There are four menus in pmview's user interface which allow
scenes to be recorded, saved and printed (File), access to the
time controls (Options), launching other tools (Launch) and
online help (Help).
File/Record
When in ``live'' mode, this option will launch pmlogger(1)
processes to record the current scene into an archive folio
(see pmafm(1)) so that it may be replayed at a later time.
This option is not available in ``replay'' mode.
When File/Record is selected, a file chooser dialog will
prompt for the name of the new archive folio. If the
directory to the folio does not exist, pmview will attempt to
create it. It is usually convenient to keep each folio
within its own directory as there will be several other files
associated with the folio, including the generated archives.
Once a valid folio has been created, pmview will launch a
pmlogger(1) process for each host to collect the metrics
required from that host in the current scene. The current
selections do not affect the set of metrics that are
recorded.
While recording is in progress, a red dot will appear in the
time controls button in the top left-hand corner of the
pmview window. The File/Record option will also change to
File/Stop Recording as only one recording session is possible
at any one time. Selecting blocks or launching other tools
will have no affect on the recording session.
The record session may be terminated by selecting File/Stop
Recording. This will display dialogs for each pmlogger(1)
instance describing the size and location of the archive
files before terminating each process. When all pmlogger(1)
processes have been terminated, the red dot is removed from
the time controls button, and the menu reverts back to
File/Record to allow another recording session to take place.
If the application exists while recording, a dialog will
appear allowing you to terminate each pmlogger(1) process, or
leave it running unattached.
An archive folio may be replayed using the command: ``pmafm
folio replay''. See pmafm(1) for more details.
It is not uncommon for a front-end script which generates a
pmview scene to use metrics that are not contained in the
scene. For example, osvis(1) uses several hinv metrics to
determine the size and layout of some objects. As these
metrics are also needed when replaying the generated archive
with the front-end script, a complete pmlogger(1) config can
be specified (-R) that overrides the pmview generated config,
or an additional config can be appended (-r) to the pmview
generated config.
File/Save
Saves the current scene to a human-readable Open Inventor
file (see inventor(1)). A file dialog will prompt for the
location of the file. The default file extension is ``.iv''
which is recognized by ivview(1) and some Web browsers.
File/Print
Outputs the current scene to a printer. A print dialog will
be displayed allowing a specific printer to be selected.
File/Quit
pmview immediately exits. If recording was active, dialogs
will be displayed for each pmlogger(1) process so that they
may be terminated.
Options/Show Time Control
Displays the time controls (see pmtime(1)) that are driving
this instance of pmview. The time controls may be shared by
other tools, including pmchart(1), that have been launched by
other instances of pmview and oview(1). Therefore, this menu
item may appear to have no affect if the time controls are
already visible.
Options/New Time Control
Disconnect with the current time controls (which may be
shared by other tools, see pmtime(1)) and use a new time
control that is not connected to any other tools. The new
time control will be immediately displayed.
Launch
The launch menu is generated from a menu specification file
(see pmlaunch(5)). The menu contains tools that may be
launched based on the sources and names of the selected
metrics in the scene. For example, if the selected metrics
are from three different hosts, then three copies of a tool
may be launched, one for each host. The behavior of a launch
depends on the selected metrics and the tools being launched.
On selection of a Launch menu item pmview generates state
information in the pmlaunch(5) metrics specification format.
This provides a description of the selected metrics (or if
there are no selections, all the metrics) in the scene
without any geometry information.
Tools which can monitor multiple hosts and user specified
metrics may be launched only once for those metrics (eg
pmdumptext(1)). Other tools which have a fixed view for one
host (eg mpvis(1)), may be launched multiple times, once for
each host in the selected metric list. If the launched tools
have time controls, they will share the time controls with
the launching pmview.
The set of launched tools is configurable, and may include
IRIX and user applications. See pmlaunch(5) for more
details.
Help/...
If pcp.books.help has been installed, then the insight(1)
books for pmview are displayed.
