Zip file support

June 2017 · 2 minute read

Beep beep, the new version of Marta is here! ✨ The features this release brings open new horizons as Marta gradually becomes the fully functional file manager.

ZIP file support

Yes, ZIP files are now natively supported. It means that you can work with ZIP (or JAR) archives just as with directories and use almost all Marta actions including Copy, Open with and others. Of course, nested archives are also supported, and breadcrumbs will help you to figure out how deep you are.

Zip file support

Now ZIP files are opened in read-only mode, but this limitation will go away very soon.

Well, that’s the good news by itself, but actually, it’s only the tip of the iceberg. Marta now supports virtual file systems (VFS). It means that 7Zip, FTP, WebDav and whatever else – all this becomes possible. Moreover, a VFS can be written as a plugin, and, as you may guess, the ZIP file system inside Marta is actually a plugin too. I plan to open-source it when the write access will be complete.

Marta had an API for working with abstract virtual systems from the very beginning, but a number of changes were required in order to support nested file systems, as well as make a file cache and API for it. So if your action requires files to be locally available, it’s pretty straightforward to cache them asynchronously with a nice progress bar.

Status bar

Before 0.3 there was no way to display a message to the user except showing an alert dialog. Now there is a status bar that can display a permanent status (plugins may contribute to it, of course) and notification messages. Quick Select filter became an organic part of the status bar.

Other changes

You can read the full list of changes in Marta 0.3 in the changelog. If you have any feature you want to be implemented, file the new issue to the issue tracker.

More amazing features and plugins are coming! Wish you a good summer and Marta! ☀️