|
|
Nooleus User Manual
Version 1.4.0 |
|
Contents Chapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. Getting started with Nooleus
Chapter 3. Editing
Chapter 4. Nooleus Configuration Chapter 5. Integration with third-party tools
Appendix A. Nooleus Files Chapter 1. Introduction to Nooleus 1.1 What is Nooleus? Nooleus is a graphical tool that can be used to create diagrams of complex IT infrastructure. Once created, those diagrams can be configured to launch further tools, or to link to web sites, or to online documentation. Chapter 2. Getting started with Nooleus 2.1 Starting Nooleus The Nooleus icon is located in the Nooleus folder on the Start Menu. To start Nooleus, click on the Nooleus icon. 2.2 Objects and Pages Nooleus diagrams contain two primary types of item; Objects, and Pages:
2.3 The Home Page In Nooleus, diagrams are drawn onto Pages. Nooleus always has at least one Page, called the ‘Home’ Page. The Home page is what you see when Nooleus is first started-up. 2.4 View and Edit modes Nooleus has two modes of operation; View mode, and Edit mode:
To switch to Edit mode, right-click on the Page and select ‘Edit This Page’. When you’ve finished editing, right-click on the page again and choose ‘Finish Editing’. The TAB key can also be used to quickly switch between the two modes. Switching from Edit to View mode automatically saves any alterations that have been made to the page. To discard alterations, choose ‘Revert to Saved’ from the pop-up menu while still in Edit mode. 2.5 Movement To move around the page in View mode grab the page, or an object, and drag the mouse. To throw the page, release the mouse button while the pointer is still moving. Grabbing an object in Edit mode will move the object, rather than the Page. The Page is eight major gridlines square in size. As the page is dragged beyond its edge, it will begin to resist mouse inputs. When page is released, it will move back onto the screen. It is also possible to zoom into and out of the page. To do this, rotate the mouse wheel, or use the plus and minus keys on the keyboard. 2.6 Page Navigation To open a page (such as the Example Diagram), either right-click and select ‘Open this page’, or double click on the Page object. To return to the previous page, click on the red Back button in the top left of the window, or press the Backspace key on the keyboard. 2.7 Menus To display the pop-up menu, click the right mouse button. The menus in Nooleus are context sensitive, so a different menu will be displayed depending upon what the mouse pointer is hovering over when it is right-clicked on, and on what mode Nooleus is in at the time (i.e. View or Edit). Chapter 3. Editing The following sections all make the assumption that Nooleus is in ‘Edit Mode’. To place Nooleus into ‘Edit Mode’ right-click on the Page background and choose ‘Edit This Page’, or press the TAB key. 3.1 Create a new page To create a new Page right click on the current page background to bring up the menu. Choose ‘New Page’ from the menu. The 'New Page' dialog will be displayed. Enter a Name and a Description. Nooleus will automatically generate a file name based on the page name given. Finish by choosing a 3D Model, and then clicking on OK. The page file will be created in 'My Documents\Nooleus Pages', and Nooleus will ask if you want to edit the new page now. Select ‘Yes’ to save the current page, and load the new, empty page. 3.2 Copy a Page from one PC to another It is sometimes useful to exchange Pages with colleagues, or simply to have the same set of pages on multiple PCs. To copy a page from one PC to another, first copy the associated .nool file (or .xml file) from ‘My Documents\Nooleus Pages’ on the first PC, to the same location on the second PC. Then, from within Nooleus, on the second PC, add a new page in the usual way (Section 3.1). Tick the 'Link to an existing page file' check box. Either enter a file name, or use the Browse button to locate the file. Finish by selecting a 3D Model, and clicking on OK. 3.3 Copy all Pages between two PCs To copy all pages between two PCs, simply copy the entire contents of ‘My Documents\Nooleus Pages’ from the first PC to the second one. The next time that Nooleus is started, the pages will be available. 3.4 Remove a Page Right click on the page in question and select ‘Delete’. The page will be removed from the diagram. Nooleus will ask whether you also want to remove the underlying file. The answer to this will almost always be ‘Yes’. It might be appropriate to answer ‘No’ if you share a common set of pages with colleagues on a central server, or if you have multiple links to the same page file. 3.5 Create a new object Place the mouse roughly in the location on the page background where the object is required. Right-click on the page background and select ‘New Object’ from the menu. The ‘New Object’ dialog will be displayed. Enter a name for the object. The name is used to identify the object, and will be displayed below the object on the diagram. The object name is not mandatory. Enter a description for the object. The description is purely informational and is therefore also optional. If used, it will be displayed in smaller text beneath the name label. Choose a 3D model for the object. The models can be filtered by selecting a category in the left-hand drop down. Every Object in Nooleus can have up to fifty Actions assigned to it. An action can be a program, document, folder or an Internet/Intranet resource. To add Actions to an object, click on the Actions tab. Then click on the ‘New’ button and enter a name for the action. Type the command or resource that you want the Action to run into the command box at the bottom of the dialog. Use the Up and Down buttons to position the Action in the required position. The first Action in the list will be run when the Object is double-clicked in view mode. All other Actions will be available on a pop-up menu, when the Object is right-clicked. from a Template object (Section 3.12). To create the object, click on OK. Fine placement of the object can be achieved by dragging it with the mouse. The object can also be aligned, either with the grid (Section 3.9), or with another object (Section 3.8). 3.6 Create a new Text Label Move the mouse pointer to the location on the Page where the Text Label is required. Right click on the page background, and then choose ‘New Label’ from the menu. Enter the text into the dialog, and click on OK. The Label can be finely positioned by grabbing and moving it with the mouse. 3.7 Link two or more objects To link two objects with a line, right click on the first object and choose ‘Draw Link’ from the menu, then move the mouse to the second object and click on it. The page can be dragged and zoomed while in ‘Draw Link’ mode. This allows for off-screen objects to be linked. ‘Draw Link’ mode can be cancelled by right-clicking or pressing Esc. 3.8 Align two objects To align one object with another, right-click on the object to be moved, and select ‘Align with Object’ from the menu. Crosshairs will appear around the object. Move the mouse to the object that you want to align with. Either a horizontal or vertical alignment line will be displayed, depending in which direction the object will be aligned. Note. One object can only be aligned with another if it can be moved without moving any other objects. If this cannot be accomplished, Nooleus will not display the target alignment lines. 3.9 Align an Object with the Grid Right-click on the object to be aligned, and select ‘Align with Grid’ from the menu. The object will be aligned with the page backgrounds grid lines. 3.10 Copy, Cut & Paste 3.10.1 Copy an existing Object or Label To copy an existing Object or Label, right-click the Object to be copied and select Copy from the pop-up menu. Move the mouse pointer to an empty part of the page, right-click again, and choose Paste. An exact copy of the Object will be created in that location. If there is insufficient space for the new Object, existing Objects will be moved aside. The contents of the clipboard are maintained between Page edits and Page switches. This enables Objects to be copied between Pages. 3.10.2 Copy Actions between Objects To copy only the Actions between two existing Objects, right-click on the first object and select Copy. Then, right click on the second object and choose ‘Paste Actions’. This will overwrite the Actions of the second object with those of the first. If the first object has no Actions, the operation will be ignored. 3.10.3 Copy a Page To make a copy of an existing page, right-click on the Page Link and choose Copy. Then, in an empty part of the page, right-click again and choose Paste. The underlying page file will be copied, and a new Page Link will be created pointing at the new file. The name of the new page link will have the word ‘Copy’ appended to it. If multiple copies are made, a copy number will also be appended (‘Copy 2’, Copy 3’, etc). The new file will have ‘_copy_n’ appended to its filename (where n is the copy number). Altering or removing the Page copy will have no effect on the original page. 3.11 Undo and Redo Changes made to an Objects location and properties can be undone and redone by selecting Undo or Redo from the pop-up menu. The last 50 alterations are stored. 3.12 The Template Object Template objects can be used to save time when creating a large number of similar Objects. To set-up a Template object, create an Object in the usual way (Section 5.2). Name the object ‘Template’. Once created, any subsequent new Objects will be given the same Description, 3D model and Actions as the Template Object. bottom left-hand corner of the Page is a good place. Template objects are inherited by child pages. For example, a Template object on the Home Page will be inherited by any child Pages opened from the Home Page. To override an inherited Template, simply create another Template object on the child page itself. Chapter 4. Nooleus Configuration 4.1 General Options 4.1.1 Show home page title This setting affects whether, or not, the Page title is displayed on the Home page. The page title is always displayed on other pages. This option is enabled by default. 4.1.2 Default page color Globally set the color of pages that have their color set to ‘Default’. Choose from the six pre-defined colors, or create a custom color. The page color can be overridden on a page-by-page basis by editing the page, and choosing ‘Page Color’ from the menu. To return a page to the default color, choose ‘Default’ from the same menu. 4.1.3 Maintain zoom level between pages Controls whether or not Nooleus will maintain the current level of diagram zoom between page transitions. This option is disabled by default. 4.1.4 Default Zoom level The initial diagram zoom level used by Nooleus at start-up. 4.2 Actions Options 4.2.1 Double-Click runs Action 1 When enabled, double-clicking on an object in view mode will cause the first Action to be executed, unless that action is a Submenu or a Seperator. This is enabled by default. 4.2.2 Exit after running Action 1 When enabled, causes Nooleus to quit after executing an objects ‘Action 1’ in view mode. This is turned off by default. 4.2.3 Exit after running any action When enabled, causes Nooleus to exit after executing any action. This is turned off by default. 4.2.4 Show Acton menu title bar This option adds a title bar containing the Object name to the top of the Action pop-up menu in view mode. It is disabled by default. 4.2.5 Show Acton menu application icons When Nooleus displays the Action menu, it will attempt to retrieve a Windows icon for each item on the menu. This option is enabled by default. 4.3 Graphics Options 4.3.1 Disable start-up graphics card warnings Nooleus is a graphically rich application. Because of this, it is recommended that a 3D accelerated graphics card be used. If Nooleus is started on a PC that lacks proper 3D graphics support, a warning will be displayed. Enabling this option will suppress that warning. 4.3.2 Page zoom transition Nooleus normally displays an animated zoom and spin effect as it transitions between pages. This option is enabled by default, but it is recommended that it be disabled on slow systems. 4.3.3 Page inertia Enable or Disable the ability to grab and throw the page. Enabled by default. 4.3.4 Draw reflections Enable or Disable the object reflections. This option is enabled by default but, because it causes every on-screen object to be effectively draw twice, it is recommended that it is disabled on slow systems. 4.3.5 Text shadows Enable or Disable alpha blended drop shadows on text items. Drop shadows dramatically improve the contrast of on-screen text, but they do require more processing power. This option is enabled by default. 4.3.6 Object transitions Affects how objects are animated as they are created, deleted, etc.. This option is enabled by default. 4.3.7 Object rotation Enable or Disable the object rotation animation which happens when the mouse is left hovering over an object for a few seconds. Disabling this option will also prevent the object rotating in the Object and Page properties dialogs. This option is enabled by default. 4.3.8 Object inertia Enable or Disable the ability to grab and throw objects in edit mode. This is enabled by default. 4.3.9 Anti-aliasing Enable or Disable ‘Full Scene Anti-Aliasing’ (FSAA). FSAA smoothes jagged edges and lines, and dramatically improves the appearance of scaled objects. This option is enabled by default on PCs that are capable of it. It will be automatically disabled and greyed-out on systems that are not capable. It is recommended that it is disabled on slower systems. 4.4 Activation Key To remove the restrictions placed on the Freeware Edition of Nooleus, enter a valid activation key into the dialog and click on the ‘Activate’ button. The key will be checked for validity, and some of the information encoded into the key it will be displayed in the lower panel. Chapter 5. Integration with third-party tools This chapter provides some general guidance for configuring Nooleus to launch applications. It goes on to give specific information for some popular tools. The examples in this chapter assume that the Object name is the host name, and that the $name variable (see Section 5.2) will be used as a parameter. 5.1 General Nooleus will treat any command beginning with http:// or https:// as a URL, and will launch it using the PCs default browser. If the command isn’t a URL, Nooleus will attempt to find an associated program to open the file with. If this fails, it will treat the command as an executable, and attempt to start it directly. It is recommended that the full path to the executable be specified. If the full path is not specified, Nooleus will attempt to find the executable in the following locations:
Searching the entire file-system would take too long, and is therefore not feasible. If all of the above steps fail to discover the location of the executable, Nooleus will simply display an error. 5.2 The $NAME variable The $NAME variable is substituted for the object name prior to Nooleus performing the action. For example: ping $nameThe variable name is not case sensitive. The following forms are all acceptable:
$name
$NAME
${name}
${NAME}
The name variable can be used multiple times within the same command string.5.3 Ping To perform a simple ping test: ping $nameTo perform a continuous ping test: ping –t $nameTo ping once, and then pause for a key-press cmd /c ping -n 1 $name && pauseIn this example the DOS command separator is used (&&). Because we are issuing multiple commands on one line, a command shell (cmd) is launched first, to interpret it. 5.4 PuTTY The following examples assume that the location of the putty executable has been added to the system PATH. If that is not the case on your system, you will need to specify the full path to putty.exe. To launch PuTTY and connect to the specified host: putty.exe $nameTo launch PuTTY, and connect to the specified host using a PuTTY saved session of the same name: putty.exe –load $name 5.5 Microsoft Terminal Services Client (MSTSC) The Microsoft Terminal Services Client executable (mstsc.exe) is usually located in the windows\system32 folder. It will therefore be located on the system PATH, and will not require the full path to the executable to be specified. To launch mstsc to the connection dialog: mstsc.exeTo connect directly to a specific host:
mstsc.exe /v:${name}
To connect to a specific host in console mode:
mstsc.exe /v:${name} /console
5.6 SQL*Plus The location of Oracle’s sqlplus utility is usually added to the system PATH during the installation of the Oracle client. Therefore, you should not need to specify the full path to it. Connect to the database as the system user:
sqlplus system@${name}
Run, but don’t connect to anything:sqlplus /nolog 5.7 TnsPing The location of Oracle’s tnsping utility is usually added to the system PATH as part of the installation of the Oracle client. Therefore, you should not need to specify the full path to it. To test a listener with the same name as the object: tnsping $name Appendix A. Nooleus Files This section will describe the function and location of the various files used by Nooleus. A.1 Nooleus main executable The Nooleus executable is called 'nooleus.exe'. Its location is chosen by the user during the installation process. The default location is ‘C:\Program Files\Nooleus\’. The executable is stand-alone, requiring only components that are supplied with a standard MS Windows installation. A.2 Page files The Nooleus page files contain the information that describes your diagrams to the graphics engine. The files are encoded in plain ASCII text, and use an XML format to describe the page content. The default location for user generated page files is in ‘My Documents\Nooleus Pages\’. The ‘Nooleus Pages’ folder is created the first time Nooleus is started. Once created, the default Home and example page(s) are copied into it. The default pages are copied from the page-template folder, which is called ‘pages’, and is located with the main executable. A.3 Model files The files that describe the shape and appearance of the 3D models used in Nooleus are located in a folder named ‘models’. This folder is (and must be) located with the main executable. Nooleus uses the open OBJ file format. Each model is composed of two files:
Both of these file types are encoded in plain ASCII text. Free tools such as Blender or Anim8or can be used to edit or create additional 3D Models. Should you wish to create your own 3D models, the Nooleus graphics engine has the following requirements:
Although the complexity of the model is only theoretically limited by the amount of memory available in the system, it is recommended that the total vertex count be kept as low as possible. Try to share vertices wherever possible. The supplied models (mostly) have less than 1000 vertices. Any model placed into the models folder will be automatically detected and made available the next time that Nooleus is started. The file name will be used as the model name, and the model will be placed into the ‘Misc’ category. Both of these can be changed by adding name and category meta-data comments to the beginning of the .obj file. For example these comment lines are from the supplied ‘server_1.obj’ file: #name:Server 1 #category:ServersShould a Nooleus Page attempt to use a model for which a corresponding model file cannot be found, the ‘Default’ model will be used instead. The ‘Default’ model, a green cube, is hard-coded into the main executable, and is therefore always available. A.4 Options file In Nooleus, all options and settings are stored in the options file. The options file is named options.xml and is located in ‘Local Settings\Application Data\Nooleus’. The exact location might vary, depending upon the exact version of Windows being used, and the configuration of the system. Like all Nooleus files, it is encoded in plain ASCII text. An options file is not required to run Nooleus. The options file is created automatically the first time that any option is changed from its default setting. |