root/documentation/ossie/user-guide-0.8.1/WaveDash.tex @ 9972

% ------------------------------------------------------------------
%
%   TITLE: WaveDash
% AUTHORS: D. Seeralan, M. Carrick
% CREATED: 
% REVISED: 
%     URL: 
%
% ------------------------------------------------------------------

\section{WaveDash}
\label{section:wavedash}
Wavedash is an interactive configurable GUI used to work with OSSIE SDR
waveforms. Through this tool, users can install/uninstall or start/stop
waveforms and configure the component properties at run time. This eliminates
the need to restart or rebuild the waveform every time when component
properties need to be changed. Users can also customize the GUI to view only
the component and properties of their interest. Further, it also allows the
users to change the widget type of a property that makes the configuration
process more interactive.

\subsection{Running Wavedash}
\label{section:RunningWavedash}
Wavedash is a part of OSSIE Tools and hence the tools setup should install
this application as well. Make sure that the naming service and nodeBooter are
running before starting Wavedash . To run Wavedash, open a terminal and type 
\begin{lstlisting}[]
 $ WAVEDASH
 \end{lstlisting}
This should open the Wavedash initial window without any errors. 
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[scale=1.0]{figures/wavedash/1_initial_window.png}
\end{center}

\subsection{ Installing and Un-installing waveforms}
\label{section:InstallandUninstall}
The Waveforms menu in the menu bar will lists the SDR waveforms available in the
/sdr/dom/waveforms directory.  To install a waveform, pull down the Waveform menu
and highlight the waveform to be installed. This should open a submenu where you
can choose to just Install the waveform or install and start the waveform.You can
also preview the waveform to view the waveform’s components, properties and
their default values.

\begin{center}
\includegraphics[scale=1.0]{figures/wavedash/2_waveform_lists.png}
\end{center}

Once a waveform is installed, it can be started, stopped or uninstalled by
using the appropriate buttons in the tool bar. 
\subsection{Selecting a Waveform}
\label{section:selectwaveform}
From Ossie 0.8.0, Wavedash uses tabbed view to display the installed waveform
applications. Click on the appropriate tab which displays the waveform you
wish to control.The Component menu is updated each time when the tab is
switched. The operations such as Start,Stop and Uninstall operates on the
waveform application denoted by the active tab. The active tab displays the
component panels where in the user can change the component property values.
Except for a Slider control, changes to property values are applied only when
the presses ENTER or switches the focus to another property. If Slider is used
for a property, then the changes are applied to the waveform as and when the
slider value changes.

\begin{center}
\includegraphics[scale=1.0]{figures/wavedash/5_waveform_selection.png}
\end{center}

\subsection{ Refresh }
\label{section:Refresh}
Since waveforms can be installed or uninstalled from ALF also, Wavedash can be
refreshed to sync with the current state of waveforms running in the
nodeBooter. Click on the Refresh button in the toolbar to refresh. 

\subsection{GUI Customization}
\label{section:guicustomization}
\subsubsection{Show or Hide Components}
\label{section:showorhidecomponents}
Waveforms may contain different components of which only few may be used
frequently. In such case, users can select only the components they wish to
see in the application. The Components menu is updated whenever a waveform is
selection. Pull down the components menu and select/deselect the components
that you wish to show/hide. 

\begin{center}
\includegraphics[scale=1.0]{figures/wavedash/7_component_hidden.png}
\end{center}

\subsubsection{Re-arrange components}
\label{section:rearrangecomponents}
Components can also be stacked differently from the default order. To
rearrange, right click on the component area and move it up or down using Move
Up/Move Down choice in that context menu.
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[scale=1.0]{figures/wavedash/8_component_movedown.png}
\end{center}

\subsubsection{Show or Hide Properties}
\label{section:showorhideproperties}
Similar to components, properties of a component can also be customized. The
component box context menu has a submenu Properties which lists the properties
of a component. Select/Deselect the properties from the context menu to
show/hide the properties on the screen.
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[scale=1.0]{figures/wavedash/9_properties_hidden.png}
\end{center}

\subsubsection{Change Property Widget}
\label{section:changepropertywidget}
Each property of a component has its own data type associated. The application
provides a default mapping of the property data type to a GUI widget. For e.g.
integer values are shown in a text box, short values are shown in a spin box,
etc
 However, user may change the widget for a property by right clicking on
the current widget and choose the alternate widget compatible to the property
datatype. The compatibility here refers to the right mapping between datatype
and the GUI widget. For e.g. a property of type “string” cannot be represented
by a spin box or slider. Hence, no alternative widget can be seen when you
open the context menu of a property.
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[scale=1.0]{figures/wavedash/10_property_context_menu.png}
\end{center}

\begin{center}
\includegraphics[scale=1.0]{figures/wavedash/11_property_widget_changed.png}
\end{center}

The widgets Spinbox and Slider have a minimum and maximum values associated
with them. When spin box or slider is chosen as a widget, the application sets
the default minimum and maximum as 0 and 10000 respectively. Should the user
wish to change these values for better access, right click on the widget and
choose Configure. This would open a new dialog box where you can configure
minimum and maximum values.

\begin{center}
\includegraphics[scale=1.0]{figures/wavedash/12_widget_configuration.png}
\end{center}