When you access the eXo IDE, a window will appear:
Illustration 2. The eXo IDE interface with main parts
The IDE gadget operates with so-called Virtual File System which provides known folders/files model. At a given time, the IDE user can operate with VFS, which is represented as a Workspace. The current Workspace is displayed in the Workspace Panel in the left panel as a tree of folders and files. The Outline Panel is to do quick access to variables and functions (only for JavaScript, HTML, XML and Gadget files). The Content Panel consists of two horizontal panels:
The Top Panel shows files in several file tabs with content;
The Bottom Panel may contain several tabs with the list of file properties, REST Service, or Google Gadget output messages, HTML or Gadget files preview. To view these tabs, just use special buttons at the right part of the toolbar, or select View or Run from the top menu.
These panels are divided by Horizontal Resize Bar. Also, Workspace Panel and Content Panel are divided by Vertical Resize Bar. You can maximize or minimize one of the file tabs or action tabs from the bottom part of Content Panel or Outline Panel by clicking the special button at the top right corner of the panel. You can do some basic actions, such as browsing, creating, editing, coping, renaming, uploading, downloading, moving, deleting files and folders.
IDE can work with one workspace (Virtual File System) provided by the server side. To select a repository and/or workspace, do as follows:
Step 1: Go to Window > Select Workspace... from the top menu.
Step 2: Select an appropriate workspace.
Step 3: Click OK, or simply double-click the selected item:
Illustration 3. Select the current workspace dialog window
If you open the eXo IDE without any current workspaces, the dialog asking you to go to Window > Select Workspace... will appear. If you click Yes, the Workspace dialog window will appear.
Illustration 4. The dialog window in case workspace is not set
There are two ways to open a folder from the Workspace Panel:
The first way: Click the plus icon at the left of the folder name.
The second way: Double-click the folder item in the Workspace Panel.
The path to the current folder is displayed under the Workspace Panel in the Status Bar.
To open a file in the Content Panel, double-click the file item in the Workspace Panel. The eXo IDE saves the history of opened files in browser cookies, so you can see all the file tabs created and opened even after refreshing the browser window.
To refresh the selected folder content in the Workspace Panel, click the Refresh Selected Folder button on the toolbar, or go to File > Refresh.
To view and copy some absolute URLs of file/folder to clipboard, do as follows:
Step 1: Select the appropriate item in the Workspace Panel.
Step 2: Go to View > Get URL... from the top menu.
The Item's URL dialog will be displayed that enables you to copy the target URL to the clipboard.
You can copy, cut, or paste an item by selecting corresponding icons from the toolbar, or select Edit on the top menu. Only after you have selected to copy or cut the item, the Paste function will be enabled. You will be able to paste selected files or folders from one folder to another using the Paste function:
Illustration 5. Cut/Copy/Paste Items on the top menu and on the toolbar
Note
The eXo IDE does not support "Copy" and "Cut" functions for folders and/or files placed in the different folders; so if any items selected on different levels, those functions will be disabled.