1DX(1V) DX(1V)
2
6 dx - start the Data Explorer visualization system. Optionally directly
7 start the User Interface (dxui), the executive (dxexec), the Data
8 Prompter, the Module Builder or the Tutorial.
9
11 dx [ -8bitcmap < private | shared | 0-1 > ]
12 [ -builder ]
13 [ -cache < on | off > ]
14 [ -colors < colors file > ]
15 [ -connect < host:port > ]
16 [ -data < path list > ]
17 [ -directory < dir > ]
18 [ -display < display name > ]
19 [ -dxroot < dir > ]
20 [ -echo ]
21 [ -edit ]
22 [ -encode ]
23 [ -exec < executable > ]
24 [ -execonly ]
25 [ -execute ]
26 [ -execute_on_change ]
27 [ -full ]
28 [ -file < filename > ]
29 [ -help ]
30 [ -highlight < on | off > ]
31 [ -host < host name > ]
32 [ -hwrender < gl | opengl > ]
33 [ -image ]
34 [ -include < path list > ]
35 [ -key < 64bit hex > ]
36 [ -license < type > ]
37 [ -local ]
38 [ -log < on | off > ]
39 [ -macros < path list > ]
40 [ -mdf < filename > ]
41 [ -memory < # of Mbytes > ]
42 [ -menubar ]
43 [ -metric ]
44 [ -modules < path list > ]
45 [ -morehelp ]
46 [ -nodeid ]
47 [ -optimize < memory | precision > ]
48 [ -outboarddebug ]
49 [ -processors ]
50 [ -program < filename > ]
51 [ -prompter ]
52 [ -readahead < on | off > ]
53 [ -script [ < script file > ] ]
54 [ -startup ]
55 [ -suppress ]
56 [ -timing < on | off >]
57 [ -trace < on | off > ]
58 [ -trialkey ]
59 [ -tutor ]
60 [ -uionly | -execonly ]
61 [ -verbose ]
62 [ -version]
63 dx -prompter ( start the Data Prompter )
65 [ -full ]
66 [ -file ] [ < header file name > ]
67 dx -builder ( start the Module Builder )
69 [-file ] [ < .mb file name > ]
70
78 dx is the command that starts the Data Explorer Startup Window, and
79 optionally starts the Data Explorer User Interface, Data Explorer Exec‐
80 utive, Data Explorer Data Prompter, Data Explorer Module Builder or the
81 Data Explorer Tutorial.
82 The Data Explorer Startup Window is an X windows/Motif based applica‐
84 tion which allows easy access to the other subsystemes of the Data
85 Explorer visualization system.
86 The Data Explorer User Interface is an X windows/Motif based applica‐
88 tion that provides a visual programming environment and an interface to
89 the executive. The executive provides the computational tools and
90 mechanisms to create data visualizations. The
91 Data Explorer Data Prompter is an X windows/Motif based application
93 that helps users import data in a variety of formats, and provides gen‐
94 eral purpose visual programs to visual imported data, leading to a
95 shortened "time to first picture".
96 The Data Explorer Module Builder is an X windows/Motif based applica‐
98 tion that helps users build their own modules to be included in a cus‐
99 tom version of Data Explorer.
100 The Data Explorer Tutorial is an application that helps users learn to
102 use Data Explorer by leading them through a sequence of tasks. Users
103 can easily skip around in the tutorial in order to concentrate on tasks
104 of most use to their work.
105 For a more complete description of the Data Explorer User Interface and
107 Executive see the IBM Visualization Data Explorer User's Guide. For a
108 more complete description of the Data Explorer Data Prompter see the
109 IBM Visualization Data Explorer QuickStart Guide. For a more thorough
110 description of the Data Explorer Module Builder see the IBM Visualiza‐
111 tion Data Explorer Programmer's Reference.
112
114 With no options the dx command starts the Startup Window, an X win‐
115 dows/Motif program from which the other parts of the Data Explorer sys‐
116 tem can be started. The various command line options and environment
117 variables listed below can be specified to change the default behavior.
118 Options set by including them in the DXARGS environment variable are
120 placed at the start of the command line, followed by any options set by
121 environment variables, followed by explicit command line arguments.
122 When conflicting options are given, the last option has precedence.
123 -8bitcmap < private | shared | 0-1 | -1 >
125 Overrides the DX8BITCMAP environment variable (see ENVIRONMENT
126 VARIABLES below).
127 -cache < on | off >
129 Turn on or off the executive caching system. When the Data
130 Explorer caching mechanism is enabled the Data Explorer execu‐
131 tive automatically caches the intermediate results generated
132 during its visualization computations. Unlike standard caching
133 mechanisms, these results are accessed by means of their func‐
134 tional derivation. This allows for automatic graph optimization
135 and helps to avoid the recomputation of previously utilized
136 intermediates, especially when the Data Explorer sequencer is
137 being used. In certain rare instances, a machine with a small
138 amount of memory may want to disable this caching to conserve
139 memory and reduce paging. Default = on.
140 -colors < colors file >
142 Override DXCOLORS environment variable (see ENVIRONMENT VARI‐
143 ABLES below).
144 -connect < host:port >
146 Start a distributed executive only (no user interface).
147 -data < path list >
149 Override DXDATA environment variable (see ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
150 below).
151 -directory < dir >
153 Cause the executive to be run in the given directory.
154 -display < display name >
156 Set the name of the X display to be used by the user interface
157 and the executive.
158 -dxroot < dir >
160 Overrides the default dx root directory.
161 -echo < dir >
163 Echo the command lines without executing them.
164 -edit Cause the user interface to be started with the Visual Program
166 Editor (VPE) window as the top level window of the user inter‐
167 face (the top level window is denoted by an anchor in the upper
168 left hand corner). Also see -image, -startup, and -menubar.
169 -encode < filename >
171 Encode the given file into a binary format with a key (which
172 must be specified with the -key option). For example
173 dx -encode -key 1234567890abcdef foo.net The resulting file
174 can only be encoded by the DX user interface when the same key
175 is used. For example
176 dx -image -key 1234567890abcdef foo-e.net
177 -exec < executive executable >
179 Use the given file as a replacement for the executive. This
180 option allows a user to build and use his/her own custom execu‐
181 tive.
182 -execonly
184 Start the executive in remote mode in which it will then await a
185 connection from the user interface. The user interface is not
186 started with this option. Also see -script.
187 -execute
189 Execute once after the user interface has made a connection with
190 the executive.
191 -execute_on_change
193 Cause Data Explorer to go into execute-on-change mode at start
194 up. Execute-on-change mode causes the Visual Program to be exe‐
195 cuted any time any of the values (i.e. module inupts, interactor
196 values...) in the program change.
197 -file < filename >
199 Start the Data Prompter, Module Builder, or Data Explorer User
200 Interface with the header file filename.
201 -full When used with -prompter, starts the full Data Prompter.
203 -help Print a brief listing of options and usage for dx.
205 -highlight < on | off >
207 Turn on or off module execution highlighting. If highlighting
208 is turned on, the user interface will highlight each module as
209 it is executed. Default = on.
210 -host < host name >
212 Override DXHOST environment variable (see ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
213 below).
214 -hwrender < gl | opengl >
216 Override the default hardware rendering choice on platforms
217 where both are supported. Default is opengl. Sets the DXHWMOD
218 environment variable to either DXhwdd.o or DXhwddOGL.o.
219 -image Cause the user interface to be started with the image window as
221 the top level window of the user interface. Also, control pan‐
222 els that are configured to open automatically are opened. Also
223 see -edit, -startup and -menubar.
224 -include < path list >
226 Override DXINCLUDE environment variable (see ENVIRONMENT VARI‐
227 ABLES below).
228 -key < 64bit hex >
230 16 character hexidecimal (64bit) number that is used to encode
231 and decode .net files. See -encode.
232 -license < type >
234 Force a specific license for either the user interface or execu‐
235 tive. The following are valid values for type:
236 runtime: forces a run-time license (UI or executive).
238 timed: forces a timed (limited function) license (UI only).
240 develop: forces a developer license (UI or executive).
242 -local Override the DXHOST environment variable (if set) and cause the
244 executive to be run on the local host. In the absence of the
245 DXHOST environment variable, this is the default.
246 -log < on | off >
248 Turn on or off executive logging. If logging is on then the
249 executive logs output to the file dx.log in the directory where
250 the executive is executing. Default = off.
251 -macros < path list >
253 Override the DXMACROS environment variable (see ENVIRONMENT
254 VARIABLES below).
255 -menubar
257 Start Data Explorer with a menubar as the anchor window. Also,
258 control panels that are configured to open automatically are
259 opened. See also -image, -edit, and -startup.
260 -mdf < mdf file >
262 Override the DXMDF environment variable (see ENVIRONMENT VARI‐
263 ABLES below).
264 -memory < # of MB >
266 Set the maximum amount of memory, in megabytes rounded up to a
267 two megabyte boundary, that the executive is able to allocate.
268 Default = the amount of physical memory minus 8 MB.
269 -metric
271 Have the ui use metric units when possible, for example for set‐
272 ting the image size for printing postscript images.
273 -modules < pathlist >
275 Set the list of directories to be searched for outboard modules.
276 -morehelp
278 Displays this information
279 -nodeid
281 print out the node id of the machine that the command is run on.
282 The node id is used when generating a license.
283 -optimize < memory | precision >
285 Select whether to minimize memory usage or produce more color-
286 accurate images. When memory is optimized, image objects are
287 generated with 24 bits/pixel instead of 96, and ReadImage will
288 produce delayed color images if supported by the format. The
289 default is precision.
290 -outboarddebug
292 Enable user to start outboard modules manually for debugging
293 when they are called in a visual program.
294 -processors
296 For Data Explorer SMP, sets the number of processors to use.
297 -program < programname >
299 Start the user interface with the visual program filename.
300 -prompter
302 Start the data prompter.
303 -readahead < on | off >
305 Specify whether or not the executive reads ahead in its input
306 stream before executing the commands it receives from the
307 stream. If this is turned off, then the executive will execute
308 each command line as it is received. This is useful for certain
309 debugging purposes, such as memory leak detection. Default =
310 on.
311 -script [ < script file > ]
313 Run just the executive in script mode. If a file name is pro‐
314 vided then the executive reads and executes commands from the
315 given script and then terminates. If a file is not provided
316 then when the executive starts up it enters interactive mode
317 where it waits for script commands. Also see -execonly.
318 -startup
320 Start Data Explorer with the startup window as the initial win‐
321 dow. This is the default. See also -image, -edit, and -menubar.
322 -suppress
324 Do not open any control panels at start-up. This is used in
325 -image mode and -menubar mode only.
326 -timed Start DX using a timed license.
328 -timing < on | off >
330 Turn on or off the executive timing mechanism. If enabled, then
331 when the executive exits it will list on standard output or the
332 logging file timing statistics for each module that was used
333 during the course of execution. Default = off.
334 -trace < on | off >
336 Turn on or off the executive trace mechanism. When tracing is
337 enabled the executive displays informative messages about the
338 execution sequence on either standard output or the log file if
339 logging is enabled. Default = off.
340 -trialkey
342 Determines the information necessary for generating a trialkey.
343 -tutor Start the Data Explorer tutorial.
345 -uionly
347 Cause the user interface to be started without making a connec‐
348 tion to an executive.
349 -verbose
351 Echo commands in the dx script as they are executed.
352 -version
354 Print version numbers of various executables.
355
357 The following environment variables provide an alternate way to set
358 certain of the command line options, or alter the default behavior of
359 Data Explorer in some way. Options set with environment variables are
360 overridden if the same option is also specified on the command line.
361 Options set with DXARGS are overridden by both environment variables
362 and explicit command line options.
363 DX8BITCMAP
365 When Data Explorer displays images in 8-bit windows, it makes
366 every effort to create an accurate representation of the image
367 using the default colormap shared among applications using 8-bit
368 windows. If the colors required by Data Explorer are not
369 present in the colormap and there are not enough free color
370 cells available in the shared color map for their allocation,
371 Data Explorer will find approximations among the colors that are
372 available. However, in certain circumstances, the difference
373 between the desired color and the approximation is found to be
374 too great to be acceptable. In such circumstances, DX will
375 allocate a private colormap for more accurate results. In this
376 case, depending on your X server, you may need to move the mouse
377 to select the Image or Display window in order for the correct
378 colors to appear. The -8bitcmap flag sets the level at which
379 the change to using a private colormap is made. The value of
380 this parameter should be a number between 0 and 1, or "private"
381 or "shared", and it repressents the Euclidean distance in RGB
382 color space, normalized to 1, for the maximum allowed discrep‐
383 ancy. If you set this parameter to 1, then a private colormap
384 will never be used. If you set it to -1, then a private colormap
385 will always be used. The default is 0.1.
386 DXARGS This contains the default set of arguments used by the dx
388 script. The arguments are prepended to those given to dx on the
389 command line. This variable allows for the dx command to be
390 easily customized.
391 DXAXESMAXWIDTH
393 Sets the number of digits in axes tick labels at which a switch
394 to scientific notation is made. The default is 7.
395 DXCOLORS
397 This contains the name of an alternate file that contains map‐
398 pings of color names to red, green, blue triplets in a format
399 like that of the default color file found in
400 /usr/lpp/dx/lib/colors.txt.
401 DXDATA This contains a colon separated list of directories in which the
403 executive will search for data files. Also see the -data
404 option.
405 DXDELAYEDCOLORS
407 If set to anything other than 0, enables ReadImage to create
408 delayed color images if the image is a tiff format image saved
409 in a byte-with-colormap format or a gif image.
410 DXEXEC Specifies an executive to be run at start-up.
412 DXFLING
414 If DXFLING is set to 1, then for hardware-rendered images, in
415 rotation mode and execute-on-change mode, if you drag the mouse
416 across the image, and release the mouse button outside the
417 image, the object in the image will begin to rotate, and will
418 continue to rotate until you click inside the image. The direc‐
419 tion and speed of the mouse motion before release will affect
420 the rotation direction and rotation speed of the object in the
421 window.
422 DXGAMMA
424 Sets the gamma correction for software-rendered images displayed
425 to the screen using the Display and Image tools. The default
426 value is 2, except for 8-bit windows on the sgi architecture.
427 DXGAMMA_8BIT,
429 DXGAMMA_12BIT, DXGAMMA_24BIT sets the gamma correction factor
430 for software-rendered images for the windows with the indicated
431 window depth. Overrides the value set by DXGAMMA.
432 DXHOST This contains the name of the host machine that will run the
434 executive. If this is not set then a default of "localhost" is
435 used, unless the local host is a PVS console in which case the
436 default is to run the executive on the PVS. Also see the -host,
437 -local and -server options.
438 DXHWGAMMA
440 Sets the gamma correction for hardware-rendered images displayed
441 to the screen using the Display and Image tools. The default
442 value is 2.
443 DXHWMOD
445 Specifies the name of the hardware rendering library to use when
446 more than one is supported. Should be either DXhwdd.o or DXhwd‐
447 dOGL.o.
448 DXINCLUDE
450 This contains a colon separated list of directories in which the
451 executive will search for "included" scripts. Also see the
452 -include option.
453 DXMACROS
455 This contains a colon separated list of directories in which the
456 user interface searches for macros that will be automatically
457 loaded. When running in script mode one must "include" all the
458 macros by hand prior to referencing them. Also see the -macros
459 option.
460 DXMDF This contains the name of a module description file (mdf) that
462 contains user defined modules for a customized version of the
463 executive. Also see the -mdf option.
464 DXMEMORY
466 sets the amount of memory (in megabytes) that can be used by the
467 executive.
468 DXMODULES
470 This contains a colon separated list of directories in which the
471 executive searches for outboard modules. Also see the -modules
472 option.
473 DX_NESTED_LOOPS
475 For faces, loops, and edges data, if set, allows loops other
476 than the enclosing loop for a face to be listed first. However,
477 there is a consequent decrease in performance if this environ‐
478 ment variable is set.
479 DXNO_BACKING_STORE
481 If set to anything, disables framebuffer readbacks. Setting
482 this environment variable may improve performance of interaction
483 with hardware rendered images, especially for machines for which
484 readback is slow. The default behavior is that framebuffer read‐
485 backs are enabled. If you set this environment variable, not
486 that some interactions using the Image tool will result in a
487 black image while interaction is taking place. However, if you
488 are not using the Image tool, it is strongly recommended that
489 you set this environment variable.
490 DXPIXELTYPE
492 sets the image type to either 24-bit color images or floating-
493 point-based 96-bit images (the default). This affects the behav‐
494 ior of Render and ReadImage. This variable can be set to either
495 DXByte (24 bits) or DXFloat (96 bits). Setting this variable to
496 DXByte will result in images taking up less memory.
497 DXPROCESSORS
499 Sets the number of processors to be used for Data Explorer SMP.
500 DXRSH Specifies the remote shell command to use when connecting to
502 other systems (such as those when using distributed execution).
503 The default is the the path to rsh.
504 DXRSH_NOENV
506 Prevents the remote "invoke dxexec" script from being written
507 with a full carbon copy of the local environment (only DISPLAY
508 is set).
509 DXROOT Specifies the top-level directory for all the files and directo‐
511 ries needed by Data Explorer.
512 DXSHMEM
514 If set to anything other than -1, forces shared memory to be
515 used (if allowed by the architecture). If set to -1, (if
516 allowed by the architecture) will cause the data segment to sim‐
517 ply be extended. Please see Appendix C of the Data Explorer User
518 Guide for more information.
519 DX_SOCKET_BUFSIZE
521 Allows the user to specify the size of the send and recieve buf‐
522 fers for the socket connection between the UI and the exec. This
523 value is clamped to the max allowed by the system. This can fix
524 a problem where the executive and UI hang involving a deadlock
525 situation in the socket communication. The value assigned to it
526 is passed as the parameter to setsockopt for SOL_SNDBUF and
527 SOL_RCVBUF. A typcial increased value may be 262144.
528 DX_USER_INTERACTOR_FILE
530 Specifies a file containing user interactors for use by the
531 SuperviseState and SuperviseWindow modules.
532 DX_WEB_BROWSER
534 Under UNIX specifies the web browser to launch for viewing the
535 HTML documentation. Under Windows and MacOS X setting this envi‐
536 ronment variable will launch the systems default web browser.
537
539 The next few examples assume that none of the DX environment variables
540 have been set.
541 1. To start both the user interface and the executive with the network
543 named cfd.net:
544 dx -edit -program cfd
545 2. To start and execute the visual program cfd.net in image mode with
548 /usr/users/me and /usr/data as data directories:
549 dx -image -execute -data '/usr/users/me:/usr/data' cfd
550 3. To run just the executive on the script named f15wing:
552 dx -script -file f15wing
554 4. To start the user interface and execute the user customized execu‐
556 tive named mydxexec containing user defined modules described in cus‐
557 tom.mdf:
558 dx -edit -mdf custom.mdf -exec mydxexec
560 5. To start the Data Prompter :
562 dx -prompter
564 6. To start the Module Builder :
566 dx -builder
568 7. To start the Tutorial :
569 dx -tutorial
571
574 README* - The README file(s) found in the dx
575 installation directory are an added source of information.
576 html/allguide.htm contains html versions of the documentation.
577IBM Visualization Data Explorer DX(1V)