The Preference Manager

The Preference Manager is used for setting up the default behavior of the ORCA¹ and SDT tools, and the common Telelogic Tau tools.

This chapter is a reference to the Preference Manager; the functionality it provides, its menus, windows and symbols and a description of the preference parameters.

For a guide to how to use the Preference Manager to customize the behavior of the Telelogic Tau tools, see Managing Preferences.

Table of Contents 

• Preferences Manager User Interface
• Tree Area
• The Interface Area
• Menu Bar
• File Menu
• Edit Menu
• View Menu
• Tools Menu
• Popup Menu
• On the Root Node
• On a Tool Node
• On a Value Node
• Keyboard Accelerators
• Preference Files
• Preference Source
• Syntax of Preference Files
• Search Order When Reading Preference Parameters
• Save of Preference Values
• Preference Parameters
• Common Telelogic Tau Preferences
• Generic Preferences
• Organizer Preferences
• Help Viewer Preferences
• Preference Manager Preferences
• Print Preferences
• Text Editor Preferences
• ORCA and SDT Specific Preferences
• SDL Editor Preferences
• OM/SC/HMSC/MSC Editor Preferences
• Index Viewer Preferences
• Type Viewer Preferences
• Coverage Viewer Preferences
• SDL Overview Generator Preferences
• Simulator GUI Preferences
• Validator GUI Preferences

Preferences Manager User Interface

Figure 67  : The Preference Manager window

The items that build up the Preferences Manager window are:

• The Tree Area
• The Interface Area
• The Menu Bar

Tree Area

The tree area displays the tools that obey to the preference mechanism in the Telelogic Tau tools and their respective preference parameters. The notation uses a graphical approach featuring a tree with icons symbolizing the various items that are managed by the tool.

Figure 68 : Node in the tree area

Node Syntax

Each node in the tree represents either a:

• root node

The root node is identified by the name SDT Preference Manager, followed by a version number.

• tool node

A tool node is identified by the name of an Telelogic Tau tool.

Note:  The Preference Manager only supports the ORCA- and SDT-specific tools, and the common Telelogic Tau tools. See Customizing ITEX (on UNIX), for information about how to customize ITEX on UNIX.

• parameter node

Each parameter node in the tree is identified with an icon showing:

• the name of the parameter
• the current value for the parameter
• the saved value and the default value within one or two parentheses: (( ))
• the Preference Source within brackets, [], i.e. whether it is a company or project or user-defined setting
• a descriptive text providing additional information about the preference parameter.

Given the following line in the Preferences window, with all View Options turned "on":

Figure 69  : A line in the Preferences window

The information on the line in Figure 69 should be interpreted as:

Item	Interpretation
	The icon informing that the preference parameter is a boolean parameter (0/1, false/true or off/on parameter.
Editor*SymbolMenu	The name of the preference parameter, consisting of the name of the tool it affects, Editor the name of the parameter, SymbolMenu Separated with an asterisk
off	The current value for the parameter.
(off)	The saved value for the parameter.
((on))	The default value for the parameter.
[User]	The parameter's source, in this case the parameter is defined by the user.
Show the symbol menu	The parameter's description, i.e. what tool property the parameter affects.

The tree is a visualization of the merged preference parameters, supplied from different sources (see Search Order When Reading Preference Parameters), as the Telelogic Tau tools will perceive them. Furthermore, each node in the tree can be collapsed or expanded (see Collapse) in order to reduce or extend the amount of information that is visible, thus facilitating the work with the tool. It is also possible to filter the information that is displayed with respect to various view options (see View Options).

Dirty Notification

When a preference parameter is modified but not saved, this is indicated by the icon appearance changing from a light color to a gray pattern. The parent tool node and the root node are also marked as dirty when any parameter is changed.

Figure 70 : Nodes marked as dirty

The   Interface Area

The interface section located under the tree view is where values are edited in an Edit Area. The type of Edit Area varies with the type of value selected.

There are different types of preference parameters:

• Textual Preference
• Option Menu Preference
• Option Menu Textual Preference
• Font Preference (Windows only)
• Boolean Preference
• Ranged Integer Preference
• File Preference
• Directory Preference
• Color Menu Preference

Icon	Edit Area
	Textual Preference The preference parameter is edited as a text string.
	Option Menu Preference The preference parameter may be selected from a number of predefined values in the option menu.1
	Option Menu Textual Preference The preference parameter may be selected from a number of predefined values in the option menu.a An alternative is to type in the value into the text field, which grants access to not predefined values.
	Font Preference (Windows only) The font must be selected by clicking the folder button, which opens a Microsoft Windows Font dialog. It is not possible to edit the text field to the left of the folder button. In the dialog, all fonts in the system are listed. It is also possible to select font style and size, but these values have no effect; only the specified font name is used. Any font name can be entered by editing the Font text field in the font dialog. This possibility is useful when setting a font for printing that is not available in the system, but exists on the printer. The three font names "Times", "Helvetica" and "Courier" are recognized. These are translated into the TrueType fonts Times New Roman, Arial and Courier New, respectively. When using other fonts than the three mentioned above for printing, the preference Print* DestinationFormat should be set to MSWPrint to get the best result for symbols that are adjusted to the text size.
	Boolean Preference The value is changed by clicking the corresponding radio button.
	Ranged Integer Preference The preference parameter may be assigned any integer value within the range supported by the slide bar.
	File Preference The preference parameter may be assigned any file name, entered as a text string into the text field or selected in a dialog issued by the folder button. Directory Preference The preference parameter may be assigned any directory name, entered as a text string into the text field or selected in a dialog issued by the folder button.
	Color Menu Preference The preference parameter may be selected from a number of predefined values in the option menu.

Selecting a parameter and editing its value with the provided UI device changes its value. The parameter's icon is set as dirty (see Dirty Notification).

Menu Bar

The menu bar contains the following menus:

• File Menu
• Edit Menu
• View Menu
• Tools Menu
• Help Menu

File Menu

The File menu contains the following menu choices:

• Save
• Revert
• Print
  (see The Print Dialogs in ORCA, SDT and the Organizer)
• Info
• Exit
  (see Exit)

Save

This menu choice saves the parameters that have been modified in the User's Preference File, on UNIX in $HOME/.sdtpref, and in Windows in %HOME%\sdt.ini

But, before saving the preference settings, the user will be warned if there are modified preferences that are defined as company or project preferences:

Figure 71  : Attempting to save a modified project or organization parameter

• Clicking Save saves all modified preference parameters on the User's Preference File, which may implicate a violation of the rules set up in the project!

Caution!  Considered the implications before you click Save.

When the save has been performed the user will be warned that changes will not be in effect before the tools have been restarted.

Revert

The menu choice reverts all preference parameters to the currently saved values, as they were defined when starting the Preference Manager. The Revert command requires to be confirmed, in case any preference parameters are modified and have not been saved:

Figure 72 : The Confirm to Revert dialog

Info

This menu choice issues a message with information about the preference source for the preference parameters.

Figure 73 : Information about preference sources

The message shows three items:

• [Company] - <file specifier>
The location of the company / organization preference file
• [Project] - <file specifier>
The location of the project preference file
• [User] - <file specifier>
The location of the user's preference file.

See Preference Files for more information on preference files and search order.

Edit Menu

The Edit menu contains the following menu choices:

• Set Saved Value
• Set Default Value
• Unsave

Set Saved Value

This command restores the selected parameter to its currently saved value. The menu choice is also available from the pop-up menu.

Set Default Value

This command restores the selected parameter to its default value (i.e. factory setting). The menu choice is also available from the pop-up menu.

Unsave

This command allows to remove a preference parameter from the User's Preference File when saving the file, i.e. Unsave it. The command is available on user-defined parameters only; user-defined parameters are shown with their Value Sources set to [User].

A dialog is displayed following invocation of the command:

Figure 74 : The Unsave dialog

• Clicking OK, the parameter's source changes to [User (No Save)]. The preference parameter will be removed from the user's preference after the next Save command, changing its source to [Project] or [Company].

View Menu

The View menu contains the following menu choices:

• Expand
• Expand All
• Collapse
• Collapse All
• View Options
• Set Scale

Expand

This menu choice is available only if the currently selected object is a tool node. The command expands the subtree starting from the selected tool, making all parameters for that tool visible.

The operation is also available from the pop-up menu and with a double-click.

Expand All

This command expands the entire tree, thus making all parameter nodes visible.

The operation is also available from the pop-up menu.

Collapse

This menu choice is available only if the currently selected object is a tool node. The command collapses the parameter nodes belonging to the current tool, leaving only the tool node visible in the subtree.

The operation is also available from the pop-up menu and with a double-click.

Collapse All

This menu choice collapses all tool nodes and hides the parameter nodes. Only the root node and the tool nodes are left visible.

The operation is also available from the pop-up menu

View Options

This menu choice issues a modeless dialog, the View Options dialog:

Figure 75 : The View Options dialog

The dialog contains the following toggle buttons:

• A Tool Bar button
• A Status Bar button
• A Filter Field and Filter Button
• A Tool Names button
• A Saved Values button
• A Default Values button
• A Value Sources button
• A Descriptions button

Tool Bar

This button controls the presence of the quick buttons.

The tool bar is visible by default.

Status Bar

This option determines whether the Status Bar should be visible or not.

The status bar is by default visible.

Filter Field and Filter Button

If the Filter Button is on, the Tree Area will only show the preference parameters which name contain the text string that is entered in the Filter Field.

Note:  The name of a preference parameter consists of a combination of a tool name and of the parameter itself (see Syntax of Preference Files). The filter option compares the text strings without respect to upper or lower case characters.

By default, no filtering is applied.

Tool Names

This option controls whether the prefix in preference parameters (consisting of the tool name and of an asterisk) should be displayed or not (see Syntax of Preference Files).

Tool names are not displayed by default.

Saved Values

This option determines whether the saved values should be made visible or not. The saved values are the values that are currently stored on the preference files.

Saved values are displayed within one level of parentheses (saved value). See Example 10.

Saved values are displayed by default.

Default Values

This option determines whether the default values (i.e. factory settings) should be made visible or not.

Default values are displayed within two levels of parentheses ((default value)). See Example 10.

Default values are not displayed by default.

Value Sources

This option determines whether the Preference Source for the parameters should be displayed or not. A preference parameter may be retrieved from any of the following sources:

• The company settings
• The project settings
• The user's own settings

Source values are displayed within brackets [] and are not visible by default.

Descriptions

This option determines whether an informative text should be displayed or not. The text is purely informational and provides an additional description of the function of the preference parameter. See Example 10.

Parameter descriptions are not displayed by default.

Set Scale

This menu choice opens a dialog where you may set the scale used in the preferences window. The scale may be set between 20% and 800%. 100% is the default.

Tools Menu

The Tools menu contains one menu choice:

• Show Organizer
  (see Show Organizer)

Popup Menu

The contents of the popup menu depends on which node you click on.

On the Root Node

Collapse All	See Collapse All.
Expand All	See Expand All.

On a Tool Node

Collapse	See Collapse.
Expand	See Expand.

On a Value Node

Set Saved Value	See Set Saved Value.
Set Default Value	See Set Default Value.
Help	Request on-line help for the preference parameter in question.

Keyboard Accelerators

Apart from the general keyboard accelerators, as described in Keyboard Accelerators, the following accelerators can be used in the References window:

Accelerator	Operation
Arrow Up	Move selection up among the expanded nodes
Arrow Down	Move selection down among the expanded nodes
Page Up	Scroll up
Page Down	Scroll down
Home	Scroll left
End	Scroll right
Ctrl+Home	Display first line
Ctrl+End	Display last line
Space or Return	Expand or collapse a node. Traverse through option menu. Toggle parameters on/off.
F2	Raise the pop-up menu.

Preference Files

All of the preference parameters along with their values (exception made for the default settings which are programmed into the Telelogic Tau tools) are stored on dedicated files, the preference files. The preference files may be edited with any text editor since the information is stored in textual form.

The Preference Manager manages these files and provides the graphical user support for customizing the Telelogic Tau tools in an easy way.

Note:  ITEX cannot be customized by preferences. Instead, see Customizing ITEX (on UNIX).

Preference Source

The following files build up the preference environment:

• The User's Preference File
• The Project Preference File
• The Company Preference File

The following items constitute the various sources for preference parameters. The source identifier may be made visible with the Value Sources options in the View Options dialog.

Source Identifier	Source Description
[User]	The User's Preference File
[User (No Save)]	The User's Preference File, will be removed from the user's preference file next time the parameters are saved
[Project]	The Project Preference File
[Company]	The Company Preference File
[Default]	The default factory Settings.

User's Preference File

This file stores the preferences parameters that a user has modified. The file is created / updated as a result of the Save command.

The user's preference file is identified on UNIX by:

$HOME/.sdtpref

and in Windows by:

%HOME%\sdt.ini

Note:  $HOME and %HOME% On UNIX, $HOME is assumed always to be defined in the computer environment. In Windows, if %HOME% is not set, the user's preferences will be stored in the directory from which Telelogic Tau is started.

Project Preference File

This file stores the preferences values that are to be applied to a specific instance of a project where the Telelogic Tau tools are used.

The project preference file is identified on UNIX by:

$SDTPREF/.sdtpref

and in Windows by:

%SDTPREF%\sdt.ini

Note:  $SDTPREF and %SDTPREF% If $SDTPREF (on UNIX) or %SDTPREF% (in Windows) is not set, the project preference file feature will be disabled. In a multi-user environment, it is strongly recommended to use a directory resident on a network drive for the project preferences. All project members should have read access to this directory.

Company Preference File

This file stores the preference values that are common for an entire company or organization and therefore should be applied to all projects and users of the Telelogic Tau tools.

The company preference file is identified on UNIX by:

$telelogic/.sdtpref

and in Windows by:

<SDT Installation directory>\sdt.ini

Note:  On UNIX, $telelogic is assumed always to be set in a Telelogic Tau environment. In Windows, to function properly (in the sense of being unique) in a multi-user environment, the company preference file should be stored on a directory on a network drive, i.e. Telelogic Tau should be installed on a network. Also, all Telelogic users should have read access to the company preference file.

factory Settings

These are the settings that are defined by default in the Telelogic Tau tools. The factory settings will be used whenever a preference parameter could not be found in the Preference Files.

Syntax of Preference Files

A line in the preference file contains two items:

1. The first item specifies a tool and a parameter, separated by an asterisk.
2. The second item specifies the current value that is to be assigned to that parameter when starting up the tool.

The syntax is:

tool*parameter: value

An example line in a preferences file could look like this:



Print*Scale:100

Meaning that the scale when printing is 100%.

The order of appearance of the parameters in a file is of no significance.

Search Order When Reading Preference Parameters

This section discusses how the Telelogic Tau tools read the preference parameters.

When a tool starts, it will automatically (i.e. no user-interaction is required) retrieve the preference values in an incremental way, following the order of search described below and illustrated in Figure 76 and Figure 77:

1. First, fallback values (default factory settings) are loaded.
2. Then, if the environment variable SDTPREF is set:
• If $SDTPREF/.sdtpref (on UNIX), or %SDTPREF%\sdt.ini (in Windows) exists, that file is read incrementally² as the project preference file.
• Otherwise, the Telelogic Tau tools will look for organization preferences in the Telelogic Tau tools installation directory, in the file designated by $telelogic/.sdtpref (on UNIX) or <SDT Installation directory>\sdt.ini (in Windows).
3. Finally, if the HOME environment variable is set, and $HOME/.sdtpref (on UNIX) or %HOME%\sdt.ini (in Windows) exists, that file is read incrementally as the user's preference file.
• Otherwise, if HOME is not set, the preference file in the directory from which Telelogic Tau was started is read incrementally as the user's preference file.

The method above allows to configure an Telelogic Tau tool environment by defining some preferences as company-wide or project-wide, while allowing users to customize other preferences.

Figure 76  :How the Telelogic Tau tool searches for
preference parameters (on UNIX)

Figure 77  : How the Telelogic Tau tool searches for
preference parameters (in Windows)

Save of Preference Values

When a preference parameter is saved, it is always stored as a user-defined preference parameter in the user's preference file, i.e. $HOME/.sdtpref (on UNIX), or %HOME%\sdt.ini (in Windows), if HOME is set. If HOME is not set, the preference parameters are stored in a preference file in the directory from which Telelogic Tau was started.

The above implies that modifying a parameter that was originally defined as a project or organization parameter, the parameter will from now on be considered as a user-defined parameter. The user is however notified about this (see Figure 71).