USER HELP GUIDE
WISH File Rusher 2008
by David McClamrock
WISH File Rusher is a simple, lightweight file manager for Linux and other Unix-type operating systems, inspired by Henrik Harmsen's FileRunner 2.5.1. It has a top row of buttons, a middle column of buttons, and two multi-column lists on the left and right sides, with some little buttons and things above them. It's written entirely in Tcl/Tk, and requires at least Tcl and Tk 8.5. Here's what you can do with, or to, WISH File Rusher.
Top Row
Get HELP
Show Hidden Files
Set File Associations of specified programs to display or edit specified types of files
Use Bookmarks
Run WISH Mini-Console
Change Color Display
Exit
Left and Right Sides
Use Navigation Buttons: Top, Up, Home, Back, Forth, Go, Mark, Reload
Use Multi-column Lists to view and select file names
Middle Column
Match left and right directories
Create New Directory (New Dir)
Copy
Copy As
Move
Rename
Delete
Symbolic Link (S-Link)
S-Link As
Find files with WISH File Puller
Edit a file with specified program
Display a file with specified program
View Binary file contents with WISH Binary Viewer
Run a Command on selected files
Change Ownership or Group (Own/Grp) of files (for "root" only)
Change Permissions (Perms) of files
What?: Find out file type
Size Up: Find total size of files or directories
Tar: Produce a Tar (.tar.gz, .tgz) archive
Zip: Produce a Zip archive
Untar: Unwrap a Tar (.tar.gz, .tgz) archive
Unzip: Unwrap a Zip archive
Deselect: Deselect all selected files
# Top Row -- Help: You are here. Send me e-mail if this User Help Guide doesn't answer all your questions.
# Top Row -- Show Hidden Files: Click this checkbutton to display hidden files (the ones with dots at the beginning of the name) as well as ordinary files. Click it again to hide the hidden ones.
# Top Row -- File Associations: This will show you a list of programs for opening or editing different kinds of files. In the "Type" entry box, enter either a file extension with a dot (e.g., .pdf) or a file type, which can be all or part of the information you get by clicking the "What?" button in the middle column (e.g., "HTML," "image," or "MIDI," without the quotes). Then, in the "Open" entry box, enter the official name of the program you want WISH File Master to use for opening files of this type. By the official name, I mean the name you would use to run the program from the command line, e.g., you could run "kpdf" or "acroread" (no quotes) for files with a .pdf extension. If you won't be editing files of the specified type, leave the "Edit" entry box empty; if you will, enter the official name of the program you'll edit them with, which may or may not be the same one you'll open them with. Click "Add" to add the listing; repeat the process as desired, and then click "Done" to save the whole list (to a file called "rushfig.tcl" in the ".wishes" subdirectory of your home directory).
Next time you right-click the name of a file of a type you listed, or single-click the name and click the "Display" button in the middle column, the program you listed will open up and display that file. If you listed a program in the "Edit" box too, double-click (or single-click and click "Edit") to edit the file with the program you listed. Another copy of the program will open if you repeat the process with another file of the same type; use this feature sparingly (if at all) with monster programs such as OpenOffice.org. WISH File Rusher will check the extensions with dots first; after that, if the extension of the selected file isn't listed, the file types without dots will be checked in alphabetical order. So, for example, if "HTML" is a listed file type, "text" is another, and the complete type you would get for a file from "What?" is "HTML document text," the file will be treated as "HTML," not "text."
Click "Get" to select a listing you want to change; this will put the listing in the entry boxes. Click "Change" when you're satisfied, to replace the old version of the listing with the new one. Click "Unlist" to remove a selected listing. Don't forget to click "Done" if you want to save the new list, or "Close" if you don't.
# Top Row -- Bookmarks: Click this button to see a list of the bookmarks you've added with the "Mark" buttons above the left and right listboxes. To go to a bookmarked directory on the left side, double-click (or single-click and then click "Use Left"); to go to one on the right side, right-click (or single-click and then click "Use Right"). Click "Sort" to put the bookmarks in alphabetical order, "Unlist" to get rid of one or more bookmarks, and "Close" to stop looking at bookmarks.
# Top Row -- Mini-Console: If you feel a sudden urge to use the command line for anything, click this button and WISH Mini-Console will fulfill your needs (I hope). If you don't have WISH Mini-Console installed in your system's PATH, this button will be disabled.
# Top Row -- Color Display: This will open up a "WISH Color Picker Plus" box to let you determine what colors will appear in the program's windows. In the box, you'll see sliders to change the proportions of red, green, and blue, and a button to display the color. The sliders go from 0 (none) to 255 (maximum). There's also a listbox containing color names; you can right-click or double left-click to select a color, and then modify it with the sliders if you wish. The "PICK" button displays the selected color, with its name or hexadecimal (base 16) code in black letters if the color is light, or white ones if the color is dark. For example, if you select a color with 255 parts red, 204 parts green, and 153 parts blue, the hexadecimal code (displayed in black letters) will be "FFCC99" because "FF" in hexadecimal numeration means 255, "CC" means 204, and "99" means 153.
To the right of the color names, there's a label that says "CHOOSE COLOR TO CHANGE," followed by a bunch of things you can change the color of (e.g., window background, buttons, boxes, labels, and more). On each line here, there's a radiobutton, then the name of something to change the color of, and finally a little button displaying the current color and name or code of that thing. Click a radiobutton to select a line; then click the big "PICK" button, or a little color button on another line. The color from the button you click will be copied to the color button on the selected line. The change won't show up elsewhere until you click the "Apply Picked Colors" button below the color-name listbox.
Near the bottom left corner of the box, there's a color-scheme listbox with an entry line for adding or changing color-scheme names. Some names of sample color schemes should be in the listbox. (They come from a subdirectory of your home directory, "/home/[you]/.wishes/colorschemes"; the code for each color scheme is kept in a separate, human-readable file.) To apply a color scheme, select it and then click "Apply Color Scheme" (you can also just right-click or double-click the color name). To create a new color scheme, pick the colors for the scheme and click "Apply Picked Colors"; then put a name for the scheme on the entry line and click "Name This Color Scheme" or hit Enter. To revise an existing color scheme, change some colors and enter the scheme name on the entry line (if it isn't already there); then hit Enter or click "Yes" in the box that will ask whether to revise the color scheme. Obviously, click the color-scheme name and "Delete Color Scheme" to delete a color scheme. Finally, click OK to save the currently applied colors as your preferred colors, or Close to close the color-selection box without saving.
# Top Row -- Date and Time: Obvious. It's a button (because it didn't look quite right among all those buttons when it was a label), but it won't do anything if you click it.
# Top Row -- Exit: Obvious. You won't be asked if you're sure you want to, so be sure you want to.
# Left and Right -- Free Space: Tells you how much space (and what percentage of space) is free, plus how much is used, on the disk partition that the displayed directory is mounted on.
# Left and Right -- Directory Line: This usually tells you what directory is displayed. You can create one or more levels of new subdirectories by typing the new names (separated by slashes, of course) on the directory line and then clicking the "New Directory" button in the middle column (see below), or hitting Enter.
# Left and Right -- Navigation Buttons: These, plus the "Bookmarks," "Open," and "Edit" buttons in the middle column (or double-click for Open and right-click for Edit), should take you anywhere you want to go in your file system. Their functions are pretty obvious:
* Top: Go to the top of the file system, the all-important "/" directory.
* Up: Go up one level.
* Home: Go to your home directory.
* Back: Go to the directory you visited (if any), on the same side, just before the present one.
* Forth: Go to the directory you visited (if any), on the same side, just after the present one.
* Go: Open a box containing a list of all directories you have visited on the same side in the current session. Double-click, right-click, or single-click and then press Enter or "the "Go to" button in the box, to go to a directory.
* Mark: Just like the "add bookmark" feature in many browsers. You won't see the bookmark unless you have the Bookmarks box open, but it will be there; the name of the current directory will be listed so you can go to it quick.
* Reload: Yet another browser-like feature. Use this to re-display a directory (with no selections shown), if the directory contents may recently have changed and you want to update the display. For example, if a directory looks empty and you're pretty sure it isn't, or if you've added a file that isn't showing up in the directory list, click Reload.
# Left and Right -- Multi-column Lists: Here is where you actually see information about files. Each side displays a list of files with five columns, for the (1) name, (2) size in bytes, (3) time-stamp (date and time when the file was last modified), (4) file permissions ("Per") in three-digit form (see the section on "Permissions" below), and (5) ownership ("Own"). Click anywhere on a file information line to select a file. Hold down Control and click to select additional files, or to deselect individual files that have been selected. Hold down Shift and click to select all files between the last place you clicked and the present place. If one column doesn't show enough information, drag the edge of the title button for that column to enlarge the column (and squash the others to make room).
The file name will have a slash (/) after it if the file is a directory; directories are listed first. A symbolic link will have "@" followed by the name of the actual file that it's a link to. This name may have some goofy-looking dots and slashes in it, like this: "bin/ @../../home/share/bin." If you click to open or edit the link, though, WISH File Rusher will find the whole name of the actual file and use it.
# Middle Column -- Match: Click the left "Match" button to show the same directory on the left that's already shown on the right, or the right "Match" button to show the same directory on the right that's already shown on the left.
# Middle Column -- New Dir: Add one or more new directory names, separated by slashes, to an existing directory name in one of the directory-line entry boxes; then click "New Dir" or hit Enter. All the directories you named will be created at once, each as a subdirectory of the previous one, and they'll all be empty.
# Middle Column -- Copy: What's so great about dragging and dropping? With WISH File Rusher, you can just select files and click "Copy"; the files will then be copied to the directory on the other side. You don't have to keep holding the mouse button down, and you don't have to move the mouse quite as far. For connoisseurs of tiny increases in efficiency, this is the thing.
# Middle Column -- Copy As: Use this button to copy files with different names than they had before. A box will open up with space for you to insert the new name; the space will contain the same old name, in case you only want to change a letter or two. Click "Copy" or hit Enter to copy the file; click "Close" to give up.
# Middle Column -- Move: Obvious. Moves selected files to the directory on the other side.
# Middle Column -- Rename: Opens a box with space for a new name--like "Copy As," except it will always keep the file in the same directory and it won't leave the original name intact. Click "Rename" to rename, or "Close" to stop renaming. If there's more than one file to rename, you'll see a message saying "TO BE UPDATED AT END OF SERIES," explaining how come you don't see the new names of files at once.
# Middle Column -- Delete: This button turns red when you move the mouse over it, to show that it means business. Files and directories you delete will be gone forever (if you have permission to delete them). Do not use this button if you don't want that to happen!
# Middle Column -- S-Link: Click the names of one or more existing files, then click this button to create a symbolic link to each file from the directory on the other side. Except for the directory name, the link will have the same name as the existing file, so this won't work if both directories are the same. Use "S-Link As" to give a link a different name from the existing file.
# Middle Column -- S-Link As: Opens a box with space for a new name, like "Copy As" and "Rename." When you've specified link names for all selected files (with "Link"), the links will be created. Click "Close" if you're struck with a sudden loathing for links.
# Middle Column -- Find: If you have one or more directories selected, this button will open WISH File Puller, prepped to search those directories for expressions you specify. If you don't, it will open WISH File Puller anyway, and you can then select directories to search. If you have WISH File Puller installed, see the documentation for more information. If you don't, this button will be disabled.
# Middle Column -- Edit: I already told you about this in the "File Associations" section, above. Select a file and click Edit, or just double-click the file name, to edit the file with the program you've designated. If you haven't designated a program, nothing will happen (unless the file is a directory, in which case its contents will be displayed as usual).
# Middle Column -- Display: Same here. Right-click, or select and click Display, to display a directory's contents or to open a file for display with the program you've designated.
# Middle Column -- Binary: This button will open WISH Binary Viewer to display the contents of a selected file in binary, hexadecimal, decimal, and/or text format, if you have WISH Binary Viewer installed in your system's PATH. If you don't, this button will be disabled.
# Middle Column -- Command: This will open up a box with the names of the selected files lined up in a long, scrolling text entry box, and there will be a space at the beginning to insert a command. Click "Run Command" to run the command on all the files, or Close to run it on none. If you click "Run Command," WISH Mini-Console will open up to run the command and show you the output (or an error message if the command is no good). If WISH Mini-Console isn't installed in your system's PATH, this button will be disabled.
# Middle Column -- Own/Grp: Only "root" can change file ownership or group. If you're logged in as root, select one or more files and click this button; you'll see entry boxes for "owner" and "group," plus buttons "OK" and "Cancel."
# Middle Column -- Perms: Only "root" or the file owner can change file permissions. If you're one or the other, this button will give you a box that shows you (1) the file and directory name of the first file you selected; (2) the number of additional files that are waiting in line; (3) three big numbers indicating how much permission the Owner, Group, and Others have to do things with files; (4) nine checkboxes to show, give, or take away permission to Read, Write, and Execute; and (5) a row of buttons: "OK This," "Ok All," and "Cancel."
As you'll see, the three big numbers show the sums of the permissions for Owner, Group, and Others: Read (4 if given, 0 if not), Write (2 or 0), and Execute (1 or 0). If you click a filled-in checkbox with a little number after it, the little number will change to a zero and the big number above will be reduced accordingly. If you click an empty checkbox with a zero after it, the zero will become a little number and the big number will increase. Don't mess with permissions if you don't know what you're doing. If you do, then, when the permissions are the way you want them, click "OK" to change the permissions, or "close" to leave them as they were.
# Middle Column -- What?: If you don't know what one or more files are, select them and click this button. You'll find out, at least in general terms--you hope. (The "What Is?" button invokes the Linux/Unix "file" program to tell you what a file is, and that program has been known to make a mistake on occasion. For example, it's told me that a few of my HTML files were ASCII C program text!)
# Middle Column -- Size Up: To find out how many bytes in all are in selected files (including subdirectories, if any), click this button. If hidden files are shown, they'll be included; if not, they won't.
# Middle Column -- Tar: Select a directory and click this button to create a Tar archive called "[directory name].tar.gz."
# Middle Column -- Zip: Same, this button, Zip archive, "[directory name].zip."
# Middle Column -- Untar: Likewise for a Tar (tar.gz, .tgz) archive, except the new directory won't have a file extension.
# Middle Column -- Unzip: Ditto for a Zip (.zip) archive.
# Middle Column -- Deselect: Deselect all selected files.
Please send any questions, comments, suggestions, or other non-flame language to me
David McClamrock
March 2008