Brief Introduction to OpenWindows

The window currently receiving input has keyboard focus. You can specify which window has keyboard focus by moving the pointer to the appropriate windows. You can reopen an icon (into a window) by moving the mouse onto the icon and double-clicking the mouse button.

Window Manager

The window manager provides menus and mechanisms for controlling windows.

The main menu in a windowing system is the root or workspace menu. It can be found by clicking the MENU button (right mouse button) over the workspace (or background) area of the screen.

The arrows next to the Programs and Utilities options indicate that are further choices available by menu with this selection. The pushpin in the upper left hand corner is used to stick the window to the workspace. To unstick it, click the left mouse button over the pushpin.

The other most common menu is the window menu. It can be found in most window applications and is used to control the window. To access the window menu, position the mouse pointer over the title bar and click the menu button.

The window menu includes the following options:

Close           Close the window to an icon
Full Size       Expand the window to the full length of the screen.
Move            Move the window to a new location. (must drag it with
                select button)
Resize          Resize the window. (Use select button to expand/contract
                window.)
Back            Move the window under any other windows that may overlap it.
Stick           Keeps the application in view as you change screens
                (in olwvm).
Refresh         Clear and redisplay the window.
Quit            Kill any programs running in the window and remove the
                window.

A selection which is grayed out indicates an option that is unavailable at this time. Some options are toggle switches which will change as you select their opposite. (For example, Full size will change to Restore size so that you change the window back to it's previous size.)

Getting Help

An tutorial which will show you how to use the OpenWindows and Desktop environment is also available. To view the tutorial click on the Desktop Intro button in the Workspace menu.

The Sun Manuals are available on line via the answerbook command. Included in the manual sets are the OpenWindows manuals. To start up answerbook, right-click over the Programs option of the Workspace Menu and select Answerbook.

OpenWindows Tools

Command Tool

There are two primary features which will be highlighted here: command entry and the built-in editor. The primary purpose of the Command Tool is to enter Unix commands. To facilitate this the window always displays a Unix prompt as the last line in the text window. When you type characters, they will appear on that line. Note that the insertion point is always at some point on the command line. When you press the Return key whatever is entered on the line is passed to Unix for processing. However, there are a couple of mechanisms for making command entry easier. First, the command line can be edited using the mouse to move the insertion point in the line or to select a portion of the line. This type of command line editing is not available in most Unix environments. Also, a character sequence appearing anywhere in the text pane can be Copyed to the clipboard and then Pasted to the command line (at the current insertion point).

As a convenience, the Command Tool has an option to split the screen in half, with the upper half the Unix interface, and the lower half a Text Editor window. The editor window can be created by selecting the Enable option from the File Editor pull right menu on the main menu of the Command Tool (pointer in the text pane). Once enabled the editor can be removed by selecting the Disable option from the same menu option. It is possible to copy text from the Unix interface window (using the Copy key) and then pasting the copied text to the editor half of the window. This is convenient for producing and storing in a file a record of the execution of a program. You may find other times when this option is convenient.

Text Editor is the OpenWindows mouse-based editor. This tool makes it possible for you to create and modify text files. These files may contain program code or some type of documents (term paper, lab reports, etc.).

To help you understand the basic text editing operations and to learn how these operations are carried out in Text Editor, a tutorial text has been devised. After you load it into a Text Editor window, you can read the file and follow its directions to experience the use of the editor.

This is simple editing tool that we advise to be used for a smaller and simpler tasks. Use of Emacs or Xemacs as most versatile editing tools available is encouraged. You can launch them using emacs & or xemacs & commands from the terminal (console) window.

Print Tool

Mail Tool

At the present time use of MailTool is discouraged at DPA. We suggest that you use Pine or Netscape for this purpose.

There are some other usefull tools (like Clock and PerformanceMeter) which you can explore on your own.