Start Up

When the user launches Scishare for the first time he/she will need to set up preferences, the security device and their identity.

The preferences are set up through a succesion of dialogs:

Logging

Select logging type. By default, "No Logging" option is selected. The other two options which can be used for logging are "Logging to Console", and "Logging to File".
Select location of logging property file. If one of the last two logging options are selected then the user can select the level of logging. "Debug" level represents the highest level in the hierarchy and "Error" represents the lowest level. That means if the users selects "Debug" all other level will be activated. On the other hand, selecting "Error" level will deactivate the other levels and show only "Error" level.

                                                                            Logging Preferences
                                               logging preferences pane

Sharing

Enable sharing of metadata and data. By default sharing metadata is turned ON and sharing data is turned OFF. The user can change these settings by clicking on the check boxes for metadata and data sharing.
Define the ports for metadata and data servers. This is done by changing the values in "Metadata Server Port:" and "Data Server Port:" fields.
Define the IP Address if behind NAT. NAT takes a computer's internal IP and converts it to the external IP when sending data to the internet, and when data is received from the Internet for that computer, it translates the external IP to the internal IP so that it can be routed to the correct computer. This is useful in a home network. User can click on "Behind NAT" button to set the NAT address. If "Enable NAT" radio button is selected the application will find NAT address and set that value in the NAT field. Otherwise the user can set a new NAT address. These changes will take effect after the user restarts the application.
Define the multicast IP address, port and group TTL (Time To Live). The user can also use a proxy for multicast by clicking on the "Proxy" button. This option can be used when the intergroup is running in some other machine rather than locally. By default, the intergroup will run locally.
Connection Options If the user can set the application to connect at the start up. This will start the services for sharing data amd metadata unless they are unchecked from the user.

                                                                                              Sharing Preferences
                                                                sharing/view preferences


Download//View

Define the number of simultaneous downloads. This is done by clicking on "Unlimited" or "Limited" radio buttons. If limited is selected then the user can enter a numeric value defining the number of simultaneous downloads.
Select the folder where the transfered files will be stored. This is done by clicking on the "Browse" button and selecting the folder where the user want to store the downloaded files
Set the timeout for synchronizing the database. Sharing/View pane has a Timeout Option area where the user can choose how the database will be synchronized against the local file system. If the "Timeout to refresh the database" box is selected, then the numeric value set in the field represents the frequency in seconds of synchronization. If the box is not selected the user will be able to initialize synchronization in the Local view.
Enable the upload and incoming queries views. The "Views" area lets the user make upload and/or queries views visible.

                                                                         Download//View Preferences
                                                                  download preferences pane


Stable Storage

Set stable storage location. This can be done by cliking on "Browse" button and selecting the folder which will be used as a stable folder to store Scishare files and folders.

Stable Storage Preferences

Preferences can be also changed when Scishare is running. The user can click on the "Edit" menu item, and then on Preferences. By default, the Logging pane will be shown, but the user can select any preference pane by just clicking on the tab showing the name of the preference pane. In order to update any change is preferences, the user should click on "Apply" or "OK" buttons.