Open project folder in host OS

this is effectively what already happens... what do you hope to achieve with this?

I am not sure I follow your reply. How do you open a file manager from KiCad?

What platform are you on?

Application: kicad
Version: 4.0.2+dfsg1-stable release build
wxWidgets: Version 3.0.2 (debug,wchar_t,compiler with C++ ABI 1009,GCC 5.3.1,wx containers,compatible with 2.8)
Platform: Linux 4.5.0-2-amd64 x86_64, 64 bit, Little endian, wxGTK
Boost version: 1.58.0
         USE_WX_GRAPHICS_CONTEXT=OFF
         USE_WX_OVERLAY=OFF
         KICAD_SCRIPTING=ON
         KICAD_SCRIPTING_MODULES=ON
         KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON=ON
         USE_FP_LIB_TABLE=HARD_CODED_ON
         BUILD_GITHUB_PLUGIN=OFF

In Win7, when in Kicad Launcher you invoke Browse - Open local file, you get a file open dialog, where you can browse to another folder, and make copy/paste operations, file renamings etc.
It's not a full Windows Explorer, but something like that.
Maybe this is what Simon meant in #1

Hmm, yeah, that is also a bit weird. Maybe an option to just open the systems native file browser could be added or to replace that wierd edit file browser.

"Maybe an option to just open the systems native file browser could be added ..." Yes, this!

I'm pretty sure on most Linuxes,

xdg-open /path/to/project/directory

will automagically open the right file manager.

A right-click option to open in the file explorer any directory displayed the left panel would be great as well.

Patch Checked OK under LINUX OpenSuse (Kicad v5.0.0)

New menu entry under "Browse" menu with correct icon

BUT

as Laurent Haas, said, dbl-click + contextual menu is also the right place for any subdir

@Jeff,
you have the Mac ;-)

I started doing this myself and then, when adding the bug report + patch, found that somebody already did the work.

Would be nice if this is merged.

Hi, I updated the patch so it applies cleanly in the current master and added quotes to the path in case it contains spaces (previously was not working on paths with spaces).

I have just tested the patch on Linux and it seems fine. I think it needs testing on other platforms as well due to cascaded #ifdef section, though in my opinion the risk is rather low.

I can test Mac this weekend after my build machine comes up for air from the 5.0.1

That is unless Jeff want to give it a go first

Works fine on Windows.

Works fine on OSX, but it needs a platform-specific name (“Reveal in Finder”) to meet HIG.

Did anyone check to see if wxWidgets provides this functionality rather than having the ugly #ifdef/#else#/#endif block in the kicad code? Also, this code assumes explorer is always the default file manager on windows. This may not always the case if someone is using a third party file manager.

I've used wxLaunchDefaultApplication( project_dir ) on Linux and works fine, I don't know about other OSs though.

On Windows wxLaunchDefaultApplication( project_dir ) launches Firefox, not the Windows explorer.

I searched if wxWidgets provides a functionality to run the default file manager, but no luck.
(I am thinking this functionality does not exist)

@jp- What is the application you have associated in Windows with folders?

Sorry, really sorry!

I make a mistake: I tested with wxLaunchDefaultBrowser, not wxLaunchDefaultApplication.

wxLaunchDefaultApplication( project_dir ) works fine on Windows.

I just did not know wxLaunchDefaultApplication().

wxLaunchDefaultApplication would be my preferred solution unless it doesn't work on all platforms but I suspect it does. Would someone please test this on macos to confirm that it provides the correct behavior?

Fixed in revision efe6b04ca21e4b268287d92d81edff588561e339
https://git.launchpad.net/kicad/patch/?id=efe6b04ca21e4b268287d92d81edff588561e339

This patch doesn't work in macOS, sorry!

Application: kicad
Version: (6.0.0-rc1-dev-1154-g2ea1bc978), debug build
Libraries:
    wxWidgets 3.0.4
    libcurl/7.54.0 LibreSSL/2.0.20 zlib/1.2.11 nghttp2/1.24.0
Platform: Mac OS X (Darwin 17.7.0 x86_64), 64 bit, Little endian, wxMac
Build Info:
    wxWidgets: 3.0.4 (UTF-8,STL containers,compatible with 2.8)
    Boost: 1.67.0
    OpenCASCADE Community Edition: 6.9.1
    Curl: 7.54.0
    Compiler: Clang 9.0.0 with C++ ABI 1002

Build settings:
    USE_WX_GRAPHICS_CONTEXT=ON
    USE_WX_OVERLAY=ON
    KICAD_SCRIPTING=ON
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_MODULES=ON
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_PYTHON3=OFF
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON=ON
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON_PHOENIX=OFF
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_ACTION_MENU=ON
    BUILD_GITHUB_PLUGIN=ON
    KICAD_USE_OCE=ON
    KICAD_USE_OCC=OFF
    KICAD_SPICE=ON

@Michael, please file a new bug report since this only seems to affect macos. Would one of our macos devs please take a look at this when you get a chance.