As you can see, these are all 0-sized files with attached attributes, the E-mail attribute of "John Nox" being edited right in Tracker.
If you index these attributes, as People, Email or audio files are by default, they are also searchable with Haiku's fast query system.
-Attributes are displayed quite similar to a database or spreadsheet. Using Tracker you can choose which attributes to display (columns) and sort file listings (rows) accordingly.
To do this, open a Tracker window, click on the Attributes menu, and select the attributes you want to display. Alternatively, simply right-click onto a column heading and mark the items in the context menu. You can rearrange the columns by a simple drag&drop of the column heading. Moving a column out of a window, is a fast way to get rid of columns you don't need. @@ -41,7 +41,7 @@
Click on a column heading to toggle the sorting order from ascending to descending. You can establish a secondary sort order by pressing the SHIFT key while clicking on a column heading. Doing that you can, for example, sort your People files by company and within that order sort by contact name. See the above screenshot as an example. The secondary sort order is marked by a dotted line under the heading.
Editing these attributes is as simple as renaming a file: Either click on an entry or press ALT+E and move between the attibutes with TAB and SHIFT+TAB. ESC leaves the editing mode without applying the changes.
-If you prefer to use the commandline or plan to work with many files using scripting, there are several commands for controlling attributes from Terminal:
diff --git a/welcome/deskbar.html b/welcome/deskbar.html index f6b584d0..b33d0389 100644 --- a/welcome/deskbar.html +++ b/welcome/deskbar.html @@ -29,7 +29,8 @@
You can move the Deskbar to any corner or as a bar along the upper or lower border of the screen by gripping the knobbly area on the left side of the tray and drag&drop it into the new position. You can also fold it into a more compact layout by drag&dropping the knobbly area onto the Deskbar menu. The Deskbar has to be in this compacted format when it's put in the lower corners of the screen. -
A menu opens when you click on the Deskbar's uppermost part:
@@ -58,22 +59,22 @@
In this panel you set how many recent documents, folders and applications are shown in the Deskbar, or if you show them at all.
You also configure folders and their contents, which are by default Applications, Demos, Deskbar Applets, and Preferences. You can add your own entries and edit or remove items. This part of the panel is just a representation of the folder /boot/home/config/be. You can just as well link or copy files and folders directly in Tracker to configure your Deskbar. -
Among other things, the tray's housing the clock. Left-click it to toggle between date and time. Right-click it to hide/show it or launch the Time preferences to set it. Here you can also launch a calendar that also appears, when you hold down the left mouse button on the clock for a little time.
Any program can install an icon in the tray to provide an interface to the user. The email system, for instance, shows a different symbol when there's unread mail and offers a context menu to e.g. create or check for new mail. ProcessController is another example that uses its icon in the tray to provide information (CPU/memory usage) and to offer a context menu. -
You can change to a specific running application by clicking on its entry in the Deskbar and choosing (one of) its windows, from the submenu. By right-clicking you can minimize or close a window or the entire application. diff --git a/welcome/filetypes.html b/welcome/filetypes.html index a55f2c23..e9c83d96 100644 --- a/welcome/filetypes.html +++ b/welcome/filetypes.html @@ -25,29 +25,29 @@
Other than Windows, Haiku doesn't rely on the 3-letter file extension for a file type (e.g. .txt, .jpg, .mp3). This method is only a last resort fallback. Haiku uses MIME types just like it's custom on the internet.
-You can change the type of a specific file, its icon and the associated application. Select the file and invoke the Add-Ons | Filetype add-on from the right-click context menu.
-This is a JPEG file, it's MIME string image/jpeg. Let's say you definitely know that it's not a JPEG but a GIF. You can change that either by entering the correct MIME string by hand or with one of the two buttons below the textbox:
This dropdown menu shows a list of all applications that can handle this particular filetype. From here you can choose which program should open this specific file when it's double-clicked. You could, for example, change a HTML file's preferred application from the browser to a text editor while you're working on it. Every other HTML file still opens in the browser, only this particular one starts in your text editor.
The "Default Application" is the one that's set globally for that filetype. If you don't find the program you want to associate with this file in the dropdown menu, you'll again find the buttons Select... and Same As... which do the similar thing described under "The File Type" above.
If you're wondering why the icon well on the top right is empty: Icons are normally inherited from the system default for that filetype. You can open the Filetype Add-On of a file that contains an icon and drag&drop it into your file's icon well. Or you double-click the icon well and create or edit your own icon in Icon-O-Matic.
-The Filetypes preferences don't deal with individual files but with global settings of filetypes. You can change default icons and preferred applications or add, remove, or alter attributes of whole filetypes. You can even create your own filetype from scratch.
All filetypes and their configurations are stored in /boot/home/config/settings/beos_mime. Before you start experimenting, it may be prudent to make a backup of that folder...
-To learn more about the Filetypes preferences see the workshop: DVDdb (Filetypes & Attributes).
-To learn more about the Filetypes preferences see the workshop: DVDdb (Filetypes & Attributes).
+If you invoke the Filetype Add-On on an executable (here: StyledEdit), you'll get a different dialog:
@@ -61,8 +61,8 @@
Then there's the list of supported filetypes. You can add (and remove) filetypes if you think the application can handle them. As a consequence, the app will appear in the menu for preferred applications or Tracker's Open with... context menu when you right-click on a file of that type.
-At the bottom are version and copyright information. Like the application signature, they are filled in by the app's author and shouldn't be altered.
-At the bottom are version and copyright information. Like the application signature, they are filled in by the app's author and shouldn't be altered.
+ diff --git a/welcome/index.html b/welcome/index.html index 15e720b9..998059e8 100644 --- a/welcome/index.html +++ b/welcome/index.html @@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ Attributes and Queries are key features of Haiku. While attributes are useful on their own, to display additional information on a file, for a query on them, they need to be indexed. It puts them into a lookup table, which in turn makes queries lightning fast.There are several commands to manage the index:
A query is a file search based on file attributes and can be performed within Tracker or in Terminal. Queries are saved in "/boot/home/queries" and by default last seven days before being purged. Note, that these aren't static result lists of your search, but are the query formulas which trigger a new search whenever you open them.
-You start a query by invoking the Find... menu either from the Deskbar menu or any Tracker window or the Desktop (which is actually a fullscreen Tracker window). The shortcut is ALT+F. You're presented with the Find window:
@@ -45,13 +45,12 @@ types.
[8] Check if your query is supposed to Include trash.
[9] Optionally, enter a name for this query if you want to save it.
[10] You can drag&drop the icon to save the query.
-
If you simply want to find all files on your mounted disks that match a certain pattern, simply leave the search method at "by Name", enter the search term into the text box and press ENTER. -
+
If you simply want to find all files on your mounted disks that match a certain pattern, simply leave the search method at "by Name", enter the search term into the text box and press ENTER.
+You can create more advanced queries by searching within the attributes of specific file types. For that to work, these attributes have to be indexed (see Index).
@@ -65,8 +64,8 @@ types.
This is your Find window when you're looking for all emails Clara Botter has sent to you in the last two months that had in the subject "vibraphone" or "skepticality". -
Typing in a formula query by hand is daunting and really quite unpractical. It still has its uses.
Take the above query by attribute of Clara's mails concerning vibraphones etc. If you have all the attributes and their search terms set, try switching to
@@ -82,16 +81,13 @@ types.
||(MAIL:subject=="*[sS][kK][eE][pP][tT][iI][cC][aA][lL][iI][tT][yY]*"))
&&(BEOS:TYPE=="text/x-email"))
-
What's the use? -
+What's the use?
-
After you start a search, the Find window will be replaced by a result window. Here is an example that queried for "server":
diff --git a/welcome/tracker.html b/welcome/tracker.html
index 32c6c967..de95702c 100644
--- a/welcome/tracker.html
+++ b/welcome/tracker.html
@@ -27,17 +27,18 @@
The Tracker is the graphical interface to all your files. It let's you create new files and folders or find, launch or rename as well as copy or delete existing ones.
Being an application like any other (the Desktop with its icons is really just a fullscreen window in the background), Tracker appears with its windows in the Deskbar and can be quit and restarted. The easiest way to quit and restart a e.g. crashed or frozen Tracker is to call the TeamManager with CTRL+ALT+DEL to kill Tracker and then click the Restart Desktop... button. The same brings back a wayward Deskbar.
-In order to access a harddisk, CD, USB stick etc., you first have to mount the volume, that is, let the system know it's there. This is done with a right-click on the Desktop or an already mounted volume (like the boot disk) and choosing the volume from the Mount submenu.
There are also Mount Settings so you don't have to mount everything manually on every bootup.
-The above setting will mount all disks on bootup that were mounted previously and will automatically mount any storage device you connect/insert.
+
There are also Mount Settings so you don't have to mount everything manually after every bootup.
+The above settings will mount all disks on bootup that were mounted previously and will automatically mount any storage device you connect/insert.
Warning:
Before you disconnect e.g. a harddrive or USB stick, make sure you have successfully unmounted the volume. This garantees that all data transfer has finished. Otherwise you may lose data or corrupt the disk!
-
Moving through your folders is one of Trackers main purposes, just like the file managers on other platforms. Haiku's Tracker has some unique features that will help you doing that efficiently.
Instead of double-clicking your way down folder after folder, there's a better way to drill down: @@ -64,7 +65,7 @@ This is also true for...
The rest of the functions are pretty self-explanatory, leaving the...
-Window | Preferences... opens a panel that offers a number of setting that, where not obvious, should become clear once tried out. Since all settings are applied live, you'll immediately see the changes.
So, in short, the not so obvious settings:
@@ -94,7 +95,7 @@ Before you switch Tracker to Single Window Navigation mode, because that may fee
When invoked on a selected file, the File menu offers about the same options as when you open a context menu by right-clicking the file. Exceptions are commands that don't specifically target a selected file, like Find.. or New....
As usual the usage of the commands is pretty clear, so we'll concentrate on the niftier parts.
diff --git a/welcome/welcome.css b/welcome/welcome.css index d765daa6..3ab5f753 100644 --- a/welcome/welcome.css +++ b/welcome/welcome.css @@ -39,6 +39,14 @@ h2 a:hover, a:active { text-decoration: none; color: #0c3762; } +h3 a:hover, a:active { + text-decoration: none; + color: #222; +} +h4 a:hover, a:active { + text-decoration: none; + color: #000; +} /* basic text elements */