Appendix C
COMMUNIQUE! CONFIGURATION FILES
OVERVIEW
Communique! creates a number of configuration files in order to individually save settings for each user, and to enable advanced users to customize the behavior of Communique!. This appendix provides a list of configuration files and their settings.
This chapter includes:
- A list of the Communique! initialization files
- A list of settings included in each file
- Short descriptions of the initialization settings
- Maximum, minimum, and default values for the settings in the files
Modifying Configuration Files
This appendix details the contents of the configuration files that are shipped with Communique!. Instructions on locating and modifying configuration files can be found in Appendix B, Technical Issues. When you are editing the configuration files, particularly the system wide defaults found in $COMM_HOME, you should be extremely careful, as some changes can drastically affect the behavior of Communique!.
Before you edit a system-wide configuration file, you should make a backup of the original, in case you make some changes that produce unexpected results. If you run into problems, you can then replace the altered configuration file with the backup.
The Conference Manager
The following settings dictate the behavior of the Communique! Conference Manager. As with all of the settings files, there is a system wide file found in $COMM_HOME/plugins. Individual settings for each user are also saved in each user's CommuniqueSave directory.
[Options]
AutoAnswer ([0] = no; 1 = yes)
Auto answer determines whether Communique! automatically accepts invitations to join conferences.
AutoSave (False = no; [True] = yes)
The auto save setting determines whether the users you conference with are automatically saved to your personal notebook file.
StartHeight
Not used.
StartWidth
Not used.
StartX
Stores the X coordinate of the Conference Manager's location on the desktop the last time Communique! was exited.
StartY
Stores the Y coordinate of the Conference Manager's location on the desktop the last time Communique! was exited.
StartupLocation ([0] = center; 1 = last)
Determines whether the Conference Manager will appear on the desktop at the same coordinates where it was the last time Communique! was run, or whether it will appear in the center of the screen.
StartupState ([0] = no; 1 = yes)
Indicates whether Communique! will be iconified when it starts.
VideoButtonsActive (0 = no; [1] = yes)
Indicates whether the buttons on the Conference Manager will be animated when they are selected.
VideoButtonsMaxFrames (0-8; [8])
The number of frames to play when a button is selected.
InvitationRings (0-10; [1])
The number of times the computer will beep to notify a user that they have been invited into a conference.
InvitationVolume (0-100; [80])
The volume of the beeps that are played to notify a user that they have been invited into a conference.
[Notebook]
CorporateNotebook (<filename>; [$COMM_HOME/etc/notebook.ini])
This entry indicates the file that should be used as the user's Corporate Notebook. It can be set to any full pathname.
PersonalNotebook (<filename>; [~/CommuniqueSave/notebook.ini])
This entry points to each user's Personal Notebook. It is ordinarily stored in the user's home directory in the CommuniqueSave subdirectory, but it can be set to any full pathname.
[Personal Business Card]
Namtati>
The user's name, entered in the Business Card Editor.
Title
The user's title, entered in the Business Card Editor.
Company
The user's company, entered in the Business Card Editor.
Addressl
The first line of the user's street address, entered in the Business Card Editor.
Address2
The second line of the user's street address, entered in the Business Card Editor.
Address3
The third line of the user's street address, entered in the Business Card Editor.
PhoneNumber
The user's telephone number, entered in the Business Card Editor.
FaxNumber
The telephone number of the user's fax machine, entered in the Business Card Editor.
Misc.
A miscellaneous comment field, entered in the Business Card Editor.
NickName
The name which appears over the user's Business Card photo during conferences, entered in the Business Card Editor.
The Chat Tool
These are the settings that control the behavior of the Chat Tool.
[Shell]
X
The X coordinate of the Chat Tool on the desktop, the last time it was launched.
Y
The Y coordinate of the Chat Tool on the desktop, the last time it was launched.
Width
The pixel width of the Chat Tool the last time it was launched.
Height
The pixel height of the Chat Tool the last time it was launched.
MinWidth
The smallest width to which the Chat Tool can be resized.
MinHeight
The smallest height to which the Chat Tool can be resized.
[Options]
Anonymous ([0] = no; 1 = yes)
Dictates whether the user's posts to the Chat Tool will appear anonymously.
PopupOnReceive (0= no; [1] = yes)
This setting determines whether the Chat Tool automatically appears when another user in the conference posts a message.
Printer (<command string>; [cat])
The command to use when printing the contents of the Chat Tool Log.
Information Exchange Tool
These settings dictate the behavior of the Information Exchange Tool.
[Shell]
X
The X coordinate of the Information Exchange Tool on the desktop, the last time it was launched.
Y
The Y coordinate of the Information Exchange Tool on the desktop, the last time it was launched.
Width
The pixel width of the Information Exchange Tool the last time it was launched.
Height
The pixel height of the Information Exchange Tool the last time it was launched.
MinWidth
The smallest width to which the Information Exchange Tool can be resized.
MinHeight
The smallest height to which the Information Exchange Tool can be resized.
[Options]
Compress (0 = no; [1] = yes)
Determines whether files are compressed before being sent to other conference members.
ASCII ([0] = ASCII; 1 = binary)
This setting determines whether files are sent in ASCII or binary mode.
PopupOnReceive (0 = no; [1] = yes)
Determines whether the Information Exchange Tool appears when a file is received from another conference member.
Speaker Phone
These settings appear in the Speaker Phone's .ini file.
[Audio]
SendVolume (0-100)
Stores the Speaker Phone's most recent sending volume setting.
ReceiveVolume (0-100)
Stores the Speaker Phone's most recent receive volume setting.
OutputMask
InputMask
EchoSuppression (0-10)
Stores the Speaker Phone's most recent Echo Suppression setting.
SilenceSensor (0-10)
Stores the Speaker Phone's most recent Silence Sensor setting.
Compression (1 = 6.6; 2 = 13.2; 3 = 64)
Stores the Speaker Phone's most recent Compression setting.
AutoAdjustThreshold (any integer)
Sets the amount of time that a user can continually send audio before their Silence Sensor is automatically adjusted. It is denominated in units of 1/25 of a second, s0 125 = 5 seconds. Any value below 125 turns off the automatic Silence Sensor adjustment.
[Network]
SendTTL (0-256; [32])
Sets the time-to-live for the Speaker Phone's multicast packets.
The Text Tool
The Text Tool's configuration file settings are as follows.
[TextTool Options]
All of these settings are changed in this file every time you exit the Text Tool.
rows (7-maximum displayable rows, [10])
Under Motif, the number of text rows that appear in the Text Tool by default.
columns (52-maximum displayable columns, [80])
Under Motif, the number of columns of text that appear in the Text Tool by default.
printer (<command string>; [lp])
The default command line for printing the contents of a Text Tool window.
OL_height (170-maximum vertical pixels, [])
The default height in pixels of the Text Tool windows, under OpenLook.
OL_width (320-maximum horizontal pixels, [594])
The default width in pixels of the Text Tool windows, under OpenLook.
The TV Tool
The following settings can appear with in the TV Tool's ml file. Most of these settings will appear only in the system wide TV Tool defaults file. Only the ones that a user has affected will appear in their personal settings file.
[Settings]
This section contains settings for every operating system. The settings here override those contained in the sections for each individual operating system.
ReceiveOnly ([0] or 1)
This setting determines whether users can send video when they run Communique!. If it is set to 0, then users can send video, if it is set to 1, then they cannot.
[Networking]
DoMulticast (1 = yes, 0 no)
Specifies whether the TV Tool attempts to use multicast routing if it is available.
MulticastBaseAddress (IP Address)
The base address that multicast routing will attempt to use.
[Boards]
Numboards (integer)
This setting indicates how many video capture card descriptions are defined for all of the platforms for which you have installed Communique!.
Board<0 through Numboards-1> (board name)
You should have an entry for each board that is available for you to use here. They should be listed by board number and should contain the names of the boards you can use.
[<Operating System>]
In the system defaults file, there is a group of settings for each operating system for which Communique! has been installed.
Numboards (integer)
The number of video capture cards that are available for this operating system.
Board<0 through Numboards-1> (board name)
These fields contain the names of the boards that are available for this operating system.
NumFormats (integer)
This field contains the number of video compression formats for which a software viewer is available on this platform.
Format# (format name)
This field contains the names of each of the video compression formats for which a software viewer is available on this platform.
ReceiveOnly ([0] or 1)
Sets whether the TV Tool comes up in receive only mode. If this is set to 1, then the TV Tool will not be able to send video. If it is set to 0 then the user will be able to send video.
[<Board Name>]
There is an individual section in this file for each video capture card that is supported on the platforms for which Communique! is installed. Each section contains individual configuration information for each board.
Name (<string>)
This field contains the name of the board that will be used within Communique!. This setting is mandatory.
Code (<number>)
This number is used to identify the board. There should be a different number for each board that is configured. This is a mandatory setting.
NumSendingFormats (<number>)
The number of compression formats that can be sent using this board. This is a mandatory setting.
SendingFormat# (format code)
These fields contain the four letter code corresponding to the sending formats that the board supports.
Capture# (<capture process name)
This field contains the name of the capture process to be spawned when SendingFormat# is being sent. Mandatory.
SendingFormatString# (<format name>)
The name that will be displayed on the interface for SendingFormat#. Mandatory.
NumReceivingFormats (<number>)
The number of different video codecs this board can decompress in hardware.
ReceivingFormat# (<format code>)
The four letter code for each receiving format.
Viewer# (<viewer name>)
The name of the process to be spawned when ReceivingFormat# is being received.
NeedLocalMonitor (1 or 0)
Set this to 1 if the video capture card requires that a local monitor is on the screen to capture video. 0 means that a local monitor is not required for video capture.
DLL (<DLL Name>)
The name of the dynamically linked library module that will display the board specific controls for this board.
NumBandwidths (<number>)
The number of bandwidth panes to be displayed in the interface.
Bandwidth# (<number>)
The actual value that is passed to the capture process when this panel is selected from the interface.
BandwidthString# (<string>)
The string that is displayed in the interface for bandwidth panel #.
MinFrameRate (<number>)
The minimum frame rate that this video capture card can capture.
MaxFrameRate (<number>)
The maximum rate of frame capture that this board can support.
NumSizes (1-3)
The number of capture sizes that this board supports.
SizeString# (<string>)
The string to be displayed on the interface that corresponds to size #.
NumThrottles (<number>)
The number of throttle values for this board.
Throttle# (<number>)
The number to be passed to the video capture process when the throttle # is selected.
ThrottleString# (<number>)
The string to be displayed in the Favor interface corresponding to throttle value #.
MaxBandwidth (<number>)
If this setting is defined, the user is not allowed to transmit bandwidths greater than this setting. If it is set to 0, there will be no cap on bandwidth.
Max HPUX Hardware Viewers (<number>)
This tag pertains to HPUX users with Parallax boards. It specifies how many hardware viewers can be present on the desktop at any given time.
Auto Start (0 = false, 1 = true)
This setting dictates whether video will automatically start when a user enters a conference.
The following values are settings saved by the TV Tool for each board. They are set each time the TV Tool is used.
Frame Rate
Bandwidth
Quantization
Brightness
Contrast
Hue
Saturation
Sharpness
Frame Size
FrameHeight
FrameWidth
Quality
Input
Format
DoGamma
DoCalibration
DoRefresh
HardwareDevice
Compression
Favor
[<Video Format Tag>]
There is one section here for each software viewer that exists. The name of each section is the four letter code for that video codec.
Viewer (<viewer name>)
The file name of the software viewer that is spawned when the user receives this codec.
Viewer Specific Settings Files
The following files are specific to certain viewers that work with the TV Tool. These files store the attributes that are set from the viewer's Settings window. Each user who has used these viewers will have these files in their CommuniqueSave directory.
ISTVToolViewerH261Motif
This is the settings file for the H.261 software viewer. All of the entries appear under the [Viewer Settings] heading.
Brightness (0-255)
This setting stores the brightness setting from the H.261 viewer.
Contrast (0-255)
This setting stores the contrast setting from the H.261 viewer.
Saturation (0-255)
This setting stores the saturation setting from the H.261 viewer.
Keep on Top (1 if true, 2 if false)
This setting specifies whether viewers will automatically stay above other windows on the desktop.
ISTVToolViewerICLBMotif
This is the settings file for the software CellB viewer. All of the entries appear under the [Viewer Settings] heading.
ColorUsage (0 if low, 1 if high)
If this setting is set to 0, the viewer will use the default colormap. If it is set to 1, the viewer will appear in a private colormap.
SuppressArtifacts (0 if true, 1 if false)
If true, the viewer attempts to reduce artifacting caused by dropped frames.
SuppressFlashing (0 if true, 1 if false)
If this setting is true, the viewer attempts to suppress color flashing when using a private colormap.
Zoom (1 or 2)
The zoom factor for the viewer window.
Keep on Top (1 if true, 2 if false)
This setting specifies whether viewers will automatically stay above other windows on the desktop.
ISTVToolViewerJ422Motif
This is the settings file for the software JPEG viewer. All of the entries appear under the [Viewer Settings] heading.
ColorUsage (0 if low, 1 if high)
If this setting is set to 0, the viewer will use the default colormap. If it is set to 1, the viewer will appear in a private colormap.
SuppressArtifacts (0 if true, 1 if false)
If true, the viewer attempts to reduce artifacting caused by dropped frames.
SuppressFlashing (0 if true, 1 if false)
If this setting is true, the viewer attempts to suppress color flashing when using a private colormap.
Zoom (1 or 2)
The zoom factor for the viewer window.
Keep on Top (1 if true, 2 if false)
This setting specifies whether viewers will automatically stay above other windows on the desktop.
ISTVToolViewerJ422ParallaxMotif
This is the settings file for a Parallax hardware viewer. All of the entries appear under the [Viewer Settings] heading.
Keep on Top (1 if true, 2 if false)
This setting specifies whether viewers will automatically stay above other windows on the desktop.
ISTVToolViewerJ422J300Motif
This is the settings file for a Digital J300 hardware viewer. All of the entries appear under the [Viewer Settings] heading.
Brightness (0-255)
This is the brightness setting from the viewer's Settings window.
Contrast (0-255)
This is the contrast setting from the viewer's Settings window.
Saturation (0-255)
This is the saturation setting from the viewer's Settings window.
Sharpness (0-255)
This is the sharpness setting from the viewer's Settings window.
The Audio Tool
These settings dictate the behavior of the Audio Tool.
[Settings]
ReceiveOnly (0 = false, 1 = true)
This dictates whether the user can send audio.
[Audio Settings]
These settings are generally set from within the Audio Tool interface and saved to this file.
Playback Level (0-100)
The volume at which audio received from other conference members is played.
Playback Active (True/False)
Audio is muted if this is set to false.
Output Devices (comma separated list of audio output devices)
A list of the audio output devices available for use on this workstation.
Send Level (0-100)
The volume at which audio is sent to other conference members.
Send Active (True/False)
Specifies whether you will send audio to other conference members.
Input Devices (comma separated list of audio input devices)
A list of the audio input devices available for use on this workstation.
Silence Sensor Level (0-100)
The current Silence Sensor setting.
Silence Sensor Active (True/False)
Sets whether the Silence Sensor is active or not.
A/V Sync Level (0-100)
The current A/V Sync setting.
A/V Sync Active (True/False)
Sets whether A/V Sync is active or not.
Echo Cancellation (0-100)
The current Echo Cancellation setting.
Local Monitor On (True/False)
Specifies whether the Local Monitor is activated.
Receive Only (True/False)
Specifies whether the Audio Tool can send audio.
Compression (None/InSoft1)
Specifies what type of Audio Compression to use.
Max Output Channels (<number>)
IRIX only. Indicates the maximum number of output mixing channels to be used.
DoMulticast (1 = true, 0 = false)
Sets whether the Audio Tool attempts to use multicast routing if it is available.
TTL (<number>)
The TTL (time-to-live) setting for multicast.
MulticastInterface (interface name)
The default multicast interface.
MulticastBaseAddress (IP address)
Base address to use in generating multicast addresses.
Packet Size (<number>)
Audio packet size.
Alpha (0.0 to 1.0; [.95])
Specifies how slowly the Speaker's volume level on the AudioScope drops after they stop speaking. The higher the number, the longer it takes to drop.
Padding (time in milliseconds)
How long the Audio Tool continues to send audio after the speaker's voice drops below the current Silence Sensor level.