A program for managing plugins in far. Plugins

FAR Manager: a brief introduction

This Norton-like file manager, created by the famous Russian programmer Yevgeny Roshal, reproduces the interface of the Norton Commander program familiar to many users. FAR is designed to work with files, directories and archives in Windows 95/98 / Me and Windows 2000 / NT and can function both in full-screen and windowed modes. We will not sing the praises of this program, but, in our opinion, there is no more convenient file manager, at least for a person who has had time to seriously work with the Norton Commander program.

Which one to give preference to?

Of course, there is no need to present the well-known utility Norton Commander. At the moment, its latest version is Norton 2000, which perfectly solves the problem of the year 2000, but is not of particular interest to the Russian user. There are many reasons for this, let's name only the most important ones: the package is not Russified; the font used does not contain Cyrillic, so Russian names of files and directories cannot be used; the internal information base of the package does not include any Russian program. In addition, it is of no small importance that the program occupies about 10 MB (version 1.0) on your hard disk, and it is not cheap.

In contrast to the Norton Commander utility, the latest version of the FAR program (FAR 1.70b3) occupies only a little more than 2 MB of disk space, and the previous version (FAR 1.70b2) generally "weighed" twice less. FAR Manager is considered a shareware product. The cost of registering it is $ 25 (without registration, the product works for 40 days), and citizens and organizations of the CIS and Baltic countries can register the program for free. For its successful registration (this is done by running the FAR program with the –r: “FAR -r” parameter), a user from the former USSR should enter the phrase “xUSSR registration” as a username, and the registration code will be the day of the week when you decided to register the program (for example, the word "Monday" entered in lowercase Russian letters). Server addresses for FAR: http://www.rarsoft.com/, ftp://rarsoft.ti.sk/pub/FAR/ and ftp://rarsoft.ti.sk/pub/FAR/ (although not on all of them have the most recent version appearing at the same time).

As for the software capabilities of FAR Manager, this utility is at its best here too - both for a wide range of users and for professional specialists. The fact is that in addition to the standard features known from the first versions of Norton Commander, the program has many nice features. These include determining the size of directories, calling a list of active tasks; file transfer via FTP client. FAR also provides ample opportunities when working with archives: archiving and unzipping, viewing, editing and executing files from archives. The program supports most of the known archive formats, including self-extracting and CAB archives. FAR perfectly understands long file names, works correctly with Russian letters, and the built-in editor allows you to switch between DOS and WIN encodings. But we will not delve into further enumeration of the program's capabilities, since a lot has already been written about this.

On the computers of professional specialists, this program has long taken its rightful place, and I would very much like this utility to attract the attention of all the rest of the user fraternity. Having installed it on your computer, you will no longer want to part with it and will forever forget about Norton Commander and the volume of the disk that you once had to share with it.

Plugins for FAR

The FAR Manager program was originally conceived as a shell with a modular structure (the presence of an API allows you to increase the shell's capabilities through the so-called plug-in plugins). Plugins are modules that are called from FAR and use FAR functions and interface. The inclusion of a wide range of plugins means a significant increase in the functionality of the program. By default, the file manager is supplemented with several useful modules that support both working with archives and ftp servers, with a network and a temporary panel for storing files and directories, and using all kinds of Russian encodings. The number of built-in plug-ins is constantly increasing from version to version, and the number of functions provided by the program is growing accordingly.

In addition, new plugins by various authors appear regularly. Some of them are of greater interest, others are less, but their total number is constantly increasing (at the moment about 407 different plugins are known), and old versions of plugins are periodically replaced by new ones. In addition, both the author of FAR Manager and the authors of specific plugins listen to the wishes and suggestions of users and in some cases implement their ideas in new versions. The most complete list of plugins with the ability to sort them by various parameters can be found at the address, which is a kind of Internet community of FAR plugins authors.

Several of the most useful plugins, as we have already mentioned, are automatically included in the FAR Manager distribution. Of the most frequently used ones, I would like to name a convenient print manager and the "File register conversion" module, which allows you to unify the change in the spelling of the file names of the selected directory. The "Advanced Comparison" module is also very effective, which, unlike the "Comparison of folders" command known from Norton, allows you to specify a number of additional comparison parameters (time, content, size), as well as include or, conversely, exclude certain files when comparing and folders. The well-known plug-in "FTP-client" makes the process of transferring files much easier. The latest version of FAR (1.70b3) has added another interesting plugin "Explorer context menu" (Fig. 1), however, most of the features announced in it are not active yet. At the same time, at least part of the functions of this module can be used in practice quite widely (for example, "Send", "Cut", "Copy" and "Paste").

Most often, plugins implement various functions that are not needed by all users. The relevance of using one or another additional module depends on the specific working conditions. Therefore, you need to think carefully before installing all the plugins in a row. And only then, having carefully analyzed your own needs, you should install only the additional modules you really need, thereby reducing the amount of memory and resources used by the program.

Installing any new plugin is very easy. You need to create a Plugins subdirectory in the FAR directory (by default C: \ Program Files \ Far) (in the latest versions of the program it is created automatically), inside it create a special subdirectory for this plugin and copy all the plugin files into it. After these manipulations, you close the program in the usual way, and then restart it, and the plugin starts working. You can call the required plug-in by pressing the F11 key and selecting it from the list that opens. Some plugins are also selected through the Alt + F1 (Alt + F2) combination. To change the parameters of installed plugins, you need to use the F9ФParametersФParameters of external modules command and make the necessary adjustments (Fig. 2).

Are FAR plugins really necessary?

As noted above, at the time of this writing, 407 different plugins were officially registered at http://www.uic.nnov.ru/~ruiv/plugring/cgi-bin/downld.cgi (probably it’s impossible to find another software tool , for which such a number would have been developed). On the one hand, such a wide range of possibilities that plug-ins provide seems to be superfluous, but on the other hand, this is the main advantage of FAR Manager over other programs designed to work with files and directories. After all, the modular structure of FAR allows users to connect and disconnect exactly those plugins that are needed.

As for the variety of FAR plugins that exist today, you can find literally everything among them - from Tetris, reverse and a mini-calendar, congratulating you on your birthday, and ending with all kinds of clients. The "constellation" of plugins still includes those that are automatically included in the FAR Manager distribution kit or provide features that are already implemented in the latest versions of the program (these plugins today may be of interest only to users of older versions of the file manager).

A certain part of the plug-in base can be useful to a fairly wide range of users, however, most FAR plug-ins still implement quite specific features, the need for which, due to the nature of work on a computer, does not arise for everyone. Therefore, a significant portion of plugins are targeted only at users who face the same problems as the plugin authors themselves.

Clipboard Copy, Clipboard Copy Alt

These plugins are intended for using the clipboard for copying and moving files and folders as usual in Windows, but previously unavailable in FAR Manager. Copying (moving) both from Windows to FAR and vice versa is allowed. By itself, such a feature greatly facilitates the usual operations of copying and moving, however, it cannot be said that it is implemented very conveniently (if in Windows it is enough, as you know, to right-click and select the desired action, then in FAR you have to execute the combination F11Ф Exchange buffer Ф Copy (Move / Cut or Paste). True, you cannot demand the impossible from the authors of plug-ins: this is the path that is assumed based on the very logic of plug-in operation. This idea was originally implemented in the Clipboard Copy plug-in, but not completely worked out: when trying to copy some files, the program It gives a file system error Much later, a similar in functionality Clipboard Copy Alt plug-in appeared, in which we did not encounter any error situations. . Archives: cl bcopy110.rar (158,296 bytes, author - Alexander Kotelovich) - Clipboard Copy plugin; works since version FAR1.60, clipcopy.rar (9361 bytes, author - Andrey Budko) - Clipboard Copy Alt plugin; works since FAR1.65.

File list creator

It is intended, as the name implies, to create a file in the current directory containing a list of the names of the selected files. Although there is, of course, the usual ability to copy the names of the selected files to the clipboard by pressing Ctrl + Ins and then paste from the clipboard into a text file, this plugin is also quite convenient in some cases. It allows you to copy files with paths (entering long paths for a group of files manually is an extremely dubious entertainment), as well as supplementing the created list of files with new files and processing subfolders (of course, if they are selected). There are situations when it is simply irreplaceable (for example, the author of this article, as a teacher, often needs it when forming independent assignments). Archive: flist22.rar (107,780 bytes, author - Andrey Belousov); works since FAR1.60.

Edit Swap

In fact, this plugin represents two modules: "Paired brackets" and "Rus<->Lat ", intended, of course, to edit the file in the text editor FAR. The first module is responsible for finding and highlighting single and double paired brackets of various types. The plugin was written for version FAR1.63, which did not provide such an opportunity. FAR version 1.70b2 already includes a built-in "Brackets" plugin that performs the same functions. As for the module "Rus<->Lat ", then it can still only be connected manually and provides a very useful ability to convert the selected block according to the QWERTY rule<->QWERTY, and such a need arises all the time, if you just forgot to switch the alphabet, and you naturally have no special desire to type the text again. Archive: editswap.zip (16 800 bytes, author - Valentin Skirdin). Although the plugin was written for version FAR1.63, it works great in subsequent versions of the program. True, the function of finding and highlighting parentheses turns out to be duplicated.

Uninstall

The plugin allows you to uninstall programs from the FAR Manager in the same way as it is usually done from the control panel (F11FRemove programsFSelect program name). Archive: uinst11.zip (8 619 bytes, author - Dmitry Zhemerov); works since FAR1.65.

FAR Navigator (ProxyFtp)

This module allows you to work not only with ftp servers (downloading or deleting files and directories from the server, copying your files to the server), as a standard FTP client plugin, but also with http servers (downloading from the server). If the connection is broken, it is possible to resume the files. As for downloading files to a computer, there are, of course, more convenient opportunities provided by download managers specially designed for this (here and more conveniently organized resume, and work on a schedule, and download at the highest possible speed, etc.) ), so this direction, in general, is not for everybody. And if we talk about the reverse operation, then the plugin's functions should be of interest to a wide audience. To connect to the server, you need to perform a simple sequence of actions: F11ФFAR NavigatorФ Enter the name and other parameters of the server by pressing the Shift + F4 combination. Archive: FARnav18b8.zip (161,583 bytes, author - Vasily Moshninov); works since FAR1.65.

Web Editor

This plugin allows you to create and edit html files in the environment of the built-in text editor FAR by inserting templates of a fairly wide range of HTML tags (Fig. 4), CSS attributes, PHP structures (Fig. 5), etc. The process of completely creating Web pages in this way is time-consuming and labor-intensive and not very inspiring, especially when you think about the software products specially designed for this purpose. However, this module can be very useful in the process of debugging a page, when you need to make minimal changes, save and immediately check the result. In addition, some of the tags (necessary, for example, for the successful promotion of your page) still have to be inserted manually, and the Web Editor helps to significantly speed up the whole process. To insert a tag, use the following sequence of actions: F11ФHTML - EditorFselect the required tag. Archive: web10.zip (163,749 bytes, author - Alexander Ermolaev); works since FAR1.7 version.

FAR plugins programming Help Encyclopedia of Developer

It is an encyclopedia in Russian PlugRinG Help for plugin developers. In principle, the FAR Manager distribution also contains a help file, but it is rather short. Therefore, the authors of this plug-in decided to write a real Help-encyclopedia, in which the plug-in development technology in relation to C / C ++ and Pascal (structures, service functions, exported functions, etc.) is discussed in detail, specific recommendations in this area are given and numerous examples. In addition, here are published articles by various authors regarding the pitfalls that they had to face at different stages of the development of their plugins. In other words, this encyclopedia is a great help for those who decided to replenish the number of plugin authors. To launch the encyclopedia, simply click on the pluginsr.chm file. Archive: help / pluginsr_chm.zip (394 619 bytes, authors - Valentin Skirdin, Igor Russkikh, Ivan Sintyurin, Kirill Kirichenko, Artem Nazarov, Vasily Moshninov and Dmitry Zhemerov) is focused on the FAR1.7b3 version.

PlugRinGviewer

The plugin is designed to work with the plugins database - PlugRing (Fig. 6). The general user may be interested in organizing a targeted viewing of plugins by category. The advantage of this plugin is that you do not need to study the entire plugin base for a long time and persistently if you need to find out, for example, what plugins exist for working with the Internet or with a printer. However, the functionality of PlugRinGviewer is much broader: it includes downloading plugins from the database, and updating, and adding new plugins. But this feature is primarily aimed at plugin authors. To connect to the database, you first need to configure the plug-in to your proxy server (F9 Ф Parameters Ф External modules parameters Ф PlugRing plug-in base Ф Proxy settings), and then, having connected to the Internet, press Alt + F1 (Alt + F2) and select "PlugRing plug-in database" (or standard way via F11F PlugRing plugin base). Archive: plugring.zip (394 619 bytes, author - Vasily Moshninov), works since FAR1.65.

For more information, we advise you to contact the address http: //www.uic. nnov.ru/~ruiv/plugring/cgi-bin/downld.cgi, where more than 400 plugins are waiting for you for free, as they say, for every taste.

ComputerPress 2 "2002

We continue the series of articles about the programs I use at work. Today it is one of the oldest programs I use, FAR. Despite the venerable age of 15 years and the unassuming interface, in the form of two blue text boxes. FAR is one of the most powerful file managers today, and it uses many features of modern operating systems Windows Vista and Windows 7. And the quantity and quality of plug-ins written for it allows you to make almost anything out of it. In addition to version 2.0, FAR is free and open source.

File managers and what they eat with

Once upon a time, when the trees were big, the sky was bluer and computers were weaker than modern cell phones. The most popular operating system was MS DOS. Its receiver is now the Windows console or cmd. In those distant times, Windows was an add-on over DOS, and the vast majority of users did not sit in it. And in 1986, one of the first file managers, Norton Commander, was released (He's Norton, from just NC) It was he who first showed the whole world 2 blue windows. It is this format that became the basis for a huge number of file managers, its layout and commands have become textbooks, and the speed and convenience in working with it have been remembered by many. Many users who have tasted all the benefits while working with it are still using its counterparts. And they have appeared quite a few since that time. Volkov Commander, which had a small size with basic capabilities, DOS Navigator had large capabilities, etc.

But then Windows 95 came into the world and changed it. It was no longer an add-on over DOS, it was an independent operating system that provided enormous possibilities. File managers were also developed for it. One of which was the File and Archive Manager, or simply FAR.

Far Manager today

Today FAR Manager is a free BSD-licensed file manager. It is constantly being developed on the project page http://www.farmanager.com There is also a forum and a database of plugins for it. It works great with all versions of Windows, including in mode Server Core

Both x32 and x64 versions are available for download. There are stable and daily builds (despite the name, they are also very stable), download is also available in the form of a 7z archive or an msi package (It may be useful for deploying software via GPO)

Many are wondering. Why do you need x64 version in a program as simple as a file manager? It does not consume large resources and does not need high performance. To answer this question, go with any x32 manager to the Windows \ System32 \ Drivers folder, in any x64 system, and remember the number of files you saw, and then go there with a simple explorer. And you will see that there are much more of them. But it is precisely working with files and folders that is the main function for any file manager.

It comes with a large number of plugins that allow you to work with FTP and the network. There is a built-in process manager and an archive manager. It allows you to copy with the mouse and use the Windows context menu by right-clicking. To call the context menu, you need to hold down the key for 3-5 seconds

The plugin Emenu is used for this.

Of the additional functions, there is support for working with User Account Control(UAC)

And dynamic display of copying and other actions in the Windows 7 icon

Note that FAR remains a console program, and allows you to use all the features of the Windows console right in it. In addition, it has memory for using console programs.

Plugins for Far Manager

Attention: The version of the plugins used depends on the version of FAR Manager; for the x64 version, you must use the x64 versions of the plugins. All the plugins I have described have x64 versions. Plugin compatibility with different versions is indicated in the dedicated topic

All plugins are installed in the Far \ Plugins folder by unpacking them and then restarting FAR

Plugin from the category of Must have. Significantly expands the possibilities of configuring and using FAR Manager and not only it. It is a console emulator. If at startup it finds the file far.exe launches it and runs in its environment. I am using conemu as the main bootloader for FAR. Its possibilities are enormous

Run multiple copies of FAR and more, can work with any console program or PowerShell environment, cmd, telnet, etc.
Run programs as an administrator or any other user, there is UAC support

Allows viewing console output in FAR of large length. Which cannot be viewed as standard. Useful when viewing large listings

To enable console input, use the CtrlO_View.reg macro located in the ConEmu \ ConEmu.Addons folder. By default it is set to Ctrl + O shortcut, but I recommend using another combination like Ctrl + S by editing the line

to the one you need

Additionally, color and change the appearance of FAR and the fonts it uses

The setting is started by pressing the right key on the upper bar and selecting settings

Copy / pase from FAR console
and much more

Archiver for FAR based on free 7-zip. FAR already has a built-in archiver, but to use it, you need many console versions of the original programs. This plugin uses the capabilities of the well-known 7-zip archive manager (http://www.7-zip.org/) and, in my opinion, is more convenient to use

Attention: For the plug-in to work, only the 7z.dll library is needed, which is located in the folder in the installed archiver, I usually copy it to the folder with the plug-in

Allows you to organize syntax highlighting in the built-in editor, has support for many languages, it is convenient

Allows you to use the capabilities of .NET and PowerShell environments directly from FAR. Unfortunately, this seriously increases the launch speed and the resources consumed by FAR Manager.

First, the plugin is installed FarNet. After that, the plugin is installed in the Far \ FarNet \ Modules folder. PowerShellFar

FarSniffer, FarHexitor and other system utilities (http://code.google.com/p/farplugs/downloads/list)

Small network sniffer and HEX editor. things like that never hurt

And many others. Far Manager has programs for working with communicators based on WinMobile and Android or mobile phones. Viewing video pictures and listening to music. And many more.

Conclusion

As you can see today, Far Manager is a modern and constantly evolving program, in addition to being free, open source and with almost unlimited configuration possibilities. All this allows me to recommend to anyone who has a need to facilitate their work.

Far Manager is a free console file manager in Russian and English (has a multilingual interface). In terms of functionality, it is similar to any other file manager, for example, Total Commander. Has a built-in editor for text files like a notepad, but with syntax highlighting. It is possible to change the file encoding, as well as many other useful functions.
The interface is simple columnar, like the file manager Norton Commander from MS-DOS, the forefather of Windows.

Where to download Far Manager

Far Manager is distributed free of charge, you can download the version of the program on the official website: http://www.farmanager.com/download.php?l=ru. Below it will be described how to change the interface language to Russian.

Installing and configuring Far Manager

It does not need special settings and assemblies. You just download the installer and install Far Manager as a normal program. However, you can always make your own adjustments. For example, by default, the interface has a fairly small print.

List of abbreviations and their meanings:

RMB - right mouse button;

LMB - left mouse button.

To increase it, you need to go to the properties of the shortcut on the desktop, find and increase the font (RMB (right-click) on the shortcut - Properties - Font)

Choosing the font Lucida Console
A new scale of font sizes will appear. Choose the size to your liking, for example 20

As a result, the interface will become more user-friendly.

Now you can change the interface language to Russian. To do this, open Far Manager and press F9 - Options - Languages there. In the window that appears, select Russian

In general, at this stage, the initial configuration is completed. Next, we will learn how to use this program, more precisely, read and perceive the interface.

How to use Far Manager

To begin with, about the device interface of this program.
The interface is represented by columns in the central area, a control panel at the bottom and an information panel at the top. The speakers in the center are the two global bays. Each compartment can have one or several columns, two by default.
A bay is the file-level system of a particular disk. To move higher in the level, you need to move the cursor with the arrows on the keyboard or with the mouse to the topmost position on the .. symbol and press Enter. To go to a subdirectory of the current directory, move the cursor to it and press Enter. Also, you can use the mouse, double click on the catalog will take you to it. To change the disk, you need to use the hot keys Alt + F1 or Alt + F2. Now in more detail on the interface and with illustrations:

About the control panel - there are numbers. Each digit means the index of the panel with F1-F12 on the keyboard

F1 - help - reference for Far Manager. At least skim through the guide, a lot of questions will disappear by themselves.
F2 - custom menu. An unnecessary option at first
F3 - view the contents of files. Shows their size on catalogs
F4 - edit files. On directories, calls the menu for changing attributes
F5 - copy the selected files and folders (directories). Selection is made using the Insert, Ins button or RMB (right mouse button). Also, you can copy files by dragging and dropping.
F6 - transfer selected files and folders (directories). The selection is made using the Insert, Ins or RMB button. Also, you can hold down Shift and transfer files LMB (left mouse button)
F7 - create a directory (folder) in the current directory (folder)
F8 - delete a folder or file. You can delete several files and folders at the same time by selecting them with Insert or RMB
F9 - mentioned this command. Calls up the options menu at the top. Study it, a lot can come in handy
F10 - Close Far Manager
F11 - calls the list of Far Manager plugins with the possibility of further customization (for example, change the encoding of the file content), as well as some other additional functions.
F12 - built-in screens. Far Manager allows you to use multiple copies of the file viewer and editor. This button allows you to quickly switch between them, displaying a complete list of open screens. Use F1 to learn more about this feature. This option is for advanced users

By the way, it is worth noting that Far Manager has the ability to control the mouse. So, the entire control panel at the bottom is easily controlled by LMB. Personally, I do not use this opportunity, because I find it more convenient and quick to use hotkey combinations, but I admit that it will be more convenient for someone to control the mouse.

Also, if you hold down Alt or Shift, additional buttons will appear in the control panel. Thus, hotkeys, additional commands in Far Manager are collected.

Far Manager Teams

Or, as it would be more correct to say, the keyboard shortcuts that you most often have to use:

Ctrl + O - show or hide the panel and console content
Tab, Shift + Tab move between left and right compartments
Shift + 2 - change the number of columns in the global compartment. instead of 2, you can use any button from 1 to 9. By default, 2
Alt + F9 - switch from windowed mode to fullscreen and vice versa
Home - move to the beginning of the list of files and subdirectories of the current directory
End - move to the end of the list of files and subdirectories of the current directory
PageUp - move to the top of the list of files and subdirectories of the current directory
PageDown - move to the bottom of the list of files and subdirectories of the current directory
Ctrl + PageUp - move to the directory one level higher
Ctrl + F1, Ctrl + F2 - move to the directory one level higher in the left (Ctrl + F1) and right (Ctrl + F2) compartments
Ctrl + A - shows the properties of a file or folder (directory, directory). You can change and save the changes immediately. So, for example, you can change the creation date of the file
Insert, Ins, RMB - select files one by one for mass manipulation (transfer, copy, delete)
Shift + PageUp, Shift + PageDown - select files for subsequent mass manipulation (transfer, copy, delete)
Alt + F6 - create a symbolic link
Shift + F1 - pack the selected files and directories into an archive
Shift + F2 - unpack the selected archive into the specified directory
Alt + F1, Alt + F2

A dialog box opens with suggestions for choosing a drive, as well as other options, as a rule, the list is compiled by plug-ins (NetBox, WinSCP, registry editor, folder for temporary files, network access, list of processes)
Alt + F7 - search among files in the current directory

It is better to leave the file mask free *. *, Then the search will take place in all files. If you need to search, for example, only among php files, that is, those with the .php extension (for example, index.php and db.php), use the * .php mask.
You can change it as you like.
Also, you can select the necessary files and folders (directories) with the Insert button on the keyboard, then put the cursor on one of them to search only within them.
Alt + Insert - useful if you want to copy text from the console

While in the console, you simply press the Alt + Insert hotkeys (the cursor will change its shape), then with the mouse or using the arrows and holding Shift, select the desired fragment of text and copy it with Enter

Plugins for Far Manager

Plugins can significantly expand the functionality of Far Manager, turning it from a file manager into a multifunctional harvester.
You can find a complete list of plugins in Far Manager PlugRing
First of all, we need it. This plugin allows you to connect to servers on Linux OS: Ubuntu, Debian, Freebsd, Centos via SCP (outdated), SSH (SFTP), FTP, WebDav protocols.

NetBox - plugin for connecting to a remote server via SSH, FTP, WebDav

NetBox is a plug-in for Far Manager, continuing the WinSCP tradition, which implements the client-side protocols SCP (Secure Copy Protocol, obsolete), SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol), FTP (Files Transfer Protocol) and WebDav. Designed to connect to a remote server on Linux OS: Ubuntu, Debian, Freebsd, Centos - via, FTP or WebDav and manage it: create, edit, copy, delete files using the above protocols, transfer them between your computer and servers that support these protocols , in our case, the site hosting server. With its help, we will interact with the hosting file system where your sites are located: upload and download files,.

How to install NetBox

Far Manager now comes with Netbox preinstalled, but you can Download NetBox from Plugring Far Manager.
We unpack the downloaded file into the folder with plugins
(Start - Run -% ProgramFiles% \ Far Manager \ Plugins)
This completes the installation of NetBox in Far Manager, you just need to restart the latter.

Connecting to a remote server via SSH, FTP, WebDav using NetBox, WinSCP

We press the key combination Alt + F1 or Alt + F2, in the menu that opens, select NetBox, it is under the number 2.

Now we need to create a connection to our server. Let's say you have data for connecting via SSH:
Login: root, password: pass, server IP: 127.0.0.1, port 22
As suggested to create a new session, press Shift + F4 and enter the data:

We connect to the server. Now we can copy files from the computer to the server and vice versa (using F5, described in more detail above), modify them (F4), and also, if you have your own server, use the console to manage it.

If you need to connect via FTP or WebDav protocol, simply select the one you need from the drop-down list in the Protocol field

plug-in program operation key

A plug-in is a module to a program that is created separately and, if necessary, can be connected to an already running application. The main task of the plugin is to expand the functionality of the main program.

Installing the plugin

1. Download the plugin from the Internet.
2. Copy the folder along the path c: Program FilesFar ManagerPlugins.
3. Restart Far Manager so that the plugin is fully integrated into the program.
5. To configure this plugin, we need to go to the program menu, select Options, then Plugins Options.
6. In the window that appears, select the plugin that we need to configure and press Enter.
7. Now we see a window with the parameters of the plugin we need. We customize it to fit your needs and click OK.

How to create a plugin.

FAR is distributed with a complete set of files for writing the plug-in itself on any C compiler for Windows. The topic of this article is to write these modules yourself in Visual C ++ (I used Visual C ++ 5.0).

1. Launches VC, make a new project like "Win32 Dynamic-Link Library" named SimpleFP. Creates the file simplefp.cpp - here, in fact, we will write. Copy the plugin.hpp header file from the PlugDoc.rar archive into the SimpleFP directory (ed: starting from FAR 1.70 beta 5, the examples are installed in a separate PlugDoc directory).
2. Now we need to make a .def file - this is a file that describes functions that are called from external modules. We must describe the Far functions that we will use in our module. We make a text file simplefp.def, in which we write:
3. LIBRARY
4. EXPORTS
5. [email protected]
6. [email protected]

[email protected]

Here we describe 3 functions that will come in handy. Now let's add simpledef.def to the project files (Project - Add to project - Files - simplefp.def).

7. Now we write the plug-in itself - we work with the file simplefp.cpp. I decided to give the text of the program itself with comments - you can copy it into C ++ and start tinkering with it. But first about the basics.

Far works on the same principles as Windows - you refer in the program to those functions already available in the system that you want to use. Far provides functions for working with screen forms in the console application mode. When the plug-in is launched, Far starts the OpenPlugin function, we will consider it as an analogue of main () or WinMain (). But besides this, we must also inform Far about our plug-in data. This is done by the GetPluginInfo function.

* SimpleFP is a simple plug-in for Far. (C) 2000 Phoenix, Moscow

#include // to call sprintf

#include // for Windows functions

#include "plugin.hpp" // for Far functions

#define PLUGIN_NAME "Open windows" // Plugin name

#define WINDOW_HEAD "Open windows list" // Title of the menu we will make

// Describe the Far functions that we work with.

void WINAPI _export SetStartupInfo (struct PluginStartupInfo * Info);

HANDLE WINAPI _export OpenPlugin (int OpenFrom, int Item);

void WINAPI _export GetPluginInfo (struct PluginInfo * Info);

static struct PluginStartupInfo Info; // Information about our plug-in

// Information about the module is defined by us in the Info structure

void WINAPI _export SetStartupInfo (struct PluginStartupInfo * Info)

// This function is called to get information about the plug-in.

// We need to fill in the fields of the Info structure.

void WINAPI _export GetPluginInfo (struct PluginInfo * Info)

Info-> StructSize = sizeof (* Info); // Size of the Info structure

Info-> Flags = 0; // We don't need this

Info-> DiskMenuStringsNumber = 0; // We don't need this either

// Define a line with the name of the module

static char * PluginMenuStrings;

PluginMenuStrings = PLUGIN_NAME;

// Determine the name of the plug-in module

Info-> PluginMenuStrings = PluginMenuStrings;

Info-> PluginMenuStringsNumber =

sizeof (PluginMenuStrings) / sizeof (PluginMenuStrings);

Info-> PluginConfigStringsNumber = 0; // We don't need this

// This function is called when the plug-in is launched.

HANDLE WINAPI _export OpenPlugin (int OpenFrom, int Item)

HWND hwnd; // Use to get the handle

char p, o; // To create menu bars

int i = 0; // Counter

struct FarMenuItem MenuItems; // Description of the menu that Far will create for us

memset (MenuItems, 0, sizeof (MenuItems)); // Initialize our menu

MenuItems.Selected = TRUE;

hwnd = GetDesktopWindow (); // Get the handle for the desktop

hwnd = GetWindow (hwnd, GW_CHILD); // Get its handle

while (hwnd! = 0) // Until It's Last

hwnd = GetWindow (hwnd, GW_HWNDNEXT); // get the window handle

GetWindowText (hwnd, p, 128); // and its title

if (strlen (p)> 0) // if there is a header

sprintf (o, "% 0.8xld% s", hwnd, p); // make a line

strcpy (MenuItems.Text, o); // copy this line to the MenuItems array

// call the menu we created, get the number of the selected item - MenuCode

int MenuCode = Info.Menu (Info.ModuleNumber,

FMENU_AUTOHIGHLIGHT | FMENU_WRAPMODE,

return (INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE);

Compile, copy to FarPlugin and restart Far. In Far press F11 - this is a list of plug-in modules. Now the line Open windows should appear in it. Look at the result.

Description of some plugins

Clipboard Copy, Clipboard Copy Alt.

These plugins are intended for using the clipboard for copying and moving files and folders as usual in Windows, but previously unavailable in FAR Manager. Copying (moving) both from Windows to FAR and vice versa is allowed. By itself, such a feature greatly facilitates the usual operations of copying and moving, however, it cannot be said that it is implemented very conveniently (if in Windows it is enough, as you know, to right-click and select the desired action, then in FAR you have to execute the combination F11Ф Exchange buffer Ф Copy (Move / Cut or Paste). True, you cannot demand the impossible from the authors of plug-ins: this is the path that is assumed based on the very logic of plug-in operation. This idea was originally implemented in the Clipboard Copy plug-in, but not completely worked out: when trying to copy some files, the program gives a file system error Much later, a similar in functionality Clipboard Copy Alt plug-in appeared, in which we did not encounter any error situations. Clipboard Copy plugin; works since FAR1.60, Clipboard Copy Alt plugin; works since FAR1.65.

File list creator.

Regular Expression Search and Replace.

A very useful plugin designed to search for files by the expressions they contain, that is, in situations when a file with certain information is urgently needed, but you do not remember its name or its location on disk. The search is carried out very quickly, and it is possible both on the entire hard drive and in a specific folder. It is possible to automatically replace the expressions found in the text files. Works since FAR1.65 version.

Edit Swap.

In fact, this plugin represents two modules: "Paired brackets" and "Rus<->Lat ", intended, of course, to edit the file in the text editor FAR. The first module is responsible for finding and highlighting single and double paired brackets of various types. The plugin was written for version FAR1.63, which did not provide such an opportunity. FAR version 1.70b2 already includes a built-in "Brackets" plugin that performs the same functions. As for the module "Rus<->Lat ", then it can still only be connected manually and provides a very useful ability to convert the selected block according to the QWERTY rule<->QWERTY, and such a need arises all the time, if you just forgot to switch the alphabet, and you naturally have no special desire to type the text again. Although the plugin was written for version FAR1.63, it works great in subsequent versions of the program. True, the function of finding and highlighting parentheses turns out to be duplicated.

Special Folders.

Provides quick access to special Windows folders: "Main Menu", "My Documents", "Network Neighborhood", "Desktop", "Printers", "Programs", etc. (Fig. 3), thereby relieving the user of the need to remember their location on the disk, and then long and tedious to get to them. In this case, you can get into a special folder in two ways: standard for plug-ins: by F11 and through the FAR disk menu, and, for example, by Alt + F1, Alt + F2 (you should select the additional item Special Folders in the menu). Archive: Works starting from version FAR1.63.

Uninstall.

The plugin allows you to uninstall programs from FAR Manager in the same way as is usually done from the control panel. Works since FAR1.65 version.

FAR Navigator (ProxyFtp).

Web Editor.

FAR plugins programming Help Encyclopedia of Developer.

It is an encyclopedia in Russian PlugRinG Help for plugin developers. In principle, the FAR Manager distribution also contains a help file, but it is rather short. Therefore, the authors of this plug-in decided to write a real Help-encyclopedia, in which the plug-in development technology in relation to C / C ++ and Pascal (structures, service functions, exported functions, etc.) is considered in detail, specific recommendations in this area are given and numerous examples. In addition, here are published articles by various authors regarding the pitfalls that they had to face at different stages of the development of their plugins. In other words, this encyclopedia is a great help for those who decided to replenish the number of plugin authors. To launch the encyclopedia, simply click on the pluginsr.chm file. Focuses on the FAR1.7b3 version.

PlugRinGviewer.

The plugin is designed to work with a database of plugins - PlugRing. For a general user, it may be of interest to organize a targeted viewing of plugins by category. The advantage of this plugin is that you do not need to study the entire plugin base for a long time and persistently if you need to find out, for example, what plugins exist for working with the Internet or with a printer. However, the functionality of PlugRinGviewer is much broader: it includes downloading plugins from the database, and updating, and adding new plugins. But this feature is primarily aimed at plugin authors. Works since FAR1.65 version.

) and have never seen him, nevertheless, you probably still understand who he is and what he is eaten with. For those who have not read the last article, but for some reason decided to read this one, I will say that FAR manager is an analogue of Norton Commander (programs for managing files), working in the console (text mode), but using all the power of Windows. The statement about the analogue of Norton is a little controversial, we will assume that this is my subjective opinion, of which there will be many more in the future. Liked it - then download it from www.rarsoft.com and run it. By the way, the third beta has been released since the last article was written. I'll tell you about registration right away - it is free for residents of the former USSR.

So you downloaded it. What didn't you like? Things are good? Then read on.

Who is this article for? Rather, for those who have been using FAR for a long time, but have no idea how wide its capabilities are. Nevertheless, it will not be superfluous for those who have not yet chosen a file manager to their liking. I must admit that I had no idea at first how powerful the FAR thing was, until I found a site with plugins on the Internet :)

Plugins. Who are they?

Plugin (from English Plug-in - plug-in) are external plug-ins (plugins) that are used to extend the capabilities of programs. Plugins are not specific to FAR. With their help, for example, the capabilities of ICQ, Adobe Photoshop or Winamp are expanded. They are also found in other file managers, for example, in Windows Commander. But, in comparison with other file managers, only in FAR plug-ins are provided with truly fantastic opportunities: plug-ins work anywhere - in panels, in the editor, in the viewer; they can be run directly from the command line. Sometimes you just don't know who exactly will execute the next command - far.exe itself or plugins, the shell merged so closely with its helpers. The very ideology of plugins allows you to customize the shell for yourself, adding what you need and throwing out unnecessary. This is the main advantage of plugin systems over monolithic programs.

And now the fun part

Since there are a huge number of plugins (there were 288 of them at the day of this writing), I will try to describe the most useful ones (in my opinion). And I will mainly use the author's comments and my subjective opinion.

So, according to the rating, FarNavigator (formerly ProxyFtp) is in the first place. Just recently, he bypassed a plugin that will be described below - colorer. The author is Vasily Moshninov. FAR includes a standard ftp client, but it has only basic functions. And thanks to this plugin, FAR becomes an excellent FTP client, since it can be used to work with any type of proxy server. In the latest version, it also works with http servers.

Colorer is a plugin for syntax highlighting of programming languages (for example, setting colors in any software environment) in the FAR editor. It is very convenient if you need to quickly edit the source code, and you are too lazy to launch the shell. The author is Igor Russkikh. Contains a huge number of ready-made scripts for coloring different languages. A few words about installation: this plugin consists of two parts - the syntax highlighting library and the plugin itself.

Search and replace (s_and_r). Author - Ivan Sinturin. The plugin, which allows you to replace in a large number of files, expands the search capabilities in the standard editor, and also provides the ability to search and replace using regular expressions. As the author said, this is a plugin for the smart, and for those who know what regular expressions are, this is an irreplaceable thing ...

7-zip. A plugin that makes working with archives transparent, that is, it does not require the archivers themselves on the machine. Initially, it is designed for zip, so it can only archive in zip, but unzip - from most archives.

In addition to these plugins, there are many others. For example, to control WinAmp from FAR, to support various languages and encodings, for all kinds of mass file processing. In fact, everyone can write the desired plugin for their specific task, which makes the modular architecture convenient.

Now let's take a look at the standard delivery plugins.

Advanced Compare is a plugin that enhances directory comparison capabilities. Why describe it - just look at the dialogue it gives out.

Editor \ Align - plugin for formatting blocks in the built-in editor. I recommend using Format Block instead.

Editor \ AutoWrap - plugin for auto-wrap lines as you type.

Editor \ Brackets - plugin for auto-transition between brackets in the editor. It is stated that it is not needed if you have a colorer, since it can do all this.

Editor \ DrawLine - plugin for drawing lines in the editor. Dedicated to Dos Nafigator lovers.

Editor \ EditCase - plugin for changing the case of typed words. Knows how to do everything - "all lowercase", "Start with uppercase", "ALL Uppercase", "CHANGE REGISTER", "Cyclic change".

FARCmds is a very powerful and feature rich plugin. Since it comes standard, I recommend reading the "Help". An example of use is to make the same directory on the adjacent panel as on the current one.

FileCase is a plugin similar to EditCase, but does the same with filenames. In the next version s_and_r (1.6) will do the same, but for the sake of simplicity, I would still recommend using this plugin.

FTP is a standard FTP client. For infrequent work with FTP is quite sufficient. If you work with FTP constantly, then I recommend installing the proxyftp described above, and removing this one.

HlfViewer is a plugin for plugin developers. Serves to view an arbitrary hlf-file - help file for FAR`a.

MultiArc is a powerful plugin for working with archives.

Network - plugin for working with the Network. Very comfortable. Perhaps in this version it will be slightly changed for the better. Those who have already used it know that the old Network browser did not know how to leave resources on the Web, while the new one can, however, so far only for the Microsoft Network. Novell NetWare owners will have to wait a bit.

PrintMan is a new plugin. Replaces standard printing functions in FAR, starting from version 1.70 beta1. Prints on almost all types of printers. Knows how to remove jobs from the print queue.

ProcList - list of processes. Nice plugin for shooting processes and viewing rather detailed information about them. In addition, he knows how to change the priorities of running processes. By the way, here - to get a list and switch tasks, you can use the combination ctrl-w in FAR, and to remove them in the menu that appears, use the DEL key. At the same time, they are removed immediately and without question, unlike what Windows does (by CTRL-ALT-DEL).

TmpPanel is a temporary panel. The main purpose is to add files found during the search.

EMenu - plugin for getting Windows context menu. Able to display text or graphic menus.

As I noted above, many standard plugins are add-ons for users, they do not provide all the needs, and in many cases their functionality is overridden by more advanced plugins, which means they can be removed if not used. The main point of standard plugins is examples for those who want to start writing plugins themselves, since they all come with source code.

Where to get them and how to install them?

All FAR plugins are stored in separate folders located in the "Plugins" folder (which, in turn, is located in the same folder as Far.exe). Upon detecting a new module, FAR saves information about it and subsequently loads it only when necessary, so that inactive modules do not require additional memory. However, if you are sure that you do not need any modules, you can remove them to save disk space. Also, be sure to read all text files like readme.txt, whatsnew.txt, file_id. diz. Specific features for installing this plugin can be described there. Also check sometimes the plugin authors' home pages, which should be listed in these files.

Now let's see how to install them. So, you need to go to the folder where FAR is installed (usually it is c: \ program files \ far \), into the plugins subdirectory, there create a subdirectory with the name corresponding to the name of the plugin (in principle, it does not matter, it is useful only for orientation), and copy the entire contents of the uploaded archive into it. Next, restart FAR. Removing the plugin is a little more difficult. My way is to go into the plugins directory, click. (period) and shift-enter, exit FAR, delete the directory with the plugin (del) and start FAR again. If you want to install a new version of the plugin, you must first uninstall it and then install it. Sometimes, if the plugin is not loaded into memory, you can do without exiting FAR.

You can get plugins from PlugRing, a community site for plugin writers. By the way, in the last article I wrote that PlugRinG (www.uic.nnov.ru/~ruiv/plugring) is an unofficial site. So, now it has become official, but has not changed its direction: there is the main (and, in principle, the only) collection of plugins for FAR. There are shorter and quicker-to-remember addresses for it - www.rarsoft.com/plugring and plugring.da.ru. Also, to keep abreast of all the latest plugins, I recommend subscribing to the forum - [email protected].

And in conclusion, I would like to express my gratitude to those who helped me write this article - especially Ivan Sinturin, as well as the developers of FAR, plugins for him.