Chapter 12. Browsing Files and Directories
Navigational location:
[login]--->[start]---> [package management]-\ /-->[program execution] | | | |----> [project management]-+->+-->[file view] | | | |----> [pool management]----/ \-->[DIRECTORY BROWSER] | |----> [configuration] | \----> [help] directory context needed
This section describes the intergrated filebrowser of ComPact. There are basically two parts. The upper part of the filebrowser page provides standard file and directory operations plus the possibility to execute arbitrary commands as from a command line shell. The lower part of the page is used to list directories and files. Directories may be changed or opened in new filebrowser windows; files can be selected and operated upon, listed as text, or edited directly.
Let's first have a look at the command section of the page.
Directory and File Ignore Patterns. In this section you can tell ComPact which directories and files should be excluded from display and package fingerprints. Enter the directory or file ignore expression and press the Enter button. Changing these values is equivalent to setting the configuration variables filecache-ignore-dirs and filecache-ignore-files, which are described in Section A.1.29 in Elego ComPact Manual Appendices and Section A.1.30 in Elego ComPact Manual Appendices. The syntax of these expressions is built on regular expressions and file globbing patterns as basic elements (which must be enclosed in double quotes), the boolean operators and, or, and not, and parentheses to group sub-expressions. A typical example is
\"*~\" or \"*.bak\" or \"*.tmp\" or \"*.temp\"
By default the basic elements are treated as file globbing
patterns; to denote a regular expression, a leading `+'
sign is required. ComPact will exclude files and
directories matching the selected patterns from its
internal file caches, which are used for almost all file
operations, including the display of files in the
filebrowser and computing fingerprints for checkpoints of
project states, which are used to check efficiently if a
package has changed. File and Directory Operations. The commands of this pane allow you to create, delete, and modify file system elements as well as run arbitrary commands in the current directory.
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The Edit button allows you to edit files with your default editor defined in your .compactrc file.
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The Create button is made for creating files and directories with the filebrowser. Enter the name of the file or directory, select File or Directory and press the Create button.
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The Action button provides the possibility to run system commands from the browser window. Enter the command and hit the Action button. Another browser window will open and show the results of your command.
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The Delete button is used to delete files or directories. Enter the name and press the Delete button. Your target will be deleted.
Browsing Directories. In the left field you can enter a directory as the new root of the file browser; just enter the directory and press the Enter button. ComPact will change the displayed directories and files to the contents of the new directory. You can also change the directory by simply clicking on one of the displayed names or the .. which stands for the parent directory. If you want to open a directory in a new window, click on the file browser icon between the selection box and the directory name.
Selecting Files and Directories. A file or directory is selected by simply clicking on the selection box icon. The commands Edit, Delete, and Action from the top part of the page operate on selected files (if there are any). The three icons on the right above the file list are used to select all files and directories, invert the selection, or deselect all files and directories.
Listing and Editing Files. To view the content of a file as ASCII text simply click on its name. A file list window will open diplaying the desired data. To edit a single file, click on the edit icon between the file selection box and the file name. ComPact will bring up an editor of your choice (as defined in the .compactrc file) with the filename as its argument. As already mentioned, you may also select one or more files and press the Edit button, in which case the editor is called with all the filenames as arguments.