Alpha_1 User's Manual

X Window Resources

Programs written for the X Window System and with various X-based user interface toolkits are highly configurable by the user. This document assumes a basic knowledge of the xrdb program (see man xrdb or man X) for modifying the X11 resource database. The first section describes resources for the Mosaic HTML browser which can be used to view this documentation on-line. The following sections describe X resources for Alpha_1 progams.

Mosaic

Viewing the on-line HTML documentation for the Alpha_1 User's Manual works best with a black foreground and a light background. This is due to the fact that some in-line images are provided in transparent GIF format with a black foreground. If you are having trouble viewing this documentation on-line, try the following X resources for Mosaic:

NCSA app-defaults files for Mosaic. Your system may not have these default resource files installed. These default X resources should work for viewing the Alpha_1 documentation. For convenience, a copy of the NCSA app-defaults file for color displays is included with the Alpha_1 User's Manual in the file $A1ROOT/man/html/Mosaic.
Another specific set of Mosaic resources is provided in the file $A1ROOT/man/html/a1man-mosaic-defs.

You can use the xrdb program to merge any of these resource files into your running X environment like this:

	xrgb -merge resource-file

Interactive Alpha_1 Applications

3D Graphics Windows

Alpha_1 applications (namely motif3d and viewa1) use one of two graphics packages for interactive 3D display. One is for general X Window support and the other is for SGI GL hardware assisted support. These packages can be configured with the following X resources.

General X Window Resources

The application name for this set of resources is "X11Dev." The available resources with their default values are:

X11Dev.DoubleBuffer: off
Configure double buffering. Possible values are off, on, soft, and hard. Double buffering presents smoother drawing during direct manipulation. Values:

off - Don't use double buffering.
soft - Use software double buffering.
hard - Use X server hardware double buffering.
on - Use hardware if provided, software otherwise.
Bugs in hardware support for double buffering can cause your X server to crash so this option is not generally recommended.
X11Dev.ForegroundColor: white
The default color for objects.
X11Dev.HighlightColor: yellow
The default color for highlighted objects.
X11Dev.SelectColor: red
The default color for selected objects.
X11Dev.BackgroundColor: blue
The default color for background objects. Note this is not the color of the background of the 3D window, but the color for a group of objects called the "background group." This group is rarely used by Alpha_1 applications.
X11Dev.PointStyle: +
Determines how points are rendered. Values:

+ - Use a "plus" sign.
. - Draw a single pixel.
s - Draw a square.
d - Draw a filled square.
c - Draw a circle.
@ - Draw a filled circle.
x - Draw an "X."

X11Dev.PointSize: 4
Determines the size of points. Affects all styles.
X11Dev.WindowFont: 6x13
Determines the font used for any text that is drawn in a graphics window.
X11Dev.BackingStore: on
on or off. Using backing store descreases redrawing time when windows are unconvered.
X11Dev.DynamicViewScale: off
Determines scaling behavior when a window is resized. Default (off) is that the scale of the window is preserved. This means resizing shows you more or less of the scene. With dynamic scaling (on) resizing shows you a smaller or larger image.
X11Dev.DashedDepthCue: off
Depth cueing is the technique of showing distance from the viewer by some difference in rendering. The default (off) method uses a darker shade of color for parts of objects that are behind the z = 0 plane. Turning this option on uses dashed lines instead.

SGI GL 3D Windows

The application name for this set of resources is "GlDev." The available resources with their default values are:

GlDev.WindowBackColor: black
The background color of the 3D window.
GlDev.ForegroundColor: white
The default color for objects.
GlDev.HighlightColor: yellow
The default color for highlighted objects.
GlDev.SelectColor: red
The default color for selected objects.
GlDev.BackgroundColor: blue
The default color for background objects. Note this is not the background color of the 3D window (see WindowBackColor), but the color for a group of objects called the "background group." This group is rarely used by Alpha_1 applications.

Motif User Interfaces

Alpha_1 applications with Motif-based user interface use a common set of resources. The common Application Resource File is $A1ROOT/data/lib/Client.

Some of the most useful resources are described here:

Motif3d*drawing_area
Drawing areas are the X Windows used for 3D display. Useful resources to set are (defaults shown):

*drawing_area.background: grey50
*drawing_area.height: 500
*drawing_area.width: 400

Motif3d*axes: off
If on, a small window is added to the viewing panel which displays the coordinate axes.
Motif3d*viewing: simp3d
Sets the type of viewing control panel. Here are the possible values with an image of the control panel:

simp3d
3d
simple
2d
none - No viewing panel.

Motif3d*xy_rotate_toggle.labelType: PIXMAP
Motif3d*xy_rotate_toggle.labelPixmap: xy_rotate
There is a pair of these for each element of the viewing control panel. This particular example is for the XY rotate radio button. If you set these resources the buttons are displayed as icons instead of a text description. This uses less screen space. Using icons for every button in the simp3d panel looks like this. See the Application Resource File for a full list these.

Tcl/Tk Based Applications

There are a number of newer Alpha_1 applications based on the Tcl/Tk toolkit. There is currently no common resource file, but the applications share a common class name of "A1wish." Setting resources for this class in your personal defaults file will affect the Tcl/Tk applications (currently a1wish, tk3d, shape3d, and fsketch). For example:

A1wish*foreground:		Black
A1wish*background:		Grey75
A1wish*activeBackground:	#554e4e
A1wish*activeForeground:	White
A1wish*highlightThickness:	0
A1wish*borderWidth:		2
A1wish*Font: 			-adobe-times-bold-r-normal-*-14-140-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1
! File selection dialog fonts
A1wish.fb.main.filter.Font: 	-misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-c-70-iso8859-1
A1wish.fb.main.directory.Font: 	-misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-c-70-iso8859-1
A1wish.fb.main.file.Font: 	-misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-c-70-iso8859-1
A1wish.fb.main.selection.Font: 	-misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-c-70-iso8859-1

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