NAME
TkDesk - a Graphical File and Desktop Manager for the X Window System
SYNOPSIS
tkdesk [-configdir dir] [-debug] [-default] [-develop] [-iconic]
[-layout file] [-startdir dir] [-twm] [-?|--help]
DESCRIPTION
TkDesk provides a rich set of functions to help you manage your files
and efficiently navigate your file systems. It also provides several
desktop and system managing capabilities such as accessing the
external devices of your workstation, starting programs, monitoring the
system load and mailbox etc.
The main parts of TkDesk are the following:
1. One or more file browser windows (or just "browsers"). These
display the contents of the currently selected directory in the
rightmost listbox and the contents of a configurable number of parent
directories in the listboxes left to it. In addition this window
contains a menu bar, a button bar, and a status bar.
2. One or more file list windows. These display the contents of just
the currently selected directory. These windows also contain a menu
bar, a button bar, and may also contain a status bar.
3. An application bar (or "appbar"). This is a set of buttons
displaying icons or other graphical output that can be configured to
execute certain commands. All of the buttons provide a possibly
cascaded popup menu that is accessed by pressing the right mouse button
over any appbar button. Files may be dragged from any file browser or
list window and dropped onto appbar buttons that have been configured
to be drag’n’drop targets. The contents of the appbar is configured in
the "AppBar" configuration file (located in "~/.tkdesk").
4. The built-in editor (or just "editor"). The editor provides
multiple buffers in the same window, virtually unlimited "undo", marks,
search and replace, etc. Files may be dropped onto any editor window
from TkDesk’s file listboxes or the desktop.
BASIC USAGE
The listboxes contained in the file browser and list windows display
the contents of their respective directory. They provide the following
mouse button bindings:
Single-1
Select the file under the mouse pointer, deselect all others.
Control-Single-1
Select or deselect the file under the mouse pointer, without
deselecting any other file.
Shift-Single-1
Select all files between and including the one under the mouse
pointer and the one that was last selected by Single-1 or
Control-Single-1. Deselect all others.
Double-1
Select and open the file under the mouse pointer, deselect all
others. The command that will be used to open the file is the
first entry of the file’s popup menu (see next item).
Control-Double-1
Select the file under the mouse pointer, and ask for a command
to be executed on that file.
Press-2
Used to initiate a drag and drop operation. Valid drop targets
are all other file listboxes, appbar buttons that have been
configured to be drag’n’drop targets, editor windows, and the
root window (a.k.a. desktop).
Press-3
Display the file’s or directory’s popup menu. The contents of
these menus are configured in the "Popups" configuration file
(located in "~/.tkdesk").
The display options of any file listbox can be configured through the
menubutton right above the listbox, displaying the name of the
displayed directory, and the file mask currently set. It can also be
used as a drag and drop source (by pressing mouse button 2) and target.
TkDesk makes heavy use of cascading popup menus. Basically in every
text entry field that’s used for entering paths of file names pressing
the right mouse button brings up a popup menu of parent directories.
Next to most test entry field there is a menu button displaying a
turned-over triangle that gives access to a menu containing a history
of entered strings.
OPTIONS
-configdir dir
By default TkDesk reads its configuration either from the files
contained in the directory "~/.tkdesk" (see section FILES
below), or if it does not exist, from TkDesk’s library directory
(usually "/usr/local/lib/TkDesk"). This options lets TkDesk
load its configuration files from directory dir.
-debug Switch on "debug mode". This generates some output on stderr
that may be used for debugging purposes.
-default
Let TkDesk read its configuration from its library directory.
This means that TkDesk will start using the default
configuration.
-develop
Switch on "development mode". This adds a "Development" submenu
to the "TkDesk" menu.
-iconic
Open all file browser and list windows in iconic state when
TkDesk starts up.
-layout file
Load and save TkDesk’s window layout from and to file. If file
doesn’t exist the default layout is used.
-startdir dir
Display dir in the first file browser window that’s opened.
-twm Some window managers, namely twm cannot handle icon windows
correctly. TkDesk uses these for colored icons. This options
switches to monochrome icons.
-?, --help
Displays the command line options available.
FILES
All of the following configuration files are accessible directly inside
the "Configuration" submenu of the "TkDesk" menu. The default
application bar contains the same menu in the first button (the one
with the comet).
~/.tkdesk/AppBar
Definition of the application bar.
~/.tkdesk/ButtonBar
Definition of the button bars used in file browser and file list
windows, and of directory-specific button bars.
~/.tkdesk/Commands
Contains a list of menu entries that will be added to the
"Commands" menu.
~/.tkdesk/Directories
Definition of the contents of the "Directory" menu and of
actions performed when specific directories are opened.
~/.tkdesk/FileTags
Defines how files and directories are displayed, both by default
and on a per-object basis (using shell-like "glob" patterns).
~/.tkdesk/Local
Initially, this file does not exist. If it does though, it is
sourced (evaluated) when TkDesk starts up. This is the right
place to put any local extensions.
~/.tkdesk/Popups
Definition of the file- and directory-specific popup menus.
Also contains the definition of the popup menu used in the
"Copy, Move, ..." dialog.
~/.tkdesk/Sounds
Defines which command should be used for playing sounds, if any,
plus defines which sounds should be played at which TkDesk
event.
~/.tkdesk/System
Contains definitions of colours and fonts to be used, which
commands should be used for copying, deleting etc. Also
contains options that affect the built-in editor and some other
configuration variables.
ENVIRONMENT
The static version of TkDesk is affected just by one environment
variable:
TKDESK_LIBRARY
This determines where TkDesk will look for its library (by
default usually "/usr/local/lib/TkDesk").
The dynamically linked version is affected by the following variables:
TCL_LIBRARY
Location of the Tcl library files.
TK_LIBRARY
Location of the Tk library files.
Note that other more general variables like PATH may also affect
TkDesk.
SEE ALSO
cd-tkdesk(1), ed-tkdesk(1), od-tkdesk(1)
AUTHOR
Christian Bolik (Christian.Bolik@mainz.netsurf.de)
BUGS
TkDesk may still have problems with files containing spaces, brackets,
and braces. This is due to the fact that the largest part of TkDesk is
written using Tcl, the Tool Command Language created by John
Ousterhout, for which these characters are "special" in some respects.
If you can’t get the application bar back on the screen, delete the
line starting with "Toplevel dsk_appbar" from the file
~/.tkdesk/_layout and restart TkDesk.
Some Sun machines seem to have problems with Drag&Drop. It seems these
problems go away when a more recent X server is used.