JTA - Telnet/SSH for the JAVA(tm) platform: Main

© 1996-2000 Matthias L. Jugel and Marcus Meißner

Version 2.0 / Java 2 and 1.1.x
Available under GNU General Public License

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Quickstart Command Line Options Application Menu

The Application (Main)

 There are two ways to operate the program. One is to simply start it and to configure everything within the application or to give arguments, like host and port, on the command line. The first way may be the least complicated as the menu entries are self descriptive. You need to have installed a java runtime environment or java development kit to run the application. On Microsoft Windows systems an installed Internet Explorer with Java support should suffice though.

Quickstart

Make sure either the program java (JRE, JDK) or jview (Windows IE) is in your path. Optionally you may set the environment variable CLASSPATH to point to the file jta20.jar (see the box to the right for more information). Then try the following command:
 
JRE or JDK on UNIX or Windows (for Windows and IE installed, use jview instead)
java de.mud.jta.Main
alternative:
java -jar jta20.jar 
Now you should see the following output:
** JTA - Telnet/SSH for the JAVA(tm) platformn
** Version 2.0 for Java 1.1.x and Java 2
** Copyright (c) 1996-2000 Matthias L. Jugel, Marcus Meissner
** Build: 20000627-1208
jta: loading plugin 'Status' ...
jta: loading plugin 'Socket' ...
jta: loading plugin 'Telnet' ...
jta: loading plugin 'Terminal' ...

Some other messages might appear, but unless you see an Exception a window should appear on your screen and prompt you for login into your local host. If you are running on windows you will probably see an error message and should append the target host you want to connect to to the command line above.

Command Line Options

The application understand several command line arguments to configure the way it looks and where to initially connect to. The following command line arguments are possible:

de.mud.jta.Main [-plugins pluginlist]
                [-addplugin plugin]
                [-config file]
                [host [port]]
(Options enclosed in brackets are optional and may be left out.)
 

Option Documentation
-plugins pluginlist Use this option to define a different list of plugins to be loaded on startup of the application. Plugins are always added from back to front and are separated by comma: 

   Socket,Telnet,Terminal

The above pluginlist is the default.

-addplugin plugin Add a plugin to the list of standard plugins.
-config file You can specify a configuration file here. See default.conf for an example how it looks like.
host The host where you would like to open the connection to. This must be the second last entry on the command line, unless you leave out the port.

You can either give the symbolic name of the host or the IP address.

port If you want to connect to a different port that the default telnet port (23) you need to enter the port number as the last entry on the command line.

Working with the Menu

After you startet the application as explained above you can change setting, connect, disconnect or exit the application using the menus provided. The default menus will be explained here, but some plugins may provide their own menu and you will have to look at their own documentation for further help.
 
 
File
Connect
(DOES NOT WORK CURRENTLY) Opens a dialog to select a new host and port to connect to. By simply pressing Enter or clicking on the connect button will connect to the default host and port that is shown in the editable text fields on that dialog.
Disconnect
Disconnect from the host you are currently connected to. This option is not available of you are not connected.
Close
Closes the current application window. If that window is the last one the application exits as would happen if you selected the next menu entry Exit below. An open connection in that window will be closed by this operation.
Exit
Close all connections, all windows and exit the application.
Edit
Copy
Copy the currently selected text on the terminal to the clipboard.
Paste
Paste text in the clipboard to the terminal.
Select All
Select the complete terminal window and all text that is in the scrollback buffer.
Help
Plugins
This will give you a short introduction on plugins and will explain how to use them or add/remove plugins from the software. Other help entries may appear if the plugins provide their own help menus.
About
Selecting the help about the Javatm Telnet Application gives you a dialog showing the names of the authors, some explanation on licensing and a link to the home page of the software.
There are some differences in how to invoke the java interpreter for either Java 1.1.x or Java 2:
 
Java 1.1.x
It is generally advicable to set the environment variable CLASSPATH to point to the jta20.jar file. Examples are shown below:

UNIX:
CLASSPATH=/java/jta20.jar

Windows:
CLASSPATH=C:\java\jta20.jar
 

Java 2
In Java 2 it is much easier to run the application as you can simply use the command line parameter -cp to add the jar file to the class path:

UNIX:
java -cp /java/jta20.jar

Windows:
java -cp C:\java\jta20.jar 

Copyright 1996-2000 Matthias L. Jugel, Marcus Meißner
$Id: Main.html 499 2005-09-29 08:24:54Z leo $