The Chimera Collaboratory allows multiple users at multiple machines to share and contribute to a modeling session. Each user may act on the session, and an action performed by one user is reflected in changes in Chimera for all users involved. Users may even join a session in progress.

The Collaboratory mechanism does not include video or audio teleconferencing, and it is anticipated that other means will be used if these are required. A hands-free telephone setup should suffice in most situations.

For more discussion, see the Chimera Collaboratory project summary.

A comprehensive list of actions shared among Collaboratory users is available. These operations include:

• opening and closing models
• picking from the graphics window
• rotation, translation, and scaling using mouse manipulation in the graphics window
• scaling and clipping plane motion via the Side View
• execution of most commands entered at the Command Line
• selections via the Select menu
• actions in the Model Panel or PseudoBond Panel
• all lens operations
• color editing
• operations with most tools in the Utilities category, including AddH, FindHBond, PipesAndPlanks, and ResProp

Operations with several Chimera tools are not yet shared among users, but will be in the future.

START SESSION

Before any user can join a Collaboratory session, the session must be started by initiating a hub. This can be done within Chimera or from outside Chimera. Individual user sites (nodes) can then connect to the hub.

The Collaboratory may not work when a node is on the opposite side of a firewall from the hub. In particular, the hub computer must make a TCP/IP connection to the node computer, and vice versa. If either the hub or node is behind a firewall which disallows incoming TCP/IP connections, then the connection will fail. Either the firewall must be configured to allow incoming CORBA connections (some firewalls allow IIOP, the CORBA network protocol, to pass through), or a virtual private network must be established.

Starting a session from within Chimera is the simplest approach, although starting it from outside Chimera allows use of some different options. There are several ways to open Start Session, a tool in the Collaboratory category. Start Session invokes the graphical interface to the hub, beginning with a dialog requesting a password for the session. The password is optional; clicking OK opens the Collaboratory Hub dialog.

Collaboratory Hub dialog - initial appearance

Simply clicking Start Hub starts the session. The Collaboratory Hub dialog has two sections shown as index cards, Console and Users. Only one card is shown at a time, and clicking the tab for another brings it to the front.

The Console section shows messages from the hub. Admit new participants (on by default) allows additional users to join the collaborative session. New participants default to 'Allow input' (on by default) sets the initial status of users to let their operations propagate to other session participants. Individual user status can be changed in the Users section.

The Users section lists all connected users. Clicking on a name in the list displays information on the individual: name, time connected, platform, and software version (Chimera version/Collaboratory version). Allow input controls whether operations by the individual user will propagate to other session participants. Disconnect disconnects the individual user from the session.

Starting a session from outside Chimera allows use of various options, including some that cannot be specified when a session is started from within Chimera.

On UNIX, a hub (session) can be started by the command:

prompt> collaboratoryHub [options]

On Windows, a hub can be started by clicking the icon labeled collaboratoryHub. To use any of the options, a Windows user needs to:

1. drag the collaboratoryHub icon with the right mouse button and select Copy Here from the menu that appears; this creates another shortcut icon called "copy of collaboratoryHub"
2. right-click the new copy of collaboratoryHub icon, select Properties from the menu that appears
3. in the resulting panel, click the Shortcut tab and then append the desired option(s) to the command in the Target field
4. click the the new copy of collaboratoryHub icon

The collaboratoryHub options are as follows:

-d
Turn on extensive debugging information. In most cases, -v will be more useful since it produces less copious output.

-g
Open a graphical interface for starting the hub.

-i session_name
Use session_name for the session when it is listed by the naming service. The default session name is the hostname of the computer running the hub.

-n naming_service
Use a different naming service. The naming service is a process running on a remote computer which acts as a "central office" for coordinating sessions. The default naming service is socrates.cgl.ucsf.edu. The CGL maintains this naming service for the community. For most purposes, the default naming service will be fine, but to keep a session private one can start a different naming service (see the OmniORB naming service manual for information on how to set this up).

-p
Establish a password for the collaborative session. If specified when starting the hub, the password must be supplied by anyone joining the session.

-v
Turn on verbose mode; report what information is being exchanged among users.

JOIN SESSION

After a Collaboratory session has been started, users can join it from within Chimera by starting Join Session. There are several ways to start Join Session, a tool in the Collaboratory category.

Joining a Collaboratory Session:

By default, the naming service host (shown under Login to Hub) is socrates.cgl.ucsf.edu and the session name (Available Hub) is the hostname of the computer running the hub. Alternatives can be specified at the time of starting the Collaboratory session using the -n and -i options, respectively. If a naming service host other than socrates.cgl.ucsf.edu has been used, its name should be typed in instead. When more than one session name is shown, the user must indicate which is correct. The Refresh button checks the naming service to see if any new sessions have appeared, and updates the Available Hub list accordingly.

The login (username) for the Collaboratory session need not match any existing system username. If a password was established at hub startup using the graphical interface or the command line -p flag, the same password must be supplied to join the session. The username/hostname combination must be different for each participant. Clicking Quit dismisses the setup panel. Clicking Connect dismisses the setup panel and opens another panel representing the session in progress.

Collaboratory Node Panel

The Collaboratory Node panel reports who is currently connected to the session. A user can leave the collaborative session by clicking Disconnect.

Activating Remote Display My Pointer shows a user's pointer position as a small colored square within the Chimera windows of the other participants.

Activating the Chat checkbox opens an additional panel:

Chat Panel (shown for two different participants):

The Chat Panel reports who has joined the session and who has disconnected. Commands and text messages entered by session participants are shown next to their Collaboratory usernames. The username and pointer position (if shown) of the first other participant are color-coded red; different colors are used for additional participants. Messages aside from commands can be typed into the lower part of the Chat Panel. Hitting return (Enter) is the same as clicking Send, which causes the message to appear in other participants' panels. It is generally unnecessary to return within a message since the text wraps automatically; however, if a carriage return within the message is desired, it can be indicated using Shift-return. Hide closes the Chat Panel and is the same as deactivating the Chat checkbox on the Collaboratory Node panel.