2.3 Notes on More Advanced Usage of the GUI

There are a couple of other features of the GUI and its interaction with the Ccaffeine backend that are worth mentioning.

• The rc file used in conjunction with a GUI session need not be limited to path and repository get-global commands - it is possible to include all Ccaffeine commands, such as in the script of 2.2. The GUI will display all instantiated components, and all connections between their ports. However, the GUI has no mechanism to place the components intelligently in the arena , so it just puts them all on top of each other. You can, of course, drag them into more reasonable positions.

• It is possible to save the visual state of the GUI in a ``bld '' file using the ``Save'' or ``Save As...'' button. The bld file can be loaded into the GUI and replayed by launching it with the --buildFile file.bld option.

  The syntax of the bld file is similar to that of the rc file, but they are not interchangeable. The bld file can contain commands to instantiate and destroy components and to connect and disconnect ports, as well as commands to move components within the arena , and it can only be interpreted by the GUI. The path and repository get-global commands must always be in the rc file, which is interpreted only by the Ccaffeine backend. Also, Ccaffeine itself does not understand the movement commands of the bld file.