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:

  1. Logging
  2. Sharing/View
  3. Download
  4. Stable Storage


Logging

  • Select logging type . By default, "No Log" option is selected. The other three options which can be used for logging are "Simple Log", "JDK1.4", and "Log4J". (Note that additional setup - classpath - is required to use the Log4J option)  
  • Select location of logging property file. The user sets the location of the property file by clicking on "Browse" button and select the file.

                                                                                      Logging Preferences
                                              
 
Once the user clicks on the "Next" button he/she will see the Sharing/View preferences pane.

Sharing/View

  • 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 and port and group TTL. the user can use a proxy for multicast by clicking on the "Advanced" button. These changes will take effect after the user restarts the application.
  • 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.

                                                                                              Sharing/View Preferences
                                                               
                                                                           

Clicking on "Next" button will direct the user to Download preference pane.

Download

  • 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

                                                                                 Download Preferences
                                                                 
                                            

Clicking on "Next" button will direct the user to Stable Storage 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
                                                               

Once the user clicks on "Finish" a dialog window will pop up asking the user to set the security device password. The user should take care when choosing this password as it is used to secure the application state. The user will be asked to supply this password every time the application is started.

If the password is created  successfully, then User Identity dialog will pop up  asking the user to select a user identity. By default a Pseudo User identity will be available for selection. This will allow the user into the system with limited privileges. Users are encouraged to create a personal identity (see the User Identity section for more details). The user identity dialog will also appear every time the application is started.

Once a user identity is chosen the CAs  manager  dialog will pop up and let the user to manage CAs (create, delete, or view a CAs). After that, the user is ready to use Scishare.

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.