Ghost Commander - How to use

Preface
The main idea behind this project was to make file
manipulation on an Android device easier, especially for the
people who are familiar with such brilliant software as Total
Commander and the like. Below is a short overview of the
program and a few tips on working with it.

Elements of the user interface

Most of the screen of Ghost Commander is occupied by one
or two PANELS which list directories and files.

The HEADERS of the panels show the current paths, the

locations whose contents are displayed in the panels.

Long-pressing on the header will open the LOCATION EDITOR.

The TOOLBAR - at the bottom of the page - contains a list of

virtual BUTTONS.

On tablets at the very top of the screen you can find the
ACTION BAR. Its right side contains icons which open drop-
drown menus. If you long-press on an icon, the name of that
menu group appears as a tool tip.

Panel Modes
The application works in two modes, one at a time:

Overlapped Mode

In the "overlapped" mode, you will see only one panel at a

time. The other, inactive panel is hidden "behind". In the
following picture the current active panel is the left one. We
can tell that because the left path is highlighted in the header.
Side-by-side mode

In this mode, both panels can be seen at the same time:

Switching Between Panels
To activate the second (inactive) panel, you can do any of the
following:

The active panel's header is highlighted (blue on these

pictures).
Home list
The starting point of this application is so called "home: list"
where all file access modes and network locations are
presented.
If you need to, you can return back to the home: in many
different ways:

File View
Folders are marked with the '/' character in front of or after
the folder's name. When sorted, the folders will always be
shown before the files.

The files size abbreviations are 'K' for kilobytes and 'M' for
megabytes. Unless otherwise stated, the size is in bytes.

If the file was created in the current year, the date field will
contain the time of the last modification, omitting the year. If
the file does not have a date, it means that the system does
not provide one. The size and date fields can always be
placed under the file name, see the settings.

Selecting Files
To select a file or a folder, do one of the following:

Selected files are highlighted. If no files/folders are selected,

the focused item will be used in the file operations.

(Due to Android user interface behavior, the focused item is

not highlighted in "touch" mode -- when you touch the screen it
disappears.)

To select several files and folders in the current directory by a

name pattern, press '+'; to unselect, press '-'. These
commands are also accessible from the main menu->"List").

Location Editor
Allows you to enter a path or choose a favorite.

To open the location editor, do one of the following:

1. Press the '(' or ')' key.

The location editor is an editable line containing the current
location and it is up to you to modify it. Tapping the "Go"
button will display the contents of the specified location in the
active panel.
The location editor also provides access to the favorites. They
are listed in a drop-down menu like fashion below the editor
line. You can choose any of them and it will appear in the
editor line.

The star on the left side of the location editor will lit if the
location in the editor is among the favorites (stored as a
favorite). So, you can add the path in the editor to the
favorites by tapping the star when it is not lit and remove it
from the favorites by tapping it when it's lit.

While in regular working mode, you can also tap the "* Add
fave" tool button or press the '*' key on your keyboard to mark
the current location as a favorite. Note, you can also favorite
remote locations, like FTP sites, Samba shares, etc.

Favorites
The currently collected list of favorites are available also via
the "favs:" list. It is accessible as a home: item or from the
menu "Location" -> "Favorites"
When you first installed the application you may notice there
are a number of favorites already created. Feel free to remove
or modify them as well as add your own.
To edit a favorite's path select it and press the "4 Edit" tool
button. To quick edit a favorite's description use the rename
feature.

The Toolbar
The toolbar at the bottom of the page contains a list of virtual
buttons. These virtual buttons are completely customizable.
You can choose which ones to display, in what order and with
what text. You can even choose to disable the toolbar
completely. If there is not enough space for all the active
buttons, the row can be scrolled.

This toolbar of buttons provides a convenient way to initiate

any action. To customize them, go to Preferences ("9") ->
"Toolbar settings" -> "Customize the toolbar".

Browse for the row which represents the desired function.

Check the checkbox to make the button visible. Rename the
operation to meet your taste. Drag them to change the order.
You should definitely consider to do this as some buttons are
hidden by default.

Occupied Size Calculator

You can get the total size of the selected files or folders of the
local file system. Do it from the content menu (long click on
an item you want to know the size of) or press the '"' key.

After a short calculation delay, the resulting dialog box will

appear, displaying the statistics like shown below:
After this calculation the involved folders will show their total
sizes like the files do. Sort the panel by Size to analyze which
folders take up much space on your SD card.

List of shortcut keys

The full experience of using Ghost Commander can be
enjoyed on a device with a physical keyboard. If you own one,
the following short cut keys will let you achieve your file
management tasks quickly:

left, vol_down, Tab - toggle the current panel

right, vol_up - select the current item

(left/right arrows also do the same if enabled in the

preferences)

+,- - Select/unselect all the items

(, ) - Enter the location to navigate to, or manage the favorites

* - Add the current location (folder) to the favorites

= - Make the other panel show the same location as the

current one

" - Show the size of the selected files

/ - Search for files by name

1 - Brief help

2 - Rename file

4 - Editor

5 - Copy the selected items to the folder shown in the other

panel

6 - Move as above

7 - Make a folder (directory)

8 - Delete selected items

9 - Open the application preferences

0 - Exit the program

[A-z] - Quick file search

Quick Search
When you press an alpha key, the current position will be
changed to the first file whose name starts with the letter you
pressed. Continue typing to locate another file if there are
several with similar names. It is case sensitive (at least in the
current version). To cancel the file name input, just press any
other key, or touch the screen.

File search
Currently, file search is available only on native file system.
Root and SAF modes as well as network locations do not
support file search operation. To initiate a search do one of
the following:

The search setup dialog should appear:

You can specify the file mask, a file content substring, file size
and date ranges.

ZIP files
Ghost Commander can work with classic ZIP files (ones that
use the deflate data compression algorithm) as if they were
directories. You can press on such a file and its contents will
be displayed in the panel. You can use the Copy, Move and
Delete commands to change the contents of the archive.

To unpack files from a ZIP file, select the files you need and
copy them to the other panel. You can add files to the ZIP file
by copying them into it. To create a new ZIP file, select the
files you want to pack, then choose "Create a new ZIP file"
from the context-menu. A dialog window will appear, where
you have to provide a file name for the ZIP file. The default
location of the new file is, of course, what is displayed in the
other panel.

Password-protected (encrypted) ZIP files and ZIP files using

other compression algorithms are not supported. The
contents of such files are displayed properly, but the extracted
files are damaged or a command leads to an error message.

Network access
FTP access

To access an FTP site, open the home: location and then click
on "FTP site". In the opened form enter the site name, path
and your credentials. Or just open the location editor and type
in the full URL of the desired FTP site, like:

ftp://[your_name:password@]ftp.site_address.com/path

If you don't provide a name and password, "anonymous" will

be used.

If the site you're trying to access does not allow anonymous

access, your real identity will be asked for in a dialog box.
Please be aware: although Ghost Commander does not use
your credentials except for establishing the connection, or
does not pass them anywhere except the site you're
connecting to, they are passed to the FTP site unencrypted
and can be sniffed by a third party. This is a common problem
of the FTP protocol. I'm sorry, but FTPS is not supported.
However, there is a plugin for SFTP.

Hint: if your FTP server is located in the local network

managed by Windows domain controllers and you have
trouble connecting to the server providing just the machine
name, try to add also your domain's suffix. For example, if
your PC named "mypc" is located in a domain with the full
name "mydomain.com", give the full name as the address:
"ftp://mypc.mydomain.com".

In the rare case you need to specify the port which is different
from the standard (21), you can do that, too:

ftp://ftp.site_address.com:1021/path

In this example 1021 is the port number.

If the FTP connection has glitches, try to leave it by navigating

to a local folder, and then try to connect again.

SFTP access

SFTP stands for SSH File Transfer Protocol, or Secure File

Transfer Protocol, is a file transfer protocol that works over a
secure connection.

Ghost Commander's SFTP plugin need to be installed. Once

installed it appears in the application's home: list.

The plugin supports either password authentication or keyfile

authentication.
To connect using the key-file authentication the private key
PEM file has to be added to the app by using the Keys
manager.

To access it, tap and hold on the SFTP item in the app's home:
list then choose Settings->Keys manager.

If there were no keys in the key manager and you previously

had keyfiles in the folder /sdcard/.GhostCommander/keys
whey will loaded to the key manager automatically.

To look up for a new file, tap on the looking glass icon. Once a
correct file loaded, you would see a description like
"Encrypted key" for a pass phrase protected file or "Not
encrypted!" for the one without a passphrase.

You have to specify a host name the file is to be used with.

Please tap on the text edit bar to modify the file name to the
exact host name you will be going to connect to. Again, the
name has to be exact, so if you access your server by its IP
address, enter the address, and so on.

When you will be connecting to the server, you will be asked

for the username and password. In the case of the password
authentication, the password is your SSH host's password, in
the case of the keyfile authentication, the password is the
passphrase to open the key.

Please note:

Even though your private key file may start with "-----BEGIN...",
it could not be in the expected format. A keyfile in the correct
format should have "-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----" in the
first line. If your key starts with "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----",
you have to convert it to the PKCS#1 key format. On Windows,
this can be done by using the free "puttygen" tool, which can
be downloaded from the Putty website. Simply load your key
and then use the "Conversions/Export OpenSSH key"
functionality to get a proper PEM file. On other operating
systems, you can use the openssl command-line tool. The
command is as follows:

openssl rsa -in old_keyfile -out new_keyfile

The command like above produces a keyfile without password

protection. If you wish to use a password, you can add -
aes256 flag, like:

openssl rsa -in old_keyfile -aes256 -out new_keyfile

SMB access

SMB stands for Server Message Block (SMB), also known as

Common Internet File System (CIFS). It's a protocol used in
local networks, and also known as "Microsoft Windows
Network". To make Ghost Commander access a server or
desktop's shared folder using that network protocol you need
to install an application called "SMB plugin for Ghost
Commander (https://market.android.com/details?
id=com.ghostsq.commander.samba&hl=en)" (new).

You can fine tune the SMB connection. Tap and hold on the
SMB item in the app's home: list then choose Settings.

Cloud storage services

Accessing cloud storage services happens through plugins. At

the moment plugins are available for Dropbox, Google Drive
and Box. When you are accessing content on these services
the following URIs appear in the header:

Box box:/

Dropbox dbx:/
Google Drive gdrive:/

Google drive plugin can only use the account listed in

Android's system Settings -> Accounts.

Box and Dropbox uses OAuth authentication during the first

time connect. A web browser window will open where you
should enter your credentials in the service's secured
environment.

You can use the basic file handling commands like Copy,
Move, Delete, Rename and also Info, View, Edit. You can
create directories, but you cannot create new files or ZIP
archives.

You can have two different cloud storage services in the two
panels or different folders of the same cloud service, but
copying a file will mean downloading it to your device and
then uploading it from your device.

Locations on cloud storage services can also be saved as

favorites.

Settings
"File lists" section

Left/Right Panel - a submenu to customize the left and right

panels separately.

Detailed side-by-side mode - show size and date for files in

Side-by-side mode.

Detailed overlapped mode - show size and date for files in

Overlapped mode.

Sorting method - Choose the default how to sort the items in

the list (by name, size, or date).
Show hidden files - If not checked, files starting with a dot
won't be shown.

Ignore case in sorting - when checked, the file names will be

sorting without honoring the case of a letter.

"Appearance" section

Side-by-side panels - list with the following options:

Two lines in a row - When checked, the file panel will always
show the files' date and size below the file's name.

Finger friendly - list with the following options:

Enable icons - when unchecked, the file icons won't be shown.

For true geeks.

Enable thumbnails - enables to show the small picture

preview for graphical files like .jpg, .png and video files.

Thumbnail size - percentage, how big the thumbnails should

be compares with the icons.

Font size - set the size of font. Some text will be larger, some
smaller, but the base is set here.

Colors - set the overall themes,colors for particular the user

interface elements and also specify different colors for
different file types.

Language - allows to operate in a language different to the

one used in the rest of the system.

"Input" section

Enable Action Bar - list with the following options:

Selection area - set where you touch a file row to select it. By
default, it's the right half of it.

Toolbar - a submenu to customize the bottom toolbar. Change

the order of buttons, customize the text, etc.
Enable toolbar - when checked, the application shows the
toolbar at the bottom of the screen. You can hide it if your
device has a physical keyboard.

Show hotkeys - when checked, shows a hotkey digit or

character. It's convenient to use those hotkeys if you have a
physical keyboard.

Customize the toolbar - You can customize the toolbar to

display only those commands which you use often.

Enable sliding gesture - when checked enables to switch

between the panels with horizontal sliding gesture.

Hardware buttons - submenu which controls how device's

hardware buttons may be used by the application

Override arrow buttons - when checked left arrow toggles the

panels, the right arrow selects a file.

Override volume buttons - when checked the volume down

button toggles the panels, volume up button selects a file.

Back button exists - when checked, the back device's button

will close the application. Use the ".." item to navigate to the
parent folder in this case.

"Advanced" section

Show advanced home item - when checked, the root:, mount:

and "Media Sore" appears in the home: list.

Confirmations - when a file copied, you will get a notification

Warn on leaving /sdcard - when checked, the application will

issue an alert each time you try to visit a parent folder.

Miscellaneous - submenu with advanced options:

Automatic root mode -

Custom text editor - see below

Path to su - if the "su" is not listed in $PATH, specify its full

path here

Path to BusyBox - if "busybox" is not listed in $PATH, specify

its full path here

Open using content provider, Send using content provider -

In older version of Android, most applications understood only

URI to a file like file://path/to/a/file, but in the newest version
such notation is prohibited and should not be used in favor of
an URI like this:
content://my.application.authority/resource_id

Try to uncheck those checkboxes if an application fails to

open a file (for viewing or sending) when you tap on it.

External Editor Setup

If you want to use some third-party editor instead of the built-

in one, you can do that in the advanced section of the settings
in one of the following two ways:

To use the built-in editor use the activity name

" com.ghostsq.commander.Editor ". This is the default value.

Here is a tip on how to obtain the activity name of an external

editor: Say we have a text editor called "Paul Mach
(http://www.google.com/url?
q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.androlib.com%2Fandroid.developer.p
aul-mach-jii.aspx&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHSs4Td7J8Ux-
OS_XYHGNnF3sNefQ) Text Edit (http://www.google.com/url?
q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.androlib.com%2Fandroid.application.
org-paulmach-textedit-
qpt.aspx&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEBWVhhPibCBzY0GQl2u
3s-ZQr-_g)" installed.

Open the "apps:" location and find that editor application. Go

in, then open the "Activities" and copy the activity name (in
this case it's " org.paulmach.textedit . pmTextEdit ") to the
clipboard.

Paste the full activity name to the Ghost Commander external

edit activity name property.

Other available text editors and their activity class names:

"Jota": "jp.sblo.pandora.jota.Main"

"TED": "fr.xgouchet.texteditor.TedActivity"

Exiting the Application

Press the '0' key or the "0 Exit" toolbar button for normal exit
or go to Menu->Application->Exit. The application process
should be terminated completely.

If you press the system "Home" button or choose a previously

running application, the process will remain in the memory. If
there is enough RAM available, the operation system will leave
the application in sleep mode, allowing it to be relaunched
faster when you need it again.

If at that moment some file operation was in progress, it will

continue, notifying you about its progress in the system
notification area.

The "root" mode

There are two different modes in Ghost Commander to
browse the local files - the normal one (described above), and
the so called "root:" mode. You need the root: mode only to
make some tweaks with the system if your phone is rooted.
Everything else (such as opening a file with an application)
has to be done from the normal mode. If you accidentally
switched to the root: mode and want to go back to normal,
open the location editor (long tap on the header of a panel)
and just remove the "root:" prefix from the path. Or, navigate
to the home: screen and select the item "local files".

To access as root (su), enter the location like follows:

root:/data

(here "/data" - a path given for an example)

If you need to switch to the root: mode quite often, you could
enable it on the home: screen and also enable the tool button
which switches to the root: mode by a single tap.

How to tell you're currently in the root: mode?

When you in the root: mode, you see the root: prefix in the
path URI and the panel's title background is red.
On some devices the root: mode is basically useless if the
"BusyBox" executable is not installed. It should be placed in a
directory mentioned in the $PATH variable, and/or its location
should be specified explicitly in the advanced application
settings ("Path to BusyBox").
In the root: mode you can do the following:

Say, you need to delete some system applications. Do the

following:

1. Navigate to the folder with applications using the "root:"

mode, i.e. in the panel's header you should see the following:

2. "root:/system/app#ro". Here the "#ro" is an indicator that the

/system partition is currently mounted read-only.

3. Find the files you want to delete and tap the "Delete" button.

mount:

To get the full list the mounted devices, type "mount:" in the
location editor.

Click on a mount record's row to remount the corresponding

partition to \"rw\" or back to \"ro\".

chmod

To chmod a file (only one by a time in the current version,

sorry), long touch it, and in the context menu choose "chmod /
chown".
The chmod dialog should appear:
Installing BusyBox

If you are in a situation when you have just rooted your phone
but have not installed BusyBox
(https://market.android.com/details?
id=stericson.busybox&hl=en) and you can't do it because your
device does not have the market application yet, here is what
you can do:

1. Download the BusyBox executable

(https://www.google.com/url?
q=https%3A%2F%2Fbusybox.net%2Fdownloads%2Fbinaries%
2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEx0kfgSZvLveBerSVgcwG01JH
mGw) and then copy the BusyBox file to some place on the
/sdcard.