X-Arc allows to add files to an archive in a quick and easy way.
There are several ways to do that, but none as flexible as using the
adder window.
The adder window is divided in two sections: on the left there's a listview
showing the system directories, while on the
right you can find a tree-like listview displaying files that are going to be
added to the current dir of the archive.
The structure on the right will be compressed to the archive exactly as it is
displayed in the tree. Of course, you may arrange the tree to meet the archive
structure you have in mind.
To add files to the structure, first select the destination node of the tree.
Then you can either drag some workbench icons, drag some files from the left
listview or select some files from there and then press the Add
button. All selected objects will be appended to the destination node,
keeping their directory structure (i.e. selected directories will become
subnodes).
By double
clicking on a tree object (or by selecting it and clicking on Edit, a new
window will open. Here you can change the name that selected object will have
inside the archive and, for files only, the source file that will be added.
Objects can be moved, renamed, removed or added, but these are only "virtual"
operations. The archive is not modified in any way until you press the "Add"
button: only then all files contained in the tree structure are actually
compressed and added to the archive.
One of the most interesting features of X-Arc is its peculiar way to add the tree to
an archive. Files are added very quickly, expecially if they come from
different sources, and X-Arc may very likely prove itself faster than other
similar programs.
The adder window contains other gadgets as well, affecting the way files are
added to the archive. The two knobs allow to set compression level and
header type for the files being added (see the module section for details).
Each time you open an archive, those knobs get reset to the defaults values,
as configured in module preferences.
Then there is a cycle gadget that indicates how X-Arc should behave in case of
existing files:
- Replace: Adds file to archive, overwriting any existing file.
- Add: Add files to the archive, but doesn't overwrite any file.
- Update only: Adds only already existing files that are newer than those inside the archive.
- Update+Add: Add all non-existing files, and overwrites older files already present.
As stated before, the add window is not the only way to add files to an
archive. Another way is to drag some icons from Workbench to the main lister
(depending on settings), or to the add button of the main window. You can even
drag files from the Palette Window to the main lister. In each case, the files
will be added following the adder window settings.