:: JDiskReport :: FAQ ::

1 General Questions: 1.1 What does JDiskReport do?; 1.2 How does JDiskReport compare to its competitors?; 1.3 Where do I get the latest version?; 1.4 Is this freeware or shareware or what?; 1.5 How can I help to improve this tool?
2 Using Features: 2.1 Can I run JDiskReport from a command line?; 2.2 How can I invoke JDiskReport for a specific folder?; 2.3 How can I exclude directories from the disk scan?; 2.4 How can I export data to my spreadsheet app, e.g. Excel?
3 Troubleshooting: 3.1 I experience printing problems. What can I do?; 3.2 How to report bugs?
4 Java and Swing Questions: 4.1 Can I get the source code?; 4.2 Can I get the source code for free?; 4.3 What about opening the sources?; 4.4 Can I get the look&feel utilized in JDiskReport?; 4.5 What icon set do you use?; 4.6 How did you integrate the animations?; 4.7 Can you recommend a Swing tutorial or book?; 4.8 How can I make my application look like JDiskReport?

1 General Questions

1.1 What does JDiskReport do?

JDiskReport enables you to understand how much space the directories and files consume on your hard disks. See also the Features section.

1.2 How does it compare to its competitors?

JDiskReport is a cross platform tool and free of charge. It focuses on understanding what's going on with your disk space. There are other tools that help with cleaning hard disks.
JDiskReport does not [yet] show the free disk space; consumes a lot of system resources: both memory and processor time; the hard disk access is slow; it has weak support for platform specific mechanisms.

1.3 Where do I get the latest version?

The latest version is available at www.JGoodies.com.

1.4 Is this freeware or shareware or what?

This is ad- and nag-free uncrippled no-charge binary software that never expires. You can use, copy and redistribute it indefinitely. However, it is protected by German and international copyright laws. Refer to the accompanying license agreement for legal terms of use.

1.5 How can I help to improve this tool?

You can help by testing JDiskReport especially on non-Windows platforms, by sending bug reports and ease-of-use comments. Also, you can help me finance the future development by purchasing one of the professional code packages for the looks, framework, and JDiskReport sources. Last but not least, you can motivate me to go on and send friendly mail.

2 Using Features

2.1 Can I run JDiskReport from a command line?

Yes, in a command line invoke:
javaw -jar jdiskreport.jar

2.2 How can I invoke JDiskReport for a specific folder??

You can set the runtime argument path. JDiskReport will then skip the start panel and scan the given path. In a command line invoke:
javaw -jar -Dpath=<user path> jdiskreport.jar
Note that the user path should be embraced by quotes on Windows platforms.

If you have installed a Windows edition of JDiskReport there's a shortcut for the above: you can select a folder in the Windows Explorer and then run JDiskReport from the Explorer's popup menu.

2.3 How can I exclude directories from the disk scan?

You can specifiy a list of directories that will be permanently excluded from all disk scans. See the Filter tab in the Preferences.

2.4 How can I export data to my spreadsheet app, for example, Excel?

You can export table data via the system clipboard. First, choose the view in JDiskReport that you want to export. From the View menu choose Copy to Clipboard, which will write the table data as tab-separated list to the system clipboard. You can then paste the data into many spreadsheet applications that support this format.

3 Troubleshooting

3.1 I experience printing problems. What can I do?

See the list of limitations in the online help, and check whether you can update your Java2 Runtime Environment.

3.2 How to report bugs?

Before you submit a bug report please review this FAQ and the list of limitations in the tool's online help. In case of a runtime error JDiskReport generates a file console.log in the .jdiskreport folder of your user home directory. Please include this log in your report.

Before you request a tool enhancement please check the future directions in the online help.

4 Java and Swing Questions

4.1 Can I get the source code?

I provide free libraries for the l&fs, layout system and animations used in JDiskReport, see the Free Libraries. My Swing Suite product contains the full sources for the JDiskReport application and the underlying framework.

And I've published other essential code parts - the disk scan and directory chooser - with accompanying articles in the German Java Magazin issues 08.2001, 01.2002 and 02.2002. You can find an article about the general techniques used in JDiskReport in the German Java Magazin, issue 08.2001. And I plan to publish more source code and articles in English - I just need more time and money to prepare this.

4.2 Can I get the source code for free?

I wholeheartly like to help you, and more generally the Java community, to write Java client applications that look good and work well. And I believe that reading the JDiskReport sources and using my framework and looks can significantly improve your Java GUI and speed up your development process.

I'd like to use my skills and capabilities and work for the community fulltime. And I'm looking for a way how to finance my efforts, where my favorite is to be sponsored by a major Java promoter like Sun. Recently this became reality, and so I open source the foundation libarries. Some portions are still closed source and areavailable in the commercial code packages; but I plan to open these too.

4.3 What about opening the sources?

I plan to open source JDiskReport. And I will immediately open the complete source code if I cannot maintain the tool in a good quality.

4.4 Can I get the look&feel utilized in JDiskReport?

The free JGoodies Looks package contains the JGoodies Windows look&feel and the JGoodies Plastic l&f family.

4.5 What icon set do you use?

I have copied or derived most icons from the eclipse project, see www.eclipse.org.

4.6 How did you integrate the animations?

The animations are based on my framework for high-quality time-based real-time animations. It is a pure Java implementation of a subset of the W3C SMIL animation specification, see www.w3c.org. It comes with a Swing integration and default renderers that utilize Java2D; but you can use it with other widget toolkits and rasterization engines. Check out the free JGoodies Animation package.

4.7 Can you recommend a Swing tutorial or book?

There are several tutorials and books that can help you get started with the Swing widget toolkit, widgets and basic configuration. The Swing book by Robinson and Vorobiev is one of the better books.

I haven't found a tutorial or book that helps you build effective Swing applications, i.e. that look good and work well. And I'd like to fill this gap.

4.8 How can I make my application look like JDiskReport?

If you'd like to quickly improve your application's appearance, and usability, I recommend to check my Swing short course Metamorphosis, see www.jgoodies.com/freeware/metamorphosis/. And you may consider to use the JGoodies Looks and Swing Suite.

If you need an introduction or reference about do's and don'ts in GUI design, read Jeff Johnson's GUI Bloopers. If you are busy and can't find the time to read 500 pages, just look at the book's contents and check whether you have an idea what all the topics are about. In this case, I guess, a medium skilled GUI designer will read about 50 pages.

A thin book and recommended reading is Designing Visual Interfaces by Mullet & Sano. If you read 100 pages of this book, you will learn the most valuable basics of user interface design, and more generally, design. It is useful for the daily work of every GUI developer.



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Free Tools :: JDiskReport :: JPathReport Free Demos :: Forms Demo :: Looks Demo :: Metamorphosis :: Skeleton :: Skeleton Pro :: Validation Free Libraries :: Animation :: Forms :: Looks		:: JDiskReport :: FAQ :: 1 General Questions 1.1 What does JDiskReport do? 1.2 How does JDiskReport compare to its competitors? 1.3 Where do I get the latest version? 1.4 Is this freeware or shareware or what? 1.5 How can I help to improve this tool? 2 Using Features 2.1 Can I run JDiskReport from a command line? 2.2 How can I invoke JDiskReport for a specific folder? 2.3 How can I exclude directories from the disk scan? 2.4 How can I export data to my spreadsheet app, e.g. Excel? 3 Troubleshooting 3.1 I experience printing problems. What can I do? 3.2 How to report bugs? 4 Java and Swing Questions 4.1 Can I get the source code? 4.2 Can I get the source code for free? 4.3 What about opening the sources? 4.4 Can I get the look&feel utilized in JDiskReport? 4.5 What icon set do you use? 4.6 How did you integrate the animations? 4.7 Can you recommend a Swing tutorial or book? 4.8 How can I make my application look like JDiskReport? 1 General Questions 1.1 What does JDiskReport do? JDiskReport enables you to understand how much space the directories and files consume on your hard disks. See also the Features section. 1.2 How does it compare to its competitors? JDiskReport is a cross platform tool and free of charge. It focuses on understanding what's going on with your disk space. There are other tools that help with cleaning hard disks. JDiskReport does not [yet] show the free disk space; consumes a lot of system resources: both memory and processor time; the hard disk access is slow; it has weak support for platform specific mechanisms. 1.3 Where do I get the latest version? The latest version is available at www.JGoodies.com. 1.4 Is this freeware or shareware or what? This is ad- and nag-free uncrippled no-charge binary software that never expires. You can use, copy and redistribute it indefinitely. However, it is protected by German and international copyright laws. Refer to the accompanying license agreement for legal terms of use. 1.5 How can I help to improve this tool? You can help by testing JDiskReport especially on non-Windows platforms, by sending bug reports and ease-of-use comments. Also, you can help me finance the future development by purchasing one of the professional code packages for the looks, framework, and JDiskReport sources. Last but not least, you can motivate me to go on and send friendly mail. 2 Using Features 2.1 Can I run JDiskReport from a command line? Yes, in a command line invoke: `javaw -jar jdiskreport.jar` 2.2 How can I invoke JDiskReport for a specific folder?? You can set the runtime argument path. JDiskReport will then skip the start panel and scan the given path. In a command line invoke: `javaw -jar -Dpath=<user path> jdiskreport.jar` Note that the user path should be embraced by quotes on Windows platforms. If you have installed a Windows edition of JDiskReport there's a shortcut for the above: you can select a folder in the Windows Explorer and then run JDiskReport from the Explorer's popup menu. 2.3 How can I exclude directories from the disk scan? You can specifiy a list of directories that will be permanently excluded from all disk scans. See the Filter tab in the Preferences. 2.4 How can I export data to my spreadsheet app, for example, Excel? You can export table data via the system clipboard. First, choose the view in JDiskReport that you want to export. From the View menu choose Copy to Clipboard, which will write the table data as tab-separated list to the system clipboard. You can then paste the data into many spreadsheet applications that support this format. 3 Troubleshooting 3.1 I experience printing problems. What can I do? See the list of limitations in the online help, and check whether you can update your Java2 Runtime Environment. 3.2 How to report bugs? Before you submit a bug report please review this FAQ and the list of limitations in the tool's online help. In case of a runtime error JDiskReport generates a file `console.log` in the `.jdiskreport` folder of your user home directory. Please include this log in your report. Before you request a tool enhancement please check the future directions in the online help. 4 Java and Swing Questions 4.1 Can I get the source code? I provide free libraries for the l&fs, layout system and animations used in JDiskReport, see the Free Libraries. My Swing Suite product contains the full sources for the JDiskReport application and the underlying framework. And I've published other essential code parts - the disk scan and directory chooser - with accompanying articles in the German Java Magazin issues 08.2001, 01.2002 and 02.2002. You can find an article about the general techniques used in JDiskReport in the German Java Magazin, issue 08.2001. And I plan to publish more source code and articles in English - I just need more time and money to prepare this. 4.2 Can I get the source code for free? I wholeheartly like to help you, and more generally the Java community, to write Java client applications that look good and work well. And I believe that reading the JDiskReport sources and using my framework and looks can significantly improve your Java GUI and speed up your development process. I'd like to use my skills and capabilities and work for the community fulltime. And I'm looking for a way how to finance my efforts, where my favorite is to be sponsored by a major Java promoter like Sun. Recently this became reality, and so I open source the foundation libarries. Some portions are still closed source and areavailable in the commercial code packages; but I plan to open these too. 4.3 What about opening the sources? I plan to open source JDiskReport. And I will immediately open the complete source code if I cannot maintain the tool in a good quality. 4.4 Can I get the look&feel utilized in JDiskReport? The free JGoodies Looks package contains the JGoodies Windows look&feel and the JGoodies Plastic l&f family. 4.5 What icon set do you use? I have copied or derived most icons from the eclipse project, see www.eclipse.org. 4.6 How did you integrate the animations? The animations are based on my framework for high-quality time-based real-time animations. It is a pure Java implementation of a subset of the W3C SMIL animation specification, see www.w3c.org. It comes with a Swing integration and default renderers that utilize Java2D; but you can use it with other widget toolkits and rasterization engines. Check out the free JGoodies Animation package. 4.7 Can you recommend a Swing tutorial or book? There are several tutorials and books that can help you get started with the Swing widget toolkit, widgets and basic configuration. The Swing book by Robinson and Vorobiev is one of the better books. I haven't found a tutorial or book that helps you build effective Swing applications, i.e. that look good and work well. And I'd like to fill this gap. 4.8 How can I make my application look like JDiskReport? If you'd like to quickly improve your application's appearance, and usability, I recommend to check my Swing short course Metamorphosis, see www.jgoodies.com/freeware/metamorphosis/. And you may consider to use the JGoodies Looks and Swing Suite. If you need an introduction or reference about do's and don'ts in GUI design, read Jeff Johnson's GUI Bloopers. If you are busy and can't find the time to read 500 pages, just look at the book's contents and check whether you have an idea what all the topics are about. In this case, I guess, a medium skilled GUI designer will read about 50 pages. A thin book and recommended reading is Designing Visual Interfaces by Mullet & Sano. If you read 100 pages of this book, you will learn the most valuable basics of user interface design, and more generally, design. It is useful for the daily work of every GUI developer.
(c) 2003 JGoodies