Chapter 2. Opening, Saving, and Working with Files
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## Chapter 2. Opening, Saving, and Working with Files

To use IRIS Showcase successfully, you need to learn a few basics about opening, saving, and working with multiple IRIS Showcase files.

## Opening IRIS Showcase Files

If you're not already running IRIS Showcase, you can open files in several ways: by double-clicking an icon, by dragging and dropping an icon, or by typing an IRIX command. See “Running Applications” in IRIS Essentials for details on these three techniques.

If you're already running IRIS Showcase and want to open a different file, choose “Open” from the File menu.

1. Choose “Open” from the File menu. The File Browser appears. See Figure 2-1.

2. Browse through the directory structure until you find the name of the file you want to open.

3. Place the cursor over the name of the file that you want to open; then click the left mouse button.

4. Click the Accept button.

| Tip: The keyboard shortcut for the “Open” command is `<Alt>-o`. To select and open a file, place the cursor over the filename then double-click the left mouse button. If you already know the full name of the file you want to open, you can specify it directly in the field near the bottom of the File Browser.

Figure 2-1. The File Browser.

## Saving Files

You can protect your work by saving your files periodically. Additionally, you can instruct IRIS Showcase to make backup copies of files and save them after a specified number of operations. This section describes how to use the “Save” command; also see “Having IRIS Showcase Automatically Create Backup Files.”

To save your file:

1. Choose “Save” from the File menu.

   If you're saving the file for the first time, the File Browser appears.

2. Choose the directory into which you want to place the file; then type the filename.

   A word about IRIX filenames: capitalization is important: file and File are two different filenames.

3. Click the Accept button, or press `<Enter>`.

   IRIS Showcase saves the file.

IRIS Showcase lets you save files in different formats. To do this, you use the rollover menu for “Save As...”

| Tip: The keyboard shortcuts for “Save” and “Save As...” are: `<Alt>-s` and `<Alt>-S`.

## Having IRIS Showcase Automatically Create Backup Files

IRIS Showcase can create automatic backup and autosave files.

1. Choose “Set Preferences...” from the File menu. The Preferences gizmo appears. See Figure 2-2.

   Figure 2-2. The Preferences gizmo.

2. Choose the backup settings you want.

   - Click the box next to “Make a backup file when file is opened” if you want IRIS Showcase to create a backup copy of the files you open.

   - Click the box next to “Make checkpoint files while editing” if you want IRIS Showcase to automatically save your file after a certain number of minutes. Specify how often IRIS Showcase saves the file by typing a number in the box that appears. The default setting is five minutes.

3. Click the Update defaults button.

| Note: Backup files have a .bak suffix; autosave files have a .sav suffix. IRIS Showcase deletes the checkpoint files when you exit the file on which you are working. Thus, they appear in your directory only if the program or computer unexpectedly quits while you're working on a file.

## Working with Multiple Files

IRIS Showcase makes it easy to work with several files. You can re-open files, insert one file into another, and copy and paste between files. See:

- “Re-Opening Files”

- “Inserting One File into Another”

Also see “Copying and Pasting Objects Between IRIS Showcase Files.”

### Re-Opening Files

Whenever you open a file, IRIS Showcase places its name in the re-open list. Suppose you open a file named `PLAY`. You work on it for a while and decide to open several other IRIS Showcase files. Now you need to look at `PLAY` again. Here's what you do:

1. Choose “Re-open” from the File menu.

2. Roll over to the submenu. Here you'll find a list of the files you've opened.

   If you select “Re-open” (without going to the rollover menu), you visit the last file you opened.

3. Select `PLAY`, and IRIS Showcase opens the file.

| Note: You can have two IRIS Showcase files open simultaneously if you start the program twice. Each “Re-open” menu shows the files opened in that session.

### Inserting One File into Another

If you want to combine two IRIS Showcase files, you can do so using the “Insert” command.

1. Open the file into which you want to insert the other IRIS Showcase file.

2. Choose “Showcase...” from the Insert rollover on the File menu. The File Browser appears.

3. Select the file that you want to insert. IRIS Showcase inserts the contents of that file into your current file.

   The first page is added to your current page; subsequent pages are created.

| Note: You can also use the Insert rollover menu to add a variety of file types: ASCII text and Rich Text Format (RTF) text files, images, audio files, 3D models, PICT files and Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) files.

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Chapter 1. Getting Started |  | Chapter 3. Working with Objects