Look in $OPENWINHOME/lib (normally /usr/openwin/lib) for the file openwin-menu and other files of the form openwin-menu-*. Copy these files into your home directory with a period in front of them. For example, copy openwin-menu as .openwin-menu.

The .openwin-menu file is used to set up your workspace menu. Look at Listing 24.2 for this file.

#

# @(#)openwin-menu      23.15 91/09/14 openwin-menu

#

#     OpenWindows default root menu file - top level menu

#



"Workspace" TITLE



"Shells " MENU          $OPENWINHOME/lib/openwin-menu-s



"Editors " MENU         $OPENWINHOME/lib/openwin-menu-e



"Tools " MENU           $OPENWINHOME/lib/openwin-menu-t



"Games " MENU           $OPENWINHOME/lib/openwin-menu-g



"Utilities " MENU       $OPENWINHOME/lib/openwin-menu-u



#"Slingshot Examples " MENU   $OPENWINHOME/lib/openwin-ss-ex

#

#"UIT Examples " MENU   $OPENWINHOME/lib/openwin-uit



"Properties "           PROPERTIES



SEPARATOR

"X11 Programs "         DIRMENU     /usr/X386/bin



"XView Programs " DIRMENU     $OPENWINHOME/bin

"XV 3.00"         exec /usr/X386/bin/xv



"Window Menu "    WINMENU



SEPARATOR



"Screensaver " MENU     $OPENWINHOME/lib/openwin-menu-screensave



"Lock Screen " MENU     $OPENWINHOME/lib/openwin-menu-xlock

"Exit"            EXIT

Let's look at some of the entries in this .openwin-menu file.

• The # signs mark lines as comments.

• The line "Workspace" TITLE defines the name of the menu.

• The next line defines "Shells " as a menu located in a file $OPENWINHOME/lib /openwin-menu-s.

• The "XV 3.00" entry executes the command /usr/X386/bin/xv via the exec command.

• The "Window Menu " entry invokes a special entry for selecting windows via a WINMENU type of window.

• The "XView Programs " entry uses a type DIRMENU to list all the files in $OPENWINHOME/bin.

• The SEPARATOR type draws an empty box at its position.

You can now use different files for customizing your menus differently by adding or deleting items to this file.

The menu specification language has a number of keywords, all of which are in all-uppercase letters.

The syntax for this file is straightforward. Each line typically specifies one menu button. There are three fields per each uncommented line. The first field defines a label, an optional keyword, and an action to take if the item is selected.

The label is either a single word or a string enclosed in double quotes. This string appears in the menu button. If the optional keyword DEFAULT appears next, this menu item becomes the default item for this menu. The rest of the line (excluding leading whitespace) is considered to be a command. It is executed by sending it to bash. Any shell metacharacters are passed through to the shell unchanged.

The command field can be extended onto the next line by placing a backslash (\) at the end of the line. The newline will not be embedded in the command.

A submenu is specified using the special keyword MENU in place of a command. A button is added to the current menu, and clicking or pulling right on this button brings up the submenu. Subsequent lines in the menu file define buttons for the submenu, until a line that has the special keyword END in the command field is encountered. The label of the MENU line must match the label on the END line; otherwise an error is signaled.

Submenus can be nested arbitrarily, bracketed by MENU and END lines with matching labels.

Submenus can be defined in a different file using either the MENU or the INCLUDE keyword. To include a submenu from another file, use a line with a label, either the MENU or the INCLUDE keyword, and then the filename. The file so named is assumed to contain lines that specify menu buttons. The submenu file need not have any MENU or END lines (unless it has submenus itself). The current file need not have a matching END line if the submenu is read from another file. Submenu files included with the MENU keyword are considered to be an integral part of the menu tree, and any error encountered during the reading of the file will cause the entire menu to be considered invalid. A submenu file included with the INCLUDE keyword is considered optional, and any error encountered during reading of the file is not considered fatal. If an error occurs during INCLUDE processing, a disabled (grayed-out) item is inserted in place of the submenu and processing of the current menu file continues.

To make a submenu pinnable, add the special keyword PIN after the END keyword on the line that ends the submenu definition, or after the TITLE directive (I'll discuss that in a minute).

By default, the label in a menu button is used as the title of the submenu.

You can override this default by specifying a line that has the special keyword TITLE in the command field. The label from this line is used as the submenu's title. This line can appear anywhere in the submenu definition.

This action does not add an item to the menu. In addition, if the PIN keyword follows the TITLE keyword on this line, the submenu is made pinnable.

This construct is useful for declaring a submenu defined in a separate file as pinnable.

A line containing only the keyword SEPARATOR adds extra space before the next item.

Table 24.1 lists keywords that can be used in the command field of a menu item. They specify functions that are internal to olwm and that are not invoked by running a shell.

olvwm is a window manager with a virtual desktop. You use the olvwm command to invoke this window manager. Change olwm to olvwm in your .xinitrc file.

olvwm is a virtual window manager for the X Window system that implements parts of the OPEN LOOK graphical user interface. olvwm differs from olwm in that olvwm manages a virtual desktop that is larger than the actual screen.

When it is started, olvwm displays a Virtual Desktop Manager (VDM) window. The VDM is the window that provides a scaled-down version of the entire desktop.

If the desktop is running in default mode, it displays a grid, each square of which maps to the size of the monitor. Each square is termed a logical screen.

The current view is that part of the desktop that is currently displayed on the screen. A virtual window is a small rectangle displayed in the VDM. Every window on the desktop has a corresponding virtual window in the VDM.

The VDM always appears on the screen. (See Figure 24.7.)

By default, the VDM (and hence the desktop) is divided into a grid. Each square of the grid represents a screen size. The dividing lines between each logical screen are represented by dashed lines in the VDM. This division into logical screens is purely informational. If you like, windows can straddle these boundaries, the current view into the desktop can straddle them also, and windows can be moved at will between them. However, by default, most actions in the VDM keep the current view along these boundary lines.

You can use the resize corners on the VDM to resize the virtual desktop. If you make the virtual desktop smaller, windows that might be off the new virtual desktop are not moved (though they are not lost, either, because you can get them back by resizing the desktop again). Space added or subtracted is always done so from the right and bottom of the desktop (regardless of which resize corner you used).

Events that occur in a particular virtual window behave just as if they were delivered to the corresponding application's frame. Thus, pressing the MENU button over a virtual window brings up the Frame menu and enables the real (and virtual) windows to be opened, closed, resized, and so on.

Pressing the SELECT button selects that real (and virtual) window. Pressing the ADJUST button adds (or subtracts) that window from the selection list.

SELECTing and dragging one or more virtual windows moves the real and virtual windows (just as in olwm). Note that if you drag the mouse outside of the VDM, the window can be moved onto to the screen. Conversely, when dragging a window on the screen, if the mouse moves into the VDM the window's icon moves to another location within the VDM. However, if part of the VDM is obscured, you cannot move a window into that part of the VDM.

It is possible to drop something onto a virtual window as if it were dropped onto the corresponding application. This enables you to drag a file from one window on the screen to another application on another part of the desktop.

Double-clicking the SELECT button on an area in the VDM background moves the current view to the logical screen containing the point where the mouse was double-clicked.

The MENU button brings up a (pinnable) menu that enables movement based on full screen sizes in the direction indicated. (See Figure 24.8.)

You'll notice that the Virtual Desktop Manager never moves on your screen if you change views into the desktop. That's because the VDM is permanently sticky.

Windows that are sticky never move position on the screen when you change your view into the desktop. To set a particular window as sticky, simply select Stick in its Frame menu. You may similarly unstick the window via its menu.

Menus for base windows include the Stick and Unstick commands.

Windows that are sticky always appear in the same place on the screen no matter which part of the virtual desktop you're viewing. Windows that are not sticky (by default, all windows except the VDM) move when you change the current view on the virtual desktop.

Like olwm, olvwm uses key bindings for certain actions. All actions are specified in olwm as well as an additional set of actions to control the view into the desktop. You can use the function keys F1 through F9 with the Alt key to switch virtual screens.

You can customize OpenWindows using resources. Resources affect the behavior of applications in olwm. Global resources in olwm consist of two resource components:

• The resource name is taken from the trailing pathname component of argv[0]. This value is typically olwm.

• The second resource component names the global attribute being set.

Thus, to set the AutoColorFocus attribute, one would use olwm.AutoColorFocus as the resource specification in .Xdefaults. olvwm will read a resource file ($HOME/.olvwmrc) for your resources.

olwm automatically picks up changes to many of these resources if the resource database changes at runtime. You can modify olwm's behavior by changing the resource database with xrdb or with Workspace Properties.

If a resource value is specified on olwm's command line, it overrides the value in the resource database. Therefore, changing the resource's value in the database has no effect on this resource setting.

Some customizations include the following:

Hot Keys	You can specify that when a certain key (or, more likely, a key in combination with modifiers) is pressed, certain actions are performed. You can warp to a particular application, and open, raise, close, execute, and quit applications.
Screen Bindings	You can specify that certain applications will always start on a particular logical screen.
Menu Options	You can alter the behavior of WINMENU selections on a particular window.

More resources are listed in the man pages for olwm, olvwmrc, and olvwm.

In general, the editing/moving commands go in the opposite direction when shifted--that is, Ctrl-W deletes a word, and Ctrl-Shift-W deletes the word to the right of the insertion point.

Alt-i - include file        Alt-f - find selection (forward/backward)



Ctrl-a - start of line      Ctrl-< - back word

Ctrl-e - end of line        Ctrl-> - forward word

Ctrl-w - delete word        Ctrl-u - delete to start/END of line

Ctrl-Return - move to end/START of document

See the olwm and olvwm man pages for a list of some of the default keys.

You can and paste between XTerm and other OpenWindows programs. I will use textedit as a sample program.

To go from XTerm to textedit (for this example):

1. Select the text you want to copy by dragging the SELECT mouse button in Xterm.

2. Press COPY in the XTerm (this key is Alt-C).

3. Move to the textedit window, and press PASTE (Alt-V).

To go the other way, from textedit to XTerm:

1. Select the text in textedit. No need to use COPY.

2. Move to the XTerm window and press the middle mouse button.

(If you have a two-button mouse, press both left and right buttons together.)

For Quick Copy within textedit, mailtool, and similar programs:

1. Click SELECT to get a text caret where you want the copied text to go.

2. Press and hold down the PASTE (or CUT) button.

3. Select the text you want to copy/move. You'll see that it's underlined or crossed out--or even a different color.

4. Let go of the PASTE (or CUT) button. The text you underlined or crossed out appears at the insert caret.

To drag-and-drop to move a selection, follow these steps:

1. Select the text you want to copy or move by dragging or multiple-clicking the SELECT or ADJUST mouse button.

2. Put the mouse pointer anywhere within the selection.

3. Press and hold down the SELECT mouse button and move the mouse pointer a little to the right. You'll see the cursor change into the first three letters of the text (or some other icon).

4. Still holding down the SELECT button, move the mouse over the point where you want to drop the text.

5. You may see the mouse pointer change to a rifle sight or target, to show that it's OK to drop things there.

6. Release SELECT and the text is moved. This works in text fields of dialog boxes as well as in text subwindows.

You can configure OPEN LOOK for a left-handed mouse and keyboard. Use xmodmap to change the mouse buttons. Type man 7 XView for a list of key bindings you can change, at least for XView programs.

With OpenWindows 2.0, you can use defaultsedit to set the mouse mappings and then let SunView handle them. The status returned by svenv should tell you whether your server is running under SunView; put this in your .xinitrc:

if eval `svenv -env`

then

      xmodmap -e "pointer = 1 2 3"

      input_from_defaults

else

      xmodmap -e "pointer = 3 2 1"



fi

Here are some solutions to problems you might have:

• If man doesn't seem to find OpenWindows commands, even though you are running OpenWindows, try setting the MANPATH environment variable:

MANPATH=$OPENWINHOME/share/man:/usr/man; export MANPATH

or

setenv MANPATH $OPENWINHOME/share/man:/usr/man

for csh users. $OPENWINHOME should be /usr/openwin on most systems. Set your path so that $OPENWINHOME/bin (and $OPENWIN/bin/XView for OpenWindows 2) come before /bin (or /usr/bin, they're the same), or you'll get the SunView versions of mailtool, cmdtool, shelltool, and so on.

• Dropped characters when you type into applications.

  In this case, include the following lines in your .Xdefaults file, as these enable non-ICCCM-compliant programs to receive input even if they forget to ask for it.

OpenWindows.FocusLenience:    true

*Input: TRUE

• CUT and PASTE just do not work. Add the following either to your $HOME/.Xdefaults file or to $OPENWINHOME/lib/app-defaults/XTerm instead:

XTerm*VT100.Translations: #override \

<Key>L6:select-set(CLIPBOARD)\n\

<Key>L8:insert-selection(CLIPBOARD)

If this text is already in the app-defaults file, so if it isn't working, check that XFILESEARCHPATH is set to this:

/usr/openwin/lib/%T/%N%S

If it isn't, either set it or copy/merge these lines from $OPENWINHOME/lib/app- defaults/XTerm into /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/XTerm.
This version automatically puts each xterm selection onto the Clipboard:

XTerm*VT100.translations: #override\n\

~Ctrl ~Meta<Btn2Up>: insert-selection(PRIMARY,CUT_BUFFER0)\n\

~Ctrl ~Meta<BtnUp>: select-end(PRIMARY,CUT_BUFFER0,CLIPBOARD)\n\

<KeyPress>L8: insert-selection(CLIPBOARD)

• If you get error messages that look like the lines

Xlib:  connection to ":0.0" refused by server

Xlib:  Internal error during connection authorization check

Error: Can't Open display

try the command xhost-machine, where machine is the computer on which you ran the command that failed.
If you want to let other users run programs on the same machine as you, using your display, you have to type the command xhost +'hostname', which lets any user on 'hostname' access your display.

• Your screen flashes between applications. This is because most hardware can only display a few colors at a time. Try the following steps:

1. Start all the applications with colors that you wish to reserve.

2. Run cmap_compact save to create the .owcolors file.

3. Put the line cmap_compact init near the start of your I start-up file (.xinitrc).

4. Exit and then restart the window system.

5. cmap_compact init pushes those .owcolors colors to the end of the colormap and reserves them.

Also note that Ctrl-L2 locks the colors of the current window, and Ctrl-L4 unlocks them--this is described in the olwm man page.

See the X*.faq in the /usr/docs/faq directory for detailed information on problems specific to different platforms. The FAQ file can be give you a lot of information about Linux and what problems to expect.

XView for Linux uses the following environment variables:

• DISPLAY The name of the X Window display to use :0.0 (on the local machine, the one actually running X11 or xnews) :0.1 (on some machines for a second, monochrome screen) machine-running-unix:0.0 (on other machines). (You may need to do xhost +other-machine to let programs on other machines use your display.)

• HELPPATH Where XView looks when you press the Help key (or F1): /usr/openwin/lib/locale:/usr/openwin/lib/help.

• LD_LIBRARY_PATH Is set to find shared C libraries. It is usually defaulted to this value:

     /usr/lib:/usr/5lib:/usr/openwin/lib:/usr/CC/`arch`

• OPENWINHOME Where OpenWindows lives (/usr/openwin).

• PATH Where the shell searches for programs to run.

  Include this line in it:

$(OPENWINHOME)/bin:$(OPENWINHOME)/bin/xview

• XFILESEARCHPATH Where programs look for app-defaults files (/usr/openwin/lib/%T/%N%S). This is usually set to: $OPENWINHOME/lib/%T/%N%S:/usr/lib/X11/%T/%N%S.

If you work with Sun Microsystems Sun Workstations, then the olwm and olvwm managers should make life easier for you. If you want to make life even easier, you can map the function keys to reflect that of Sun Workstations. To do this, you have to modify the .Xmodmap file in your home directory. If you do not have a .Xmodmap file, you can create one with a text editor.

The best place to look is in the man pages for xmodmap. The man pages are full of examples, some of which I will describe briefly here. For issues specific to your setting, read the man pages.

A typical .Xmodmap file will look like this:

keysym F1 = xman

keysym F2 = F19

keysym F3 = F20

keysym F4 = F16

keysym F5 = F18

The Undo button is ominously absent from the .Xmodmap entries. To get this entry, add the following line. (The text after the ! is a comment and ignored by X.)

keysym F6 = F14  ! The undo button.

For example, if you hate the location of the Shift and Control keys on your PC, you can swap the location. Simply put these lines in your .Xmodmap file:

remove Lock = Caps_Lock

remove Control = Control_L

keysym Control_L = Caps_Lock

keysym Caps_Lock = Control_L

add Lock = Caps_Lock

add Control = Control_L

You can also assign the meta key to a function key using this line:

keysym F9 = Meta_L 

Finally, when you have made your changes, you have to tell the server to use them. It's too cumbersome to shut down the window manager and restart it. Instead, you can use the rdb command:

$ xrdb .Xdefaults 

You can also invoke specific settings from the command line using xmodmap. For example, type the following line:

$ xmodmap -e "keysym F9=Meta_L"

Modifying the .Xmodmap file is better in that the changes are preserved for future sessions.

XView 3.0 is available at http://www.yggdrasil.com/ and http://tsx-11.mit.edu/pub/linux if you want to upgrade the CD-ROM version.

OpenWindows can be obtained from Sun, or you can get the source from Interactive Systems, Inc. It is also included in some vendors' System V Release 4 implementations, although that's not always the latest version.

Sun includes OpenWindows with SunOS, and it is also included as the windowing system for Solaris.

There are said (by Sun) to be more than 35 ports of OpenWindows either available now or in progress. Unfortunately, none of them seems to be available from anywhere.

Nabajyoti Barkakati gives an excellent introduction to X and to OLIT programming, as well as setting up and using X and OpenWindows, in UNIX" Desktop Guide to OPEN LOOK,

Sams Publishing, 1992, ISBN 0-672-30023-0

The OPEN LOOK Graphical Interface is documented in two books: Sun Microsystems, Inc., OPEN LOOK Graphical User Interface Application Style Guidelines, Addison Wesley, 1989.

Sun Microsystems, Inc., OPEN LOOK Graphical User Interface Functional Specification, Addison Wesley, 1989.

David Miller describes programming with OLIT in his book, An OPEN LOOK at UNIX (M&T Press).

You could also try The X Window System: Programming and Applications with Xt, OPEN LOOK Edition, by Doug Young and John Pew (Prentice Hall, 1992, ISBN 0-13-982992-X).

Sun Microsystems supplies a large amount of documentation with OpenWindows, although you may have to order it separately. The following list shows what I have; they are each 8.5x11 and vary from about 1 to 2 inches thick. They say "User's Guide" or "Programmer's Guide" on the front cover. The user manuals have a red stripe on the bottom, and the programmer versions have a green stripe:

800-6006-10	OpenWindows Version 3 Release Manual
800-6029-10	OpenWindows Version 3 Installation and Start-Up Guide
800-6231-10	OpenWindows Version 3 DeskSet Reference Guide
800-6618-10	OpenWindows Version 3 User's Guide
800-6323-10	Desktop Integration Guid
800-6027-10	Programmer's Guide
800-6005-10	OpenWindows Version 3 Reference Manual (the man pages)
800-6319-10	The NeWS Toolkit 3.0 Reference Manual
800-6736-10	NeWS 3.0 Programming Guide
800-6055-10	OLIT 3.0 Widget Set Reference Manual
800-6198-10	XView 3.0 Reference Manual: Converting SunView Applications
800-6854-10	F3 Font Format Specification (order separately)

Sun's AnswerBook CD-ROM contains much of this documentation and can prove to be a valuable source of information if you intend to port applications to Sun Workstations.

Here is what you should remember from this chapter on OPEN LOOK:

• XView is the OPEN LOOK GUI interface for Linux and is also referred to as OpenWindows. All three terms (XView, OPEN LOOK, and OpenWindows) are used interchangeably, but really refer to the same windowing interface.

• OPEN LOOK is not Motif. Not only are the window decorations different--the terminology used to convey actions is also different. (For example, Close in Motif generally kills an application and its window, whereas Close in OPEN LOOK iconifies a window.)

• You can use two types of OPEN LOOK window managers: olwm and olvwm. The olwm is the base OPEN LOOK window manager and the olvwm extends olwm by providing many virtual screens for your desktop.

• You can use the .Xdefaults files with the olwm keyword to set resources for your applications under olwm. See the man pages for olwm and olvwm for details on all resources for your distribution.

• You can get more information from Sun Microsystems about OPEN LOOK.

• Most OPEN LOOK menus offer a feature that enables you to pin a menu onto your desktop. You must either unpin this menu, or kill its underlying application, to get rid of it.

• On the Virtual Desktop Manager (VDM), you can stick windows on your screen regardless of your virtual desktop by using the Stick/Unstick selection on the Applications menu. All dialog boxes with that menu will stick with it, too.

• XView applications enable you to have drag-and-drop capabilities. For example, with the File Manager application you can manage files and directories by dragging them around with the mouse.

• Standard Motif applications should run under XView. XView applications should also run under Motif if you have the shared libraries in your path.

• You can customize dialog box menus to include all executables files in a directory. Check the openwin-menu file for examples.