Building and Running the Graphical User Interface

Building and Running the Stream Viewer

Summer Release 2008

The Stream Viewer is used to create network topologies for Borealis applications. Network diagrams are constructed using "box and arrow" figures. The figures are then annotated with detailed text attributes. The output is an XML file that may be fed into the Borealis Head; which in turn deploys the diagram to Borealis nodes.

The Graphical User Interface distributed in the Winter 2007 release of Borealis has been rewritten for the Summer 2008 release and renamed the Stream Viewer. It is in the borealis/tool/borealis/viewer/ directory. You will also need to run a Global component to propagate diagrams from the Head to the Viewer. A basic Global component is in: borealis/utility/client/

XML for Borealis applications can also be written using a plain text editor. The remaining instructions are for the prior release and are only included in lieu of new documentation.

The tool is built using version 1.5 of the Java Developer's Kit. Newer versions of Java will probably work. Try your installed version of Java first unless you have an older version. In that case locate a newer version on the web that is compatible with your environment. Note that other Java source in the Borealis code base will build with either version 1.4 or 1.5.

If you need to override any older installed version, position this version of java first on your PATH and CLASSPATH variables.

For csh and tcsh:

    setenv  PATH       /.../java/linux/jdk1.5/bin:${PATH}
    setenv  CLASSPATH  /.../java/linux/jdk1.5/lib/jre/javaws/:${CLASSPATH}


For sh and bash:
    export  PATH=/.../java/linux/jdk1.5/bin:${PATH}
    export  CLASSPATH=/.../java/linux/jdk1.5/lib/jre/javaws/:${CLASSPATH}

The tool can then be built and run using ant.

borealis/tool/gui>  ant         # Compile the Graphical User Interface.
borealis/tool/gui>  ant  run    # Launch the Graphical User Interface.

Some of the basic operations for creating a new diagram are:

Select the Editor tab.
Single click on a boxed item on the left side of the window and a copy with default names and values will be placed on the edit pad.
On the edit pad, click and hold between items to connect them by a stream.
Use the "Element Editor" panel to modify the default names and set attribute values.
Define schemas using the button, "Add Schema" on the right hand side of the window.

Last modified: Tuesday August 12, 2008

Building and Running the Stream Viewer

Summer Release 2008

Select the Editor tab.

Single click on a boxed item on the left side of the window and a copy with default names and values will be placed on the edit pad.

On the edit pad, click and hold between items to connect them by a stream.

Use the "Element Editor" panel to modify the default names and set attribute values.

Define schemas using the button, "Add Schema" on the right hand side of the window.