Recently
an effort has begun to provide STAF interaction via the Eclipse Platform. This will hopefully provide an entry point
for beginning STAF users to get introduced to STAF via a GUI environment. Advanced users may find it useful as it
provides access to a variety of information displayed in a graphical format and
provides a persistent history of commands.
Following the spirit of Eclipse, the STAF Editor is extensible so that
the STAF team and other users may easily add additional pages to the STAF
Multi-Page Editor.
Below
is a list of features, steps for downloading and installing, and a short
getting started guide. If you have any
comments or suggestions for improving this tool please post them to the STAF Discussion
Forum. This
is a Beta release and any input will be used to help steer the direction of the
tool, so any and all ideas or comments are greatly appreciated.
Features:
•
Submit any STAF commands via an eclipse
editor
•
Results of commands are saved for later
reference
•
Results of commands displayed in
dynamically generated widget based on format of result data
•
Open editors for multiple machines
•
Uses the Eclipse extension architecture
to allow additional editor tabs to be quickly developed
•
Currently Implemented Service-Based
plug-ins:
•
Service - provides graphical access to
the details of current running services and requests
•
Trust - provides ability to quickly view
and modify STAF trust settings
•
Var
- provides ability to quickly view and modify STAF variables
•
Handle - provides quick access to STAF
handles and allows for easy filtering of which handles are displayed
Installing:
The
Eclipse Install/Update tool may be used to install, and later update, the STAF
Eclipse plug-ins. To initially find and
install the plug-ins, follow these steps:
1) Download
Eclipse Plug-ins for STAF
2) Extract
all files from zip to file system
3) Select
Help -> Software Updates -> Find and Install...
4) Select
"Search for new features to install" radio button
5) Click
Next
6) Create
a New Local Site to download features
a) Click
New Local Site...
b) Browse
to the "STAF_Eclipse_Local_Site" directory
created in step 2 and click Ok
c) Optionally
modify the Name
d) Click
Ok
7) Make
sure the newly created site is checked
8) Click
Finish
9) A
new "Updates" window will open
10) Expand
the tree for the Local Site created in Step 6
11) Expand
"Other"
12) Select
All Features
13) Click
Next
14) Read
and Accept the license agreement
15) Click
Next
16) Make
sure all features are selected. (Some
are optional and can be used to globally add/remove features for supporting
certain service tabs. However, it is
recommended to install all features at this time.)
17) Click
Next
18) Click
Finish
19) You
may receive a warning stating that the feature has not been digitally
signed. Click "Install" or
“Install All” to continue.
20) The
STAF features will be installed and then Eclipse will prompt you to restart
Eclipse to enable the features. Select
"Yes" to stop and restart Eclipse.
Updating:
1) Download
latest version of Eclipse
Plug-ins for STAF
2) Extract
all files from zip to the same location originally used. See the Local Site originally
used. (Help -> Software Updates -> Find and Install -> Search for new
features to install)
3) Select
Help -> Software Updates -> Find and Install...
4) Select
“Search for new features to install” radio button and click next
5) Select
the local site where the zip was extracted
6) Click
Finish
7) Select
all features
8) Click
next
9) Read
and Accept the license agreement
10) Click
Next
11) Make
sure all features are selected.
12) Click
Next
13) Click
Finish
14) You
may receive a warning stating that the feature has not been digitally
signed. Click "Install" or
“Install All” to continue.
15) The
STAF features will be installed and then Eclipse will prompt you to restart
Eclipse to enable the features. Select
"Yes" to stop and restart Eclipse.
Getting
Started:
1) Open
a STAF Perspective
a) Select
Window -> Open Perspective -> Other
b) Select
STAF
c) Click
Ok
2) Create
a STAF Project
a) File
-> New -> STAF Project
b) Enter
desired project name
c) Click
Finish
3) Create
a STAF Machine Group (optional) - STAF Machines (next step) may exist without a
group
a) File
-> New -> Machine Group
b) Select
the STAF project created above as the container
c) Enter
desired Group Name
d) Click
Finish
4) Create
a STAF Machine
a) File
-> New -> Machine
b) Select
the STAF Machine Group or STAF Project as the container
c) Enter
the Hostname of the desired machine (this machine must be running STAF)
d) Optionally
enter the interface and/or port needed to communicate with the machine. In most circumstances, these items may be
left as the "Local Default" in which case STAF will perform the
standard interface cycling when attempting to establish communication with the
machine.
e) Click
Finish
5) Open
the STAF Editor for the newly created Machine
a) Double-click
the newly created machine in the STAF view (left panel of Eclipse)
b) NOTE:
STAF must be running on the local machine and on the remote machine
c) Use
the editor to interact with STAF on remote machines
6) The
STAF Editor is an Eclipse Multi-Page Editor with 2 static pages with
dynamically loaded pages based on the installed plug-ins and currently running
services on the given STAF endpoint.
a) The
main editor page, "STAF Editor" contains three sections or sashes that
may be resized:
i)
Command Submission - This sash contains
some basic information about the STAF endpoint and widgets to submit STAF
commands. All commands submitted from
this section will appear in the "Command History".
ii) Command
History - This sash contains the history of commands submitted via the STAF
Editor. This information is persisted
when the editor is saved.
Double-clicking an entry will populate its data in the "Command
Submission" widgets for re-submission or editing.
iii) Command
Results - When a command that has completed is selected in the "Command
History" table its result data will appear in this section. The type of widget used to display the data
will be dynamically created based upon the format of the result data.
b) The
"Properties" page allows the hostname, port, and interface of the
STAF endpoint to be modified. It also
allows mappings between service names and STAF Editor extensions
to be created. However, this
functionality is currently moot as extensions have thus far only been created
for internal services.
c) The
Beta release contains extensions for a few of the standard STAF internal
services (HANDLE, SERVICE, TRUST, VAR). These pages may be used to retrieve data from
the service and in some instances modify data or settings on the service.
i)
HANDLE – The Handle service extension
displays current handle information. The
types of handles displayed may be filtered using the checkboxes at the top of
the page. Use the refresh button to
retrieve updated information from STAF.
ii) SERVICE
– The Service service extension displays information
about registered services and current requests.
This information is separated into two tabs, Requests &
Services. Select an item from the list
to display detailed information. Use the
refresh button to retrieve updated information from STAF.
iii) TRUST
– The Trust service extension displays and allows modification of STAF trust
settings. The input widgets at the top
of the page may be used to add new trust settings. Double click an entry in the table to
populate its information into the input widgets. Use the refresh button to retrieve updated
information from STAF.
iv) VAR
– The Var service extension displays and allows
modification of STAF variables. The
input widgets at the top of the page may be used to add or update
variables. Double click an entry in the
table to populate its information into the input widgets. Use the refresh button to retrieve updated
information from STAF. The bottom
section of the page may be used to test STAF variable resolutions. Enter the text to resolve in the left text
pane, click “Resolves To ->” button and the resolved string is displayed in
the right text pane.