Setup

Once Dabbu is started for the first time, it will ask you for a server URL. There is a server hosted on Heroku (https://dabbu-server.herokuapp.com), which is free to use. But it is recommended to setup and run the server on your own machine if you can. Instructions to do that are given here.

If you decide to use the free server, enter https://dabbu-server.herokuapp.com as the server URL. If you decide to set it up on your own machine, enter http://localhost:<PORT NUMBER> as the server URL, where <PORT NUMBER> is the port the server is running on (printed out when the server starts). To change the server URL later on, use the config command as follows: config set serverURL <YOUR NEW URL>.

Then, Dabbu will ask you to setup your first ‘drive’. A drive is just like a usb drive attached to your computer - c:, d:, e:, etc - but instead of showing files from the USB drive, it shows you files and folders from a certain provider (Gmail, Google Drive, OneDrive, …). Follow the instructions Dabbu shows you to setup the drive.

You can use several commands to tell Dabbu what you want to do. Read on to know more about how to use them.

Also, if you run into any problems while installing or using Dabbu CLI, feel free to ask here. We’ll only be glad to help :)

Using commands

The prompt

Once a drive is created, you will see something called a ‘prompt’ on the screen. It looks like this:

<drive name>:/$

For those who are already familiar with the bash shell: Dabbu is sort of a shell, and its commands are very similar to bash commands. Take a look at the summary of CLI commands for a quick summary of all the commands you can run.

The prompt shows you what drive which folder/directory you are currently in. You can also type pwd (short form for Print Working Directory) and hit enter to know that information.

Moving around

Dabbu has a notion of the current working directory, which refers to what folder/directory you are currently in. A special symbol, . (the full stop), is used to refer to the current folder/directory you are in. Another special symbol, .. (two full stops), is used to refer to the parent folder/directory of the current working directory.

The current path is always shown in the prompt after the drive name:

<drive name>:<path to folder you are in>$

The topmost folder is always called / (forward slash). To change folders, type in cd <folder to move to>/ (cd is short form for Change Directory) and hit enter. For example, the following command will move you into the directory Work:

cd Work/

Note: The forward slash at the end is required - it tells Dabbu that we are talking about a folder.

Now that you have moved into the folder Work, the prompt will change to update your current working directory:

<drive name>:/Work$

To move back into the root folder (/), type in cd .. (remember that . refers to the current working directory, while .. refers to the parent directory) and hit enter. This should move you to the root folder and also update your prompt to show / as the current path.

To switch to another drive, type in the following and hit enter:

cd <drive name>:

Notice the colon at the end - it tells Dabbu that you are talking about a drive.

To create a new drive, simply type in new-drive and hit enter.

Listing files and folders

To list files and folders within the your current working directory, type in list. For example, if I am in the Work directory, typing in list will show you a list of the files and folders within the Work directory.

Optionally, you can specify which directory’s files and folders to list using list <directory whose files and folders to list>. For example, if I am in the root (/) directory, I can list files from the Work directory by typing list Work/ and hitting enter.

The list command prints the number of files in that folder (if there are less than 50 files) and a table of the files and folders. The table has 4 columns: Name, Size, Type,Last Modified Time and Actions. The file/folder name is coloured blue if it is a folder (it also has the words folder written in brackets next to the name) and magenta if it is a file. The size and last modified time are formatted into human readable formats. The type column shows the type of the file. The actions column contains a link that opens the file in the provider’s preferred editor. This means that if you click on a link for a from Google Drive, it will open the Google Drive File Viewer to display the file. Use the read command to download and view the file on your computer.

Downloading and viewing files

To download a file to your computer and open it up, type in read <path to file> and hit enter. This will download the file temporarily on your computer and open it using the default app to open that file on your computer. The file will be deleted once Dabbu is closed. For example, to download the file Dabbu Design Document in the Work folder, type in the following and hit enter:

read "Work/Dabbu Design Document"

Notice that the path to the file is surrounded by quotes ("). This is only required if the file/folder name contains spaces.

If you want to save the file to your hard drive or to another drive, use the copy (copy) command as mentioned below.

Copying/moving files

To copy a file from one drive to another drive, use the copy (short form for copy) command as follows:

copy <path to file that you want to copy> <path to destination folder>

For example, if I want to copy a file (say, School Project.docx) from my Personal folder on g: (where I have set up a Google Drive account) to the Work folder on c: (where I have set up my hard drive), I would type the following and hit enter:

copy "g:/Personal/School Project.docx" c:/Work/

Notice two things:

One, the path to the School Project.docx file is surrounded by quotes. This is because the file name contains spaces.
Two, the path to the Work folder ends with a /. This is to tell Dabbu that Work is a folder.

If I want to copy the file School Project.docx from my Personal folder on g: (where I have set up a Google Drive account) to the Work folder on c: (where I have set up my hard drive) and rename it to MyProject.docx, I would type the following and hit enter:

copy "g:/Personal/School Project.docx" c:/Work/MyProject.docx

Notice two things:

One, the path to the School Project.docx file is surrounded by squotes. This is because the file name contains spaces.
Two, the path to the destination does not end with a /. This i because we are copying the file to another file, and not another folder.

To rename a file without copying it, or to move a file instead of copying it, just use mv instead of copy.

Deleting files

To delete a file on a certain drive, use the del ((short form for remove)) command. For example, to delete the file Dabbu Design Document in the Work folder, type in the following and hit enter:

del "Work/Dabbu Design Document"

Notice that the path to the file is surrounded by quotes ("). This is only required if the file/folder name contains spaces.

To delete the entire work folder:

del Work/

Notice that the path to the Work folder ends with a /. This is to tell Dabbu that Work is a folder.

Be careful while using the del command as it usually permanently deletes files and folders.

A Brief Summary of CLI Commands

Note:

Anything in <> must be mentioned, while if it is in [], it is optional.
All file/folder paths may include drive names.
While specifying a folder, please add a / at the end of the folder name.
Escape spaces in the file name by surrounding it in quotes.

Commands:

pwd - Know your current drive and folder
cd <drive name>: - Switch drives (Notice the colon at the end of the drive name)
cd <relative path to folder> - Move into a folder
list [relative path to folder] - List files in a folder (default is current folder)
read <relative path to file> - Download and open a file
copy <relative path to file> <relative path to place to copy to> - Copy a file from one place to another
del <relative path to file> - Delete a file
new-drive - Create a new drive
config <get | set | del> <field path> [value to set] - View/set/delete a field in the config file
clear - Clear the screen
CTRL+C OR exit - Exit

Typing any of the above and then hitting enter will allow you to execute that command and get a result.

Providers supported

To request a new provider, file an issue here.