Before you can start VisualAge you may need to configure your installation.
By default, the ServerAddress is the system's loopback address -- localhost. This will only work if you are using a client that is installed on the same computer as the manager.
If you want to change your network configuration, the Smalltalk image start-up configuration file abt.ini will need to be modified. Specifically, you will need to verify that the EmLibraryInterface parameters, ServerAddress and DefaultName match you network configuration.
The library manager administrator should provide you with these EmLibraryInterface parameters
The file abt.ini is located in the /opt/IBMvast/6.0/newimage directory.
The VisualAge manager component uses a daemon to manage concurrent access to library and import files. This program is named EMSRV.
To start the EMSRV process, do the following:
You do not have to be root to run emsrv. You do, however, need to have permission to create and update files in the emsrv logging directory as well as permission to modify the mgr60.dat file itself. One approach to doing this is to explicitly specify a logging directory in which your user id is allowed to create and modify files.
Here is an example of starting emsrv such that client requests are logged in /var/emsrv-log. Also notice that we have directed stdout to /tmp/emsrv-log/emsrv.out. (Please note that /var/emsrv-log MUST exist before you start emsrv.)
/opt/IBMvast/6.0/bin/emsrv -lf/var/emsrv-log>/var/emsrv-log/emsrv.out
For more options on starting EMSRV, type emsrv -h at a command prompt.
To start a local documentation server on Unix, execute the following command:
nohup /opt/IBMvast/6.0/help/bin/abtdoc>/tmp/abtdoc.out&
A documentation server running in local mode (the default) can only be accessed by browsers running on the same host using the URL:
http://localhost:57002/abtwebx/6.0/va/vast.htm
If you wish to make the documentation server available to users on other machines, then you will need to specify the hosting machine's hostname. Here is an example for a hosting machine whose hostname is 'talksmall':
nohup /opt/IBMvast/6.0/help/bin/abtdoc -z.host=talksmall>/tmp/abtdoc.out&
The documents on such a shared documentation server can be accessed by replacing localhost with the actual hostname of the machine running the server. To follow our example, the new URL would be:
http://talksmall:57002/abtwebx/6.0/va/vast.htm
To stop the documentation server in Unix, select Shutdown the Document Server from the Information Center screen.
Each VisualAge Smalltalk developer requires certain files in their own working directory. A copy of the appropriate files may be obtained by running the program /opt/IBMvast/6.0/bin/vasetup.
When you run vasetup, VisualAge Smalltalk copies the master abt.ini
file to your working directory. If the system administrator makes any
additional changes to the master abt.ini file, the copy of
abt.ini that is in your working directory will not match the master
abt.ini in /opt/IBMvast/6.0/newimage. If you have not
made any changes to your personal copy of abt.ini, then you can just
copy the new master version from /opt/IBMvast/6.0/newimage into your
image directory. Otherwise you will need to manually edit your personal
copy of abt.ini to pick up any important new information from the
master version of abt.ini.
On Unix you can customize some of the default look and feel of your
VisualAge Smalltalk development environment. This can be accomplished
by placing an ENVY application defaults file into your home directory.
A sample ENVY application defaults file can be found in the directory
/opt/IBMvast/6.0/app-defaults. Copy this file to your home
directory and then make changes to suit your tastes.
For example, changing the line:
to:
will cause lists to have a "Sky Blue" background the next time you start
a development image.
Additional kinds of customization are possible, including the cutting and
pasting of the ENVY file contents into your .Xdefaults file. You
should consult your X documentation for details.Settings for developer's .Xdefaults configuration file
*XmList*Background: BlanchedAlmond
*XmList*Background: Sky Blue