The OpenEdit File Manager is a powerful tool that allows you to directly manage all of the files that comprise your EnterMedia site. You can edit text, copy, delete, rename, and move files, all online without having to be physically at the computer hosting your site. The file manager is accessible by selecting "File Manager" from the Content menu in the OpenEdit toolbar.

Anyone familiar with the Windows Explorer or Mac Finder should be fairly comfortable with the OpenEdit File Manager. The tree on the left allows you to browse the file tree using the arrows next to folder names. If you click on a folder or file name, it will open in a panel to the right of the tree. In the screenshot above, I have used the tree to browse into the archive folder, then opened the categories folder. You can continue to browse into subfolders which will open more panels, as seen in the image below. By hovering over the pencil icon for a folder that is open in a panel, you can access a list of actions to perform on that folder such as Copying, Renaming, Moving, and Deleting.

If you click on a file, whether it's in the file tree or inside a panel, the File Manager will open the file in a new text editor panel. You can then edit the file within the text editor (be sure to click the disk icon above the editor to save your changes!) and also perform any of the actions displayed to the right of the text editor, as seen in the screen shot below. 

FALL-BACK MECHANISM (SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION)

While using the file manager, you may notice that some files and folders are displayed with a small arrow on their icon instead of the normal folder or file icons. The arrow indicates that the file is actually located in a "fall back" directory. Generally speaking, all files in an EnterMedia website will "fall back" to the corresponding file in the base EnterMedia directory. When you first install EnterMedia, nearly every file will actually be loading from this base. For example, if you were to browse to "www.myentermediasite.com/archive/index.html" (this isn't a real site), EnterMedia will first look for the file "index.html" inside of the "/archive/" folder, as you would expect. However, if that file does not exist, it will then "fall back", and look for "index.html" in the folder "WEB-INF/base/archive/".

While using the file manager, it is important to remember the fall-back mechanism. For example, in the screen shot above, if you look at the file tree on the left, you will see two files called "categories.xml" inside of the "categories" folder. Now look at the icons for those two files. The first one, which is the currently selected file, has a plain page for its icon. The second categories.xml has a page with an arrow in the bottom left corner. That means that the second categories.xml is actually located in the fall-back directory for this folder.

CAUTION!  If you open and edit a file that is marked as being in the fall-back directory, it will be saved into the local folder, NOT into the fallback. For example, from the image above, if you were to open "index.html"...

I can edit "index.html" freely, and when I save it...

Notice that you now have two copies of "index.html", just like you have two copies of "categories.xml". One is the actual local file, which is the one that will be displayed and used in the site. The second is the fall-back file which will not be used in the site, unless the local version is removed. The fall-back feature allows you to customize and build on top of our base code, without running the risk of breaking your site. If you make some changes that just didn't work out, you can simply remove your local copy of the file and EnterMedia will know to find the original file in the fall-back directory.