-C H A P T E R

C H A P T E R 4

User Interface

The user interface contains the following elements:

List Panel: Shows the regions available to monitor. It lists each machine and its registered regions.

Main Area: Provides a multiple-document interface, allowing the user to look at multiple detail windows simultaneously.

Detail Pane or Window: Shows specific information about a region or a resource of the region.

Slider: Separates the list panel from the main area. The slider can be dragged to increase the space of the list panel or main area. The slider also has controls to minimize or maximize an area.

Menu Bar: Contains global menu items. These items control the administration tool, not a detail pane, which has its own menu bar. See Menu Bar.

Context Menus: Provide a quick way to access menu options by right-clicking an item, such as a machine name in the list panel, or a column heading in a window.

Menu Bar

The menu bar on the administration tool's main window contains items that control the administration tool.

File

The File menu is used to perform the following functions:

Add Machine. See Accessing Sun MTP Regions.

Deregister Region. Removes a region so that it cannot be monitored. See To Deregister a Region.

Remove Machine. See To Remove a Machine.

Exit. Exits the tool.

Window

The Window menu is used to perform these functions:

Save current layout: Saves the layout of your windows so that they will appear in this way the next time you open the tool. See Saving Window Layouts.

Cascade: Displays the detail windows in overlapping mode

Tile: Tiles the detail windows side-by-side

Restore All: Restores all detail windows to the previous view

Minimize All: Minimizes all detail windows

Maximize All: Maximizes all detail windows

Close All: Closes all open detail windows

The bottom portion of the Window menu lists the open windows and displays a check mark next to the window that has focus.

To Change Window Focus

At the bottom of the Window menu, click the check box next to the window you want to focus on.

Chart

The Chart menu is used to create charts and gauges. See Chapter 6.

Settings

The Settings menu is used to set preferences for the administration tool. See Setting Preferences.

Help

The Help menu is used to display the About dialog, which provides version and copyright information about the administration tool.

Windows and How They Behave

When you open a window in the main area of the GUI--for example, by double-clicking a machine or region name--the window usually opens in a small format. The controls in the upper right corner of the title bar enable you to:

Maximize the window

Minimize the window

Close the window

The GUI's multiple document interface enables you to display several windows at the same time by cascading or tiling them. Use the Window menu on the GUI's main menu bar to select the Cascade or Tile option.

Many of the windows also have a Show Details check box. When this box is checked, a detail pane appears below the scrolled list and displays all the datapoints for the selected item. This is useful if you have hidden some of the columns in a table.

Duplicating Windows

The administration tool allows you to create an exact copy of the detail window you are currently viewing. After the copy is made, the two windows are independent. Changes you make to one window do not affect the other. A duplicate window has exactly the same title as the source window.

Duplicating a window enables you to compare aspects of a region simultaneously. For example, you can open a window that shows all the programs defined for the region, and at the same time have another window showing the region's transactions.

To Duplicate a Window

On the window's menu bar, select Window right arrow Duplicate.

A copy of the window opens in the main area.

Saving Window Layouts

The administration tool enables you to save the window layouts you are currently viewing. When you save the layout, you save the state of all open windows. The state of a window includes its size and position, its current view, as well as selections you made on non-visible panes.

To Save Window Layouts

On the main menu bar, select Window right arrow Save current layout.

The next time you open the GUI, the window layout you saved is displayed.

You can also save the current layout using the Settings right arrow Preferences menu options, and clicking on the Start and Exit tab. See Setting Preferences.

Customizing Table Views

Most of the detail windows contain many columns of information--often too many to view at once in a meaningful way. You can customize the table so that you see only the information you want to see. You can select an individual column and hide it, or you can use the context menu to select the columns to display. You can also sort columns in ascending or descending order. The column heading that contains a triangle icon is the one controlling the sort order of the table.

To Hide a Column

Right-click the column heading and select Hide Column.

To redisplay the hidden column, see To Customize the Table View.

To Customize the Table View

1. Right-click any column heading and select Choose Columns.

A dialog box listing each column heading, grouped into configuration or monitoring categories is displayed. Information in the configuration category is static; it changes only if you make a change to the region's configuration. Monitoring information is dynamic.

2. Select the information you want to see and deselect any columns you want to hide.

You can use the Select All and Select None buttons to quickly select or deselect all columns.

As you make your selections, the window shows your choices.

3. When you are satisfied with your selections, click OK.

To Sort Column Information

1. Right-click the heading of the column you want to sort.

2. Select either Sort Ascending or Sort Descending.