trunk/help/utilities.htm

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<H1>utilities menu</H1>
<LI><a href="#ascendhelp.path">ASCENDHELP path</a>
<LI><a href="#scratch.directory">Scratch directory</a>
<LI><a href="#working.directory">Working Directory</a>
<LI><a href="#text.edit.command">Text edit command</a>
<LI><a href="#postscript.viewer">Postscript viewer</a>
<LI><a href="#bug.mail.command">Bug mail command</a>
<LI><a href="#plot.program.name">Plot program name</a>
<LI><a href="#plot.file.type">Plot file type</a>
<LI><a href="#text.print.command">Text print command</a>
<LI><a href="#www">Help mail command</a>
<LI><a href="#font.selector">Font selector</a>
<LI><a href="#spreadsheet.command">Spreadsheet command</a>
<PRE>
Last $Author: ballan $
</PRE>
Utilities is a window which displays and allows modification of the global
variables which control the interaction of ASCEND with UNIX.
Below are explanations of the buttons and then some of the options.
<p>

<pre>
Buttons:
  OK: This will close the window. If the sanity checks fail, the window
      will not close. Currently the only sanity checks are that the
      Scratch directory and Working directory must exist out in UNIXland.
Save: This writes the current set of options to a file called
      ~/.ascend-config. (~ is your home directory.) ~/.ascend-config is
      read on starting ASCEND to get your UNIX defaults.
      EXCEPTION: The variables with names in ALL CAPS, e.g. PRINTER, are
      UNIX environment variables. You may change them interactively, but
      their interactive values are NOT saved. Your environment variables
      are typically set in your .login, .profile, .[ba,c]shrc, or .environ
      file and are used by programs other than ASCEND.
Read: Fetches the values in ~/.ascend-config. This is in case you want to
      edit ~/.ascend-config by hand while running ASCEND or you want to
      verify that the changes you saved were properly saved.
More: Rotates you through the pages of options. (2 at present.)
Help: Is how you got here.
</pre>
<p>


<a name="WWW">
<H2>WWW stuff</H2>
We need the WWW variables explained here.
<p>

<a name="scratch.directory">
<H2>Scratch directory</H2>
Typically this is /tmp or /usr/tmp but it can be any existing directory you
have write access to.
The scratch directory is used to write temporary and plot files ASCEND
creates. The temporary files are automatically deleted before you leave
ASCEND, but the plot files are not (since people often want to save plots.)
Other users on your system may be disturbed if you clog up /tmp with
plot files.
<a name="working.directory">
<H2>Working Directory</H2>
Typically this is the directory you start ASCEND from but it can be any
existing directory you have write access to. Our handling of the
working.directory is a bit flakey at the moment because the commandline
allows the user to cd without telling the rest of the interface about it.
Intermediate files are sometimes written to working.directory.

<a name="text.edit.command">
<H2>Text edit command</H2>
This is a command to spawn your favorite text file editor.
The default is vi in an xterm, but you can change it to your
favorite flavor of emacs or whatever you like. Only one of us
here actually uses vi, but since he wrote the Utilities window
code he chose the default.

<a name="postscript.viewer">
<H2>Postscript viewer</H2>
This allows you to specify your systems command for looking at Postscript
files. Some ASCEND concepts are only rapidly communicable by pictures and
we do such documentation via PostScript files. Ghostview (aka gv) is the
viewer around here. (CMU)

<a name="plot.program.name">
<H2>Plot program name</H2>
This is the name of your plotting program. It should be able to take
the file type given in plot.file.type as input.

<a name="plot.file.type">
<H2>Plot file type</H2>
The supported plot types are: plain_plot, gnu_plot, and xgraph_plot.
(These may be abbreviated xgraph, gnu, and plain.)
If you do not have gnu-plot or xgraph or xmgr, try selecting
plain_plot and seeing if the output will work with your own
plotting package. Gnu-plot, xgraph, and xmgr are all available
for free on the net. We are not experts in building any of these
3 packages.

<a name="text.print.command">
<H2>Text print command</H2>
<p>
<pre>
Printing to a file:
Set the print command to be
> filename.you.want cat

<p>

Printing to a printer:
lpr -Pprintername

<p>

Landscape printing:
xa2ps -Ppostscriptprintername
enscript -2rGPpostscriptprintername
<p>

You may safely omit the -P[postscript]printername part of
these commands if you normally do so in your Unix shell.
Note that ASCEND (TCL, really) does not know about your
Unix environment aliases.
<p>

Printing from the probe or the display execute.print buttons 
to Unix is done by TCL executing a script consisting of
$printcommand $scratchfilename.
where $printcommand is the string you've set on the utilities page
and $scratchfilename is set by ASCEND internally.
<p>

</pre>
<a name="font.selector">
<H2>Font selector</H2>
This is a program that allows you to interactively determine font
names available to ASCEND. The default (xfontsel) is the only 
program we know of which does this properly. (Xfontsel has it's own
set of bugs, so we suggest you tamper with nothing to the right of
ptSz on the xfontsel widget.) Once you have found fonts you like with
xfontsel, you may wish to set the Font values in ~/.ascend.ad.
Beware: fonts are Xserver dependent. The fonts available on one workstation
often differ from those on another. ASCEND will make some substitution
for unavailable fonts if it can, but the results are not always pretty.
In at least one case we have found the default ASCEND comes up with to
be Katakana (a Japanese typeface.) We find most machines know some sort
of helvetica font.

<a name="spreadsheet.command">
<H2>Spreadsheet command</H2>
We have not been content with any of the free UNIX spreadsheet programs.
The thing to be done is to write out the desired variables as columns
of numbers suitable for import to any spreadsheet. Nobody gets PhD
points for doing this code, so it's not done yet. If you want to
do it, let us know and we'll be happy to consult. ballan@cs.cmu.edu
has pseudocode for this laying around someplace.
<p>

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3			<TITLE>ASCEND HELP</TITLE>
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6			<!---
7			Last modified by $Author: ballan $ on $Date: 1996/09/12 00:38:23 $
8			--->
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10			<H1>utilities menu</H1>
11			<LI><a href="#ascendhelp.path">ASCENDHELP path</a>
12			<LI><a href="#scratch.directory">Scratch directory</a>
13			<LI><a href="#working.directory">Working Directory</a>
14			<LI><a href="#text.edit.command">Text edit command</a>
15			<LI><a href="#postscript.viewer">Postscript viewer</a>
16			<LI><a href="#bug.mail.command">Bug mail command</a>
17			<LI><a href="#plot.program.name">Plot program name</a>
18			<LI><a href="#plot.file.type">Plot file type</a>
19			<LI><a href="#text.print.command">Text print command</a>
20			<LI><a href="#www">Help mail command</a>
21			<LI><a href="#font.selector">Font selector</a>
22			<LI><a href="#spreadsheet.command">Spreadsheet command</a>
23			<PRE>
24			Last $Author: ballan $
25			</PRE>
26			Utilities is a window which displays and allows modification of the global
27			variables which control the interaction of ASCEND with UNIX.
28			Below are explanations of the buttons and then some of the options.
29			<p>
30
31			<pre>
32			Buttons:
33			OK: This will close the window. If the sanity checks fail, the window
34			will not close. Currently the only sanity checks are that the
35			Scratch directory and Working directory must exist out in UNIXland.
36			Save: This writes the current set of options to a file called
37			~/.ascend-config. (~ is your home directory.) ~/.ascend-config is
38			read on starting ASCEND to get your UNIX defaults.
39			EXCEPTION: The variables with names in ALL CAPS, e.g. PRINTER, are
40			UNIX environment variables. You may change them interactively, but
41			their interactive values are NOT saved. Your environment variables
42			are typically set in your .login, .profile, .[ba,c]shrc, or .environ
43			file and are used by programs other than ASCEND.
44			Read: Fetches the values in ~/.ascend-config. This is in case you want to
45			edit ~/.ascend-config by hand while running ASCEND or you want to
46			verify that the changes you saved were properly saved.
47			More: Rotates you through the pages of options. (2 at present.)
48			Help: Is how you got here.
49			</pre>
50			<p>
51
52
53			<a name="WWW">
54			<H2>WWW stuff</H2>
55			We need the WWW variables explained here.
56			<p>
57
58			<a name="scratch.directory">
59			<H2>Scratch directory</H2>
60			Typically this is /tmp or /usr/tmp but it can be any existing directory you
61			have write access to.
62			The scratch directory is used to write temporary and plot files ASCEND
63			creates. The temporary files are automatically deleted before you leave
64			ASCEND, but the plot files are not (since people often want to save plots.)
65			Other users on your system may be disturbed if you clog up /tmp with
66			plot files.
67			<a name="working.directory">
68			<H2>Working Directory</H2>
69			Typically this is the directory you start ASCEND from but it can be any
70			existing directory you have write access to. Our handling of the
71			working.directory is a bit flakey at the moment because the commandline
72			allows the user to cd without telling the rest of the interface about it.
73			Intermediate files are sometimes written to working.directory.
74
75			<a name="text.edit.command">
76			<H2>Text edit command</H2>
77			This is a command to spawn your favorite text file editor.
78			The default is vi in an xterm, but you can change it to your
79			favorite flavor of emacs or whatever you like. Only one of us
80			here actually uses vi, but since he wrote the Utilities window
81			code he chose the default.
82
83			<a name="postscript.viewer">
84			<H2>Postscript viewer</H2>
85			This allows you to specify your systems command for looking at Postscript
86			files. Some ASCEND concepts are only rapidly communicable by pictures and
87			we do such documentation via PostScript files. Ghostview (aka gv) is the
88			viewer around here. (CMU)
89
90			<a name="plot.program.name">
91			<H2>Plot program name</H2>
92			This is the name of your plotting program. It should be able to take
93			the file type given in plot.file.type as input.
94
95			<a name="plot.file.type">
96			<H2>Plot file type</H2>
97			The supported plot types are: plain_plot, gnu_plot, and xgraph_plot.
98			(These may be abbreviated xgraph, gnu, and plain.)
99			If you do not have gnu-plot or xgraph or xmgr, try selecting
100			plain_plot and seeing if the output will work with your own
101			plotting package. Gnu-plot, xgraph, and xmgr are all available
102			for free on the net. We are not experts in building any of these
103			3 packages.
104
105			<a name="text.print.command">
106			<H2>Text print command</H2>
107			<p>
108			<pre>
109			Printing to a file:
110			Set the print command to be
111			> filename.you.want cat
112
113			<p>
114
115			Printing to a printer:
116			lpr -Pprintername
117
118			<p>
119
120			Landscape printing:
121			xa2ps -Ppostscriptprintername
122			enscript -2rGPpostscriptprintername
123			<p>
124
125			You may safely omit the -P[postscript]printername part of
126			these commands if you normally do so in your Unix shell.
127			Note that ASCEND (TCL, really) does not know about your
128			Unix environment aliases.
129			<p>
130
131			Printing from the probe or the display execute.print buttons
132			to Unix is done by TCL executing a script consisting of
133			$printcommand $scratchfilename.
134			where $printcommand is the string you've set on the utilities page
135			and $scratchfilename is set by ASCEND internally.
136			<p>
137
138			</pre>
139			<a name="font.selector">
140			<H2>Font selector</H2>
141			This is a program that allows you to interactively determine font
142			names available to ASCEND. The default (xfontsel) is the only
143			program we know of which does this properly. (Xfontsel has it's own
144			set of bugs, so we suggest you tamper with nothing to the right of
145			ptSz on the xfontsel widget.) Once you have found fonts you like with
146			xfontsel, you may wish to set the Font values in ~/.ascend.ad.
147			Beware: fonts are Xserver dependent. The fonts available on one workstation
148			often differ from those on another. ASCEND will make some substitution
149			for unavailable fonts if it can, but the results are not always pretty.
150			In at least one case we have found the default ASCEND comes up with to
151			be Katakana (a Japanese typeface.) We find most machines know some sort
152			of helvetica font.
153
154			<a name="spreadsheet.command">
155			<H2>Spreadsheet command</H2>
156			We have not been content with any of the free UNIX spreadsheet programs.
157			The thing to be done is to write out the desired variables as columns
158			of numbers suitable for import to any spreadsheet. Nobody gets PhD
159			points for doing this code, so it's not done yet. If you want to
160			do it, let us know and we'll be happy to consult. ballan@cs.cmu.edu
161			has pseudocode for this laying around someplace.
162			<p>
163
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