Bitcoin-Qt client: Easy way to using a wallet.dat not in its default location/when it asks for my password at all? It doesn't have to be called "wallet.dat", right? That would be too obvious. Can you call it anything, with any extension?

Bitcoin-Qt is just not so trivial to me to use since the trivial way would be to have an option File -> Open wallet (at starting the program), then enter password if encrypted. TrueCrypt for example is trivial in this way, you select any volume, type in a password, mount, and dismount images.

I don't understand that either that you encrypt your wallet.dat file, close the client, open the client and it doesn't ask for your password?
Bitcoin-qt only asks for your password when you do an operation that requires it, such as sending coins.

Currently, wallet.dat must be called that and reside in the Bitcoin data directory. It might be possible to use symlinks to work around that.