Ant Commander Concepts
- Actions
- Actions are actions that can be performed on files or
on the user interface. The menu (at the top), the toolbars (under the menu) and
the status bar (at the bottom) are composed of the so called "Actions".
The possible actions incuded in Ant Commander have been splitted in categories
on the main page.
You can also add and manage Actions by execting
Configure Actions.
- Panels
- Panels are the panels show in the center of the application.
The panels can be dispose in Split (side by side) or in Tabs (on under the other).
It's also possible to create a panel in a new window.
You have a lot of different kind of panels, the most common will be the
Directory Tree,
Directory Table and the
Text Editor. For the complete list of panels go
here. More panels are also available using external
plug-ins.
- Plug-ins
- Plug-ins (or external plug-ins) are program that can be downloaded and
installed from Internet. A plug-in will most of the time allow you to
have access to another file system, to have a new kind of panel or to
install a new look and feel. Plug-ins have been written by third parties
(that is why there is no documentation on external plug-ins)
and are subject to a license.
- File Systems
- A File System correspond to a set of directories and files that could be
access by the same way. The most used file systems are
the Local File (Hard disk, CD-ROM, ...), Zip (directories and files included
in a Zip file) or FTP.
Some file systems in Ant Commander require an external plug-in.
The location of a file or a directory to one of the file system is called
a URL or a Location.
- Bookmarks
- Bookmarks correspond to the favorites directories of files that you've
added to the "Bookmark".
There are 3 kinds of bookmark:
- Global Bookmark (or Bookmark): It's a bookmark shared and visible for
every kind of panels.
- Plug-in Bookmark (for example Applet Bookmark):
It's a bookmark only applicable to the type of the panel. If the selected panel
is not of the correct type, a new panel that will match the plug-in type
will be created.
- TextField Bookmark: This allows to store an entered text in one of the
many dialogue of Ant Commander. To access it right click the in the text field.
- History
- The History will allow you to go back (or forward) to a visited directory or file.
Histories are per panel.
Note that if a file or a directory has been visited less that 2 seconds,
it won't be stored in the history.
There is also TextField History that keep the previous values of the text
entered in one of the many dialogue of Ant Commander.To access it right click the in the text field.
- Properties
- Different object can have properties in Ant Commander:
- The main application.
They can be change mainly with the Options action.
The properties are stored in AntCommander.ini or
in the file specify when executing Save Configuration.
- The plug-in.
The plug-in also have properties specific to the plug-in, they are store in the lib
directory (e.g. DirectoryTable.ini).
You can modify the properties by executing Plug-in Settings.
- The panel.
The panel will use by default the properties set by it's plug-in or in the general options.
It's possible to override them by setting new properties when creating the panel or
by executing Panel Settings.
- The actions.
The actions can also have properties (such as the name, the icon, ...).
The properties for the actions are stored in
Actions.txt. You can modify them
by execting Configure Actions.
- Look and Feel
- A Look and Feel is like Winamp skins, it allows to give to the application
another look. Java includes already a few looks, you can download and install
more look and feels by using external plug-ins.
- Java
- Java (or JRE) is a program that is used to run Ant Commander.
For more information, please visit www.java.com.
- Ant
- Ant is java utility that allow to interpret script files (or build files)
that describe the file manipulations. The script files used by Ant Commander
are location in the tasks directory. A script file can contain several target.
Each target can contain multiple tasks.
For more information, visit ant.apache.org.