----------------------------------------------------------------------
Visual Thought FAQ (Frequently-Asked Questions) List
Program version: 1.4
Last update: 17 July 1998

Copyright (c) 1995 Confluent, Inc.  All rights reserved.
Suggestions or questions to 415-764-1000 or vthought@confluent.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------

* Introduction

This is the official Visual Thought FAQ (Frequently-Asked Questions)
List.  If you ever have any questions about Visual Thought, chances
are you'll find the answer here.  This FAQ is available in both text
and HTML formats.  We welcome your feedback; if you have a question
that you don't see answered here, please ask us by sending e-mail to
vthought@confluent.com.

You can easily get to this FAQ from the Guided Tour help suite by
clicking the "?"  button on the Visual Thought hot button bar, then
clicking on the button in the Guided Tour Overview that leads to the
FAQ slide.

The information in this FAQ is presented in question/answer format,
with the all questions collected at the top-level Table of Contents.

The text version of this FAQ is in EMACS outline format, with "*"
representing top-level headings, "**" for subheadings, etc.

Technical notes referenced in this FAQ are located in
<install_dir>/doc/note_*, where <install_dir> is your Visual Thought
installation directory.  The default installation directory is:

  UNIX:    /usr/local/confluent
  Windows: C:\Program Files\Confluent\Visual Thought 1.4


======================================================================
* Table of Contents

* Getting Started
** GET-1: How do I quickly get help or learn about Visual Thought?
** GET-2: I browsed the Guided Tour and the FAQ, and still couldn't
          find an answer to my question.  How do I contact Confluent?

* Crashes
** CRA-1: VT dies on startup with the message:
          "error 1: /Arg/Arg/Tag/; message: Tag not found in dictionary".
** CRA-2: VT dies during execution with the message:
          "error 1: /Return/; message: X error: BadAlloc (insufficient
          resources for operation)".

* Configuration and Startup
** STA-1: How can I tell what startup preferences VT makes available?
** STA-2: Window colors flash when I move the mouse in and out of VT
          windows.
** STA-3: VT windows on HP-UX have garish background and foreground
          colors.
** STA-4: VT doesn't display very well on monochrome monitors.
** STA-5: At startup, VT windows are placed at inconvenient locations.
** STA-6: VT windows are resized and placed entirely on-screen.
** STA-7: The default font in dialogs is hard to read.  Can I change it?
** STA-8: When VT starts up, I get an alert with this message:
          "The following error occurred opening the audio control
          device /dev/audioctl: Permission denied".
** STA-9: Sound doesn't appear to work on HP-UX systems.
** STA-10: When I send suggestions to Confluent via the Suggestion Box,
           I'm getting a lot of bounced e-mail.

* Installation and Licensing
** LIC-1: I can't access VT files, such as examples and palettes.
** LIC-2: What's the difference between a floating and node-locked
          license?
** LIC-3: How do I get an evaluation license?
** LIC-4: How do I install VT on multiple file servers to speed up
          performance if there is only one license server?
** LIC-5: I installed a permanent license, but I still only get
          expired evaluation licenses.
** LIC-6: I'm currently using VT 1.3 for SunOS.  Do I have to pay for
          a new license key to run on Solaris, HP-UX, or Windows?
** LIC-7: I have other questions about licensing that the FAQ doesn't
          answer.

* Drawing and Editing
** DRW-1: Sometimes menu commands or other editing actions that I
          intend for objects in one document window go to another
          document window.  What's happening?
** DRW-2: How do I change the default properties of objects created by
          the shape tool, connection tool, text tool?
** DRW-3: How do I change the shape that's created by the shape tool?
** DRW-4: How do I create my own shapes?
** DRW-5: What's the best way to create a grid of objects?
** DRW-6: How can I make connections attach to specific points on
          shapes?
** DRW-7: I've got a group of objects that VT won't let me resize!
** DRW-8: How do I use the color chooser?  The color wheel often is
          completely white, and dragging inside it has no effect!
** DRW-9: How do I set traditional preferences, such as units, page
          layouts, ruler visibility, that carry across multiple
          documents and invocations of VT?

* Connections
** CON-1: How do I create connections between objects?
** CON-2: How do I add text or a label to a connection?
** CON-3: How do I detach a connection?
** CON-4: When I want to draw a connection over some objects, how do I
          stop it from attaching itself to those objects?
** CON-5: I've created a connection between two "bus" shapes.  When I
          read my file back in, the connection has collapsed or slid
          to one side of the shapes.
** CON-6: How do I add joints or delete joints or segments from a
          connection?
** CON-7: How can I scale or rotate a connection?
** CON-8: How can I add multiple labels to a connection?

* Text
** TXT-1: How do I enter text into objects?
** TXT-2: How do I enter text into dialogs?
** TXT-3: It would be nice if objects resized automatically to fit the
          text that you are typing.
** TXT-4: The text in my document is small (less than 10 point).  I
          can zoom in to read the text, but any text I try to edit
          displays at the original unzoomed size, which is too small
          to read!
** TXT-5: I sometimes get into a mode where every shape I click on
          gets its Text turned on!  How do I prevent this?

* Page Layout and Printing
** PAG-1: How can I set the paper size for printing?
** PAG-2: How can I fit more of my drawing on a printed page?
** PAG-3: How do I set default page properties for new documents?
** PAG-4: VT seems to lose ISO-8859/international/multinational
          characters when printing.  What can I do about this?
** PAG-5: Color images print as grayscale images on color printers.
          What's wrong?

* Files and Documents
** FIL-1: How to I create a new drag-and-drop palette?
** FIL-2: How do I close or save a palette?  Every time I try, I end
          up closing or saving some other window instead!
** FIL-3: When I open my document, I keep getting notices that warn
          that a shape, connection, or group "lies entirely outside
          the document".  What's the problem?
** FIL-4: Can I store VT documents as files instead of directories?
** FIL-5: How can I submit VT documents, stored as directories, to
          source code control systems?
** FIL-6: I've created a document with file attachments to other files
          in a directory near the document.  When I move the directory
          tree containing the document and its attachments, the
          attachments no longer work!

* Import and Export
** EXP-1: What formats can VT import?
** EXP-2: What formats can VT export from the Export dialog?

** EXP-3: Can I add my own export formats?  How do I use plug-in
          translators?

* WMF/EMF Export and Windows Copy/Paste
** WMF-1: I can't seem to cut/copy graphics from Word or PowerPoint
          and paste into VT.
** WMF-2: When I copy and paste into PowerPoint '97, the picture shows
          up tiny.
** WMF-3: When I paste a picture into Word or PowerPoint, the picture
          will show up, but double-clicking on it will cause text to
          disappear.
** WMF-4: When I export a Booch cloud or curved line to WMF, it shows
          up with jagged lines.
** WMF-5: Curved lines don't appear when I copy and paste them.
** WMF-6: When I rotate an ellipse and export to WMF, it doesn't show
          up in the file.
** WMF-7: When I rotate an image and try to copy or export it, it
          doesn't show up.
** WMF-8: When I export to WMF or EMF on a non-Windows system, the
          wrong font shows up.

* Miscellaneous
** MIS-1: I need to e-mail a VT document.  What's the best way to do
          this?


======================================================================
* Getting Started

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** GET-1: How do I quickly get help or learn about Visual Thought?

Use the on-line Guided Tour help suite.  Click on the "?" button on
the hot button bar in Visual Thought, or use the Help menu.  The
Guided Tour is a collection of Visual Thought documents that is your
on-line resource to all aspects of using, installing and licensing, or
otherwise dealing with VT.

Use this FAQ in conjunction with the rest of the Guided Tour to answer
your questions.  You can easily get to this FAQ from the Guided Tour
help suite by clicking the "?"  button on the Visual Thought hot
button bar, then clicking on the button in the Guided Tour Overview
that leads to the FAQ slide.

We recommend browsing the Guided Tour Overview slide for introductory
level questions about using Visual Thought, and consulting this FAQ
for any other questions.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** GET-2: I browsed the Guided Tour and the FAQ, and still couldn't
          find an answer to my question.  How do I contact Confluent?

Here's how to reach us:

Confluent, Inc.              Tel: 800-780-2838 (toll-free)
400 Spear St., Suite 207     Tel: 415-764-1000
San Francisco, CA 94105      Fax: 415-764-1008
U.S.A.                       WWW: http://www.confluent.com/
                             E-Mail: info@confluent.com (sales and info)
                                     vthought@confluent.com (VT support)

If you or your site have purchased support from Confluent, then feel
free to contact us at any time.  When you do call, please provide your
Customer ID, which is of the form "C-000000".  It should be available
from the License dialog by selecting the Options->License... menu
item.  If your Customer ID appears to contain all zeros, please ask
the person responsible for Visual Thought at your site to enter your
site's Customer ID into VT.  On UNIX, this is done with the following
command:

  confluent_a customer set

P.S.  Even if you haven't purchased support, we'd be happy to answer
an occasional question or two.  We like to hear from our customers.
Send an e-mail or give us a call.


======================================================================
* Crashes

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** CRA-1: VT dies on startup with the message:
          "error 1: /Arg/Arg/Tag/; message: Tag not found in dictionary".

This is caused by the VT executable either not finding the system
resource file, finding an invalid version of the system resource file,
or not being able to read the resource file because incorrect
permissions were set.  The correct file is located at:

  UNIX:    <install_dir>/<vt_version>/<platform>/lib/vgalaxy2.vr
  Windows: <install_dir>/lib/vgalaxy5.vr

where <install_dir> is your Visual Thought installation directory,
<vt_version> is the current version of VT (e.g., vt-1.4), and
<platform> is the relevant platform (e.g., solaris-2).  The default
installation directory is:

  UNIX:    /usr/local/confluent
  Windows: C:\Program Files\Confluent\Visual Thought 1.4

If the vgalaxy*.vr file does not exist at the specified location on
your system, installation may have failed.  Please re-install VT or
call Confluent for help.

More likely, file permissions are preventing your user account from
reading the file.  For example, if VT was installed on UNIX by root
with a umask of 066, removing read/write by group/other, then anybody
other than root will not be able to read the resource file.  This
possibility can be checked easily by executing "ls -l" on the above
file and determining whether the permissions allow you to read the
file.

On UNIX, if this file (or others in the installation directory) is
read-protected, you should su to the account (e.g., root) used to
install Visual Thought and execute the following to restore
group/other read permission for all files in the installation
directory:

  chmod -R go+r <install_dir>

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** CRA-2: VT dies during execution with the message:
          "error 1: /Return/; message: X error: BadAlloc (insufficient
          resources for operation)".

The error indicates a failure to allocate an X resource.  It is caused
by limited available memory or excessively fragmented memory on your X
server.

VT itself uses a memory manager that attempts to warn the user and
free up resources when it detects a low memory condition.
Unfortunately, X Windows doesn't detect low memory conditions, and
when the X server can't allocate a resource because of lack of memory,
it takes VT down with it.

The best VT can do is detect this error; if VT crashes with this
error, it will automatically save new copies of any documents you were
editing, so that you won't lose any work.

There are several things you can try if you find you are frequently
encountering this problem:

 1. Restart the X server, or if you are using an X terminal, reboot it.
    This will give you a new server with unfragmented memory.

 2. Limit the number of open windows, especially if you receive
    warnings about low memory and the use of backing store.  You might be
    able to avoid running out of memory by closing some windows as soon as
    the warnings start.

 3. Turn off backing store.  VT makes fairly heavy use of X resources,
    and it uses more X server memory for each open window with use of
    backing store than without backing store.  Turning off backing store
    will slow redraws of obscured windows (e.g., when an obscured window
    is brought to the front or when a popup menu is dismissed).  However,
    it should not affect normal drawing operations in VT.  By using less
    memory for saving window contents, the X server should be able to
    allocate more X resources and allow more open VT windows.

    With backing store, the X server saves the entire image contents of
    each open window in local memory so obscured portions of a window can
    be redrawn immediately when they are exposed.  More local memory is
    used, but redraws of obscured windows are fast.

    Without backing store, the X server requests the application to redraw
    obscured portions of windows that are exposed.  Less local memory is
    used, but redraws of obscured windows are slower.

 4. If you are using an X terminal, add more physical memory.


======================================================================
* Configuration and Startup

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** STA-1: How can I tell what startup preferences VT makes available?

Please see the technical note note_preferences.txt for detailed
information.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** STA-2: Window colors flash when I move the mouse in and out of VT
          windows.

One or more applications on your desktop is using a private colormap.

On UNIX, the X Windows window manager installs any existing private
colormap of the currently focused application into your display's
hardware colormap.  A focused application that has a private colormap
will thus cause colors of windows belonging to other applications to
look incorrect.  An application that does not allocate a private
colormap will not cause colors of other applications to look false.

Usually, Visual Thought will use the system's shared colormap.
Certain color-intensive applications (like Netscape or FrameMaker 4)
often install private colormaps.  You can tell which applications are
using private colormaps by seeing which windows display false colors
when no application window has the focus.

On UNIX, one way to minimize color flashing is to quit all
color-hungry applications and execute these commands to install a
shared system colormap:

  xstdcmap -delete default
  xstdcmap -default

Afterwards, be sure to run applications (like VT) that generally use
the shared system colormap before running applications that generally
use private colormaps.

Please see the technical note note_colormap.txt for detailed
information.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** STA-3: VT windows on HP-UX have garish background and foreground
          colors.

Visual Thought uses light gray for the default window background
color.  When Visual Thought is first started, the majority of the
Inspector window should be displayed in this color.

If the color of the initial Inspector window is not light gray, the X
server may be using a standard colormap that cannot be properly
interpreted by Visual Thought.  This has been a problem on some HP-UX
systems.  For more information and instructions to fix this problem,
see the technical note note_colormap.txt.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** STA-4: VT doesn't display very well on monochrome monitors.

Turn on VT's monochrome mode by starting VT with the following command
line option:

  -monochrome

Please see the technical note note_preferences.txt for detailed
information.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** STA-5: At startup, VT windows are placed at inconvenient locations.

The Visual Thought interface depends on access to multiple windows
(i.e., Main, Inspector, Palettes, Views, and various auxiliary
dialogs).  Visual Thought places these windows at positions designed
to provide for efficient user access.

On some window managers (e.g., vuewm, mwm), the default behavior is to
automatically place newly created windows at positions determined by
the window manager, without regard to the positions specified by the
application.  Such automatic placement of Visual Thought windows
results in window locations that provide a very inconvenient user
interface.

On UNIX, this problem can be prevented by adding an entry of one of
the following forms to the X server resource database (e.g., by adding
it to the file ~/.Xdefaults) and restarting the window manager:

  Mwm*clientAutoPlace: false  (for mwm)
  Vuewm*clientAutoPlace: false  (for HP VUE)

After the window manager is restarted, the presence of one of the
above entries in the X server resource database can be verified with:

  xrdb -query | grep clientAutoPlace

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** STA-6: VT windows are resized and placed entirely on-screen.

By default, all windows associated with an opened document are resized
and repositioned, if necessary, so they are displayed entirely
on-screen.

Windows can be displayed with the sizes and locations stored in their
associated documents by starting VT with the following command line
option:

  +limittoscreen

or by turning off the following preference in the Startup tab of the
Preferences dialog (choose the Options->Preferences... menu item):

  Windows are resized and repositioned, if necessary, so they are
  displayed entirely on-screen when they are opened.

Please see the technical note note_preferences.txt for more
information.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** STA-7: The default font in dialogs is hard to read.  Can I change it?

Yes.  The default font is 12 point Helvetica bold for UNIX and 11
point Arial bold for Windows.  It could be difficult to read because
of any of the following:

 1. The default font is not available from your system, in which case
    it probably defaults to a system default family.  In this case, either
    the system default family is ugly or perhaps the default size for the
    system default family is not directly available and needs to be
    created by scaling (see the next item).

 2. The default font size is not directly available and needs to be
    created by scaling a font of a different size.  This can result in the
    font being rather ugly and difficult to read.  Choosing a size that is
    directly available will eliminate the problem.  On UNIX, you can use
    xlsfonts to determine which font sizes are available. For example:

      xlsfonts '*helvetica-medium-r-normal*'

 3. The default bold face is difficult to read.  The face can be
    changed by starting VT with the following command line option:

      -face <name>

    where <name> is the face name.  For example starting VT with
    "-face medium" changes the font to a medium face.

You can set the default font (e.g., to Helvetica-14) used in dialogs
by starting VT with the following command line options:

  -font family:helvetica -fontsize 14

Please see the technical note note_preferences.txt for more
information.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** STA-8: When VT starts up, I get an alert with this message:
          "The following error occurred opening the audio control
          device /dev/audioctl: Permission denied".

This message can be avoided in the future by starting VT with the
following command line option:

  -nosoundalert

or by turning on the following preference in the Startup tab of the
Preferences dialog (choose the Options->Preferences... menu item):

  Alert notices on failure to open the audio control device are
  disabled during UNIX startup.

Please see the technical note note_preferences.txt for more
information.

If you do this, however, you will not be able to take advantage of
VT's sound capabilities.

On Solaris, a user who logs in to the console is given ownership (with
a mode of 600) of the audio devices.  The audio devices /dev/audio*
are links to /devices/audio*, where the actual ownership and
permissions are set.

The alert typically occurs because the user starting Visual Thought is
not the same user who initially logged in to the console of the
machine running Visual Thought.  This might occur if the user is
running Visual Thought on a remote machine, but displaying on a local
machine.

You can check the ownership and permissions of /devices/audio* on the
machine running Visual Thought.  If these devices are owned by someone
other than the user starting Visual Thought, the alert could be
avoided by setting the mode of /devices/audio* to 666.  Unfortunately,
this would apparently need to be done after the first user logs in to
the console.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** STA-9: Sound doesn't appear to work on HP-UX systems.

The use of Visual Thought audio capabilities on HP-UX requires that
the NCS Local Location Broker Daemon (llbd) and the audio server
(Aserver) be running on every system that is involved with the audio
operation.

The AUDIO environment variable specifies the host where Visual Thought
looks for the audio server.

For more information on using audio on HP-UX, please see the technical
note note_hpaudio.txt.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** STA-10: When I send suggestions to Confluent via the Suggestion Box,
           I'm getting a lot of bounced e-mail.

It is very likely that you are using /usr/bin/mail for your mail
command.  /usr/bin/mail is a very old mailer program, and
/usr/ucb/mail is preferable.  To use /usr/ucb/mail instead, change
your PATH environment variable to place /usr/ucb in front of /usr/bin.


======================================================================
* Installation and Licensing

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** LIC-1: I can't access VT files, such as examples and palettes.

This is caused by file permissions preventing your user account from
reading the files.  For example, if VT was installed on UNIX by root
with a umask of 066, removing read/write by group/other, then anybody
other than root will not be able to read the installed files.

On UNIX, if the files in the installation directory are
read-protected, you should su to the account (e.g., root) used to
install Visual Thought and execute the following to restore
group/other read permission for all files in the installation
directory:

  chmod -R go+r <install_dir>

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** LIC-2: What's the difference between a floating and node-locked
          license?

A single floating license allows a single concurrent user of VT
anywhere on your network.  A node-locked license allows a single
concurrent user of VT on any one particular machine.

In corporate networks, typically a floating license is preferred,
because a single floating license can be used (at different times) by
2 to 10 people, depending on how long and often each person uses VT.
Sharing floating licenses in this way typically costs less than buying
node-locked licenses for each potential user.

If you know only one person will be using VT, a node-locked license is
preferable because of the cost savings.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** LIC-3: How do I get an evaluation license?

An evaluation license for VT typically gives you 15 days of usage.  On
UNIX, you can get one by clicking on the "?" button in the Visual
Thought hot button bar to bring up the Guided Tour Overview, then
clicking the button to get the "Free Eval License."

You'll receive an automatic reply, 24 hours/day, 7 days/week, as
quickly as e-mail can travel.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** LIC-4: How do I install VT on multiple file servers to speed up
          performance if there is only one license server?

Install and license VT first on a single master file server.  Note
that the license manager process can run on a machine other than the
file server, but of course it must reference the VT installation on
that file server.

Then perform installations on the other file servers, after which you
have two choices:

 1. Keep only one physical license directory on the master file server
    and make the license directories on other file servers links to this
    single physical directory.  This approach is preferred because it
    prevents license key files from getting out of sync on multiple file
    servers.

 2. Copy all license key files (i.e., *.lic) from the license
    directory on the master server to the license directories on the other
    file servers.  You will need to remember to re-copy all license key
    files each time a change is made to the license directory on the
    master server.

The reason for this procedure is that VT needs to know about the
availability of licenses and the host machine on which the license
manager is running in order to obtain a license from the license
manager.  The license manager host is identified by a name stored in
the license key file (e.g., license/01.lic).

Thus, as long as all installed copies of VT see the same contents of
the license key file, they will all attempt to obtain licenses from
the same license manager on the single license manager host.

It is best to remove all evaluation license key files from all license
directories to avoid any possibility of their being used once
permanent licenses are installed.  Normally, different license key
files are used for evaluation and permanent licenses.  Evaluation
license key files are typically 99.lic, while permanent license key
files are typically 01.lic.  However, this might not be the case if
multiple evaluation licenses are installed or if evaluation licenses
are installed for multiple installations of VT.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** LIC-5: I installed a permanent license, but I still only get
          expired evaluation licenses.

On UNIX, you may have old license servers running that are still using
the evaluation license keys.  You need to kill these license servers
by becoming root (e.g., "su root") and executing the following
command:

  confluent_a kill all

Then restart the license server on the machine for which the permanent
license key was obtained.

If you installed VT on multiple file servers (see item LIC-4 in this
FAQ), you may have forgotten to copy all license key files from the
license directory on the master server to the license directories on
the other file servers.

Please see the technical note note_license.txt for more information.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** LIC-6: I'm currently using VT 1.3 for SunOS.  Do I have to pay for
          a new license key to run on Solaris, HP-UX, or Windows?

Nope.  Simply make sure you've installed all versions of VT 1.3, for
SunOS, Solaris, HP-UX, and Windows.  Assuming you've already properly
licensed VT for SunOS, and the license manager host is on the same
network as your Solaris, HP-UX, and Windows machines, then you can
type "vthought" from any of your UNIX machines or start VT from
Windows, and you will automatically run the appropriate version of VT.

That is, if you've purchased N floating licenses of Visual Thought,
you can simultaneously run W licenses on SunOS, X on Solaris, Y on
HP-UX, and Z on Windows, so long as W + X + Y + Z <= N.

As software developers, one of our pet peeves is that some vendors
make you pay "sidegrade costs" just to transfer licenses from host to
host, or from platform to platform.  Our policy is that any transfer
or switch should be free _and_ easy.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** LIC-7: I have other questions about licensing that the FAQ doesn't
          answer.

Check the technical note note_license.txt.


======================================================================
* Drawing and Editing

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** DRW-1: Sometimes menu commands or other editing actions that I
          intend for objects in one document window go to another
          document window.  What's happening?

VT has the concept of a "focused View" that is slightly different from
the window manager's focused window.  All actions, such as editing,
menu commands, printing, etc., are performed on VT's focused View or
objects in the focused View.  The focused View is the one with the
black border around its edge.

You need to click or press a key in a View window to make it the
"focused View".

You've probably noticed that most applications have the main menu bar
on every window that pops up, whereas Visual Thought has a single main
menu bar that is separate from the various View windows.

VT does this to save screen real estate by not providing application-
wide hot buttons and menus on every window.  The tradeoff is that the
user needs to be able to tell Visual Thought which window is the
target of menu or hot button actions.  The window manager's focus
isn't sufficient because there are windows in VT that can get the
window manager focus but which aren't document windows.  The "focused
View" concept ensures that there is always a target for any VT editing
actions.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** DRW-2: How do I change the default properties of objects created by
          the shape tool, connection tool, text tool?

Each tool that creates objects (the text tool, connection tool, and
shape tool) has default properties that apply to objects that they
create.  Here's an example of how to edit a tool's defaults:

 1. Deselect everything in the View (by switching to select tool and
    clicking in an empty spot of your View).

 2. Switch to the specified tool, such as the connection tool.  Notice
    that the Inspector says that you are "Inspecting: Connection Tool
    Defaults".

 3. Switch to the appropriate Inspector panel that modifies the
    attributes you want to change (such as the Shape panel).

 4. Change those attributes (such as turning on arrowheads at the end
    of connection or changing the smoothness to "curved").

 5. Now simply draw your connections.  Each connection you draw will
    have arrowheads turned on, and default smoothness set to curved.

You can use this technique to change any default property of any of
the tools that create objects.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** DRW-3: How do I change the shape that's created by the shape tool?

Switch to the shape tool.  Then Ctrl-Shift-click on any instance of a
desired shape (e.g., the cloud in the basic palette) in the View or in
any palette.  The shape tool will thereafter produce shapes of that
type.

This is the quickest way, but you can also use the procedure mentioned
in the previous item above to change the shape tool defaults.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** DRW-4: How do I create my own shapes?

You can create your own shapes with the user-definable shape
capability.  Please see the technical note note_shapedefs.txt for more
information.

You can also define your own palettes, which will serve to organize
the shapes and connections you need for your specific purposes.

There are also a few workarounds that may be simpler than creating new
shapes:

 1. You can import raster images into shapes.  This will let you draw
    almost any shape you want.  The only downsides are storage (VT
    documents will expand somewhat because of the image storage), and
    printing (you'll get raster resolution).

 2. You can group primitive shapes into compound shapes.  To ensure
    that you can type text into a compound shape and that connections can
    be made to the compound shape as a whole, you can group an invisible
    shape (with stroke, fill, and shadow turned off) in front of your
    compound shape.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** DRW-5: What's the best way to create a grid of objects?

Use VT's "smart paste" feature.  If you create an object, copy and
paste it, and drag the copy some distance from the original, VT will
remember that offset for future pastes.  This makes it very easy to
create a grid of objects by copying and pasting one object to make a
row, then copying and pasting the row to form a grid.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** DRW-6: How can I make connections attach to specific points on
          shapes?

You can group "node" objects with shapes.  Then, if you drag
connections to the nodes inside the group, the connections will stay
attached to the nodes.  There are three node objects shown in the
Inspector Shape Panel, toward the end, just before the stick figure
shape.  The reason to use nodes is that their drawn representation is
smaller than their selectable area, so it is easy to select, move, and
resize the nodes while still forcing connections to point to the
approximate center of the node.

For a graphical example of this method, please see the VT example
document "Ports.vthought" (choose the Options->Examples... menu item).

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** DRW-7: I've got a group of objects that VT won't let me resize!

Visual Thought doesn't allow resizing of groups that contain *rotated*
objects because of scaling problems -- the rotated objects would have
to be sheared, not scaled.

To ensure that you can resize groups of objects, you should ensure
that none of the subobjects are rotated.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** DRW-8: How do I use the color chooser?  The color wheel often is
          completely white, and dragging inside it has no effect!

The color chooser by default uses the HLS color model to pick colors.
The color space can be visualized as a double cone; that is, two cones
with the wide ends glued together.  White is represented at one end of
the double cone, black at the other, and the region of brightest
colors is at the widest part of the double cone in the middle.

The color wheel you see in the color chooser represents a horizontal
slice through the double cone, and the "Light" bar is the vertical
position of the slice through the double cone.

Since the color chooser pops up showing the color of the currently
selected objects, many times it will pop up with white.
Unfortunately, white is a degenerate color, located at the tip of a
cone, causing the entire color wheel to show as white.

The upshot: to "fill in" the color wheel, just drag the "Light" bar to
something other than 0% or 100%.  50% lightness shows the slice of the
double cone containing colors with the greatest saturation.

There's also a description of how to use the chooser in the VT manual,
p. 205ff.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** DRW-9: How do I set traditional preferences, such as units, page
          layouts, ruler visibility, that carry across multiple
          documents and invocations of VT?

VT doesn't yet have a complete set of traditional preferences, but
those that are available can be accessed from the Preferences dialog
(choose the Options->Preferences... menu item).  Please see the
technical note note_preferences.txt for more information.

For now, you can create a template document that contains your desired
page layout characteristics (e.g., units, paper size), ruler and page
break visibility, and grid snap settings.  Save this document in the
VT examples/templates directory (or a subdirectory).

You can create a new document based on a template document by choosing
the File->New from Template... menu item and selecting the desired
template document with the file chooser.


======================================================================
* Connections

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** CON-1: How do I create connections between objects?

 1. Switch to the connection tool by clicking on the third tool icon
    from left or type "3".

 2. Click anywhere in the first object to start the connection.

 3. Optionally, click in free space to drop additional vertices.

 4. Click anywhere in the second object to end the connection.

Notice that the connection precisely follows the perimeters of the
connected objects.  You can see this more easily by turning on
arrowheads for the connection.

Notice also that to create a connection to a shape, you can click
anywhere inside that shape.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** CON-2: How do I add text or a label to a connection?

Double-click on it.  Alternatively, you can switch to the Inspector
Text Panel with the connection selected and click on the "Show Text?"
checkbox.

After you've added text to a connection, you can type Esc at any time
to exit text edit mode.  You can use the Location sliders in the
Inspector Text panel to change the position, offset, and width of the
label.

The benefit of using sliders in the Inspector is that you can position
labels for multiple connections simultaneously.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** CON-3: How do I detach a connection?

Connection endpoints can be detached from shapes and locked
connections, but not from unlocked connections.

To detach a connection endpoint from an object, select the connection,
click on the attached endpoint, and drag the endpoint off the object.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** CON-4: When I want to draw a connection over some objects, how do I
          stop it from attaching itself to those objects?

Toggle AutoConnect off by pressing Ctrl-Shift-C or by turning off the
following preference in the Drawing tab of the Preferences dialog
(choose the Options->Preferences... menu item):

  A connection end is attached to an object when the end is dragged
  and released over the object.

Please see the technical note note_preferences.txt for more
information.

Remember that you need to toggle AutoConnect on again if you want to
connect lines to objects again.

With AutoConnect on (the default), connection ends are "live" and
attach themselves to objects they are released over.  With AutoConnect
off, connection ends are "dead" and never attach to objects they are
released over.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** CON-5: I've created a connection between two "bus" shapes.  When I
          read my file back in, the connection has collapsed or slid
          to one side of the shapes.

VT has certain "bus" shapes that force connections to them to be
perpendicular to the sides of the bus.  The location of the
intersection point between a connection and a bus is calculated using
an algorithm that doesn't guarantee a unique intersection point in all
cases.

Practically, there are two things you can do:

 1. Make sure any connection between two buses has at least 3 points.
    This extra point "anchors" the connection between the buses.  You can
    then drag the anchor point to reposition the connection between the
    buses.

 2. Turn one of the shapes into something other than a bus.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** CON-6: How do I add joints or delete joints or segments from a
          connection?

This currently can't be done easily.  The simplest approach is often
to create a new connection.

When we created VT, we thought that users would regard connections as
very lightweight objects that usually would be single segments.  This
is largely true, but enough people are asking for this capability that
we should be able to add the ability to create/delete joints in a
forthcoming release.  We apologize for any inconvenience.

If you really need to add or delete connection joints, you can follow
the procedure described below.

Turn on the following preferences in the Drawing tab of the
Preferences dialog (choose the Options->Preferences... menu item):

  A connection end is attached to an object when the end is dragged
  and released over the object.

  Two connections are joined when the shape to which they are
  connected is deleted.

  A connection is split and the new endpoints are attached to a
  dragged palette shape dropped over the connection.

Please see the technical note note_preferences.txt for more
information.

To replace one set of joints with another set of joints (both sets can
be empty):

 1. Drag any two shapes from a palette and drop them over the segments
    bounding the joints to be deleted.

 2. Delete the connection between the new shapes.

 3. Create a new connection between the new shapes with interior
    joints representing the joints to be added.

 4. Separately delete the new shapes.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** CON-7: How can I scale or rotate a connection?

Group it with another object (perhaps temporary), scale or rotate the
group, ungroup, and delete the temporary object.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** CON-8: How can I add multiple labels to a connection?

You can simulate multiple labels on a single connection by using
single labels on multiple connections.  If single-segment connections
are required with multiple labels, try this:

 1. Create two shapes.

 2. Create a single-segment connection between the shapes.

 3. Create another single-segment connection, but do not attach it yet. 

 4. Show Text and Offset the label (Inspector Text panel), and turn
    off Stroke (Inspector Style panel) for the unattached connection.

 5. Duplicate the non-stroked connection for each required separate
    label, and use the Distance slider (Text panel) to make the position
    of each label unique.

 6. Connect the ends of the non-stroked connections to the shapes. 

The reason to offset the labels in Step 4 and to change the distance
slider in Step 5 is to make the position of each label unique.  This
enables you to uniquely select each connection by clicking on its text
label after you connect all the connections to the shapes.


======================================================================
* Text

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** TXT-1: How do I enter text into objects?

Manipulating text in Visual Thought objects can be done quickly and
simply.  Here are shortcuts that you will want to use:

 1. To enter text into an object, double-click on it from Select mode.

 2. To move the text edit focus from object to object, type Tab,
    Shift-Tab, or the Ctrl key plus any of the four arrow keys.

 3. To exit Text mode and revert to Select mode at any time, press Esc.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** TXT-2: How do I enter text into dialogs?

Most Visual Thought dialog windows have text fields, into which you
can type text.  To enter text in a text field, first click in it to
move the keyboard focus to the field, then type.  To tell Visual
Thought that you are finished typing, it is important to press Return,
Tab, or Shift-Tab.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** TXT-3: It would be nice if objects resized automatically to fit the
          text that you are typing.

VT tries to "provide mechanism without dictating policy".  There are 2
main cases that involve resizing boxes in response to changing text
contents:

 1. You want each box to be sized according to the text it contains.

 2. You want to preserve consistent sizing of boxes; e.g, all boxes
    should be 1"x2".

The problem is that VT needs to allow cases 1 and 2.  If resizing of
boxes is automatic (satisfying case 1), case 2 becomes harder.  So
here are the solutions used by VT for the various cases:

 1. After typing text into one or more boxes (presumably the text no
    longer fits into the box), select them, then choose the Arrange->Size
    Width to Text or Arrange->Size Height to Text menu items.  Each box
    will be sized to fit the text it contains.

 2. Select the boxes containing text and use the Position panel of the
    Inspector to change the sizes of all boxes uniformly.

These procedures should allow you the best of both worlds, while
remaining easy to use.  For example, using the Arrange->Size Height to
Text menu item will typically mean a single command keystroke
(Ctrl-Shift-E) to change the sizes of all boxes containing text.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** TXT-4: The text in my document is small (less than 10 point).  I
          can zoom in to read the text, but any text I try to edit
          displays at the original unzoomed size, which is too small
          to read!

Text that is edited is displayed at the 100% size independent of the
current zoom factor.  This was done partially to make it possible to
edit text in objects when you zoom out, when the text in objects will
be drawn smaller than 100% (and probably too small to read).  Imagine
having a lot of objects in your document, and you now want to do a
final edit of the text for all your objects.  An easy way to do this
is to zoom out, double-click in your first object, then tab through
the rest of the objects.  Or instead, possibly click through the
objects using the text tool.

Some customers have created small objects with small text to fit more
objects in a page.  In this case, it is preferable to leave the
objects and text at normal size, and instead use the File->Page Layout
menu command to set the Scale parameter in the Page Layout dialog to
something less than 100% to change the area of your document that
prints in a single page.  For example, if you set the scale to 50%,
objects will print at 50% of normal size and you'll be able to fit 4
times as much document area into a single page.  Rescaling the page in
this manner may be more convenient than resizing objects since this
process only affects printing, not screen display.  You can continue
working on the objects normally without squinting at small text.

Finally, if you really do need to work with very small text, you can
create a new window on your document with the Windows->New Window menu
item.  Leave the original window at 100%, but zoom in on the 2nd
window.  Make sure that the objects that you want to edit are showing
in both windows, then edit the objects' text in the first (100%)
window.  You will be able to read the text in the 2nd (zoomed in)
window as you type.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** TXT-5: I sometimes get into a mode where every shape I click on
          gets its Text turned on!  How do I prevent this?

You are stuck in the text tool.  Exit from it by typing Esc.

Here's how you can "drive" Visual Thought: place your right hand on
the mouse, and place the fingers of your left hand on the keys 1-4.
Once your fingers get their "kinetic memory," switching between tools
should be pretty quick.

Also, you almost never need to click on the text tool!  Easiest is to
double-click from Select mode to edit text in an object.  Then a
single-click in free space reverts back to Select mode.  Or better,
you can type Esc at any time to exit Text mode.

Further, use Tab, Shift-Tab, and the Ctrl-Arrow combinations to move
the text focus once you are editing text in an object.  This makes it
easy to, say, create a bunch of objects, double-click in the first
one, type text, tab to the next object, type, tab, type, tab, then Esc
to end.  In this case, notice that after the first double-click to
start editing text, you didn't have to take your hands off the
keyboard...


======================================================================
* Page Layout and Printing

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** PAG-1: How can I set the paper size for printing?

If you've used Macintoshes you'll find Visual Thought very similar:
select the File->Page Layout menu item.  This will bring up a dialog
that lets you set the canvas size, page size, page orientation, scale,
etc.  Visual Thought provides a bunch of standard paper sizes, or you
can set your own custom page sizes.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** PAG-2: How can I fit more of my drawing on a printed page?

Decrease your page layout scale.  The red lines running through
drawing area are the page breaks.  If you select the File->Page Layout
menu item, then change the Scale to 50%, your entire drawing gets
reduced by 50% when printed, allowing 4 times as much area to fit on a
single page.

You can change the scale, then click the Apply button in the Page
Layout dialog, and watch the red page break lines to see when enough
of your document prints in a single page.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** PAG-3: How do I set default page properties for new documents?

Please see item DRW-9 in this FAQ.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** PAG-4: VT seems to lose ISO-8859/international/multinational
          characters when printing.  What can I do about this?

ISO-8859 characters can be printed properly by starting Visual Thought
with the following command line option:

  -encodinglatin1

or by turning on the following preference in the Print/EPS tab of the
Preferences dialog (choose the Options->Preferences... menu item):

  Printed and EPS output supports 8-bit multinational characters in
  the ISO-8859-1 character set.

Please see the technical note note_preferences.txt for detailed
information.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** PAG-5: Color images print as grayscale images on color printers.
          What's wrong?

Color images can be printed correctly on color PostScript printers by
starting Visual Thought with the following command line option:

  -colorpsimages

or by turning on the following preference in the Print/EPS tab of the
Preferences dialog (choose the Options->Preferences... menu item):

  Color PostScript commands are used for printed and EPS output of color
  raster images.

The reason this startup preference is not made the default is that
using this option causes VT to output PostScript that uses the
colorimage operator.  Some printers (notably, PostScript Level 1
printers without color extensions) do not support the colorimage
operator and will not create output when they encounter that operator.

Please see the technical note note_preferences.txt for detailed
information.


======================================================================
* Files and Documents

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** FIL-1: How to I create a new drag-and-drop palette?

Select the File->New Palette menu item, then click on the button that
says "Palette" when it pops up.  This turns the Palette into a View,
which you already know how to use!  Arrange your components any way
you wish in this Palette.  When you are done, save it by typing
Ctrl-S.

To make the Palette available to everybody else in your organization,
save it in the Visual Thought palettes directory.  You can get to this
directory by selecting the Options->Palettes...  menu item.

Here are some ideas to get you started with palettes:

 1. You can modify the basic palette to customize it for your site.

 2. Objects on palettes that are already connected together can be
    dragged-and-dropped as a unit.

 3. Locked objects on palettes are ignored for drag-and-drop, so you
    can use locked text to provide documentation for palette objects on
    the palettes themselves.

 4. To close a palette, use the window manager.  Palettes in "Palette
    mode" can never get the focus, so you can't use the menu items.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** FIL-2: How do I close or save a palette?  Every time I try, I end
          up closing or saving some other window instead!

Palettes in "Palette mode" (with the word "Palette" displayed in the
button in the lower left corner) can never get VT's view focus,
because almost no commands are applicable to palettes.  Because
palettes in Palette mode can't get the view focus, commands such as
File->Close and File->Save will never apply.

To save a palette, switch it to "View mode" first by clicking the
button labeled "Palette" in the lower left corner.  Make sure it is
the focused view by clicking or pressing a key anywhere in it, then
save the palette as you would a view normally.

To close a palette, you can either switch it to View mode first, or
use the window manager to close it.  For example, in OpenWindows,
right-click in the title bar of the palette and select the "Quit" menu
item.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** FIL-3: When I open my document, I keep getting notices that warn
          that a shape, connection, or group "lies entirely outside
          the document".  What's the problem?

You have one or more shapes, connections, or groups in your document
that lie entirely outside the document area, most likely beyond the
left or bottom boundaries of the document.

Here's how to remove them from your document:

 1. Zoom out until you can see all the visible objects in your
    document inside the white canvas area.

 2. Use Ctrl-A (Edit->Select All) to select all objects.

 3. Hold down the Ctrl key in Select mode and drag out a rectangle
    encompassing the entire canvas area to toggle select (that is,
    deselect) all visible objects.  Now the only selected objects are
    those outside your document that are causing the warnings.

 4. You can now see how many objects are outside your document by
    observing the "Inspecting:" field in the Inspector.

 5. Now you can:

    A. Delete all the offending objects by pressing BackSpace.

    B. Cut the objects out of the document with Ctrl-X (File->Cut).

    C. Type numbers into the Inspector Position panel X and Y fields to
       numerically move the objects inside the canvas area.

    Simplest is A, but if you want to see the objects before deleting
    them, B allows you to paste the objects back into the document (they
    will be centered in the focused View, or C allows you to move them all
    into a single location.

 6. Resave your document, minus the objects outside the document
    boundaries.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** FIL-4: Can I store Visual Thought documents as files instead of
          directories?

VT documents can be saved as files by starting Visual Thought with the
following command line option:

  +saveasdirectory

or by turning off the following preference in the Files tab of the
Preferences dialog (choose the Options->Preferences... menu item):

  Documents are saved as directories instead of files.

Please see the technical note note_preferences.txt for detailed
information.

Visual Thought can store documents in directories instead of files for
the following reasons:

 1. Supporting files used by documents, such as sounds and images, can
    then be stored in native formats (i.e., .gif and .au).

 2. The object information can be written as a plain text file
    (vthought.txt).  This enables the vthought.txt file to be easily read
    by other programs, and facilitates platform independence.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** FIL-5: How can I submit Visual Thought documents, stored as
          directories, to source code control systems?

You have a number of alternatives:

 1. If your system makes it easy to submit directories to source code
    control, then of course you can simply submit the VT directory to the
    source code system.  Because of the way VT saves documents, any files
    added to a .vthought directory will be removed unless they are named
    RCS or SCCS.

 2. VT only stores vthought.txt files, image files (.gif), and sound
    files (.au) in the document directories, as of version 1.4.  If you
    know you will not import images and sounds into VT documents, you can
    simply submit the vthought.txt files to code control, discarding the
    rest of the document directory.  This will require pre- and post-
    processing of document directories on checkin and checkout.  This
    scheme gives you the benefit of including source code control
    identification strings (e.g., RCS $Id$) in the text inside objects.

 3. You can tar, compress, and uuencode the entire document directory
    and then submit that to source code control.  This will require pre-
    and post-processing of document directories on checkin and checkout.

 4. A hybrid scheme which preserves the benefits of keeping the
    vthought.txt file in text form is to extract the vthought.txt file,
    and prepend it to the tar'ed, compressed, and uuencoded remainder of
    the directory, then submit the result to source code control.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** FIL-6: I've created a document with file attachments to other files
          in a directory near the document.  When I move the directory
          tree containing the document and its attachments, the
          attachments no longer work!

File attachments (specified using the Attachment subpanel of the
Inspector Attachment panel) that are set using the "Set..." button
have absolute paths, such as /usr/local/confluent/README.  Absolute
paths are useful when referencing "library" files that will never
move, but sometimes you need relative paths.

VT allows you to specify relative paths in the Attachment subpanel.
Simply type a path relative to the location of the document, such as
"foo.txt" or "../source/foo.C" in the File field of the Attachment
subpanel.  This feature is useful when attaching files that will tend
to be moved with the document.

The File field in the Attachment subpanel may contain environment
variables and the symbols "~", ".", and "..".  For example, you can
use the paths "~/vthought/foo.txt" or "$HOME/vthought/foo.txt", and VT
will interpret "~" and "$HOME" when the attachment is activated.


======================================================================
* Import and Export

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** EXP-1: What formats can VT import?

VT can import GIF, Sun Raster, XWD, PBM, PGM, PPM, and XBM raster
formats.  Use the Image subpanel of the Inspector Attachment panel to
specify a raster image file to import into a shape.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** EXP-2: What formats can VT export from the Export dialog?

VT can export almost all commonly used raster formats, including GIF,
TIFF, JPEG, PICT, Sun Raster, and XWD.  VT also exports EPS
(Encapsulated PostScript with optional bitmap, TIFF, or WMF preview
images), MIF (FrameMaker Interchange Format), WMF (Windows Metafile),
and EMF (Windows Enhanced Metafile), allowing you to import
high-resolution images into document processors like FrameMaker,
Interleaf, Microsoft Word, and WordPerfect.

In addition, VT can "export" its own file format.  With this
capability, you can write translators that plug-in to VT to export any
information available in a document to almost any similar format.
This capability could allow you to create HTML, input files to
simulators or CASE tools, or any other file that represents
information similar to that contained in VT documents --
transparently.

Please see the technical note note_export.txt for detailed
information.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** EXP-3: Can I add my own export formats?  How do I use plug-in
          translators?

VT contains "plug-in translator" technology that enables you to export
almost any raster, vector, or "semantic" format by providing the
appropriate translator.

Please see the technical note note_export.txt for detailed information
on how to use the plug-in translator technology to create your own
export formats.


======================================================================
* WMF/EMF Export and Windows Copy/Paste

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** WMF-1: I can't seem to cut/copy graphics from Word or PowerPoint
          and paste into VT.

Visual Thought as a diagramming tool was meant to be a _source_ of
diagramming graphics for document processors and presentation graphics
tools such as Word and PowerPoint.  It was not designed to be an
editor of arbitrary line art.  Accordingly, we have not added the
capability to import arbitary graphics into Visual Thought.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** WMF-2: When I copy and paste into PowerPoint '97, the picture shows
          up tiny.

This is an issue specific to PowerPoint, not Visual Thought.  Any
non-MS application that copies EMF to the clipboard will show the same
behavior.  It appears that Word and Excel include special undocumented
codes in their EMF output to avoid this problem.

A workaround in PowerPoint is to select the Edit menubar from the main
menu, select Paste Special, and select "Picture (Enhanced Metafile)".

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** WMF-3: When I paste a picture into Word or PowerPoint, the picture
          will show up, but double-clicking on it will cause text to
          disappear.

This is a problem with the conversion performed by Microsoft Office
applications to change WMF and EMF output into MS "Drawing Objects."
Unfortunately, the problem is not well understood because the behavior
is inconsistent.  Breaking text up into paragraphs seems to produce
better results than selecting a page at a time.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** WMF-4: When I export a Booch cloud or curved line to WMF, it shows
          up with jagged lines.

WMF lacks support for Bezier curves, the feature that allows curved
lines in Visual Thought documents.  Visual Thought approximates Bezier
curves with polygons where appropriate.  Better approximations might
be obtained by starting VT with the following command line option:

  -wmfcurveresolution <delta>

where <delta> is the level of approximation in pixels or by setting
the following preference in the Files tab of the Preferences dialog
(choose the Options->Preferences... menu item):

  The level of approximation in pixels between curves and their
  polygon approximations in Windows Metafile output.

Please see the technical note note_preferences.txt for more
information.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** WMF-5: Curved lines don't appear when I copy and paste them.

Some applications do not support Bezier curves.  Curves can be
approximated with polygons by starting VT with the following command
line option:

  -wmfcurveapprox

or by turning on the following preference in the Files tab of the
Preferences dialog (choose the Options->Preferences... menu item):

  Curves are approximated with polygons in Windows Metafile output.

Please see the technical note note_preferences.txt for more
information.

By default, the level of approximation of curves with polygons is set
to the highest level, but can be reduced if there are too many points
in the polygon (see item WMF-4 in this FAQ).

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** WMF-6: When I rotate an ellipse and export to WMF, it doesn't show
          up in the file.

WMF and EMF do not support rotated objects very well.  In particular,
rotated rectangles and ellipses are approximated with polygons and
Bezier curves where appropriate.  Since WMF lacks support for Bezier
curves, Visual Thought cannot export anything that resembles a rotated
ellipse in WMF.  There is no workaround, but using EMF may provide an
acceptable solution.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** WMF-7: When I rotate an image and try to copy or export it, it
          doesn't show up.

Windows 95 does not appear to support rotated bitmaps.  There is no
workaround.  Further information on this matter is appreciated.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** WMF-8: When I export to WMF or EMF on a non-Windows system, the
          wrong font shows up.

Font mapping between X-Windows and MS Windows is seldom exact.  Visual
Thought will attempt to find the closest match and provides hints to
Windows on what kind of font is available.  Trying a font that is
widely used will increase your chances of getting a good match.


======================================================================
* Miscellaneous

----------------------------------------------------------------------
** MIS-1: I need to e-mail a VT document.  What's the best way to do
          this?

Save your document as a file (see item FIL-4 in this FAQ) and mail the
file.  It normally only contains plain ASCII text, so it can be
attached directly to a mail message.

You can substantially reduce the size of the mailed file by sending a
compressed archive file.

On Windows, place the file in a ZIP file and mime-attach the ZIP file
to a mail message.

On UNIX, if you have gzip available, execute the following commands
(assuming your document is named foo.vthought):

  tar cf foo.tar foo.vthought
  gzip foo.tar
  uuencode foo.tar.gz foo.tar.gz > foo.uue

On UNIX, if you do not have gzip available, execute the following
commands:

  tar cf foo.tar foo.vthought
  compress foo.tar
  uuencode foo.tar.Z foo.tar.Z > foo.uue

Then mail foo.uue.  If you have it available, use gzip.  It results in
substantially smaller output files.

If you find yourself mailing VT documents often, you may find the
following shell script useful:

===== begin vtmail.csh =====
#!/bin/csh -f
 
if ($#argv < 1) exit
 
tar cf vtmail.tar $*
compress vtmail.tar
uuencode vtmail.tar.Z vtmail.tar.Z > vtmail.uue
rm vtmail.tar.Z
===== end vtmail.csh =====
