File Manager - File Operations

• File Manager Overview
• Directory Operations
• File Operations
• Browsing for Files

• Marking Files and Directories
• Special Directories
• Transferring Files
• View/Edit Tool

Overview of File Operations | Toolbar

The Files frame located on the top right side of the File Manager window displays all the files located in the current working directory.

If you do not see any files below the File Type radio buttons (see Figure 1), this means that your current directory is empty. If you do see files, you will also see a check box to the left of each filename. By default this check box is unmarked. A file can be marked by clicking on its check box or all files of a particular type can be marked by activating a File Type radio button.

In the Files frame each of the files will be underlined indicating that they are hyperlinked. Clicking on a hyperlinked filename will take you to the View/Edit Tool (for more information refer to File Manager - View/Edit Tool).

In Figure 1, the HTML files have been selected by selecting the HTML radio button.

File Types

Selecting a File Type radio button will mark a particular subset of files, defined by their type. The file types and their respective functions are as follows:

• All: mark all files
• HTML: mark all files that have an upper or lower case extension .HTM or .HTML
• Images: mark all files that have an upper or lower case extension .GIF, .JPG, .XBM or .PCX
• Audio: mark all files that have an upper or lower case extension .WAV, .AIFF or .AU
• Video: mark all files that have an upper or lower case extension .MOV, .MPG or .MPEG
• None: unmark all files

Refer to Marking Files and Directories: Marking Files for information on how to mark and unmark a file.

Figure 2 below shows the Files frame in relation to the File Manager window.

Functions pertaining to file operations in the WebCT File Manager are described in more detail below.

Create | Edit | Copy | Delete | Rename | Move | Settings

Creating a New File | Toolbar | Top

The Create button allows you to create a new file in the current directory. You will usually create a text or HTML file having a .txt or .html extension, respectively.

1. In the Directory frame click on the directory in which you wish to create the new file in.
   Note: you cannot create a file in any of the [WEBCT BUILT-IN FILES] directories.
2. Click on Create. Upon doing so, the File Manager window will change to the View/Edit window (see Figure 3 below). Refer to File Manager - View/Edit Tool if you are unfamiliar with this tool.
3. In the right frame of this window, you will see an empty text box. This is where you will write the contents of the new file (see Figure 3 below).

4. Above the text box there is a Filename text input box, which will contain the name of the new file you are about to create. By default, this file is called Untitled[#].txt. For example, if an Untitled.txt file already exists, the default filename will be Untitled2.txt. The other features of the View/Edit Tool are described in more detail in File Manager - View/Edit Tool.
5. Press Save only after you have finished entering the new filename and its contents. To abort creating a new file, press Cancel.

Editing a File | Toolbar | Top

The Edit button allows you to edit a file on the remote server hosting your WebCT course. You can edit files that end in an upper or lower case permutation of .html, .htm or .txt.

1. In the Directory frame click on a directory that contains the file you wish to edit.
   Note: you cannot edit a file located in any of the [WEBCT BUILT-IN FILES] directories.
2. In the Files frame mark the desired file that you wish to edit by selecting the check box to the right of the filename. Refer to Marking Files and Directories for more information on how to mark and unmark a file.
3. Click on Edit. The File Manager window will change to the View/Edit window. Refer to File Manager - View/Edit Tool for more information on this particular tool.
4. In the right frame of this window, you will see a text box (see Figure 4) containing the contents of the selected file. Edit the file in this text box.

5. After you edit the contents of the file, click the Save button located above the text box. If you do not wish to save your changes click Cancel, and the file will not be modified. In both cases the right frame will refresh to display your file.
6. If you wish to edit another file, select the Edit hyperlink located to the right of the filename you wish to edit. If, however, you simply want to view a file, select the appropriate hyperlinked filename.

Duplicating a File | Toolbar | Top

The Copy button allows one or more files to be copied from the current directory to another. Copies of the file will thus exist in two directories.

1. In the Directory frame click on the directory that contains the file you wish to copy.
2. In the Files frame mark the desired files. Refer to Marking Files and Directories for information on how to mark and unmark a file.

3. Click Copy. Upon doing so the File Manager toolbar will change into the Copy frame shown in Figure 5.

4. Now select the destination directory that you wish to copy these files to by using the drop-down menu. Notice that you cannot copy files into the [WEBCT BUILT-IN FILES].
5. If you want to copy more or fewer files from your current directory, you can still mark and unmark these files in the Files frame. Click on Continue or Cancel after you make your decisions.
   Note: duplicate files will be overwritten without warning.
6. If you press Continue you will see a report of the files copied (see Figure 6). At the bottom of this report, you will find another Continue button. Clicking this Continue button will bring you back to the default File Manager toolbar.

Figure 6   The Copy report frame

Deleting a File | Toolbar | Top

The Delete button allows you to delete one or more files from your current working directory.

1. In the Directory frame click on the directory that contains the file you wish to delete.
   Note: you cannot delete any files in any of the WEBCT BUILT-IN FILES directories.
2. In the Files frame mark the desired files. Refer to Marking Files and Directories for information on how to mark and unmark a file.
3. Click on Delete. Upon doing so the File Manager toolbar will change into the Delete frame shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7   The Delete frame located at the bottom of your window

4. If you realize that you want to delete files in your Current Directory, you can still mark and unmark these files in the Files frame. Click on Continue or Cancel after you make your decision.
5. If you press Continue you will see a report of the deleted files(see Figure 8). In this report, you will find another Continue button that will return you to the File Manager toolbar.

Figure 8   The Delete report frame

Renaming a File | Toolbar | Top

The Rename button allows you to rename a file in the current working directory.

1. In the Directory frame click on a directory that contains the file you wish to rename.
   Note: you cannot rename any files in any of the WEBCT BUILT-IN FILES directories.
2. In the Files frame mark the desired file by checking the check box to the left of the filename. Refer to Marking Files and Directories for information on how to mark and unmark a file.
3. Click on Rename. The File Manager toolbar will be replaced with the Rename frame shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9   The Rename frame located at the bottom of your window

4. Enter the new name in the text box provided. In Figure 9, the old filename Untitled.txt is renamed to dahlin.html. Please note that none of the following characters are permitted.
   Illegal Characters
   • spaces, tabs, line feeds, carriage returns
   • : ~ [ ] ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) + ` } } | \ < > , ? / ; ' "

5. Marking or unmarking any files in the Files frame after clicking the Rename button will have no effect. Only the Continue and Cancel options are permitted.
6. If you press Continue, you will see a report indicating the success or failure of this operation (see Figure 10). In this report, you will find another Continue button. Pressing Continue will restore you to the default File Manager toolbar.

Figure 10   The Rename report frame

Moving a File | Toolbar | Top

The Move button allows one or more files to be copied from the current directory to another directory. When a file is moved, it will no longer exist in the original directory.

1. In the Directory frame click on the directory that contains the file you wish to move.
   Note: you cannot move a file to or from any of the [WEBCT BUILT-IN FILES] directories.
2. In the Files frame mark the desired files. Refer to Marking Files and Directories for information on how to mark and unmark a file.
3. Click on Move. The File Manager toolbar will be replaced by the Move File(s) frame shown below in Figure 11.

Figure 11   The Move File(s) frame

4. Now select the destination directory for these files by choosing a directory from the pull down menu shown in Figure 11.
5. If you wish to move more or fewer files from your current directory, you can still mark and unmark these files in the Files frame. Click Continue or Cancel after you make your decision.
6. If you press Continue, you will see a report of the moved files(see Figure 12). Press Continue to return to the default File Manager toolbar.

Figure 12   The Move report

Displaying File Attributes | Toolbar | Top

The Settings button on the main File Manager toolbar allows you to choose the file attributes to display along with the file list. The bottom frame will be replaced by the toolbar shown in Figure 13.

You can choose which of the Size, Date and Time attributes are displayed by clicking in their respective check boxes. Clicking Continue will update the File Manager window with the new settings. The Cancel will return to the old settings.

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