1 XTC XTC (X-windows Tektronix Controller) provides an X-window to display Tektronix 4014 and 4105 plots. XTC buffers the plot frames and can scroll back and forth through previous plots. It can also print a buffered frame, save a plot frame to a disk file, or read frames from a plot file. 2 Setup Each Xwindow user needs to start one copy of XTC for the entire session and define the logical variable PLOT in all xterm windows to point to that XTC window. To setup environments and start xtc: tcsh users: source .xtcrc_csh bash users: . .xtcrc the scripts are in $NTCC_ROOT/etc/ if PPPL, in $CODESYSDIR/xtctek/ otherwise. 3 At PPPL module load ntcc (after you have loaded a compiler) cp $NTCC_ROOT/etc/Xtc $HOME/ cp $NTCC_ROOT/etc/.xtcrc{_csh} $HOME/ ( you can edit/rename the file and change TERMINAL_INPUT ) source $HOME/.xtcrc{_csh} this will start a window 3 Printing If your printer can not handle tektronix files, xtc can convert the file to PS prior to printing: To do this define the "Directory of tek2ps prolog" on the "Frame Printing" menu. This must be the directory, where tek2ps.pro and xtc_print reside, e.g. $CODESYSDIR/xtctek for TRANSP developers, or $TRANSP_LOCATION. For PPPL users it would be $NTCC_ROOT/etc; but PPPL printers usually handle tek files, so this field should be empty. Note: you also must have 'tek2ps' in your PATH ! (tek2ps should be located where xtc is.) If you made changes to "Frame Printing" do "Save Current Settings" in the Customize menu. 2 VMS If you don't do "setup tftrlog" in your login.com, do $ setup xtc To launch xtc and define logicals: $ runxtc runxtc runs SPAWN_XTC.COM, which you can copy from SOURCEROOT:[XTCTEK]. 2 Defaults Under VMS the XTC default settings are in the file "XTC.DAT" in your top level directory. Under UNIX, the file is named "Xtc". You can copy a standard set of defaults from the TRANSP distribution, $CODESYSDIR/xtctek, $NTCC_ROOT/etc, $TRANSP_LOCATION or set the options using the XTC menus the first time it runs and do "Save Current Settings" in the Customize menu. Be sure the following are set in the defaults file. xtc*wtog_Display_MBX_Data.set: true xtc*wtog_Display_Plotfile_Data.set: true xtc*wscale_Background_Red_V4.value: 255 xtc*wscale_Background_Green_V4.value: 255 xtc*wscale_Background_Blue_V4.value: 255 Without the first 2 options XTC receives the plot vectors, but doesn't display them. Setting the background colors to 255 sets the background screen to white. The standard size for the XTC window is: xtc*wdraw.width: 640 xtc*wdraw.height: 512 2 Useage Most SGLIB plots end with a call to subroutine UPAUSE which causes the output device to "beep" and wait for a typed character. At this point XTC beeps and waits. If you click MB1 (left mouse button) inside the window, XTC treats this as having typed a RETURN in the window. If you want to type a character other than a RETURN, click in the window border to make the window active, then type the character. You can bypass waiting for a character by defining the environment variable TERMINAL_INPUT=NONE in the xterm window before running the program that generates the plots. The easy way to scroll to the previous stored plot is to put the mouse inside the window border and click MB2 (middle mouse button); to scroll to the next stored plot, click MB3 (right mouse button). The list box (which appears if you select "Show List Box" in the Commands menu) provides additional options. 2 List_box The List Box appears when you select "Show List Box" in the Commands menu. It lets you display an arbitrary frame, print one or more frames, or save frame(s) to a disk file. The number of frames that XTC buffers can be changed in the "Frame Buffering" window under the Customize menu. Frames are identified in the List Box by names of the form "MBX_0 Frame #" where "#" is the frame number since XTC was started. You can change the name of any individual frame with the "Rename Frames" window under the Commands menu. You can change the general format of the frame name(s) in the "Frame Filing" window under the Customize menu. 2 Command_Menu The following commands are available: 3 Show List Box "Show List Box" brings up the List Box window, which contains a scrollable list of the plot frames in the buffer and lets you draw, save to a file, print, or delete one or more frames. 3 Clear Frame Buffer "Clear Frame Buffer" clears the frames in the buffer. 3 Show Byte Stream "Show Byte Stream" lets you view the frame data as it is received; this greatly slows XTC's execution. 3 Erase Screen "Erase Screen" clears the display window. 3 Read Plot File "Read Plot File" lets you select a plot file to display. All frames in the file are read and displayed. 3 Rename Frames "Rename Frames" lets you rename a frame. 3 Fix Aspect Ratio "Fix Aspect Ratio" resizes the display window to the standard Tektronix 4014 aspect ratio (780/1024). This prevents plot distortion after you have resized the window manually. Note that when you resize the display window the drawing is scaled appropriately, however the text size remains constant. 3 About XTC "About XTC" displays the version number. 3 Quit "Quit" exits XTC and deletes its mailbox. 2 Customize_Menu You can set and then save the following options: 3 Frame Buffering "Frame Buffering" lets you select how many frames are stored in the XTC buffer. 3 Frame Filing "Frame Filing" lets you select the general format of the file name for frames saved to disk by XTC. Default is ~/*_# which creates files in your home directory with the name MBX_0_Frame_1, MBX_0_Frame_2, etc. You can enter a directory of your choice. 4 Auto File "Auto File" will create a "new" file for each plot, automatically numbering the files, e.g. ~/MBX_0_Frame_1.ps, ~/MBX_0_Frame_2.ps, etc. If you also select "Append New Frames To Existing File", it will still create a new file for each individual plot. To actually append all plots into one file, you need to select "File" on the "Show List Box" as explained under "Append New Frames To Existing File". 4 PostScript File "PostScript File" will create a post script file in addition to the tek file. 4 Append New Frames To Existing File "Append New Frames To Existing File" When you are done, click under "Show List Box" Highlight all frames Click "File" You will get one file in ~/MBX_0_Frame_1.ps If you click "Print", all plots will be printed with one cover sheet. 3 Frame Printing "Frame Printing" lets you select the default printer queue, and whether or not frames are automatically printed as they are displayed. You need a printer that supports tektronix style files. If your printer can not handle tektronix files, you can save the file - see "Frame Filing" - and use TEK2PS to convert it to a PS file. XTC can do this automatically: At PPPL this is already setup for you (it should be $NTCC_ROOT/etc). Other Sites: On UNIX define "Directory of tek2ps prolog" e.g. $TRANSP_LOCATION or $CODESYSDIR/xtctek On VMS define "Slave Printer Process Command File" e.g. SOURCEROOT:[XTCTEK]XTC_DCL.COM 3 Visibility "Visibility" lets you select whether XTC is a window or an icon on startup. (If you select Icon, the List Box also always starts as an Icon.) It also contains switches to control whether or not plot frames received (via the mailbox) from a program or read from a file are automatically displayed. If these switches are not turned on, you must select "Draw" from the List Box to view the plot. "List Box Policy" option selects whether the list of frame names automatically widens to accommodate long names or remains constant with a horizontal scroll bar to view the names. 3 Colors "Colors" lets you select the color for the background and each of the 7 Tektronix line color types. For a black and white display to get black on white, set Background to (255,255,255) and all the Foreground colors to (0,0,0); to get white on black, set Background to (0,0,0) and the Foreground colors to (255,255,255). 2 Internals XTC works by setting up 2 mailboxes between a program using the SGLIB graphics library and the XTC process; one mailbox for the graphics output and one for the GIN (crosshairs) input. XTC is maintained by C. Ludescher-Furth. This file was last updated July 22, 2004.