StageTools - Documentation (Customize) [Up][Skip][Next]

Customizing StageTools:

The StageTools suite has been designed so that it is possible to customize many of its features. There are four main methods:
  1. Setting X resources in a user's .Xdefaults file;
  2. Setting up an initialization file in a user's home directory;
  3. Providing config files in a user's home directory;
  4. Modifying the TCL code in the StageTools directory.
The first method is useful for the user who wants to individualize the appearance (fonts, sizes, widget geometry, etc.) of the StageTools modules. There is a wide range of X resources set up specifically for such purposes (see the x resources section). There are also resources that can be used to specify the user's preferred image viewer, web browser, etc. Using X resources is the easiest way to customize these aspects of StageTools.

The second method allows more advanced users to make more extensive changes to the StageTools modules. Each module reads an initialization file from the user's home directory when it starts up. For example, StageManager looks for ~/.StageManager and executes it if it exists. These initialization files are TCL files that can do pretty much anything you want: they can set the default values for menu choices, change the appearance of windows, even replace internal commands with customized versions. See the section on user customization for more information.

The third method provides a more sophisticated method of modifying the code that is run by the StageTools modules by loading config files that correspond to the actual source files for the code. It is closely related to the fourth method, but its advantage is that it separates the changes you make from the main distribution of StageTools so that it is much easier to update to a new version. See the section on configuration files for more details.

Finally, the fourth method makes it possible to perform system-wide customization. Usually, this will not be necessary except perhaps to set the default fonts, sizes, etc. The other reason to make such changes is to specify the unix commands that will be used to convert image formats and to combine images into MPEG movies and animated GIF files. See customizing the external commands for more information.

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 StageTools Documentation (Customize)
Created: 20 Aug 1997 --- Last modified: 22 Nov 1999 23:59:59
Comments to: dpvc@union.edu