WebWinds is a scientific visualization and analysis package, written
as a Java application, which is designed to be an easy to use, multi-disciplinary
tool. This version has both client and server
capabilities.
This page addresses the following topics for users of Windows 95/98NT/XP:
Unix, Linux and Macintosh users should read their own page, and users from other platforms should read their own page.
Operating Environment
We recommend a processor speed of at least 200 MHz and at least 128 Mb
of memory. With these minimum requirements you will be limited in the size
of data sets that you can examine and the response times will be slow.
The WebWinds package requires about 26 Mb of disk space including documentation
and sample data. Java requires an additional 16 Mb of disk space.
WebWinds has been designed around the JDK/JRE 1.3 (also called Java
2). We have packaged our downloads with the 1.3 Runtime Environments
(JRE). Version 1.2 will also work.
Documentation
Documentation is built into WebWinds in the form of a context sensitive
html help system. You can also browse the documentation using the online
version.
Installation
The installation process optionally includes Java and will produce scripts
for either the client (wwclient.bat) or server (wwserver.bat), depending
on which package has been downloaded. Here is a summary of the installation
process:
There are 3 choices when installing WebWinds. First time users should
install the complete client package which includes WebWinds software, documentation
and sample data as well as the Java Runtime environment. It is also possible
to install only the WebWinds client or server software. The server software
also includes Java.
Instructions:
- Delete any previous installed version of Java and WebWinds, keeping
only text and script files which you have modified.
If you have previously installed WebWinds, or Java,
it is wise (but not necessary) to delete the old files. This can be done
by deleting the earlier JDK or JRE directories as well as the directories
(and all directories contained in them) in your old WebWinds directory.
Be sure to modify and save any text files that you altered in the WebWinds
directory. Be sure to read the discussion of the datamanager.txt
and config.sys files if you have an old
version of WebWinds and would like to preserve its configuration.
Other files that you may want to save and modify include paths.txt and
overlays.txt.
- Download and install Java and WebWinds.
- Download the full client installation for the PC. Save it to a temporary location where it will
have the name WWclient.exe. [Note that some Netscape users have experienced
an error message "There is a temporary network error preventing the download
of your file. Do you want to try again?" If this happens to you,
in the Netscape window select "Edit" -> "Preferences" -> "Advanced" ->
"Smart Update". Uncheck the "Enable Smart Update" box. Also click the "Advanced"
button in the Smart update download status window and uncheck the check
box for the .exe file type.] Alternatively, you can download the server
installation package (WWserver.exe) or the client software only (Part.exe).
- Double click the installation file.
- Follow the instructions.
- If you are installing the client software, configure your system
for optimal viewing by selecting "Start", "Settings", "Control panel",
then "Display." from the menu bar. Choose the largest number of colors
and screen resolution that you can for your system. We recommend at least
a 1024 x 768 resolution. Finally, be sure to remove files that you do not
wish to keep.
- Close all applications and reboot your system.
Executing WebWinds
To run the WebWinds client, double click on the batch file, wwclient.bat
(or on the Desktop WebWinds icon). To run the WebWinds server, double click
on the batch file, wwserver.bat.
Firewalls
If you operate behind a firewall, you must open up 2 ports if you run
a server or a client that will communicate
with a server. WebWinds listens on the standard RMI port of 1099,
which cannot be changed. However, once the connection between client and
server is established, a second port is chosen for communication.
The default number for this port is 1101 (1100 in Version 3) but you can
change it with the
-p
switch.
For example, to change the client port to 1102, the wwclient.bat script would contain a line that looks like:
java -Xincgc -cp %JFILE% -Djava.security.policy=java.policy -mx256m -jar %JFILE% ww.slang -p 1102
The modification of the wwserver.bat script is similar (wwserver.slang
instead of ww.slang).
Note: platforms which use the -p option and
which run both wwclient.bat and wwserver.bat (or 2 versions of wwserver.bat)
must use different port numbers.
Tips and Tricks
When running webwinds, a DOS window will appear. If you get a message
like "Out of environment space", add the following line to your c:\config.sys
file and reboot your machine:
shell=c:\command.com /e:4096 /p
When editing WebWinds text files (including .bat files), use Wordpad
instead of Notepad.
If you get an error message like "LoadManager: Can't find ImageLayoutII
/ null", make sure you do not have a file called toolmanager.txt present
in your directory.
Occasionally there will be error messages in the DOS window which run
off the top of the window. To add scroll bars to the DOS window, move your
mouse cursor over the file wwclient.bat (use Windows Explorer or My Computer)
and hold down the right mouse button to select "Properties". Select the
"Screen" tab and change the "Initial size" value to 50 lines. The window
will be modified the next time wwclient.bat is executed. If the WebWinds
window disappears just after starting, try editing the file wwclient, adding
a line with 'pause' (without quotes) before the last line ('exit'). Then
run wwclient and note the error.
If you are using a Windows machine that has an international language
enabled, you must download the international version of Java.
