Worker file manager: directory list view and commands.

Directory list view.

Introduction.
Worker uses a two-pane approach for displaying directory content (also known as an orthodox file manager). Each of both sides supports several modes for showing different kind of information (directory mode, information mode, text view mode, ...).

One side is always active or source of an operation, while the other side is inactive or destination of an operation. The active panel is indicated by a red list view bar on top of the list view area (the colors can be configured). Switching sides is done by clicking on the corresponding area or by pressing TAB in the default configuration.

Directory mode.
The directory list view (directory mode) is the main view for browsing directory content. The current directory name is shown in the editable path field at the bottom of the list view. The window title also contains the path for the active side.

The visible columns can be configured and usually contains the file name, file size, permissions, and file type information. The width of a column is dynamic by default but can be changed by moving the mouse in between two headers and clicking on the header separator. Double-clicking it will change back to dynamic width.

By clicking in the header, the sort mode can be toggled.

List view bar.
The list view bar on top of each side (above the list view) displays status information about the current mode. For the directory mode this includes the following information:

• the filter string (if active)
• a short status of sort and filter mode
• the mode name
• the free space in the shown directory

The status string consist of the following elements: The first character stands for the sort mode currently used to sort the files and directories (N = sort by name, S = sort by size, T = sort by modification time, ...). The next character (if visible) indicates that the entries are reverse sorted. The third character "H" indicates (if visible) that hidden files are not shown. At fourth position an asterisk indicates an active filter. The following text shows the name of currently active mode of the corresponding area below the list view bar. The most important mode is the "directory mode" which list files of any directory. Other modes are the "information mode" for displaying detailed information about an entry, the "show image mode" for displaying images in the area below, and the "text view mode" for displaying the content of the active entry.

File name prefixes.
In front of file names a special character is used to differentiate between different kind of files:

Character	Meaning
/	Directory entry
~	Symbolic link to a directory
*	Executable file
@	Symbolic link to a file
!	Broken symbolic link (target does not exists or is inaccessible
-	character device
+	block device
=	socket
|	pipe (named fifo)
	regular file

Builtin commands.
Worker supports several internal commands that work on the selected entries, as well as using external commands to execute arbitrary applications.

   

List of internal commands.

Command	Category	Description
Drag'N'Drop-Action	File type	execute DND action of all selected entries
DoubleClick-Action	File type	execute double-click action of all selected entries
Show-Action	File type	execute show action of all selected entries
RawShow-Action	File type	execute rawshow action of all selected entries
User-Action	File type	execute user action of all selected entries
start action of parent type	File type	execute actions of parent type of the selected entries
Run custom action	File type	execute custom action of all selected entries
One row up	Cursor	moves cursor (active entry) one row up
One row down	Cursor	moves cursor (active entry) one row down
First Entry	Cursor	makes first entry active
Last Entry	Cursor	makes last entry active
Page Up	Cursor	scroll up by one page
Page Down	Cursor	scroll down by one page
go to parent dir	Cursor	switch to parent directory
go to dir	Cursor	enter specific directory
switch to other list view	Cursor	toggles active list view side
simulate doubleclick	Cursor	behaves like a double-click with the mouse
search entry	Cursor	jumps to next matching entry with given file name pattern filters list view to only show matching entries
scroll listview	Cursor	scrolls list view horizontally
Path Jump	Cursor	access list of visited paths to quickly change the directory
Change hidden flag	File list	toggle visibility of hidden files
set sort mode	File list	changes sort mode of the list view
set filter	File list	sets or unsets permanent filters
Copy	File operations	copies or moves selected entries
Delete	File operations	deletes selected entries
Make dir	File operations	creates a new directory
rename	File operations	renames selected entries
create symlink	File operations	creates new symbolic links pointing to selected entries
change symlink	File operations	changes the target of the selected symbolic links
change permissions	File operations	changes permissions of the selected entries
change owner	File operations	changes the owner of the selected entries
(De)Select active entry	Selections	toggles selection state of the active entry
Select all entries	Selections	selects all (visible) entries
Deselect all entries	Selections	deselects all (visible) entries
invert selection	Selections	inverts the selection state of all (visible) entries
pattern select	Selections	selects entries matching a given pattern
pattern unselect	Selections	de-selects entries matching a given pattern
Change list view settings	Settings	opens the dialog for configuration of the panel modes
toggle list view mode	Settings	directly switches to a different panel mode
Change layout	Settings	changes the layout of the main window
script	Scripting	allows to program a virtual machine for more complex internal commands
do nothing	Scripting	a command without any effect (can be used to stop implicit recursive command execution due to file type hierarchy)
path to other side	Other	Shows the current directory in the other side
Quit worker	Other	quits worker
Reload	Other	Reload the directory content
own command	Other	executes external programs
directory size	Other	calculates the size of the directory content
start prog	Other	starts an external program
edit path (in the text field)	Other	edits the path field
activate shortkey from list	Other	activates a shortkey from the list of all available shortkeys
show directory cache	Other	shows the content of the directory cache, allows to jump to any entry
FTP connection	Other	accesses a FTP server
Internal text viewer	Other	opens the internal text viewer and shows the content of the current entry
Search	Other	opens the search dialog
Directory bookmarks	Other	opens the bookmarks dialog
Open context menu	Other	opens the context menu of the selected entries
Open Worker menu	Other	opens the worker menu (same as clicking the right mouse button in the status bar)
Change file label	Other	changes the label of the current entry
Modify tabs	Other	changes the tabs
Volume manager	Other	opens the volume manager
Switch button bank	Other	switches to a different button bank
Copy string to clipboard	Other	copies an arbitrary string to the clipboard

External commands.
By using the internal command "own op" it is possible to execute any application in a flexible way. Selected files can be given as arguments, and more sophisticated arguments can be built by using special flags for replacements.

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