Glossary

A

• Active Window

  application window inside of the current workspace that all Launchers will try to use when they are executed (double-clicked) on the LauncherTree or via bookmarks. Active window is only applicable for automation launchers (COMMAND/SCRIPT/PLUGIN) because they do not create new window but instead they have to execute into some existing window in the current workspace. Active window is one of the windows inside of the current workspace. If it is Proxy32 window (built-in Proxy32 terminal or built-in proxy32 script editor) then this window will be highlighted by the thick red frame. When window of external process becomes active (PuTTY, MinTTY, Notepad, Firefox, jEdit etc) it will be highlighted with red sticker with the word "ACTIVE" on it that is attached to titlebar of active window. If built-in proxy32 terminal is active, user can execute COMMAND/SCRIPT/PLUGIN into it as long as this terminal is not busy executing previous SCRIPT/PLUGIN, connected and not minimized. If window of external process (PuTTY, MinTTY, Notepad, Firefox, jEdit etc) or built-in proxy32 script editor is active, user can execute COMMAND into it. To make window active user can click on the title of this window or select it from the list of the windows in the current workspace or from the list of all windows in the Selector window.

  

  Selector Window Small Font

• Autologin

  When terminal launchers (SHELL-TERMINAL, TELNET-TERMINAL or COM-PORT-TERMINAL) are executed, they create new window of Proxy32 built-in terminal, connect it to the local shell, server or com-port and then they look for the next launcher on the LauncherTree - immediately under themselves. If any I-SCRIPT or PLUGIN launcher is present immediately under terminal launcher, it is considered to be AUTOLOGIN script for the terminal launcher that is just above it. When terminal launcher successfully connects its terminal window, it will automatically execute its autologin I-SCRIPT or PLUGIN launcher to let it finish login procedure automatically. Typically, autologin script is written to respond to the request for user credentials and to send username and password to the server for the user authentication.

B

• Bookmarks

  In Proxy32 there are two types of Bookmarks (LauncherTree Bookmarks and Terminal Bookmarks). LauncherTree Bookmark is referring to existing launcher on the LauncherTree. It allows user to find or to execute particular launcher on the LauncherTree. LauncherTree Bookmarks are helpful when LauncherTree has grown too large to navigate manually or when user doesn't need full functionality of LauncherTree and happy just to run a few launchers via bookmarks. Terminal Bookmark is referring to particular line in the scrollback buffer of particular terminal window. It allows to jump-scroll to particular line in scrollback buffer. Terminal Bookmark can be created manually or automatically (via text search or via "command autobookmarking" feature of Proxy32 terminal). Terminal Bookmarks are useful when user has to navigate large amount of diagnostic information that was sent by remote equipment and collected in the scrollback buffer of the terminal.

C

• CYGWIN

  CYGWIN is:

  • a huge collection of LINUX software ported to run under Microsoft Windows
  • the toolset for rebuilding LINUX software from source code to make it run on Microsoft Windows and small cross-emulation layer DLL library that is used by such ported software.

  The software that was rebuilt to run on Microsoft Windows is part of CYGWIN project. All this software (together with rebuilding toolset and cross-emulation DLL) is available for download from the home page of CYGWIN project http://www.cygwin.com.

L

• Launchers

  nodes on user-created LauncherTree inside of proxy32 LauncherTree window. LauncherTree is GUI Tree that is internally stored in XML format. When user double-clicks node on LauncherTree (launcher), it executes performing some useful function. Currently there are 12 predefined types of launchers. COMMAND launcher pastes predefined command into active terminal window. SCRIPT/I-SCRIPT launcher pastes into active terminal commands (lines) from the text file, line by line, making sure that remote host finishes processing of previous command line before pasting next one into terminal. PLIGIN/I-PLUGIN launcher creates external child process in the terminal and gives to this process control over the interaction with remote host via terminal. SHELL-TERMINAL, COM-PORT-TERMINAL and TELNET-TERMINAL launchers create new terminal window and connect it to predefined destination or they simply used to reconnect existing terminal window to another pre-configured destination. LAUNCH launcher acts similar to windows shortcut, it creates Windows process and also it can capture window of created process into Proxy32 workspace. VIEWER launcher does the same as LAUNCH launcher but it starts one of the application from predefined list depending on URL or file name supplied in the VIEWER configuration. E-SCRIPT contains AHK script for execution. Last type SUBTREE is not technically a launcher, it is acting like a folder on the LauncherTree allowing to group other launchers into hierarchical structures. It opens or closes on double click.

S

• Substitution parameters

  For most of the launcher types, text that is present in the launcher configuration can contain substitution parameters. Substitution parameters can be viewed as named string variables or named placeholders that are replaced by their values immediately before execution of the launcher. Substitution is performed on every execution of the launcher. When user has requested execution of the launcher, Proxy32 will check if launcher configuration text contains any substitution parameters. If so, Proxy32 will pop up the “parameters input” dialog where user can enter (or modify) the values of the found substitution parameters and press OK to confirm execution of the launcher with supplied substitution values. Substitution parameters allow user to modify launcher configuration immediately before its execution to adapt it for the execution of the current task. For every substitution parameter user has an option whether to save its value to the file on exit (so that the value will be available next time Proxy32 starts) or not. Also, for every substitution parameter user has an option whether Proxy32 should allow user to modify the substituted value every time parameter is about to be substituted, or Proxy32 should simply try to use stored value of the parameter (if it is available) without asking confirmation from the user.

T

• Terminal Emulator

  Standalone terminals implemented in hardware are practically replaced by the personal computers that are running software applications called terminal emulators. In such applications, terminal screen is represented by program window and terminal keyboard is represented by keyboard of personal computer. Term personal computer in this context includes tablets and smart mobile phones.

  In the terminal emulator software connection module allows to connect terminal either directly to the program for the text mode control of the local computer (local shell) or via protocols COM-PORT, TELNET, SSH, TELNET-TLS to the program for the text mode control of the remote computer (remote shell).

  Terminal emulator application has to mimic the behavior of the standalone terminal implemented in hardware. Terminal emulator application should be able to recognize and execute all screen control commands (control sequences of bytes) that were supported by particular standalone hardware terminal that is being emulated. Most popular set of emulated commands belongs to standalone hardware terminal VT100 made by DEC. Very popular terminal emulator XTERM has expanded VT100 set of commands by its own commands, so the majority of modern terminal emulators claim to emulate XTERM command set. In reality, most of the the popular terminal emulators support not all but just a subset of XTERM commands. When terminal emulator software replaces actual standalone hardware terminal in existing multi-terminal system, quality of terminal emulation may be of importance. When terminal emulator is connected to modern servers and telecommunication equipment, very small subset of XTERM commands is actually needed and quality of the emulation is rarely a critical issue.

• Transport Layer Security (TLS)

  Protocol that provides two-way authentication and encrypts traffic between client and server (TCP data pipe or any other byte data pipe). Two-way authentication is performed by the means of verifying digital certificates supplied by the server and by the client. Using the infrastructure of digital certificates for authentication is suitable for mass deployments and frees end user from performing authentication manually. Certificates are issued and installed to user computers in advance by some trusted organization or company's department that is acting as Certificate authority (CA). For comparison, to make SSH (Secure SHell protocol) secure every end user of SSH have to manually obtain (via secure e-mail or other secure channel) and install public key of SSH server into his/her SSH client (before even connecting to SSH server for the first time). Often, it is too much of the burden for the end user of SSH, so many of SSH deployments are running insecure because SSH server is not authenticated properly.

• Terminal Session Sharing (TSS)

  When working with the contemporary equipment user is very often required to involve a lot of people, each of them being an expert on separate component of the equipment. To do so in contemporary terminal emulators there is a function that allows to share one single terminal session between many users. When using such a function terminal of the main user is connected directly to the remote equipment, and terminals of the assisting experts are connected to the terminal of the main user. In such a setup all users can send text commands from their terminal into the remote equipment (in turn) and all users can see in their terminals all command execution results.