Engee documentation

File browser

Organisation of the file system and its visual representation are two important tasks for convenient work on any project. The Engee platform provides its own solution for this purpose - File Browser. Git version control integration, easy navigation within the project, file handling and archiving help to organise the file system in Engee.

The File Browser file browser 7 is a tool for working with the file system in the Engee environment:

file browser 1

Working with the file browser

The file browser in Engee is denoted by the file browser 7 icon and is a tool for organising files and folders. Let’s take a look at the main features of the file browser.

Display settings

To display the desired columns of the file browser, click on the three-dot button and select Hide/show.

file browser 8

The columns of the file browser can be moved by dragging the header with the mouse. You can also change their width.

blocks file browser new

There are three ways to navigate within the file browser:

  • Click file browser search and enter the name of the desired file in the search bar:

    navigation fb 2 1

  • Use your mouse to switch between folders and files in the address bar of the file browser. Each folder and file in the address bar is clickable and allows you to navigate to their contents.

    navigation fb 1

  • Enter the slash / and select the desired path using Tab or the left mouse button. The file browser will suggest available folders in your project path.

    navigation fb 2

For convenient exiting of folders, use the option Return to a higher level goback button:

goback button 1

File management

To create folders, scripts, files and models, right-click on an empty area of the file browser or on an existing file or folder and select the function Create.

file browser add files

To create a model, click on file browser 3 in the Navigation bar.

file browser 2

When the system is started for the first time, a new model is created automatically in the Navigation panel. The model name by default is newmodel_1. The * after the model name indicates that there are unsaved changes. Rename the model if necessary and save it to the file browser. To do this, right-click on the model name in the navigation bar and select the desired option:

file browser 5

To rename a file, right-click on the file name and choose Rename in the menu that appears. Alternatively, you can left-click on the file and then click on the name again to open the edit bar.

Open the context menu by right-clicking on the file/folder and select the desired action. These operations are available for all files and folders in the project:

file browser 6

To add your own file, click file browser 9 in the file browser or manually move the file to the desired project directory with the mouse. The file browser highlights the place of adding a file in blue colour. For example, let’s add an archive from the desktop.

desktop file browser

Download files and folders at once in the archive using the combination Ctrl+left mouse button or Shift+left mouse button to select several files and folders to open them in the context menu and download them in the archive.

file browser archive hotkey

To unzip files, double-click on the archive name or select the operation Unpack from the context menu.

Working with Git

The file browser supports working with remote and local repositories using Git. The Engee file browser uses two approaches to create a repository:

  • Initialise a local repository - create your own local repository in the current directory (folder).

  • Clone a remote repository - create a copy of an existing remote repository and work with it as a local repository.

Repository initialisation

To send changes from an initialised local repository to a remote repository, a link to a specific remote repository is required. Read more at Remote repository.

Initialisation is the process of creating a new local repository in the current directory.

Create an empty folder in the file browser and navigate to it. Initialise Git by clicking the Init button:

file browser git init

Once your repository is initialised locally, the Git file browser’s Git management menu will appear, to which you should add a link to the remote repository:

local remote repo 2

If the remote repository is accessible and the address is entered correctly, a green tick mark will appear next to the link:

file browser clone 2

You can now work with the Git commands implemented in the file browser (Implemented commands).

Remote repository - a repository that you plan to make local changes to from the file browser. For example, your own remote repository from GitLab Engee. Read more about creating it at here.

Cloning a repository

To send changes from a cloned local repository to a remote repository, a link to the specific remote repository is required. Read more at Remote repository.

Cloning is the process of downloading a public (remote) repository from a hosted repository to the current directory. You can clone the Engee public repository and its associated projects, as well as any other repositories to which you have access.

To clone a remote repository, click the Clone button:

git clone 1

This will open a window to insert the address of the remote repository:

file browser clone 1

If the remote repository is accessible and the address is entered correctly, the link will be displayed with a green tick mark:

file browser clone 2

After cloning, you can work with the project as you would with any local repository. All Git commands implemented in the file browser (Implemented commands).

Files from the remote repository will be added to the file browser automatically, e.g. a previously created project with a README file:

file browser clone 3


Regardless of the method you choose to create a local repository:

  • The current directory (folder) will become a Git repository and will support the basic Git commands implemented in the file browser.

  • If the Git column is hidden, click on the dot sign in the upper right corner of the file browser, select hide/show from the context menu and click on Git. In the Git column, you can add a file or folder to the index with Add for further work in Git, or remove it from the index with Remove.

git get icons file browser

Implemented commands

The following Git commands are implemented in the file browser using buttons:

  • init - initialises an empty repository in the current directory (folder).

  • clone - clones an existing remote repository into the current directory (folder).

  • add - adds the specified file to the tracking. If it is a folder, it adds all files of the local repository to the index. The add all command is also available to add all files to the index.

  • remove - removes the specified file from tracking.

  • commit - saves the changes to the working directory of the local repository. The command fixes the project state at a certain point in time and saves the history of changes.

  • fetch - used to download changes from a remote or local repository to your local repository.

  • restore and pull - used to update your local copy of the repository to the latest version. This allows you to have an up-to-date copy of your code and avoid conflicts when merging changes.

  • pull - retrieves and loads content from a remote repository into your local repository and updates it with that content.

  • push - transfers changes made in the local repository to the remote repository.