[Maf] Newbie

[Christopher Ottley]

James Kellndorfer wrote:

> I read the FAQs and reviewed the last 3 months of archives and I'm 
> still confused.
>  
> 1. Does MAF strictly convert local files to a "single file format" .maff?

MAF automates the archiving of web pages and also saves additional 
information which may not be stored in the page, such as the date and 
time the page was saved and the original URL of the page. If you save a 
web page (from some remote website) without using MAF in Firefox, the 
result is a file and a folder containing supporting files (images, 
scripts, stylesheets etc). The main thing MAF does is zip this file and 
folder into a single file automatically for you. This makes the saved 
pages easier to manage (move, delete without orphaning a file or folder) 
when you start saving a large number.

> 2. Does MAF insert itself into Firefox so that there is a third format 
> when using the "saveas" menu option (ie: complete-webpage, text, MAF)?

Yes. By default MAF Zip Archive and MAF MHT Archive are added to the 
Save As and Open dialog boxes.

> 3. Can MAF be used to run firefox, retrieve a URL and store the URL 
> locally? (such as wget)


No. If you just want to retrieve a URL and store it locally you should 
just use something like wget for your platform. Because MAF is an open 
format and is basically a zip archive, you can create a MAF Zip archive 
from a script if that's what you're trying to do.

> 4. Can MAF only be used in a shell script, or can it be used from 
> another application, or programming language such as perl?

MAF currently uses scripts to Zip the saved page up. If you want to MAF 
something using perl, retrieve the url using perl (or an exec to wget), 
add an rdf file with meta data in it, zip the result up and name it with 
a .maff extension.

For an example, install MAF, save a page (for example 
http://maf.mozdev.org/) to an archive and then open the archive in an 
archive utility tool such as Winzip or 7Zip. You'll see a subfolder, in 
that subfolder an index file, rdf file and supporting files for the 
index file.


I'll try to add these questions and answers to the FAQ in my next 
website update. Hope it's clear now.

Regards,
Christopher.