File Browser Beta 16

Contents
About File Browser
Registration
Installation
Files
Limitations
Frequently Asked Questions
Bug Report
Credits
Future
History
Updates

1. About File Browser

FIle Browser is a file and task manager with integrated web browser, graphic viewer, Netscape plug-in viewer and WPS support.

File Browser is designed for OS/2 Warp (Warp 4 recommended).

2. Registration

The final version will be Shareware. This beta version works until 8/15/2001 (15. August 2001).

Questions? e-mail.

E-Mail: Christoph@bratschi.net

Guarantee: You use this program at your own risk! All rights are reserved!

3. Installation

Unzip FBROWSER.ZIP to a directory of your choice. Run INSTALL.CMD to create the WPS icons.

Attention: Delete the old FBROWSER.CFG from older beta version. Delete your old BOOKMARK.HTM for new definitions.

4. Files

Filename	Description
FBROWSER.EXE	File Browser program file
FBROWSER.HTM	This documentation. Best viewed with Netscape Communicator or StarOffice.
FBROWSER.TXT	This documentation in ASCII format. Please install a HTML browser and view `FBROWSER.HTM`
INSTALL.CMD	Installation Skript
FBSCRIPT.DLL	File Browser Script Module
FBSCRIPT.CFG	FBScript configuration file
FBCENTER.EXE	File Browser Center
FBCHOOK.DLL	Hook DLL for File Browser Center
FBTHUMB.EXE	File Browser Thumb Thumb nail generator
GBM.DLL	Generalised Bitmap Module (imports bitmap formats)
\SDK\*	File Browser Software Developer Kit `.xml`: XML dialog demos (load these files in FileBrowser) `XMLCHECK:EXE`: Validating XML parser `FB.CMD`: REXX demo `Formlet.`: Formlet demo (load formlet.xml in FileBrowser)
\SDK\FBCENTER\*	File Browser Center demonstrations and header files AddIcon: Adds icons to the tray FBCDef.h, FBCDef.Pas: Header files
FILE_ID.DIZ	Description for a BBS

5. Documentation

Keys

FileBrowser: Main window

Key	Function
[ALT]-x	Exit
[F1]	Help
[F2]	Save settings
[Up]	Scroll position up
[PageUp]	Scroll page up
[Down]	Scroll position down
[PageDown]	Scroll page down
[Left]	Scroll position left
[Right]	Scroll position right
[BackSpace]	Go to previous loaded URL
[Tab]	Go to next FileBrowser window
[Enter]	Go to next loaded URL
[Home]	Load home URL
[Delete]	Delete selected file(s)

Main window elements

Toolbar

With the toolbar elements you can access, navigation and view local and Internet based data. The displayed elements are context sensitive. With the toolbar menu you can specify the position where it's displayed. A short info text about the element is shown whenever you place the mouse cursor over one.

Basic elements:

Address opens a list of your bookmarks. Click on this element to open the list. You can drag and drop bookmarks to change their position or to load them in a specific window. Open a menu in the bookmark window to open, delete, add, insert and edit an item. The bookmarks are stored in the file BOOKMARK.HTM in the FileBrowser directory. You can copy your Netscape Navigator/Communicator bookmark file with the same name to this directory. FileBrowser reads the Netscape format but it doesn't stores enhanced Netscape attributes like the last access date. You can use FileBrowser's BOOKMARK.HTM with Netscape Navigator but the enhanced attributes are lost. Normally this shouldn't be a problem.
Use the combo box to view the loaded URL and to select a new one. It supports auto complete to access faster files on disk and already visited URL on the web.
Use forward/back to navigate through already loaded documents.
Home loads the URL selected in the general settings.
Use reload to reload the selected URL. It's useful to display updated data.
Other context sensitive buttons:
In directory view you have fast access to all drives on your system and you can go to the parent directory.
In web view you can stop transfering data.
In graphics view you can browser through animated or multi pages bitmaps.

Statusbar

The statusbar is conetext sensitive, it displays information about number of files/directories, directory size and free space. Many statusbar items have a context menu where you can access more detailed things.

Tree view

With the tree view you can navigate through directories on all your drives.

Directory/selection information view

It shows the name of the viewed directory at the right of the directory's icon. Select a file to display its icon and description. Click on the description to change it. The descriptions are saved in the extended attributes (EA) of the file.

General URLs

SpecialURLs

Name	Description
FBSCRIPT:
SCRIPT:
ABOUT:
ABOUT:AUTHOR
ABOUT:LICENSE
ABOUT:REGISTRATIONINFO
ABOUT:DRIVES
ABOUT:PLUGINS
ABOUT:PLUGINLOADER
ABOUT:VIEWERS
ABOUT:BACK
ABOUT:NEXT
ABOUT:HOME
ABOUT:RELOAD
ABOUT:NEWWINDOW
ABOUT:REPAINT
ABOUT:GLOBAL
ABOUT:WINDOWHISTORY
ABOUT:TOP10
ABOUT:TOP100
ABOUT:LAST10
ABOUT:LAST100
ABOUT:FIRST10
ABOUT:FIRST100
ABOUT:BOOKMARKS
ABOUT:CACHE
ABOUT:MEMORY-CACHE
ABOUT:IMAGE-CACHE
ABOUT:REPLACELIST
ABOUT:CONFIG
ABOUT:SETTINGS
ABOUT:HELP ABOUT:?
ABOUT:WEBEX
ABOUT:CLIPBOARD
ABOUT:PROGRAM
ABOUT:SYSTEM
ABOUT:PM
ABOUT:DATE
ABOUT:TIME
ABOUT:CALC
ABOUT:FBSCRIPT ABOUT:SCRIPT
ABOUT:FBSCRIPT(script data)
ABOUT:JAVASCRIPT ABOUT:MOCHA ABOUT:LIVESCRIPT
ABOUT:JAVASCRIPT(script data)
ABOUT:LINK(link)
ABOUT:FILE(filename)
ABOUT:FILESETTINGS(filename)
ABOUT:SETTINGS(dialogname)
ABOUT:LOADPLUGIN(

Settings

FBCenter

Elements

Settings

6. Known Limitations

No complete documentation (in progress)
WebExplorer API limitations:
Only one render window per process
Navigation commands fail sometimes
www.bratschi.net and other servers can't be accessed
Some Netscape plug-ins relay on undocumented functions or Netscape behaviors. For example QuickFlick (manipulates Netscape's scrollbars). These plug-ins don't work.
The IBM Plugin Pack 2.1 for Communicator has several bugs. One bug in the video plug-in can block the PM. I can reproduce it with Communicator/2. I hope IBM will fix these bugs soon.

7. Frequently Asked Questions

None so far.

8. Bug Report

If you find a bug then please include these things in your bug report:

Can you reproduce the bug?
Describe how you can reproduce it.
Error message and popuplog.os2 entries (only the important entries, not the whole file!)
Graphics adapter? Driver version?
CPU?
OS/2 version and installed fixpacks?
WPS enhancers?


Send your bug report to: Christoph@bratschi.net

9. Credits

Andy Key, for GBM
The Independent JPEG Group, for JPEGLIB (included in GBM)
Swatch, for the internet time

10. Future

Mozilla render engine (Gecko)
Enhanced Lan Server support

11. History

Date	Version
3. March 2001	File Browser Beta 16 Fixed DosFindFirst directory attribute bug Added FBThumb Added formlet support Extended FBCenter (fixed hook dll outside libpath PM trap, added start menu, added XML dialogs) Visited list speed improvements, faster startup and exit with > 100'000 entries (< 1s) Redesigned dialogs Many bugs fixed
16. December 2000	File Browser Beta 15
14. February 2000	File Browser Beta 14 Graphic viewer navigation with [CONTROL-MOUSE BUTTON 1/ 2] No Y2K bugs found :-)
15. October 1999	File Browser Beta 13 UNC support Several bugs fixed
14. July 1999	File Browser Beta 12 Dir info implemented Several bug fixes
15. June 1999	File Browser Beta 11 XML structure viewer Text, hex viewer Dir info (not 100% done)
14. May 1999	File Browser Beta 10 Tree view
14. April 1999	File Browser Beta 9 FBCenter extensions Some improvements and bug fixes
14. March 1999	File Browser Beta 8 XML Dialogs (Optimal font support) FBCenter
14. February 1999	File Browser Beta 7 Exported HTML is valid XML MetaFile export several fixes
14. January 1999	File Browser Beta 6 Full script support DDE GBM, no more problems with viewing graphics Show WPS icons URL auto complete Replace list Faster drawing Animated bitmaps
13. December 1998	File Browser Beta 5 Faster displaying icons Scripts
14. November 1998	File Browser Beta 4 Text selection and copy to clipboard EA icon support
17. October 1998	File Browser Beta 3 Cache bugs fixed Netscape plug-in support (2.02 and 4.04). Only problems with QuickFlick and IBM Video 2.1 plug-in (read known limitations). And many other improvements
30. August 1998	File Browser Beta 2
21. July 1998	File Browser Beta 1

12. Updates

Please visit my home page for updates.

All mentioned products and trade marks belong to their respective owners.