<page xmlns="http://projectmallard.org/1.0/"
        type="guide"
        id="xattr">
<info>
    <link type="guide" xref="index"/>
    <link type="seealso" xref="concepts"/>
    <desc>
    Extended user attributes allow to associate named strings to a file.
    </desc>
</info>

<title>Editing extended user attributes</title>
<p>
Extended user attributes are pairs of attributes and values that can be stored arbitrarily in files.
For instance one could store the last Revision of a file or a brief Description.
Eiciel allows to work with extended user attributes both in standalone application and Nautilus property
page.
</p>

<figure>
	<title>Extended user attributes</title>
    <media type="image" src="figures/screen_xattr.png"/>
</figure>

<section id="add-xattr">
<title>Adding an attribute</title>
<p>
To add an attribute, type its name and the associated piece of text (called the value) in the two text boxes found at the bottom of the extended attributes list.
You can press the rightmost button to add the entry to the list.
</p>

<p>Pressing return in the edit box for the name will take you to the value edit box. Pressing return in the value edit box will add the attribute.</p>

<p>Two attributes cannot have the same name. One or more attribute can have the
same content as their value which can even be empty.</p>


<note style="warning">
<p>
Even if extended user attributes are <em>encoding neutral</em> all the data
that can be introduced in Eiciel will be saved in UTF-8 charset. Remind this if you intend
to manage these attributes with another application which might not be UTF-8 capable.
Eiciel might not be useful if you store binary (non printable) data in your user
attribute values.
</p>
</note>

</section>

<section id="remove-xattr">
<title>Removing an attribute</title>
<p>
Use the rightmost bottom on the row of the attribute you want to remove.
</p>

</section>
</page>
