1 .\" $XConsortium: dtfile.man /main/2 1995/07/17 10:50:44 drk $
2 .TH DTFILE 1X "" "" "" ""
3 .ds ]W HP DT 3.0 (7/92)
6 \fBdtfile \(em The HP DT File Manager.\fP
13 The HP DT File Manager (\fIdtfile\fP) is HP DT's primary interface to
14 the file system. It provides application execution and file manipulation.
16 The File Manager can display many main windows called file view windows,
17 each which contain the files of a single directory. Each file is presented
18 as a labeled icon. The menu bar and popup menus provide file operations.
20 The File Manager also controls the file/directory icons which can be placed
21 on the Desktop. The Desktop is defined as the users work area.
22 The File Manager treats each workspace backdrop as a Desktop.
23 The number of workspaces a user has defined equals the number of
26 A direct manipulation paradigm is used to perform operations on
27 files/directories displayed in a file manager view and files/directories
28 placed on the Desktop. Double-click performs a specified action on a
29 file or directory. Selection and multiple selection activate a file or
30 a set of files. This is primarily used to indicate the active object
31 for menu operations. Multiple selection is also used by drag for
32 defining the set of files to be dragged. Drag is used to copy, move,
33 or link a file or files between directories. Drag is also used to
34 transfer data to other cooperating clients.
36 The File Manager also supports popup menus. By positioning the cursor over
37 a file/directory in a File Manager view or on a Desktop and pressing
38 mouse button 3, a popup menu will post. This popup menu will provide a
39 list of actions the user can perform on that particular file/directory or
40 the group of selected files.
43 \fIDtfile\fP defines a number of command-line options which allow the user
44 to configure a file view window for the user. Command-line options have a
45 higher precedence then resources. By using command-line options
46 a user can override anything specified in a resource file.
49 This runs \fIdtfile\fP in "server mode", which means that no directory
50 views are initially displayed. \fIDtfile\fP waits for a cooperating
51 client to tell it to display a view (i.e. the window manager via the
53 .IP "\fB-session \fP\fI<session_file>\fP"
55 This option takes the name of a session file as an additional parameter.
56 \fIDtfile\fP is run with the specified session file name. This session
57 file is a file that was previously saved by \fIdtfile\fP during a session
59 .IP "\fB-dir \fP\fI<directory>\fP"
63 .IP "\fB-directory \fP\fI<directory>\fP"
65 This option takes a one or more directory specifications as an
66 additional parameter. This specification is of the form
67 hostname:path, hostname:path,... or path,path,... or any combination of
68 the two (no spaces are allowed in the additional parameter string).
69 This option runs \fIdtfile\fP and causes it to display a directory view
70 for each directory specified. If this command-line option is not used,
71 the user's current directory is displayed. The current directory is the
72 directory \fIdtfile\fP was started in.
73 .IP "\fB-view \fP\fI<view_type>\fP"
75 This option takes an additional parameter which graphically determines how
76 the files will be displayed in the File Manager's directory view.
77 If this option is not specified the default view is large_icon. Possible
78 values for the additional parameter are:
81 \fBno_icon:\fP display the files with no graphical representation of the files type.
84 \fBlarge_icon:\fP display the files with the large icon as its representation
88 \fBsmall_icon:\fP display the files with the small icon as its representation
92 \fBattributes:\fP display the files in their long listing form similar to what
93 you would get if you did an ls -l on that directory. It also uses the
94 small icon as its graphical representation of the files type.
96 .IP "\fB-order \fP\fI<order_type>\fP"
98 This option takes an additional parameter which determines the order in
99 which the files will be laid out in the File Manager's directory view.
100 If this option is not specified the default order is alphabetical.
101 Possible values for the additional parameter are:
104 \fBalphabetical:\fP display the files in alphabetical order.
107 \fBfile_type:\fP display the files according to their filetypes. Within the
108 File Manager's directory view the files will be grouped according to their
112 \fBdate:\fP display the files according to the date they were last modified.
115 \fBsize:\fP display the files according to the size of the files.
117 .IP "\fB-direction \fP\fI<direction>\fP"
119 This option takes an additional parameter which determines the direction in
120 which the files will be laid out in the File Manager's directory view.
121 This option can be real useful when used in conjunction with
122 the \fB-order\fP option. If this option is not specified the default direction
123 is ascending. Possible values for the additional parameter are:
126 \fBascending:\fP lay out icons in ascending order according to the
130 \fBdescending:\fP lay out icons in descending order according to the
133 .IP "\fB-grid \fP\fI<on/off>\fP"
135 This option along with its additional parameter determines whether the
136 files will always be laid out in a grid or they can be randomly placed
137 anywhere within the File Manager's directory view. If the additional
138 parameter is on, the files will be always laid out in a grid. If the
139 additional parameter is off, the files will be kept where they are
140 put (i.e. randomly placed).
141 .IP "\fB-restricted\fP
143 This option forces the File Manager view to be in restricted mode.
144 This means that the user can't navigate above the specified directory.
145 It uses the directory specified by the \fB-dir\fP option. If no
146 \fB-dir\fP option is specified \fIdtfile\fP uses the user's current
147 directory (i.e. the directory \fIdtfile\fP is started in) as its
148 restricted directory.
149 .IP "\fB-title \fP\fI<title_name>\fP"
151 This option allows the user to specify a title for the File Manager view.
152 All views and dialogs propagated from this view will use this title. If
153 this option is not specified the title of each File Manager view is
154 the directory name the view is showing.
155 .IP "\fB-help_volume \fP\fI<help_volume_name>\fP"
157 This option allows the user to specify a help volume to use with this
158 File Manager view. It is useful if the user is using the File Manager to
159 display a specific directory and wants to have specific help for that
160 directory. \fBNote:\fP All new File Manager views that are created
161 from this directory will also use this help volume.
163 Both the \fB-noview\fP and the \fB-session\fP options are normally used by the
164 session manager to start \fIdtfile\fP. The \fB-view\fP, \fB-order\fP,
165 \fB-direction\fP, and \fB-grid\fP
166 all can also be set by 1) using the View menu pulldown and selecting
167 \fBSet Preferences\fP or 2) resources (See RESOURCES section below).
168 The \fB-title\fP and \fB-help_volume\fP can also be set via resources.
169 (See RESOURCES section below).
172 .SH FILETYPES\ and\ ACTIONS
174 Each File Manager view displays a set of icons, each representing
175 a single file/directory. Each file/directory has an associated filetype
176 which is determined by the a set of filetypes defined in filetype files.
177 The default filetypes are: data, executable, or directory. The set of
178 filetypes defined for the File Manager are contained in the user's and
179 system's filetype files.
181 Each filetype has a set of actions defined for it. An action is an
182 executable or application that can be run with a file of that type.
183 To make the action readily available, each of the actions defined for a
184 filetype are displayed in an \fBActions\fP menu pane in the File Manager's
185 main window. The set of actions defined for the File Manager are
186 contained in the user's and system's action files.
188 Refer to the \fBHP Visual User Environment System Administration Manual\fP
189 for a description of filetypes and actions files.
193 The File Manager supports a number of resources which make it much more
194 configurable. Following is the list of supported resources and their default
203 Name Class Type Default
205 dirWidth DirWidth XmRDimension 555
206 dirHeight DirHeight XmRDimension 305
207 toolWidth ToolWidth XmRDimension 365
208 toolHeight ToolHeight XmRDimension 365
209 rereadTime RereadTime XmRInt 2(seconds)
210 checkBrokenLink CheckBrokenLink XmRInt 120(seconds)
211 showFilesystem ShowFilesystem XmRBoolean True
212 openDir OpenDir string current
213 restrictMode restrictMode XmRBoolean False
214 rootTitle RootTitle string ROOT
215 moveThreshold MoveThreshold XmRInt 4(pixels)
216 view View string large_icon
217 order Order string alphabetical
218 direction Direction string ascending
219 desktopIcon DesktopIcon string Large
220 objectPlacement ObjectPlacement string top right
221 title Title string NULL
222 help_volume Help_volume string NULL
226 .IP "\fBDtfile*dirWidth:\fP"
227 Specifies the width of a File Manager view.
228 .IP "\fBDtfile*dirHeight:\fP"
229 Specifies the height of a File Manager view.
230 .IP "\fBDtfile*toolWidth:\fP"
231 Specifies the width of a File Manager view of a tool box.
232 .IP "\fBDtfile*toolHeight:\fP"
233 Specifies the height of a File Manager view of a tool box.
234 .IP "\fBDtfile*rereadTime:\fP"
235 Sets how often the File Manager rereads the open directories and monitors
236 the Desktop objects. This resource is specified in seconds. If this
237 resource is set to 0, the reread of the directories is
238 turned off, and the user needs to manually reread the directories. This
239 can help keep dtfile from using too many processor cycles but can cause
240 views to become stale.
241 .IP "\fBDtfile*checkBrokenLink:\fP"
242 Sets how often the File Manager checks open directories for broken links.
243 This resource is specified in seconds. If this resource is
244 set to 0, the check for broken links is turned off.
245 .IP "\fBDtfile*showFilesystem:\fP"
246 This resource determines whether the user sees the path name of the
247 current directory the user is in or not. The default is to have the
248 user see which directory they are in. If False, no current directory
249 line in a file manager view will be shown. This resource can be used to
250 hide the file system from the user. \fBNote:\fP when this resource
251 is False the \fBFast Change To\fP capability is lost.
252 .IP "\fBDtfile*openDir:\fP"
253 This resource determines how a directory is opened when a user double
254 clicks on a folder. The default is \fBcurrent\fP which uses the current
255 File Manager view to open the directory. This is the same as using the
256 action \fBOpenInPlace\fP. If the resource is \fBnew\fP a new File Manager view
257 will be opened for each directory opened and only one view of a
258 directory can be opened at once. Another feature provided when this resource
259 is set to \fBnew\fP is the icon for a directory can change state
260 to indicate that it has an open directory somewhere in the user's environment.
261 To take advantage of this feature, the user must define a filetype with the
262 same name as the normal filetype for the directory but precede the name
263 with \fBOPEN_\fP. In this \fBOPEN_\fP definition, put the icon name
264 for the "open" icon the user wishes to show when this directory is "open".
268 \fBcurrent:\fP open the directory in the current view.
271 \fBnew:\fP open the directory in a new view or move an existing open view
272 of this directory to this workspace and raise it.
273 .IP "\fBDtfile*restrictMode:\fP"
274 The resource, if set to True, restricts the user to their $HOME directory
275 and below. All capabilities to change directory become relative to their
276 $HOME directory. The complete filesystem except for the users $HOME and
277 below is hidden from the user.
278 .IP "\fBDtfile*rootTitle:\fP"
279 Sets the title of the root (i.e. "/") directory. This title will appear
280 in the title bar of a File Manager view which is showing the root directory.
281 It also will be the name shown in the icon representing the root
282 directory on the Desktop.
283 .IP "\fBDtfile*moveThreshold:\fP"
284 This is the number of pixels the cursor can move while a button is down
285 before the drag controller recognizes the button down as a drag.
286 .IP "\fBDtfile*view:\fP"
287 This resource allows the user to change the default for the way the icons
288 are represented within a view. The default is "large_icon". Possible
292 \fBno_icon:\fP display the files with no graphical representation of the files
296 \fBlarge_icon:\fP display the files with the large icon as its representation
300 \fBsmall_icon:\fP display the files with the small icon as its representation
304 \fBattributes:\fP display the files in their long listing form similar to what
305 you would get if you did an ls -l on that directory. It also uses the
306 small icon as its graphical representation of the files type.
307 .IP "\fBDtfile*order:\fP"
308 This resource allows the user to change the default order in which the
309 files are laid out within a File Manager view. The default is by
310 alphabetical. Possible values are:
313 \fBalphabetical:\fP lay out icon order by alphabetical order.
316 \fBfile_type:\fP lay out icon order by filetype
319 \fBdate:\fP lay out icon order according to the date the files where
323 \fBsize:\fP lay out icon order according to the size of the files.
324 .IP "\fBDtfile*direction:\fP"
325 This resource allows the user to change the default direction in which
326 the file icons are laid out within a File Managers view. The default is
327 for ascending. Possible values are:
330 \fBascending:\fP lay out icons in ascending order according to the
334 \fBdescending:\fP lay out icons in descending order according to the
336 .IP "\fBDtfile*grid:\fP"
337 This resources allows the users to change whether the grid placement is
338 on or off by default. The default is for the grid to be on. The possible
339 values are either "on" or "off".
340 .IP "\fBDtfile*desktopIcon:\fP"
341 Determines whether the icons on the Desktop will appear with large or small icons. Possible values:
344 \fBlarge:\fP use the large icons.
347 \fBsmall:\fP use the small icons.
348 .IP "\fBDtfile*objectPlacement:\fP"
349 This resource specifies the object placement scheme to be used by the
350 Desktop to place objects on the Desktop (i.e. root window). The resource
351 value has the following syntax:
353 \fIprimary_layout secondary_layout\fP
355 The layout values are one of the following:
360 \fBtop\fP~Lay the objects out top to bottom.
361 \fBbottom\fP~Lay the objects out bottom to top.
362 \fBleft\fP~Lay the objects out left to right.
363 \fBright\fP~Lay the objects out right to left.
366 A horizontal (vertical) layout value should not be used for both
367 the \fIprimary_layout\fP and the \fIsecondary_layout\fP. The
368 \fIprimary_layout\fP indicates whether, when an object placement is done,
369 the object is placed into a row or a column and the directory of the
370 placement. The \fIsecondary_layout\fP indicates where to place new rows
371 or columns. This resource has the same format as the icon placement
372 resource used by the window manager. The default is top right.
373 .IP "\fBDtfile*title:\fP"
374 This resource allows the user to set the title for all File Manager views.
375 If NULL (the default), the title of each File Manager view is the
376 directory name the view is showing.
377 .IP "\fBDtfile*help_volume:\fP"
378 This resource allow the user to set a help volume to use when invoking help
379 from a File Manager view. The default is NULL meaning it will use the
380 standard File Manager help.
385 The File Manager supports \fBDesktops\fP. A \fBDesktop\fP is a place where
386 users can store commonly used files or directories for easy access. Within
387 the HP DT environment, each workspace is considered a different \fBDesktop\fP.
388 The user may place any file or directory directly on the background of a
389 workspace and the file or directory will "stick" there. The user then
390 can access actions for that file or directory via a popup menu activated
392 .IP "\fBOpening a File\fP"
393 Double-clicking a file causes the default action defined
394 for the filetype of the file to be run. By default, opening an application
395 will execute it, opening a directory will cause the contents of the
396 directory to be displayed, and opening a data file will cause a text editor
397 to be run with the data file being edited.
398 .IP "\fBDragging a File\fP"
399 A file or set of files can be dragged to another File Manager view or to
400 any other cooperating client. This provides for file copy, move, link,
401 and execution. The File Manager supports both mouse button 1 and mouse
403 .IP "\fBPopup Menu Support\fP"
404 The File Manager supports popup menus for files and directories within a
405 File Manager's view or on the Desktop. To access the popup menu for
406 a particular file/directory, position the cursor over the file/directory
407 and press mouse button 3 and hold it. A popup menu will appear with a
408 list of actions which can be performed on that particular file.
409 If multiple files/directories are selected, the cursor is positioned
410 over one of the selected files/directories, and the user presses mouse
411 button 3, a popup will post which reflects actions which can be done on
412 all of the selected files/directories at once.
413 .IP "\fBFile Filtering\fP"
414 Directories can contain files of many different types. The File Manager's
415 filtering mechanism provides the means by which the user can selectively
416 display sets of files.
417 .IP "\fBDirectory Traversal\fP"
418 Simple directory traversal is available by double-clicking a directory icon.
419 This displays the contents of the directory. The File Manager provides a
420 display mode that displays the directory hierarchy as a graph that can
421 be easily traversed. A \fBFind\fP dialog is also available that can search
422 the file system for a directory or directories matching user-supplied
423 search criteria. The \fBChange To\fP dialog can be used to list directories
424 frequently used; a double-click on a directory in that list changes to
426 .IP "\fBSetting Display Preferences\fP"
427 Both iconic and non-iconic visual representations for file display are
428 provided. The non-iconic form can be used to display directories with
429 large numbers of files or where display space is at a premium. A
430 directory of files can be made to be laid out in a grid or as placed.
431 This allows the user to organize their directory views any way they like.
432 If the user has write permission in a directory they have randomly
433 placed files, the positioning information will be saved when the user leaves
434 that directory so that each time the user reenters that directory the files
435 will be positioned as they were placed.
436 .IP "\fBFind Files\fP"
437 Directories can be searched for a file or set of files which match
438 search criteria. When files are located, a File Manager window can be
439 opened to display the directory which contains the file. The file can
440 also be put directly onto the Desktop.
441 .IP "\fBFind Files with certain Contents\fP"
442 The \fBFind\fP dialog also provides the capability of find files which
443 contain certain character strings. When files are found which contain
444 certain strings, a File Manager window can be opened to display the
445 directory which contains the file. The file can also be put directory onto
446 the Desktop. The contents search is always case insensitive.
447 .IP "\fBSmart Trash Can\fP"
448 The File Manager provides access to DT's smart trash can. The user can
449 place files into the trash can, but they are not permanently removed
450 until the user asks that the trash can be emptied or the HP DT session
451 is terminated at logout. Files dragged to the trash can also be restored,
452 but only during the current session (before logout) and before being
454 .IP "\fBClick and Type File Renaming\fP"
455 The user can click mouse button 1 on the text portion of a file and an
456 edit box will appear allowing the user to rename that file.
457 .IP "\fBQuick Help\fP"
458 The File Manager provides quick help via F1 through out the application.
459 This includes quick help on file and directory icons. To access quick
460 help, position the cursor over the item you wish to get quick help on
461 and press the F1 key on the keyboard.
462 .IP "\fBSupport For Audio and Textual Annotations\fP"
463 The File Manager provides full support for files which contain audio
464 and/or textual annotations. It will support audio as long as your
465 workstation supports it. It provides support for moving or copying
466 files which contain annotations.
467 .IP "\fBFilename Completion\fP"
468 The File Manager supports file name completion in text edit areas which
469 make sense. Just press the space bar and the filename will complete as
473 Copyright 1992 Hewlett-Packard Company.
476 Hewlett-Packard Company, UTD-CV.