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<title>The ark Handbook
<author>Robert Palmbos, <tt/robertp@macatawa.org/
<date>Version 0.5, Oct 25, 1997
<abstract>This Handbook describes ark Version 0.5

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<sect>Introduction

<p> 
Ark is a program for managing and quickly extracting archives. It works
closely with KFM and various other parts of the KDE environment. Current
features include, a quick list of archives in a user defined directory,
quick extraction of archives to any directory, and adding files via drag and
drop from kfm. 

<tt>Robert Palmbos</tt>
<p>
<htmlurl url="mailto:robertp@macatawa.org" name="robertp@macatawa.org">
<p>

<sect>Installation 
<p> 
<sect1>How to obtain Ark

<p> Ark can be found in the kdeutils package of the K Desktop Environment
<url url="http://www.kde.org">. <url url="ftp://ftp.kde.org/pub/kde/"> is
the main ftp site of the KDE project.

<sect1>Requirements
<p>
<itemize>
<item>The latest version of KDE. KDE is in beta so not everything will work
perfectly. It can be found on <url url="ftp://ftp.kde.org/">.
<item>GNU Tar v1.12 and a recent gzip.
<item>KFM is needed to get full functionality from Ark.
<item>Qt v1.31.  Information regarding Qt can found on 
<url url="http://www.troll.no/">.
<item>The appropriate programs for other archive formats are needed as well. 
These include lha, zip, unzip, and ar.
</itemize>

<sect>Onscreen Fundamentals
<p>
<sect1> Setting the Archive Directory 
<p>
Ark will automatically remember your archive dir. You must first set it via
"Set Archive Directory" from the options menu. Enter the full path, such as,
"/home/rob/dloads". To quickly go to this directory when ark is running,
click on the home icon on the toolbar. A listing of all files in the archive
directory will then be shown. Click on an archive to open it.

<sect1>Opening and Viewing Archives
<p>
 There are a few different ways to open an archive. The first is done by
clicking on either the open button on the toolbar or by choosing open from
the file menu. The second is done by clicking an archive in your
archive directory.

<sect1>Working with Files
<p>
An archive must be opened before any work can be done with it. To view a
file in an archive click on it or select view from the edit menu
after selecting a file. A dialog will come up asking for the program you
wish to view it with. Type in kless, kview, or whatever is appropriate for
that file.  Select "Edit...Extract" in the menus to extract the selected
file to a directory of your choice.  Select "Edit...Delete" to remove the
selected file from the archive.

<sect1>Extracting Archives
<p>

Once you have opened an archive it can be quickly extracted to any directory.
To do this either click on the extract button on the toolbar or choose
"Extract To" from the file menu. A dialog will come up asking you for the
destination directory. Type in the full path, such as, "/home/rob/new_kde_stuff".
A progress indicator will popup showing just that, and disappear when finished.

<sect1>Creating and Adding Files to Archives
<p>
To create a new archive choose new from the file menu. Files can be added
to an open archive by dragging them in from KFM. Whole directories and
multiple files can dropped on Ark at once. 


<sect>The Menu Entries
<p>
<sect1>File
<p>
<sect2>New Window
<p>
Creates a another Ark window.
<sect2>New
<p>
Create a new archive.  The type of archive created is determined from the
extension you give the new file.
<sect2>Open
<p>
Opens an archive.  Whatever is open now will be closed.
<sect2>Close
<p>
Closes the current Ark window.  If no windows remain the program will exit.
<sect2>Exit
<p>
Exits Ark.

<sect1>Edit
<p>
<sect2>Extract
<p>
This will extract what ever is currently selected in the listing.
<sect2>View
<p>
This pops up a dialog asking what program you wish to use to view the
selected file.
<sect2>Delete
<p>
This will delete the currently select file.  It may not work with all
archive formats.

<sect1>Options
<p>
<sect2>Set archive directory...
<p>
This will popup a dialog asking which directory you normally keep your
archives in.  After setting this, clicking the home button on the toolbar
will show a listing of the archives present in that directory.
<sect2>File adding options...
<p>
This pops up a dialog with two checboxes.  If you want files added to
archives to be stored from there full path, for instance /bin/sh, check this. 
Otherwise they will be stored from the directory they are dragged out of in
KFM.  
<p>
The next checkbox should be checked if you wish to only add files to an
archive that are new than those present in the archive.  This may not work
with all archive formats.
<sect1>Help
<p>
<sect2>Help
<p>
Invokes the KDE help system with the Ark help pages displayed.
<sect2>About 
<p>
Displays essential information about Ark.

<p>
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