Don't create a file with "File/New"

[rovf]

Using Phoenix on MacOS. When I want to make a new file, I do a File/New from the menu.

In this case, Phoenix immediately creates a new file named Untitled-1 in the project directory.

I later have to move/rename the file on the command line, so that it ends up in the right place under the right name. Since name and locations change, I have to close before the file in Phoenix, and later retrieve it in the new location and open it again.

This process is so cumbersome, that I am now reverting to a new strategy: On the command line, I create the new file using the

touch ...

command, and then open the file in Phoenix using File/Open. This works, but renders File/New now completely useless.

I suggest that Phoenix asks the user the name and location of the new file. As a default location, the directory of the "current file" should be suggested as default.

[devvaannsh]

Hey @rovf, not sure if I understood your issue correctly, but from what I understood:
If you want to create a new file inside a specific directory, you can right-click on that directory in the sidebar and choose "New File" from the context menu.
That way, Phoenix will create the file directly in the correct location, so you won't need to move it later.

[rovf]

I was not aware about this possibility, but I will try it to see how well it works in practice.

[abose]

@rovf In phoenix code, the new file is always created within the project (unlike brackets/VSCode which creates in memory files and then we need to save it by selecting a path in the end). This change was made as we saw that most files were created within the Project.

Are you suggesting that you prefer the old brackets workflow?

[rovf]

Basically, I just want to make it less cumbersome. The current approach is fine for those cases where I want to have the new file in the project directory, but if you think of a realistic project layout, you have a top directory with some configuration files or the Makefile, and then below a directory tree with the sources, and perhaps another one with your unit tests. Hence in nearly ALL cases, you do not want the new file in the base directory of the project.

I don't know how Brackets does it, but from a viewpoint of logic, I think that Phoenix Code, since it can not know where the new file should end up, needs to ask the user for the location. This can be done either by the time I do the File/New, or by the time I save the file for the first time - whatever is more convenient.

Another possibility would be to create the file in some place, let it be the project top level directory, but offer an option "File/Move", which would then move the file to a different location (Note that this would be different to the current File/SaveAs, where you still have a copy of the file in the old location as well).

[devvaannsh]

@rovf, the move option indeed looks like a good feature to have. I'll create an issue for that and we can look into adding that in the future.

[devvaannsh]

#2288

[abose]

@rovf BTW, to create a file in a specific folder, there is an option in the context menu in files panel itself.
But it still wont be able to save to outside the project folder without the save dialog, which we need to build #2288.