! Great work!

Collapse
 
jzombie profile image
jzombie

I like this, on several levels. The Gitpod integration is cool as well, and something that I want to look into more. I'm a huge Docker fan and will be taking some notes from this repo.

Collapse
 
danaharley profile image
danaharley

how old are u justin?
im indonesian too..
great work!

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

I'm on senior high school rn (SMA), 15 yo. Thanks!

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern

Wow

Collapse
 
abdurrahmaanj profile image
Abdur-Rahmaan Janhangeer

Its great for a high school student!

Collapse
 
drumnickydrum profile image
Nick Carbone

This is phenomenal. I’m a fan of squeezing every drop out of web tech. Pure coding fun. You have a bright future!

Collapse
 
gillarohith profile image
Rohith Gilla

Very impressive!!

Collapse
 
aldine_ruturi profile image
Aldine Ruturi • Edited

Impressive work Justin really loving the UI. I'm curious to see how well it performs though cz Electron isn't the most efficient framework out there. Well done

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Migrated to Tauri! Wrote a blog about it, check it out!
dev.to/kimlimjustin/xplorer-a-mode...

Collapse
 
ndh103 profile image
NDH103

So coool

Collapse
 
maximvdw profile image
Maxim Van de Wynckel

Impressive, nicely done. Looking forward to see what future plugins will bring!

Collapse
 
hunter55 profile image
Nafi

Oh this is sick man!
I just started building a file explorer with Node.Js.
Great inspiration!!

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Thanks!

Collapse
 
lohnsonok profile image
lohnsonok

It's amazing great work 👍 !

Collapse
 
adgamerx profile image
Aman Dutt

bro that last point is relatable af 😂

Collapse
 
lordsmurf profile image
LordSmurf

This looks awesome. Can't wait to test it out!

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Thanks, any feedback will be appreciated :)

Collapse
 
mightycoderx profile image
MightyCoderX • Edited

I think that the icons on the left are a bit too crammed, but everything else it's awesome (in my opinion)!

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Will refactor it, thanks!

Collapse
 
mightycoderx profile image
MightyCoderX • Edited

Completing this project must have been so rewarding, that's very cool. That's also plenty inspiring! And a fantastic thing for your resume

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Thanks!

Collapse
 
abhijithganesh profile image
Abhijith Ganesh

This is wonderful Justin, I am throughly impressed by this, thank you for this

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Thanks!

Collapse
 
zplusfour profile image
zplusfour

This is very cool!

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Thanks!

Collapse
 
craftogrammer profile image
Rahul

Inspiring post 🙂 for me 🤠

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Thanks haha

Collapse
 
brunovitorprado profile image
Bruno Prado

Very very impressive. Congratulations for this job!

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Thanks!

Collapse
 
djekanovic profile image
Dimitrije Djekanovic

Finally something for Windows that is nice

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Thanks haha, any feedback will be appreciated :)

Collapse
 
mrslima profile image
Daniela Lima

This is amazing! My Windows was needing a better file explorer. That shit only supports one tab.

Now i can have a beautiful, clean and useful filexp..

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Thanks haha

Collapse
 
rajkumar17 profile image
Raj Kumar M

Amazing work! Justin

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Thanks! Please try it out, any feedback will be appreciated :)

Collapse
 
iamfoxx profile image
jerry Almeida

Wow you kill it, congrats man

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Thanks!

Collapse
 
bencoderus profile image
Benjamin Iduwe

This is an awesome job

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Thanks!

Collapse
 
insidiousthedev profile image
Insidious

This looks dope! Keep up the great work!

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Thanks!

Collapse
 
luizc91 profile image
LuizC91

Superb job, Justin. Maybe it will become a standard file explorer for some Linux distributions in the future.

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Thanks! Actually I was planning to create a distro of my own after the stable version (1.0.0) of Xplorer released xd.

Collapse
 
cheks profile image
Cheks

Great job Justin! 🔥🔥🔥

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Thanks

Collapse
 
ajitesh3210 profile image
J AJITESH

I'm bad at C/C++ xD

This point is common among new developers like the modern age teenagers and young adults. They prefer and like new programming languages like JS or Py or React like me.

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Hahaha

Collapse
 
emmanuelchucks profile image
Emmanuel Chucks

Loving the modern UI just from the screenshots, would love to try it out on my Linux machine soon

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

TYSM, any feedback will be appreciated :)

Collapse
 
m1911star profile image
Lee Danny • Edited

Hi there, in your homepage,the link for electron is wrong
xplorer.vercel.app/

dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/up...

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Oh, thanks for your comment, I didn't realize it, will update it soon

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Erm, really sorry but I think this is a bug caused by the Docusaurus (Xplorer docs is written on it) cuz I wrote the correct link and it's okay on development but the bug occured on production. I'll open an issue there.
Meanwhile, if you are interested on Electron, here's the link: electronjs.org/

Collapse
 
orisa profile image
orisa

Awesome. Which library did u use to build the dasho layout

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Thanks, actually all of the layout was built using HTML and CSS, you can inspect those element by typing Ctrl + Shift + 'I' tho.

Collapse
 
luiserp profile image
luiserp

Wow that's pretty nice!!!! I always wanted to do something like that.

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Thanks!

Collapse
 
teodeleanu profile image
Teo Deleanu

Can you make it work like good old Total Commander?
softpedia.com/get/File-managers/To...

Collapse
 
epiccoderjit profile image
Sammo

Magnificent.

Collapse
 
aroxed profile image
Aroxed

Nice app. BTW which library do you use for file/folder tree? Thanks.

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

I use the node.js fs module

Collapse
 
kulbhushanpatel profile image
KulbhushanNPatel

I appreciate your work!

Collapse
 
bnystrom profile image
Bryan Nystrom

You may want to consider a branding name change since Xplorer and Xplorer2 have been in use for many years for a file explorer by zabkat.com/

Collapse
 
mohdsalmanshaikh63 profile image
mohdsalmanshaikh63

Awesome man! I want to learn building apps from electron for freelance projects to earn some extra cash but don't have time for it! Will definitely install this! Great job man!

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

TYSM. You can try learn electron by contributing to Xplorer haha, if you got into problem, you can ask me :)

Collapse
 
minhazhalim profile image
Minhaz Halim (Zim)

Thats Impressive!!

Collapse
 
midhatahir profile image
Midha

Woah!! Its amazing. I will definitely try out this.

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

Thanks! Any feedback will be appreciated :)

Collapse
 
kimlimjustin profile image
Justin Maximillian Kimlim

TYSM for the feedback :)