# PgAccess - Getting Started

## How to get PgAccess

If you have this HTML help system, you have probably already downloaded PgAccess. If not, or you wish to download the latest version, it is available from the URL:

`http://www.flex.ro`

The home page will contain instructions on which files to download for your operating system. Download the file to a directory where the program will eventually reside (see below).

## How to uncompress PgAccess

PgAccess, like most applications available for download, is usually downloaded in compressed format to save download time. You must uncompress these files in order to use the application.

### UNIX (Linux, BSD, IRIX, Solaris, etc.)

The files will be compressed using "gzip" and packaged using "tar", and have filenames like this:

`pgaccess-n.nn.tar.gz`

Note that "n.nn" will be the version number in an actual file.

First decide where you want to have the program. A typical location on UNIX systems is `/usr/local/src/<name>`, where <name> is the name of the program. To use this location, download or move the "tar.gz" file to the directory `/usr/local/src`. Change to that directory, and uncompress the file with the command:

`tar -zxvf pgaccess-n.nn.tar.gz`

You should see the files listed as they are uncompressed and placed in the new directory, and now have a directory named:

`/usr/local/src/pgaccess`

In that directory will be all of the files that were packaged in the downloaded file. When you have PgAccess working, you can delete the file with the ".tar" or ".tar.gz" extension.

### Windows

The files will be compressed so that "WinZip" will uncompress the package. Just open the file with "WinZip" and the program files will be extracted.

## Putting PgAccess where it will be found

### UNIX

In order to run PgAccess easily, the program file "pgaccess.tcl" should be in a location on the "PATH" of the system. You can find out what the PATH is by entering:

`echo $PATH
/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/local/bin:./:/usr/local/pgsql/bin`

Usually the directory `/usr/local/bin` will be in your PATH, and that is a fairly common place to put programs like PgAccess. Other common directories in the PATH are `/usr/bin` and `/usr/sbin`. Simply move the file "pgaccess.tcl" to the directory where you want it.

### Windows

You will usually link PgAccess to an icon, so just specify the full path to the program when you create the icon.

## Starting PgAccess

The easiest way to start PgAccess is to simply invoke the program by name:

`pgaccess.tcl`

If the program has been placed in a directory listed in the PATH, the PgAccess window should appear.

### Starting from a menu

Most users will want to link the program to a menu or icon so that it can be started using the mouse or other pointing device. Here is a method that will work on most Linux X-Windows systems. Create a file named "pgaccess" in the directory `/etc/X11/wmconfig` with the following contents:

`pgaccess name "PgAccess"
pgaccess description "postgreSQL frontend"
pgaccess mini-icon "mini-pgaccess.xpm"
pgaccess group "Applications"
pgaccess exec "pgaccess.tcl &"`

This assumes that you have an "Applications" sub-menu. You may prefer "Programs" or some other place. Also, you will have to create the "mini-pgaccess.xpm" icon if you want it to appear. You can edit an existing icon from the `/usr/share/icons/mini` directory in XPaint and rename it. When you next start an X-Windows session, there should be a "PgAccess" item on the menu that you have chosen. Clicking on this item should start PgAccess.

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