Document revision date: 10 November 2000
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Managing DECwindows Motif for OpenVMS Systems


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3.7.3 Using the XSET Utility

Use the XSET utility to query the server directly for parameter settings. Running the XSET utility is a good method to determine the current font path.

The following command shows how to invoke the XSET utility. Before executing this command, make sure you have the correct display selected by using the SET DISPLAY command. See Section 4.1 for more information about showing and setting the display.


$ SET DISPLAY/CREATE/NODE=node_name
$ MCR DECW$UTILS:XSET Q

The following example illustrates a typical display:


Keyboard Control: 
  auto repeat:  on    key click percent:  50    LED mask:  00000000 
  auto repeating keys:  0000000000000000 
                        00000000f0011e20 
                        0ffcfeffff0700d0 
                        ffffffffffffffff 
  bell percent:  50    bell pitch:  400    bell duration:  100 
Pointer Control: 
  acceleration:  7 = 7 / 1    threshold:  3 
Screen Saver: 
  prefer blanking:  no    allow exposures:  no 
  timeout:  600    cycle:  600 
Colors: 
  default colormap:  0x25    BlackPixel:  0    WhitePixel:  1 
Font Path: 
  DECW$FONT: 
Bug Mode: compatibility mode is enabled 


Chapter 4
Using DECwindows

This chapter includes the following information that you can use after DECwindows has started.
Topic Section
Setting the Display Section 4.1
Using the SHOW DISPLAY Command Section 4.1.2
The Login Sequence Section 4.2
Customizing the Session Manager Environment Section 4.3
Creating a Custom Bookreader Directory Section 4.3.1
Changing Your Logo Section 4.3.2
Creating Dedicated Accounts Section 4.3.3
Modifying Session Manager Behavior Section 4.4
Modifying System Resource Files Section 4.5
Customizing Print Formats Section 4.6

4.1 Setting the Display

When a client application starts up, it opens one or more connections to a display server. The display server can be on the local machine or on a remote node. The application needs to tell the underlying toolkit, Intrinsics, or Xlib routines the node name and other connection information. This information is contained in a string called the display name.

The application can explicitly pass the display name to the underlying routines. Usually, though, the application passes a null display name to the underlying routines. When Xlib opens the display, it translates the logical name DECW$DISPLAY to find the display name. If DECW$DISPLAY is undefined, then Xlib translates the logical name SYS$OUTPUT.

The display name can be in one of the following forms. The brackets ([]) represent optional syntax and are not included as part of the display name.


node::server[.screen] 
node:server[.screen] 
WSAn: 
node Specifies the name of the node on which the display server is running. If the node name is followed by two colons, then Xlib uses the DECnet transport to establish the connection to the display server.

If the node name is followed by one colon, then Xlib will use the TCP/IP transport. Note that the single-colon syntax is not supported in versions of DECwindows earlier than DECwindows Motif Version 1.2 for OpenVMS.

server Specifies the (decimal) number of the display server on the host machine. A single CPU can have more than one display. Multiple displays are usually numbered starting with zero.
screen Optional. Specifies, as a decimal number, the screen to be used on that server. A single server can display on multiple screens, and screens are numbered starting with zero.
WSA n: Specifies the device name of a WS device that contains the transport, node, server number, and screen number.

Normally, the display is either inherited from a parent process or specified using the DCL command SET DISPLAY. The SET DISPLAY command creates or modifies a WSAn: device and sets the transport, node name, server number, and screen number.

SET DISPLAY also defines the DECW$DISPLAY logical name to point to this device. When Xlib sees that DECW$DISPLAY points to a WSAn: device, Xlib reads the transport, node name, and other information just as if the application had specified them explicitly.

4.1.1 Examples for Setting the Display

The following examples illustrate several methods to set the display.

Example 1

Either of the following two command sequences can be used to run the Clock application displaying to node DOG using the default server and screen numbers and using the DECnet transport.


$ DEFINE DECW$DISPLAY DOG::0
$ RUN SYS$SYSTEM:DECW$CLOCK


$ SET DISPLAY/CREATE/NODE=DOG
$ RUN SYS$SYSTEM:DECW$CLOCK

Note that in the SET DISPLAY command the transport defaults to DECnet, and the server and screen numbers both default to zero. The /CREATE qualifier means that a new WSAn: device will be created.

Example 2

Either of the following two command sequences can be used to run the Clock application on node DOG using screen 1 and using the TCP/IP transport:


$ DEFINE DECW$DISPLAY DOG:0.1
$ RUN SYS$SYSTEM:DECW$CLOCK


$ SET DISPLAY/TRANSPORT=TCPIP/SCREEN=1
$ RUN SYS$SYSTEM:DECW$CLOCK

The SET DISPLAY command assumes that the WSAn: device has already been created and the node name has been set to DOG.

Example 3

The following example runs Clock in a detached process and displays the output on the local workstation display:


$ SET DISPLAY/CREATE/TRANSPORT=LOCAL   
$ RUN/DETACH/OUTPUT='F$TRNLNM("DECW$DISPLAY")' -
_$ SYS$SYSTEM:DECW$CLOCK

This method takes advantage of the fact that Xlib translates the logical name SYS$OUTPUT to find the display name if DECW$DISPLAY is undefined. Xlib creates a WSAn: device using the SET DISPLAY command and then translates the DECW$DISPLAY logical name to find the device name of the WS device. Xlib passes this device name as the SYS$OUTPUT of the detached process.

The WS device is similar to the NL device in that QIO reads from the device return end-of-file and QIO writes to the device are ignored.

Example 4

A somewhat more complicated implementation of Example 3 takes advantage of a feature of LOGINOUT.EXE.

If SYS$ERROR points to a WS device, LOGINOUT defines DECW$DISPLAY to be the translation of SYS$ERROR and then redefines SYS$ERROR to be the translation of SYS$OUTPUT. This allows error messages from the detached process to be written to a log file.


$ SET DISPLAY/CREATE/TRANSPORT=LOCAL
$ CREATE TEST.COM
$ RUN SYS$SYSTEM:DECW$CLOCK
$ RUN/DETACH/ERROR='F$TRNLNM("DECW$DISPLAY")' -
_$ /INPUT=TEST.COM/OUTPUT=TEST.LOG -
_$ SYS$SYSTEM:LOGINOUT

4.1.2 Using the SHOW DISPLAY Command

You can display information from a WS device by using the SHOW DISPLAY command. Example 1 shows the command sequence.

Example 1


$ SET DISPLAY/CREATE
$ SHOW DISPLAY


Device:    WSA9:  [super] 
Node:      0 
Transport: DECNET 
Server:    0 
Screen:    0 

You can use the /SYMBOL qualifier to allow the information from the SHOW DISPLAY command to be stored in DCL symbols, as shown in Example 2.

Example 2


$ SHOW DISPLAY/SYMBOL
$ SHOW SYMBOL DECW$*


DECW$DISPLAY_NODE == "0" 
DECW$DISPLAY_SCREEN == "0" 
DECW$DISPLAY_SERVER == "0" 
DECW$DISPLAY_TRANSPORT == "DECNET" 

In Example 1, WSA9: was created in supervisor mode.

A user with SYSNAM privilege can also create a display in executive mode. A supervisor-mode WS device is deleted when the last channel to it is deassigned, and when the creating process is logged out. However, an executive-mode WS device is not deleted unless the user explicitly deletes it with the SET DISPLAY/DELETE command.

Example 3 shows how a user with SYSNAM privilege can create a WS device in executive mode.

Example 3


$ SET DISPLAY/CREATE/EXEC
$ SHOW DISPLAY


      Device:    WSA10:  [exec] 
      Node:      0 
      Transport: DECNET 
      Server:    0 
      Screen:    0 

When DECwindows is started after a system reboot, the command procedure DECW$STARTAPPS.COM creates an executive mode WS device (initially WSA1:), which is passed to the DECwindows login procedure to create the Start Session display. When the user logs in, this same WS device is used to create Session Manager.

When Session Manager starts an application, the WS device is passed to the application using the DECW$DISPLAY mechanisms described in Section 4.1. An example of this is a DECTERM window created from Session Manager (assuming that no SET DISPLAY commands have been issued in that window).

Note that a DECwindows application started from that DECTERM window displays on the local node without the user having to issue a SET DISPLAY command.

4.2 The Login Sequence

This section describes the DECwindows login process that begins when the Start Session dialog box appears to after Session Manager starts.

When you enter a correct user name and password in the Start Session dialog box, the following events occur:

  1. LOGINOUT.EXE calls routines within DECW$LOGINOUT.EXE to perform the following functions:
    1. Checks the DW-MOTIF license to verify that the system is licensed to open connections to the display server. If not, DECW$LOGINOUT.EXE displays a warning message, restarts itself, and exits. A new Start Session dialog box displays.
    2. Changes the input pointer to a watch cursor.
    3. Modifies the security list to allow you to run applications that connect to the display server.
    4. Starts a process that executes DECW$WAITFORSM.EXE, which holds a connection to the server during the startup process.
    5. Sets the process name to DECW$SESSION.
    6. Intializes the Start Session process's accumulated CPU time to zero so that the user process is not charged for time spent displaying the Start Session dialog box.
    7. Passes SYS$MANAGER:DECW$STARTSM.COM as the command procedure that DCL executes.
    8. Exits. DCL takes control of the process.
  2. SYS$MANAGER:DECW$STARTSM.COM executes as Session Manager's default DCL command procedure. It performs the following functions:
    1. If the logical name DECW$SM_WSQUOTA is defined, sets the Session Manager process's working set quota to the value of the logical name.
    2. Executes the system login command procedure as determined by the SYS$SYLOGIN logical name. By default, this is SYLOGIN.COM.
    3. If you did not specify /NOCOMMAND after the user name in the Start Session dialog box, executes your LOGIN.COM (or other login command procedure as specified in the UAF record). You can redefine the DECW$USER_DEFAULTS logical name in your LOGIN.COM to change the directory that is used for your resource files.
    4. Executes SYS$SYSTEM:DECW$WSINIT.EXE to read your workstation customization files. This program opens a connection to the display server and makes Xlib calls to apply your customizations, setting the screen background, pointer shape and color, and other workstation settings. It also creates a property on the root window to communicate your customizations to DECwindows applications that are started later.

      Note

      If you are logging in to a DECwindows Motif system for the first time after having used the XUI version of DECwindows, DECW$WSINIT.EXE will read your XUI resource files and convert them to DECwindows Motif format.
    5. Executes SYS$MANAGER:DECW$SYLOGIN.COM, if it exists.
    6. Executes SYS$LOGIN:DECW$LOGIN.COM, if it exists.
    7. Runs SYS$SYSTEM:DECW$SESSION.EXE to start Session Manager.

4.3 Customizing the Session Manager Environment

DECwindows Motif provides a template file that you can modify to customize the login sequence. The file is named:


SYS$MANAGER:DECW$PRIVATE_APPS_SETUP.TEMPLATE 

By using this file, you can modify the client areas listed in Table 4-1.

Table 4-1 Client Areas That Can Be Modified
Client Area Global Symbol Default
Directory used by Bookreader to find online books DECW$BOOK SYS$SYSROOT:[DECW$BOOK]
Directory for FileView command files VUE$LIBRARY DECW$SYSCOMMON: [VUE$LIBRARY.USER], DECW$SYSCOMMON: [VUE$LIBRARY.SYSTEM]
Directory for keymap files DECW$KEYMAP DECW$SYSCOMMON: [SYS$KEYMAP.DECW.USER], DECW$SYSCOMMON: [SYS$KEYMAP.DECW.SYSTEM]
Directory for DECwindows example programs DECW$EXAMPLES SYS$SYSROOT:[SYSHLP.EXAMPLES.DECW]
Directory for XDPS example programs XDPS$EXAMPLES SYS$SYSROOT:[SYSHLP.EXAMPLES.XDPS]
DCL command executed when DECwindows startup is complete DECW$MAINAPP Run SYS$SYSTEM:DECW$STARTLOGIN
Login logo DECW$LOGINLOGO None
Parameters to the SET DISPLAY command DECW$APPSNODE
DECW$APPSSERVER
DECW$APPSSCREEN
Node 0
Server 0
Screen 0
Command procedure that runs after user authorization is complete DECW$SESSIONCOM SYS$MANAGER:DECW$STARTSM.COM
DECwindows SYLOGIN command procedure DECW$SYLOGINCOM None
Command that initializes the workstation with the correct user resource values DECW$SESSIONINIT Run SYS$SYSTEM:DECW$WSINIT
Command that runs a session DECW$SESSIONMAIN Run SYS$SYSTEM:DECW$SESSION
Command that resets a session DECW$SESSIONEND None
Log file for DECwindows LOGINOUT DECW$LOGINLOG None
Use of multiple connections during loginout DECW$LOGINMANY False
Log file for Session Manager can be turned off DECW$SESSIONLOG Log file on
Directory for computer-based instruction files DECW$CBI SYS$SYSROOT:[SYSCBI.DECW$CBI]
Directory where FileView creates public profile files VUE$LIBRARY_WRITE SYS$COMMON:[VUE$LIBRARY.USER]
Directory for utilities DECW$UTILS SYS$SYSROOT:[SYSHLP. EXAMPLES.DECW.UTILS]
Login logo can be run in a subprocess DECW$LOGINLOGOSUB False (detached process)
Define logical names for UNIX compatibility DECW$UNIXLOGICALS True
Require login or pause to perform snapshot DECW$SNAPSHOT_SECURITY True

To customize any of these areas, copy the SYS$MANAGER: DECW$PRIVATE_APPS_SETUP.TEMPLATE file to SYS$MANAGER: DECW$PRIVATE_APPS_SETUP.COM, as in the following example:


$ COPY SYS$COMMON:[SYSMGR]DECW$PRIVATE_APPS_SETUP.TEMPLATE -
_$ SYS$COMMON:[SYSMGR]DECW$PRIVATE_APPS_SETUP.COM/LOG

Then edit the file to change the appropriate symbol.

The remaining sections in this chapter contain examples for customizing the DECwindows client environment using the template file.

This file contains two sections, a Cluster Common section, and a Cluster Member Workstation-Specific section. Add the new symbol to the appropriate section.

4.3.1 Creating a Custom Bookreader Directory

When you start Bookreader, the system uses the logical name DECW$BOOK to locate the file LIBRARY.DECW$BOOKSHELF. By default, the logical name DECW$BOOK equates to SYS$SYSROOT:[DECW$BOOK]. You can create a private directory containing the file LIBRARY.DECW$BOOKSHELF.

To do this, you need to create the directory and then define a global symbol in the DECW$PRIVATE_APPS_SETUP.COM file.

To create a private Bookreader directory called SYS$COMMON: [DECW$BOOK_LOCAL], you need to:

  1. Create the directory, giving the world read access as in the following example:


    $ CREATE/DIRECTORY/PROTECTION=WORLD:R -
    _$ SYS$COMMON:[DECW$BOOK_LOCAL]
    

  2. Copy the Bookreader LIBRARY.DECW$BOOKSHELF file to the new directory.


    $ COPY SYS$SYSROOT:[DECW$BOOK]LIBRARY.DECW$BOOKSHELF -
    _$ SYS$COMMON:[DECW$BOOK_LOCAL]/LOG
    

  3. If the SYS$MANAGER directory does not contain the DECW$PRIVATE_APPS_SETUP.COM command file, copy the template file to a command file.


    $ COPY SYS$MANAGER:DECW$PRIVATE_APPS_SETUP.TEMPLATE -
    _$ SYS$MANAGER:DECW$PRIVATE_APPS_SETUP.COM/LOG
    

  4. Edit the file and define the global symbol DECW$BOOK to point to your personal Bookreader directory.
    Add the following line:


    $ DECW$BOOK == "SYS$COMMON:[DECW$BOOK_LOCAL]"
    

  5. Restart DECwindows Motif using the following command:


    $ @SYS$MANAGER:DECW$STARTUP RESTART
    


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