SECTION 1 -- GENERAL INFORMATION

This document is one of two documents describing the C callable routines for interfacing with the Transportable Application Environment (TAE). The purpose of these documents is to provide the basic information needed for writing application progranrs in the C language.

The routines described in this document are for use primarily with the TAE Plus applications executive, the Terminal Monitor (TM). For routines to be used with the graphical features of TAE Plus, see the "TAE Plus C Reference Manual." document

NOTE -- The HTML version of this document omits Sections 9 and 10, which describe functions for generating and manipulating dynamic PDFs and MDFs; these functions are not used by any LAS modules.

The C callable libraries are located in $TAELIB; refer to appendix A of this document for details.

For information on FORTRAN-callable equivalents, see the "TAE Command Language (TCL) Runtime Services, Volume 2: FORTRAN".

For information on creating TAE menus, writing TAE procedures and help files, and general concepts on writing programs and procedures to run under TAE, see the "TAE Command Language (TCL) Programmer's Manual." For information on the use and general concepts of TAE, see the "TAE Command Language (TCL) User's Manual"; for information on host dependencies, see Appendix A to this document and Appendix A to the User's Manual. For information on system management of TAE, see the "TAE Plus System Manager's Guide (UNIX, VMS)."

1.1 DOCUMENT SUMMARY

This document addresses the following topics:

The reader is assumed to be familiar with the information in the "TAE Command Language (TCL) User's Manual," which describes TAE use and basic principles, and the "TAE Command Language (TCL) Programmer's Manual," which describes the general programmer's interface. The reader is also assumed to have basic knowledge of developing software under the host operating system.

1.2 ENVIRONMENT

For a list of the current host systems upon which TAE has been implemented, see Appendix A to the "TAE Command Language (TCL) User's Manual."

1.3 VOLUME SUMMARY

This volume gives guidelines on writing TAE applications in C, and describes the following function packages:

The TAE Plus C Reference Manual is packaged so that TAE Plus programmers of graphical interfaces will have the functions they typically require in one volume. Included are descriptions for the following:

1.4 REFERENCES

The following set of documents was prepared by Century Computing, Inc., under contract to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

  1. Getting Started with TAE Plus, NASA/GSFC. This document should be read first by all TAE Plus users. It includes a readership table for all other documents, as well as other last minute special instructions. The document describes how to extract the tape contents, how to setup your environment, how to access on-line manual pages, which window manager version to use, where to find demos, and other useful information. Consult this document before you attempt to install TAE Plus.

  2. TAE Plus Overview, NASA/GSFC. This document provides a brief overview of TAE Plus including the WorkBench, presentation types, demos, the Terminal Monitor, and TAE Command Language (TCL).

  3. Release Notes for the Transportable Applications Environment, (TAE Plus Version 5.2) (UNIX, VMS), NASA/GSFC. This document describes all changes and additions to TAE Plus that have been implemented between releases 5.1 and 5.2. This document is a must for all 5.1 users who are converting to 5.2. New users need not refer to these Release Notes.

  4. TAE Plus User Interface Developer's Guide, NASA/GSFC. This document provides a detailed description of TAE Plus features and concepts. Topics include the TAE Plus WorkBench, the program development environment, and the prototyping process. A tutorial and several examples are included. This document is essential reading for all developers of TAE Plus graphical user interfaces.

  5. TAE Plus Presentation Types Reference Manual, NASA/GSFC. This manual collects all of the on-line presentation type man pages (TAE_pulldown_menu, TAE_icon, etc.) which describe programming details concerning each interaction object: target count and data types, event generation, getting and setting target values, constraints, presentation specific resources, common resources, and code examples.

  6. TAE Plus Programmer's Manual, NASA/GSFC. This document is a coherent single manual written specifically for programmers regardless of their programming language. Topics include discussions of TAE Plus and X Window system terminology, descriptions of the callable functions, including the Window Programming Tools (Wpt) and the Co and Vm packages, programming details concerning each of the TAE Plus presentation types, and various tips and tricks useful for the application developer to update the interface at runtime. This manual is necessary for all programmers developing graphical user interfaces.

  7. TAE Plus C Reference Manual, NASA/GSFC. This - document contains the UNIX-style man (manual) pages for all the Wpt (Window Programming Tools), Co (Collection), and Vm (Variable Manipulation) functions, macros such as StringParm, and miscellaneous functions such as sequal. Note that the language independent conceptual material appears in the TAE Plus Programmer's Manual.

  8. TAE Plus C++ Reference Manual (UNIX, VMS), NASA/GSFC. This manual explains and specifies the C++ language interface to the TAE Plus application-callable functions.

  9. TAE Plus Ada Reference Manual (UNIX, VMS), NASA/GSFC. This manual explains and specifies the Ada language interface to the TAE Plus application-callable functions.

  10. TAE Plus Code Generation Manual, NASA/GSFC. This manual explains the goals, options, and usage of the Code Generator, and describes the structure of the generated code.

  11. TAE Command Language (TCL) Runtime Services, Volume 1: C, NASA/GSFC. This manual explains and specifies the C language callable routines associated with the Terminal Monitor (TM). In general, programmers developing graphical user interfaces need not refer to this document.

  12. TAE Command Language (TCL) Runtime Services, Volume 2: FORTRAN, NASA/GSFC. This manual explains and specifies the FORTRAN language callable routines associated with the Terminal Monitor (TM).

  13. TAE Command Language (TCL) User's Manual, NASA/GSFC. This is the reference manual for end users of the TAE application executive, called the Terminal Monitor (TM). It describes TM concepts and operations, and is the reference manual for end user TAE Command Language (TCL) commands.

  14. TAE Command Language (TCL) Programmer's Manual, NASA/GSFC. This is the reference manual for programmers using TM and TCL. It includes TM programming concepts and is the programmer's reference manual for TCL commands.

  15. Guidelines for Adding a New Presentation Type (UNIX, VMS),NASA/GSFC. This document provides a procedural description for programmers with certain well defined areas of expertise on how to design a new presentation type (interface object) and integrate it into the TAE Plus WorkBench.

  16. Building TAE Plus from Source Code (UNIX, VMS), NASA/GSFC. This document describes how to compile, link, and install TAE Plus. Most sites do not need to build TAE Plus; see the Getting Started with TAE Plus document.

  17. TAE Plus System Manager's Guide (UNIX, VMS), NASA/GSFC. This guide provides a TAE Plus system manager with the information necessary to maintain TAE Plus under UNIX and VMS systems. Topics include how to load the tape, setting up user accounts, post tape restoration tasks, tailoring the software for your site, resource requirements, and a description of the TAE Plus disk directory structure.