AC Browser doc.
Applies to version Carnival! :-) 1.01 Freeware.
Konrad Papa³a.
In this short document I will try to shortly describe the program’s key features. However, the best way to learn using this application, is to start using it.
AC Browser
is a file manager with the ability to Add Comments to the files and
directories. This can be done with one
simple mouse click.
More :
- Adding comments to files and directories. A comment in AC Browser is a short text, which you can see in the corresponding column in the main window list, or by moving the mouse on a Hot Point – a small red rectangle on each icon. A comment is moved when file is moved, copied, when file is copied, and deleted, when file is deleted. In other words, behaves like a usual file property. Comments can be also added to a directory.
- The font size, color, and other font specifications can be defined by the user, separately for every file’s extension. So documents may be shown brown, music files blue with light-blue shadow and bold font.
- Quick view. After pressing F3, you can view text, image and multimedia files. More about Quick view – below.
-
Hot
Point – a small red rectangle on each file shows you the file
properties, and quick view (images and text).
-
All the
problems at start – while any file operation – copying, moving etc.
all the problems are shown on the beginning – it guarantees that the operation
will not be stopped because of some problem.
The space of the source is calculated before the operation starts, and
hit against the space on target drive. The expected time of finishing is very
precise. This is a new thread, which means you can still work with the manager.
-
File
searching – is a new thread, which means you can still work with the
manager. You can search files (by name, date, size) and text in files. Regular Expression supported. More.
-
Supported
Regular Expression while searching files, text in files, and in a
text quick view. So you can search in
files e.g. r[eo]d which matches red and rod. Or [0-9]*[0-9] – matches any text
beginning and ending with one digit. Also operators “OR” and “AND” supported.
So you can search ‘music’ OR ‘multimedia’ OR ‘movie’ – then all the files
having ANY of these words will be listed. More.
-
Thumbnails’
view – with dynamically changed size.
-
Ability
to follow the links while searching files. If you want, AC will
follow the links to the directories if any. This can be used to create a set of
directories of some type (which can be anywhere) to be searched. More.
-
Quick
Access Bar – Two lists – important files – then the newest files are
shown (usually this is what You are looking for when entering a new directory),
and : index.html, readme.* etc… In the second list – you can type letters, and
files HAVING specified text are shown (when you type ‘help’ all the files
having this word will be show: Help.txt, helpme.doc, winhelp etc. Useful when
you know that a file has some word but you don’t remember the whole name, and
even the first letters. Also useful when filtering files – when you’ll type
.bmp all the bitmaps will be shown). More.
-
Browsing
while Dragging & Dropping – when you are in a c:\ directory for
example, and you want to move some files to a c:\windows\system – usually you
used to open two windows, or you have used Ctrl+C – clipboard operations. In
the AC Browser
you start dragging files\directories, move them over the c:\windows and… hit
space. AC
Browser will
enter into that directory (c:\windows), then you can drop the files on a
‘system’ directory. You can move in this way across all the directory tree… (
By the way – pressing CTRL with ‘space’ will open a new window).
-
More
than Quick View. With AC
Quick View you not only can see images, but also convert to another type
(supported jpg, png, tiff, gif, bmp), you can change the resolution and number
of colors.
-
Image
specials – to AC Browser you can drop files from some other
application (like Explorer), but not only files. Also images – run some image
editor, select some part of an image and move it (drop it) to the AC Browse
window, you will be able to save it in a directory you dropped it. Also try
doing so with some WWW viewer, just
drag some image from some web site to the AC Browser. If you work with graphics
in any way, this will be useful for you. Also you can Paste an image (CTRL +
V). The same with text.
-
Running
programs in new threads. Applications executed from within AC Browser are started in a new
thread. If starting this application takes a lot of time, it doesn’t lock the
AC Browser, you can still work, and the starting procedure is in another
thread. Also, if the executed application breaks and\or doesn’t respond, the AC
Browser is still alive.
-
Threads,
threads – most of the operations – file\directory copying, moving,
deleting, searching, even calculating space occupied by a directory – all of
these are new threads, which means you can continue your work.
In one window : calculate space
occupied in all directories in c:\ drive, in other window calculate some other
directories, simultaneously open a
new browsing window (CTRL + N) and search for some files (you can open many
file searchers), and then play a movie and a few mp3 files simultaneously using
quick view.
-
List of
files – you can create and save a document – AC Browser’s list of
files. E.g. you can create a list of
all images on your hard disk and then you can use it as it was a directory. On
the files in this document you can operate as on normal files. More.
-
Temporary
directories – do you frequently create a new directory just to
temporarily backup there some files ? Or to unpack some archive, before
installing program ? Well, with AC you can quickly create a temporary directory
– you don’t have to bother about where it is created, or about providing a
name. Simply create it and use it. Before you close AC you can delete all
created temporary directories with one simple click. More.
-
Dynamic
font size changing – press Ctrl and Numpad+ and the font size will
be increased. Useful after a few hours of working.
-
Widely
used CTRL – it’s a very nice feature – always – when browsing into
some new directory – when CTRL is pressed a new browsing window is opened.
Whatever you do – enter a directory, change the current drive, select a new
directory from the Favorites menu, or go Up in directory tree – always, when
CTRL is pressed a new window is opened. And you can use both of them.
First of all, this program is completely free. I decided to put ACB as freeware because, I understand that not everyone can afford buying every software they like. But I myself, cannot afford my phone bills since I'm developing ACB :)
If this software
helps you in every day work and you find it useful I invite you to make
voluntary donation of the amount selected by you to help me in future
development of this application. If, you decide to contribute, you can wrap
your donation in a peace of paper and send it to:
Konrad
Papala
ul. Walbrzyska
1
85-373,
Bydgoszcz
Poland
Thank you for your consideration,
Konrad Papala
P.S.
It would be nice if you wrote your e-mail
somewhere, for me, so I could say thanks.
By
the way :
If the above address looks strange, here
is the information what is what, so you can construct proper formatting:
Name Konrad Papala
Home
address Walbrzyska 1
City Bydgoszcz
Zip/Postal
code 85-373
Country Poland
Thank you once again for consideration.
Konrad
Papala
All here was written by me (Konrad Papala). This is the main reason of many grammar errors :) The second is that I had to write it in a really short time.
Notes
- In this document when it is said ‘files’ it usually means both files and directories.
- You will not find answer to every question, This documentation assumes that you are already familiar with the basics of the file operations (copying, moving etc.) as well as the basics of using the Microsoft Windows environment (Clipboard operations, Drag&Drop etc.).
- Not every command is described here. I think most of them is clear to understand. Also not all of the possible keyboard shortcuts are presented here. You can find all of them in the appropriate menu items.
- If you are familiar with some file browser like Windows Commander, or Windows Explorer, you may read only the last parts of this document – the IDEAS.
Editing comments. You can do this in three ways. The simplest – click in the comment column on the desired file, with alt pressed. The other – hit Alt+C or select the Edit Comment command in context menu.
Copying, moving. You do this by the Drag & Drop operation. Then the new thread is created. It checks for problems – for example if any files are to be overwritten. If so, you will be prompted. Then the space needed is calculated, if fits, the operation is continued and don’t worry, that it will stop because of some reason. If doesn’t fit – you will be asked if continue.
Deleting. Press delete. Full directories can also be deleted. But there is a small problem – in this version files are really deleted – a recycle bin is not used.
Image Dropping – you can drop an image into some directory, just as you would do this with files. Try doing so with some WWW viewer, or some image editor – simply drag some image from some web site to the AC Browser.
Text Dropping – you can drop a (plain) text into some directory, just as you would do this with files. Simply drag some text from a text editor to the AC Browser.
Creating a directory – hit F7. A dialog box will appear when you can set the directory name, and comment. Note that you can create many directories at one time – just separate them with ; You can also automatically copy or move the previously selected files to that directory. This is the quickest way – when you have some file, and you want to move it to some newly created directory - select these files and hit SHIFT+F7. Set the name of a directory and hit enter. The directory will be created, and selected files will be moved there. It works also with many created directories (separated with ;). CTRL+F7 tells AC to create a directory and copy there the selected files.
Creating a temporary directory – hit F8. Read more.
Creating a new file – hit shift+F4. You can choose some other type of file to be created (default is : empty txt file). The files you can create are in the \File Types directory in the application directory. You can copy there files you want to be able to create.
Renaming – F2 or Shift+F6.
Creating shortcuts – hit F9.
Selecting – With right mouse button. Also - with the left one and Shift or Ctrl down.
Group selecting - Numpad+, unselecting Numpad-. Unselect all - Esc. Select all = Ctrl+A. Use Shift+Numpad+ to expand selection - select Like Selected. So when files my_cool_web_site.html, and my_great_style.css are selected, and you will hit Alt+Numpad+ - and then Enter – all files in current directory, which have extensions html and css will be selected.
Separate files with semicolon - ;. Use the standard ‘dos-like’ wildcards or full Regular Expression supported by AC Browser, like [0-9] – files with numbers will be selected… More about Regular Expression searching in AC Browser here.
Clipboard operations
The selected files you can copy to clipboard (Ctrl+C) and the paste from clipboard (Ctrl+V). But there is another, strange option – Add to clipboard (Ctrl+Shift+A). This will add files – it means when there are some files in the clipboard, the currently selected will be added to them. You can do this as long as you want (add concrete files). Note that pressing Ctrl+C clears the clipboard, and copy there only the selected files.
With AC Browser you can view
multimedia files, graphical files, text files.
Multimedia
These file extensions are recognizable as multimedia files and therefore Multimedia Quick View is used :
avi,mpg,mpeg,mpe,mp3,mid,mid,rm,wav,asf,cda,wmx,wma,wmx,aif,aiff,aif,au,snd. These are recognizable by Windows Media
Player.
Many simultaneously playing viewers are
allowed, there is no control in that matter. Keyboard
: space stops\plays, up and down arrow keys change the volume, right and left –
move the current position of movie/music to the right \ left. With shift –
moved faster.
Graphics
These file extensions are recognizable as graphics files and therefore Graphics Quick View is used : jpg, jpe,gif,bmp,ico,tif,tiff,png.
Commands.
Zooming in/out with Numpad + and
Numpad -. Numpad * - fits to the
window, Numpad / - sets the original size. Also (Corel Draw style) F3 zooms
out, F4 fits to the window.
Tools, magnify tool – ‘z’ or F2, selector – ‘s’,
hand – ‘h’.
Browsing – you can view next
(Page Down) or previous (Page Up) image in the current directory. Also you can
go to the first one (home) and last one (end). You can also turn on Slideshow –
such a small car icon in the toolbar, or hit space. Also, in the view menu you
can turn on Tile mode.
Converting. You can change light and contrast, size,
type, number of colors. Note that Viewer will not prompt you to save the file.
Copying to the clipboard.
With CTRL+C you can copy the image to the clipboard. Also you can copy just a selection
– press the appropriate button on the toolbar (blue symbol of selection) then
make the selection, and copy. Note that after copying, or refreshing the window
the selection is no longer valid.
Pasting from the clipboard.
With CTRL+V you can paste the image from the clipboard. Then you can convert
it, and then save it, or copy back to the clipboard.
File operations. You can set a comment to the currently showed image (Alt+C), delete the image (Delete key), copy (F5) and move (F6) to… When you select copy to or move to you have a choice of all currently opened browse windows in the main ACB window.
If you don’t get the meaning of the icons on the toolbar, check it out, don’t worry about the image, as long as you don’t save it, it remains untouched on disk.
It’s possible that not all keyboard shortcuts are mentioned here. But for sure, all of them are in the menus, just after the commands.
Text
txt,
html, htm, etc. files are recognized as text files. Ctrl+F – searching text
(Regular Expression supported). F3-find next. Standard clipboard operations
plus – adding to the clipboard (Ctrl+Shift+A).
Binary
Every
unrecognized files is opened with the binary quick view. In this version it's a
very poor viewer, however I'm keeping working on it. The most important thing -
it can open big files too - the files is not opened whole at once, but is
readed when user scrolls the view.
You can search files and directories with Search Files tool (Alt+F7, or Ctrl+E). I think that most of the dialog elements are clear to understand. Maybe except text searching.
Search for.
In here you can define file names to find. You can use wildcards. More, you can use all the possibilities of Regular Expression searching provided by AC Browser. Examples:
*.jpg defines jpg files to find.
[a-zA-Z]*.* - files beginning with a letter. So ‘program.exe’ will be shown, but ‘01.zip’, or ‘$tmp’ will not be.
*.[0-9][0-9] – files of any name, with the extension which is two digits, like ‘file.01’, ‘file.45’ – ‘file.0’ or’ file.-0’ will not be found.
*.* - means all files.
sys – all files having word ‘sys’ will be found, eg. system, system.ini, a_sys_bleble.txt, info.sys
But sys.* - only files whose title is sys, with any extension.
sys.txt – only files sys.txt will be found.
*sys*.txt – files having word ‘sys’ with txt extension.
my_great_program.c - my_great_program.c will be found, my_great_program.cpp will not be.
*.c – as above, files with c extension will be found, cpp, cdx will not be.
*.c?? - my_great_program.c will not be found, my_great_program.cpp will be.
You can define many such definitions, just separate them with semicolon – ‘;’ e.g. *.jpg; *.tif; *.gif – jpg, tif, gif files will be found.
With the combo box on the right you can select the predefined files’ extensions. If you will select a new group with CTRL down, it will be ADDED to the current list.
More about Regular Expression searching in AC Browser here.
Search In
In here you can define directories in which searching will be done. Separate them with asemicolon (;). Current directory is a directory from which searching was started. Selected directories are the directories which were selected, when searching was started.
Text searching. Search
text.
In here you can define text to find in files. You can define if it’s case sensitive comparing, and if using Regular Expression. Also if it’s only one sentence or a number of, separated with a semicolon. Let’s take two files as an example.
a1.txt – which consists of “C++ is the best programming
language in the whole world”
a2.txt – “AC Browser will be the most popular file manager in
the world”. (I’m an optimist :)
Now , in the ‘search text’ edit box:
“world”, both files will be found.
“best” a1.txt will be found.
“Best”, with Match Case checked – none will be found.
“in*world”, if Regular Expression checked – both files will be found.
“world*in” – nothing will be found.
“[A-C][A-C]” – a2.txt will be found, because only there two characters in the range from ‘A’ to ‘C’, one by one, would be found.
Now, take a look at the combo box, three possibilities, SIMPLE – the default, means that there is just one sentence to find. It’s assumed in the above examples. AND – there is a number of words (or whole sentences) separated with a semicolon. ALL of them must be found in the file. The order doesn’t matter. OR – also there is a number of sentences, but it’s enough that one of them will be found. You must separate them with a semicolon - ; Examples :
“world;C++” with AND operator – only a1.txt will be found. Only this file has both words (in different order, but it doesn’t matter). a2.txt has “world”, but there is no “C++”.
“world;C++” with OR operator – a1.txt and a2.txt will be found. The first of them has both of the words, the second one – only ‘world’ – but will be found because OR operator is used.
“The most popular;AC; manager” with AND operator – a2.txt will be found. The order is so different but it doesn’t matter.
“will be*in the*world;is*in the*world” with OR operator and Regular Expression checked – both files will be found.
In other words – OR extends the search criteria, AND limits them. OR finds ‘one of”, AND ‘All of”. The main adventure is – the order doesn’t matter.
You can also use ranges of characters – use []. For example [0-9] will match a digit. [0-9a-z] will match a digit or a lower-case letter. More about Regular Expression searching in AC Browser here.
Exclude binaries check box. The default is : checked. When checked, binary files are not searched while searching text. You can define these files in the options\special file types. Generally the idea is like that : when you search for a text in files, you usually mean the document files of any type (doc, xls, txt, ini, cpp, c, html, h, etc…). You don’t mean exe, com, jpg, gif, avi etc. This is THE way you can exclude these files with one mouse click.
By deafault these files are treated like “binaries” and not searched if mentioned check box is checked : executive (exe, com, dll), graphics (jpg, gif, bmp, etc.), multimedia (mp3, avi, etc.), and many others , this is the full list :
(*.exe,*.com,*.dll,*.tmp,*.sbr,*.bsc,*.obj,*.acb,*.plg,*.ncb,*.map,*.pdb,*.idb,*.pch,*.cnt,*.gid,*.000,*.001,*.cpl,*.swp,*.bmp,*.gif,*.jpg,*.jpe,*.jpeg,*.ds4,*.dwg,*.dib,*.tif,*.tiff,*.wmf,*.emf,*.tga,*.pcx,*.cdr,*.cpt,*.cmx,*.ico,*.png,*.vxd,*.ttf,*.ocx,*.scr,*.inf,*.avi,*.mpg,*.mpeg,*.mpe,*.mp3,*.mid,*.mid,*.rm,*.wav,*.asf,*.cda,*.wmx,*.wma,*.wmx,*.aif,*.aiff,*.aif,*.au,*.snd,*.bin,*.dat,*.msk).
You can change these extensions as said before. If you want to look into these files too, uncheck the option.
Date and size
It’s clear, isn’t it ? Some notes – date between – dates given ARE INCLUDED. If you have a file which modification date is 2002.10.10 and you start searching file with Date Between defined as follows : from 2002.10.05 to 2002.10.10 the file WILL be found (also the file modified in 2002.10.05).
The same with sizes.
Follow the links
options.
Causes AC to read directories pointed by links (*.lnk files). Read more.
The result list
Here you can find found files. You can click one with alt pressed – then AC Browser will go to this file (in the current browse window, if any – if not - new will be opened). Note that this happens in background – you will still see the searching tool. You can run the file – by double clicking. You can also View the file with F3. You can sort the result with any column. If you searched text – you will find the sample – in the last column. You can also copy the files to the clipboard, copy their paths or names to the clipboard. Note that you must select the files you want to be copied. You can also create AC list.
You can create a list of certain files in the current directory in one step, use ‘?’ in the address bar to 1. find specified files, 2. create AC List, 3. Close the search window. E.g., in the address bar : ?*.bmp;*,jpg – will find these files, and create a list of them. See Address Bar section for more.
The bar (usually on the left of the main window) has two windows. The first one, on the top is the proper “quick access list”. The second, at the bottom shows basic file properties as well as a comment. This part of the help is about the first one, the “quick access list”.
This is there to provide an easy way to filter files, but not in the main window, but just there, in the list. The files can be filtered with three buttons. Then you can select some file in the Quick Access list, and the corresponding file will be selected in the current directory. The three buttons are :
Important shows the newest files and files which names are ‘index.html’, ‘index.htm’, ‘readme.*’ etc. – in one word – usually the most important in current directory.
With Quick Search edit box you can supply your own filter, or filters (separated with semicolon - ;). By entering just a letters, like ‘my’ or ‘help’ file having these letters will be shown. You can use all the possibilities of Regular Expression searching provided by AC Browser. For example – ‘[0-9]’ will show the files having numbers in the name. *.jp? will show jpg and jpe files too. More about Regular Expression searching in AC Browser here.
The ‘Copied\Moved’ button shows the files\directories which were copied\moved to or from the current directory. Example – go to the windows directory, select some files, copy them to the system32 subdirectory. Repeat this with any files from any location. Let’s say, that was a mistake, and you want to repair it. Go to the system32, press ‘Copied\Moved’ button on a Quick Access Bar, select all the files there, the corresponding files will be selected in the current directory, press delete. System shouldn’t crash.
Some technical notes about the ‘Copied\Moved’ button :
- Both, source and target files are showed. It means that when you copy file c:\a\data.txt to c:\b\data.txt, the file data.txt will be showed in this filter in both directories.
- When you copy files from one location to another, all the files are remembered, and therefore, showed in the filter ‘copied\moved’. But when you copy a directory, only the directory is remembered, the files it contains are not.
To quickly access the address bar, you can hit Alt+F2, then, to go back to a list, Ctrl+Tab.
The address bar is usually used to change the location you want ACB go
to. You can type it or choose from the
previously visited locations.
However you can also execute programs. Keyboard :
Enter – go to a
location, or if it’s a program, execute it.
Shift +Enter – the
program will be executed using command interpreter, and the window will not be
closed.
Ctrl +Space– file
name under the cursor will be copied to a address bar
Ctrl+Alt+Space – file
path under the cursor will be copied to a address bar
Note, that the above
shortcut keys work differently while the focus (cursor) is in the list, then
the selected files will be copied to the clipboard.
If you want for surely execute some
program in the command interpreter, use shift with enter.
Used command interpreter depends on
the system ACB is working, in Windows XP it will be – ‘cmd.exe’, in Win
Me\98\95 it will be ‘command.com’.
You
can also create a list of files of certain
type , simply type ? and
then files’ extensions to search in current directory, and/or text to search
enclosed in “ ”. Examples:
In address bar type :
?*.txt”help” - press enter, txt files having “help” text
will be found.
?*.jpg;*.bmp - bmp and
jpg will be found. Next, the search window is said to create the AC
List, and close itself. If you don’t want him to do this, press enter with
shift.
Also,
you can quickly go to some location of your
favorites. Type * as a first character, and then some text, it ACB
will try to find it out in your favorites directory, and then go there. The
example : let’s say, in your favorites, you have a link to c:\Documents and Settings, c:\program files\Microsoft Visual
Studio\vc98\samples. And then in the address bar, type *sampl – and ACB will try to find it in
the favorites – in our example - ACB
will go to c:\program files\Microsoft Visual
Studio\vc98\samples.
Note
that most of the keyboard shortcuts are displayed in the menus.
Main Application Window.
Alt+Q - Maximize\Restore current
browsing window – Very useful.
Alt+S - Tile
Alt+X - Close current browsing
window.
Alt+R - Redraw
TAB – Next browsing window.
Ctrl+N - New browsing window
Alt+1 - Toggle Quick Acces Bar.
Ctrl+F3 - Toggle Auto Quick View
Alt+F3 - Auto Quick View as text –
it means that even mp3 will opened as text.
Alt+G - Go to window…
Alt+Ctrl+G - Go to directory (opens the
directory tree dialog)
Alt+A - Favorites, note, that
you can choose some favorite with Ctrl pressed – new window will be created.
Browse windows
F7 - Create a new
directory.
Ctrl+F7 - Create a new directory and
copy there the selected files.
Shift+F7 - Create a new directory and
move there the selected files
F8 - Create a new
temporary directory.
Ctrl+F8 - Create a new temporary
directory and copy there the selected files.
Shift+F8 - Create a new temporary
directory and move there the selected files.
F9 - Create new ACL (AC
List of files)
Ctrl+F9 - Create new ACL, and copy
selected files to it.
Shift+F4 - Create new file.
F5 - Copy to… see Go to tip
F6 - Move to… see Go to tip
Alt+F5 - Create shortcut
Space - Calculate space
Shift+Alt+Enter – Calculate space of every directory in
the list.
Backspace – Go up
Shift+Backspace – Go to the root
Alt+left arrow - Go back
Alt+right arrow – Go forward.
Ctrl+A - Select all.
Ctrl+Space - Copy file names to the
clipboard.
Ctrl+Shift+Space - Copy file paths to the clipboard.
Shift+Ctrl+0 - Thumbnails
Shift+Ctrl+1 - Large icons, etc.. see menu for
more
Shift+Ctrl+5 - Thumbails and Autoview
arrangement.
Alt+F1 - Select Driver
Alt+F2 - Go to address bar
Ctrl+Tab - Go to files list.
Ctrl+J - (Jump to…) Start quick
searching. The same, as any letter.
Ctrl+Space - When focus in address bar, copy
file names to the address bar.
Ctrl+Alt+Space - When focus in address bar, copy file
paths to the address bar.
Adress bar
Enter – If this is a directory –
open it
if it’s a program,
execute it, if ‘?’ is the first character – create a list of files (e.g.
?*.bmp), if ‘*’ is the first character – find expression in favorites, and the
open\execute.
Shift +Enter – The program will be executed using
command interpreter, and the window will not be closed.
Ctrl +Space – File name under the cursor will
be copied to a address bar
Ctrl+Alt+Space – File path under the cursor will be
copied to a address bar
While Dragging&Dropping
Ctrl - Copy files
Shift - Move files
Alt - Create shortcuts to
files
Space - Enter into the directory
under the mouse pointer.
Ctrl+Alt - If an image file is being
dropped (e.g jpg), the background image of the directory will be changed to
that image.
Quick View
Multimedia
Space -
Stops\plays
Up and down arrow - Change
the volume
Right and left –
Move the current position of movie/music to the right\left. With shift – move
faster.
Graphics
Numpad+,- - Zoom out\in (also F3)
Numpad* - Fit to the window (also F4)
Numpad/ - Oryginally
T - Tile mode
R - Random mode
(slideshow must be "On")
Z - Magnify tool (also
F2)
S - Selector tool
H - Hand tool
Page down - Show next image
Page up - Show previous image
Home - Show first image
End - Show next image
Space - Turn on\off slideshow
I - Image information
C - Convert image
B - Change image’s
brightness
Ctrl+C - Copy the image to the
clipboard (or just a selection if exists)
Ctrl+V - Paste the image from the
clipboard
F5 - Copy file to…
F6 - Move file to…
Delete - Delete file
Alt+C - Edit file’s comment
Text
Ctrl+F - FInd text
F3 - Find again
Ctrl+C - Copy the selection the
clipboard
Ctrl+V - Paste the selection from
the clipboard
Regular expression notation is a compact way
of specifying a group of strings that all match some criteria. A target string
is said to match the regular expression if it is a member of this group of
strings. Regular expressions are character strings in which plain text
indicates that that text must exist in the target string, and special
characters are used to indicate what variability is allowed in the target
strings.
In AC Browser this kind
of notation is used in a variety or ways : while searching
files, searching text in files, in Quick Access
Bar, in Select files (on Numpad + keystroke).
So this general rules
below concerns all these windows.
Ordinary characters. Any character that is not used in other sorts of regular expression syntax is an ordinary character. To match the regular expression, the target string must have that same character in the same position as it occurs in the regular expression. For example, the single character regular expression “g” indicates that the target string must have a “g” in the appropriate position.
Escaped special characters. The characters left bracket ([), right
bracket (]), asterisk (*), question tag (?) are special in that they are used
to form other types of regular expression syntax.
?
Any single character. ?onrad matches Konrad and Conrad. Let sleeping ???? lie – can be dogs, cats
and other 4-letters animals.
*
None or more of the preceding characters or expressions. For example, ba*c matches bc, bac, baac, baaac, and so on.
[]
]
Any one of the characters contained in the brackets, or any of an ASCII range
of characters separated by a hyphen (-). For example, b[aeiou]d
matches bad, bed, bid, bod, and bud,
and r[eo]d matches red, rod, but not reod or roed.
x[0-9] matches x0, x1, x2, and so on.
Examples :
[a-zA-Z0-9]
Any single alphanumeric character.
[a-zA-Z]
Any single alphabetic character.
[0-9]
Any decimal digit.
[0-9a-fA-F]+
Any hexadecimal number.
Note that using Regular Expression
when matching file names (eg. searching files with F7 is slightly different
that searching text in files. When there is no dot (.) in a file name, AC
treats it like “match any file which HAS the letters”. This is done… by adding
asterix (*) on both sides of expression. So ‘win’
will be replaced with ‘*win*’ so
windows or helpwin will
be found. This is what user would expect I think. When there is a dot in a
specified file name – AC doesn’t change anything, so win.* is win.*, so windows or helpwin will NOT be found. Only win , with any extension, will be. It is important in :
Searching files with F7, filtering files on Quick Access Bar and Selecting
files with Numpad+.
It doesn’t apply to searching text in files.
In AC Browser you can drop some image from some image editor to an opened browse window. It will be saved in a chosen format. Also, in a Quick View, you can save a viewed file in some other format. Also you can paste an image using Ctrl+V. The quickest way to try is to press Print Screen (what is on the screen will be inserted into the clipboard), and then Ctrl+V.
In all the above situations there is a conversion. AC can save, load and convert images of these types – bmp, jpg, gif, tif, png, ico. You must be aware of some facts. When you convert to gif, AC decreases the number of colors to 256, if needed, as this is the maximum number of colors gif can hold. AC does it automatically, and you are not prompted. When saving to JPEG, the number of colors is increased to 24 bits, if needed. TIFF and JPEG uses very strong compression, but it may slightly make the quality worse.
This is a good idea to use AC Quick view to quickly convert some image before pasting to some application, like Word. You can use it to convert size, as well as number of colors. This is much faster, than using some specialized image applications. You view an image file with F3, change it, copy it (or just a part of it) with Ctrl+C, then paste it to some other application…
The precedence of conversion. In ACB conversion dialog all the possible conversions are in one place (size, colors, format, compression level). One may ask, what is done first when changed e.g. all the properties. This is important because of the quality, if you increase the size, and change the number of colors, it’s good to first change the size, then colors. If vice-versa, the quality would be worse. So, ACB will first change the size. Always the step, which improves the quality is made first, then the next one etc.
By pressing F8 you can create a temporary directory. This part of the document is about this feature.
Well, many times I’ve created a directory, not because I wanted to have one, but to use only the functionality of a directory. E.g. I have an archive and I want to unpack it just to see something, run some application from within the archive, etc. Or I want, just for a while, make a backup of some files, because I’m gonna change something and I want to have a backup copy. Or reorganizing some directory structure. In all these situations, a temporary directory is needed. The name of a directory doesn’t matter. Also, I don’t care where it is. I want just the functionality of a directory. The rest doesn’t matter. In AC you can create such a directory with one mouse click, or one keystroke. You can even simultaneously create one and copy\move there currently selected files\directories.
Press F8. Your are prompted to set a name – but you don’t have do this , the name provided by AC is guaranteed to be unique. A new window is created. Don’t bother about where the directory is. Simply use the window. You can open many such windows. You can close the window – don’t be worry that you will be not able to delete the directory later – it’s remembered by AC in a special list. Also you can quickly reopen it – command “edit” in “Commands \Temporary directories” menu.
When you are finished, I mean – with all the job in this session, simply choose the menu “Commands\Temporary directories\Delete all of this session” to delete all created temporary directories.
Notes.
The general rules when creating a new directory applies to creating temporary directories. When you press F8 with CTRL down, currently selected files will be copied to the newly created temporary directory, when F8 with SHIFT down, files will be moved there. Also when you click a button on a toolbar with CTRL or SHIFT, the files will be moved or copied respectively.
The place where the temporary directories are created is C:\Program files\AC Browser\TmpDirs – if you keep AC in c:\program files, of course.
Generally AC Browser isn’t expected to be executed in a number of
windows (many processes created). But if you do so, note that when you choose
to delete temporary directories, only directories created in this session, in
this process will be deleted.
When searching files (Alt+F7) you can tell AC to follow the links. It means, that AC will search directories pointed by *.lnk files (which you can create with F9, or dropping with Alt down).
The idea is like that : with this ability, you can create folders, which consist such links, which then can be used to search concrete directories, which can be anywhere. In other words, you may create a set of directories to be searched (e.g. for a text), and then use it. In my situation, it would be for example a group of directories consisting C++ source codes. These directories are everywhere – these are many samples (e.g. from Microsoft Visual C++), these are downloaded programs, source codes, these are my own programs, and many other. Well, many times I wanted to find some expression, some example of use of some part of a language etc. I wanted to simply search ALL source code files on my disk. But these directories aren’t in one place. So the idea of entering links appeared. I’ve created ONE directory. There I’ve created links to all the directories consisting files of C++ implementation. With one keystroke (Alt+F7) I can now search all of it.
Other example : You can create a set of image directories, music directories. They can be anywhere on your disk(s). You can search all of them for a specified text, file name etc. Simply create links to them in one place.
All what was said until now was about links to directories. Simply – these links are treated as usual directories, - AC enters into them. But if follow the links is checked, also links to files are treated differently. The target of a link is checked for the conditions defined in the search dialog. So, if you look for *.cpp files, bigger than 10 kb, having words “Hello world!”, and in the searched directory is a link to the file in a different directory, - hi.cpp, which is 11 kb. size and has mentioned words, it will appear in a result list. The reason is the same, although this is less useful. You can create a set of files to be searched.
In other words, when following the links is checked, links are read and their targets are searched.
Some notes.
The depth of reading links = 1. The example :
Lets create a directory in c:\searching\, let’s call it ‘images’. In this directory lets create links to : c:\windows\web, and c:\some cool icons. When you are in c:\searching\images and press Alt+F7, then check ‘follow the links’ and press start both of these directories will be searched. Also the directory ‘images’ will be. Also will be searched all the subdirectories of all these directories. But if in the c:\windows\web will be found some link to some directory – AC will not go there. The maximum depth is 1. What would happen if there was (in c:\windows\web) a link to c:\searching, or to c:\ ? AC would never finish his job. Maybe in the future I will add the control in that matter (checking if there is no circle), so the depth could be larger than 1, but I don’t think it would be so cool.
It’s good to have one directory, let’s say ‘searching’ and there directories like ‘images’, ‘music’, ‘source codes’ etc. That would be the categories for searching. In these directories you would create links to the corresponding directories on all of your hard disks…. Then add ‘searching’ directory to your favorites, and… done! In two seconds you can start searching in the category you want…
You can create a list of files. Then you can save it. Then anytime, you can open it and operate on files. You can copy them, delete (from a list or really, from disk), and see in thumbnails’ view. You can do everything, as it was a normal directory, while it’s not.
The ACL –AC Browser List of files behaves almost like a directory, but the files aren’t really there. It’s only the information about – where there are.
First creating a list – select List in main menu and then Create. This will open a new window, which looks a little differently to show that the files in there aren’t real. You can also start searching files with Alt+F7, and then push Create AC list button. Note, that as with directories, and temporary directories, you can immediately copy files (their locations) to the list, simply press Ctrl+F9. However, you cannot use Shift+F9 (immediately move files to created window), because you cannot move files to a list.
Operating on a list.
Copying.
A list’s window looks similarly to the normal browsing window, but it behaves differently in some cases. First of all – when you add files to a list – in any way (by Dragging&Dropping or Ctrl+V) the files\directories aren’t really copied, because (as mentioned) the list doesn’t contain any files, only the information about them. So, the information will be copied. (Because of this reason you cannot ‘move’ the files to a list). However, if you will Drag&Drop files from a list to a real directory, files will be copied. From their destinations to the target directory. You can also Drag&Drop the files from one list to another – the information about them will be copied.
Moving.
If you move files from a directory to a list, the information about the files will be copied. If you move file from a list to some real directory, the files will be moved from their destinations to the target.
Deleting.
If you press delete on a file in the list – the entry in a list will be deleted, the real file will not be touched. If you want to really delete a file, press alt+delete. You can see these shortcuts in a context menu.
Checking status.
You can check which files changed and which don’t exists any more. Then you can update the information about the files and delete the not existing ones. List\status.
Exporting. You can export the files to the text file. List\export. By the way, to create a text file, consisting the listing of certain files in the current directory, you can use ‘?’ (question tag) in the address bar to search files and create a list of them in one step. Then export the list using the fields you want. More about creating lists using ‘?’ read in Address Bar section.
Using.
Many possibilities. E.g. the file “index.html” – it means, what you are reading now - is on the list of files ‘to update when publishing AC Browser.acl’. I just run this acl, move the files on the list to the FTP app – and… done, it’s on my website. I don’t have to select the concrete files every time I want to do this. They are on the list…). Other example is using a list like a clipboard. A clipboard to which you can drop files, and delete files from. Then when you are finished collecting files - copy, or move them really to some place. Or, if you have many directories with images, and you would like to see all of them, or create another categories than you have now, create ac lists….
Go
to window…
When you choose Copy to… or Move to… commands from the context menu, or Go to window… command from the tools menu, a dialog box is opened, and there you can select one of the currently opened window, or set a new path, you can also open the “Browse for folder” dialog , and then in a tree view, choose a folder. But if you don’t want a list of windows, but directly select a new directory there is a way. Well, when you will do any of these operation, with CTRL down, Browse for folder will be opened direclty. So, if you will select Copy to… command with CTRL down – there will be no list of currently opened window, you can immediately choose the folder in the tree of folders, if you want it. Also, Ctrl+F5 (Copy to…) opens the “browse for folder” dialog directly.
Read the tips of day.
Drop some image file to some directory with Ctrl+Alt down and the background of this directory will be changed.
You can Search files from
the address bar, simply type ? and then
files’ extensions to search in a current directory, and/or text to search
enclosed in “ ”. Examples :
In address bar type :
?*.txt”help” - press enter, txt files having “help” text
will be found.
?*.jpg;*.bmp - bmp and
jpg will be found.
Also, you can quickly go to some
location of your favorites from the address bar . Type * as a first
character, and then some text, it ACB will try to find it out in your favorites
directory, and then go there.
Right - click on the columns in browser window – you will see files in a menu, grouped by the extension.
If you have any suggestions, I would
be pleasured : konradp@o2.pl
Some notes :
Installation – no install procedure. Simply unpack the files to some directory and run.
Copyright, Re-distributions
This software product is freeware. So you can use it freely so long as you don't infringe the author's copyright. The author is not responsible for any damage which might occurs while using this software. Re-distributions of this program is free (you don't need the author's permission). You can use it by unlimited time on unlimited number of computers.
Author : Konrad Papa³a.
Thanks to all the people whose part of the work I have used.
I have used the work of The Independent
JPEG Group's JPEG software. This is the part of their license\readme :
LEGAL
ISSUES
============
In
plain English:
1.
We don't promise that this software works.
(But if you find any bugs,
please let us know!)
2.
You can use this software for whatever you want. You don't have to pay us.
3.
You may not pretend that you wrote this software. If you use it in a
program, you must acknowledge somewhere in
your documentation that
you've used the IJG code.
In
legalese:
The
authors make NO WARRANTY or representation, either express or implied,
with
respect to this software, its quality, accuracy, merchantability, or
fitness
for a particular purpose. This software
is provided "AS IS", and you,
its
user, assume the entire risk as to its quality and accuracy.
This
software is copyright (C) 1991-1998, Thomas G. Lane.
All
Rights Reserved except as specified below.
Permission
is hereby granted to use, copy, modify, and distribute this
software
(or portions thereof) for any purpose, without fee, subject to these
conditions:
(1)
If any part of the source code for this software is distributed, then this
README
file must be included, with this copyright and no-warranty notice
unaltered;
and any additions, deletions, or changes to the original files
must
be clearly indicated in accompanying documentation.
(2)
If only executable code is distributed, then the accompanying
documentation
must state that "this software is based in part on the work of
the
Independent JPEG Group".
(3)
Permission for use of this software is granted only if the user accepts
full
responsibility for any undesirable consequences; the authors accept
NO
LIABILITY for damages of any kind.
These
conditions apply to any software derived from or based on the IJG code,
not
just to the unmodified library. If you
use our work, you ought to
acknowledge
us.
Permission
is NOT granted for the use of any IJG author's name or company name
in
advertising or publicity relating to this software or products derived from
it. This software may be referred to only as
"the Independent JPEG Group's
software".
We
specifically permit and encourage the use of this software as the basis of
commercial
products, provided that all warranty or liability claims are
assumed
by the product vendor.
ansi2knr.c
is included in this distribution by permission of L. Peter Deutsch,
sole
proprietor of its copyright holder, Aladdin Enterprises of Menlo Park, CA.
ansi2knr.c
is NOT covered by the above copyright and conditions, but instead
by
the usual distribution terms of the Free Software Foundation; principally,
that
you must include source code if you redistribute it. (See the file
ansi2knr.c
for full details.) However, since
ansi2knr.c is not needed as part
of
any program generated from the IJG code, this does not limit you more than
the
foregoing paragraphs do.
The
Unix configuration script "configure" was produced with GNU Autoconf.
It
is copyright by the Free Software Foundation but is freely distributable.
The
same holds for its supporting scripts (config.guess, config.sub,
ltconfig,
ltmain.sh). Another support script,
install-sh, is copyright
by
M.I.T. but is also freely distributable.
It
appears that the arithmetic coding option of the JPEG spec is covered by
patents
owned by IBM, AT&T, and Mitsubishi.
Hence arithmetic coding cannot
legally
be used without obtaining one or more licenses. For this reason,
support
for arithmetic coding has been removed from the free JPEG software.
(Since
arithmetic coding provides only a marginal gain over the unpatented
Huffman
mode, it is unlikely that very many implementations will support it.)
So
far as we are aware, there are no patent restrictions on the remaining
code.
The
IJG distribution formerly included code to read and write GIF files.
To
avoid entanglement with the Unisys LZW patent, GIF reading support has
been
removed altogether, and the GIF writer has been simplified to produce
"uncompressed
GIFs". This technique does not use
the LZW algorithm; the
resulting
GIF files are larger than usual, but are readable by all standard
GIF
decoders.
We
are required to state that
"The Graphics Interchange Format(c)
is the Copyright property of
CompuServe Incorporated. GIF(sm) is a Service Mark property of
CompuServe Incorporated."
I have used the work of Glenn Randers-Pehrson. This is the part of
their license\readme :
This
copy of the libpng notices is provided for your convenience. In case of
any
discrepancy between this copy and the notices in the file png.h that is
included
in the libpng distribution, the latter shall prevail.
COPYRIGHT
NOTICE, DISCLAIMER, and LICENSE:
If
you modify libpng you may insert additional notices immediately following
this
sentence.
libpng
versions 1.0.7, July 1, 2000, through 1.0.11, April 27, 2001, are
Copyright
(c) 2000, 2001 Glenn Randers-Pehrson
and
are distributed according to the same disclaimer and license as libpng-1.0.6
with
the following individuals added to the list of Contributing Authors
Simon-Pierre Cadieux
Eric S. Raymond
Gilles Vollant
and
with the following additions to the disclaimer:
There is no warranty against interference
with your enjoyment of the
library or against infringement. There is no warranty that our
efforts or the library will fulfill any of
your particular purposes
or needs.
This library is provided with all faults, and the entire
risk of satisfactory quality, performance,
accuracy, and effort is with
the user.
libpng
versions 0.97, January 1998, through 1.0.6, March 20, 2000, are
Copyright
(c) 1998, 1999 Glenn Randers-Pehrson, and are
distributed
according to the same disclaimer and license as libpng-0.96,
with
the following individuals added to the list of Contributing Authors:
Tom Lane
Glenn Randers-Pehrson
Willem van Schaik
libpng
versions 0.89, June 1996, through 0.96, May 1997, are
Copyright
(c) 1996, 1997 Andreas Dilger
Distributed
according to the same disclaimer and license as libpng-0.88,
with
the following individuals added to the list of Contributing Authors:
John Bowler
Kevin Bracey
Sam Bushell
Magnus Holmgren
Greg Roelofs
Tom Tanner
libpng
versions 0.5, May 1995, through 0.88, January 1996, are
Copyright
(c) 1995, 1996 Guy Eric Schalnat, Group 42, Inc.
For
the purposes of this copyright and license, "Contributing Authors"
is
defined as the following set of individuals:
Andreas Dilger
Dave Martindale
Guy Eric Schalnat
Paul Schmidt
Tim Wegner
The
PNG Reference Library is supplied "AS IS". The Contributing Authors
and
Group 42, Inc. disclaim all warranties, expressed or implied,
including,
without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of
fitness
for any purpose. The Contributing
Authors and Group 42, Inc.
assume
no liability for direct, indirect, incidental, special, exemplary,
or
consequential damages, which may result from the use of the PNG
Reference
Library, even if advised of the possibility of such damage.
Permission
is hereby granted to use, copy, modify, and distribute this
source
code, or portions hereof, for any purpose, without fee, subject
to
the following restrictions:
1.
The origin of this source code must not be misrepresented.
2.
Altered versions must be plainly marked as such and
must not be misrepresented as being the
original source.
3.
This Copyright notice may not be removed or altered from
any source or altered source distribution.
The
Contributing Authors and Group 42, Inc. specifically permit, without
fee,
and encourage the use of this source code as a component to
supporting
the PNG file format in commercial products.
If you use this
source
code in a product, acknowledgment is not required but would be
appreciated.
A
"png_get_copyright" function is available, for convenient use in
"about"
boxes
and the like:
printf("%s",png_get_copyright(NULL));
Also,
the PNG logo (in PNG format, of course) is supplied in the
files
"pngbar.png" and "pngbar.jpg (88x31) and "pngnow.png"
(98x31).
Libpng
is OSI Certified Open Source Software.
OSI Certified Open Source is a
certification
mark of the Open Source Initiative.
Glenn
Randers-Pehrson
randeg@alum.rpi.edu
April
27, 2001
I have used the work of Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler. This is the
part of their license\readme :
Copyright
notice:
(C) 1995-1998 Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler
This software is provided 'as-is', without
any express or implied
warranty.
In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages
arising from the use of this software.
Permission is granted to anyone to use this
software for any purpose,
including commercial applications, and to
alter it and redistribute it
freely, subject to the following
restrictions:
1. The origin of this software must not be
misrepresented; you must not
claim that you wrote the original
software. If you use this software
in a product, an acknowledgment in the
product documentation would be
appreciated but is not required.
2. Altered source versions must be plainly
marked as such, and must not be
misrepresented as being the original
software.
3. This notice may not be removed or altered
from any source distribution.
Jean-loup Gailly Mark Adler
jloup@gzip.org madler@alumni.caltech.edu
If
you use the zlib library in a product, we would appreciate *not*
receiving
lengthy legal documents to sign. The sources are provided
for
free but without warranty of any kind.
The library has been
entirely
written by Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler; it does not
include
third-party code.
If
you redistribute modified sources, we would appreciate that you include
in
the file ChangeLog history information documenting your changes.
I have used the work of Davide Pizzolato (CxImage
class). This
is the part of their license\readme :
Special thanks to Troels Knakkergaard for his precious work, since release 1.00 he has worked on a parallel version of CxImage adding new features, enhancements and bugfixes. His release offers support for serialization, unicode, a different approach with file handling and other nice features, you can find it here.
CTwain
code. More specific credits and disclaimers are in every header file of each library.
Updated 29. december 2001 00:00 by Davide Pizzolato <ing.davide.pizzolato@libero.it>
Most of the icons (the cool
ones, because the rest is my job) is from the NBSI -
http://www.nbsintl.com
Thank you all. And thanks Tomasz Nadolski for ‘duchowe
wsparcie’ :) don’t know the synonym in English… and beta-testing.
THE
NEXT VERSION IS COMING…