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diff --git a/doc/konq-plugins/fsview/index.docbook b/doc/konq-plugins/fsview/index.docbook new file mode 100644 index 0000000..60ceef1 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/konq-plugins/fsview/index.docbook @@ -0,0 +1,182 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" ?> +<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//KDE//DTD DocBook XML V4.2-Based Variant V1.1//EN" +"dtd/kdex.dtd" [ +<!ENTITY fsview "<application>FSView</application>"> +<!ENTITY % addindex "IGNORE"> +<!ENTITY % English "INCLUDE" > <!-- change language only here --> +]> + +<article lang="&language;"> + +<sect1 id="fsview"> +<sect1info> + +<authorgroup> +<author> +<personname><firstname>Josef</firstname> +<surname>Weidendorfer</surname></personname> +<address><email>Josef.Weidendorfer@gmx.de</email></address> +</author> + +<!-- TRANS:ROLES_OF_TRANSLATORS --> +</authorgroup> + +<date>2006-02-24</date> +<releaseinfo>3.5.1</releaseinfo> + +<abstract> +<para>The &fsview; Plugin for &konqueror; is another view mode for +objects of mimetype <literal>inode/directory</literal> for local +files. It can be viewed as an alternative to the various iconviews and +listviews for browsing the content of your local file system.</para> +</abstract> + +<keywordset> +<keyword>KDE</keyword> +<keyword>kdeaddons</keyword> +<keyword>konqueror</keyword> +<keyword>plugins</keyword> +<keyword></keyword> +</keywordset> + +</sect1info> + +<title>&fsview; - the File System View</title> + +<sect2> +<title>Introduction</title> + +<para>The &fsview; Plugin for &konqueror; is another view mode for +objects of mimetype <literal>inode/directory</literal> for local +files. It can be viewed as an alternative to the various iconviews and +listviews for browsing the content of your local file system.</para> + +<para>The unique property of &fsview; is its ability to show whole +nested folder hierarchies using a so-called tree map for graphical +visualization. Tree maps allow for displaying metrics of objects in +nested structures: each object is represented by a rectangle whose +area is proportional to its metric. The sum of the children's metrics must be +equal to or smaller than the parent object's metric.</para> + +<para>For &fsview;, sizes of files and folders are choosen as +metric, where the the size of a folder is defined to be the sum of the +sizes of its subitems. This way, big files even deep down in the +folder hierarchy can be spotted easily be looking for large +rectangles. So &fsview; can be looked at as a graphical and interactive +version of the &UNIX; <command>du</command> command.</para> + +<para>The integration of &fsview; as part of Konqueror allows it to +use the standard features like context file menus, and mime type +sensitive actions. But it was choosen not to implement automatical +update of file system changes by watching: if you delete a file shown +in &fsview; outside of &konqueror;, you have to update manually by +⪚ pressing <keycap>F5</keycap>. The reason for this decision is +the potentially huge amount of files which would have to be watched +for changes, and thus, could put an unreasonable pressure on system +resources for a small feature.</para> + +</sect2> + +<sect2> +<title>Visualization Features</title> + +<para>This section explains the graphical visualization of &fsview; +in detail.</para> + +<sect3> +<title>Item Drawing Options</title> + +<para>In &fsview;, an item of the tree map visualization is a rectangle +representing a file or folder of your file system. For easier navigation, +rectangles have a meaningful coloring and labeling options.</para> + +<para>The color of a rectangle, switchable via menu item +<menuchoice><guimenu>View</guimenu><guisubmenu>Color +Mode</guisubmenu></menuchoice> can be either +<guimenuitem>Depth</guimenuitem> for easy detection of the nesting, or +a color mapping of different file attributes like name, owner, group, +or mime type.</para> + +<para>A rectangle can be labeled with the various attributes +of the corresponding file or folder. For an attribute, you can +choose, whether it should be shown at all, only if space is available, +or if space should be taken from children (thus introducing +errors to pure tree map drawing constrains). Additionally, you can choose +the relative location of the label in the rectangle.</para> + +</sect3> + +<sect3> +<title>TreeMap Drawing Algorithms</title> + +<para>For drawing algorithms in tree maps, the rule that the area +is proportional to the metric of an item should hold true. +With the tree map in &fsview;, this goal isn't always met: we draw borders +to show the nesting of items, and this border takes space for a item +which is possible lost for the areas of child items. Note that +less space is lost for the border if the rectangle is quadratic.</para> + +<para>Similar, it is good for a better overview to let all rectangles +at least have its name as label, taking space, too. It is an option to +always force space for labels, or only to draw labels when empty space +is available. In the latter case, the tool tips appearing when the +mouse is kept over an item for some time, can help a lot. They show +information for the item the mouse is currently over, together with +its parent relations up to the root item of the tree map.</para> + +<para>How the space of an item is split into subareas for children is +left to the implementation. It is always better to try to split areas +in such a way that rectangles are as quadratic as possible, both for +labeling and less space lost by borders. The best methods in this +regard are <guilabel>Rows</guilabel>, <guilabel>Columns</guilabel>, or +<guilabel>Recursive Bisection</guilabel>.</para> + +<para>You can choose the minimal area of items to be drawn via the +menu item <menuchoice><guimenu>View</guimenu><guimenuitem>Stop at +Area</guimenuitem></menuchoice>. Instead, a hash pattern will be drawn +over the parents area to signal that this space is in fact occupied by +a child.</para> + +</sect3> + +</sect2> + +<sect2> +<title>User Interface</title> + +<para>&fsview; supports multiple selection of items, similar to the +iconview and listview. This allows for actions to be done +simultaneously to a set of files. A simple mouse click always selects +a single item below the mouse pointer. Use a mouse click in +combination with pressing the &Shift; key for range selection or the +&Ctrl; Key for selection toggle. Note that by selecting an item, subitems can no +longer be selected. Selecting an item will also clear the selection of all its +parent items before.</para> + +<para>There is keyboard navigation available in tree maps: use +<keycap>Left Arrow</keycap> and <keycap>Right Arrow</keycap> keys to +move the current item between siblings, and the <keycap>Up +Arrow</keycap> and <keycap>Down Arrow</keycap> keys to go up and down +the nesting hierarchy. <keycap>Space</keycap> selects the item, in +conjunction with &Shift; does range selection, and with the &Ctrl; key +hold down simultaneously, toggles selection of the current item. Press +<keycap>Return</keycap> to run the open action onto the current item.</para> + +</sect2> + +<sect2> +<title>Credits and License</title> + +<para>Originally, &fsview; was meant as a small test application and +usage tutorial for the TreeMap widget developed within +<application>KCachegrind</application>.</para> + +<para>Copyright by Josef Weidendorfer, licensed using GPL V2.</para> + +&underGPL; +&underFDL; + +</sect2> + +</sect1> +</article> |