writing file manager / how to use lex?

[Jan Tisje]

hi, 

I started to write a file manager.... 

my target is to make it easy to use but very powerful and flexible. 
apart from windows fs, it will support many filesystems (eg. nfs, http,
ftp, webdav... )
it will be able to preview thousands of file types. ;-)
it will be responsive as all slow tasks will be moved to separate
threads

of course none of these goals yet has been reached. At the time I am
designing the interfaces. So it will remain a one person job for some
weeks. 

but there are already two jobs that may be delegated: 

One point is to show if and how the "C:, D:" drive assignment  may be
overcome.
So i will use URLs. 
The most important part missing is an URL parser. 
**** does anyone know how to use lex to generate a parser? ****

I write in delphi, so the interesting part of the lex file will be the
left side, finding the URL components. 

there are BNFs available for URL, but 
BNF is no standard, so syntax is odd (to me) 
lex does not expect BNF but it's own format. 

URI, BNF in appendix A
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2396.html
URL, BNF in chapter 5
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1738.html


btw, the filemanager will use plugins to view the file contents. 
**** Who wants to write some plugin DLLs? ****
they may be written in C, interface will be strictly WinAPI standard. 

There will be two types of DLLs
- those that render to a windows device context (or bitmap, I do not
know yet)
- and those that convert a file to a HTML representation. 

(yes, the file manager already is capable to display html, without IE!)

Jan

[Jasper van de Gronde]

Reply in the message below.

Jan Tisje wrote:
>   there are BNFs available for URL, but 
>  BNF is no standard, so syntax is odd (to me) 
>  lex does not expect BNF but it's own format. 
>  
>  URI, BNF in appendix A
>  http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2396.html
>  URL, BNF in chapter 5
>  http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1738.html 
Their BNF-like syntax is explained in RFC 822 (although they seem to use 
pipes instead of slashes for alternatives):
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc822.html

>   btw, the filemanager will use plugins to view the file
> contents. 
>  **** Who wants to write some plugin DLLs? ****
>  they may be written in C, interface will be strictly WinAPI standard. 
>  
>  There will be two types of DLLs
>  - those that render to a windows device context (or bitmap, I do not
>  know yet)
>  - and those that convert a file to a HTML representation.  
Also think of audio/video please (perhaps not immediately, but be sure 
to keep it in the back of your head).

[Jan Tisje]

Jasper van de Gronde <th.v.d.gronde(a)hccnet.nl> schrieb am Sat, 20 Mar 2004 15:42:01
+0100

> >   btw, the
> > filemanager will use plugins to view the file contents. 
> >  **** Who wants to write some plugin DLLs? ****
> >  they may be written in C, interface will be strictly WinAPI standard. 
> >  
> >  There will be two types of DLLs
> >  - those that render to a windows device context (or bitmap, I do not
> >  know yet)
> >  - and those that convert a file to a HTML representation.  
>  
>  Also think of audio/video please (perhaps not immediately, but be sure 
>  to keep it in the back of your head). 
could be a third type. 
But audio and video probably would be overkill.
I do NOT want to open inline Mediaplayer windows. 
(like I do not use IE activeX to render HTML)
So it would be neccessary to implement a full video engine. 
no, thank you ;-)

Jan

[Robert Köpferl]

Jan Tisje schrieb:
>   hi, 
>  
>  I started to write a file manager.... 
>  
>  my target is to make it easy to use but very powerful and flexible. 
>  apart from windows fs, it will support many filesystems (eg. nfs, http,
>  ftp, webdav... ) 
I'd suggest to support an not existing FTP-FS which may work by putting 
connection data in a special file.

>   One point is to show if and how the "C:, D:"
> drive assignment  may be
>  overcome.
>  So i will use URLs.  
???  Maybe that would be one solution we should put into the win32 sub 
system so that any app can use them...

>   The most important part missing is an URL parser. 
>  **** does anyone know how to use lex to generate a parser? ****
>  
>  I write in delphi, so the interesting part of the lex file will be the
>  left side, finding the URL components.  
Find a RegEx engine for Delphi and parse this regular language via 
regular expressions.
>   
>  there are BNFs available for URL, but 
>  BNF is no standard, so syntax is odd (to me) 
>  lex does not expect BNF but it's own format. 
>  
>  URI, BNF in appendix A
>  http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2396.html
>  URL, BNF in chapter 5
>  http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1738.html
>  
>  
>  btw, the filemanager will use plugins to view the file contents. 
>  **** Who wants to write some plugin DLLs? ****
>  they may be written in C, interface will be strictly WinAPI standard. 
>  
>  There will be two types of DLLs
>  - those that render to a windows device context (or bitmap, I do not
>  know yet)
>  - and those that convert a file to a HTML representation. 
>  
>  (yes, the file manager already is capable to display html, without IE!)
>  
>  Jan
>  
>  _______________________________________________
>  ros-general mailing list
>  ros-general(a)reactos.com
>  http://reactos.com/mailman/listinfo/ros-general

[Jan Tisje]

Robert Köpferl <rob(a)koepferl.de> schrieb am Sat, 20 Mar 2004 22:02:16 +0100

>   
>  Jan Tisje schrieb:
> >   hi, 
> >  
> >  I started to write a file manager.... 
> >  
> >  my target is to make it easy to use but very powerful and flexible. 
> >  apart from windows fs, it will support many filesystems (eg. nfs, http,
> >  ftp, webdav... ) 
>  
>  I'd suggest to support an not existing FTP-FS which may work by putting 
>  connection data in a special file. 
I did not think about it yet. 
I try to implement all types of classes once, (most easiest one for
each: windows file api /  text, html and bitmap preview) 

what's left is write support... 

for ftp and http I plan to use some delphi components. 
 
> >   One point is
> > to show if and how the "C:, D:" drive assignment  may be
> >  overcome.
> >  So i will use URLs.  
>  
>  ???  Maybe that would be one solution we should put into the win32 sub 
>  system so that any app can use them... 
yes, in future it should. 
but let me try if it is useful in everyday life. 
 
> >   The most
> > important part missing is an URL parser.  
>  
>  Find a RegEx engine for Delphi and parse this regular language via 
>  regular expressions. 
that would be a solution. I already found some...

thanks for help

Jan