Demos and Tutorials using Journal

[Mark Callow]

In article <4931133 at um.cc.umich.edu>, Tim_Buxton at UM.CC.UMICH.EDU writes:
> 
> For anyone who has to do a "demo" of anything on an IRIS, there is 
> now a really great tool for recording a whole demonstration once,
> including all keystrokes and mouse movements at the speed you want, 
I'm glad you like it.   I put in a lot of unscheduled time to make the
journalling package usable with GL clients as well as NeWS clients.

Please note the caveats on the man page (journalchest(1w)).   Due to
the nature of the package these are largely unavoidable.   The package
is very useful as it stands which is why I released it.
>  
>   Now to mention a few problems I have found:
>  
>     1.  There are problems going from one machine (4D/70) to the
>     other (4D/50).  The commands seem to get given before the machine
>     is ready for them.  There is a speed adjustment - will this help,
>     or is there a difference in the keyboard signals between machines?
>     I notice that keyboard entry is stored not by ASCII code, but
>     by keyboard code, twice per keystroke.  If a speed adjustment
>     does not slow it down enough, would it make sense to multiply
>     all the numbers in the first field, which seems to be an 
>     "event time" field, by some factor to slow it down more?
There is no difference in keyboard signals.  Journalling records the
keyboard scan codes.  Translation happens during playback.  What kind
of keyboard problems are you seeing?  The speed adjustment will help with
things like windows not being up before button clicks are delivered.

The first field is a timestamp so that the events can be played back at
exactly the same relative times as they were recorded.  When you adjust
the speed control guess what it does - yes it multiples the time stamps
by a factor.
>  
>     2. Stopping the journal playback can be done by pressing any
>     key or moving the mouse yourself.  You are then totally out
>     of the playback, however; it will not start up again from that
>     point.  For new users watching a tutorial, the ability to stop, 
>     then resume would be invaluable.  For giving presentations to
>     groups (SGI salespersons are you listening?) it would be 
>     very helpful to be able to stop to answer questions or make
I would love to add a pause feature.  Unfortunately I haven't been able
to think of a way of doing so that wouldn't rob useful keys or key
combinations from clients.   If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.
--
>From the TARDIS of Mark Callow
msc at ramoth.sgi.com, ...{ames,decwrl,sun}!sgi!msc
"There is much virtue in a window.  It is to a human being as a frame is to
a painting, as a proscenium to a play.  It strongly defines its content."