source: trunk/documents/UserDoc/DocBookUsersGuides/ForApplicationDeveloper/xml/GettingStarted/graphicalUserInterface.xml @ 1213

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<!--  [History]                                               -->
<!--    Update G4UIExecutive : Laurent Garnier, Dec-2009      -->
<!--    Converted to DocBook: Katsuya Amako, Aug-2006         -->
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<!-- ******************* Section (Level#1) ****************** -->
<sect1 id="sect.HowToSetUpInter">
<title>
How to Set Up an Interactive Session
</title>


<!-- ******************* Section (Level#2) ****************** -->
<sect2 id="sect.HowToSetUpInter.Intro">
<title>
Introduction
</title>

<!-- ******************* Section (Level#3) ****************** -->
<sect3 id="sect.HowToSetUpInter.Intro.RolesIntercoms">
<title>
Roles of the "intercoms" category
</title>

<para>
The "intercoms" category
provides an expandable command interpreter. It is the key mechanism
of Geant4 to realize secure user interactions of all categories without
being annoyed by the dependencies among categories. The direct use
of Geant4 classes in a C++ program offers a first ground level of
interactivity, i.e., the batch session. As seen in the
examples/novice/N01, Geant4 commands and macros are to be
hard-coded in the program.
</para>



</sect3>

<!-- ******************* Section (Level#3) ****************** -->
<sect3 id="sect.HowToSetUpInter.Intro.UserInterfaces">
<title>
User Interfaces to steer the simulation
</title>

<para>
To avoid too much programming, the
"intercoms" category provides the abstract class <emphasis>G4UIsession</emphasis>
that captures interactive commands . The concrete implementation of
the user interface and Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) is left to
the interfaces category. This interfacing strategy opens an
important door towards various user interface tools and allows
Geant4 to utilize the state-of-the-art GUI tools such as Motif, Qt,
and Java etc..The richness of the collaboration has permitted for
developers to offer various user interfaces to the Geant4
command system. Currently available are the following;

<orderedlist spacing="compact">
  <listitem><para>
  Character terminal (dumb terminal and tcsh(bash)-like terminal), 
  the default user interface of Geant4,
  </para></listitem>
  <listitem><para>
  Xm, Win32, Qt variations of the upper terminal by using a
  Motif, Qt or Windows widget to retrieve commands, and
  </para></listitem>
  <listitem><para>
  GAG, a fully Graphical User Interface and its network extension
  GainServer of the client/server type.
  </para></listitem>
</orderedlist>
</para>

<para>
Full implementation of the character
terminals (1 and 2) is included in the standard Geant4 distribution
in the <literal>source/interfaces/basic</literal> directory. As for GAG, 
the front-end class is included
in the Geant4 distribution in the source/interfaces/GAG directory,
while its partner GUI package MOMO.jar is available in the standard Geant4 distribution 
under the
<literal>environments/MOMO</literal> directory. MOMO.jar, Java archive file, contains
not only GAG, but also GGE and other helper packages.
Supplementary information is available
from the author's Webpage(see URL below). 
</para>

<para>
GAG, GainServer's client GUI Gain: 
<ulink url="http://www-geant4.kek.jp/~yoshidah">
http://www-geant4.kek.jp/~yoshidah
</ulink>
</para>

</sect3>
</sect2>

<!-- ******************* Section (Level#2) ****************** -->
<sect2 id="sect.HowToSetUpInter.DescInter">
<title>
A Short Description of Available Interface Classes
</title>

<!-- ******************* Section (Level#3) ****************** -->
<sect3 id="sect.HowToSetUpInter.DescInter.G4UI">
<title>
<emphasis>G4UIterminal</emphasis> and <emphasis>G4UItcsh</emphasis> classes
</title>

<para>
These interfaces open a session on the character terminal. 
<emphasis>G4UIterminal</emphasis> runs on all platform supported by Geant4, 
including <emphasis>cygwin</emphasis> on Windows, 
while <emphasis>G4UItcsh</emphasis> runs on Solaris and Linux. G4UItcsh
supports user-friendly key bindings a-la-tcsh (or bash);

<variablelist>
  <varlistentry>
    <term>^A</term>
    <listitem>
    move cursor to the top
    </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
  <varlistentry>
    <term>^B</term>
    <listitem>
    backward cursor ([LEFT] cursor)
    </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
  <varlistentry>
    <term>^C (except Windows terminal)</term>
    <listitem>
    abort a run (<emphasis>soft abort</emphasis>) during event processing. 
    A program will be terminated while accepting a user command. 
    </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
  <varlistentry>
    <term>^D</term>
    <listitem>
    delete/exit/show matched list
    </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
  <varlistentry>
    <term>^E</term>
    <listitem>
    move cursor to the end
    </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
  <varlistentry>
    <term>^F</term>
    <listitem>
    forward cursor ([RIGHT] cursor)
    </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
  <varlistentry>
    <term>^K</term>
    <listitem>
    clear after the cursor
    </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
  <varlistentry>
    <term>^N</term>
    <listitem>
    next command ([DOWN] cursor)
    </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
  <varlistentry>
    <term>^P</term>
    <listitem>
    previous command ([UP] cursor)
    </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
  <varlistentry>
    <term>TAB</term>
    <listitem>
    command completion
    </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
  <varlistentry>
    <term>DEL</term>
    <listitem>
    backspace
    </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
  <varlistentry>
    <term>BS</term>
    <listitem>
    backspace
    </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</para>

<para>
In addition, the following string substitutions are supported;

<variablelist>
  <varlistentry>
    <term>%s</term>
    <listitem>
    current application status
    </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
  <varlistentry>
    <term>%/</term>
    <listitem>
    current working directory
    </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
  <varlistentry>
    <term>%h</term>
    <listitem>
    history number
    </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</para>

</sect3>

<!-- ******************* Section (Level#3) ****************** -->
<sect3 id="sect.HowToSetUpInter.DescInter.G4UIXm">
<title>
<emphasis>G4UIXm</emphasis>, <emphasis>G4UIQt</emphasis> and 
<emphasis>G4UIWin32</emphasis> classes
</title>

<para>
These interfaces are versions of <emphasis>G4UIterminal</emphasis> 
implemented over libraries Motif, Qt and WIN32 respectively. 
<emphasis>G4UIXm</emphasis> uses the Motif XmCommand widget, 
<emphasis>G4UIQt</emphasis> the Qt dialog
widget, and <emphasis>G4UIWin32</emphasis> the Windows "edit" component to do the
command capturing. These interfaces are useful if working in
conjunction with visualization drivers that use the Xt library, Qt library or
the WIN32 one.
</para>

<para>
A command box is at disposal for entering or recalling Geant4 commands.
Command completion by typing &amp;ldquo;TAB&amp;rdquo; key is
available on the command line. The shell commands "exit, cont,
help, ls, cd..." are also supported. A menu bar could be customized
through the <emphasis>AddMenu</emphasis> and 
<emphasis>AddButton</emphasis> method. Ex:

<variablelist>
  <varlistentry>
    <term>/gui/addMenu</term>
    <listitem>
    test Test
    </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
  <varlistentry>
    <term>/gui/addButton</term>
    <listitem>
    test Init /run/initialize
    </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
  <varlistentry>
    <term>/gui/addButton</term>
    <listitem>
    test "Set gun" "/control/execute gun.g4m"
    </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
  <varlistentry>
    <term>/gui/addButton</term>
    <listitem>
    test "Run one event" "/run/beamOn 1"
    </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</para>

<para>
<emphasis>G4UIXm</emphasis> runs on Unix/Linux with Motif. <emphasis>G4UIQt</emphasis> run 
everywhere with Qt.
<emphasis>G4UIWin32</emphasis> runs on Windows.
</para>

</sect3>


<!-- ******************* Section (Level#3) ****************** -->
<sect3 id="sect.HowToSetUpInter.DescInter.G4UIGAG">
<title>
<emphasis>G4UIGAG</emphasis> and <emphasis>G4UIGainServer</emphasis> classes
</title>

<para>
They are the front-end classes of Geant4 which make connection with their
respective graphical user interfaces, GAG (Geant4 Adaptive GUI) via pipe, and Gain
(Geant4 adaptive interface for network) via sockets. While GAG must run on the same 
system (Windows or Unixen) as a Geant4 application, Gain can run on a
remote system (Windows, Linux, etc.) in which JRE (Java Runtime
Environment) is installed. A Geant4 application is invoked on a Unix
(Linux) system and behaves as a network server. It opens a port,
waiting the connection from the Gain. Gain is capable to connect to
multiple Geant4 "servers" on Unixen systems at different
institutes.
</para>

<para>
Client GUIs, GAG and Gain have almost similar look-and-feel. So,
GAG's functionalities are briefly explained here. Please refer to
the above URL for details.
</para>

<para>
Using GAG, user
can select a command, set its parameters and execute it. It is adaptive, in the sense that it
reflects the internal states of Geant4 that is a state machine. So, GAG  always provides users with
the Geant4 commands which may be added, deleted, enabled or disabled during a session. GAG does nothing by itself but to play an intermediate between user and 
 an executable simulation program via pipes. Geant4's
front-end class <emphasis>G4UIGAG</emphasis> must be instantiated to 
communicate with GAG. GAG runs on Linux and Windows. If MOMO.jar is in your
CLASSPATH, it can be run by a command;
</para>

<informalexample>
<programlisting>
   %java -jar MOMO.jar
</programlisting>
</informalexample>

<para>
GAG has following functions.

<variablelist>
  <varlistentry>
    <term>GAG Menu:</term>
    <listitem>
    The menus are to choose and run a GEANT4 executable file, to kill or exit
    a GEANT4 process and to exit GAG. Upon the normal exit or an
    unexpected death of the Geant4 process, GAG window are
    automatically reset to run another GEANT4 executable.    
    </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
  <varlistentry>
    <term>GEANT4 Command tree:</term>
    <listitem>
    Upon the establishment of the pipe connection with the GEANT4 process, GAG displays
    the command menu, using expandable tree browser whose look and feel is similar to
    a file browser. Disabled commands are shown in opaque. GAG
    doesn &amp;rsquo;t display commands that are just below the root of
    the command hierarchy. Direct type-in field is available for such
    input. Guidance of command categories and commands are displayed
    upon focusing. GAG has a command history function. User can
    re-execute a command with old parameters, edit the history, or save
    the history to create a macro file.
    </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
  <varlistentry>
    <term>Command Parameter panel:</term>
    <listitem>
    GAG's parameter panel is the user-friendliest part. It displays parameter 
    name, its guidance, its type(s) (integer, double, Boolean or string), 
    omittable, default value(s), expression(s) of its range and candidate list(s)
    (for example, of units). Range check is done by intercoms and
    the error message from it is shown in the pop-up dialog box. When a
    parameter component has a candidate list, a list box is
    automatically displayed . When a file is requested by a command,
    the file chooser is available.
    </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
  <varlistentry>
    <term>Logging:</term>
    <listitem>
    Log can be redirected to the terminal (xterm or cygwin
    window) from which GAG is invoked. It can be interrupted as will,
    in the middle of a long session of execution. Log can be saved to a
    file independent of the above redirection . GAG displays warning or
    error messages from GEANT4 in a pop-up warning widget.
    </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</para>

</sect3>
</sect2>


<!-- ******************* Section (Level#2) ****************** -->
<sect2 id="sect.HowToSetUpInter.BuildLib">
<title>
Building the Interface Libraries
</title>

<para>
The libraries that don't depend on external packages are created by default, using
Geant4 configure scripts. 
They include <emphasis>G4UIterminal</emphasis>, <emphasis>G4UItcsh</emphasis>
and <emphasis>G4UIGAG</emphasis> in libraries <emphasis>libG4UIbasic.a/so</emphasis> and
<emphasis>libG4UIGAG.a/so</emphasis>. <emphasis>G4UIGainServer.o</emphasis> is packed in
the <emphasis>libG4UIGAG</emphasis>.
</para>

<para>
To make the libraries of <emphasis>G4UIXm</emphasis>,
 <emphasis>G4UIQt</emphasis> and
<emphasis>G4UIWin32</emphasis> , respective environment variables
<emphasis role="bold">G4UI_BUILD_XM_SESSION</emphasis>, 
<emphasis role="bold">G4UI_BUILD_QT_SESSION</emphasis> or
<emphasis role="bold">G4UI_BUILD_WIN32_SESSION</emphasis> must be set
explicitly before creating libraries.
</para>

<para>
However, if the environment variable <emphasis role="bold">G4UI_NONE</emphasis> is
set, no interface libraries are built at all.
</para>

<para>
The scheme of building the user interface libraries is
specified in "$G4INSTALL/config/G4UI_BUILD.gmk" makefile and the
dependencies on the external packages are specified in
"$G4INSTALL/config/interactivity.gmk".
</para>

</sect2>

<!-- ******************* Section (Level#2) ****************** -->
<sect2 id="sect.HowToSetUpInter.HowToUseInter">
<title>
How to Use the Interface in Your Application
</title>

<para>
To use a given interface
(<literal>G4UIxxx</literal> where <literal>xxx = terminal,Xm, Win32, Qt, 
GAG, GainServer</literal>) in your program, you can do it by two ways :
<itemizedlist spacing="compact">
   <listitem><para> Calling G4UIxxx directly :
   <informalexample>
   <programlisting>
   #include "G4Uixxx.hh"
// to instantiate a session of your choice and start the session
   G4UIsession* session = new G4UIxxx;
   session-&gt;SessionStart();
// the line next to the "SessionStart" is necessary to finish the session
   delete session;
   </programlisting>
   </informalexample>
   Note : For a tcsh session, the second line must be (See the examples in "examples/novice/N0x" in which the terminal session is used) :

   <informalexample>
   <programlisting>
      G4UIsession* session = new G4UIterminal(new G4UItcsh);
   </programlisting>
   </informalexample>
   
   </para></listitem>
   <listitem><para>Using <emphasis>G4UIExecutive</emphasis> (implement in all novice examples) :
     <informalexample>
     <programlisting>
// to include the class definition in the main program:
   #ifdef G4UI_USE
     #include "G4UIExecutive.hh"
   #endif
// to instantiate a session of your choice and start the session
   #ifdef G4UI_USE
     G4UIExecutive* ui = new G4UIExecutive(argc,argv);
     ui-&gt;SessionStart();
// the line next to the "SessionStart" is necessary to finish the session
     delete ui;
   #endif
     </programlisting>
     </informalexample>
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>

<para>The two methods are similar. If you want to choose between several viewer driver at load, with the <emphasis>first</emphasis> method you will have to write :
<informalexample>
<programlisting>
// to include the class definition in the main program:
   #if defined(G4UI_USE_TCSH)
     #include "G4UIterminal.hh"
     #include "G4UItcsh.hh"
   #elif defined(G4UI_USE_XM)
     #include "G4UIXm.hh"
   ....
   #endif

   #if defined(G4UI_USE_TCSH)
     session = new G4UITerminal(new G4UITerminal);
   #elif defined(G4UI_USE_XM)
     session = new G4UIXm(argc,argv);
   #elif ...
</programlisting>
</informalexample>
That is not realy simple. The best way to do this is the <emphasis>second</emphasis> method :
<informalexample>
<programlisting>
   #ifdef G4UI_USE
     #include "G4UIExecutive.hh"
   #endif
...

// to instantiate a session of your choice and start the session
// G4UIExecutive will open for you the good driver (depending on G4UI_USE_xxx flags)
   #ifdef G4UI_USE
     G4UIExecutive* ui = new G4UIExecutive(argc,argv);
   #endif
</programlisting>
</informalexample>

</para>
<para>
If the user wants to deactivate the default signal handler (soft abort)
raised by "Ctr-C", the false flag can be set in the second argument 
of the <emphasis>G4UIterminal</emphasis> constructor like;

<informalexample>
<programlisting>
   G4UIsession* session = new G4UIterminal(new G4UItcsh, false).
</programlisting>
</informalexample>
</para>

<para>
Again, environment variable must be preset to select a given interface. But for your
convenience, some of them are set by defaults.

<itemizedlist spacing="compact">
   <listitem><para>
   <emphasis>G4UIterminal</emphasis>, <emphasis>G4UItcsh</emphasis>, 
   <emphasis>G4UIGAG</emphasis> and <emphasis>G4UIGainServer</emphasis> 
   can be used without setting any environment
   variables. Sessions not needing external packages or libraries are
   always built (see "G4UI_BUILD.gmk") and linked, so the user can
   instantiate one of these sessions without rebuilding the libraries
   and without setting any environment variables. For backwards
   compatibility with user code, as typified by geant4/examples main
   programs, the C-pre-processor variables corresponding to the
   original environment variables for the above three (i.e.,
   <emphasis role="bold">G4UI_USE_TERMINAL</emphasis>, 
   <emphasis role="bold">G4UI_USE_TCSH</emphasis> and
   <emphasis role="bold">G4UI_USE_GAG</emphasis> ) are set. However, 
   if he/she sets no environment variables, then the C-pre-processor variable
   <emphasis role="bold">G4UI_USE_TERMINAL</emphasis> is set by default, 
   although there is no need to use it.
   </para></listitem>
   <listitem><para>
   The environment variable <emphasis role="bold">G4UI_USE_XM</emphasis>, 
<emphasis role="bold">G4UI_USE_QT</emphasis> or
   <emphasis role="bold">G4UI_USE_WIN32</emphasis> must be set to use the 
   respective interface. The file "$G4INSTALL/config/G4UI_USE.gmk"
   resolves their dependencies on external packages.
   </para></listitem>
   <listitem><para>
   If the environment variable <emphasis role="bold">G4UI_NONE</emphasis> is
   set, no external libraries are selected. Also, for your convenience, if any
   <emphasis role="bold">G4UI_USE_XXX</emphasis> environment variable is set, 
   then the corresponding C-pre-processor flag is also set. However, if the
   environment variable <emphasis role="bold">G4UI_NONE</emphasis> is set, 
   no C-pre-processor flags are set.
   </para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>

</sect2>
</sect1>