Explanation of the Menu buttons in the Flaunch window

We will take a moment to go over the three menubottons in detail.

If the user selects the File menu the following will be displayed:

• Select a Task (accessible via the keystroke Control key and t key pressed simultaneously)
  This command will create a "Task selection" window which contains an entry box in which the user can type the task name, e.g. fdump, any standard command, e.g. ls *.log, or a pattern matching string, e.g. *hist*. (For more information about this behavior see above.)

• Browse files (also accessible via Control-b)
  This option creates a "File selection" window, which allows the user to select and view files, using the fits-viewer "fv".

• Create a `Custom' package (also accessible via Control-u)
  This command allows the user to create a custom package, list which, when the option Read in `custom' package list if one exists? is set, will read in that custom package list. This allows the user to create a custom package which contains all of the FTOOLS which are most used allowing greater ease in executing these tasks. When this event is activated a window appears which will contain the selected tasks (chosen by depressing the right-most-mouse-button over the taskname that is wished to be added). This window allows the user to write these tasks to a file which will be read in each time flaunch is activated in the future, if the proper "option" is selected. (For more information on Creating a Custom package see the associated documentation

• Change default directory (also accessible via Control-d)
  This command allows the user to change the default directory that flaunch is pointed to. When this event is activated a window appears which will allow the user to select a directory and wll then change to that directory and use it as the default for any farther work that is performed. The user would have to chose this option again to change the default directory.

The Quit menu:

The second option within the File menubutton is to "Quit", which from the arrow is a menu of its own:

If you are going to be setting many options, there is a "tear-off" line at the very top of the menu. If you select this the menu will appear as a separate window which does not go away after an option is selected. Thus the user can select all options and than save the settings to the configuration file. Note that because this is a separate X-window feature you will have to "close" this window via a separate X-window command, i.e., Tcl/Tk cannot close this window you will have to do that with your windowing system.

If the user selects the Options menu from within the "flaunch" window the following list of options will be presented. This shows the user's initial setup before any modifications are made. The user should examine the following explainations and tailor flaunch to behave in a manner most suited to their particular needs. The initial (default) options display looks like:

• Use specified shell rather than Bourne shell?
  This option tells flaunch to read the file ~/.flaunch/shell_choice. This option works in conjunction with the command Choose a new shell for command execution. If this option is set but no corresponding file exists flaunch will display an error message:
  
  Flaunch will then unset this option and save the current option configuration to the .flaunchrc file. Under normal circumstances this should not happen, it is only when files are removed out from under flaunch that this problem may occur. If this problem reoccurs than execute the corresponding command, Choose a new shell for command execution.

• Use specified log-directory?
  This option tells flaunch to read the file ~/.flaunch/log_file. This option works in conjunction with the command Specify a new log-file directory. In the unlikely event that this option is set but no corresponding file exists flaunch will display an error message:
  
  Flaunch will then unset this option and save the current option configuration to the .flaunchrc file. Under normal circumstances this should not happen, it is only when files are deleted out from under flaunch that this problem may occur. This error message will only appear once, as flaunch will unset the option. If this problem reoccurs than execute the corresponding command, Specify a new log-file directory.

• Turn off 'flaunch taskname' special behavior?:
  This option controls the behavior of "flaunch" when it is called with a task specified, e.g., "flaunch saextrct". If this option is NOT selected than the "flaunch" acts as a one-shot calling routine. That is to say that it will allow the user to edit the task's parameter file, if one exists, or simply spawn the tool in the window in which flaunch was called so that all input and output goes to and comes from that original window. However if this option is selected than "flaunch" operates in its full GUI mode allowing the user to run and control multiple processes from within the "flaunch" window. If the task specified exists as an FTOOLS task, then a parameter editing window will appear, if the "task" is actually a "Perl script" or and "unknown command" than an "interactive window" is spawned in which that command is executed. If the command is a Perl-script this allows the user to respond to all prompts, if it is any other command all output from that command will be displayed in that window, and the log of all output is available via the "Output" button in the "flaunch" window.

• Read in `custom' package list if one exists?:
  This option tells "flaunch" to read in and display a custom buttton in the PACKAGES list, is the file $FLAUNCH_CONFIG/custom_tasks exists. [Note: FLAUNCH_CONFIG is a directory created in the user's $HOME directory which contains all of configuration files. Normally the default directory created is ".flaunch" so that under normal circumstances this file resides in $HOME/.flaunch, however this may be configurable at some point in the future.

• Associate each Executed Task name to an Output Log?:
  This option tells "flaunch" that rather than having one Output Log window to which any selected executed tasks are to be displayed, a different window is to be created for EACH output log selected for display. Note: The name of the Output Log window will have the name of the selected executed task selected. This allows the user to compare the results of multiple runs. This behavior can be toggled on and off with the use of this option. In general it is best to leave this option turned off and toggle it on when necessary - this avoids the proliferation of windows. Remember a "Ctrl+c" in any window will destroy that window, so removing windows if easily done.

• Read/write/use command-line construction information?:
  This option tells "flaunch" to read in and use any information stored in the file "taskname.clf" which is located in the $HOME/.flaunch directory. This information can be changed by using the option Control command-line construction?: and selecting or deselecting the command-line usage boxes displayed in the "Parameter Edit Window" to the left of the parameter entry box, the user can control the command-line which is constructed when the task is called. Note that if this option is set, the values of the command-line usage boxes are stored in a file, "taskname.clf", and will be used whenever that task is called, even if the user turns off the option to display the control-boxes. If this option is turned off, the default, than all parameters are used in constructing the command-line call.

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• Show Hidden parameters?:
  Using this option the user can opt to see all Hidden parameters (these are the parameters that are usually hidden from the user and not prompted for).

• Create Help buttons for each parameter?:
  This option is set by default and will display a small "help" button next to each parameter displayed. If this button is pressed than the "Extended Help" window is displayed with the pertinent section of the help displayed. Thus if the user only wants to view the help that is pertinent to this particular parameter, for this particular task than pressing this button will display it.

• Show Comments on right?:
  Using this option the user can control which side the prompting string appears on - the default is on the left since this seems to be the most natural place for the prompting string, however since some users may want the string on the other side an option to place comments on the right was added.

• Control command-line construction?:
  Using this option the user can also control the command-line which will be constructed from the parameter file. If this option is selected then a series of "checkbuttons" appear next to each parameter, the default is that all parameters will be specified within the command-line which will be constructed, but sometimes a truly experience user will want to control this. [The novice user should leave this option turned off! ]

• Do NOT iconify task_window?:
  Using this option the user can control the default for the "RUN" command, which is to iconify the task_window created in which the task is executed. Since the user can examine all output to this window from the Output Log the executing task window generally just clutters up the user's desktop, however as some people like to "watch" the output scroll by (although they will not have a scrollbar within the window) this is configurable. All output generated can be viewed by selecting the proper log-file from within the "Executed Tasks" window which is activated by depressing the "Output" button which appears in the main Flaunch window. Once an executed task is selected the user can view the output log, and even kill the associated process if they determine that something is not as they wish. The Output Log window allows the user to scroll back through ALL output and input which was received by the "terminal task window". The output log is the preferred method for examining all output as the user can leisurely examine the results of all executed tasks.

• Keep Parameter Edit window open after executing?:
  Using this option the user controls if the Parameter Edit window remains open during execution. [Note: This option is only available if flaunch is executed in its "environment" mode.]

• Pause terminal window before deletion?:
  Using this option tells Flaunch that it should "pause" the "terminal task window" (if it is opened and displaying output to the screen) before deleting it after the executed task is complete. The pause will only last for 10 seconds, to allow the user to see the status of execution, i.e., to see if the task exited cleanly. For more information the user is reminded that all output generated and displayed to the "Terminal task window" can be viewed by selecting the proper log-file from within the "Executed Tasks" window which is activated by depressing the "Output" button which appears in the main Flaunch window. Once an executed task is selected the user can view the output log, and even kill the associated process if they determine that something is not as they wish. The Output Log window allows the user to scroll back through ALL output and input which was received by the "terminal task window". The output log is the preferred method for examining all output as the user can leisurely examine the results of all executed tasks.
  

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• Use Netscape to display on-line help?:
  Using this option the user can control which HTML browser to use to examine the on-line Help for Flaunch. The default is to use the Itcl's built in "Hyper-help" utility. Unfortunately, this browser has several serious flaws which can affect some of the links which are present. (The most serious of which is the inability to follow tags within HTML files.) However, Netscape can also be used to browse the on-line help. Netscape fully supports all of the HTML features that are present.

  When Netscape is first spawned within Flaunch, it simply executes Netscape upon the selected HTML file - allowing Netscape to determine if other Netscape processes are executing and displaying the appropriate warning. However, each subsequent call will determine if Netscape is still executing and if so, it will use that window for subsequent HTML help displays.
  

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• Attempt to uncompress files automatically?
  This option allows the user to specify that all file related windows should attempt to uncompress any selected files automatically. Otherwise the files will be returned as is - and left to the associated tool to handle. Note: This will usually result in an ERROR and the tool will abort, since no standard Ftool checks for compression. So it is suggested that the user leave this option set. At present the two windows that will automatically uncompresses selected files before returning them to the calling routine are the "File selection" and "List of Selected Items" windows. The initial setting is to attempt to uncompress all compressed files. Note that this utility uses "gzip" to perform all uncompress operations - thus the user must have "gzip" in their path. Files that end in .gz, .z, or .Z are all allowed, at present gzipped tar-files, and tar-files in general are NOT supported at this time.

• Double-1 in File Selection window calls fv?
  This option allows the user to specify that when the "File selection" window is displayed, if the user clicks the left-most-mouse-button (Button-1) twice then "fv" is activated rather than having the filename returned - which is the default binding for Button-1.

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• Chose a new shell for command execution.
  This causes the Choose a Shell window to be displayed. The user can select a new shell that is used to execute commands entered into the Task Selection window which are not FTOOLS tasks. Thus if a user commonly uses the C-shell and has customized commands in his .cshrc file, he can choose to use the C-shell for executing any commands entered into the "Task Selection" window. The results of these commands will be written to the appropriate log-file. The result of this command is stored in a file $HOME/.flaunch/shell_choice, if this file is removed "sh" is used for all command executions.

• Specify a new log-file directory.
  This command causes the Directory Selection window to be displayed. The user can chose any directory and have all Log files written to that directory. The default is to write them to the users's $HOME/.flaunch directory, but this is over-ridden by using this option. This information is stored in the file $HOME/.flaunch/log_file which is used if it exists. Once this option is set, it can only be changed to another directory by selecting this option again.

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• Reset all options to their initial defaults.
  Note that this does NOT change the previously defined shell, or log-file directories. However, it does restore all displayed "Options" to their default values. To save this the user must explicitly do so by selecting the "save" option.

• Restore options from configuration file.
  This option read the setting from the configuration file which was previously saved - allowing the user to recover from having reinitialized the options to their default settings.

• Save settings to configuration file?
  The final option is not really an "Option" but an action, with the use of this the user can "Save" these setting to an initialization file (.flaunchrc) which Flaunch will use to configure itself to the user's personal preferences.

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  The Help menu:

  If the user selects the Help menu the following list of options will be presented:
  

  
  
  1. About chosen task:
     If the user has selected a task, and opts to receive help about that task using this option, an Extended Help window will appear in which the result of an "fhelp taskname" is performed. [Notice the keyboard bindings that are available in the "flaunch" window, i.e., Ctrl+h will cause the Extended Help window to be displayed, Ctrl+f will cause the "Help" for Flaunch to be displayed, and Ctrl+o will cause a Topic list to appear.]
  2. About flaunch:
     If the user selects this option then a browser is called, this can be either the default Itkwish hyperhelp browser, or Netscape depending on if the user has selected to use Netscape to display the on-line help, in the Options menu. This help describes and explains the usages of flaunch, as well as all of its present abilities. [This us bound to the keyboard option Ctrl+f.]
  3. All topics available:
     This option displays a list of all on-line help information pertaining to flaunch. This is simply a list of all hyper-links available. [Notice that typing Ctrl+a will also cause this window to appear.]

  INDEX

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  Brian K. Elza
  Last modified: Thu Aug 14 14:59:59 EDT