Display example README
To download the code of this example please refer to the CVS repository at $CIAO_ROOT/DAnCE/examples/Display.
Example Description
This example is an imaginary car
(software) instrument assembly which updates the display of
current coordination of the airplane periodically.  It consists of
the following three components:
  - The RateGen component sends periodic
  Pulse events to consumers according to the
  rate specified in its attribute Rate, it
  allows a client (CORBA client controller) to
  start and stop the rate generating event.
- The GPS component interacts with a GPS
  hardware. When the GPS component receives
  Refresh events from 
  RateGen, it queries the GPS hardware and updates the internal cached
  coordination (so that the current location can be read by accessing the
  MyLocation interface) and generates an event
  on its Ready port to inform the event
  consumers that a new GPS reading is available. 
- The NavDisplay component displays the
  current location of the vehicle on the windshield. When a
  NavDisplay receives an event notifying the
  availability of new data on its Refresh port,
  it will acquire the current location of the vehicle by querying the interface
  connected to the GPSLocation receptacle.
- The NavDisplayGUI directory contains
  implementations for a NavDisplay with
  graphical interface. To use this graphical interface you need to install qt
  libraries and have qt enabled (qt = 1) in your $ACE_ROOT/bin/MakeProjectCreator/config/global.features.
  In some Linux distributions qt is installed by default. There is a
  non-commercial version of qt libraries for Windows
  
  here and more information about qt
  here. 
- If you just want to run the application, just go to the last section of
  this page.
The files you will find.
1. The interfaces,
data types and exceptions used by the components of this application are 
specified in the
 
HUDisplay.idl file, placed in this example root directory ($CIAO_ROOT/examples/Display).
This is a IDL2 file and uses the familiar CORBA data types. The lib generated
from HUDisplay.idl is linked to all the components of this example. 
2. mpc  files for each of the components
are available in the components directories. We use theĀ  MPC
to generate makefiles and Visual C++ project/solutions files for all ACE, TAO and CIAO libraries.
3. idl and cidl files for each component are placed in components directory.  
4. The _exec.h and _exec.cpp files are the actual implementation of the components.
5. The NavDisplayGUI_exec directory:
The NavDisplayGUI_exec.cpp is just an executor version
for NavDisplay. In NavDisplayGUI_exec directory you'll find only the the
NavDisplayGUI_exec (and files for the GUI), which can be deployed with the
NavDisplay stub and servant. So, if you deploy the NavDisplay component
using NavDisplay_exec you'll be able to see the application running in the shell
you triggered the NodeDaemon, and if you deploy the NavDisplay component using
NavDisplayGUI_exec a graphical interface will show you a red dot moving over a
map according to the location being generated by GPS component when you start
the application. Notice that the NavDisplayGUI.mpc file includes qt, used for
graphical interface. You must give the right location of qt libraries in your mpc file.
6. The controller:
The RateGencomponent is started and stopped by the controller, a CORBA client application.
The controller source is in RateGen directory, so the RateGen.mpc file also
include instructions for the controller
build.
Make
Go to the directory $CIAO_ROOT/DAnCE/examples/Display and do:
    $ACE_ROOT/bin/mwc.pl (use -type option if you are using a compiler/IDE other than gnuace -which by default generates GNU makefiles)
    
For example, using $ACE_ROOT/bin/mwc.pl -type vc71 if you are using Visual C++ 7.1 IDE.
Assemble
Now we can step forward to build the assembly.
 In the descriptor subdirectory, you'll find a XML descriptor file that describes your deployment plan, the flattened_deploymentplan.cdp:
  
This file declaratively specifies how the component assembly is
constructed. Specifically, it specifies the component types, component
instances, component connections and implementation artifact
descriptions. 
 Please make sure that the Modified_Deployment.xsd and XMI.xsd files are in the
Display/descriptors directory.
The former file could be found in $CIAO_ROOT/docs/schema directory.
Note: Creating the deployment plan descriptor is a tedious and error-prone job, you can download  CoSMIC to assist you in this step.
 
Run
Finally you are ready to test the application you have made. From different shells in $CIAO_ROOT/DAnCE/examples/Display/descriptors/ directory:
  -  Start NodeManagers (NodeDameon) by running  basicNodeDaemons.pl 
-  Start the execution manager:
  $CIAO_ROOT/DAnCE/ExecutionManager/Execution_Manager -o EM.ior -i NodeManagerMap.dat The NodeManagerMap.dat file describes the deployment daemons CIAO's Execution_Manager
  will contact to instantiate ComponentServer's, home's, and component
  instances.  Each line specify the name of a installation
  "destination" and the corresponding IOR for
  the CIAO_Daemon. For example, the NodeManagerMap.dat contains:
      AirFrameDevice corbaloc:iiop:localhost:10000/NodeManager
      TimerDevice  corbaloc:iiop:localhost:12000/NodeManager
  You can copy and modify the copy to deploy the components in various
  different locations to let the application truely "distributed".
  Remember to start up the Execution_Manager  using the
  revised .dat file you created, and start up the CIAO_Daemon according to the specification.
 -  NOTE: As one can see, we use the "NodeManagerMap.dat" file to instruct the
       Execution_Manager how to find the endpoint of each individual NodeManager (i.e., Node Daemon) where
       component(s) will be deployed, so this is non-standard. We plan to use Naming Service to do this in the future.
  
-  Start the plan_launcher:
   $CIAO_ROOT/DAnCE/Plan_Launcher/plan_launcher -p flattened_deploymentplan.cdp -k file://EM.ior After this, components should be deployed successfully.
-  The Assembly_Manager is instructed to write the IOR of the RateGen
  component to a file called "rategen.ior" in this
  directory.  You will then need to use a controller program in a
  separate shell window to switch on/off the Rate Generator.
  Go to the  $CIAO_ROOT/DAnCE/examples/Display/descriptor  directory and run the $CIAO_ROOT/DAnCE/examples/Display/RateGen/controller
  -o to start the application. To stop the application run$CIAO_ROOT/DAnCE/examples/Display/RateGen/controller
  -f 
Email: ciao-users@cse.wustl.edu