Changes between Version 4 and Version 5 of ScreensaverEnhancements

Timestamp:

Mar 6, 2009, 1:16:47 AM (16 years ago)

Author:

charlief

Comment:

--

ScreensaverEnhancements

@@ -5 +5 @@
 The BOINC screensaver (Win, Mac) will be divided into two parts:
 
- * A '''screensaver coordinator''' program that doesn't do graphics (except for Win preview mode, which will just display a logo). Instead, the coordinator will run separate programs (project-supplied graphics apps, and graphics apps bundled with the installer).  The order and timing of these apps will be configurable.
- * A '''default graphics app''', which the coordinator runs if no project apps are available.
+ * A '''screensaver coordinator''' program that doesn't do graphics (except for preview mode, which will just display a logo). Instead, the coordinator will run separate programs (project-supplied graphics apps, and a default graphics app bundled with the installer).  The order and timing of these apps will be configurable.
+ * A '''default graphics app''', which the coordinator runs if no project apps are available.  
 
 Organizations that make their own installers (!GridRepublic) might develop
 their own graphics apps, and bundle them with the installer.
 
-Configuration file format (XML):
+== Default Graphics Application ==
+
+On Windows, the default graphics app must be located in the BOINC executable directory (the same directory which contains ''boinc.exe'') and named ''boinscr.exe''.  
+On the Mac, it must be in the directory ''/Library/Application Support/BOINC Data/'' and named ''boincscr''.  
+Additional support files needed by the default graphics app, such as logos and fonts, should be in the same directory.
+
+The default graphics app will usually be called with the command-line argument ''--fullscreen'', which may be ignored.
+
+
+However, it must respond to either of two possible additional command-line arguments:
+ * ''--retry_connect'' means that if the default graphics app is unable to connect to the BOINC Client via RPC, it should continue running and retry periodically.
+ * ''--test'' mans that it should try to connect to BOINC Client via RPC once, then exit immediately whether or not it succeeded.    This is used by the Manager to test whether the RPC is blocked by a local software firewall; if so, most firewalls will then display a dialog so the user can approve it.
+ * When neither the ''--retry_connect'' or ''--test'' argument is passed, the default graphics app must return immediately with an error code of -107 if it can't connect to the BOINC Client via RPC. 
+
+
+== Configuration file ==
+
+The '''screensaver coordinator''' can be customized by including an optional XML configuration file named ''ss_config.xml''.  If used, it must be located in the BOINC data directory on both Mac and Windows.
+
+The format is:
+
 {{{
-<graphics_apps>
-   <app>
-      <executable>foo.exe</executable>
-      <time>3600</time>
-   <app>
-   <app>
-      <science_app/>
-      <time>3600</time>
-   </app>
-</graphics_apps>
+<default_gfx_duration>600</default_gfx_duration>
+<science_gfx_duration>1800</science_gfx_duration>
+<science_gfx_change_interval>600</science_gfx_change_interval>
 }}}
 
-This would say to run "foo.exe" for an hour,
-then run a science app's graphics (if one is available) for an hour, and repeat.
+This would say to run "boincsr.exe" for an 10 minutes (600 seconds),
+then run science app graphics (if any are available) for 30 minutes, changing among science apps every 10 minutes (if multiple tasks are running), 
+then repeat the entire sequence.
 
+Each of the three fields is optional, and the file itself is optional.  If not otherwise specified, the default values for the three fields are the ones shown in the example above.
+ 
 == Default graphics app ==