.\"
.\" Copyright 1996 by Christian Bolik (Christian.Bolik@mainz.netsurf.de)
.\"
.TH TKDESK 1 "TkDesk 2.0, 04/15/2004" "" ""
.UC 4
.SH NAME
TkDesk \- a Graphical File and Desktop Manager for the X Window System
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B tkdesk
.RB [ \-configdir\ \fIdir ]
.RB [ \-debug ] 
.RB [ \-default ] 
.RB [ \-develop ] 
.RB [ \-iconic ] 
.RB [ \-layout\ \fIfile ] 
.RB [ \-startdir\ \fIdir ] 
.RB [ \-twm ] 
.RB [ \-?  |  \-\-help ] 
.br
.SH DESCRIPTION
TkDesk provides a rich set of functions to help you manage your files and
efficiently navigate your file systems.  It also provides several
desktop and system  managing capabilities such as accessing the external
devices of your workstation, starting programs, monitoring the system
load and mailbox etc.
.PP
The main parts of
TkDesk are the following:
.PP
1. One or more
.I file browser windows
(or just "browsers").
These display the contents of the currently selected directory in
the rightmost listbox and the contents of a configurable number of
parent directories in the listboxes left to it.  In addition this window 
contains a menu bar, a button bar, and a status bar.
.PP
2. One or more
.I file list windows.
These display the contents of just the currently selected directory.
These windows also
contain a menu bar, a button bar, and may also contain a status bar.
.PP
3. An
.I application bar
(or "appbar").
This is a set of buttons displaying icons or other graphical output
that can be configured to execute certain commands.  All of the buttons
provide a possibly cascaded popup menu that is accessed by pressing the
right mouse button over any appbar button.  Files may be dragged from any
file browser or list window and dropped onto appbar buttons that have
been configured to be drag'n'drop targets.  The contents of the appbar
is configured in the "AppBar"
configuration file (located in "~/.tkdesk").
.PP
4. The
.I built-in editor
(or just "editor").
The editor provides multiple buffers in the same window, virtually unlimited
"undo", marks, search and replace, etc.  Files may be dropped onto any
editor window from TkDesk's file listboxes or the desktop.
.SH BASIC USAGE
The listboxes contained in the file browser and list windows display the
contents of their respective directory.  They provide the following
mouse button bindings:
.IP Single-1
Select the file under the mouse pointer, deselect all others.
.IP Control-Single-1
Select or deselect the file under the mouse pointer, without deselecting
any other file.
.IP Shift-Single-1
Select all files between and including the one under the mouse pointer
and the one that
was last selected by Single-1 or Control-Single-1.  Deselect all others.
.IP Double-1
Select and open the file under the mouse pointer, deselect all others.
The command that will be used to open the file is the first entry of the
file's popup menu (see next item).
.IP Control-Double-1
Select the file under the mouse pointer, and ask for a command to be
executed on that file.
.IP Press-2
Used to initiate a drag and drop operation.  Valid drop targets are all
other file listboxes, appbar buttons that have been configured to be
drag'n'drop targets, editor windows, and the root window (a.k.a. desktop).
.IP Press-3
Display the file's or directory's popup menu.  The contents of these menus
are configured in the "Popups" configuration file (located in "~/.tkdesk").
.PP
The display options of any file listbox can be configured through the
menubutton right above the listbox, displaying the name of the displayed
directory, and the file mask currently set.  It can also be used as a
drag and drop source (by pressing mouse button 2) and target.
.PP
TkDesk makes heavy use of cascading popup menus. Basically in every text entry field
that's used for entering paths of file names pressing the right mouse button
brings up a popup menu of parent directories.  Next to most test entry
field there is a menu button displaying a turned-over triangle that
gives access to a menu containing a history of entered strings.
.SH OPTIONS
.IP \-configdir\ \fIdir
By default
TkDesk reads its configuration either from the files contained
in the directory "~/.tkdesk" (see section
.I FILES
below), or if it does not exist, from
TkDesk's library directory (usually
"/usr/local/lib/TkDesk").  This options lets
TkDesk load its configuration
files from directory
.I dir.
.IP \-debug
Switch on "debug mode".  This generates some output on stderr that may
be used for debugging purposes.
.IP \-default
Let
TkDesk read its configuration from its library directory.  This means
that
TkDesk will start using the default configuration.
.IP \-develop
Switch on "development mode".  This adds a "Development" submenu to the
"TkDesk" menu.
.IP \-iconic
Open all file browser and list windows in iconic state when
TkDesk starts up.
.IP \-layout\ \fIfile
Load and save TkDesk's window layout from and to
.I file.
If
.I file
doesn't exist the default layout is used.
.IP \-startdir\ \fIdir
Display
.I dir
in the first file browser window that's opened.
.IP \-twm
Some window managers, namely
.I twm
cannot handle icon windows correctly.
TkDesk uses these for colored icons.
This options switches to monochrome icons.
.IP "\-?, \-\-help"
Displays the command line options available.
.SH "FILES"
All of the following configuration files are accessible directly inside
the "Configuration" submenu of the "TkDesk" menu.  The default application
bar contains the same menu in the first button (the one with the comet).
.IP ~/.tkdesk/AppBar
Definition of the application bar.
.IP ~/.tkdesk/ButtonBar
Definition of the button bars used in file browser and file list windows,
and of directory-specific button bars.
.IP ~/.tkdesk/Commands
Contains a list of menu entries that will be added to the "Commands" menu.
.IP ~/.tkdesk/Directories
Definition of the contents of the "Directory" menu and of actions
performed when specific directories are opened.
.IP ~/.tkdesk/FileTags
Defines how files and directories are displayed, both by default and on
a per-object basis (using shell-like "glob" patterns).
.IP ~/.tkdesk/Local
Initially, this file does not exist.  If it does though, it is sourced
(evaluated) when
TkDesk starts up.  This is the right place to put any
local extensions.
.IP ~/.tkdesk/Popups
Definition of the file- and directory-specific popup menus.  Also contains
the definition of the popup menu used in the "Copy, Move, ..." dialog.
.IP ~/.tkdesk/Sounds
Defines which command should be used for playing sounds, if any, plus
defines which sounds should be played at which TkDesk event.
.IP ~/.tkdesk/System
Contains definitions of colours and fonts to be used, which commands
should be used for copying, deleting etc.  Also contains options that
affect the built-in editor and some other configuration variables.
.SH "ENVIRONMENT"
The static version of
TkDesk is affected just by one environment variable:
.IP TKDESK_LIBRARY
This determines where
TkDesk will look for its library (by default usually
"/usr/local/lib/TkDesk").
.PP
The dynamically linked version is affected by the following variables:
.IP TCL_LIBRARY
Location of the Tcl library files.
.IP TK_LIBRARY
Location of the Tk library files.
.PP
Note that other more general variables like PATH may also affect
TkDesk.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
cd-tkdesk(1), ed-tkdesk(1), od-tkdesk(1)
.SH "AUTHOR"
Christian Bolik (Christian.Bolik@mainz.netsurf.de)
.SH "BUGS"
TkDesk may still have problems with files containing spaces, brackets, and
braces. This is due to the fact that the largest part of
TkDesk is
written using Tcl, the Tool Command Language created by John Ousterhout,
for which these characters are "special" in some respects.
.sp
If you can't get the application bar back on the screen, delete the
line starting with "Toplevel dsk_appbar" from the file ~/.tkdesk/_layout
and restart
TkDesk.
.sp
Some Sun machines seem to have problems with Drag&Drop. It seems these
problems go away when a more recent X server is used.