Release Notes for HepRApp

8 April 2007 - Version 3.15.0 - Major New Release - Many Improvements

• New Installation Procedure - Nothing Could be Simpler:
  • The application has been repackaged for easier distribution - it now comes as one simple file, HepRApp.jar.
    • Download the file.
    • Put it whereever you please.
    • If you are on Mac or Windows (or some other systems that have automatic association of jar files with Java), just click on this file to start the application.
    • If your system doesn't know what to do with a jar file, try associating jar files with the command "java -jar"
    • If that doesn't work, run the application from the command line by typing: java -jar and then the file name.
  • You can move the jar file whereever you want, rename it, copy it, whatever. It will work wherever you choose to put it.
  • To uninstall the application, just delete the file.
• More Control over Group Settings:
  • Where previously you had to specify the Group (also know as Experiment) option at startup, either from the command line or from your user properties file, you can now change this setting interactively.
    • Look in the "Options" menu for "Group Settings".
    • The first time you start up, you will be brought directly to this menu. After that, your setting will be remembered.
    • If you specify a Group option on the command line or in your user properties file, your selection will be pre-set. If the selection is not one of the standard known settings, your new option will be added to the list.
    • Note that the old synonym, "exp" has been removed. Use "-group" instead.
• New Feature: Pick to Offset Labels:
  • The "Mouse Function" menu now includes "Pick to Offset Labels". When this option is on, you can use the mouse to change where a label sits in relation to the labeled object.
    • Pick and drag once to specify the label to be moved (everything except the specified label will be greyed out).
    • Pick and drag a second time to move the label.
• New Feature: Invariant Mass Sum:
  • When you pick to show attributes, if any of the picked objects include a four-momentum attribute named "Lab(px,py,pz,E)", the top of the Attribute Popup will now show the Invariant Mass Sum.
  • The attribute value for Lab(px,py,pz,E) should be in the form of four floats separated by commas.
• New Feature: AutoZoom:
  • This option makes the view continuously zoom in and out. This means there are now three automatic motion options: AutoRotate, AutoZoom and AutoFly, where AutoFly is equivalent to AutoRotate plus AutoZoom.
• New Feature: FitToWindow:
  • This option causes the scaling to adjust to fit to the window the first time you open any data in your session. This only affects the first view of the session. Subsequent files will be left at whatever scaling was already in place.
  • Default is true, but the BaBar experiment's group properties set this to false.
• New Feature: Asymmetric Scaling:
  • The Mouse Mode menu now includes new options, "Scale Only in X Direction" and "Scale Only in Y Direction". In these mode, dragging the mouse affects one direction's scaling but leaves the other direction's scaling unchanged. This is useful for fitting long objects such as accelerators onto the screen.
  • Startup options also allow you to set this asymmetric scaling. Whereas previously just had ability to set zoom factor the same in all directions, using the startup option "scale", there are now the startup options "scaleX", "scaleY" and "scaleZ".
  • The X, Y and Z of this startup option refers to the screen orientation in the initial view. So, for example, scaleX will affect the horizontal screen scaling regardless of which "initialOrientation" you might have specified (beam view, side view, etc.).
  • For example, to start with a side view of a structure that is very long in Z, and have it squished to fit the screen, you might use:
    • initialOrientation=Side
    • scaleX=0.1
• New Feature: GoToOpenFileOnStartup:
  • Set this true to make the "Open Data...Open HepRep File..." dialog come up immediately at startup.
• New Feature: LockPropertiesFile:
  • Set this true to block rewriting of user properties. It is useful in cases where one doesn't want one session's settings to carry over to next session, such as in public applications.
• New Feature: TileColumnLimit:
  • Limits the number of columns used for tile action (otherwise, tile layout sets number of columns to square root of number of windows). For example, to force tiling to use only one column, set tileColumnLimit to 1
• New Feature: Servers with User-Configurable Properties:
  • Servers can now have properties that are configurable from the client. Most servers do not yet have such properties, but for those that do, you can see a configuration dialog by selecting "Server Property Control" from the "Options" menu.
  • Current settings are saved to the user.properties file when you hit "Save Settings" in the Server Property Control dialog.
  • When you attach to a server that supports properties, any serverProperties in your user.properties file are applied to the newly attached server.
• Removed "Add New Data Type" feature:
  • Capabilities previously accomplished through the "Add New Data Type" feature can be more transparently provided by using the new "Server Properties" dialog.
  • Add new data type had allowed you to specify a new data type that was then passed on to the server. If the server had any HepRep fillers registered as "generic fillers", these fillers would have the opportunity to fill the given data type. Typically, the fillers parsed the new type name to determine what action to take. The details were entirely hidden from the user.
  • With the advent of the "Server Properties" dialog, it becomes possible to provide this same functionality in a more transparent manner. Any filler can watch one or more "Server Properties". The properties can specify what actions the filler should take. Thus, for example, one can have a "Particle" filler, that watches a "ParticleList" property to determine what list of particles to fill.
  • Since a filler can also support subtypes, one filler can fill more than one list. So, in the above example, the ParticleList property could specify several particle lists, and the particle filler could then fill several subtypes, one for each list.
• Completed Support for SubTypes
  • The Type/SubType relationship is now correctly implemented for data from files or servers, HepRep1 or HepRep2.
• Improved Specify Event ID and Specify Server Dialogs:
  • Specify Event ID dialog now has buttons to prefill it with either the current value or the last value that you specifically typed into that dialog box.
  • Specify Server dialog now responds more helpfully when the specified server is unreachable.
  • When you specify a server, the new server is immediately selected. Previously, you had to first specify the server and then actually select the server from the server list.
• New Option in Data Chooser: Specify a Process Manager:
  • Previously, one could only specify process managers upon startup. They can now be specified from the Data Chooser.
• Changed Cursor to Waiting Indicator for Various Actions from Data Chooser:
  • Made more actions from the Data Chooser put up the Waiting Indicator cursor. Provides better feedback that server is busy with actions such as "Specify Event ID".
• Next and Previous Event functions now loop properly in all event lists:
  • If you specify a directory of events as a URL, when you do "next" after the last event, it will now loop around to the first event in that directory. Similarly, when you do "previous" after the first event, it will now loop around to the last event.
• Non-existent directory now correctly trapped in Open HepRep URL:
  • If you specify a directory of events as a URL, and this directory does not exist, the condition is now correctly caught and handled.
• Improved Greying Out Logic for Server Control Buttons:
  • Improved logic that controls which server control buttons (next event, previous event, reload, etc.) are greyed out for which kinds of servers.
• New Views now Automatically Tiled:
  • To get back to the old behavior, in which new views were layed on top of previous views, set tileNewViews to false.
• Improved the Right Click Menu of the Data Visibility Tree:
  • Replaced "Show" and "Hide" with "Toggle Visibility".
  • Made "Toggle Visibility" available for either "all views" or "selected view only".
  • Replaced Show All Below and Hide All Below with Toggle All Below.
  • Replaced "Expand All Below" and "Collapse All Below" with "Expand/Collapse All Below".
  • Got rid of "Expand All" and "Collapse All". Can do that using "Expand/Collapse All Below" from top node.
  • Added option to "Show Attributes of All Instances" of the given type.
  • Added option to "Toggle Visibility " for all instances of a given type (such as all trajectory points).
  • Added wait cursors to potentially slow actions of Data Visibility Tree.
• Special PickAction attributes are now handled better:
  • The attributes PickTranslation, PickRotation and PickScale are used to tell HepRApp how to transform the view if one picks on an appropriate object while the PickToTransformView option is enabled.
  • The attribute ShowDaughters is used to tell HepRApp what additional information to request from a server to show daughters when the PickToShowDaughters option is enabled.
  • All of these special PickAction attributes still work as before, except that:
    • You no longer need to define these attributes in your HepRep file. Their definition is implicit.
    • The attributes are excluded from the Attribute Popup. The popup is intended only for Phyics attributes, not for PickAction, Association or Draw attributes.
• Refined Pick to Show Daughters":
  • The Pick to Show Daughters feature now takes advantage of the SubTypes mechanism to provide simpler operation.
  • To use this feature, create a HepRep Instance that has the attribute ShowDaughters.
  • Set this attribute to the name of the desired daughter's type name.
  • When the Pick to Show Daughters is turned on and the Instance is selected, all daughter instances of the specified type daughter type nsame will be highlighted.
  • If the daugther type had not yet been loaded, it will be loaded at this time.
  • The feature can be used iteratively, so daugthers can have grand-daughters, and so on.
• New Option: resetViewAtNextEvent:
  • Set this option to true to cause view to reset to initial scale, rotation and translation at each new event.
• New Option: scaleMax:
  • Set this option to establish a maximum scale. Zooming will be halted if you exceed this scale.
• New Options to control whether toolbars show icons and/or text:
  • mainToolBarStyle controls whether the top toolbar is drawn as icon and/or text.
  • orientationToolBarStyle controls whether the bottom toolbar is drawn as icon and/or text.
  • In either case, options are "Images", "Text" or "ImagesAndText".
• New Views: Upper Side View and Lower Side View:
  • These augment the standard set of Beam, Top and Side views for hexagonally symmetric detector components such as the BaBar IFR (Instrumented Flux Return).
• Allow different intialOrientation and scale for different views:
  • The properties for initialOrientation, scale, scaleX, scaleY and scaleZ now accept additional syntax to specify different values for different initial views.
  • You can set different values for different views by providing a list of values, each followed by a list of view numbers in parentheses, for example:
    • -views 3 -initialOrientation beam(0,1);top(2); -scale 1.(0);4.(1);.5(2)
  • Note that view numbers start at zero, not one.
• Changed property names involving autoSave of graphics files and HepRep files:
  • The property names to set automatic saving of graphics files or HepRep files have been changed to clarify the distinction between properties to save graphics files (jpg, pdf, etc) and to save the raw data that was obtained from a server (HepRep files).
  • "autoExport" has become "autoSaveGraphics"
  • "autoExportFormat" has become "autoSaveGraphicsFormat"
  • "autoExportFileName" has become "autoSaveGraphicsFileName"
  • "autoSaveEvent" has become "autoSaveHepRep"
• AutoSaveGraphics now works with multiple views:
  • If you specify autoSaveGraphics while you have multiple views, all of the different views will now be exported to graphics files for every event.
  • For example, you could automatically export the three standard views by using:
    • -views 3 -initialOrientation beam(0);side(1);top(2) -autoSaveGraphics
  • Note that view numbers start at zero, not one.
• Upgraded FreeHEP VectorGraphics:
  • Upgraded these libraries to version 1.2.2. Fixes a minor bug that had been reported in GIF export, plus many other improvements. Details at freehep.org.
• Supported Full Set of HepRep Symbols:
  • The complete set of symbols as specified in the HepRep specification is now supported. Points can be specified as having MarkName: Circle, Box, UpTriangle, DnTriagle, Diamond, Cross, Star, Plus, Hline, Vline.
  • We also support the following older Mark Names, used in the BaBar and Geant4 HepRep drivers: Dot (synonym for Circle), Square (synonym for Box), Triangle (synonym for UpTriangle).
  • This feature is implemented using the powerful symbol features of FreeHEP VectorGraphics2D.
• Allow -opt File Specification to Omit File Extension:
  • One can now specify an opt file by just the file name, such as:
    java -jar HepRApp.jar -opt myoptions
    This will look for the file myoptions.properties in the current directory.
• Accept single argument as a HepRep File specification:
  • If you call HepRApp with just a single argument, it will be interpreted as a HepRep file specification, as if you had done
    java -jar HepRApp.jar -file <myfile.heprep>
• Restored Splash Screen:
  • Startup splash screen has been missing for the last few releases. It is now restored.
  • Added an option to let you suppress creation of the startup splash screen if that is what you really want.
  • Note that this can be set only as a command line argument (since it is needed before any properties files are even read).
  • Specify as: "-noSplash true" or just "-noSplash"
• Refuse to attach to already-busy servers:
  • Handle cases in which server responds with "server unavailable: busy with another client". This can not occur when working from centrally managed servers (since the process manager assigns each user their own server), but can happen if the user attempts to connect to a private server that is already in use.
• Improved shutdown for case of ctrl-c:
  • HepRApp now does orderly shutdown even if killed via ctrl-c or by killing of the xwindow. Servers are properly detached, options are saved, etc.
• Improved responsiveness to application stop:
  • If Wired3 had been attached to a server, stopping used to wait indefinitely for the server to detach.
  • HepRApp now posts an advisory message after waiting ten seconds and then does a forcible quit after another thirty seconds.
• Improved Placement of PickToMeasure Dialog:
  • Users have thought the application was hung when it was actually just waiting for acknowledgement of a PickToMeasure dialog box that had subsequently been covered by another window. The PickToMeasure dialog box will now always stay on top of the main HepRApp window.
• Changed Direction of Translation Sliders:
  • The horizontal and vertical translation wheels did not move in the direction that was intuitive to most users. Switched the direction.
• Improved Behavior of Rotation and Translation Sliders:
  • The sliders now have a more intuitive feel when you move them.
• Avoid Labels Piling Up at Origin:
  • If only the first point is on the screen, the label position is now moved part way toward the second point. This solves most cases of labels piling up at the origin during extreme zooms.
• Split Quiet Option into two Separate Options: Quiet and AutoServerReplace:
  • This allows one to have the AutoServerReplace option set without it having to be quiet. If, for example, a server has been specified upon startup, and this server is unavailable, autoServerReplace=true plus quiet=false will cause HepRApp to keep trying to replace the server, while informing the user of this action with a prominent information box.
• Visibility saving from one event to the next has been improved:
  • The visibility saving logic now does a better job of telling when a new data file is sufficiently similar to the previous data file to apply the previous file's visibility settings.
  • Visibility is now saved not only for top level data types but for all subtypes.
• InitialVisibility option now works for subtypes:
  • This option had previously only worked for top level data types. Now works for all data types.
  • SubTypes should be specified using the fully-qualified type name, as in:
    • -initialVisibility KalmanTrk/Hit
• Main horizontal divider location is now saved from one session to the next:
  • The proportion of the main HepRApp window to use for graphics (as opposed to the visibility control area) is saved in the property "divider". The value is automatically saved when you close the application and restored the next time you open.
• Improved handling of deleted views:
  • Deleting a view used to sometimes leave the event visibility tree in a corrupted state. Now works correctly.
• Renamed "Search DataCat" to "Search ID List":
  • The "Search DataCat" feature in the Data Chooser has been renamed "Search ID List" to make its relation to the other Data Chooser features more apparent. So we now have:
    • Import ID LIst File...
    • Import ID List URL...
    • Search ID List...
  • The associated properties in the user properties have also changed their names:
    • dataCatSearchString is now idListSearchString.
    • dataCatSearchMethod is now idListSearchMethod
    • dataCatSearchServlet is now idListSearchServlet
    • dataCatSearchFile is now idListSearchFile
    • dataCatSearchURL is now idListSearchURL
• Improved "Copy ID to User List":
  • When you hit "Copy ID to User List" to place the current event ID into your personal ID list, you are now prompted to enter a descriptive comment. The comment is appended at the end of the specified ID.
  • The descriptive comment can help you identify the particular ID when you view the event ID list.
  • The comment also becomes an extra string that you can search on when you use the "Search ID List..." feature.
• Fixed: Pick To Transform:
  • A parsing error was causing a message of the form: "java.lang.NumberFormatException" for some uses of the Pick to Transform feature (used, for example, with BaBar Drc Rings).
  • Picking on objects that had no transformation data when PickToTransform was turned on caused a hang.
• Fixed: Startup bug for Java 1.5 on some Linux systems with GNOME desktop.
  • WIRED3.14.1 was unable to start for Java 1.5 on some Linux systems with the GNOME desktop. This appears to have been due to a bug in these versions of the Java 1.5 virtual machine. A workaround is now in place that solves this problem.
• Fixed: Problem with Initial Layout:
  • Fixed bug that sometimes caused initial window layout to be incorrect (tile action was done too early).
• Fixed: Problem in Reading of Some Command Line Arguments:
  • Fixed a bug in reading of command line arguments. Affected some cases in which first argument was neither an options file nor a heprep file.
• Fixed: loadWithoutDrawing Option:
  • When the not-very-often used option, loadWithoutDrawing, was combined with autoSaveEvent and autoUpdate, no HepRep files were generated. Files are now generated correctly.
• Fixed: French Language translation in Installer:
  • The installer had mixed up the French words for "next" and "previous" on the dialog buttons.
• Fixed: little squares resulting from null unit labels:
  • If labeling feature were turned on and user specified "units" only for a type that has no units, a null label used to appear as a little square next to the labeled object. This is now suppressed.
• Completed support of HepRep2:
  • Now completely supports HepRep versions 1 and 2 for data from files or servers. All features are now supported for both HepRep versions.
• Renamed Application from Wired3 to HepRApp:
  • This new release is called HepRApp Version 3.15. While it is the first version named HepRApp, we call it version 3.15 rather than version 1.0 to reflect that it is not an entirely new application. HepRApp is a major improvement over Wired3 in terms of ease of installation, ease of use and extent of feature set, but it was made by refactoring, refining and extending Wired 3.14 (itself descended from the first HepRep browser, Wired 1).

27 May 2005 - Version 3.14.1 - Bug Fixes and Usability Improvements

• Restored label backgrounds:
  • These had been transparent in release 3.14.0.
  • Label background fill can now be toggled from the label control or from the startup property "labelHasFrame."
• Improved memory management:
  • Display is now truncated cleanly if the application gets too close to the memory limit.
  • A message will appear over the display indicating that the display is incomplete. Subsequent events will continue to display correctly.
• Fixed thread leak:
  • Thread leakage had occurred in some special situations in release 3.14.0.
• Allow some arguments to be supplied with no value:
  • Boolean properties can now be supplied on the command line with no value, meaning "set to true", as in:
    wired -exp babar -server kandata -autoUpdate -quiet
  • Some string properties can also be supplied with no value, meaning set to blank, as in the following command to run without any process managers:
    wired -exp babar -processManagers
• Improve use of redundant process manager sets:
  • Previous version of WIRED3 made selection of best member of a redundant process manager set (such as exists for BaBar offline at SLAC) only at startup.
  • New version checks for best process manager every time a server is selected. This provides better load balancing among server machines and also means that a WIRED3 running in autoUpdate mode can transparently survive a complete outage of a server machine.
• Fixed problem with initial layout:
  • Under some conditions, too much of the screen was taken up by the control area. Now fixed.
• Improve quiet mode:
  • Now suppresses dialog boxes relating to autoSaveEvent issues.
• Added "Help...About...":
  • Useful for checking WIRED3 version number on windowing systems that do not provide this information on the title bar.
• Check local directory for group properties file:
  • This file was previously taken only from wired3/source (the directory where default.properties resides).
  • WIRED3 now searches for this group properties file first in the current directory and then in the wired3/source directory.
• Improve graying out of buttons:
  • Gray out was not working correctly for servers that can only go to next event (such as the BaBar online server). Now works correctly for all kinds of servers.
• Improve "Save as Local Data":
  • Now requires less activity on the server side and works correctly for servers that can only go to next event (such as the BaBar online server).
• Limit repetition of warning messages:
  • Warnings about problems in server or HepRep xml file content, such as "... unable to navigate from primitive to instance..." are now suppressed after 40 occurrences.
• Continued refactoring:
  • No visible effect to users, except that the size of the install is decreasing.
• Several new startup options have been added.
  • The set of new options is as follows.
  • The complete set of options is documented as always in the built-in Properties File

  #
  #
  minFreeMemory=3000000
  # omit parts of drawing if free memory slips below this limit
  #
  #
  serverRetryRate=10
  # when first trying to contact a server, running in quiet mode,
  # retry after this many seconds.
  #
  #
  webBrowseCommandUnix=mozilla
  # command to use to browse a url on Unix.
  # Wired uses this to show documents when some help menu items are selected.
  #
  #
  webBrowseCommandWindows=rundll32 url.dll,FileProtocolHandler
  # command to use to browse a url on Unix.
  # Wired uses this to show documents when some help menu items are selected.
  

18 March 2005 - Version 3.14.0 - Major New Release - Many Improvements

• When a directory is opened (either from a file or from a url), the first heprep or heprep.gz file in that directory is opened immediately.
• When an event id list is specified, the first event is drawn immediately.
• Added property, idList, to specify an event ID list from startup.
  • List can come from local file:
  • wired -exp babar -server kandata -idList MyEventIDList.txt
  • Or from url:
  • wired -exp babar -server kandata -idList http://www.slac.stanford.edu/~perl/MyEventIDList.txt
  • The idList feature works well with other features, as in:
  • wired -exp babar -server kandata -idList MyEventIDList.txt -autoUpdate true -autoSaveEvent true -autoExport true
• Fixed a longstanding problem with the behavior of autoUpdate when working with event ID Lists.
  • Had been causing some events to be skipped, and had also caused the other buttons to never get re-enabled after use of autoUpdate.
• Significant changes in how one specifies alternate process managers.
  • These used to be specified as part of the -server option.
  • They are now specified by a separate option, -processManagers.
  • Multiple process managers can now be specified, and redundant sets can be used (the SLAC BaBar servers have moved to such a pair of redundant hosts - if one host is down or slow, the new WIRED3 picks up the other host).
  • Syntax details are given below in the relevant part of the default.properties file.
• A standalone server's "stringified ior" can be specified directly in the -server option.
  • The ior previously had to come from a file.
• The property "server" now works as follows:
  • If the value starts with "http:", "file:" or "IOR:", this is assumed to be a standalone server (not managed by a JProcMan process manager).
  • "http:" specifies the url of a file that contains the server's "stringified ior".
  • "file:" specifies a file that contains the server's "stringified ior".
  • "IOR:" directly specifies the server's "stringified ior".
  • If the value does not start with "http:", "file:" or "IOR:", this is assumed to be the name of a server that can be found on one of the process managers that has been specified in the -processManagers option.
• The initialVisibility property now works for data from files as well as for data from servers.
• Settings for visibility, cuts and labels are now retained from one file to the next.
  • Previous WIRED3 versions cleared this information when a new file was read.
  • The settings are now retained if the new file has the same set of type names as the previous file. If, on the other hand, the set of type names is different, WIRED3 assumes this is a new kind of file and that the previous settings are not going to be useful (e.g., one is going from viewing BaBar events to viewing GLAST events).
• Intermediate level properties files are now used to contain properties specific to a particular experiment or group.
  • The new intermediate level properties file is optional, not required.
  • The group properties file is specified using the -group or -exp property (they are synonymous).
  • Distribution includes group properties files babar.properties and glast.properties.
  • All this means that users who used to say "-exp babar" can still do so. The underlying mechanism is new and clean but the user command has not changed.
• An "invert" button has been added to each cut in the cut control.
  • This allows one to do "Not Equals" or "Not Between".
• A new mouse function is supported: "Mouse Function...Show Daughters (if object has info)".
  • When this option is enabled, and one picks on an object that has the "ShowDaughters" attribute, picking on that object will cause WIRED3 to then add the HepRepType specified in that attribute.
  • In practice, this can be used to make a display of composite tracks that when picked on have their respective daughters displayed. The daughter display can be iterative (picking on the daughter will in turn show its daughters, and so on).
  • For a trivial first test of this feature, try the following (but real use will not be possible until the servers actually provide composites that contain this attribute): wired -exp babar -file http://www.slac.stanford.edu/~perl/heprepxml/showDaughtersTest.heprep.gz -pickToShowDaughters true -scale 10. -mouseMode PickRectangle Pick on KMicroTight(1), the track that heads to the lower left corner.
• Adding a new type via the "Add New Data Type" feature makes the new type immediately visible.
  • You used to have to take the additional step of clicking on the new type in the visibility menu.
• The property "showShadows" was already in the default.properties file but was not actually being respected.
  • It is now handled correctly.
• A new feature, "wobble", has been added.
  • Wobble causes the view to process around a small circle, helping to identify the 3D match between such objects as tracks and calorimeter clusters.
  • Unfortunately, this first implementation of wobble seems to work well only on Windows. The performance is too jerky on other operating systems. We will continue to work towards improving this feature.
• Orientation toolbar: added "Reset View" button to reset the view's initial orientation, translation and scaling.
  • Looks like a letter "R".
• Orientation toolbar: added "Reset Orientation" button to reset the view's initial orientation.
  • Looks like a letter "O".
• Orientation toolbar: replaced "Center in Window" button with "Reset Translation" button.
  • The new button restores the original center whereas the old button computed a new center from the current visible object set.
• Orientation toolbar now contains horizontal and vertical translation sliders.
  • These sliders replace the more basic up, down, left and right buttons.
  • The more basic button style can be restored using the controlHorizontalTranslation and controlVerticalTranslation properties.
• The "simplify" property which removes a number of "expert" controls has been replaced.
  • Functions handled by that property are now broken out into a number of different properties.
  • See default.properties for details.
• The status box that shows scale or orientation information is now supported for all mouse modes.
  • For example, scale is still shown when you switch to PickRectangle.
• The initialVisibility and label properties now still work if one forgets the closing semicolon.
• The property "geometry" is now called "preHepRepGeometry".
• A new property, labelHasFrame, controls whether labels have frames.
  • This overrides the FontHasFrame and FontHasBanner values that may come from the HepRep.
  • This can also be controlled from the label control dialog.
• The Open Data tree now shows the server's short name after the long description.
  • This short name is the value that one needs to specify if using the -server property.
• Two new properties, extraHelpString and extraHelpURL, allow one to specify an additional item in the help menu.
• Picking to show attributes now works for HepRep Text objects as well as other primitives.
  • This will allow features such as picking on the event information box to get more detailed information.
• The "Save as Local Data" function now correctly remembers the previous save location.
• Various diagnostic messages have been improved.
• Many additional options have been added.
  • The set of new or modified options is as follows.
  • The complete set of options is documented as always in source/default.properties:

  #
  #
  antiAlias=false
  # set to true to make "Drawing Options"..."AntiAlias" default to on.
  # Improves smoothness of lines but slows down drawing.
  #
  #
  backgroundColor=0,0,0
  # background color for graphics windows.
  # rgb values where each part can be from 0 to 255.
  #
  #
  controlHorizontalTranslation=wheel
  # set to button to replace horizontal translation control wheel with simple buttons.
  #
  #
  controlVerticalTranslation=wheel
  # set to button to replace vertical translation control wheel with simple buttons.
  #
  #
  cut=
  # controls initial cut values.
  # For example: cut=KalmanTrk:nDch>30;KalmanTrk:p_T>1.0;
  # where the syntax is one of either:
  # "TypeName:AttributeName>min_value"
  # "TypeName:AttributeName<max_value"
  # "TypeName:min_value<AttributeName<max_value"
  # "TypeName:AttributeName=equals_value"
  # Or any of the above preceded by the not symbol, "!".
  #
  #
  enableViewPopup=true
  # set to false to disable the popup menu that appears from a right click in the view menu.
  #
  #
  extraHelpString=
  # string to appear as additional item in help menu.
  # Selecting this string will send the user's web browser to the URL specfied
  # in the extraHelpURL property.
  #
  #
  extraHelpURL=
  # URL to send to user's web browser if they select the additional item in the help menu
  # specified by the extraHelpString property.
  #
  #
  fastMode=false
  # set to true to make "Drawing Options"..."Always use FastMode" default to on.
  # Improves speed by setting all lines to single pixel width and removing area fills.
  #
  #
  forceAllHepRep2Visible=false
  # used for compatibility with some experimental servers.
  #
  #
  idList=
  # url or file specification of idList to open upon startup.
  #
  #
  initialOrientation=Beam
  # initial orientation for rotatable projections.  Options are as follows
  # (first set are appropriate for colliding beam detectors,
  # second set are appropriate for spacecraft).
  # Beam - view along z axis
  # Side - view along x axis
  # Top  - view along y axis
  # XY   - view along z axis
  # XZ   - view along y axis
  # YZ   - view along x axis
  #
  #
  labelHasFrame=true
  # set to false to suppress frame around labels.
  #
  #
  mouseMode=Scaling
  # sets initial value of the mouse function (can later be changed from the
  # "Mouse Function" popup menu.
  # Values can be:
  # Scaling - Pick and drag to change scale.
  # Translation - Pick and drag to translate.
  # Rotation - Pick and drag to rotate.
  # PickRectangle - Pick and drag to create a rectangular selection area.
  # PickWedge - Pick and drag to create a wedge shaped selection area.
  # PickCircle - Pick and drag to create a circular selection area.
  # PickPolygon - Pick and drag to create a line, then pick more times to create
  #               additional points on a polygon shaped selection area.
  # PickToMeasure - Pick and drag to measure a line length.
  #
  #
  orientationChoices=Beam;Side;Top;
  # choices to include in View Popup Menu's Orientation Actions menu.
  # Options are:
  # Beam;Side;Top;XY;XZ;YZ;
  # The first three are typical choices for colliding beam detectors.
  # The second three are typical choices for satellites.
  #
  #
  pickToShowAttributes=true
  # set to true to make "Mouse Function"..."Show Attributes"
  # option default to true.
  #
  #
  pickToShowDaughters=false
  # set to true to make "Mouse Function"..."Show Daughters (if object has info)"
  # option default to true.
  #
  #
  pickToTransformView=false
  # set to true to make "Mouse Function"..."Transform View (if object has info)"
  # option default to true.
  #
  #
  pickToHighlightInTree=true
  # set to true to make "Mouse Function"..."Highlight in Data Visibility Tree"
  # option default to true.
  #
  #
  preHepRepGeometry=
  # name of top level geometry file in source/geometry directory to use when older style
  # non-HepRep geometry is to be included.
  #
  #
  processManagers=
  # list of JProcMan process managers to check for data servers.
  # Each process manager is specified by the url of a file that contains the
  # process manager's "stringified ior".
  # Each process manager can be optionally followed by some descriptive text in parentheses.
  # This text is used to describe the process manager if it cannot be accessed.
  # Multiple process managers can be specified by separating their urls by semicolons.
  # Each such process manager will appear in the "Open Data" dialog.
  # Redundant process managers can be specified by separating their urls by the or symbol, "|".
  # For each redundant set, only the one with the fastest response will be used.
  # The other members of the redundant set will not appear in the "Open Data" dialog.
  #
  #
  processManagerTimeout=8000
  # integer number of milliseconds to wait for connection to process manager.
  #
  #
  server=
  # server to use at startup.
  # If the value starts with "http:", "file:" or "IOR:", this is assumed to be a
  # standalone server (not managed by a JProcMan process manager).
  # "http:" specifies the url of a file that contains the server's "stringified ior".
  # "file:" specifies a file that contains the server's "stringified ior".
  # "IOR:" directly specifies the server's "stringified ior".
  # If the value does not start with "http:", "file:" or "IOR:",
  # this is assumed to be the name of a server that can be found on one of
  # the process managers that has been specified in the -processManagers option.
  #
  #
  showOpenDataButton=true
  # set to false to omit the Open Data button.
  #
  #
  showRotateButtons=true
  # set to false to omit rotate buttons.
  #
  #
  showShadows=false
  # set to true to make "Drawing Options"..."Show Shadows" default to on.
  # Adds shadow frames around objects to make them more visible, particularly
  # against other filled objects (but may slow down drawing).
  #
  #
  showStatus=false
  # set to true to make "Drawing Options"..."Show Status" default to on.
  # Turns on status box in upper right corner of window.
  #
  #
  showXAxisRotationWheel=true
  # set to false to omit the x axis rotation wheel.
  #
  #
  showYAxisRotationWheel=true
  # set to false to omit the y axis rotation wheel.
  #
  #
  simplifyTopToolbar=false
  # set to true to make the top toolbar have fewer buttons.
  #
  #
  toolbarStyle=Images
  # initial setting for main toolbar style (which can then be modified from
  # the "Options"..."Toolbar" menu.
  # Options are "Images", "Text" or "ImagesAndText".
  #
  #
  units=
  # units for all measurements.  Currently only used in output of "Pick to Measure".
  #
  #
  wobble=false
  # set to true to start up in wobble mode.
  #
  #
  wobbleIncrements=20
  # number of increments before wobble returns to initial position.
  #
  #
  wobbleMagnitude=1.
  # increase this number to make wobble more significant.
  #
  #
  wobbleRate=100
  # time between redraws for wobble (milliseconds).
  

4 November 2004 - Version 3.13.2 - New feature - autoExport

• This release offers a new option, autoExport, which causes each event to be automatically written to your selected graphics output format. When coupled with autoUpdate, this can allow you to have WIRED3 continuously save new images.
  • By default, the image is saved to a file whose name comes from the event title. Alternately, you can specify the output file name, causing the same file to be overwritten with each new event.
  • Images can be saved to cgm, emf, gif, pdf, ps, svg and swv files. Additional options such as background color or transparency are taken from whatever options were last set in the "File Menu"..."Export Graphics..." dialog.
  • You can see the complete set of available options by looking at your wired3/source/default.properties file (note that due to recent refactoring work, the properties file is no longer in its old location of wired3/babarclient). Copy the relevant properties into your user.properties file and then start Wired3.
  • From the relevant part of the default.properties file:
    • autoExport=false
      • set to true to automatically export each image to a graphics output file.
    • autoExportFormat=gif
      • specify format for autoExport. Options are cgm, emf, gif, pdf, ps, svg and swv.
      • Additional options such as background color or transparency are taken from whatever options were last set in the "File Menu"..."Export Graphics..." dialog.
    • autoExportFileName=
      • file name (optionally also containing full path) for autoExport file.
      • The same file name is rewritten for each new event.
      • If autoExportFile is not specified, file name is the event title (with any slashes, spaces or periods replaced by underscores).
      • File type is always from autoExportFormat property.
• Wired3 has been significantly refactored to decrease overall size, remove unneeded code and simplify the class structure. The only effect this will have on the user is that properties files previously found in wired3/babarclient are now in wired3/source. Further refactoring is still under way and a new cvs home for Wired3 will be found after this work is complete.
• Improved handling of Corba connection errors (that can result from some incorrect versions of Java).

24 September 2004 - Version 3.13.1 - Minor improvements mostly related to special running modes

• This release contains a number of minor improvements mostly related to special running modes such as the kiosk mode used in the BaBar Research Office Building display and the BaBar Control Room Online display.
  • Restore fullScreen option.
  • Restore title option.
  • Correct problem with noControls option.
  • Extend quiet option.
  • Postpone first autoUpdate action until Wired3 is completely ready.
• Correct rare cases in which screen position is saved as -32000.
• Improve HepRep2 performance (now passes tests with Geant4 HepRep2 files, GLAST HepRep2 files and newest GLAST Corba servers. Further usability improvements to HepRep2 control tree still to come)

18 August 2004 - Version 3.13.0 - Added Cut Feature, Overhauled Handling of Startup Options, Overhauled Menus and Controls, Changed Label Control, Remember Settings from Session to Session, and More (plus complete rewrite of home page)

• WIRED3 can hide objects based on cuts that you provide. For example, you could cut out all calorimeter clusters that have less than some specified energy. Cuts can be based on any HepRep attribute. For details, see the Cuts section of the WIRED3 Home Page.
• This new release includes an overhaul of how startup options are handled. The "-J-D" syntax of earlier releases has been replaced by a more straightforward syntax, and startup options can now be read from a user.properties file. For details, see the Startup Options section of the WIRED3 Home Page.
• Menus and controls have been significant reworked to put controls where new users tend to expect them. All the new menus and controls are described in the Basic Operation section of the WIRED3 Home Page.
• The Label control, previously reached from the Options menu can now also be reached from either the Attribute Popup or the Data Visibility Tree. Where appropriate, you are shown only the label controls for the specific data type selected. For details, see the Labels section of the WIRED3 Home Page.
• WIRED3 now remembers various settings from one session to the next. These settings are saved to the user.properties file (the same file that you use to set additional Startup Options). Saved settings include the current size and placement of the main WIRED3 window, the most recent values that you typed into various dialog boxes, etc.
• Many small usability improvements have been made.
• Finally, the WIRED3 Home Page has been completed overhauled.

8 July 2004 - Version 3.12.6 - Handled HepRep Files that Have Undefined Attributes

• Previous version failed if the HepRep file contained an Attribute Value for which there was no corresponding Attribute Definition. New version survives this condition.

7 July 2004 - Version 3.12.5 - Added Label Feature, Added Control on Number of Significant Figures, Show Units, More Startup Options, Installation Fix for Mac and Many Small Fixes

• WIRED can now label any object with any of its HepRep attributes. Labelling follows the flexible scheme envisioned in the HepRep standard. For example, if there is a Track that has a Transverse Momentum of 3.143 GeV, you can choose to have no label, have the label "P_T 3.143 Gev", or "Transverse Momentum 3.143 GeV" or even just "3.143".
  Labels are anchored to whatever point of the object appears closest to a screen edge. This has the desireable affect that when you zoom in on a track, while the end of the track may fall off the screen, the label will slide along the track, remaining on the screen, unless the track falls completely off the screen.
  Labels can be controled in one of three ways:
  • From the top of WIRED, select "Controls"..."Label Control..." and interactively control labelling.
  • Tell WIRED about labelling from the new "label" startup option:
    • wired -J-Dlabel="KalmanTrk:nSvt:13;KalmanTrk:nDch:13;" -exp babar -server newminireal
      where the syntax is "Name:Attribute:Flag" and the flag is an integer bitmap where "1" gives short name, "2" gives long name, "4" gives value and "8" gives units
  • Or some servers or HepRep xml data can already contain flags to control labelling.
• The number of significant figures can now be controlled. WIRED looks at the "Extra" string in each HepRep Attribute Definition. If this string contains a colon, the value after the colon controls the number of significant figures. For example, if the server or HepRep xml file includes "GeV:.3", the value will be truncated to 3 decimal places. Some older servers do not provide this information, but the effect of this improvement can be seen if you view data from the BaBar cm2data and cm2mc servers.
• Units are now shown both in labels (if requested) and in the attribute popup. The units come from the "Extra" string in the HepRep Attribute Definition. Some older servers do not provide this information, but the effect of this improvement can be seen if you view data from the BaBar cm2data and cm2mc servers.
• A few new startup options:
  • labelFontSize controls size of labels
  • confirmUpdateState writes a small confirmation file to disk when each new event is received
  For detailed option examples and syntax, see the: HepRApp Properties File.
• An installation problem was fixed for the Mac.
• Many small fixes.

18 March 2005 - Version 3.14.0 - Major New Release - Many Improvements

• When a directory is opened (either from a file or from a url), the first heprep or heprep.gz file in that directory is opened immediately.
• When an event id list is specified, the first event is drawn immediately.
• Added property, idList, to specify an event ID list from startup.
  • List can come from local file:
  • wired -exp babar -server kandata -idList MyEventIDList.txt
  • Or from url:
  • wired -exp babar -server kandata -idList http://www.slac.stanford.edu/~perl/MyEventIDList.txt
  • The idList feature works well with other features, as in:
  • wired -exp babar -server kandata -idList MyEventIDList.txt -autoUpdate true -autoSaveEvent true -autoExport true
• Fixed a longstanding problem with the behavior of autoUpdate when working with event ID Lists.
  • Had been causing some events to be skipped, and had also caused the other buttons to never get re-enabled after use of autoUpdate.
• Significant changes in how one specifies alternate process managers.
  • These used to be specified as part of the -server option.
  • They are now specified by a separate option, -processManagers.
  • Multiple process managers can now be specified, and redundant sets can be used (the SLAC BaBar servers have moved to such a pair of redundant hosts - if one host is down or slow, the new WIRED3 picks up the other host).
  • Syntax details are given below in the relevant part of the default.properties file.
• A standalone server's "stringified ior" can be specified directly in the -server option.
  • The ior previously had to come from a file.
• The property "server" now works as follows:
  • If the value starts with "http:", "file:" or "IOR:", this is assumed to be a standalone server (not managed by a JProcMan process manager).
  • "http:" specifies the url of a file that contains the server's "stringified ior".
  • "file:" specifies a file that contains the server's "stringified ior".
  • "IOR:" directly specifies the server's "stringified ior".
  • If the value does not start with "http:", "file:" or "IOR:", this is assumed to be the name of a server that can be found on one of the process managers that has been specified in the -processManagers option.
• The initialVisibility property now works for data from files as well as for data from servers.
• Settings for visibility, cuts and labels are now retained from one file to the next.
  • Previous WIRED3 versions cleared this information when a new file was read.
  • The settings are now retained if the new file has the same set of type names as the previous file. If, on the other hand, the set of type names is different, WIRED3 assumes this is a new kind of file and that the previous settings are not going to be useful (e.g., one is going from viewing BaBar events to viewing GLAST events).
• Intermediate level properties files are now used to contain properties specific to a particular experiment or group.
  • The new intermediate level properties file is optional, not required.
  • The group properties file is specified using the -group or -exp property (they are synonymous).
  • Distribution includes group properties files babar.properties and glast.properties.
  • All this means that users who used to say "-exp babar" can still do so. The underlying mechanism is new and clean but the user command has not changed.
• An "invert" button has been added to each cut in the cut control.
  • This allows one to do "Not Equals" or "Not Between".
• A new mouse function is supported: "Mouse Function...Show Daughters (if object has info)".
  • When this option is enabled, and one picks on an object that has the "ShowDaughters" attribute, picking on that object will cause WIRED3 to then add the HepRepType specified in that attribute.
  • In practice, this can be used to make a display of composite tracks that when picked on have their respective daughters displayed. The daughter display can be iterative (picking on the daughter will in turn show its daughters, and so on).
  • For a trivial first test of this feature, try the following (but real use will not be possible until the servers actually provide composites that contain this attribute): wired -exp babar -file http://www.slac.stanford.edu/~perl/heprepxml/showDaughtersTest.heprep.gz -pickToShowDaughters true -scale 10. -mouseMode PickRectangle Pick on KMicroTight(1), the track that heads to the lower left corner.
• Adding a new type via the "Add New Data Type" feature makes the new type immediately visible.
  • You used to have to take the additional step of clicking on the new type in the visibility menu.
• The property "showShadows" was already in the default.properties file but was not actually being respected.
  • It is now handled correctly.
• A new feature, "wobble", has been added.
  • Wobble causes the view to process around a small circle, helping to identify the 3D match between such objects as tracks and calorimeter clusters.
  • Unfortunately, this first implementation of wobble seems to work well only on Windows. The performance is too jerky on other operating systems. We will continue to work towards improving this feature.
• Orientation toolbar: added "Reset View" button to reset the view's initial orientation, translation and scaling.
  • Looks like a letter "R".
• Orientation toolbar: added "Reset Orientation" button to reset the view's initial orientation.
  • Looks like a letter "O".
• Orientation toolbar: replaced "Center in Window" button with "Reset Translation" button.
  • The new button restores the original center whereas the old button computed a new center from the current visible object set.
• Orientation toolbar now contains horizontal and vertical translation sliders.
  • These sliders replace the more basic up, down, left and right buttons.
  • The more basic button style can be restored using the controlHorizontalTranslation and controlVerticalTranslation properties.
• The "simplify" property which removes a number of "expert" controls has been replaced.
  • Functions handled by that property are now broken out into a number of different properties.
  • See default.properties for details.
• The status box that shows scale or orientation information is now supported for all mouse modes.
  • For example, scale is still shown when you switch to PickRectangle.
• The initialVisibility and label properties now still work if one forgets the closing semicolon.
• The property "geometry" is now called "preHepRepGeometry".
• A new property, labelHasFrame, controls whether labels have frames.
  • This overrides the FontHasFrame and FontHasBanner values that may come from the HepRep.
  • This can also be controlled from the label control dialog.
• The Open Data tree now shows the server's short name after the long description.
  • This short name is the value that one needs to specify if using the -server property.
• Two new properties, extraHelpString and extraHelpURL, allow one to specify an additional item in the help menu.
• Picking to show attributes now works for HepRep Text objects as well as other primitives.
  • This will allow features such as picking on the event information box to get more detailed information.
• The "Save as Local Data" function now correctly remembers the previous save location.
• Various diagnostic messages have been improved.
• Many additional options have been added.
  • The set of new or modified options is as follows.
  • The complete set of options is documented as always in source/default.properties:

  #
  #
  antiAlias=false
  # set to true to make "Drawing Options"..."AntiAlias" default to on.
  # Improves smoothness of lines but slows down drawing.
  #
  #
  backgroundColor=0,0,0
  # background color for graphics windows.
  # rgb values where each part can be from 0 to 255.
  #
  #
  controlHorizontalTranslation=wheel
  # set to button to replace horizontal translation control wheel with simple buttons.
  #
  #
  controlVerticalTranslation=wheel
  # set to button to replace vertical translation control wheel with simple buttons.
  #
  #
  cut=
  # controls initial cut values.
  # For example: cut=KalmanTrk:nDch>30;KalmanTrk:p_T>1.0;
  # where the syntax is one of either:
  # "TypeName:AttributeName>min_value"
  # "TypeName:AttributeName<max_value"
  # "TypeName:min_value<AttributeName<max_value"
  # "TypeName:AttributeName=equals_value"
  # Or any of the above preceded by the not symbol, "!".
  #
  #
  enableViewPopup=true
  # set to false to disable the popup menu that appears from a right click in the view menu.
  #
  #
  extraHelpString=
  # string to appear as additional item in help menu.
  # Selecting this string will send the user's web browser to the URL specfied
  # in the extraHelpURL property.
  #
  #
  extraHelpURL=
  # URL to send to user's web browser if they select the additional item in the help menu
  # specified by the extraHelpString property.
  #
  #
  fastMode=false
  # set to true to make "Drawing Options"..."Always use FastMode" default to on.
  # Improves speed by setting all lines to single pixel width and removing area fills.
  #
  #
  forceAllHepRep2Visible=false
  # used for compatibility with some experimental servers.
  #
  #
  idList=
  # url or file specification of idList to open upon startup.
  #
  #
  initialOrientation=Beam
  # initial orientation for rotatable projections.  Options are as follows
  # (first set are appropriate for colliding beam detectors,
  # second set are appropriate for spacecraft).
  # Beam - view along z axis
  # Side - view along x axis
  # Top  - view along y axis
  # XY   - view along z axis
  # XZ   - view along y axis
  # YZ   - view along x axis
  #
  #
  labelHasFrame=true
  # set to false to suppress frame around labels.
  #
  #
  mouseMode=Scaling
  # sets initial value of the mouse function (can later be changed from the
  # "Mouse Function" popup menu.
  # Values can be:
  # Scaling - Pick and drag to change scale.
  # Translation - Pick and drag to translate.
  # Rotation - Pick and drag to rotate.
  # PickRectangle - Pick and drag to create a rectangular selection area.
  # PickWedge - Pick and drag to create a wedge shaped selection area.
  # PickCircle - Pick and drag to create a circular selection area.
  # PickPolygon - Pick and drag to create a line, then pick more times to create
  #               additional points on a polygon shaped selection area.
  # PickToMeasure - Pick and drag to measure a line length.
  #
  #
  orientationChoices=Beam;Side;Top;
  # choices to include in View Popup Menu's Orientation Actions menu.
  # Options are:
  # Beam;Side;Top;XY;XZ;YZ;
  # The first three are typical choices for colliding beam detectors.
  # The second three are typical choices for satellites.
  #
  #
  pickToShowAttributes=true
  # set to true to make "Mouse Function"..."Show Attributes"
  # option default to true.
  #
  #
  pickToShowDaughters=false
  # set to true to make "Mouse Function"..."Show Daughters (if object has info)"
  # option default to true.
  #
  #
  pickToTransformView=false
  # set to true to make "Mouse Function"..."Transform View (if object has info)"
  # option default to true.
  #
  #
  pickToHighlightInTree=true
  # set to true to make "Mouse Function"..."Highlight in Data Visibility Tree"
  # option default to true.
  #
  #
  preHepRepGeometry=
  # name of top level geometry file in source/geometry directory to use when older style
  # non-HepRep geometry is to be included.
  #
  #
  processManagers=
  # list of JProcMan process managers to check for data servers.
  # Each process manager is specified by the url of a file that contains the
  # process manager's "stringified ior".
  # Each process manager can be optionally followed by some descriptive text in parentheses.
  # This text is used to describe the process manager if it cannot be accessed.
  # Multiple process managers can be specified by separating their urls by semicolons.
  # Each such process manager will appear in the "Open Data" dialog.
  # Redundant process managers can be specified by separating their urls by the or symbol, "|".
  # For each redundant set, only the one with the fastest response will be used.
  # The other members of the redundant set will not appear in the "Open Data" dialog.
  #
  #
  processManagerTimeout=8000
  # integer number of milliseconds to wait for connection to process manager.
  #
  #
  server=
  # server to use at startup.
  # If the value starts with "http:", "file:" or "IOR:", this is assumed to be a
  # standalone server (not managed by a JProcMan process manager).
  # "http:" specifies the url of a file that contains the server's "stringified ior".
  # "file:" specifies a file that contains the server's "stringified ior".
  # "IOR:" directly specifies the server's "stringified ior".
  # If the value does not start with "http:", "file:" or "IOR:",
  # this is assumed to be the name of a server that can be found on one of
  # the process managers that has been specified in the -processManagers option.
  #
  #
  showOpenDataButton=true
  # set to false to omit the Open Data button.
  #
  #
  showRotateButtons=true
  # set to false to omit rotate buttons.
  #
  #
  showShadows=false
  # set to true to make "Drawing Options"..."Show Shadows" default to on.
  # Adds shadow frames around objects to make them more visible, particularly
  # against other filled objects (but may slow down drawing).
  #
  #
  showStatus=false
  # set to true to make "Drawing Options"..."Show Status" default to on.
  # Turns on status box in upper right corner of window.
  #
  #
  showXAxisRotationWheel=true
  # set to false to omit the x axis rotation wheel.
  #
  #
  showYAxisRotationWheel=true
  # set to false to omit the y axis rotation wheel.
  #
  #
  simplifyTopToolbar=false
  # set to true to make the top toolbar have fewer buttons.
  #
  #
  toolbarStyle=Images
  # initial setting for main toolbar style (which can then be modified from
  # the "Options"..."Toolbar" menu.
  # Options are "Images", "Text" or "ImagesAndText".
  #
  #
  units=
  # units for all measurements.  Currently only used in output of "Pick to Measure".
  #
  #
  wobble=false
  # set to true to start up in wobble mode.
  #
  #
  wobbleIncrements=20
  # number of increments before wobble returns to initial position.
  #
  #
  wobbleMagnitude=1.
  # increase this number to make wobble more significant.
  #
  #
  wobbleRate=100
  # time between redraws for wobble (milliseconds).
  

4 November 2004 - Version 3.13.2 - New feature - autoExport

• This release offers a new option, autoExport, which causes each event to be automatically written to your selected graphics output format. When coupled with autoUpdate, this can allow you to have WIRED3 continuously save new images.
  • By default, the image is saved to a file whose name comes from the event title. Alternately, you can specify the output file name, causing the same file to be overwritten with each new event.
  • Images can be saved to cgm, emf, gif, pdf, ps, svg and swv files. Additional options such as background color or transparency are taken from whatever options were last set in the "File Menu"..."Export Graphics..." dialog.
  • You can see the complete set of available options by looking at your wired3/source/default.properties file (note that due to recent refactoring work, the properties file is no longer in its old location of wired3/babarclient). Copy the relevant properties into your user.properties file and then start Wired3.
  • From the relevant part of the default.properties file:
    • autoExport=false
      • set to true to automatically export each image to a graphics output file.
    • autoExportFormat=gif
      • specify format for autoExport. Options are cgm, emf, gif, pdf, ps, svg and swv.
      • Additional options such as background color or transparency are taken from whatever options were last set in the "File Menu"..."Export Graphics..." dialog.
    • autoExportFileName=
      • file name (optionally also containing full path) for autoExport file.
      • The same file name is rewritten for each new event.
      • If autoExportFile is not specified, file name is the event title (with any slashes, spaces or periods replaced by underscores).
      • File type is always from autoExportFormat property.
• Wired3 has been significantly refactored to decrease overall size, remove unneeded code and simplify the class structure. The only effect this will have on the user is that properties files previously found in wired3/babarclient are now in wired3/source. Further refactoring is still under way and a new cvs home for Wired3 will be found after this work is complete.
• Improved handling of Corba connection errors (that can result from some incorrect versions of Java).

24 September 2004 - Version 3.13.1 - Minor improvements mostly related to special running modes

• This release contains a number of minor improvements mostly related to special running modes such as the kiosk mode used in the BaBar Research Office Building display and the BaBar Control Room Online display.
  • Restore fullScreen option.
  • Restore title option.
  • Correct problem with noControls option.
  • Extend quiet option.
  • Postpone first autoUpdate action until Wired3 is completely ready.
• Correct rare cases in which screen position is saved as -32000.
• Improve HepRep2 performance (now passes tests with Geant4 HepRep2 files, GLAST HepRep2 files and newest GLAST Corba servers. Further usability improvements to HepRep2 control tree still to come)

18 August 2004 - Version 3.13.0 - Added Cut Feature, Overhauled Handling of Startup Options, Overhauled Menus and Controls, Changed Label Control, Remember Settings from Session to Session, and More (plus complete rewrite of home page)

• WIRED3 can hide objects based on cuts that you provide. For example, you could cut out all calorimeter clusters that have less than some specified energy. Cuts can be based on any HepRep attribute. For details, see the Cuts section of the WIRED3 Home Page.
• This new release includes an overhaul of how startup options are handled. The "-J-D" syntax of earlier releases has been replaced by a more straightforward syntax, and startup options can now be read from a user.properties file. For details, see the Startup Options section of the WIRED3 Home Page.
• Menus and controls have been significant reworked to put controls where new users tend to expect them. All the new menus and controls are described in the Basic Operation section of the WIRED3 Home Page.
• The Label control, previously reached from the Options menu can now also be reached from either the Attribute Popup or the Data Visibility Tree. Where appropriate, you are shown only the label controls for the specific data type selected. For details, see the Labels section of the WIRED3 Home Page.
• WIRED3 now remembers various settings from one session to the next. These settings are saved to the user.properties file (the same file that you use to set additional Startup Options). Saved settings include the current size and placement of the main WIRED3 window, the most recent values that you typed into various dialog boxes, etc.
• Many small usability improvements have been made.
• Finally, the WIRED3 Home Page has been completed overhauled.

8 July 2004 - Version 3.12.6 - Handled HepRep Files that Have Undefined Attributes

• Previous version failed if the HepRep file contained an Attribute Value for which there was no corresponding Attribute Definition. New version survives this condition.

7 July 2004 - Version 3.12.5 - Added Label Feature, Added Control on Number of Significant Figures, Show Units, More Startup Options, Installation Fix for Mac and Many Small Fixes

• WIRED can now label any object with any of its HepRep attributes. Labelling follows the flexible scheme envisioned in the HepRep standard. For example, if there is a Track that has a Transverse Momentum of 3.143 GeV, you can choose to have no label, have the label "P_T 3.143 Gev", or "Transverse Momentum 3.143 GeV" or even just "3.143".
  Labels are anchored to whatever point of the object appears closest to a screen edge. This has the desireable affect that when you zoom in on a track, while the end of the track may fall off the screen, the label will slide along the track, remaining on the screen, unless the track falls completely off the screen.
  Labels can be controled in one of three ways:
  • From the top of WIRED, select "Controls"..."Label Control..." and interactively control labelling.
  • Tell WIRED about labelling from the new "label" startup option:
    • wired -J-Dlabel="KalmanTrk:nSvt:13;KalmanTrk:nDch:13;" -exp babar -server newminireal
      where the syntax is "Name:Attribute:Flag" and the flag is an integer bitmap where "1" gives short name, "2" gives long name, "4" gives value and "8" gives units
  • Or some servers or HepRep xml data can already contain flags to control labelling.
• The number of significant figures can now be controlled. WIRED looks at the "Extra" string in each HepRep Attribute Definition. If this string contains a colon, the value after the colon controls the number of significant figures. For example, if the server or HepRep xml file includes "GeV:.3", the value will be truncated to 3 decimal places. Some older servers do not provide this information, but the effect of this improvement can be seen if you view data from the BaBar cm2data and cm2mc servers.
• Units are now shown both in labels (if requested) and in the attribute popup. The units come from the "Extra" string in the HepRep Attribute Definition. Some older servers do not provide this information, but the effect of this improvement can be seen if you view data from the BaBar cm2data and cm2mc servers.
• A few new startup options:
  • labelFontSize controls size of labels
  • confirmUpdateState writes a small confirmation file to disk when each new event is received
  For detailed option examples and syntax, see the: HepRApp Properties File.
• An installation problem was fixed for the Mac.
• Many small fixes.

9 June 2004 - Version 3.12.4 - Added Startup Options to Control Initial Number and Content of Views, Added PickToTransform, Fixed Phi and Theta of Circles

• New startup options:
  • views controls number of views
  • initialVisibility now accepts information on which views should contain which objects
  These options replace the less flexible "isolate" option that was added in version 3.12.2.
  For detailed option examples and syntax, see the: HepRApp Properties File.
• Pick To Transform:
  There is a new option in the view popup menu's "When Item Is Selected" choices: Transform View.
  If the object picked contains HepRep data about a preferred view, then when you pick on that object, the view will transform as specified. This was requested by the BaBar Dirc group so that one could pick on a "Dirc Ring" and have the view transform to look down that ring. A future release of the BaBar Dirc server code will take advantage of this feature.
  An example HepRep file in which the tracks have this sort of information can be found at:
  • wired -file http://www.slac.stanford.edu/~perl/heprepxml/BaBar2KalmanTrk.heprep
• Fixed Phi and Theta of Circles:
  Corrected a problem in handling of phi and theta parameters that are meant to rotate HepRepCircles out of the z plane.

13 April 2004 - Version 3.12.3 - Improve Drawing Behavior When Using Isolate Option

• In Isolate mode, there had been too many redraws. Now fixed.
  Note: the Isolate option was replaced with a more flexible solution in version 3.12.4. See above.

9 April 2004 - Version 3.12.2 - Added Isolate Option to Place Special Content in Second View

• New startup option: Isolate
  Note: the Isolate option was replaced with a more flexible solution in version 3.12.4. See above.

28 February 2004 - Version 3.12.1 - Bug Fix involving HepRep2

• Fixed a cache problem that prevented reading past the first HepRep2 file. No affect for general users (who are all still on HepRep1).

18 December 2003 - Version 3.12.0 - Added -File option, Some New Startup Options, Many Small Fixes and Added Alpha-level Support for HepRep2

• New command line argument, -file, allows specification of initial HepRep file from disk or url, as in:
  • wired -file c:/myexp/mysubdir/G4Data0.heprep.gz
  • wired -file http://www.slac.stanford.edu/~myname/mydata/G4Data0.heprep.gz
• A few new startup options:
  • minControlArea
  • scale
  • width
  • height
  • xPosition
  • yPosition
  For detailed option examples and syntax, see the: HepRApp Properties File.
• Many small fixes.
• This is the first version to support HepRep version 2 data. It currently handles such data only from XML (such as from Geant4's /vis/open HepRepXML command), and the user interface is insufficiently intuitive, but it allows us to continue developing HepRep2 data sources. The general user community is not expected to use HepRep2 sources until we have completed more work in this area (improve user interface and add Corba support).

29 September 2002 - Version 3.9 - Improvements to Drawing Quality and Drawing Speed, Plus Many Additional Improvements and Fixes

• Quality improvements are most noticeable when filled areas are included and the drawing option Show Shadows is turned on (this situation used to produce some jagged shadow lines). The Drawing Options menu also includes an Anti-Alias option for improved drawing quality (at the expense of speed).
• Speed improvements are accomplished by strategies such as turning all lines to single pixel width, omitting area fills and turning off anti-aliasing during the time that the mouse is depressed. When you are done rotating, zooming or translating, and you release the mouse, the program returns to its higher quality drawing mode.
• Highlighting actions such as Pick Rectangle now work by dimming all unpicked objects (previous versions worked by turning the picked objects red).
• The HepRep line attribute "LineHasArrow" is now supported to allow drawing of arrows (see HepRep documentation at http://heprep.freehep.org).
• An extra startup option now causes each new event read to be immediately saved to a HepRep xml file. To use this option, wired -J-DsaveToFile=true
• Other fixes:
• Client now correctly senses and recovers from dead servers (as it used to before this function was lost in version 3.8). In standard mode, client responds by putting up a dialog that lets the user decide whether to get a new server of the same type or take other actions. In quiet mode, client responds by automatically picking up a fresh server of the same type.
• Highlighting actions such as Pick Rectangle are again working at decent speed (version 3.8 accidentally mode these functions very slow).
• The Pick To Measure function has been restored (the measurement line was black on black in version 3.8).
• Filled backgrounds layer correctly in eps (layering had been incorrect in this export format).
• The pop-up menu works correctly on the Mac (previous version interpreted this mouse action as both scale and pop up the menu, now just pops up the menu).
• GUI response now correctly takes priority over graphics threads during intensive use such as when running in the autoUpdate and autoFly modes (previous versions had sluggish response to GUI when busy with this intensive redrawing).

1 August 2002 - Version 3.8 - Fix Rare Cache Corruption Bug, Add New Graphics Export Formats PDF and Windows Enhanced Metafile

• All Users Please Upgrade.
• The previous version has an error in handling of the data cache that can result in old data from one event overlaying a new event. The corruption is generally quite obvious since all data of the given type (all hits or all tracks or all calorimeter clusters) would be from the wrong event, but since this is a bug that can give a misleading event display, it is strongly recommended that all users upgrade to this new WIRED version.
• The new version also offers significant improvements to the graphics export system:
  • The export dialog is now simpler. Detailed options are still available, but for most purposes one need only specify the output type and file name.
  • PDF output is now available.
  • Windows Enhanced Metafile output is now available.
    • This format is very convenient for insertion into Microsoft Office products such as Word and PowerPoint on Windows (using Word or PowerPoint's "Insert...Picture" option).
    • Use this format only for Windows NT, 2000, ME or XP. Window 95 and 98 machines have serious problems handling these files (can make the system unstable). For PowerPoint on the Macintosh, use PDF instead.
    • When you insert an emf file into an Office application, the image first appears as a single image (vector graphics, resizable), but if you then double-click on the image, you are offered the opportunity to have the object converted into individual lines, points, etc. which can then be further edited in great detail.
  • PostScript output now has many internal changes, but to the casual user the only visible difference is thinner lines and a new default paper size that prints well to either letter or A4. As before, these files use true vector graphics and experts can edit the files by directly editing the .eps file or by using a general purpose drawing utility such as Adobe Illustrator.

14 July 2002 - Version 3.7 - Fix Handling of Trajectories from Geant4 and Begin to Handle HepRep Version 2

• A minor fix was made to correct the handling of the HepRep graphics primitive "Line". This primitive was not being used by the BaBar servers but only by the Geant4 HepRep trajectories output. The new WIRED version correctly handles "Line" as synonymous with "PolyLine".
• WIRED is now beginning to handle HepRep version 2 from some test servers such as those being developed for GLAST. All experiments will eventually be migrating from HepRep version 1 to HepRep version 2, but the version 2 support is not yet complete.

6 May 2002 - Version 3.6 - Handle New Kinds of HepRep Graphics Primitives, Specify Entire Directory of HepRep XML Files at One Time

• Now handles all HepRep graphics primitives with the exceptions of Helix and Curve.
  See http://heprep.freehep.org/heprep1/drawas.htm for the complete list of supported primitives and attributes.
• You can now specify an entire directory of HepRep xml files at one time.
  The files will all then appear in the Event Chooser (and you then select any one file by clicking on the file name).
  
  • For URL files, the URL must end with a slash ("/") to indicate that this URL is a directory. For example, try http://www.slac.stanford.edu/~perl/heprepxml/
    
  • For Local files, just select the directory in the dialog box, and then hit OK.

12 February 2002 - Version 3.5 - Improvements for Geant4 and other HepRep XML Producers

• Changes in the handling of heprep format geometry files compliment the latest version of the Geant4 HepRep file driver (available from the head of Geant4 cvs or as a patch from http://www.slac.stanford.edu/~perl/g4heprep/ ) or the standalone C++ HepRep writing utility (available from http://www.slac.stanford.edu/~perl/heprepxml/ ) to allow improved display of hierarchical detector designs. Other minor changes are: orientation toolbar defaults on, drop shadows default off, visibility control has modified tree structure, minor changes to wording of some dialogs.

2 November 2001 - Major New Release

• This is a new release of the entire WIRED client and server system. Old copies of the WIRED client should be deleted and replaced with the new version. Only the new version will work with the new servers.
  The main purpose of this major new release is to provide a much more robust server infrastructure. The new system is based on the HepEventServer event server protocol and the JProcMan process management system. An overview of how all of these components fit together can be seen at A Component Approach to HEP Event Displays. This new infrastructure is reflected in a completely revised event and server chooser interface which provides much better user feedback and flexibility.
• This WIRED version is meant for more users than just BaBar. It can read data from HepRep XML files generated by other applications such as Geant4 Visualization and EGS.
  BaBar users should start WIRED with the option "-exp babar" to have WIRED know about the BaBar event servers.
• Events obtained from servers can be saved to local XML files and then read back in from these files for server-free viewing.
• Event ID Lists are now much easier to use. The entire list is read in and displayed. You can then click on any event in the list or use navigation buttons to easily move up or down the list.
• As you view events from a server, you can specify that particular events have their IDs saved to your user event ID list. You can later read this list back in to return quickly to the interesting events.
• Objects picked in one view will now highlight in all other views.
• Objects can be highlighted by picking on the event visibility tree as well as by picking on the graphics views.
• The attribute tables for picked objects use a better layout.
• The interface to server logs now shows you exactly what commands were issued to run that particular server (srtpath, bootfile, setup parameters, etc.).
• Private BaBar servers can now be built and run in a much simpler way little different from running any other BaBar application (there is no nameservice or interface repostory to be set up, just build a binary and run it with a tcl file).

24 April 2001 - Server Added for Mini Data from Simuboot

• A new server has been added to support display of Mini Data from Simuboot using release 9.10.3a.
  To start it type:
  wired -host shire01.slac.stanford.edu:5002 -server CES_SPMINI
  (Thanks to David Nathan Brown for help with this work).

22 March 2001 - New Client Version

• Picking on displayed objects now gives a pop-up table of physics attributes. To turn this feature on, place the cursor on the window that contains the event display, hit the right mouse button, select Mouse Function and then select any of the Pick items. To pick without this new pop-up, toggle off Show Attributes in the Mouse Function menu.
• The Event Chooser and Advanced Chooser have had many small changes to improve user feedback.
• Recovery from server crashes has been improved, and the user is now given choices about how to proceed.
• Macintosh support has been restored.
• The quit procedure has been sped up.
• Client versions are now available for all three Java platforms, Java 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3.