Reference: Filetype Definitions

General syntax for filetype definitions

Field structure.  A filetype definition consists of a series of fields. The definition begins with the mandatory FILETYPE field and ends with the keyword END. Each field begins with a keyword and ends with a newline character:

   FILETYPE    filetype_name

     KEYWORD  value

     KEYWORD  value

      ...

   END

Spaces.  Leading spaces in a field are ignored. Therefore, you can use spaces to indent lines for easier reading.

Fields longer than one line.  The \ character at the end of a line indicates that the field continues onto the next line.

Comments.  To comment a line, use the # character at the beginning of the line. The # can be proceeded by spaces. You cannot comment partial-lines.

Example.  This filetype definition creates a filetype for read-only files whose filenames follow the naming convention *.doc. It assumes that the View_Document action is defined in the database.

   FILETYPE        ReadOnlyDocument

     DESCRIPTION   This document is not writable. Double-clicking \

       runs your editor with a read-only copy of the file.

     FILE-PATTERN  *.doc

     MODE          !d&!x&!w

                   # The file cannot be a directory, executable, or writeable.

     L-ICON        read_only.l.bm

     S-ICON        read_only.s.bm

     ACTIONS       View_Document

   END

Example.  This definition creates a filetype for directories named Demo_n where n is 0 through 9.

   FILETYPE          Demo_directory

     DESCRIPTION     This is a directory.  Double-click to open it.

     FILE-PATTERN    Demo_[0-9]

     MODE            d

     L-ICON          control.l.bm

     S-ICON          control.s.bm

     ACTIONS         OpenInPlace,OpenNewView  

   END

Example.  The following filetype applies to all files named chnn.xxx where n is 0 through 9, and xxx is any three-character dot extension. The filetype uses the default icons.

   FILETYPE

     DESCRIPTION     Chapter file for the project document.

     FILE-PATTERN    ch[0-9][0-9].???

     ACTIONS         Edit,Print

   END

Example.  This filetype creates a special icon for directories for which you lack both read and write permission.

   FILETYPE         Directory_With_No_Permissions

     DESCRIPTION    You cannot open this directory unless you are logged \

                    in as root.

     MODE           d&!r&!w

     L-ICON         admindirectory.l.bm

     S-ICON         admindirectory.s.bm

     ACTIONS        OpenInPlace,OpenNewView

   END

See Also. 

Summary of Filetype Fields

Required fields. 

Icons. 

File recognition fields. 

Behavior field. 

ACTIONS field

This field contains a list of actions displayed in the file manager Actions menu when a file of this filetype is selected. Items in the list are separated by commas. There can be no spaces in the list.

The first action in the list is the default action taken when the user double-clicks the file icon.

Each action must have a corresponding entry in the action definition database.

Example.  The following ACTIONS field lists four actions for the Actions menu.

   ACTIONS  Edit,Print,Compress,Archive

CONTENT field

Content-based filetyping searches a specified portion of the file for the existence of a particular string or number. The search starts at the position starting_byte and ends at the position ending_byte.

	NOTE: Wide-spread use of content-based filetyping will result in lower system performance. You should use name- and location-based filetyping instead wherever possible.

String contents.  Use the syntax:

   CONTENT  starting_byte ending_byte string string

Numeric contents.  Use one of the following syntaxes, depending on the type of number:

   CONTENT starting_byte ending_byte byte hexadecimal_number

   CONTENT starting_byte ending_byte short decimal_number

   CONTENT starting_byte ending_byte long decimal_number

Search is conducted from the starting_byte to ending_byte.

Example. 

FILE-PATTERN field

Use the FILE-PATTERN field to specify the filename criteria for the filetype.

Example. 

L-ICON and S-ICON Fields for filetypes

The value for the L-ICON and S-ICON fields can be:

The default icons are in /usr/vue/icons.

Icon file names.  There are no name requirements. You can use .bm or .pm extensions to distinguish between bitmaps and pixmaps.

Icon sizes.  Icons can be any size. These are the default sizes.

See Also. 

MODE field

The boolean expression is built from the following operators and values:

You can simulate a logical OR operator by defining the filetypes more than once using different values in the MODE field.

Example.  The following MODE fields specify criteria for file typing.

Example.  If the mode criteria involves a logical OR, you must define the filetype twice using the two OR criteria. The filetype Doc_Utility, below, applies to an executable or directory with the naming convention Doc*.

   FILETYPE         Doc_Utility

      FILE-PATTERN  Doc*

      MODE          d

       ...

   END



   FILETYPE         Doc_Utility

      FILE-PATTERN  Doc*

      MODE          x

       ...

   END

PATH-PATTERN field

PATH-PATTERN filetyping is based on the entire path to the file: hostname:/path/filename.

Example.