WWWworkbench for AWeb
NOTES ON USEAGE
(scroll down)
(for more detailed help,
see Guide)
A. OPENING NEW DRAWER WINDOWS
A)FILE REQUESTER
If you click the drawer icon in the menu at the top of a window, you will get a file requester from which you can choose any directory anywhere. But you must leave the filename field empty. If you select a filename, you will directly view that file, and you will not open the directory itself. (It is a shortcut manner of viewing).
B) DOUBLECLICK OR VIEW
If you see drawer icons within an open window, ie below the top menu, you can directly open a new window on that directory by DOUBLE-CLICKING. You can also single-click and select VIEW from menu. Also if a directory is included in the Selection List and you select VIEW, a window will be opened on the directory when the VIEW comes to the directory. In general--opening a directory is treated as VIEWING the directory. Read below for greater detail about double-clicking and the selection list.
1. OPERATIONS ON SINGLE FILE
As in normal workbench window--you click a filethumbnail ONCE to 'activate' it and then select the operation from the menu. Note that in this program the selected or active file is NOT highlighted, so if you select a file and then wait and forget which is highlighted, click the link labelled SL (for 'selection list'). SL is designed to show what file is currently selected even if it is only one or zero. The single-selection mode of operation is designed to mimic the normal workbench--click to select, then select operation from menu. The second mode of operation is different--it is designed for batch processing,etc.
2.OPERATIONS ON MANY FILES (ie MULTIPLE SELECT)
If you click on more than one filethumbnail, the Selection List will automatically appear (It will not appear if you click only once), and you enter another mode of operation. Every time you click on a filethumbnail it is added to the list. Until you select an action from the menu. At the end of the menu action on all the selected files, the selection list is cleared. (If you want to preserve the list for another operation, select SAVE, and then load it later as required.) Clearing can also be done by selecting CLEAR. In building a selection list, if you make a bad selection, you can de-select it --just click the unwanted file and it will dissappear (note however that it is only tagged, so if you are deselecting many, it is better to clear the entire selection list and start over). The multiple-file selection list is always present underneath, and its contents remain until you explicitly CLEAR or until it is cleared by some menu action. You can close the Selection List window anytime (to make room on the screen) and then bring it back by clicking SL. This Selection List is designed for batch operations, and your own arexx scripts can use the list. When you select AREXX from the menu, the list of files is deposited in the cliplist as 'file.i', where i= 1,2,3,4,5,..n. Your external arexx menu can fetch the selected filenames by a getclip call ie nextfile=getclip('file.'i). Furthermore--and this it the main reason for this Selection List--it can go across directories. Your selections can come from all over your hard drive and not just the opened drawers. Note, once the item is in the selection list, you can close the window you selected it from. This enables you to browse dozens of drawers and not have the screen fill up with windows. Once you have made your selection, just hit the close button and go to the next drawer. SOME FINAL NOTES: A)Mixing filethumbnails with directories in the selection list: That's fine as long as the menu action can handle both. I have designed the menu so that it will be able to detect and handle directories. Test to make sure. One restriction - for security a directory can be deleted only if it is empty.
B)Selecting the same filethumbnail twice: There may be some instances where you may want to perform an arexx action on the same file twice. Just be aware that actions are performed sequentially, so whatever action is performed on the first, alters the situation for the second. For example you can delete a file only once.
C)External Arexx operations on the selected files: The selection list is not in a useable form for external scripts. However, the moment you select AREXX in the menu, all the filenames are placed in the aarexx cliplist in the form file.i where i=1,2,3,4,etc If you have no script to run yet, or the other program is not yet open, you can cancel the AREXX script file requester that appears, even close your browser, (just don't reboot), and your other program will be able to fetch the filenames via a call to 'getclip'
3.VIEWING
A)DIRECT VIEWING--Get the file requester by clicking a drawer icon that gives you a file requester (ie the one at the top). Then find and select the file you want to view. A Directory window will open only if you leave the filename field blank, so if you select a filename, you will go directly to viewing the file.
B)QUICK VIEWING--Just double-click the filethumbnail within 2 seconds. Note: if you doubleclick a directory icon, it is interpreted as opening a new window for that directory. Doubleclicking does NOT select an image. If, after viewing the image you want to select it for a menu operation, click it again, once.
C)MENU VIEWING--In this approach to viewing, you select the filethumbnail, and then select VIEW from menu. If more than one file is selected, then as many windows will be opened as files. To view multiple images,etc., you'll have to shift top windows aside (or close them) to see the ones underneath. If your multiple selection is a directory icon, then the window that opens will open that directory.
D)IMPORTANT NOTE--the VIEWING is done via the viewers configured into your browser. Thus we are not talking only about image viewing. If a file being viewed is a sound, and your browser is configured to play that sound file, then viewing entails that sound being played.
4. FTPMOUNT NOTES
If you have installed FTPMount, you know how it works. To use it with WWWworkbench we have to establish two paths to get to the website directory, one is FTP for editing, and the other HTTP for browser viewing (The two paths are needed as the FTP path alone is not enough. If you try to load into the browser via FTPMount, the browser freezes--there must be some sort of conflict--thus WWWw is designeed so that the browser loads stuff via HTTP ; but FTP is used to edit the directory). The trick is to provide the two paths for WWWw. Here is the easiest way to get it right: Start by entering your normal URL to the website in the browser url field, and actually enter your website. Next go to FTPmount and enter the site by that route until you get to the same place. In many instances, the FTPMount path will include something like 'public_html'. For example I enter my wespace by first coming to a directory with various server files plus a 'public_html' directory. My webspace is inside that public_html. So once I get to my webspace my file path reads 'FTPMount:mywebsite/public_html/' while my URL on the browser reads 'http://www.myserver.net/~paabo' ('mywesite' is an arbitrary name you gave to a FTPMount drawer--if you have used FTPMount, you will understand) . So these are what I enter in my configuration fields (see bottom portion of title page). In other words access both places independently, with the FTPMount by itself and the browser by itself; then read what the filepath and url reads, respectively, and enter these into the configuration fields. In entering the paths: do not accidentally introduce an invisible blank at the end and do not add quote marks. Click 'Appy New Values' for it to 'take', and then 'Save Curent Config Settings' to make it survive a reboot.
FOR MORE USEAGE NOTES SEE THE GUIDE (click GET GUIDE)