Getting started
===============


Importing archives
------------------

Place your archives in the ``content/`` directory and import them using the
command-line interface:

.. code-block:: console

   $ hircine import

As **hircine** can identify an archive by its contents, subsequent import jobs
won't import the same archive again. Archives may also be renamed or moved
freely within the ``content/`` directory; the next import job will recognize
these changes automatically. Symbolic links will **not** be followed.

.. note::

   For a more technical breakdown see :doc:`/advanced/import-process`.

Adding comics
-------------

Once the import job has finished, navigate to the archive tab in the web
application and hit the refresh button [#f1]_ to load the newly added archives.
Next, navigate to the archive that contains the comic you want to add. You'll
be presented with an tabbed pane on the left and all the pages in the archive
on the right.

.. image:: /_images/archive.jpg
   :align: center
   :alt: The archive view

By default, the pane shows the *Details* tab. Here you can see basic
information on the archive and, once added, a list of comics from this archive.
Clicking on a page will open the reader interface.

.. note::

   Once a comic has been added, you may specify its reading direction and page
   layout. However, in archive view, the reader always defaults to
   left-to-right single-page. For more information on the reader interface, see
   :doc:`/usage/reading`.

To add a new comic, navigate to the *Edit* tab and click the button to enter
selection mode. Now, instead of opening the reader interface, clicking on a
page adds it to the current selection.

.. tip::

   When in selection mode you may use Ctrl+Click to access the reader interface
   instead.

Select all pages that you want to add to a new comic and click the *Add* button
that has appeared. The newly added comic will appear below and the selection
mode exits. You may now add further comics by the same process, or add pages to
an already existing comic by clicking on the *Add* button that appears over
each comic.

.. tip::

   Once all relevant pages from an archive have been allocated, you may mark
   the archive as "organized". This will automatically happen once the last
   page has been added to a comic.

Next, click on the newly added comic.

Editing comics
--------------

Comics use the same layout as archives - a tabbed pane on the left and comic
pages on the right. Just like before, clicking a page will open the reader.
Navigate to the *Edit* tab to start annotating the comic with metadata.

.. image:: /_images/comic-edit.jpg
   :align: center
   :alt: Editing a comic

The top section of the edit form controls basic information about a comic,
whilst the bottom section contains dropdown fields for the user-managed
metadata categories. The picture above shows two categories that already have a
selection, but for you these lists will be empty.

Adding metadata
---------------

To add new metadata entities, navigate to the respective tab in the web
application and hit the *Add* button in the top right corner. Alternatively,
new entities may be added *at any time* using :ref:`shortcuts
<shortcut-metadata>`.

Let's add a new character. Hit ``nh`` on your keyboard, type in the character's
name in the modal that appears and confirm by clicking on *Save* or hitting the
``Enter`` key. The character is now available in the *Characters* dropdown.
Select it there and save your changes - the comic is now tagged with this
character.

Removing comic pages
--------------------

Comic pages may be removed in the *Edit* tab by entering selection mode,
selecting the pages that should be removed, and clicking the *Remove selected
pages* button or hitting ``Delete``. Removed pages will be available again for
allocation in the archive.

Setting the cover
-----------------

The cover of a comic or an archive may be set at any time outside of selection
mode by control clicking a page.

|

.. rubric:: Footnotes

.. [#f1] This is the only time you need to refresh something manually in the
   web application. Care has been taken that all other elements update
   automatically.