Photon Desktop Manager

This chapter shows you how to use the Desktop Manager to launch applications, navigate Photon's desktop, and more. Topics include:

• PDM at a glance
• Button bar
• Extended Workspace View
• Console Selector
• World View
• How to know where you are
• Moving around your entire desktop
• Group folders
• Scroll arrows and Mail indicator

The Desktop Manager at a glance

Here's a sample of the Photon Desktop Manager (PDM):

Think of the PDM as your main control panel. It lets you:

• launch applications
• move around your entire desktop
• change the settings for your desktop

Depending on your Photon environment, the Desktop Manager may not be available. For more info, ask your system administrator.

The Desktop Manager includes the following:

• Button bar-displays the Desktop Manager's menu, lets you configure your desktop, and displays help information.
• Extended Workspace View, View-up, and View-down arrows-help you navigate around your desktop.
• Console Selector-lets you switch to another console.
• World View-displays a miniature version of your entire desktop.
• Application icons- let you quick-launch frequently used applications.
• Group folders-organize your application icons.

Button bar

At the left of the Desktop Manager, you'll see a button bar:

Desktop Manager menu button

Click on this button to bring up the Desktop Manager menu, which lets you run applications from a command line and control the behavior of the Desktop Manager.

The Desktop Manager menu contains these items:

• About...-tells you the version number of the Desktop Manager program you're running.
• Run...-lets you launch an application by entering its command in a text field.
• Hide-hides the Desktop Manager window. To recall it, click on the Desktop Manager button in the Taskbar.
• PDM Force Front-keeps the Desktop Manager window in the foreground.

Launching an application using the Run... item

To launch an application using the Run... menu item:

1. Click on Run... You'll be prompted for the command required to run the application.
2. Enter the name of the command in the text field. For example, to run the Photon Image Viewer, you could type the following in the Command Line field:

   pv myfile.gif

3. Click on the Run button.

For information on using pv (or any other Photon utility), see the Photon Installation & Configuration guide.

Configuration tool

The Configuration tool lets you set up the Desktop Manager the way you want. You can specify the applications you want to load for quick-launching, the icons you want to appear, and how they're grouped. You can also use this tool to select the backdrop and screen saver for your workspace.

Question-mark help button

The help button gives you application-specific help-in this case, help on the Desktop Manager. Whenever you need some information about a specific aspect of the Desktop Manager, you simply click on the button and then click on the object you want to know about. The Helpviewer will then pop up and display the appropriate section from the Photon online bookset.

Extended Workspace View

The workspace you see in front of you is really only a fraction of your entire desktop, which contains nine consoles in all. The three consoles you see in the Extended Workspace View represent one row (normally the top row) of the nine-square grid of consoles that make up your whole desktop:

A white border in the Extended Workspace View highlights your current console. If you move a window on your screen, you'll see its tiny counterpart move in the Extended Workspace View. And vice versa-if you move the tiny window in the Extended Workspace View using the mouse, the window on your screen will move in sync.

The View-up and View-down arrows let you move the Extended Workspace View up or down the nine-square grid. Try them!

Console Selector

The Console Selector represents the nine consoles that make up your desktop. It indicates:

• The current Extended Workspace View (consisting of three consoles), with a red outline.
• The active console within this view, with a green box.

To switch your current console to any of the nine possible workspaces on your desktop, just click on a square in the grid.

World View

This is like a map showing you all nine consoles at once:

To bring up the World View:

Simply click on the World View button:

If you move or resize the World View, the Desktop Manager will remember your changes.

How to know where you are

Since your entire desktop is much larger than you can see in a single console, and since you may have many windows open at the same time, the Desktop Manager gives you several indicators that tell you which window has focus, and which console you're viewing:

Moving around your entire desktop

You can switch from one console to another in several ways:

• Click on one of the nine squares in the Console Selector

  Or

• Double-click on one of the three console views in the Extended Workspace View

  Or

• Double-click on one of the nine console views in the World View

  Or

• Cycle through all nine consoles with the following keychords:

  Ctrl -Alt -1...9

  Or

• Cycle through the consoles that have running applications:

  Ctrl -Alt -Plus (+ on numeric keypad)

  Or

  Ctrl -Alt -Minus (- on numeric keypad)

Group folders

Your Desktop Manager may include folders containing icons for quick-launching applications, demos, games, and development tools. These folders allow you to group your quick-launch icons; the name of each group appears on the folder's tab.

Applications folder

Your Applications folder may contain the following:

Photon Terminal (pterm)-The Photon terminal brings up a QNX shell for running QNX utilities or other text-based applications. You may run several terminal sessions at the same time.

Helpviewer-This is your online "encyclopedia" of Photon. The Helpviewer uses Hypertext techniques to let you easily access and navigate the entire set of Photon books. For more information, see the Getting Help chapter.

File Manager-A simple, graphical tool for maintaining and organizing your files. You can use it to view, edit, and delete files. We'll look at it in detail in the Photon File Manager chapter.

Message Pad-A handy way to post a note, either to yourself or to other users on a network. For more details, see "Using the Message Pad" in the Using Photon on a Network chapter.

CD Player-If your computer includes a CD-ROM drive, you can use this tool to listen to your favorite tunes while you work.

DayMinder-Keep yourself organized with Photon's online appointment book. For more details, see the chapter on DayMinder.

Calculator-You don't need a pencil and a piece of paper, or a pocket calculator anymore-just use Photon's handy calculator program.

Image Viewer-A tool for viewing graphical images, including any snapshots that you take of your screen.

Utilities folder

This may contain several tools, including:

Jump Gate-This unique connectivity tool lets you "beam" or transport an application-and yourself!-from one QNX node to another! (Don't worry, when you go through a Jump Gate, you don't literally go anywhere. But you'll be able to view and interact with a remote system as if you were right there.) For more info, see the Using Photon on a Network chapter.

Snapshot-A tool for taking screen snapshots.

Other tools in the Utilities folder may include diagnostic tools such as vsin and phsac.

Demos & Games folder

You'll find several demos here. Try them - they speak for themselves! And as for the games, well, you'll have to wait till your lunch hour before you can try these! ;-)

If you have the Photon Toolkit, source code is available for many of the demos and games.

Development Tools folder

This may contain several development tools, including the Photon Application Builder (PhAB), as well as the phin and winview system-information utilities.

Launching applications from a Group folder

To quick-launch any application contained in a Group folder:

Simply click on the appropriate folder, then click on the icon representing the application.

Adding applications to a Group folder

To add an application to a group folder, see the section on "Using the Configuration tool" in the Customizing Photon chapter.

Scroll arrows and Mail indicator

The right side of the Desktop Manager contains the following:

• Group scroll arrows - these appear if you have more Group folder tabs than can fit in the viewing area. To see the hidden tabs, simply click on the right arrow. To scroll back to where you were, click on the left arrow.
• Icon scroll arrows - if a Group folder contains more icons than can fit in the viewing area, simply click on the right arrow to scroll within the folder. To scroll back to where you were, click on the left arrow.
• Mail indicator - "envelopes" will poke through the mail slot when you have email waiting. If you pause your pointer over these letters, a text balloon pops up and displays the sender and subject line of your email. To read your mail, click on the mail slot.

  By default, PDM runs mailx in a pterm window to view and send mail. You can use the MAILVIEWER environment variable to specify an alternate mail program. See your system administrator for details.