Demobook
is a collection of groups of demos. To bring up this demo using
the default data file, enter
demobook /usr/demos/data/demobook/book.out
Each book contains one or more pages. You can move through the book by turning a single page. The demos are represented by icons on a page. The icon can be either a WorkSpace icon, created with iconsmith, or it can be a small rgb image (rgb images are only useful on machines that do texture mapping). In the alphabetical book, all of the demos are listed alphabetically. All of the other books are completely customizable. The demos can be grouped based on market segment, functionality, or user preference. Each demo has keywords that will eventually be used to group them. A keyword can be anything from a machine feature that this demo illustrates, i.e., texture mapping, to a market segment where this demo is extremely effective.
Customizing the environment is very easy. Adding new demos or books to the book is accomplished by filling out a short form. These are under the Demos and Books Menus. The current book can be deleted by selecting Delete Book from the Book Menu. Demos can be removed from a book by selecting Delete Demo from the Demos Menu. Once a demo environment has been created, it can be saved in a file on the disk. The demobook can also create a tape containing everything needed for this book. It uses the information you provide when adding demos to make sure that the executable and all supporting files are written to tape. This is why it is important to completely fill out the form when adding demos. Currently, the demobook can not parse the command to find out what files are necessary to run the demo. You must provide this information at the bottom of the form.
In order to use the demobook, you have to give it a data file. You
can either do this on the command line,
demobook /usr/demos/data/demobook/book.out
or start up the demobook and then use the Open command under the File Menu. Demobook resides in /usr/demos/bin. The book.out file shipped with demobook is in /usr/demos/data/demobook. We suggest that you keep this file as it was shipped and save your customizations in a different file (Save As under the File Menu). An environment variable $DEMOS is used to specify the demo home directory, such as, /usr/demos. This allows you to load the demos someplace other than /usr/demos. You can also put the demos in any directory on any disk you want and link that directory to /usr/demos.
After demobook starts up, you will see brown shelves. If you have already loaded the data file, you will also see books on the shelves. If you have not loaded the data file, you will see empty shelves. To load a data file, use the Open command under the File Menu.
Demobook is actually a collection of books full of demos. To open a book, click on it with the left mouse button. Now you are watching it flip out from the shelf and open up. If you do not want to watch the book flip out from the shelf, click on it with the middle mouse button. If you want to close the book, select the Close Book command in the Options Menu or click the right mouse button. Use the Zoom Left/Right commands in the Options Menu to zoom in on the left or right pages. While you are zoomed in on a particular page, you can only access demos on that page. The Zoom Out command in the Options Menu will zoom you out when you wish.
Each book contains one or more pages with up to twenty icons. Any page with icons on either side can turn. When you move the cursor over the left or right edges of the open book, if that page can turn, you will notice the cursor shape change and the book edges highlight. Click once with the left mouse button to turn the page. If you do not want to watch the page turn, click once with the middle mouse button.
The icons on the pages are WorkSpace icons, created with iconsmith. If your machine does texture mapping, you may specify small rgb images for the icons. In most books, you can move the icons around on the page by clicking on them with the left mouse button, holding the mouse button down, and dragging the icon to a new position on the page. One of the books on the shelf contains an alphabetical list of all of the demos in all of the books. Icons in this book can not be rearranged on the page.
To start a demo, double click on the icon with the left mouse button. This will make a system(3S) call with the demo command. The system(3S) call sends the demo command to sh(1). The demo command is the text provided in the Command text area when the demo was added to the book.
To add a demo to the book, use the Add Demo command under the Demos Menu. This will bring up the add demo form. You must supply the following:
Click on the Done Button when finished.
When a book is open, one click on an icon selects that icon, making the demo the current demo. The information that demobook stores about this demo can now be edited. Use the Edit Demo Info command under the Demos Menu. This will bring up a form similar to the Add Demo form, but it will be filled in. You can change any of this information. Click on the Done Button when finished.
To delete a demo, select the demo by clicking once on it with the left mouse button, and then choose Delete Demo from the Demos Menu. The demo will be deleted from the book that is open, with one exception. You can not delete a demo in the alphabetical book if the demo is in another book. You will have to find the demo in the other book and delete it from there first.
Add a new book with the Add Book command under the Books Menu. This brings up the add book form, part of which is a blank yellow area. Add demos to the book by dragging them from the main demobook window to the yellow region of the add book window. The icons will be drawn in the yellow part of the window and they will remain in the original place in the demobook window. You can add an unlimited number of demos to a new book. You can also add one demo multiple times. Eventually the icons for the demos will run past the edge of the yellow area of the window. Even though you can no longer see the icons as the demos are added to the book, they are still being added. In the form part of the window, you must provide the following:
Click on the Done Button when finished.
Click once with either the left or middle mouse button on a book on the shelf to open the book. Now it becomes the current book, and can be edited. Use the Edit Book Info command under the Books Menu. This brings up the edit book window. You may add more demos to this book by dragging them from the main demobook window to the yellow area of the window that contains the other icons. You may also change any of the information in the form part of the window. Click on the Done Button when finished.
First make a book the current book by clicking on it with either the left or middle mouse button. Choose Delete Book from the Books Menu. This book will be deleted. The demos that were inside it can still appear in the other books in this demobook.
The index is a list of all of the keywords, demo names, and book names in demobook. Selecting a demo name in the index will show you in which books it is found and what its keywords are. Selecting a book name will display the demos contained in that book.
The demobook can also create a tar tape containing everything needed to recreate this book and run all of the demos in it on the destination machine. It uses the information you provide when adding demos to make sure that the executable and all supporting files are written to tape. This is why it is important to completely fill out the form when adding demos. Currently, the demobook can not parse the command to find out what files are necessary to run the demo. You must provide this information in the Executable and Data Files section of the form.
There are two ways to save a file. Both are under the File Menu. If you choose save, demobook will save its current information over the most recently accessed data file. This could be the file you read when you started the demobook, or the file that you most recently saved. If you choose Save As, you must select Ascii or Binary format, and then demobook will ask you for the name of the file you want to save.
Open -- Opens a book file. Right now, this can only be used when the book is empty.
Append -- Appends a book file to add more books to the shelves.
Save -- Saves the book file into the current file. This is either the file that was read into the book, or the file specified in the most recent Save As command.
Save As -- Lets the user specify a filename before saving the book. Also changes the current file name for the book. After a Save As, the Save command will save the file in the new file name. Binary or Ascii format must be specified.
Create a Tape -- Will write all of the files for Demobook onto the local tape device in tar format.
Quit -- Exits the program. If changes have been made to the data in the book and a file has not been saved, they will be lost.
Add Demo -- Brings up the interface for adding a demo. The user enters the name that will appear under the icon in the book, what would be typed on the command line to start the demo, filenames for the icons (both Workspace icon and a 100 X 100 image file). The user can choose keywords for the demo from the list of keywords that the book already knows, or new ones can be typed into the slot above the list of keywords for this demo. The Next Button on the interface will add the current demo to the book and prepare the interface for the next demo to be added.
Delete Demo -- Deletes the selected demo. A demo can not be removed from the alphabetical book if it is a member of any other book.
Edit Demo Info -- Displays the information for the selected demo in the add demos interface, where it can be edited.
Add Book -- Brings up the window where the user creates a new book by dragging icons from the currently open book in the demobook main window into the yellow area of the add book window. In the form part of the window, the book must be given a title. The title is displayed on the spine of the book. Keywords can be associated with a book. The Next Button on the interface will save the book currently being added and prepare the interface for the next book that will be added.
Delete Book -- Deletes the current book. The current book is the book which is open in the main window.
Edit Book Info -- Brings up the book information window where the entries for the current book can be edited. This is the way to add demos to a book that is already in the demobook.
Show All Demos -- Show All Demos is a toggle which will hide demos whose executable or data files are not present on the system. The icons for these demos will not be shown, but they will still exist in the book. Show All Demos will let you see icons for all of the demos in the book whether or not they will run. Please note, currently there is no mechanism for describing to the Demobook what GL features a demo needs to run. For instance, if flip, which needs a zbuffer to run, and its data files are installed on a system with no zbuffer, they will show up in Demobook even when the user has chosen to not Show All Demos, but when flip runs, it will put up a window that says that it will not run without zbuffer.
Close Book -- Closes the currently open book.
Zoom Left -- Will zoom the view of the book to the left page.
Zoom Right -- Will zoom the view of the book to the right page.
Zoom Out -- Returns to the view of both pages of the book.
Demobook -- Brings up this document.
Demo -- Brings up a document with information about the selected demo.
Book -- Brings up a document with information about the selected book.
Index -- Displays a scrollable list of book names, demo names, and keywords. Selecting a demo name in the index will show you in which books it is found and what its keywords are. Selecting a book name will display the demos contained in that book.
Left Mouse
- Single Click
Selects icons. When an icon is selected, that icon can be
deleted or its information can be edited from the Demo Menu.
Turn the page by clicking on the page edges, if they are
highlighted when the cursor is over them. When all of the
books are closed and on the shelf, open a book by clicking on
it. To close a book, use the Close Book command in the Options
Menu or click the right mouse button. Use the left mouse to
watch the animated motion of the pages turning and the book
flipping out.
Left Mouse
- Double Click
Double click on an icon to run that demo.
Middle Mouse
Use the middle mouse to turn pages without watching the animated
motion. It works just like the left mouse button. Go to the next
page by clicking on the highlighted page edges. Open a book without
watching it flip off the shelf by clicking on it.
Right Mouse
Closes the currently open book.
Text Areas -- When the mouse is over the area, a blinking black cursor will appear and you can type into the text area.
Scrolling Lists -- The scrolling lists are typical Motif scrolling lists with sliders.
There were three main reasons for developing a new demo environment, and the demobook answers all of them. First of all, it is very easy to add new demos to the book and to organize them in a way that makes sense to you, the person who gives the demos. Secondly, the demos are easy to find because you can put them anywhere you want. There is also the index that makes it easy to look up demos. Finally, the demobook will write a tape so that you can build an environment and easily transport it to another machine.
To get started, run demobook in /usr/demos/bin. You can either put the input file name on the command line, or you can use the file menu to open one. The default input file is /usr/demos/data/demobook/book.out. In general, use the left mouse button to click on icons, books, menus, and the page edges. Also see the "Demobook" item under the Help Menu.
While every effort was made to get rid of all of the bugs in the demobook, since it is software, there are still a few in there. Also, there are features that are not yet fully implemented. These release notes are an effort to let you know where the software stands. If you find bugs or have suggestions for improvements to the demobook, please contact Michelle Boyd, (415) 390-5284 or michelle@esd.sgi.com.
When you are adding demos, you must put the name of the executable and any data files that the demo needs to run in the file list at the bottom of the form. This is the only way that the book knows what files to write on a tape. Full path names are best. If you run the demobook from a directory other than /usr/demos/bin, the correct files will be written when you write the tape.
The tape is created on the local tape drive. It is an error if there is no local tape drive. If you do have a local tape drive, you must first put the tape in the tape drive.
Michelle Boyd, (415)390-5284, michelle@esd.sgi.com