
Small tips and tricks for more effective use of FileRunner

So far I've only thought of three... :-) 


1. HTTP download.

When surfing the web with Netscape which has a really lousy file
download function (always drops download after 90% without saying a
word) use FileRunner instead like this: Point to the link in Netscape
and choose "Copy Link to ClipBoard", then right-click on one of the
directory entries in FileRunner and paste the link into the entry,
edit it, and then hit return. When the directory comes up, get the
file with FileRunner instead. This is really fast and very
useful. This can now also be done for HTTP downloads, choose
"Etc->HTTP Download...".

2. How to view .html files in Netscape from FileRunner.

It is convenient to view .html files by right-clicking on them. Here
is how to do it: First, add the following to your
config(view,extensions) variable:

  { {viewhtml {%s}}
    {*.html} }

Then create a script called viewhtml that looks like this:

#!/bin/csh -f
netscape -remote openFile\("$argv"\)

The work-around with the external script is needed because tclsh won't
do the normal evaluation on lists inside ( ).

3. How to handle file names with blanks in the view (and other) config text.

The configuration file can contain file & path names that are needed to 
reference helper tasks (editor, view tasks, etc).  If these paths contain blanks
they may fail as filerunner will try to make the info after the blank
one or more parameters to be passed to the helper.  To avoid this problem there
are two approaches:

a.) Put the helpers path in the PATH enviornment variable (assumes the blank
    is in the path and not the name part).

b.) Enclose the full path/name in braces thusly: {c:/Program Files/myprog}
    Note that we use the forward slash (/) even on windows systems.
    You may need to use more than on set of braces: 
    {{{c:/Program Files/myprog}}}

    If you need to add "switches" or option strings these must be outside of
    the braces:{  {{{c:/Program Files/myprog}}} {/C %s} }



If you have a good tip to share with other FileRunner users, please
send it to the author.
