TVM The Virtual Meeting

Visual Communications Software for Macintosh and Windows Computers


The Virtual Meeting For Windows System Tour

The Virtual Meeting Directory (TVM) contains the following applications and sample files

Included Applications


cgateway.exe

The Conference Gateway orchestrates the Multi Media Teleconference on your Computer. You use the Conference Gateway to connect your Computer with your collaboratorıs computers..

wgateway.exe

A Winsock TCP/IP version of the Conference Gateway which orchestrates the Multi Media Teleconference on your Computer. You use the Conference Gateway to connect your Computer with your collaboratorıs computers..

whtboard.exe

The live WhiteBoard is used to broadcast sketches, drawings and text to all the other meeting participants in real time.

qtplayer.exe

The QuickTime Movie Player is used to control and view the presentation of Appleıs QuickTime movie and slide presentation files for Windows and Macintosh.

makgroup.exe

A small program that creates a Windows Program Manager group called ³The Virtual Meeting² with a a program icon in it called ³TVM Conference Gateway².

speaker.exe

A program that displays the still picture of the current speaker in a multi party conference. The current speaker gets the floor from the conference moderator or chairman.

pptview.exe

A public domain player for Microsoft Power Point files. (came from compuserve)

cgminm.exe

A public domain mini viewer for No Hands Software's Common Ground universal document files. (came from compuserve)

cgminivw.hlp

The help file for the Common Ground Mini Viewer

acrohook.dll

The hook dll for Adobe Acrobat that monitors menu commands in the Acrobat Exchange application and sends them off to other collaborators in effect synchronizing their Acrobat Exchange window with yours.

Keyboard Commands Transmitted
_____________________________

Up arrow 		scrolls up
Left arrow		scrolls up
Down arrow 		scrolls down
Right arrow		scrolls down
Esc Key			exits PPT Viewer
1 Key			document 1
2 Key			document 2
3 Key			document 3
4 Key			document 4
A Key			actual size
Ctrl + H		actual size 
F Key			fit page to window
Ctrl + J		fit page to window 
W Key			fit width to window 
Ctrl + K		fit width to window
Z Key			zoom
Ctrl + L		zoom 
A Key			find again
Ctrl + G		find again
F Key			go to first page 
Ctrl + 1		go to first page 
P Key			go to previous page  
Ctrl + 2		go to previous page 
N Key			go to next page  
Ctrl + 3		go to next page 
L Key			go to last page  
Ctrl + 4		go to last page 
B Key			go back 
Ctrl + -		go back
d Key			go forward 
Ctrl + =		go forward
C Key			cascade windows 
SHIFT + F5		cascade windows 
T Key			tile windows  
SHIFT + F4		tile windows 
A Key			close all windows


Mouse Commands Transmitted
__________________________

Right Mouse Button Transmits Pointer Position

cghook.dll

The hook dll for common ground mini viewer that monitors menu commands in the Common Ground Mini Viewer and sends them off to other collaborators in effect synchronizing their common ground window with yours.

Keyboard Commands Transmitted
_____________________________

Up arrow 		scrolls up
Left arrow		scrolls up
Down arrow 		scrolls down
Right arrow		scrolls down

Home Key		goes to first page
Prior Key		goes to previous page
Back Key		goes to previous page
Next Key		goes to next page
Next Page Key		goes to next page
End Key			goes to last page


Mouse Commands Transmitted
__________________________

Right Mouse Button Transmits Pointer Position


writhook.dll

The hook dll for Microsoft Write that monitors menu commands in the MIcrosoft Write application and sends them off to other collaborators in effect synchronizing their Microsoft Write window with yours.

Keyboard Commands Transmitted
_____________________________

Up arrow 		scrolls up
Left arrow		scrolls up
Down arrow 		scrolls down
Right arrow		scrolls down

Mouse Commands Transmitted
__________________________

Right Mouse Button Transmits Pointer Position

ppthook.dll

The hook dll for Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer that monitors menu commands in the PowerPoint Viewer application and sends them off to other collaborators in effect synchronizing their PowerPoint Viewers with yours.

Keyboard Commands Transmitted
_____________________________

Esc Key 		quit 

Up arrow 		go to previous slide  
Left arrow		go to previous slide
P Key 			go to previous slide
Page Up 		go to previous slide


1 Key			go to next slide  
Down arrow		go to next slide 
Right arrow		go to next slide 
N Key			go to next slide
Space Key		go to next slide 

B Key			blacks screen 
. Key			blacks screen
W Key			white screen 
, Key			white screen

A Key			fit width to window
= Key			fit width to window
S Key			fit width to window
+ Key			fit width to window
 
F12               			Transmits Pointer Position


Sorry we couldınt use the Right mouse button its already being used.


Directories Where You Should Store Your Meeting Files

In the Virtual Meeting (TVM) Directory you will find eight other Directories described above. You can organize your presentation and meeting documents by putting them in one of these directorties or in The Virtual Meeting Directory (TVM) itself. These are the locations that the system will search first when documents or applications are needed. If they are not found in one of these locations you will be prompted by the standard Windows File Finder dialog to locate the needed files every time they are needed.

Before a meeting you should distribute any presentation files you are going to use to all of your collaborators either electronically or by mail. Everyone should place the files into one of the above directories in order for them to be available during the conference. This preparation is not necessary if you use the WhiteBoard to prepare your slides because the WhiteBoard can transmit the images in its drawings as you open them if you wish.


Sample Conferencing Files


acrobats Directory


bitmaps Directory


comngrnd Directory


movies Directory


pwrpnts Directory


texts Directory


people Directory


What Should You Do Now


Installation

Follow the instructions in the Installing TVM document to get everything setup properly.

cGateway - Establishing a Connection with a modem

Making A Call

    Before you can make a connection with a conference or another person you will need to select a communications port and parameters. You will want to use the Configure menu command to set the communications parameters for your particular modem.

    In order to establish the connection with a telephone number you you will need to select Dial... from the Session Menu. This will cause the modem to dial the number you have specified and attempt to make a connection.

    When a connection has been established your modem will notify you by printing CONNECTED in the terminal window.

Receiving A Call

If you would like to wait for a call from someone else you should select Wait For A Call from the Session menu. This sends an "auto answer command" to your modem which will respond by printing OK in the Terminal window. When a call is recieved your modem will notify you by printing CONNECTED in the terminal window. When you are done waiting for a modem call and would like to switch your modem off of the "auto answer" mode. This can be done by selecting Stop Waiting For A Call from the Session menu.

If you are connecting to another single user by modem you will be able to type back and forth to each other in the terminal window once the connection has been established. Either You or the person you are collaborating with can hide the terminal window any time by using the Hide Terminal Window from the Conference Menu. It can be shown again using the Show Terminal Window from the Conference Menu. If you are in a moderated conference the moderator or person in control can hide or show your terminal window and this will be taken care of for you by the moderator. If you are connecting with a modem to a conference on a Bulletin Board System like First Class or an on-line service like Delphi , Genie, or Compuserve you will need to use the Terminal Window to log in to the system and navigate to the conferencing or chat area where you will join a conference. Once you are in the conferencing area you can hide the Terminal Window using the Hide Session Window from the Session Menu.


wGateway - Establishing a Connection with Winsock TCP/IP

Making A Call

To connect to another user or conference you will use the Connect... command from the Session Menu. A dialog box will prompt you for the network address of the user or conference server you will be connecting to. Network IP addresses are in the form n.n.n.n where n is a number between 0 and 255. You can also enter a domain name in the form domain.domain.domain if you have made entries for that domain in your Winsock host file. After entering the IP address or domain name click the connect button. A dialog box will notify you when you have been connected successfully.

Receiving A Call

To wait for a connection from another person you should select the ³Wait for Connection² command from the Session Menu. A dialog box will notify you when you have been connected successfully. Another person will only be able to connect with you if he knows your IP address or domain name. He will use that and type it in when he selects the Connect... command from the Session menu (described above).


Learning The System


QuickTime Player

In order to use the QuickTime movie player to display a slide show presentation. Select Launch QuickTime Player... from the QuickTime menu. A file finder dialog box will appear so you can choose which QuickTime file to open. You should choose QTIM.MOV. The QuickTime Player will load and cue the QuickTime slide presentation.

You can now use the left and right arrow keys to advance thru the slide presentation. If you click the right mouse button in the QuickTime player window a message gets sent to your collaborators to display the cursor in their QuickTime player window s at that same location. You can cause all the QuickTime Movie players to quit using the Quit Another Program command in the Conference Gatewayıs Process menu.

Try Opening a Quicktime movie using the Open... command from the File Menu in the QuickTime Players File Menu. A file finder dialog box will appear so you can choose which QuickTime movie file to open. You should choose CLRHEART.MOV. The QuickTime Player will load and cue the Clear Heart movie .

You can now use the up and down arrow keys to start and stop the movie. If you stop and move around in the movie you can use the Transmit Cue Point menu command in the Movie menu to synchronize the current frame on all your collaborators computers.


WhiteBoard

In order to use the WhiteBoard you should choose Launch WhiteBoard from the WhiteBoard menu. The WhiteBoard Application will be launched on your computer as well as on a collaborators. Choose a sketching tool and sketch an object. Try changing its color using the Color command from the WhiteBoard menu.

Try opening a Bit Map file in the background of the WhiteBoard. You can do this using the Open Bit Map File from the File menu. You can now annotate on top of the bitmap file and save the changes in a separate layer (You never modify the original bitmap file).


Adobe Acrobat Viewer (not included)

In order to use the Adobe Acrobat Viewer you should launch the program by selecting Launch Acrobat Viewer from the Acrobat Viewer menu. You will be prompted for an Acrobat .pdf file to open when the Acrobat Viewer is launched. A sample Acrobat PDF file has been provided (TVM Tour.PDF) try opening it. Once the Acrobat file is opened you can use the menu commands and keyboard commands in the Acrobat Viewer to navigate thru the document. When the leader chooses the next page menu command in the Acrobat Viewer that action is repeated on the computers of all the other conference attendees as well. The Switch To Acrobat menu command can be used by the leader to make the Acrobat Viewer the active application on all users computers. When he or she is done using the Acrobat Viewer the leader can kill the Acrobat reader on all the computers in the conference by choosing Quit Acrobat from the Acrobat Viewer menu.

€€€ WARNING When you are done using the Adobe Acrobat Exchange application use the Quit Acrobat Exchange command from the Process Menu in order to quit the program. Using the Acrobat Menu to quit or using the universal ALT F4 keyboard command to quit may cause unpredictable problems.

€€€ NOTE  In Order for the TVM Conference Gateway to find and launch the Acrobat Viewer program (acroview.exe) it must installed in the TVM directory or have an entry in your DOS paths statement.


Adobe Acrobat Exchange (not included)

In order to use Adobe Acrobat Exchange you should launch the program by selecting launch Acrobat Exchange from the Acrobat Exchange menu. You may be prompted to locate an Acrobat PDF file on your hard disk when you start Acrobat Exchange, you should click on the cancel button. Files opened within the Acrobat Exchange application will only be visible to you (you can keep Acrobat Exchange from asking you to choose a file to open by setting the ³Display Open Dialog at Startup² to off in Acrobatıs General Preferences dialog box). In order to open Acrobat files on your computer and your collaborators computerıs you should use the Open Adobe Acrobat File menu command from the Adobe Acrobat Exchange menu. You should remember to put the PDF files you want to use in a conference in the acrobats directory inside the tvm directory so the system will be able to find them and access them easily.

A sample Acrobat PDF file has been provided (TVM Tour.PDF), try opening it using the Open Adobe Acrobat File menu command from the Conferencing menu. Try using the Acrobat Go To Next Page menu command and the Acrobat Go To Previous Page menu command from the Conference menu to navigate thru the document. You can close the current Acrobat document by selecting the Acrobat Close Front Window menu command from the Adobe Acrobat Exchange menu.

If you have the TVM Acrobat Plug-Ins installed try using the Pencil Tool and the Eraser Tool to sketch and annotate on top of Acrobat PDF documents. Try using the Gesturing Tool to point out features in PDF documents.

€€€ NOTE In Order for the TVM Conference Gateway to find and launch the Acrobat Exchane program (acroexch.exe) it must installed in the TVM directory or have an entry in your DOS paths statement.


Web Conferencing

In order to do Internet Web Conferencing you need an INTERNET connection. You can also do Web Conferencing with files and multi media content that are located on File Servers and CD ROMS. You will need a web browser program like Netscape Navigator installed on your computer.

To start web conferencing while running the TVM Conference Gateway the conference leader should launch Netscape Navigator on everyone's computer by selecting launch Netscape Navigator from the Web menu. The conference leader can use three styles of web conferencing.

The Transmit Current Web Page Location menu command can be used to send all the all the web browsers in the conference to the page being displayed on the leaders web browser.

You can also have a more tightly coupled Web Conference by using the You Follow Me menu command from the Web menu. Once activated every link the leader clicks on on his or her web browser will not only cause their web browser to go to that link but everyone elses as well. The Stop Following menu command stops the monitoring and forwarding of new link locations to the other conference attendees.

Netscape can also used to start The Virtual Meeting Conference Gateway and connect it to a conference if desired. This is done by clicking on, downloading and running a TVM connect script file that has been placed on a Web Server and linked to a web page. In order to connect to a conference server in this way all you need to do is click on its link on the web page. In order for this to work correctly The Virtual Meeting Conference Gateway will need to be registered with Netscape to handle .tvm files (TVM connect script files). While you are at it you may want to register the TVM QuickTime movie and slide player application to handle .mov files as well.

€€€ NOTE In Order for the TVM Conference Gateway to find and launch the Netscape Navigator program (netscape.exe) it must installed in the TVM directory or have an entry in your DOS paths statement.


Power Point Viewer

In order to use the Power Point Viewer to display a slide show presentation. Select Launch Power Point Viewer... from the PowerPoint menu. A file finder dialog box will appear so you can choose which Power Point presentation file to open. You should choose TVM.PPT.

€€€ NOTE You will need to wait for the Power Point application to start up. When it does you need to switch back to the TVM Conference Gateway you can use the Ctrl + ESC key combination for this. When you get back to the conference gateway you will need to choose Switch to Power Point Viewer from the Process Menu.

You can now use the left and right arrow keys to advance thru the Power Point presentation. see the section on ppthook.dll above for other keyboard commands.

When you quit from the PowerPoint viewer application a command is sent to your collaborators computers causing the PowerPoint viewer application to quit on their computers as well.


Common Ground Mini Viewer

In order to use the Common Ground Mini Viewer to display a slide show presentation. Select Launch Common Ground Mini viewer... from the Process menu. A file finder dialog box will appear so you can choose which Common Ground file to open. You should choose ABOUTTVM.dp.

You can now use the page up and page down keys to advance thru the presentation and the arrow keys to scroll the presentation window. See the section on cghook.dll above for other keyboard commands. If you click the right mouse button in the Common Ground Mini Viewer window a message gets sent to your collaborators to display the cursor in their Common Ground Mini Viewer window s at that same location.

€€€ WARNING When you are done using the Common Ground Mini Viewer application use the Quit Common Ground Mini Viewer from the Process Menu in order to quit the program. Using the System Menu to quit or using the universal ALT F4 keyboard command to quit may cause unpredictable problems.


Microsoft Write

In order to use Microsoft Write to display a dopcument. Select Launch MS Write ... from the Write menu. A file finder dialog box will appear so you can choose which MS Write file to open. You should choose LICENSE.WRI.

You can now use the page up and page down keys to advance thru the document and the arrow keys to scroll the document window. See the section on wrihook.dll above for other keyboard commands. If you click the right mouse button in the MS Write window a message gets sent to your collaborators to display the cursor in their MS Write window s at that same location.

When you quit from the MS Write application a command is sent to your collaborators computers causing the MS Write application to quit on their computers as well.


Experiment

Experiment

Experiment



Copyright 1996 by Seth Snyder All Rights Reserved