X Windows Configuration Setup for Using Forte WorkShop IDE

The document Forte Develeper 6 (Sun WorkShop) contains an overview of Forte and information on its use that should be read prior to reading this document.

The most efficient way to do program development with Forte on Strauss or Mahler is to use a workstation that functions as an X Windows server. This type of workstation includes X terminals, Microsoft Windows systems using Exceed and UNIX workstations. In these multi-windowed environments, you can open several windows at once - a documentation window, an editor window and a compile/run window.

This document assumes that you have already modified your UNIX configuration files as described in the document Getting Started with Forte WorkShop IDE: Setting Up Your UNIX Account . Further modifications to these configuration files, described below, will facilitate your use of Forte in an X Windows environment.

Modifing your alias file

Add the following lines to the file called ~/.alias, which may not already exist. They will create three new commands. The first two, fortestrauss and fortemahler will open a workshop window on Strauss and Mahler having the UNIX environment variables defined that are needed for the Forte package.

if $?DISPLAY then
  alias fortestrauss\
    "(setenv NEED_FORTE; xrsh -auth none -pass NEED_FORTE strauss workshop)"    
  alias fortemahler\
    "(setenv NEED_FORTE; xrsh -auth none -pass NEED_FORTE mahler workshop)"
endif

These three new commands will automatically become defined since the DISPLAY environment variable is set when you open an xterm window.

Modifing your xsession file

If you regularly program using Forte WorkShpp IDE, you may want to have a workshop window automatically appear on your X Windows desktop when you log in. To do this, add the following command to your ~/.xsession file.

  NEED_FORTE=yes   xrsh -auth none -pass NEED_FORTE strauss workshop

Exceed users: You should put this new command just before the final ("controlling") xterm command in your .xsession file. You will notice that the controlling xterm command does not end with an "&" to ensure that the xsession script does not terminate (i.e., exit) too soon.

Modifying your root "pop-up" menu

The root menu is what appears on an X terminal when you point to the blue background screen and press the mouse button. You can replace the default menu by one customized for Forte use by changing your window manager's configuration file. On the University's NCD X terminals, this is either your ~/.launchrc or ~/.mwmrc file, depending on how you have already configured your account.

If you already have a ~/.launchrc or ~/.mwmrc file, add the following lines to the Menu "Main" section.

"Forte/Strauss"  f.exec "NEED_FORTE=yes  xrsh -pass NEED_FORTE strauss workshop"
"Forte/Mahler"   f.exec "NEED_FORTE=yes  xrsh -pass NEED_FORTE mahler workshop"

If you do not have a ~/.launchrc or ~/.mwmrc file, create a ~/.launchrc file containing

button1 =: f.menu "Main"
button3 =: f.menu "Main"

Menu "Main"
{
  "Root Menu"           f.title
                        f.line
  "Copland"             f.exec "/opt/X11R5/bin/xrsh_menu copland"
  "Strauss"             f.exec "/opt/X11R5/bin/xrsh_menu strauss"
  "Mahler"              f.exec "/opt/X11R5/bin/xrsh_menu mahler"
                        f.line
  "Forte/Strauss"       f.exec "NEED_FORTE=yes  xrsh -pass NEED_FORTE strauss workshop"
  "Forte/Mahler"        f.exec "NEED_FORTE=yes  xrsh -pass NEED_FORTE mahler workshop"
  "Netscape"            f.exec "/opt/bin/netscape"
                        f.line
  "Restart NCDwm"       f.restartncdwm
                        f.line
                        f.line
  "Quit and Logout"     f.quit
}

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