Introduction and Login

When you start CASCADE, a login window will be presented on your screen. To complete the login to CASCADE, the CASCADE software on your system will use server information to establish an internet connection to the CASCADE server. The server information is listed in the server dialog window which is found by clicking the server drop down box and then selecting "Set New Server." The server dialog window is where first time CASCADE users enter their server information and where changes to existing server entries are made.

After the server verifies your login information, you will be presented with a Select Project window containing a list of projects available to you on that server. You will most likely have one or two projects from which to choose. However, a CASCADE server may contain dozens or hundreds of projects consisting of hundreds or thousands of related documents. Each project may consist of a few to a few hundred individuals grouped by their interests and their access rights to the documents.

A majority of the activity which you will do in CASCADE will be accomplished through a single left mouse button click for example, to open a document, make a comment, or to select a menu item from the main menu bar. To take full advantage of the mouse buttons, CASCADE has incorporated the use of a single right mouse button click to access several features one which is called Ballot. To learn more about additional features of CASCADE which are accessible through a single right mouse button click, please visit the CASCADE additional features section.

The Main Screen

Once you have selected a project, the CASCADE main screen will open. The main screen is divided into seven different areas:

1. The document viewer is the area shown in light blue. This area is where modifications are made to documents such as creation, editing, commenting, importing, exporting and many more. The "thumb" of the document viewer scroll bar tells you where you are currently within the document in relation to the whole document.
2. The menu bar to all services is along the top of the window and contains eight menus. The eight menus are Main, Information, Navigation, Document, Edit, XML, Utilities and Help. Later in this Tour the menus within the menu bar will be explained in more detail.
3. The file/folder window is situated vertically along the left side of the document viewer for easy access to files and folders. Within this window files and folders are identified by unique icons which are color coded to speed the recognition process.
4. The mural is the narrow vertical window along the right side of the document viewer which when a document is being displayed, in which there are comments, will show the number and kinds of comments in the whole document. The colored lines that you will see in the mural represent the location of all comments in the whole document as well as a quick recognition of the type of comments that are in the document.
5. The location window is situated horizontally directly below the document viewer. This window shows the current path to the document or folder which is currently selected.
6. The filename window is located at the bottom left and shows the name of the document which is currently being viewed within the document viewer.
7. The message window is located at the bottom right and displays system messages related to the status of your requests.

The Menu Bar

Change Project

When you log into CASCADE, you select a project to begin your CASCADE session. However, you may be a member of several CASCADE projects at any one time. The Change Project dialog window gives you the ability to communicate with your other projects within the same CASCADE session. The numbers to the right of each project within the Change Project dialog window represent the number of project activities that have occurred since your last login.

Project Administration

This item will only be available to users who have the appropriate privilege assigned to them for a project, typically System Administrators and Project Managers will have this privilege. Through this item, projects and project groups may be created and deleted, members may be added or removed from projects, new users may be added or deleted from CASCADE, and the structure of comments may be defined.

Create New Document

This menu selection will allow you to create a new document and assign project group access privileges. Currently, the types of documents which can be created are CASCADE, Text (ASCII), and Image (either GIF or JPEG).

Create New Folder

Use this menu selection to create a new folder in which to create and store similar documents. While creating a folder you may choose the new folder to be an ordered or an unordered folder. An ordered folder will allow you to arrange the content of the folder to be displayed within the file/folder list in any order. An unordered folder will display files in an ascending order.

Import Doc (New)

Use this item to create a new CASCADE document with a document located on a local drive.

Import XML Doc (New)

Use this item to import XML (eXtensible Markup Language) documents located on a local drive. (See XML document)

Import Doc (Replacement)

Use this item to replace the content of an existing CASCADE document with a document located on a local drive.

Export Document

Allows you to copy a document from CASCADE to a local drive.

Move Item

This selection allows you to relocate documents and folders within a project. You will only be able to move documents and folders which you a privilege to move.

Delete Item

Allows you to delete documents and folders. However, only the documents and folders which you have the privilege to delete will be displayed in the Delete Item dialog window.

Preferences

The following is a brief description of the preferences available for you to set.

1. Features: Modifies the look of the document viewer, mural, file/folder list, browser, and history list.
2. Colors & Fonts: Set foreground and background colors for the document viewer, mural, comment editor. This is also the window where system colors are set as well as document font types and font sizes.
3. Comment: When you create a new project that project will most likely require the use of comments within documents created for the project. This window allows the foreground and background colors of existing comments to be modified. New comment classes and types are defined through the Project Administration selction.
4. File Type: All file types which CASCADE can recognize are listed here.
5. Network: The network server, host, and port information used by the CASCADE client to connect to the CASCADE server are listed here and may be modified as the need arises.
6. Printer: Print parameters are set here such as header and footer text, margins and page numbers.
7. Setting: Special system settings are found here but, currently the main screen layout is the only setting.
8. Setup: The preferences file directory, the CASCADE working directory, and the CASCADE application directory may be changed through this window.
9. User: Through this window you may update your user information such as email address, phone number and fax number. You can also change your password here as well.
10. Utilities: Add plug-ins to perform tasks such as web browsing, text and HTML editing; Postscript, PDF and image viewing, as well as audio and video players.
11. Agent: This tab is unused at this time

Exit

Exits CASCADE

Project Activity

A tool which will display all actions performed within the current project over a specified time period. A default time period of two weeks has been included for a quick report on the current project. There are many actions which can be performed within a project including creating and deleting documents and folders, editing and commenting a document, and relocation of documents. The report includes the time, date, and name of the person who performed the action.

Query Builder

A tool through which you may query the CASCADE database for any actions performed within the current project. The query report includes information such as the time, date, and who performed the action.

User Activity

This tool generates a graphical report indicating the time of day that project members have utilized CASCADE to work on a project. A primary use of this tool is to know when project members are available for project meetings so they are not being disturbed during productive hours of the day.

Comment Report

Through this tool several types of reports can be generated which describe the comments within a document. Currently there are three types of comment reports. One type of comment report counts the total number of comments within a document. Another comment report generates a listing of all comments within a document reporting information such as the time and date of the comment, who created the comment, who the comment is addressed to as well as the status of any action required by the comment. The last type of comment generates the same report as the previous type but includes the comment text in the report.

Document Information

This window gives detailed information about the document which is currently being read. Specific information includes who created the document, creation date and time, last time the document was modifyed and the document access privileges.

Folder Information

Gives detailed information concerning the current open folder. Generally the information given here is the same type of information seen with Document Information.

Session Information

Contains information concerning your session and includes the time that you logged into CASCADE, the port and host from which you connected to CASCADE, the groups within the project which you are a member and your group access privileges.

Show File List

By default the file/folder list is viewable. To expand the document viewer to gain more working space the file/folder list may be hidden by selecting this item to remove the check mark. To view the file/folder list once it is hidden just select this item again to add the check mark to the left of "Show File List."

Comment Display

Presents a dialog window which may be used to adjust the mural size and background color, whether comments are shown within the document being displayed, and in which manner comments will be displayed within the current document.

Bookmarks

Shows all folders and documents which you have bookmarked. To go to a bookmarked item just click on that item. Note that the bookmark list is maintained in an alphabetical order.

History List

The documents and folders which you previously visited are listed here. The most recent document or folder will be at the top of the list. You may select any one of the items in this list to return to that document or folder. The default maximum number of items kept in the list is set at five but can be modified by going to the Main menu, selecting Preferences, and then the Features tab and changing the History List "Max Items in List" number.

Browser

Presents a graphical representation of the folders, documents, and comments within a project and how each are related. From the browser you may navigate through the project just by clicking the item in the browser which you wish to visit.

Tree List

An alternative way to view the folders and documents within a project. Through this way of presenting the project you will be able to view all folders and which documents are in those folders, all in one window.

Docuverse

Docuverse displays all documents within the project space color coded according to the desired attribute. With docuverse you may at a glance determine which files within your project space are being accessed the most or how many comments have been made to various documents throughout your project. There are many other attributes for which docuverse will display your files which can be found along with additional detail concerning docuverse through docuverse detail.

Goto Project Home

Returns to the root of the project. After selecting this item the file/folder list will show the files and folders at the root and the message window will display the message "You are at the root of the project."

Add Bookmark

When selected, this item will bookmark the current document or folder. Notice also that the message window will display the folder or document in quotes and that it has been bookmarked.

Edit Bookmark

From this dialog window you may add, remove, and edit a bookmark. You may also choose which bookmarks are to be seen in the bookmark list as well as set the maximum number of bookmarks to be shown in the bookmark list.

Remove Bookmark

Removes a item from the bookmark list. Note that to successfully remove a bookmark you must first select the bookmark and then select "Remove Bookmark."

Edit Document

By selecting this item the document viewer will change to Edit Mode and you will be able to perform document editing functions. Note that when you select this item the document viewer background color will change to white and the document name window will show that the document is in Edit Mode.

Save and Continue Editing

Saves changes to the document and remains in Edit Mode.

Discard Changes

Does not save changes to the document and remains in Edit Mode.

Save and Exit Editor

Saves changes to the document and exits the editor(Edit Mode). Note that the document viewer background color changes to light blue indicating that it is in Read Mode.

Discard Changes and Exit Editor

Does not save changes to the document and exits the editor(Edit Mode). Note that the document viewer background color changes to light blue indicating that it is in Read Mode.

Print

Will print the document currently being viewed in the document viewer.

Print Comments

Will print all comments within the document being viewed in the document viewer.

Insert Local File

Opens a dialog window through which you may select a file on you local drive(s) to import into the document being edited.

Line Wrap

If this item is not checked, text will not wrap to the next line when you reach the rightmost edge of the document viewer. When this item is checked line wrap is enabled. By default line wrap is enabled.

Show Special Characters

When selected this item will display characters such as spaces and cariage return/line feed. By default this item is disabled.

Make Notepad

Opens the Notepad utility with the document in the document viewer displayed in the Notepad. Notice that the Notepad background color will be the same as the document viewer background color. From the Notepad you may save the entire document or a portion of the document to a local drive or to the Windows clipboard to be used by another utility.

Undo

Restores the effect of the previous action taken by either Cut, Paste or Clear. You may use Alt+Backspace keystroke combination to perform this function.

Redo

Performs the previous action accomplished by either Cut, Paste or Clear. You may use Ctrl+Y keystroke combination to perform this function.

Copy

Copies the selected text to the Windows clipboard. You may use Ctrl+C keystroke combination to perform this function.

Cut

Removes the selected text from the document and copies it to the Windows Clipboard. You may use Ctrl+X keystroke combination to perform this function.

Paste

Inserts the text in the Windows Clipboard into the document. You may use Ctrl+V keystroke combination to perform this function.

Clear

You may use Ctrl+B keystroke combination to perform this function.

Select All

Will highlight the entire text of the document to be used by Copy, Cut or Clear.

Find

Opens a dialog window through which you may find a word or phrase within the document. Note that you do not have to be editing the document to use the Find function. You may use Ctrl+F keystroke combination to perform this function.

Find Next

Will find the next occurrance of the word or phrase found with the Find function. You may use Ctrl+G keystroke combination to perform this function.

Replace

Style Editor

The Style Editor is used to create new style sheets for use with the XML document currently being viewed by the document viewer. Once a new style sheet is created it can be saved to a local drive for later use.

Assign New Style/DTD

Use this menu item to assign an existing style sheet or DTD (Document Type Definition) to the XML document currently being viewed within the document viewer.

Notepad

Opens the Notepad utility for creating a text file which can be saved on your local drive.

Mail

Allows for mail to be sent to some or all members of the project.

Other Utilities

The remaining eight utilities are plug-ins defined by the user. Plug-ins are added or modifyed by going to the Main menu, Preferences item, Utility tab and entering the desired plug-in name into the appropriate box.

Content

Launches context sensitive help with detailed descriptions of all features of CASCADE.

About CASCADE

Presents a window containing information on how to contact the CASCADE project as well as the version and release number of the CASCADE client that you are using. The most recent version of CASCADE can be obtained by clicking the "Back to CASCADE Main Page" link at the top of this window then within the "Downloading CASCADE" section click either "Client via HTTP" or "Client via FTP;" At the top of either window will be the number of the most recent version.