VUEFILE(1X) UNIX Programmer's Manual VUEFILE(1X)
NAME
vuefile - The HP VUE File Manager.
SYNOPSIS
vuefile [options]
DESCRIPTION
The HP VUE File Manager (vuefile) is HP VUE's primary
interface to the file system. It provides application exe-
cution and file manipulation.
The File Manager can display many main windows called file
view windows, each which contain the files of a single
directory. Each file is presented as a labeled icon. The
menu bar and popup menus provide file operations.
The File Manager also controls the file/directory icons
which can be placed on the Desktop. The Desktop is defined
as the users work area. The File Manager treats each
workspace backdrop as a Desktop. The number of workspaces a
user has defined equals the number of Desktops a user has.
A direct manipulation paradigm is used to perform operations
on files/directories displayed in a file manager view and
files/directories placed on the Desktop. Double-click per-
forms a specified action on a file or directory. Selection
and multiple selection activate a file or a set of files.
This is primarily used to indicate the active object for
menu operations. Multiple selection is also used by drag
for defining the set of files to be dragged. Drag is used
to copy, move, or link a file or files between directories.
Drag is also used to transfer data to other cooperating
clients.
The File Manager also supports popup menus. By positioning
the cursor over a file/directory in a File Manager view or
on a Desktop and pressing mouse button 3, a popup menu will
post. This popup menu will provide a list of actions the
user can perform on that particular file/directory or the
group of selected files.
OPTIONS
Vuefile defines a number of command-line options which allow
the user to configure a file view window for the user.
Command-line options have a higher precedence then
resources. By using command-line options a user can over-
ride anything specified in a resource file.
-noview
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This runs vuefile in "server mode", which means that no
directory views are initially displayed. Vuefile waits
for a cooperating client to tell it to display a view
(i.e. the window manager via the front panel).
-session <session_file>
This option takes the name of a session file as an
additional parameter. Vuefile is run with the speci-
fied session file name. This session file is a file
that was previously saved by vuefile during a session
shutdown.
-dir <directory>
OR
-directory <directory>
This option takes a one or more directory specifica-
tions as an additional parameter. This specification
is of the form hostname:path, hostname:path,... or
path,path,... or any combination of the two (no spaces
are allowed in the additional parameter string). This
option runs vuefile and causes it to display a direc-
tory view for each directory specified. If this
command-line option is not used, the user's current
directory is displayed. The current directory is the
directory vuefile was started in.
-view <view_type>
This option takes an additional parameter which graphi-
cally determines how the files will be displayed in the
File Manager's directory view. If this option is not
specified the default view is large_icon. Possible
values for the additional parameter are:
no_icon: display the files with no graphical represen-
tation of the files type.
large_icon: display the files with the large icon as
its representation of the files type.
small_icon: display the files with the small icon as
its representation of the files type.
attributes: display the files in their long listing
form similar to what you would get if you did an ls -l
on that directory. It also uses the small icon as its
graphical representation of the files type.
-order <order_type>
This option takes an additional parameter which
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determines the order in which the files will be laid
out in the File Manager's directory view. If this
option is not specified the default order is alphabeti-
cal. Possible values for the additional parameter are:
alphabetical: display the files in alphabetical order.
file_type: display the files according to their file-
types. Within the File Manager's directory view the
files will be grouped according to their filetypes.
date: display the files according to the date they were
last modified.
size: display the files according to the size of the
files.
-direction <direction>
This option takes an additional parameter which deter-
mines the direction in which the files will be laid out
in the File Manager's directory view. This option can
be real useful when used in conjunction with the -order
option. If this option is not specified the default
direction is ascending. Possible values for the addi-
tional parameter are:
ascending: lay out icons in ascending order according
to the order resource.
descending: lay out icons in descending order according
to the order resource.
-grid <on/off>
This option along with its additional parameter deter-
mines whether the files will always be laid out in a
grid or they can be randomly placed anywhere within the
File Manager's directory view. If the additional
parameter is on, the files will be always laid out in a
grid. If the additional parameter is off, the files
will be kept where they are put (i.e. randomly placed).
-restricted
This option forces the File Manager view to be in res-
tricted mode. This means that the user can't navigate
above the specified directory. It uses the directory
specified by the -dir option. If no -dir option is
specified vuefile uses the user's current directory
(i.e. the directory vuefile is started in) as its res-
tricted directory.
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-title <title_name>
This option allows the user to specify a title for the
File Manager view. All views and dialogs propagated
from this view will use this title. If this option is
not specified the title of each File Manager view is
the directory name the view is showing.
-help_volume <help_volume_name>
This option allows the user to specify a help volume to
use with this File Manager view. It is useful if the
user is using the File Manager to display a specific
directory and wants to have specific help for that
directory. Note: All new File Manager views that are
created from this directory will also use this help
volume.
Both the -noview and the -session options are normally used
by the session manager to start vuefile. The -view, -order,
-direction, and -grid all can also be set by 1) using the
View menu pulldown and selecting Set Preferences or 2)
resources (See RESOURCES section below). The -title and
-help_volume can also be set via resources. (See RESOURCES
section below).
FILETYPES and ACTIONS
Each File Manager view displays a set of icons, each
representing a single file/directory. Each file/directory
has an associated filetype which is determined by the a set
of filetypes defined in filetype files. The default file-
types are: data, executable, or directory. The set of file-
types defined for the File Manager are contained in the
user's and system's filetype files.
Each filetype has a set of actions defined for it. An
action is an executable or application that can be run with
a file of that type. To make the action readily available,
each of the actions defined for a filetype are displayed in
an Actions menu pane in the File Manager's main window. The
set of actions defined for the File Manager are contained in
the user's and system's action files.
Refer to the HP Visual User Environment System Administra-
tion Manual for a description of filetypes and actions
files.
RESOURCES
The File Manager supports a number of resources which make
it much more configurable. Following is the list of sup-
ported resources and their default values.
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Client Resource Set
Name Class Type Default
_______________________________________________________________
dirWidth DirWidth XmRDimension 555
dirHeight DirHeight XmRDimension 305
toolWidth ToolWidth XmRDimension 365
toolHeight ToolHeight XmRDimension 365
rereadTime RereadTime XmRInt 2(seconds)
checkBrokenLink CheckBrokenLink XmRInt 120(seconds)
showFilesystem ShowFilesystem XmRBoolean True
openDir OpenDir string current
restrictMode restrictMode XmRBoolean False
rootTitle RootTitle string ROOT
moveThreshold MoveThreshold XmRInt 4(pixels)
view View string large_icon
order Order string alphabetical
direction Direction string ascending
desktopIcon DesktopIcon string Large
objectPlacement ObjectPlacement string top right
title Title string NULL
help_volume Help_volume string NULL
Vuefile*dirWidth:
Specifies the width of a File Manager view.
Vuefile*dirHeight:
Specifies the height of a File Manager view.
Vuefile*toolWidth:
Specifies the width of a File Manager view of a tool
box.
Vuefile*toolHeight:
Specifies the height of a File Manager view of a tool
box.
Vuefile*rereadTime:
Sets how often the File Manager rereads the open direc-
tories and monitors the Desktop objects. This resource
is specified in seconds. If this resource is set to 0,
the reread of the directories is turned off, and the
user needs to manually reread the directories. This can
help keep vuefile from using too many processor cycles
but can cause views to become stale.
Vuefile*checkBrokenLink:
Sets how often the File Manager checks open directories
for broken links. This resource is specified in
seconds. If this resource is set to 0, the check for
broken links is turned off.
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Vuefile*showFilesystem:
This resource determines whether the user sees the path
name of the current directory the user is in or not.
The default is to have the user see which directory
they are in. If False, no current directory line in a
file manager view will be shown. This resource can be
used to hide the file system from the user. Note: when
this resource is False the Fast Change To capability is
lost.
Vuefile*openDir:
This resource determines how a directory is opened when
a user double clicks on a folder. The default is
current which uses the current File Manager view to
open the directory. This is the same as using the
action OpenInPlace. If the resource is new a new File
Manager view will be opened for each directory opened
and only one view of a directory can be opened at once.
Another feature provided when this resource is set to
new is the icon for a directory can change state to
indicate that it has an open directory somewhere in the
user's environment. To take advantage of this feature,
the user must define a filetype with the same name as
the normal filetype for the directory but precede the
name with OPEN_. In this OPEN_ definition, put the
icon name for the "open" icon the user wishes to show
when this directory is "open". Possible values:
current: open the directory in the current view.
new: open the directory in a new view or move an exist-
ing open view of this directory to this workspace and
raise it.
Vuefile*restrictMode:
The resource, if set to True, restricts the user to
their $HOME directory and below. All capabilities to
change directory become relative to their $HOME direc-
tory. The complete filesystem except for the users
$HOME and below is hidden from the user.
Vuefile*rootTitle:
Sets the title of the root (i.e. "/") directory. This
title will appear in the title bar of a File Manager
view which is showing the root directory. It also will
be the name shown in the icon representing the root
directory on the Desktop.
Vuefile*moveThreshold:
This is the number of pixels the cursor can move while
a button is down before the drag controller recognizes
the button down as a drag.
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Vuefile*view:
This resource allows the user to change the default for
the way the icons are represented within a view. The
default is "large_icon". Possible values are:
no_icon: display the files with no graphical represen-
tation of the files type.
large_icon: display the files with the large icon as
its representation of the files type.
small_icon: display the files with the small icon as
its representation of the files type.
attributes: display the files in their long listing
form similar to what you would get if you did an ls -l
on that directory. It also uses the small icon as its
graphical representation of the files type.
Vuefile*order:
This resource allows the user to change the default
order in which the files are laid out within a File
Manager view. The default is by alphabetical. Possible
values are:
alphabetical: lay out icon order by alphabetical order.
file_type: lay out icon order by filetype
date: lay out icon order according to the date the
files where last touched.
size: lay out icon order according to the size of the
files.
Vuefile*direction:
This resource allows the user to change the default
direction in which the file icons are laid out within a
File Managers view. The default is for ascending. Pos-
sible values are:
ascending: lay out icons in ascending order according
to the order resource.
descending: lay out icons in descending order according
to the order resource.
Vuefile*grid:
This resources allows the users to change whether the
grid placement is on or off by default. The default is
for the grid to be on. The possible values are either
"on" or "off".
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Vuefile*desktopIcon:
Determines whether the icons on the Desktop will appear
with large or small icons. Possible values:
large: use the large icons.
small: use the small icons.
Vuefile*objectPlacement:
This resource specifies the object placement scheme to
be used by the Desktop to place objects on the Desktop
(i.e. root window). The resource value has the follow-
ing syntax:
primary_layout secondary_layout
The layout values are one of the following:
top Lay the objects out top to bottom.
bottom Lay the objects out bottom to top.
left Lay the objects out left to right.
right Lay the objects out right to left.
A horizontal (vertical) layout value should not be used
for both the primary_layout and the secondary_layout.
The primary_layout indicates whether, when an object
placement is done, the object is placed into a row or a
column and the directory of the placement. The
secondary_layout indicates where to place new rows or
columns. This resource has the same format as the icon
placement resource used by the window manager. The
default is top right.
Vuefile*title:
This resource allows the user to set the title for all
File Manager views. If NULL (the default), the title
of each File Manager view is the directory name the
view is showing.
Vuefile*help_volume:
This resource allow the user to set a help volume to
use when invoking help from a File Manager view. The
default is NULL meaning it will use the standard File
Manager help.
FEATURES
Desktop
The File Manager supports Desktops. A Desktop is a
place where users can store commonly used files or
directories for easy access. Within the HP VUE
environment, each workspace is considered a different
Desktop. The user may place any file or directory
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directly on the background of a workspace and the file
or directory will "stick" there. The user then can
access actions for that file or directory via a popup
menu activated by mouse button 3.
Opening a File
Double-clicking a file causes the default action
defined for the filetype of the file to be run. By
default, opening an application will execute it, open-
ing a directory will cause the contents of the direc-
tory to be displayed, and opening a data file will
cause a text editor to be run with the data file being
edited.
Dragging a File
A file or set of files can be dragged to another File
Manager view or to any other cooperating client. This
provides for file copy, move, link, and execution. The
File Manager supports both mouse button 1 and mouse
button 2 drag-drop.
Popup Menu Support
The File Manager supports popup menus for files and
directories within a File Manager's view or on the
Desktop. To access the popup menu for a particular
file/directory, position the cursor over the
file/directory and press mouse button 3 and hold it.
A popup menu will appear with a list of actions which
can be performed on that particular file. If multiple
files/directories are selected, the cursor is posi-
tioned over one of the selected files/directories, and
the user presses mouse button 3, a popup will post
which reflects actions which can be done on all of the
selected files/directories at once.
File Filtering
Directories can contain files of many different types.
The File Manager's filtering mechanism provides the
means by which the user can selectively display sets of
files.
Directory Traversal
Simple directory traversal is available by double-
clicking a directory icon. This displays the contents
of the directory. The File Manager provides a display
mode that displays the directory hierarchy as a graph
that can be easily traversed. A Find dialog is also
available that can search the file system for a direc-
tory or directories matching user-supplied search cri-
teria. The Change To dialog can be used to list
directories frequently used; a double-click on a direc-
tory in that list changes to that directory.
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Setting Display Preferences
Both iconic and non-iconic visual representations for
file display are provided. The non-iconic form can be
used to display directories with large numbers of files
or where display space is at a premium. A directory of
files can be made to be laid out in a grid or as
placed. This allows the user to organize their direc-
tory views any way they like. If the user has write
permission in a directory they have randomly placed
files, the positioning information will be saved when
the user leaves that directory so that each time the
user reenters that directory the files will be posi-
tioned as they were placed.
Find Files
Directories can be searched for a file or set of files
which match search criteria. When files are located, a
File Manager window can be opened to display the direc-
tory which contains the file. The file can also be put
directly onto the Desktop.
Find Files with certain Contents
The Find dialog also provides the capability of find
files which contain certain character strings. When
files are found which contain certain strings, a File
Manager window can be opened to display the directory
which contains the file. The file can also be put
directory onto the Desktop. The contents search is
always case insensitive.
Smart Trash Can
The File Manager provides access to VUE's smart trash
can. The user can place files into the trash can, but
they are not permanently removed until the user asks
that the trash can be emptied or the HP VUE session is
terminated at logout. Files dragged to the trash can
also be restored, but only during the current session
(before logout) and before being permanently removed.
Click and Type File Renaming
The user can click mouse button 1 on the text portion
of a file and an edit box will appear allowing the user
to rename that file.
Quick Help
The File Manager provides quick help via F1 through out
the application. This includes quick help on file and
directory icons. To access quick help, position the
cursor over the item you wish to get quick help on and
press the F1 key on the keyboard.
Support For Audio and Textual Annotations
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The File Manager provides full support for files which
contain audio and/or textual annotations. It will sup-
port audio as long as your workstation supports it. It
provides support for moving or copying files which con-
tain annotations.
Filename Completion
The File Manager supports file name completion in text
edit areas which make sense. Just press the space bar
and the filename will complete as far as it can.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 1992 Hewlett-Packard Company.
ORIGIN
Hewlett-Packard Company, UTD-CV.
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