Avid INEWS V3.3 Setup And Configuration Guide I News 3.3 Manual SCG

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Avid iNEWS

Setup and Configuration Guide

Legal Notices
Product specifications are subject to change without notice and do not represent a commitment on the part of Avid Technology,
Inc.
The software described in this document is furnished under a license agreement. You can obtain a copy of that license by
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the software. The software may not be reverse assembled and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of the
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Other patents are pending.
This document is protected under copyright law. An authorized licensee of Avid iNEWS Command may reproduce this
publication for the licensee’s own use in learning how to use the software. This document may not be reproduced or
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taken in preparing the information it contains. However, this document may contain omissions, technical inaccuracies, or
typographical errors. Avid Technology, Inc. does not accept responsibility of any kind for customers’ losses due to the use of
this document. Product specifications are subject to change without notice.

Copyright © 2010 Avid Technology, Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved.

The following disclaimer is required by Apple Computer, Inc.:
APPLE COMPUTER, INC. MAKES NO WARRANTIES WHATSOEVER, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, REGARDING
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Copyright © 1988–1997 Sam Leffler
Copyright © 1991–1997 Silicon Graphics, Inc.
Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software [i.e., the TIFF library] and its documentation for any purpose
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This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.

This Software may contain components licensed under the following conditions:
Copyright (c) 1989 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

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Redistribution and use in source and binary forms are permitted provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph
are duplicated in all such forms and that any documentation, advertising materials, and other materials related to such
distribution and use acknowledge that the software was developed by the University of California, Berkeley. The name of the
University may not be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written
permission. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES,
INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A
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granted, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission
notice appear in supporting documentation. This software is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.
Copyright 1995, Trinity College Computing Center. Written by David Chappell.
Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby
granted, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission
notice appear in supporting documentation. This software is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.
Copyright 1996 Daniel Dardailler.
Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that
the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in
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distribution of the software without specific, written prior permission. Daniel Dardailler makes no representations about the
suitability of this software for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.
Modifications Copyright 1999 Matt Koss, under the same license as above.
Copyright (c) 1991 by AT&T.
Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any purpose without fee is hereby granted, provided that this
entire notice is included in all copies of any software which is or includes a copy or modification of this software and in all
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NEITHER THE AUTHOR NOR AT&T MAKES ANY REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY OF ANY KIND CONCERNING THE
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This product includes software developed by the University of California, Berkeley and its contributors.

The following disclaimer is required by Nexidia Inc.:
© 2006 Nexidia. All rights reserved.
Manufactured under license from the Georgia Tech Research Corporation, U.S.A. Patent Pending.

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Portions of this software licensed from Paradigm Matrix.

The following disclaimer is required by Ray Sauers Associates, Inc.:
“Install-It” is licensed from Ray Sauers Associates, Inc. End-User is prohibited from taking any action to derive a source code
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“This software contains V-LAN ver. 3.0 Command Protocols which communicate with V-LAN ver. 3.0 products developed by
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of this software will allow “frame accurate” editing control of applicable videotape recorder decks, videodisc recorders/players
and the like.”

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The following disclaimer is required by Altura Software, Inc. for the use of its Mac2Win software and Sample
Source Code:
©1993–1998 Altura Software, Inc.

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Certain real-time compositing capabilities are provided under a license of such technology from Ultimatte Corporation and are
subject to copyright protection.

The following disclaimer is required by 3Prong.com Inc.:
Certain waveform and vector monitoring capabilities are provided under a license from 3Prong.com Inc.

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The “Interplay” name is used with the permission of Interplay Entertainment Corp., which bears no responsibility for Avid
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© DevelopMentor

This product may include the JCifs library, for which the following notice applies:
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Party Software directory on the installation CD.
Avid Interplay contains components licensed from LavanTech. These components may only be used as part of and in
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Attn. Government User(s). Restricted Rights Legend
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Trademarks
003, 192 Digital I/O, 192XD I/O, 888 I/O, Adrenaline, AirPlay, AirSPACE, AirSPACE HD, AirSpeed, ALEX, Alienbrain, AniMatte,
AudioMarket, AudioPages, AudioSuite, AudioVision, AutoSync, Avid, Avid Advanced Response, Avid DNA, Avid DNxcel,
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AVIDstripe, Avid Unity, Avid Unity ISIS, Avid VideoRAID, Avid Xpress, AVoption, AVX, Beauty Without The Bandwidth,
Blacktooth, Boom, C|24, CamCutter, CaptureManager, ChromaCurve, ChromaWheel, Command|24, Conectiv, CountDown,
DAE, Dazzle, Dazzle Digital Video Creator, Deko, DekoCast, D-Fi, D-fx, DigiDelivery, Digidesign, Digidesign Audio Engine,
Digidesign Intelligent Noise Reduction, DigiDrive, DigiLink, DigiMeter, DigiSerial, Digital Nonlinear Accelerator, DigiTranslator,
DINR, DNxchange, do more, DVD Complete, D-Verb, Eleven, Equinox, EveryPhase, ExpertRender, Fastbreak, Fast Track,
FieldPak, Film Composer, FilmScribe, Flexevent, FluidMotion, FXDeko, G7, G-Rack, HD Core, HD Process, HDPack,
Hollywood DV-Bridge, Hybrid, HyperControl, HyperSPACE, HyperSPACE HDCAM, IllusionFX, Image Independence, iNEWS,
iNEWS Assign, iNEWS ControlAir, Instantwrite, Instinct, Intelli-sat Broadcasting Recording Manager, Intelli-Sat, InterFX,
Interplay, inTONE, Intraframe, iS9, iS18, iS23, iS36, ISIS, IsoSync, KeyRig, KeyStudio, LaunchPad, LeaderPlus, Lightning,
ListSync, Lo-Fi, Magic Mask, Make Anything Hollywood, make manage move | media, Marquee, M-Audio, M-Audio Micro,
Maxim, Mbox, MCXpress, Media Browse, Media Composer, MediaDock, MediaDock Shuttle, Media Fusion, Media Illusion,
MediaLog, Media Reader, Media Recorder, MEDIArray, MediaShare, MediaStream, Media Suite, Meridien, MetaFuze,
MetaSync, MicroTrack, Midiman, MissionControl, Mix Rack, MixLab, Moviebox, Moviestar, NaturalMatch, Nearchive,
NetReview, NewsCutter, Nitris, NRV-10 interFX, Octane, OMF, OMF Interchange, OMM, OnDVD, Open Media Framework,
Open Media Management, Palladium, Pinnacle, Pinnacle DistanTV, Pinnacle Geniebox, Pinnacle HomeMusic,
Pinnacle MediaSuite, Pinnacle Mobile Media, Pinnacle PCTV, Pinnacle PCTV HD Ultimate Stick, Pinnacle PCTV Nano Stick,
Pinnacle PCTV To Go, Pinnacle Scorefitter, Pinnacle Studio, Pinnacle Studio MovieBoard, Pinnacle Systems, Pinnacle
VideoSpin, ProEncode, ProServices, ProSessions, Pro Tools, QuietDrive, Recti-Fi, Reel Tape Delay, Reel Tape Flanger,
Reel Tape Saturation, RetroLoop, rS9, rS18, Salesview, Sci-Fi, Scorch, Scorefitter, ScriptSync,
SecureProductionEnvironment, Session, Show Center, Sibelius, SIDON, Soft SampleCell, Soft-Clip Limiter,
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SynchroScope, Syntax, Targa, TDM FlexCable, Thunder, Titan, Titansync, TL Aggro, TL AutoPan, TL Drum Rehab,
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Trigger Finger, Trillium Lane Labs, TruTouch, UnityRAID, Vari-Fi, Velvet, Venom, VideoRAID, Video Slave Driver, VideoSPACE,
VideoSpin, Vortx, Xdeck, X-Form, Xmon, Xponent, X-Session, and X-Session Pro are either registered trademarks or
trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

Footage
Arri — Courtesy of Arri/Fauer — John Fauer, Inc.
Bell South “Anticipation” — Courtesy of Two Headed Monster — Tucker/Wayne Atlanta/GMS.
Canyonlands — Courtesy of the National Park Service/Department of the Interior.
Eco Challenge British Columbia — Courtesy of Eco Challenge Lifestyles, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
Eco Challenge Morocco — Courtesy of Discovery Communications, Inc.
It’s Shuttletime — Courtesy of BCP & Canadian Airlines.
Nestlé Coffee Crisp — Courtesy of MacLaren McCann Canada.
Saturn “Calvin Egg” — Courtesy of Cossette Communications.
“Tigers: Tracking a Legend” — Courtesy of www.wildlifeworlds.com, Carol Amore, Executive Producer.
"The Big Swell" — Courtesy of Swell Pictures, Inc.
Windhorse — Courtesy of Paul Wagner Productions.
Arizona Images — KNTV Production — Courtesy of Granite Broadcasting, Inc.,
Editor/Producer Bryan Foote.
Canyonlands — Courtesy of the National Park Service/Department of the Interior.
Ice Island — Courtesy of Kurtis Productions, Ltd.
Tornados + Belle Isle footage — Courtesy of KWTV News 9.
WCAU Fire Story — Courtesy of NBC-10, Philadelphia, PA.
Women in Sports – Paragliding — Courtesy of Legendary Entertainment, Inc.
News material provided by WFTV Television Inc.

GOT FOOTAGE?
Editors — Filmmakers — Special Effects Artists — Game Developers — Animators — Educators — Broadcasters — Content
creators of every genre — Just finished an incredible project and want to share it with the world?
Send us your reels and we may use your footage in our show reel or demo!*
For a copy of our release and Avid’s mailing address, go to www.avid.com/footage.
*Note: Avid cannot guarantee the use of materials submitted.

Avid iNEWS v3.3 Setup and Configuration Guide • 0130-30597-01 • Created 11/23/10 • This document is
distributed by Avid in online (electronic) form only, and is not available for purchase in printed form.

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6

Contents
Using This Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Symbols and Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
If You Need Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
...With the Syntax of Console Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Avid Training Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Chapter 1

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Overview of iNEWS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
System Administrator Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Chapter 2

The iNEWS Console. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Overview of Hardware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Starting the Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Console Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Logging in as a System Operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Entering Superuser Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Changing System Administration Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Exiting the Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Troubleshooting a Frozen Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Types of Console Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Using Server Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Using Console Control Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Assigning Commands to Function Keys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Displaying Function Key Assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Selecting One or More Servers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Zooming in on One Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Using Console History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Logged Console History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Using the Remote Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Executing Remote Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Logging out a Remote Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
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The Console Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Viewing the Console Configuration File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Editing the Console Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Chapter 3

Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Starting the System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Shutting Down the System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Starting a System in Single-Server Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Chapter 4

Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Viewing User Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Modifying User Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
User Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Changing a User’s Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Changing User Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
User Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Setting up Simplified Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Simplified User Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Creating New Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Creating a New User Area in News Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Adding a New User Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Enabing a New User to Receive Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Searching for User Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Removing User Accounts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
The User Manager Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
The Database Manager Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Logging Out All Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Chapter 5

The Database: Directories, Queues, and Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Overview of the iNEWS Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Restrictions to Directory or Queue Creation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Creating a New Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Creating a New Queue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Outgoing Mail Queue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Dead Letter Queue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Search Queues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

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Viewing Search Queue Information from the Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Creating a New Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Using Script Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Renaming a Directory or Queue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Deleting a Directory or Queue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Recovering a Killed Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Viewing Database Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Viewing Information about Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Viewing Who Moved, Duplicated, or Killed a Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Database Traits Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Changing Database Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Turning Off the Ordered Trait of a Sorted Queue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Database Purge Intervals and Limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Identifying Locked Queues and Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Types of Locks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Removing Locks from a Workstation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Unbusy Stories and Queues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Chapter 6

Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Overview of Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Viewing Group Information from the Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Viewing Group Information from a Workstation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Creating a New Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Step 1 - Choosing a Group Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Step 2 - Create New Group at Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Step 3 - Creating Group’s Membership Story and Specifying Members . . . . . 155
Group Checker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Group Checker Error Messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Renaming a Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Step 1 - Change Group Name in Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Step 2 - Change Group Name in SYSTEM.GROUPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Deleting a Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Creating or Modifying Multiple Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Adding Users as Members of a Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
9

Adding Groups as Members of Other Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Avoiding Recursion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Adding Workstations as Members of a Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Combined Permissions and Timeouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Group Access and Usage Restrictions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Group Traits for the Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Read Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Write Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Notification Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Editorial Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Restricted Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Restricting Both Reading and Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Transferring Group Assignments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Hiding Queues and Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Creating a Mail Alias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Mail Aliases for Other Machines or the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Chapter 7

Keyboards and Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Types of Macros. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Creating a Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Creating Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Using the State Keys in Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Repeating Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Notes of Caution for Creating Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Keyboard Checker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Testing the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Assigning a Default Keyboard to a User Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Chapter 8

Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Form Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Creating Forms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Customizing Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Turning on Label Borders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
SYSTEM.COLORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
SYSTEM.LISTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

10

Assigning a Form as a Queue or Story Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Form Field Types and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Standard iNEWS Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Chapter 9

Character Generator Title Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Overview of CG Title Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Title Entry Setup and Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
CG Template Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Edit Title Entry Template Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Creating a New Template. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Using Font PreSets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Title Entry Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Access to CG Template Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Access to CG Title Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Chapter 10

System Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Making a Backup File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Viewing System Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Licensing iNEWS Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Editing the Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Testing the Site Configuration File After Alteration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Incorporating Configuration Changes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Hosts File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
System Profile Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Changing the System Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Listing Parameter Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
System Profile Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Viewing Information about Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
List C Message Columns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Adding Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Intersystem Messaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Sending Intersystem Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
11

Receiving Intersystem Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Chapter 11

Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Local Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
Local Printing Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
Creating and Using Print Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Local Print Style Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Banner Format Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Example Style Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Chapter 12

Wires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Adding a Wire – Avid Data Receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Phase 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Phase 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Adding a Wire Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
Phase 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Phase 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
Wire Profile Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
Wire Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
The Wire Distribution Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Avoiding Hidden Categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Mailboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Purge Intervals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Internationalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Setting Up Wire Keyword Searches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Additional Information about Search Jobs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
Keyword Search Rule Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Keyword Checker Messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Chapter 13

Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Adding a Server Program to the System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Job Lists: Queues, Stories, and Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
Types of Tasks for Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
Adding a Scan Line in a Job List Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Defining a Priority Queue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

12

Defining an Every Entry Queue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
A Server’s Command Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Processing Deleted Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
Ordered Queues and the Order Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
Mailbox Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
Types of Mailboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
Assigning a Mailbox to a Queue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
Timed-Interval Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
Example of Timed Interval Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
Action Servers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
Adding an Action Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
Field Validation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Possible Uses of Validation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Using Field Validation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
Validation Job List Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
Rundown Mirroring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
Polling Commands for Action Servers/Tx Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
Configuring Rundown Mirroring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
Overlapping Job Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
Polling Issues Related to Tx Links. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
Distribution Servers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
Distribution Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
Wildcards and the Destination Queue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
Move and Dup Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
Action Servers or Tx Links. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
Instructions in the Wire Distribution Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
Matching and Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
Matching and Order. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
Adding a Distribution Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
Parallel Wire Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
Adding a Parallel Wire Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
Keyword Servers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
Adding a Keyword Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
13

System Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Seek Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Adding a Seek Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Fast Text Search Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
Installing FTS Components on the Windows-based Server . . . . . . . . . . . 372
Setting up FTS Components on the iNEWS Servers (Linux) . . . . . . . . . . 374
Batch Indexing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
Reindexing (Optional) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
Mail Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
Monitor Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
Checklist: Monitor Server Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
Creating a Monitor Server for Each Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
Creating Composite and Event List Queues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
Set up Queue and Story Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
Assigning Forms to Queues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
Creating an Entry in the SYSTEM.MAP Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
Updating the iNEWS System Dictionaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
Creating Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
Using the Monitor Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
Network iNEWS Systems Using RX/TX Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
Sending Story Forms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
Setting Automatic Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
Update Trait - Queue Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
Changing Queue Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
Adding Rx/Tx Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

Chapter 14

iNEWS Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
Configuring iNEWS for Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
Syntax of the ctraits Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422
Viewing Remote Systems or Community Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
Restrictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
Local and Remote SYSTEM.MOS-MAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
Removing a System from Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
Connection Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

14

Chapter 15

Web Publishing and Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
Web Publishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
Setting up Txnet to Send HTML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
The HTML Export Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
Sample HTML Export Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
Publishing iNEWS Stories to the Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446
Web Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446
The Web Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446
Logging in via Web Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
Web Acess Story Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
Web Access Directory and Queue Templates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
Web Access Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461

Chapter 16

iNEWS Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
Overview of Projects and Facets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
Setting up the iNEWS Database for Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
Creating Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
Creating Facets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
Associating Stories with Projects or Facets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473

Appendix A

Command References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475
Programs Invoked by iNEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476
Commands Used by Avid Personnel Only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476
Linux Commands Used in iNEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
Console Control Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478
Console Server Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482
broadcast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482
configure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482
connect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483
ctraits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483
dbclean. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
dbclose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
dbdev . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
dbdump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
dbfree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
15

dblines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
dboriginal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488
dbpurge
(Superuser conditional) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488
dbrestore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489
dbserver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
dbsort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
dbtraits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492
dbvisit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493
dictionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
diskclear
(Superuser only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
diskcopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
doc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
ed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
enter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
force
(Superuser only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
grpcheck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
gtraits
(Superuser only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498
help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498
hogs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499
idiff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499
list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
list B. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502
list C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
list c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504
list d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504
list g . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
list p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506
list q . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
list s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
list sq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
16

list u . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

509

logout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511
makemontab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511
makeshift (Super user only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511
maketab
(Superuser only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512
msgclean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513
offline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
otod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
reconnect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
remove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519
rename
(Superuser only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519
reorder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520
restart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520
searchtape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520
send . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
shutdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
sitedump
(Superuser only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
siterestore
(Superuser only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522
startup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523
status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523
stop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523
su . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524
unbusy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524
utraits
(Super user only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524
version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
wholockedit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526
Job List Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
at . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
bpoll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
17

bscan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
dup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528
every . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528
extension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528
fast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528
ignore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528
ignore-del . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
local . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
mailto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
open . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
poll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
publish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
put . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
quiet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
remote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
remove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532
replace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532
scan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532
send-del. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532
sendform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533
source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533
validate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533
Dialog Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533
capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534
delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534
diag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534
echo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535
escape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535
18

expect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535
heol. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536
map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536
mapin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
mapout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
message. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
pass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
pause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538
stop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538
timer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538
type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
wait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539

Appendix B

System Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541
/etc/hosts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542
/site/config . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543
/site/system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555
console.cfg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556
SYSTEM.CLIENT.WINDOWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558
SYSTEM.CONFIGURE.301-ACTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
SYSTEM.MAP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560
SYSTEM.RESOURCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562
SYSTEM.WIRES.DISTRIBUTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565
SYSTEM.WIRES.KEYWORDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566
SYSTEM.WIRES.KEYWORDS-AP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567
SYSTEM.WIRES.KEYWORDS-AP2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568

Appendix C

Standard Dictionaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569
Using Dictionaries to Define Messages and Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570
Customizing Dictionaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572
Changing Default Dictionary Values. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572
Restoring Dictionary Defaults. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574
Utility Messages Dictionary (/site/dict/messages) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575
DBServer Program Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576
Disconnect Program Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576
19

Category and Keyword Check Program Messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576
Keyboard Check Program Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577
Keyboard Check Program Messages for Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 578
Grpcheck Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579
Wire Program Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
Mail Server Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
Validation (Action) Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
Seek Server Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 582
Last Login Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583
Print Server Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583
dbtraits Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583
Save Error (Workstation) Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583
Queues Dictionary (/site/dict/queues) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583
Words Dictionary (/site/dict/words). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586
Keyboard Macros Dictionary (/site/dict/keymacros) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589
Case-shifting Dictionary (/site/dict/shift) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591
MCS Dictionary (/site/dict/mcs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593
Device Types Used by Monitor Servers and Drivers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593
Special Strings Recognized by the Monitor Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594
Error Messages for the Monitor Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594
Status Reported in Device Status Field. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596
Job List Command Dictionary (/site/dict/joblist) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597
D Messages Dictionary (/site/dict/dmessages) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598
S Messages Dictionary (/site/dict/smessages). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599

Appendix D

Environment Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603
Registry Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604
Environment Variables (Registry Values). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605
CCColor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605
DestinationOrder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607
MailLookup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608
MsgMailAlert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609
PIColor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610
RGB Hexadecimal Color Chart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611

20

ShowTimingBar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612
SyncToServer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616
VT Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617
DisableCommandLine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619
Environmental Variables for Servers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620

Appendix E

Managing Traits at the Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623
Viewing User Traits from the Console. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624
Modifying User Traits from the Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625
Changing a User’s Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626
Listing Users Who Do Not Have Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 628
User Traits Console Command Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632
Managing Database Traits from the Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635
Getting Basic Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635
Getting Detailed Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636
Changing Database Traits from the Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637
Changing a Parent Directory Only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637
Database Traits Console Command Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637
Sortfield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645
Changing a Queue’s Sort Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645
Starting the Queue Sort Function from the Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646
Purge Interval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646
Mailbox Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647
The dis Column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648
FTSindex Attribute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649
Interplay Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650
Managing Group Traits at the Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650
Read Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651
Write Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651
Editorial Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651
Notify Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652
Restricting Access Using Read and Write Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652
Removing Directory or Queue Restrictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 653

Appendix F

The Line Editor, ed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655
21

Starting ed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656
Specifying Lines to Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656
Searching the File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 658
Searching Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659
Editing Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659
Saving Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 662
Quitting ed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 662

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665

22

Using This Guide
Congratulations on your purchase of your Avid iNEWS system. It is a vital part of the Avid
news system solution that integrates with other Avid systems and third-party equipment to
provide an ideal nonlinear workflow and optimize the news production process.
This guide is part of a two-book set designed to keep pace with current advances in the Avid
system’s news production capabilities. The set—made up of this book and the Avid iNEWS
Administration Guide—is a comprehensive resource of all administrative information you
will need to take advantage of the many options available to you.
This guide will lead you through even the most complex procedures with task-oriented
instructions. The information provided here builds on basic news production procedures
described in the help system and other user-based guides, while adding a complete
explanation of all of the tools and techniques required to manage the newsroom computer
system, including useful tips, shortcuts, and custom options.

n

The documentation describes the software features and hardware related to the iNEWS
newsroom computer system, which is extremely customizable. Your system might not contain
certain features and/or hardware that are covered in the documentation.

Symbols and Conventions
Avid documentation uses the following symbols and conventions:
Symbol or Convention Meaning or Action

n

A note provides important related information, reminders,
recommendations, and strong suggestions.

c

A caution means that a specific action you take could cause harm to
your computer or cause you to lose data.

w

A warning describes an action that could cause you physical harm.
Follow the guidelines in this document or on the unit itself when
handling electrical equipment.

Symbol or Convention Meaning or Action

>

This symbol indicates menu commands (and subcommands) in the
order you select them. For example, File > Import means to open the
File menu and then select the Import command.
This symbol indicates a single-step procedure. Multiple arrows in a list
indicate that you perform one of the actions listed.

(Windows), (Windows
only), (Macintosh), or
(Macintosh only)

This text indicates that the information applies only to the specified
operating system, either Windows or Macintosh OS X.

Bold font

Bold font is primarily used in task instructions to identify user interface
items and keyboard sequences.

Italic font

Italic font is used to emphasize certain words and to indicate variables.

Courier Bold font

Courier Bold font identifies text that you type.

Ctrl+key or mouse action

Press and hold the first key while you press the last key or perform the
mouse action. For example, Command+Option+C or Ctrl+drag.

If You Need Help
If you are having trouble using your Avid product:
1. Retry the action, carefully following the instructions given for that task in this guide. It
is especially important to check each step of your workflow.
2. Check the latest information that might have become available after the documentation
was published:
-

If the latest information for your Avid product is provided as printed release notes,
they ship with your application and are also available online.

-

If the latest information for your Avid product is provided as a ReadMe file, it is
supplied on your Avid installation CD or DVD as a PDF document
(README_product.pdf) and is also available online.

You should always check online for the most up-to-date release notes or ReadMe
because the online version is updated whenever new information becomes
available. To view these online versions, select ReadMe from the Help menu, or visit
the Knowledge Base at www.avid.com/readme.
3. Check the documentation that came with your Avid application or your hardware for
maintenance or hardware-related issues.

24

If You Need Help

4. Visit the online Knowledge Base at www.avid.com/onlinesupport. Online services are
available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Search this online Knowledge Base to find
answers, to view error messages, to access troubleshooting tips, to download updates,
and to read or join online message-board discussions.

...With the Syntax of Console Commands
If you are at the console and are unsure about the function of a console command, use the
help command.
To view instructions about using a command:

t

Use the following command: help 
For instance, type: help dbvisit for an explanation of the dbvisit command.
The following data appears:
dbvisit - -[r or m name] -[s] [block# ...]
‘r’ for read only
‘s’ for “slow” to eliminate cache usage
‘m’ for machine name to disconnect
‘i’ to just validate isam files

n

Lengthy console displays might be edited to emphasize only the most important information
in this guide. An ellipsis (...) represents portions of the console display not shown in the text.
Also, because of the margin limitations of this guide, console command lines might appear
wrapped to multiple lines. This does not necessarily indicate the need to press an Enter key.
Unless otherwise indicated, console commands should be typed on a single line, allowing
the computer to wrap the text whenever the command line stretches beyond the screen
margin.

25

Avid Training Services
Avid makes lifelong learning, career advancement, and personal development easy and
convenient. Avid understands that the knowledge you need to differentiate yourself is always
changing, and Avid continually updates course content and offers new training delivery
methods that accommodate your pressured and competitive work environment.
To learn about Avid's new online learning environment, Avid Learning Excellerator™
(ALEX), visit http://learn.avid.com.
For information on courses/schedules, training centers, certifications, courseware, and
books, please visit www.avid.com/training or call Avid Sales at 800-949-AVID
(800-949-2843).

26

1 Introduction
The iNEWS newsroom computer system is an integrated digital news production system,
which provides journalists, producers, directors, writers, and technical personnel with an
array of tools to make their jobs easier.
This chapter contains the following main sections:
•

Overview of iNEWS

•

System Administrator Tasks
-

Basic Tasks

-

User Tasks

-

Database Tasks

-

Security Tasks

-

Customizing the System

-

Storage Maintenance Tasks

-

Device Tasks

-

Reviewing Default Settings

-

Troubleshooting

Overview of iNEWS
An iNEWS newsroom computer system provides:
•

News gathering from text sources

•

News production, including:

•

-

Story creation and script editing

-

Association of machine control items to script

-

Show planning and creation

-

Show archiving

-

Contact organization and scheduling

News to air, including:
-

On-air playback control

-

File exporting

-

Internet publishing

Some primary components of iNEWS include:
•

Linux-based computers running the iNEWS Server software. In this guide, these host
computers are referred to as the iNEWS Servers, or individually as server A, server B,
and so forth.

•

A Windows-based computer running the iNEWS console multiplexor program. This
computer is known as the console.

•

Windows- or Vista-based computers running the iNEWS client software. These
computers are known as iNEWS Workstations.

•

Windows-based computers running the iNEWS Data Receiver software, which is used
to ingest wires and other text-based research material

•

Other peripherals, such as printers and teleprompters.

Additionally, the iNEWS system is capable of interfacing with a wide variety of production
devices. Avid iNEWS Command provides a central point of control for numerous video
servers and graphics devices, or MOS protocol may be used to send playlists to
MOS-compatible playout controllers.

System Administrator Tasks

System Administrator Tasks
The following sections describe common system administrator responsibilities and tasks.
Basic Tasks

Before you can customize or maintain the iNEWS newsroom computer system, you must
learn several basic tasks, which include:
•

Start up or shut down iNEWS Server software, which includes logging out users and
taking the system offline.

•

Back up a site file before making file modifications.

•

Send system administrator commands from the console to one or more of your system’s
computers.

•

Become a console superuser, capable of performing actions that are only accessible to
users with superuser permissions.

User Tasks

A user is anyone who can log in to the database and use iNEWS NRCS. Your
responsibilities regarding users are:
•

Monitor user information, such as users’ access privileges and which users are currently
logged in.

•

Customize the traits of users’ accounts to enable users to more effectively use the
system.

•

Provide a new employee access to the information stored in the iNEWS NRCS database
by creating a new user account.

•

Remove user accounts of former employees to prevent improper access to the iNEWS
NRCS database.

Database Tasks

The iNEWS system database contains the information your oganization needs to function. A
system administrator’s tasks associated with the database include:
•

Design forms (that is, story templates) to display important information about stories in
a queue.

•

Monitor changes to files and queues in the database.

•

Unlock or delete any item in the database, and recover items that were accidentally
deleted or corrupted.

29

1 Introduction

•

Create new folders or queues in the iNEWS system database to meet your organization’s
expanding needs—including setting up rundowns.

•

Remove a directory or queue from the database, if it is no longer used.

•

Change the name or traits of an existing directory or queue.

•

Assign the mailbox trait to queues for configuring automatic story distribution into and
out of queues.

Security Tasks

There are many ways to ensure the security of your iNEWS system. Your responsibilities
regarding system security include:
•

Monitor and change passwords or force users to change them by setting up system
checks and modifications.

•

Monitor user login activity to guard against unauthorized use of the iNEWS system.

•

Assign security to a directory or queue, limiting access to a specific group of users.

•

Restrict database access by placing users into security groups based on job roles and
need for information.

Customizing the System

Your responsibilities regarding customization include:
•

Customize command names, message text, and other items by changing their entries in
your system’s dictionary files.

•

Create templates for the CG Title Entry tool.

•

Design and assign custom keyboards for users with a unique set of keyboard macros.

Storage Maintenance Tasks

You will want to monitor the database regularly to ensure adequate storage. Storage
maintenance tasks include:

30

•

Monitor how much free space is available in the database and, if necessary, increase the
amount to prevent the system from running out of space.

•

Perform preventive database maintenance by periodically running certain utility
programs that can find and fix minor problems before they become serious.

•

Backup the entire database or portions of it onto tape, so if necessary, the information
can be restored to the database later.

•

Make a backup copy of files any time you make important changes.

System Administrator Tasks

Device Tasks

A device is any kind of hardware or software that performs a specific function when it is set
up on the iNEWS system. Your responsibilities regarding devices include:
•

List the parameters of any device running on your system or list all devices of one type.

•

Add any type of device to your system, if you have the capacity and license permission.

•

Edit site-specific files, to change the setup information for a device in your system’s
configuration file.

•

Reconfigure the system so it recognizes any changes you make to your system’s
devices.

•

Set up printer styles so users can print stories or queues in predetermined formats. For
example, a director rundown only showing specific rundown fields.

•

Set up servers, which are utility programs automatically performing various actions on
the database.

•

Change wire distribution and sorting of data coming into your database from a wire
service to queues based on their category codes or content.

•

(Optional) Write dialogs—lists of instructions—for each connect service to automate
the connection process. A connect service is a device that connects a user to a remote
computer system.

Reviewing Default Settings

Your responsibilities regarding system profiles, default settings, and command syntax
include:
•

Changing a system profile setting to change your system’s operation.

•

Reviewing default settings of all system profile parameters.

•

Reviewing command syntax for edit, console, and job list commands.

Troubleshooting

Your troubleshooting responsibilities include:
•

Transfer system activities from a halted computer to other system computers. If a
computer connected to the system has been halted, bring the system back to operation
using the remaining computers

•

Reconnect a computer that has been halted. Following routine maintenance, reintegrate
a computer into your system’s operation.

31

1 Introduction

32

2 The iNEWS Console
The iNEWS console multiplexor serves as a “command center” that enables system
administrators to monitor and maintain the iNEWS newsroom computer system.
This chapter contains the following main sections:
•

Overview of Hardware

•

Starting the Console

•

Logging in as a System Operator

•

Entering Superuser Mode

•

Changing System Administration Passwords

•

Exiting the Console

•

Troubleshooting a Frozen Console

•

Types of Console Commands

•

Selecting One or More Servers

•

Zooming in on One Server

•

Using Console History

•

Using the Remote Console

•

The Console Configuration File

Overview of Hardware
The iNEWS console multiplexor serves as a “command center” that enables system
administrators to monitor and maintain the iNEWS newsroom computer system. The
iNEWS console multiplexor—commonly known as the console—is a DOS- or
Windows-based computer running custom-created Avid software. The console PC
connects—via a serial link—to two or more iNEWS Servers and communicates with each
server simultaneously.
The following diagram shows a sample layout for a dual-server newsroom computer system.

With an external analog modem line, the console also provides a secure remote console
feature, which enables a system administrator or Avid Customer Support personnel, if
necessary, to do routine maintenance and diagnostic work while away from the computer

Starting the Console

room. On newer Windows-based consoles, other remote access software can let
administrators access the console securely from inside the network without needing to be at
the console. However, Avid Customer Support requires a modem for remote access.
Console Keyboard

While the console multiplexor uses a standard computer keyboard, the Enter key on the
numeric keypad is the console’s Command key, the Escape key is—by default—used as the
Escape character for remote command execution, and the system administrator can
preprogram the keyboard’s function keys to execute console commands. The following
diagram identifies the locations of important keys on the typical console keyboard.

n

The Enter key on the numeric keypad will be called the Command key throughout this guide
to prevent confusion with the Enter key on the keyboard.

Starting the Console
If your console has been turned completely off, it should start the console program
automatically when it boots up. If not, it can be started manually.
To start the console program:

1. Do one of the following:
t

From the operating system prompt, type: console.

t

Double-click console.exe.

2. Press Enter.
The console display will appear with multiple regions, each region associated with a server
and showing the following prompt:
login:

35

2 The iNEWS Console

Console Display
Although the console can control multiple servers, your console has one screen, which is
often divided into regions to separate the output from each server. The user can alter the
display to show multiple regions or a single region.
The following graphic shows a console display for a dual-server system; the console screen
is divided into two regions.

Your console screen has as many regions as there are host servers in your system.In the
example, the top region displays the output from server A, and the bottom region displays
the output from server B. The wavy lines (^^^) to the left of the identifier for server B
indicate that it is currently selected or active. Each region will have its own server and
command prompts, after which you can enter various commands. See “Types of Console
Commands” on page 41 for more information.
To identify which region belongs to which server, the console displays the name of the
server that a region represents in that region’s lower right corner.

n

Each server’s name is based on the system ID (typically a station’s call letters) and the
server’s name (usually a single letter, such as A, B, or C). Examples in this guide use NRCS
as the fictional station and system ID.
Should data shown in a region extend beyond the size of the screen, the user can temporarily
pause the display output. See “Using Console History” on page 46 for more information.

36

Logging in as a System Operator

Logging in as a System Operator
System administrators must log in to iNEWS at the console differently than other users who
log in at an iNEWS Workstation. For security reasons, system administrators should log out
of the system when not using it.
To log in as the system operator:

1. Select the server(s) displaying the login prompt. See “Selecting One or More Servers”
on page 45 for more information.
2. Type: so.
3. Press Enter.
4. If your system has a password for this account—and most do—then type in the
password when prompted. To keep the password confidential, the console does not
display what you type.

n

The system operator password is set during installation of the iNEWS Server software on the
iNEWS Servers. For information about changing the system operator password, see
“Changing System Administration Passwords” on page 38.
5. Press Enter.
The console’s server prompt will look similar to this:
NRCS-A$

Entering Superuser Mode
An administrator can take special system privileges as a console superuser when he or she
needs to use more powerful—and therefore potentially more dangerous—commands. Once
the administrator is done with these more powerful commands, he or she can give up the
privileges without logging out. Giving up the privileges (by exiting superuser mode) helps
prevent mistakes and provides better security.
The console’s server prompt is the visual indicator for whether you are logged in as a system
operator or have enter superuser mode. The server prompt for a system operator login ends
with a dollar sign ($). The server prompt while in superuser mode ends in a pound sign (#).
The system operator prompt looks like this:
NRCS-A$

37

2 The iNEWS Console

The superuser prompt looks like this:
NRCS-A#

n

If a command example in this guide shows the superuser prompt—ending in a pound sign
(#)—you must be in superuser mode to use the command.
A password is required for taking superuser privileges. This password is the same as the root
user password, which is set during installation of the Linux operating system on the iNEWS
Servers. See “Changing System Administration Passwords” on page 38 for more
information.
To take superuser privileges:

1. If you are not already logged in, then log in as a system operator, by typing: so.
2. Enter superuser mode by typing: su.
3. Press Enter.
4. Type the superuser password at the password prompt. To keep the password
confidential, the console does not display what you type.
5. Press Enter.
After you entered the password correctly, the console shows that you have superuser
privileges by changing the dollar sign ($) at the end of the server prompt to a pound sign
(#). If you enter an incorrect password, the console displays an error message and
returns you to a system operator prompt.

c

To prevent users from typing unauthorized commands, never leave the console
unattended when logged in with superuser privileges. You should enter superuser
mode only when you need to type a superuser command, and give up the privileges
immediately after typing the command.
To give up superuser privileges and return to the system operator prompt:

t

Press Ctrl+D.
The console shows that you are a system operator by changing the pound sign (#) at the
end of the console’s server prompt to a dollar sign ($).

Changing System Administration Passwords
When logging in to the console as either a system operator or superuser, a password is
needed. These system administration passwords are typically set by Avid Customer Support
technicians during the installation of either the iNEWS Server software or the Linux
operating system (OS). However, they can be changed later by system administrators at the
console.
38

Changing System Administration Passwords

n

Changing the superuser password also changes the Linux root user password, which is set
during the Linux OS installation, must be more than six characters, initially.
Keep a confidential record of password changes. Knowing the passwords is critical. If you
forget your passwords, the operating system might need to be reinstalled from scratch by
Avid Customer Support technicians.
For more information on changing the password for the remote console, see “Editing the
Console Configuration File” on page 55.
To change the system operator password:

1. Log in as a system operator, using the current password.
2. At the server prompt, type the password command, as shown: NRCS-A$ passwd
3. Press Enter.
4. Type the current password, and press Enter.
5. When prompted, type a new password, and press Enter.

n

If the system operator password is fewer than six characters or is based on a word in the
dictionary, the system will issue a “BAD PASSWORD...” message, but it will accept such
passwords. The system will not accept a blank password.
6. When prompted to confirm, retype the new password, and press Enter.
To change the console superuser password:

1. Enter superuser mode, using the current password.
2. At the superuser prompt, type the password command, as shown: NRCS-A# passwd
3. Press Enter.
4. Type the current password, and press Enter.
5. When prompted, type a new password, and press Enter.
6. When prompted to confirm, retype the new password, and press Enter.

n

If the password does not match, the system displays an error message. Start over by retyping
the new password. Also, if the superuser password is fewer than six characters or is based
on a word in the dictionary, the system will issue a “BAD PASSWORD...” message, but it
will accept such passwords. The system will not accept a blank password.
7. Press Ctrl+D to leave superuser mode.
The pound sign (#) at the end of the console’s server prompt will change to a dollar sign
($).

39

2 The iNEWS Console

Exiting the Console
You should leave the console on at all times while the iNEWS system is running. However,
the following situations might require you to exit the console:
•

You need to edit the console’s configuration file. See “The Console Configuration File”
on page 52 for more information.

•

The console is frozen, and you are unable to unfreeze it using the methods described in
“Troubleshooting a Frozen Console” on page 40.

To exit the console:

1. Press the Command key.
2. Press Ctrl+E.
3. When COMMAND^EXIT appears, press Enter.
The console application closes.

n

If running on a DOS system, after the console application closes, the prompt for your
operating system will appear.

Troubleshooting a Frozen Console
If the servers on your system are not responding to commands and are not displaying
messages, potential causes to look for include:
•

Ensure that you or someone else has not stopped scrolling. If you suspect this problem,
restart scrolling.

•

Ensure that the server ports have not stopped sending and receiving. If you suspect this
problem, restart the sending and receiving from server ports.

•

Verify whether static electricity froze one or more of the servers’ I/O ports. If you
suspect this problem, reset the servers’ I/O ports.

•

Check for an application program that will not stop running. If you suspect this problem,
stop the program and log in again to the console.

Here are several possible procedures you can do to identify and resolve the problem.
To check and restart scrolling:

1. If that is the case, XOFF is displayed under the region where scrolling has stopped.
2. Press Ctrl+Q to start scrolling.

40

Types of Console Commands

To restart sending and receiving from server ports:

1. Press the Command key.
2. Type: x.
3. Press Enter.

n

In the previous two procedures, the XON command is shown being issued in two ways: first,
by pressing Ctrl+Q and second, by pressing the Command key and typing x. Either way will
accomplish the exact same thing.
To reset the servers’ I/O ports:

1. Select the affected server(s).
2. Press the Command key.
3. Type: r (for reset).
4. Press Enter.
To stop a runaway program:

1. Select the affected server(s).
2. Hold down the Control key and press the backslash key (Ctrl+\).
This stops the program on the selected server(s).
If this does not stop the program so that the console displays a system prompt, suspend the
program by pressing Ctrl+Z—or whatever the suspend (susp) character is. The default is
Ctrl+Z.
You can use the jobs command to list suspended programs and kill suspended programs by
using the kill command along with a percent sign (%) and the job number, such as: kill %1.
If the console still does not respond, exit the console program and restart it as described in
“Exiting the Console” on page 40 and “Starting the Console” on page 35.

Types of Console Commands
You can type two kinds of commands at the console:
•

Server commands are sent to the iNEWS Servers.

•

Console control commands are sent to the iNEWS console software that communicates
with the servers.

41

2 The iNEWS Console

A detailed list of commands is provided as an appendix to this guide. See “Console Control
Commands” on page 478 and “Console Server Commands” on page 482 for more
information. Also, see “If You Need Help” on page 24 for more information on syntax of
console commands.
System administrators can preprogram the function keys on the keyboard to execute
commands, too. For more information about assigning commands to function keys, see
“Assigning Commands to Function Keys” on page 44.

Using Server Commands
The iNEWS system will not recognize server commands entered in upper case. Type server
commands at the console in lower case after the prompt for the server to which you want the
command sent. For instance, if you want to send a command to server A, type the command
after the server prompt associated with server A.

n

The console displays each server’s prompt based on the system ID and the server’s name,
separated by a hyphen. Examples in this guide use NRCS as the system ID and single
letters—such as A, B, or C—as the server name.
For instance, the server prompt might appear like this: NRCS-A$
The appearance of the server prompt varies, depending on how the system administrator is
logged in to the console. See “Logging in as a System Operator” on page 37 and “Entering
Superuser Mode” on page 37 for more information.
An example of a server command is the list sessions command—or list s
command—which when sent to an iNEWS Server will return information about who is
logged in.
To simultaneously send a server command to multiple servers:

t

Type the server command followed by a pound sign (#).
The # character acts as a place holder for each server name. It is replaced with each
server’s computer name, such as A or B, before the console sends the server command
to all servers in the system. This allows system administrators to send commands to
multiple servers without having to select each server and send commands individually.
For instance, when you type connect # the command connect a is sent to server A,
connect b to server B, and so forth.

To stop a server command:

t

42

Press Delete.

Types of Console Commands

If that does not work, press Ctrl+C—the stty interrupt character. Doing so will interrupt the
command’s execution. As a last resort, pressing the Control and Backslash keys (Ctrl+\—the
stty quit character) will stop the command’s execution. Avid recommends you should
attempt to “interrupt” before trying to “quit” the execution.
If the server sends a message while you are typing a command, the console stops displaying
your keystrokes to display the message. However, it continues to record what you type. After
it has displayed the message, then the console will display the data you typed in its entirety.
If you are interrupted by a console display or have mistyped a command, you can cancel the
entire command line and start over by pressing Ctrl+U.

n

The character used to issue the command that cancels an entire command line—known as
the “kill” character—may be customized, using the stty command. For instance, to set it to
the “at” character, you would type: stty kill @.
To reset it to the default Ctrl+U, type: stty kill ^U.
The same customization capability applies to the “intr” or “interrupt” character, which is
used to interrupt a running program. For instance, type: stty intr ^? to set it to the
Delete key, To reset it to the default Ctrl+C, type: stty intr ^C.
To clarify, the ^U and ^C —shown above— mean to hold the Shift key down and press the 6
key, to get the ^ character, and then the U or C letter key respectively. The same applies to
the ^?. You can view these settings by entering the server command: stty -a.

Using Console Control Commands
The Enter key on the numeric keypad is the console’s Command key. When you press it, the
console displays the command prompt—also called the command line—from which you can
type in commands.
The command prompt appears as shown:
COMMAND^
To enter console control commands:

1. Press the Command key.
2. Type the console control command.
Some of the most common console control commands are those used to activate a region
of the console display—by selecting an iNEWS Server(s)—and those commands used
to view a record of messages displayed on the console, known as the console history.

43

2 The iNEWS Console

These commands are explained in “Selecting One or More Servers” on page 45 and
“Using Console History” on page 46. For a complete list of console control commands,
see “Console Control Commands” on page 478.
3. Press Enter.

n

If you make a mistake when typing a command, use the Backspace key to move the cursor
back and then type over the error.

Assigning Commands to Function Keys
The system administrator can preprogram the keyboard function keys to execute commands.
For instance, you can program F1 to select server A, F2 to select server B, and F7 to move
up 200 lines in the console history buffer.
To assign a command to a function key:

1. Press the Command key.
2. Type the name of the function key you want to use, followed by the equal sign (=) and
the command the key is supposed to execute.
The following example assigns the command of choosing server A to the F1 key:
f1=c a

3. Press Enter.
To assign a command sequence to a function key—that is, include the Command and
Enter keys in the definition—use the open brace ({) to represent Command, and the
close brace (}) to represent Enter.
For example, to program the complete command sequence (press Command key, type
computer command to select all servers, and press Enter) to function key F10, you
would type: f10={c *}
To change a command assigned to a function key:

t

Assign a new command to the key.

To delete a function key’s command assignment:

t

Assign a null value to the key.

Displaying Function Key Assignments
To avoid inadvertently overwriting a function key’s command assignment, you can check
whether a command has been assigned to a specific function key.

44

Selecting One or More Servers

To find out the command (if any) assigned to a key:

1. Press the Command key.
2. Type the name of the key, such as F9.
3. Press Enter.
Press Command again to clear the command assignment from the console screen.

Selecting One or More Servers
On the console, you can select one server or multiple servers at the same time. For instance,
some commands must be executed on all servers simultaneously, so on a two-server system,
you must select both server A and B before typing in the command.
To select only server A:

1. Press the Command key.
2. Do one of the following:
t

Type: computer a

t

Type: c a

3. Press Enter.
To select both the A and B servers:

1. Press the Command key.
2. Do one of the following:
t

Type: computer ab

t

Type: c ab

3. Press Enter.
To select all servers:

1. Press the Command key.
2. Type: c *
3. Press Enter.
Selecting all servers enables you to send a command to all of them simultaneously.
When you select all servers, each server region’s bottom line changes to a wavy line of
caret symbols (^^^). Only one cursor appears, usually in the top region; however, the
console commands you type appear simultaneously in each region of the console screen.

45

2 The iNEWS Console

Zooming in on One Server
In addition to the computer command, you can also use the zoom command to select a
server. Unlike the computer command, which operates in multiple region mode, zoom
selects one server at a time and devotes the entire console screen to that server (or region).
To zoom in on one server, such as server B:

1. Press the Command key.
2. Do one of the following:
t

Type: zoom b

t

Type: z b

3. Press Enter.
The following graphic shows the console screen after “zooming in” on server B’s
region.

To restore the screen to its former multiple region state, use the computer command to
select any server. It does not matter which one you select; the console screen will revert to a
multiple region display, and the region for the selected server will have the cursor.

Using Console History
When output from a server command consists of more lines than can fit in a region, lines
will be scrolled off the screen. The console maintains a history buffer containing
data—known as console history—that has appeared on the screen.

n
46

The system can also be configured to log console history for viewing at a later time.

Using Console History

You can go scroll through the console history to review prior activity on any of the iNEWS
Servers.

The top of the buffer contains the oldest information; the bottom of the buffer contains the
most current. To view this data in screen-sized chunks, you must pause the screen display.
To pause the screen display:

t

n

Press Ctrl+S. The console screen temporarily stops scrolling.

Pressing Ctrl+S does not have any effect if you are using a remote console. A remote console
is connected by a modem dial-in from an external location. See “Using the Remote
Console” on page 50 for more information.
When the screen is full of text, XOFF appears at the bottom of the selected region, as
shown:

To manually resume scrolling:

t

Press Ctrl+Q.
47

2 The iNEWS Console

Even if you do not press Ctrl+Q, the console automatically resumes scrolling after a
pause of 60 seconds.
To view recent history on a particular server:

1. Zoom in to the server whose history you want to review.
2. Press the Command key.
3. Do one of the following:
t

Type the up command, which moves the console screen up one line in the history.

t

Type the down command, which moves the console screen down one line in the
history.

t

Type the top command, which moves the console screen to the top of the history.

t

Type the bottom command, which moves the console screen to the bottom of the
history.

If you follow the up or down commands with a number, the console screen will move up
or down that number of lines in the history. For instance, up 10, moves up—or back in
the console history—10 lines. If you follow the up or down commands with a word, the
console screen will search from the current position backward or forward for that word,
and if found, moves to the line containing that word. The commands are not case
sensitive.

n

The pound character (#) is a wild card that can be included in the word to be searched for
with the up and down commands. It is also used to search for numbers. For instance, up 10#
is a numerical search, and is not the same as up 10, which will move up 10 lines in the
console history.
4. Press Enter.
The print command may also be used to view lines of console history. When the
command is followed by a number, the screen will display that number of lines of
history, starting from the current position. When the print command is followed by the
word, all, the screen will display all lines from the current position scrolling to the
bottom of the history, or newest line of information.

n

48

The print command does not send console history text to a printer. The command for
printing lines of history to a printer is list, followed by either a number or the word, all.
See “Console Control Commands” on page 478 for more information.

Using Console History

Logged Console History
You can configure iNEWS to log console history to disk for later review. The logs are
written to the hard drive on your console PC, traditionally in the C:\Console directory or on
a Windows-based computer at: C:\Program Files\Avid\Console.
The logs are named as shown in the following table:
File for server A

File for server B

Contains the following information

log.a1

log.b1

Most recent console history

log.a2

log.b2

Old console history

log.a3

log.b3

Older console history

log.a4

log.b4

Oldest console history

The log.a1 file is the most recent console history; you can also view it as shown in prior
examples using the up command.
As the log.a1 file fills up, old files are renamed and a new log.a1 file is created as follows:
•

log.a1 is renamed log.a2

•

log.a2 is renamed log.a3

•

log.a3 is renamed log.a4

•

A new log.a1 is created

The log files are ASCII text files that can be read with any word processing program. You
must exit the console program if you want to edit the logs in any way.

n

You can use the view console control command to view the log files without editing or exiting
to DOS, but view only lets you start at the top of the file and scroll down. You cannot move
back or search for words. See “Console Control Commands” on page 478 for more
information.
Both the presence or absence of disk logging and the size of the log files can be configured
in the console.cfg file. See “The Console Configuration File” on page 52 for more
information.

49

2 The iNEWS Console

Using the Remote Console
The console should have a modem attached to it. This enables someone in another location
to call up the console and log in, thereby turning the remote computer into a remote console.
The primary use for a remote console is to enable Avid Customer Support technicians or
system administrators to perform diagnostics and maintenance work on the iNEWS system
from a remote location.
This section explains the requirements for dialing in over a modem line, what you can expect
to see on the remote screen, and how to execute commands remotely. It also provides
procedures for logging out from a remote console and logging out a remote user from the
main console.
To dial in to the console, you must have a computer that transmits and receives ASCII
characters. You must also have set the following modem options:
•

Eight data bits

•

No Parity

•

One stop bit

•

9600 baud rate

To connect as a remote console:

1. Dial in to the console.
To prevent unauthorized people from dialing in to the console, remote access is
protected with a password. When you dial in, you see a PASSWORD prompt on the screen.
If you do not see the prompt immediately, pressing Enter should display it.
2. Enter the password when prompted.
After you type the correct modem password, the console connects you to the first server
listed in the console configuration file, usually server A.

n

The modem password is set in the console’s configuration file. See “Editing the Console
Configuration File” on page 55 for more information.
At the console, MDM is displayed at the bottom of the region representing the server that
was selected from the remote console. Commands typed at the remote console are sent
to that server and displayed on its console region. Likewise, output from that server are
displayed both on the console and the remote console.

50

Using the Remote Console

Executing Remote Commands
After logging in, you can type commands and review history almost as if you were seated at
the console itself. All commands except zoom are available from the remote console. Just as
at the console, these commands can be abbreviated using the first letter in each command.
There are also some differences when using a remote console:
•

The remote console displays screen input and output for only one server at a time, even
if you have more than one selected.
When you select two or more servers, the order in which you list the servers in the
computer command determines which server’s display you see. For instance, if you type
c ab to select servers A and B, you see output only from server A on the remote console,
even though what you type is sent to both A and B.

•

n

Use the Escape character instead of the Command key to display the console command
prompt.

The Escape character, by default, is set to the Escape (Esc) key; however, the character may
be customized, using the escape command in the following format: escape 
For instance, to set the Escape character to the keystroke combination of the Control and Y
keys (Ctrl+Y), type: escape Ctrl+Y.
The Ctrl in the above command means to hold down the Control key while pressing the Y
letter key. It is important to remember that the escape command can only be used from a
remote console and there must be a space after the command.
To reset the Escape character to its default, type the escape command, space, then press the
Escape key. For instance, type: escape Esc.

Logging out a Remote Console
After connecting to the console from a remote location, you should remember to log out.
If you are at the main console and discover that you or someone else has been using the
remote console but did not log out when done, you can log out the remote user from the
main console.
To log out after you finish using the remote console:

1. Press the Escape character.
2. Type: l. The lowercased L in this step stands for logout.
3. Press Enter.
4. When the remote console redisplays the PASSWORD prompt, hang up your modem.
51

2 The iNEWS Console

To log out a remote console user from the main console:

1. Press the Command key.
2. Type: m. The lowercased M in this step stands for modem.
3. Press Enter.

n

Always follow this procedure before disconnecting the modem on the main console.

The Console Configuration File
The console uses information from its own configuration file—a text file called
console.cfg—to set a number of parameters, such as:
•

Whether or not disk logging is enabled

•

Information about each of the servers connected to the console

•

Information about the remote console

This section contains a sample configuration file, defines the console configuration
keywords and their parameters, and provides procedures for viewing and editing the file.
Sample Console Configuration File

Here is a sample console configuration file:
computer
hostess 3f8
irq 4
label NRCS-A
name A
speed 9600
;
computer
hostess 2f8
irq 3
label NRCS-B
name B
speed 9600
;
computer
hostess 3e8
irq 4
label NRCS-C
name C
speed 9600
;
52

The Console Configuration File

modem
hostess 2e8
irq 3
password mux
speed 9600
timeout 0:05

The configuration file consists of a list of keywords, such as name and label. Most keywords
are followed by parameters, such as a and NEWS. The keyword modem identifies the start
of the modem (remote console) section. The keyword computer identifies a server section.
Each server and the modem must have its own section in the console configuration file.
Console Configuration Keywords

Here are the configuration keywords and their parameters if they have any.
Keyword & Parameters

Description

computer

Indicates the beginning of a server section. Must appear at the top
of each server section on the configuration file.

hostess 

Indicates which port address (in hex) the console uses to
communicate with a particular device (that is, a server or the
modem). This information, which is dictated by the hardware, was
placed in the configuration file when your system was installed
and should not be changed.

irq 

To get the attention of the console, each device (that is, the servers
and the modem) connected to the console must have an interrupt
request number defined. Typically, these are shared: COM 1 and 3
use the same number, and COM 2 and 4 use the same number. The
irq keyword tells the console which interrupt request to expect
from each device.
This information, which is dictated by the hardware, was placed in
the configuration file when your system was installed and should
not be changed.

label 

Defines a label that the console uses to identify each server’s
region of the console screen. The label can be up to 15
alphanumeric characters long, and is typically the system ID.

53

2 The iNEWS Console

Keyword & Parameters

Description

log  [server(s)] Enables disk logging. No matter what filename (for example, log)
[max size]
you designate here, the system always uses extensions like A1,
A2, and B1, as indicated in “Logged Console History” on page
49. If you do not follow the filename with a list of the servers for
which you want history to be recorded, the console records history
for all servers. If you omit a log size it defaults to 16,384 bytes.
This example creates a log file on the C drive in the same location
as the console application (console.exe) for all servers, and its
maximum size is 40,000 bytes: log c:log * 40000
modem

Indicates the beginning of a modem section of the configuration
file.

name 

Names the server described in that section of the configuration
file. Each server must have A, B, C, or D as its name.

password 

The modem password that must be typed when someone logs in at
a remote console. The password can have up to eight
alphanumeric characters and is case sensitive.

portaddress 

Selects the DOS address (in hex) the console should use to
communicate with a particular device, such as a modem. This
information which is dictated by the hardware, is placed in the
configuration file during installation and should not be changed.
Each device must have a port address defined in its section. The
portaddress keyword is used instead of hostess when your system
has four servers and a modem. In that case, the modem must use
com1 as its port. The port parameter should always be defined as
3f8.

speed 

Sets the baud rate for communication between the console and the
server. The console ports always communicate at 9600 baud, eight
data bits, no parity, and one stop bit.

timeout 

Allows you to set a time-out value for any modem connection.
The system automatically logs out a modem connection if there is
no activity for a specified amount of time. For instance, a value of
6:00 would automatically log out a modem connection after six
minutes of inactivity. This keyword, which should only be used in
the modem section, provides added protection should a user forget
to logout from a modem connection to the console.
With a value of 0:00—the default value—the feature is disabled,
which means the system will not log out a modem connection
regardless of inactivity length. The maximum value is 546
minutes and 7 seconds (546:07).

54

The Console Configuration File

Viewing the Console Configuration File
You can view the console’s configuration file from the console itself or, on a Windows-based
PC, open it in a text editing program, such as Wordpad, to view it.
To view the console.cfg at the console:

1. Zoom in on one server, such as server A.
2. Press the Command key.
3. Do one of the following:
t

Type: view console.cfg.

t

Type: v console.cfg.

4. Press Enter to display the first line in the console configuration file.
5. Continue to press Enter to scroll through the file.

Editing the Console Configuration File
Probably the only modification you will ever need to make to the console’s configuration file
is to change the modem password, used when logging in from a remote console.
To edit the console.cfg file:

1. Open the file using Microsoft’s program, Wordpad.
2. Save the file after you complete your modifications.

n

If the console configuration file is stored on a DOS PC, you need to use a DOS editing tool,
such as edit to change it, or copy the file to a Windows-based PC to edit it.

55

2 The iNEWS Console

56

3 Getting Started
System Administrators are responsible for knowing how to start up and shut down the
iNEWS system. This requires logging in at the console multiplexor, which is done
differently than other iNEWS users and provides access to features that other logins do not.
Information on using the console, including logging in, is covered in Chapter 2. This chapter
provides specifics on starting up and shutting down the newsroom computer system.
This chapter contains the following main sections:
•

Starting the System

•

Shutting Down the System

•

Starting a System in Single-Server Mode

Starting the System
The following procedure shows you how to reboot your servers and synchronize them. This
is primarily for dual- or triple-server systems. For steps on starting a system in single-server
mode, see “Starting a System in Single-Server Mode” on page 62.

n

Because the following procedure applies to an entire system that has been shut down, you
must perform all the steps on all servers, except where otherwise indicated.
To start your iNEWS system:

1. Power up or reboot servers to the login prompt.
The servers will display the following line ten times—one per second:
Press any key to continue.

If no key is pressed, the bootup will continue normally after ten seconds. If a key is
pressed, the system displays a message similar to the following:

The default is the SERIAL CONSOLE option, for booting to the iNEWS console. Use
the up or down arrow keys to select another option; however, the other options should
not be used for any reason, unless instructed to do so by Avid Customer Support
personnel. Press Enter to continue.

Starting the System

c

c

If the system was not shut down as described in “Shutting Down the System” on page
60, check the console history for messages indicating that all servers shut down at the
same time. Do not connect servers unless you are sure their databases are mirrored. If
you cannot find messages indicating simultaneous shutdown, or are otherwise unsure
whether the disks are mirrored, call Avid Customer Support for assistance before
proceeding. If the servers are not mirrored, it will be necessary to bring the system up
as a single-server system and go through the re-mirroring process. See “Starting a
System in Single-Server Mode” on page 62 for more information.
If the system was taken through a normal shut down according to instructions, the
databases would still be mirrored and you can continue the normal startup procedure.
2. Select all servers.
3. Log in as a system operator by typing: so
4. When prompted, type the password.
5. Type: connect #
The # character acts as a place holder for each server name, allowing you to send a
single command to multiple servers simultaneously. So, typing connect # will send
connect a to server A, connect b to server B, and so forth.
When connected, each server displays status messages and the system prompt returns.
Messages similar to the following appears:
connect successful for NRCS-A, starting servers...
A is OFFLINE. ID is NRCS.
System is A. Master is A.
Disk status is OK. The database is OPEN.

Connecting servers provides each server with a unique name and causes each one to
read and interpret the system profile. The servers can work together as a system after
reading the system profile information.
6. (Optional) Check for edit and order locks if you are restarting the system after a power
failure. During a power failure, the system might not have had time to remove edit and
order locks from the database before shutting down.
When you restart the system, remove these locks.

n

Checking for edit and order locks might take time depending on the size of the database. In
an emergency, bypass this step to get the system running. Go back later and remove locks to
provide system access. The system can detect invalid locks and will ignore them.
a.

Select one server.

b.

Type: dbclean -x .
59

3 Getting Started

The -x option tells dbclean to skip queues or directories marked with a skip flag,
reducing the time it takes to run.
The period (.) after the -x causes dbclean to start at the root directory of the
database, so that it does not miss any part of the database not marked with a skip
flag.
7. Select all servers.
8. Type: startup
Information similar to the following appears:
Checking free space...
Sep 10 15:42:51 NRCS msg: System is being configured
database size 10002352,free 9955000=100%,freelist 1991
Starting NRCS programs...
booting device 100
booting server 130

The startup command does the following:
-

Causes the master computer (usually server A) to read the configuration file

-

Brings each server online so users can log in

-

Checks database free space (dbfree)

-

Starts all devices and utility programs

The console displays device-ready messages (Hot-to-go as each device starts up,
indicating that the device is online and available.

n

Resources used for iNEWS Workstation, Data Receiver, and rxnet sessions do not print any
messages until a workstation establishes a connection.

Shutting Down the System
If you need to turn off your servers or reboot the system, first shut down the system. Shutting
down the system:

60

•

Saves any open stories

•

Removes any remaining edit and order locks

•

Ensures that each server’s copy of the database is the same

Shutting Down the System

n

Because the system requires that you shut down all servers at the same time, most steps in
this procedure are performed on all servers simultaneously. Except where instructed to do
otherwise, ensure that you have selected all servers before performing each step. See
“Selecting One or More Servers” on page 45 for more information.
To shut down your iNEWS system:

1. Broadcast a message to notify users that the system is being shut down. For instance,
type: broadcast -dl Please log out, system being shut down.
2. Select all servers.
3. Log out all users.
4. Type: status
This will display the systems current configuration status; verify that the servers are still
connected to each other and running in the normal AB configuration for dual-server
systems or ABC configuration for triple-server systems. If they are, you may continue
with normal shutdown procedures.

n

If the servers do not all display the same configuration settings—such as “System is
AB”—then the databases on the servers are most likely not mirrored and must not be
brought back up using normal startup procedures. Contact Avid before proceeding.
5. Type: shutdown
A message similar to the following appears:
WARNING! This will stop all devices on this computer, and close the
database.
To prevent loss of work in progress, 'logout all' first.
Do you really want to do this (y/n)?

6. To continue, type: y and press Enter.
The screen appears similar to the following:
Do you really want to do this (y/n)? y
/exc/shutdown: Stopping all devices
/exc/shutdown: Closing database

The shutdown process stops all workstations, wires, and other devices, and no further
changes can be made to the database.
7. Log in as a superuser, by typing: su

61

3 Getting Started

8. When prompted, enter the password.
NRCS-A$ su
password:
NRCS-A#

9. When the superuser prompt appears, shut down the system by using a form of the init
command, as shown:
NRCS-A# halt
Broadcast message from root (ttySO) (Fri ...)
The system is going down for system halt NOW!
INIT: Stopping atd: [ OK ]
Stopping keytable:

[ OK ]

...
Turning off swap:
Turning off quotas:
Unmounting file systems:
Halting system...
flushing ide devices: hda
System halted.

10. Turn off each server.
To start up the system again, follow the procedure in “Starting the System” on page 58.

Starting a System in Single-Server Mode
If the servers were not operating in their normal system configuration, such as AB in
dual-server systems, or if they were not shutdown using normal procedures according to
instructions in this manual, the databases on the servers may not be mirrored.

c

If the databases are not mirrored, you must not bring the system up using normal start
up procedures as instructed in “Starting the System” on page 58 or you will risk
database corruption.
If non-mirrored servers, the system administrator must bring the system up in single-server
mode and then go through the database re-mirroring process. This section provides the steps
for starting a system in single-server mode.

62

Starting a System in Single-Server Mode

n

Contact Avid Customer Support for assistance with triple-server systems. It might be
possible to start these systems in a dual-server mode, depending on the circumstances of the
shutdown.
To start the iNEWS system in single-server mode:

1. Power up or reboot the server on which you want the system to run.
2. Select that server.
3. Log in as a system operator by typing: so
4. When prompted, type the password.
5. Do one of the following:
t

To connect server A as a single system, enter the following command:
connect a single=a

t

To connect server B as a single system, enter the following command:
connect b single=b

n

The syntax net=a or net= b is also acceptable. If you have a third server, such as server C,
use C in place of A or B. Also, notice in the following sample message that the “System is A”
not AB or ABC.
Messages similar to the following appear:
Sep 10 16:25:52 inews-a last message repeated 15 times
...
Sep 10 16:26:44 inews-a work:[2034]workserver Hot-to-go
connect successful for NRCS-A, starting servers...
A is OFFLINE. ID is NRCS
System is A. Master is A.
Disk status is OK. The database is OPEN.
NRCS-A$

6. (Optional) Check for edit and order locks if you are restarting the system after a power
failure. During a power failure, the system might not have had time to remove edit and
order locks from the database before shutting down.
When you restart the system, remove these locks.

n

Checking for edit and order locks might take time depending on the size of the database. In
an emergency, bypass this step to get the system running. Go back later and remove locks to
provide system access. The system can detect invalid locks and will ignore them.
t

Type: dbclean -x .
63

3 Getting Started

The -x option tells dbclean to skip queues or directories marked with a skip flag,
reducing the time it takes to run.
The period (.) after the -x causes dbclean to start at the root directory of the database,
so that it does not miss any part of the database not marked with a skip flag.
7. Type: startup
Checking free space...
Sep 10 15:42:51 NRCS msg: System is being configured
database size 10002352,free 9955000=100%,freelist 1991
Starting NRCS programs...
booting device 100
booting server 130

The entire newsroom computer system will now be run off the single server. The
commands entered on a single-server system for shutting down are the same as those
used to shut down a dual-server or triple-server system. To return to a dual or
triple-server system, it will be necessary to complete the database re-mirroring process.

64

4 Users
People in your newsroom must have user accounts to use the iNEWS newsroom computer
system. Each user account has various user traits associated with it that capture information
about the user’s interaction with the system—information such as passwords, keyboard
preferences, and permissions for story editing.
This chapter explains how the system administrator can access and change user account
information from any iNEWS Workstation. However, user traits can also be viewed and
modified at the console. The procedures for using the console are covered in “Managing
Traits at the Console” on page 623.
This chapter contains the following main sections:
•

Viewing User Accounts

•

Modifying User Traits

•

-

Changing a User’s Password

-

Changing User Preferences

-

Setting up Simplified Users

Creating New Users
-

Creating a New User Area in News Database

-

Adding a New User Account

-

Enabing a New User to Receive Mail

•

Searching for User Information

•

Removing User Accounts

•

The User Manager Account

•

The Database Manager Account

•

Logging Out All Users

Viewing User Accounts
You must be logged on as a superuser or user manager (umanager) to change user traits. For
an explanation of the umanager account and privileges, see “The User Manager Account” on
page 96.
To view traits associated with a particular user account:

1. Select Tools > Options > Users.
The Manage User Accounts dialog box appears.

2. Enter the user name in the User ID field.

n

An asterisk (*) in the User ID field will result in all user accounts listed when you click
Search or press Enter. To search for all users with names that start with a certain letter, type
that letter followed by an asterisk.
3. Do one of the following:
t

Click Search.

t

Press Enter.

Viewing User Accounts

The results of the search appear in the User List field located in the center of the dialog
box. The data provided in the field includes: User ID and Name, last time the user
logged in, whether the user account has superuser privileges, and so forth. The scroll bar
at the bottom of the field may be used to view the rest of the User Account data.

n

The Print User List button will send the User Account data for the results appearing in
the User List field to the printer. There is no option to selectively limit what data is
printed.
4. Do one of the following:

n

t

Double-click the user name in the User List field.

t

Click the name once to select it, and then click the Modify/Display button.

The Modify button will appear with the word Display on it if you do not have authority to
modify user accounts. This applies to user managers (umanager) who cannot alter
superuser accounts. Also, the traits shown in the dialog box will appear gray to indicate that
the information is for viewing only.
The Modify User Account dialog box appears.

The dialog box shows user traits associated with the account you chose, such as the
user’s name, read rate, and mail queue name. All user traits shown in the various
sections of the Modify User Account dialog box are explained in detail in “User Traits”
on page 69.

67

4 Users

Modifying User Traits
You must be logged on as a superuser or user manager (umanager) to change user traits. The
superuser account is an iNEWS user account with superuser type access privileges. It is not
the same as the superuser mode used at the console. See “User Traits” on page 69 for more
information. For an explanation of the umanager account and privileges, see “The User
Manager Account” on page 96.
To modify a user’s traits from an iNEWS Workstation:

1. Access the Modify User Account dialog box as explained in “Viewing User Accounts”
on page 66.
The Modify User Account dialog box appears.

2. Select or deselect check boxes and fill in the fields in the Queues section of the dialog
box as needed. See “User Traits” on page 69 for more information.

n

You can click the Get from Template button to copy traits from another pre-defined user
account. The template must be selected prior to the start of account modification or the
button will be inaccessible (grayed out). See “Adding a New User Account” on page 88 for
more information.
3. Create or change the password, as explained in “Changing a User’s Password” on page
74.

68

Modifying User Traits

4. Click User Preferences and modify settings, as explained in “Changing User
Preferences” on page 75.
5. Click OK to save modifications. The Cancel button closes the dialog box without saving
changes.

User Traits
The Modify User Account dialog box divides each user’s traits into sections, such as Type,
Edit Mode, Queues, and so forth.

These sections are explained in the following summary of all user traits.
User ID and User Name

The User Name field contains the user’s real name. It should not be confused with the User
ID, which the system uses to identify account activity. For instance, a user might have an
account with a User ID dmitchell; his real User Name is Dan Mitchell, but he will type
dmitchell, his User ID, to log on to iNEWS.

69

4 Users

Type

The Type section contains the check boxes that determine what type of user account is
assigned to the user, and consequently, what privileges.

If the check box is selected, the type is applied to that user account.
Type

Description

Superuser

A superuser account allows the user complete access to administration
features, such as user accounts, the database, the System directory, and
connect sessions to the console that controls the servers.

Blacklisted

A blacklisted account cannot be used to log in to an iNEWS Workstation.
This type is used for special accounts, such as umanager and dbmanager. It is
not intended for standard user accounts. Another practical use for this trait is
to quickly disable an account of someone leaving or someone who works
intermittently.

Simplified

A simplified account sets certain access limits, such as the maximum number
of iNEWS Workspaces allowed. See “Setting up Simplified Users” on page
83 for more information.

Local Only

User accounts flagged as local only cannot be used for session identification
by incoming Community sessions. The generic username is used instead.

Edit Mode

The Edit Mode section’s radio buttons set up the condition of the PC keyboard’s Insert
key at log in. The users can still toggle between Insert and Overwrite mode as they work.

70

Condition

Description

Insert

The Insert editing mode, when selected, means if a user types text between
two characters, the text is inserted at the cursor position without overwriting
the character to the right of the cursor. This is the more typical selection.

Modifying User Traits

Condition

Description

Overwrite

The Overwrite editing mode, when selected, means each character a user
types replaces the next character to the right of the cursor as the cursor moves
through the text.

Queues

The iNEWS system provides a People directory in the database file structure that lets system
administrators to set up a personal directory and two queues for each user as data storage.
The Queues fields in the Modify User Account dialog box indicate the navigation paths (or
locations) of the user’s personal directory and queues.

n

The actual directory and queues are not created here. The People directory, which can be
customized for your environment through a system dictionary, is provided as part of the
default database. See “Creating a New User Area in News Database” on page 86 for more
information.

Queue Fields

Description

Home

The Home field contains the path to the directory (folder) where the
Destination and Mail queues are stored in the database file structure.

Destination

The Destination field contains the path to the queue provided for the user as a
storage location, such as Notes.

Mail

The Mail field contains the path to the user’s Mail queue, which is where all
internal iNEWS mail to that user is kept in the database.
For sites that do not use iNEWS mail, set this field to
SYSTEM.SHREDDER. Also, even if your site uses iNEWS mail, all
template or special accounts (umanager and dbmanager for example) should
be set to SYSTEM.SHREDDER. This does not prevent users from sending
mail, but it does prevent user accounts from receiving mail.

71

4 Users

Read Rate

The Read Rate is the user’s spoken reading rate in words per minute. The average English
reading rate is 180 words per minute. The iNEWS system takes the read rate from the user
ID named in the story’s presenter field to determine the audio (air) time of a story. This also
applies to the text timing clocks.
Session Features

There are three sections of the Modify User Account dialog box pertaining to features. The
Session Features section defines access to other parts of the system.

If the check box is selected, the feature is applied to that user account.
Feature

Description

Media Browse

The Media Browse check box determines access to the Media Browse
plug-ins within iNEWS.

Connect Services

The Connect Services check box determines access to the Connect to Service
dialog box.

Manage Projects

The Manage Projects check box determine whether a user can manage
projects and facets in the system.

Configuration Features

The Configuration Features section pertains to the look of the iNEWS Workspace.

If the check box is selected, the feature is applied to that user account.

72

Modifying User Traits

Feature

Description

Toolbars

The Toolbars check box determines whether the user can create custom
toolbars.

Color Highlights

The Color Highlights check box determines whether the user can customize
the highlighting status colors in the queue.

Highlight Read

The Highlight Read Stories check box specifies that unread stories in the
queue are highlighted on the user’s screen. The highlight is removed when
the cursor is positioned on the story. This feature only applies to stories in a
queue with the Watch Appends database trait.

Queue Features

The Queue Features section pertains to access privileges in the Queue panel of the iNEWS
Workspace.

If the check box is selected, the feature is applied to that user account.
Feature

Description

Reorder Stories

The Reorder Stories check box determines authority to alter the order of the
stories in any queue to which the user has write access.

Create/Kill...

The Create/Kill Folders/Queues check box determines authority to create or
delete queues and folders (directories) in the database file structure, as seen
in the Directory panel of the iNEWS Workspace.

Kill All Stories

The Kill All Stories check box determines authority to delete all stories in a
single action from any queue to which the user has write access. The data is
actually moved from the selected queue to the DEAD queue where it remains
(and can be accessed) until purged.

73

4 Users

Password

The Password section has two options with which you can set up or force a user to change an
assigned password. See “Changing a User’s Password” on page 74 for more information.

Option

Description

Password

The Password button opens a dialog box that you can use to set up or change
the password protecting access to the user account.

Force Change

The Force Change check box determines whether the user is forced to change
the assigned password at the next login.

User Preferences...

The User Preferences button is used to view and/or modify a user’s preferences, such as
keyboard, printer, and confirmation settings. See “Changing User Preferences” on page 75
for more information.
Get from Template...

The Get from Template button is only used when copying the traits of one user’s account to
another. See “Adding a New User Account” on page 88 for more information.

Changing a User’s Password
The password must be a minimum of five alphanumeric characters (and a maximum of 12
characters) with no spaces. Use the system profile to set or change a required length for all
passwords for your site.

n

74

System administrators cannot retrieve a user’s password, only change it.

Modifying User Traits

To change a user’s password:

1. Click the Password button in the Modify User Account dialog box.
The Change User’s Password dialog box appears.

2. Type the password in the New password field.
3. Confirm the new password by retyping it in the Confirm new password field.
4. Do one of the following:
t

Click OK to store the password for saving after all modifications to the user’s
account are done. This will close the dialog box. The process of saving the
password is only completed after the OK button on the Modify User Account dialog
box is also clicked.

t

Click Cancel to close the dialog box without saving changes.

Changing User Preferences
System administrators can use the Preferences dialog box to set up default preferences for
users. However, the Preferences dialog box is—by default—accessible to users, so they can
alter these settings at any time. Users, unless their access is limited by the system
administrator, can access the Preferences dialog box to modify their preferences by selecting
Tools > Options > Preferences at any iNEWS Workstation. To learn how the system
administrator can limit access to this dialog box and its features, see “Setting up Simplified
Users” on page 83.

75

4 Users

To change user preferences:

1. Click the User Preferences button in the Modify User Account dialog box.

The Preferences dialog box will appear, containing several tabs.
2. Modify the preference settings on each tab as needed. The settings are described in
detail in “User Preferences” on page 76.
3. Do one of the following:
t

c

Click OK to store the preferences for saving after all modifications to the user’s
account are done. This will close the dialog box.

The process of saving the preferences is only completed after the OK button on the
Modify User Account dialog box is also clicked.
t

Click Cancel to close the dialog box without saving preference changes.

User Preferences
The Preferences dialog box contains several tabs. These various tabs are explained in the
following summary of all user preferences.

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Modifying User Traits

Session Tab

The Session tab has two sections, which system administrators can use to set up default user
preferences.

User Preference

Description

Keyboard

The keyboard drop-down list contains a list of keyboards (or sets of macros)
that can be assigned to the user account as a default for when the user logs in.
The Reload button lets the keyboard assignment take effect without having
the user log off and back on.

Printing

The Printing drop-down list contains pre-defined Styles that can be assigned
to the user account as defaults for when the user prints data from an iNEWS
Workstation.

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4 Users

Confirmations Tab

The Confirmations tab is divided into sections and contains check boxes that determine
whether iNEWS prompts the user to confirm a request before completing the command.

78

User Preference

Description

Saving Story

When Saving Story is checked, iNEWS Workstation will display a
confirmation message to save changes before closing an edited story. If you
do not select the Saving Story check box, the system automatically saves
changes before closing stories.

Exit

When Exit is checked, iNEWS Workstation will display a confirmation
message when the user attempts to close the iNEWS NRCS program at the
workstation.

Story Operations

When Story Operations is checked, iNEWS Workstation will display a
confirmation message before moving a story when you use the mouse to drag
it to its new position.

Queue Operations

When Queue Operations is checked, iNEWS Workstation will display a
confirmation message before moving all stories in a queue when you use the
mouse to drag them to their new position.

Queue Reorder

When Queue Reorder is checked, iNEWS Workstation will display a
confirmation message before moving a story to a new location in the same
queue.

Story

When Story is checked, iNEWS Workstation will display a confirmation
message before deleting a story or stories.

Modifying User Traits

User Preference

Description

Mail or Message

When Mail or Message is checked, iNEWS Workstation will display a
confirmation message before deleting e-mail or instant messages.

Production Cue

When Production Cue is checked, iNEWS Workstation will display a
confirmation message before deleting a production cue and its marker from a
story.

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A production cue marker (shown at left) appears in the Story Text
panel.

Backup Tab

The Backup tab defines the settings for the iNEWS Workstation to automatically back up
work in a current session to a specified location at specific time intervals.

User Preference

Description

Interval

Interval specifies the number of minutes between story backups. The default
is 10 minutes. Set the interval to 0 (zero) minutes to turn off the automatic
backup feature.

Directory

Directory specifies the path name—the location in which iNEWS
Workstation should store backup copies of stories. The location should be a
directory (folder) on the harddrive of the local PC/workstation. By default,
the location is the iNEWS program directory, which is only accessible to
computer administrators or power users. Regular Windows users should set
this to My Documents. You can type the path in manually, or click the
Browse button to select the directory from the Browse dialog box.

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4 Users

Refresh Tab

The Refresh tab sets the seconds for refreshing the screen at the workstation.

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This preference is unique because it only affects the workstation on which it is set.
Set the number to zero (0) for instant updating—that is, if you do not want to delay
refreshes. A zero delay does require more system and network resources.

Layout Tab

The Layout tab is divided into sections and contains buttons and check boxes that determine
the layout of panels and workspaces in the iNEWS Workstation main window.

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Modifying User Traits

User Preference

Description

Start in Session

The Start in Session field specifies the default session that will appear on
screen when the user logs in to iNEWS Workstation.

Get Current

The Get Current button will reset the preferences on the Layout tab to what
was set when the dialog box opened.
Depending on which Arrangement button is selected, the iNEWS
Workstation will display the panels of the iNEWS Workspace accordingly.

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Zoom

In the Arrangement section, when Zoom is checked, iNEWS Workstation
will display the iNEWS Workspace in zoom mode—that is, zoomed into one
of the three panels: Directory, Queue or Story.

Hide Form

In the Arrangement section, when Hide Form is checked, iNEWS
Workstation will display the Story panel with its Story Form panel hidden.
The user can choose to show the Story Form panel by selecting the option to
show the form from the Story drop-down menu.

Horizontal

In the Gridlines section, when Horizontal is checked, iNEWS Workstation
will display horizontal gridlines between rows in the Queue panel.

Vertical

In the Gridlines section, when Vertical is checked, iNEWS Workstation will
display vertical gridlines between columns in the Queue panel.

Use Default

In the Preview Lines section, when Use Default is checked, iNEWS
Workstation will display the default number of preview lines for each story in
the Queue panel as defined by the queue’s properties. When Use Default is
not checked, every queue will display only one line of information per story
in the Queue panel.

Users can manually override the Preview Lines setting by selecting the Story Preview option
in the View drop-down menu. In the Story Preview dialog box, the user can override the
default setting by typing in a number in the Lines to preview field. This overrides the setting
for the queue while displayed. Once the user exits the queue, the queue’s default setting is
reinstated. If the user wants to return to the default setting manually (as defined in the
queue’s properties), the user can click the Default button in the Story Preview dialog box.
The following figures show the difference between Queue panel displays with and without
Preview lines. The first figure shows the display using the default of seven preview lines, as
defined in the queue’s properties.

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4 Users

The second figure shows the Queue panel display without preview lines. This is the view
when Use Default is unchecked, unless otherwise specified.

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Modifying User Traits

Search ResultsTab

The Search Results tab allows you to set the default form used in the Queue panel of the
Search Results workspace.

The iNEWS Workstation will use the form selected from the Use form drop-down list when
displaying the results from searches in iNEWS. The forms you can choose from are those
created and stored in SYSTEM.FORMS. See “Creating Forms” on page 198 for more
information.

Setting up Simplified Users
A simplified user is one that has certain limitations pertaining to the iNEWS Workstation.
As the system administrator, you can define the limitations and then assign them to users.
Only one set of limitations can be defined, which is then applied to all user accounts with the
simplified user trait. In other words, either a user account has the simplifed user trait, with its
designated limitation settings, or it does not.
Some of the Simplified User Settings lock the user’s preferences to those defined by the
system administrator using the Preferences dialog box. See “User Preferences” on page 76
for more information.
To set up or modify the simplified user limitations:

1. Access the Modify User Account dialog box as explained in “Viewing User Accounts”
on page 66.
2. Click the Simplified UI button.

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4 Users

The Simplified User Settings dialog box appears.

The dialog box divides the settings into two sections, which are explained in the next
sections of this chapter.
3. Select or deselect check boxes, as required.
4. Click the OK button to save the settings and close the Simplified User Settings dialog
box.

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Use the Reset button to discard changes and reset the check box settings to what they were
when the dialog box opened.

Simplified User Settings
The Simplified User Settings dialog box splits the settings into two sections. These sections
are explained in the following summary of all simplified user settings.
Workspaces Section

The Workspaces section of the dialog box provides settings that pertain to the arrangement
and quantity of workspaces within the iNEWS Workstation’s main window.

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Modifying User Traits

Setting

Description

Limit Number to

When Limit Number to is checked, iNEWS Workstation will prevent the user
from opening more workspaces than the number specified. This limit does
not apply to the workspaces opened using the Urgent Wire and Mail buttons.
However, this does lock the Urgent Wire workspace so the user is unable to
navigate to other queues or directories in that workspace.

Lock Arrange

When Lock Arrange is checked, iNEWS Workstation will prevent the user
from altering the arrangement of panels in the Workspace. This disables the
Arrangement buttons on the standard Layout toolbar. The setting is locked
into the default arrangement as defined in the user’s User Account
Preferences.

Lock Layout

When Lock Layout is checked, iNEWS Workstation will prevent the user
from altering the layout of workspaces in the iNEWS Workstation main
window. This disables the Layout buttons on the standard Layout toolbar.
The setting is locked into the default layout as defined in the user’s User
Account Preferences.

Lock Zoom

When Lock Zoom is checked, iNEWS Workstation will prevent the user from
altering the zoom of panels in the iNEWS Workspace. The setting is locked
into the default as defined in the user’s User Account Preferences.

Application Section

The Application section of the dialog box provides settings that pertain to accessing certain
iNEWS features at any workstation.

Setting

Description

Lock Toolbars

When Lock Toolbars is checked, iNEWS Workstation will prevent the user
from altering the display of toolbars.

Lock Sessions

When Lock Sessions is checked, iNEWS Workstation will prevent the user
from creating or altering sessions. The user will be locked to sessions created
prior to the Lock Sessions being applied to the user account.

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4 Users

Setting

Description

Disable Title Entry

When Disable Title Entry is checked, iNEWS Workstation will prevent user
access to the Title Entry dialog box, used to enter production cues in stories,
and the Edit Title Entry Template dialog box, used to create CG templates for
the Title Entry feature.

Disable User Prefs...

When Disable User Prefs Dlg is checked, iNEWS Workstation will prevent
user access to the Preferences dialog box. The user will be unable to alter
user preferences, such as default printer settings. The user will be locked to
settings already in place at the time Disable User Prefs Dlg is applied to the
user account. See “Changing User Preferences” on page 75 and “User
Preferences” on page 76 for more information.

Creating New Users
To set up new users in iNEWS, you must complete three separate procedures:

n

•

Create areas in the iNEWS database file structure where the user can store notes and
receive mail. See “Creating a New User Area in News Database” on page 86 for more
information.

•

Add a new user account so that your system recognizes the user. This includes setting up
the user traits associated with the account. See “Adding a New User Account” on page
88 for more information.

•

Enable the new user to receive mail by adding him or her to the appropriate group. See
“Enabing a New User to Receive Mail” on page 91 for more information.

To ensure a user has appropriate database privileges, the user should also be assigned to the
correct group or groups. For more information, see “Adding Users as Members of a Group”
on page 162.

Creating a New User Area in News Database
While a user account will work without this area, it is traditional for each user to have his or
her own area in the database to keep notes and to receive e-mail. Usually, these areas are
separate queues called Notes and Mail. These queues are kept in a sub-folder—with the
user’s account name—in the People directory.
The common practice is to separate the first level of People sub-folders by using the first
initial of the user’s last name—otherwise, since the system is limited to 250 folders in the
People directory, your site might eventually reach the limit.

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Creating New Users

For instance, the following procedures, the Home directory for our sample user,
DANIELMI, would be: PEOPLE.D.DANIELMI. The Notes and Mail queues would be:
PEOPLE.D.DANIELMI.NOTES and PEOPLE.D.DANIELMI.MAIL, respectively.

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You must be logged on to iNEWS NRCS with a user account that has authority to create new
directories and/or queues to complete these procedures.
To create a new directory:

1. Using the database file structure in the Directory panel of the iNEWS Workspace, select
the directory under which you want the new folder to be created, as shown in the
following example.

For instance, for user DANIELMI, you would select PEOPLE, then the folder with the
alphabetic name corresponding to the first letter of the user’s name, such as D. This
ensures the new folder will be created in the D directory (folder).
2. Do one of the following:
t

Select Tools > New Folder.

t

Right-click on the folder in the Directory panel, and select New Folder from the
context menu.

A new folder is created under the selected folder. The New-Folder appears at the end of
the list of existing folders.The title, New-Folder, is highlighted, so you can rename it.

3. Type the name of the new folder.
4. Press Enter to save the new folder name. You can now open the new folder (directory)
by double-clicking on it.
You can now create new queues for the user, such as Notes and Mail queues.
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4 Users

To create a new queue:

1. Navigate to and select the folder created to hold the queue you want to create, such as
PEOPLE.D.DANIELMI.
2. Do one of the following:
t

Select Tools > New Queue.

t

Right-click on the folder in the Directory panel and select New Queue from the
context menu.

A new queue appears under the folder you selected. The New-Queue appears at the end
of the list of existing queues. The title, New-Queue, is highlighted, so you can rename it.

3. Type the name of the new queue, such as MAIL or NOTES.
4. Press Enter to save the new queue name. You can now open the new queue by
double-clicking on it.

Adding a New User Account
When adding a new user account, you have the option of creating the account from scratch
or copying the traits of another user account already in the system. This section covers both
options.
Before you can copy user traits from one user account to another, you must first select the
account you want to copy—that is, select an account to use as a template.

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Creating New Users

To define an account as a template for copying to other accounts:

1. Select Tools > Options > Users.
The Manage User Accounts dialog box appears.

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If you do not have superuser privileges, which permits access to the Manage User Accounts
dialog box, the system will prompt you for the umanager password. If the umanager account
does not exist in the system, then access is only allowed to system administrators—that is,
those with superuser privileges. See “The User Manager Account” on page 96 for more
information. Also, see “User Traits” on page 69 for more information on the superuser trait
and its privileges.
2. Search for the user account you want to use as a template for copying user traits. See
“Searching for User Information” on page 91 for more information.
3. Select the User ID when it appears in the search results list.
4. Click Copy. The User ID should appear to the right of the button. When no template is
selected for copying, the words, “No template set,” appears to the right of the Copy
button.
Once a Template User is established, selecting the New User... button will start with the
same configuration as the template user, and selecting Get from Template when
modifying an existing user will set the configuration to that of the template user.

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4 Users

To add a new user account (either from scratch or by copying the user traits):

1. Select Tools > Options > Users.
The Manage User Accounts dialog box appears.
2. Click New User.

The Add New User dialog box appears.

3. In the User ID field, enter the login name of the user account.
4. (Optional) In the User Name field, enter the user’s real name.
5. (Optional) Modify the various traits you want to apply to the new user account.

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A user’s traits can be modified at the time of creation or afterwards from the iNEWS
Workstation or from the console. For more details about the various user traits, see “User
Traits” on page 69 or “User Traits Console Command Summary” on page 632.
6. Click Add to add the new user account.

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Searching for User Information

Enabing a New User to Receive Mail
This section gives you the basic steps you need to follow to enable a new user to receive
mail. If you need more information, refer to the information on groups in “Adding Users as
Members of a Group” on page 162.
To enable a new user to receive mail:

t

Add the user to a group in SYSTEM.GROUPS. When the group story is saved, the mail
delivery files are updated automatically.
A group story is one that you created in the system for groups in your organization such
as newscasters, staff, or reporters. By adding the user to a group, the user inherits the
group’s security traits.

Searching for User Information
A search capability in iNEWS lets you search for information about a particular user by
specifying a user name and including certain criteria to refine the search. You can specify
any alphanumeric characters in the search. You can use the asterisk (*), which acts as a
wildcard, only as a suffix—not as a prefix or in the middle of a word. Used alone, the
wildcard is equivalent to “all.” Used with additional information, the wildcard serves as a
parameter to the search.
For instance, if you are searching for all user accounts beginning with Dave, type Dave* (no
space).

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To search for information about users:

1. Select Tools > Options > Users.
The Manage User Accounts dialog box appears.

2. Enter the name of the user in the User ID field.
3. Click Search or press Enter.
If you search with a wildcard character and the system finds multiple matches, a results
box appears listing all “hits”. You can specify one by double-clicking on it; this opens
the specified user’s information in another dialog box.
The results of the search appear in the User List field in the center of the dialog box.
To quickly locate a name in the User List, type the name you want; the list will be
positioned to a point matching what you type. User names are not case-sensitive, so you
can use lowercase. To prevent you from having to type the whole name, the system
automatically tries to match the letters you supply with a name in the list. Continue
typing until the system locates the name you want.
4. Click Advanced to refine your search for a user.
The Advanced Search Settings dialog box appears with the All Users setting selected by
default.

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Searching for User Information

5. Select from the settings to specify additional search criteria. The criteria options are
explained in detail below.
Settings

Description

All Users

Search through all user accounts on the server.

Superusers

Confine the search to user accounts with the superuser attribute.

Non-Superusers

Confine the search to user accounts without the superuser attribute.

Blacklisted Users

Confine the search to user accounts with the blacklisted attribute.

Non-Blacklisted
Users

Confine the search to user accounts without the blacklisted attribute.

Members of Group

Confine the search to user accounts belonging to the security group you
select from the drop-down list.

Users Without
Passwords

Confine the search to user accounts that do not have passwords.

Simplified Users

Confine the search to user accounts that have the simplified user trait.

Non-Simplified Users Confine the search to user accounts that do not have the simplified user
trait.
Local Only Users

Confine the search to local system user accounts only.

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4 Users

Settings

Description

Non-Local Only
Users

Confine the search to non-local system user accounts only.

Date Range

Confine the search to dates you specify in the From and To fields and the
kind of date range:
When the user last logged in
When the user account was created
When the password changed
Specify the date by either clicking the arrow buttons or typing the dates
in ddmmmyyyy format. Indicate the day with two digits, the month with
three letters, and the year with four digits.

6. Click OK to confirm your advanced search setting or click Cancel to cancel it.
7. Click Search to initiate the search.
A progress bar appears if a lengthy search is underway. The results of the search appear
in the User List field in the center of the Manage User Accounts dialog box.
Above the field, iNEWS NRCS will display a brief statement indicating what matched
the search criteria, such as:
All users matching ‘*‘:

Use the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the User List field to view the information
headings, such as User Name, Last Login, Read Rate, and so forth.

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Removing User Accounts

Removing User Accounts
You must have access to the Manage User Accounts dialog box to remove user accounts. In
other words, you must be logged on as a system administrator—that is, with an account that
has superuser privileges—or successfully enter the user manager (umanager) password to
remove user accounts.

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Before removing user accounts from the system, remove the users’ names from the
stories in SYSTEM.GROUPS. This reduces the potential for mail bounce back errors.
To remove user accounts:

1. Select Tools > Options > Users.
The Manage User Accounts dialog box appears.

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If you are logged on as a system administrator, the Manage User Accounts dialog box will
appear automatically, following step 1. Otherwise, iNEWS will prompt you for the umanager
password (if that account exists in the system) before allowing access to the dialog box.
2. Enter the name of the user in the User ID field.
3. Click Search or press Enter.
The results of the search appear in the User List field in the center of the Manage User
Accounts dialog box.
4. Select the name of the user you want to remove by clicking the name in the User List
field.
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4 Users

5. Click Remove.
6. Click OK to remove the user or Cancel to stop the removal.

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After removing the user, you will also need to remove the user’s Home directory and the
Notes and Mail queues by deleting them from the system’s database file structure. You can
also use the msgclean command at the console to remove any of the user’s unread messages.

The User Manager Account
A user manager has some special system privileges, but not as many as a system
administrator/superuser. For instance, user managers can add, remove, or change any user
account, except those with the superuser attribute.
There can be only one user manager account in iNEWS; however, several users may acquire
user manager privileges by successfully entering the user manager password when
prompted. Unlike a superuser account, the user manager account is not used to log in to the
system. Users with user manager privileges log in to their own accounts, as usual. When
they need to do user manager tasks, they must access the Manage User Accounts dialog box,
by typing in the user manager password.
To create a user manager account:

1. Create a user account as explained in “Adding a New User Account” on page 88.
2. Give the account a User ID: umanager.
3. Assign a password to the account.
4. Make the user manager account blacklisted so that no one can use it to log in to the
system.
5. Assign the account superuser status to prevent a user manager (or anyone who does not
have superuser status) from changing the account’s password.
6. Tell the user manager(s) the ID and password for the user manager account.

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For further security, a write-access group should be assigned to SYSTEM.GROUPS
and only those with user manager privileges should be included in the group. If no
write-access group is assigned to SYSTEM.GROUPS, then all users who know the
umanager password can access the Manage User Accounts dialog box by selecting
Tools > Options > Users. After a write-access group is set up, any user managers with
nonsuperuser accounts must be included in the write-access group for
SYSTEM.GROUPS or they will not be allowed access to the Manage User Accounts
dialog box. See “Groups Tab” on page 128, “Adding Users as Members of a Group” on
page 162, and “Group Access and Usage Restrictions” on page 169 for more
information.

The Database Manager Account

The Database Manager Account
A database manager has some special system privileges, but not as many as a system
administrator/superuser. For instance, database managers can add, remove, or change any
database trait on a directory or queue in the iNEWS database from a workstation. Database
managers also have access to the CG Template Editor, used to create and modify template
for the Title Entry feature.
There can be only one database manager account in iNEWS; however, several users may
acquire database manager privileges by successfully entering the database manager
password when prompted. Unlike a superuser account, the database manager account is not
used to log in to the system. Users with database manager privileges log in to their own
accounts, as usual. When they need to do database manager tasks, they must access the
Directory/Queue Properties dialog box. To modify anything in the dialog box, they must
provide the database manager password.
To create a database manager account:

1. Create a user account as explained in “Adding a New User Account” on page 88.
2. Give the account a User ID: dbmanager.
3. Assign a password to the account.
4. Make the database manager account blacklisted so that no one can use it to log in to the
system.
5. Assign the account superuser status to prevent a user manager (or anyone who does not
have superuser status) from changing the account’s password.
6. Tell the database manager(s) the ID and password for the database manager account.

Logging Out All Users
Sometimes maintenance of the iNEWS system requires you to first log out all users before
completing a certain task, such as shutting down the system. This section explains the best
way to log out all users from the console.
To log out all users:

1. Select all servers.
2. To prevent users from logging in, take the system offline by typing: offline
Use offline silent if you want to suppress output of messages from new user login
attempts.

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4 Users

3. Use the broadcast command to send a message warning all users that are logged in that
they must log out and why. If the system will be shut down, include the time it will be
shut down. Here are a few examples:
NRCS-A$ broadcast -l WARNING\! System shut down at 12PM
NRCS-A$ broadcast -l LOG OUT\! System shut down at 5 minutes.
NRCS-A$ broadcast -dl LOG OUT\! System shut down in 10 seconds.

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The backslash (\) before the exclamation point (!) is required because the exclamation point
is a reserved character in Linux.
The -l (the letter L, not the number 1) after broadcast is to limit the message to local
workstations only and not to users connected through Community. You may also add -d after
broadcast and before the message if you want your message to appear at the workstation as
a popup message. The two can be combined as shown (-dl) to broadcast local popup
messages.
4. At the specified shutdown time, check the system for any users still logged in by
selecting one server and typing: list s
A message similar to the following appears:
G505 miller

A

G500 allen

B

G507 stevens

A

R801 stevens

A

A connect session will show up as an ‘R’ device. The system administrator must notify
them of the shutdown by some other means, such as by telephone.

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You must ensure that all users are logged out if shutting down the system. If a user is in
a connect session when the system is shut down, the user’s workstation stops, the
session is disconnected, and any unsaved work is lost. Ensure any connect session users
have logged out before you continue the shutdown procedure.
5. To stop a connect session, select the appropriate server and then use the following
format of the stop command: stop .
For instance, to stop the connect session (R801 stevens A) that was shown in the
previous example, type: stop 801
6. Select all servers.
7. Log out all users by typing: logout all

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If a user is editing a story, the system saves the file and then logs out the user. The logout
command will not log out users who are in connect sessions.

5 The Database: Directories, Queues,
and Stories
All relevant iNEWS information—except the system software and the Linux files—is stored
in the iNEWS database. This database contains stories, queues, and directories or more
specifically: scripts, rundowns, e-mail, messages, users, groups and their memberships, and
any other kind of information entered into the system. Some database maintenance, such as
altering the database file structure and traits, can be done from the console or from any
iNEWS Workstation. This chapter focuses on maintenance tasks at the workstation when
possible. However, when a task can be done at both the workstation and console, the console
information is provided as an appendix in this guide. See procedures for using the console in
“Managing Traits at the Console” on page 623.
This chapter contains the following main sections:
•

Overview of the iNEWS Database

•

Restrictions to Directory or Queue Creation

•

Creating a New Directory

•

Creating a New Queue

•

Creating a New Story

•

Renaming a Directory or Queue

•

Deleting a Directory or Queue

•

Recovering a Killed Story

•

Viewing Database Traits

•

Changing Database Traits

•

Database Purge Intervals and Limits

•

Identifying Locked Queues and Stories

•

Removing Locks from a Workstation

•

Unbusy Stories and Queues

Overview of the iNEWS Database
The iNEWS database is where all the data, such as scripts, rundowns, user accounts, and so
forth, are stored. The database is structured in a way to promote ease of maintenance. For
instance, it contains a file structure made up of directories, that contain other folders or
queues, which in turn contain stories. It is similarly to a filing cabinet.

In iNEWS, the database file structure—directories and queues—can be seen (depending on
your access privileges) in the Directory panel of the iNEWS Workspace. Directories, also
known as folders, are indicated by manila folders, such as the People directory in the
previous graphic. Queues are indicated by three overlapping pieces of paper, such as the
Dead queue.

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If your site uses the Projects feature of iNEWS, tabs will appear in the Directory panel
letting you select whether you want to view the iNEWS database file structure via the
Directory tab or a list of defined projects via the Project tab. For more information on the
Projects feature, see “iNEWS Projects” on page 465.
The scripts, notes, e-mail, news stories, and other kinds of information are all called stories;
each story is contained in a particular queue, and each queue in a single directory. A
directory can also be contained within another directory in which case it would be called a
subdirectory or sub-folder of that directory.
Directories and queues have database traits that determine how the system manages the
stories they contain, and also what actions users can perform with those stories.

Restrictions to Directory or Queue Creation

For instance, by modifying the database traits of a particular queue, you can:
•

Set its stories to read-only

•

Restrict who can read them

•

Enable the system to routinely purge stories in the queue older than a certain number of
days

Database traits are used in conjunction with the user traits discussed in “Users” on page 65.
For instance, stories in a queue that has a read group specified can be read only by users who
are members of that user group.

Restrictions to Directory or Queue Creation
Before you can modify the database traits of queues or directories, the queues and
directories must exist in the database. If they do not, you can create them from the iNEWS
Workstation. However, there are certain restrictions you should be aware of when creating
new directories and queues.

n

c

•

The total path name of a directory, including the separator characters (.), cannot exceed
60 characters.

•

The total path name of a queue, including the separator characters (.), cannot exceed 62
characters.

•

Each branch of a path name—that is the name between periods—cannot exceed 20
characters.

•

The number of directory levels available is limited to 31.

•

You cannot use a space or period in directory or queue names.

•

The system has a limit of 250 queues per directory.

The 250 limit also applies to first-level sub-folders in a directory. If you need more than 250
in a directory, such as employee folders, create alphabetic sub-folders on the first level, then
place the personal folders in the matching sub-folder. For instance, in a given directory, you
could have 26 sub-folders, each with one of the 26 letters of the English alphabet as a name.
This enables you to have 250 personal folders in each of the 26 alphabetic sub-folders;
that’s enough personal folders for up to 6,500 employees. See “Creating a New User Area in
News Database” on page 86 for more information.
While punctuation marks can be used in path names, Avid strongly recommends their
use be limited to dashes and underscores only to avoid confusion for FTP clients, like
teleprompters, accessing the database. It’s best to limit path names to 0-9, A-Z, hyphen
(-), and underscore (_) characters only because using anything else will have
consequences for console commands and could affect system functioning.
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5 The Database: Directories, Queues, and Stories

Ordinarily, directories and queues are listed in alphabetical order within their parent
directory. However, you can add items to a directory in a different order. For instance, if you
had directories for each month in the Futures directory, you would want them to appear in
order by month (January, February, and so on). To do this, turn on the sequential database
trait for the parent directory before you create the new items. See “Database Traits
Summary” on page 122 for more information.

Creating a New Directory
If you are creating a new first-level directory, be sure to select the server rather than a
directory or folder as explained in this procedure.
To create a new directory (folder):

1. Log in as a system administrator unless you have write-access to the parent queue or
directory. This ensures that you have full access to the database.
2. Using the database file structure in the Directory panel of the iNEWS Workspace, select
the directory under which you want the new folder to be created, as shown in the
following example.

For instance, you could select the Shows folder if you want to add a new directory for a
10 PM show. After the new sub-folder (10P) is created, you can create queues or
additional sub-folders in it.
3. Do one of the following:
t

Select Tools > New Folder.

t

Right-click on the directory—or server, if you are creating a new first-level
folder—in the Directory panel, and choose New Folder from the context menu.

A new folder is created under the selected folder. The New-Folder appears at the end of
the list of existing folders.The title, New-Folder, is highlighted, so you can rename it.

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Creating a New Directory

4. Type the name of the new folder, such as 10P.
5. Press Enter to save the new folder name. The newly created folder will inherit the
database traits of its parent directory initially. You can open the new folder by
double-clicking on it.

n

Once created, directories cannot be renamed from the iNEWS Workstation. If you incorrectly
name a newly created directory, delete it and recreate it with the appropriate name. See
“Renaming a Directory or Queue” on page 113 or “Deleting a Directory or Queue” on
page 115 for more information.
After you create a directory, you can configure its properties by right-clicking on the queue
and selecting Properties. A quick way to apply properties is to use a template. For more
information on copying properties from templates, see “Directory/Queue Properties Dialog
Box” on page 122.

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5 The Database: Directories, Queues, and Stories

Creating a New Queue
Similar to creating a new directory, you can create a new queue from an iNEWS
Workstation.
To create a new queue:

1. Navigate to and select the directory (folder) created to hold the queue you want to
create.
For instance, select the Shows folder, then the 10P folder, if you want to create new
queues, such as the Rundown and Master queues for the 10PM show.

The new queue will be created in the folder you select.
2. Do one of the following:
t

Select Tools > New Queue.

t

Right-click on the folder in the Directory panel and choose New Queue from the
context menu.

A new queue appears under the folder you selected. The New-Queue appears at the end
of the list of existing queues.The title, New-Queue, is highlighted, so you can rename it.

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Creating a New Queue

3. Type the name of the new queue, such as RUNDOWN or MASTER.
4. Press Enter to save the new queue name. The newly created queue will inherit the
database traits of its parent directory initially. You can open the new queue by
double-clicking on it.

n

Once created, queues cannot be renamed from the iNEWS Workstation. If you incorrectly
name a newly created queue, delete it and recreate it with the appropriate name. See
“Renaming a Directory or Queue” on page 113 or “Deleting a Directory or Queue” on
page 115 for more information.
After you create a queue, you can configure its properties by right-clicking on the queue and
selecting Properties. A quick way to apply properties is to use a template. For more
information on copying properties from templates, see “Directory/Queue Properties Dialog
Box” on page 122.

Outgoing Mail Queue
When someone sends e-mail, the first thing your system does is move the mail to the
outgoing mail queue, usually called SYSTEM.MAIL.OUT.

n

The outgoing mail queue’s name is defined in /site/dict/queues. When your system was
installed, the outgoing mail queue was defined in this dictionary as SYSTEM.MAIL.OUT. To
change this name, modify the dictionary entry in /site/dict/queues. The token used to
define the outgoing mail queue is Q_MAILOUT. See “System Configuration” on page 243
for more information on editing system files.
Mail always uses the form that is assigned to the outgoing mail queue. See “Mail Form” on
page 230 for more information.
After mail arrives in that queue, a utility program known as the mail server processes and
sends it to its intended destination. If the outgoing mail queue, SYSTEM.MAIL.OUT, does
not exist in the System directory, the mail server cannot distribute e-mail. To create this
queue, follow the instructions provided in “Creating a New Queue” on page 104, making
these adjustments:
•

The queue’s name should be “Out.”

•

The queue should be located in the Mail folder, which is in the System directory. If the
Mail folder (directory) does not exist, create it. See “Creating a New Directory” on page
102 for more information.

Moreover, the Out queue’s read group must be set properly for the mail server to process
mail correctly. See “Read Group” on page 171 for more information. Although not required,
you can restrict read permission for the queue SYSTEM.MAIL.OUT to a group that has no

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5 The Database: Directories, Queues, and Stories

users. Doing so does not interfere with anyone’s ability to send e-mail, but it prevents
anyone (except superusers) from reading mail in SYSTEM.MAIL.OUT waiting to be
processed. See “Restricting Both Reading and Writing” on page 174 for more information.
Also, for your system to notify the mail server when new mail arrives in
SYSTEM.MAIL.OUT, that queue must have the same mailbox number assigned to it as the
mail server. If the queue does not have a mailbox or has an incorrect one, your system has no
way to notify the mail server when there is mail to process. See “Maintain Tab” on page 130
for more information.

n

The mailbox number is not solely related to e-mail. This database trait lets you link a queue
to a server (utility program) so that the system notifies the server program when stories are
added to or edited in the queue. See “Maintain Tab” on page 130 and “Servers” on page
315 for more information.

Dead Letter Queue
Your system must also have a dead letter queue, usually called SYSTEM.MAIL.ERROR.
This queue is a final destination for any e-mail that your system is unable to deliver to the
addressee or return to the sender.

n

The dead letter queue’s name is defined in /site/dict/queues as SYSTEM.MAIL.ERROR.
To change the name of the queue, modify its dictionary entry in /site/dict/queues.
If SYSTEM.MAIL.ERROR does not exist, any mail that the mail server cannot deliver or
return to the sender is put in the Dead queue. To create SYSTEM.MAIL.ERROR, follow the
instructions provided in “Creating a New Queue” on page 104, making these adjustments:
•

The queue’s name should be “Error.”

•

The queue should be in the Mail folder, located in the System directory. If the Mail
folder (directory) does not exist, create it. See “Creating a New Directory” on page 102
for more information.

Returned mail may contain sensitive information. Therefore, restrict read permission for
SYSTEM.MAIL.ERROR to a group that has no members. Then, only superusers can read
mail in the queue. See “Read Group” on page 171 for more information. Examine the queue
occasionally to see whether any mail exists.

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Creating a New Queue

Search Queues
A search queue is a special queue that stores a pre-defined query of indexed queues, along
with its own queue form and read group. When users with proper read access open a search
queue, a fast text search (FTS) is activated, and the results are delivered to the workspace in
the Queue panel instead of the Search Results pane. The results can then be copied, moved,
deleted, and edited from the workspace. How fast the results are returned depends on the
speed of your FTS system, the size of your index, and the number of areas that is being
searched, but the usual timeframe is between one and 15 seconds.
To create a search queue:

1. At an iNEWS Workstation, in the Directory panel, right-click on a folder in which you
want the search queue created.
2. Select New Search Queue.
The New Search Queue dialog box appears.

3. Type the name of the new search queue and click OK. The naming restrictions for
search queues are the same for those of directories and other queues.
The Search Queue Setup dialog box opens with the name of the search queue appearing
in square brackets in the title bar. For instance, CRIME is the search queue name in the
following sample image.

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5 The Database: Directories, Queues, and Stories

4. Select the indexed queue or queues you want to search from your site or a Community
site, if available. To choose multiple queues, press and hold the Control key while
clicking on your selections.
5. Use the Search For area of the Search Criteria tab to set the filters for your search.
Otherwise, you can type in your query using the Raw Query Editor.
If using the Raw Query Editor, you should be familiar with syntax and operators used in
Find All searches, since they are the same for defining raw queries. For instance, the
following characters are used for the operators: And, Or, And Not, and Has Not.

108

Operator

Character

And

Ampersand (&)

Or

Pipe symbol ( | )

AndNot

Caret symbol ( ^ )

Has Not

Exclamation mark (!)

Creating a New Queue

Parentheses are used to specify evaluation order. For instance, you want to search for
stories that mention either Hillary or Bill Clinton, but you only want stories that do not
also mention their daughter, Chelsea.
You could enter: (Hillary & Clinton) | (Bill & Clinton) &!(Chelsea)
The combination &! accomplishes the same thing as the caret symbol (^) would in a
query. Another example is a query that searches for stories about domestic policies or
domestic agenda, but not domestic abuse. In this example the query might be written
this way:
(domestic & agenda) | (domestic & policy) ^ (domestic & abuse)

An asterisk (*) may be used as a wildcard for partial spellings, such as airp* to find
stories with words such as airport, airplane, and airplay.
6. Use the Date Search area to define a time frame for the query; you can search by the
date a story aired or was created, or by last date a story was modified.
7. (Optional) Maximum hits can also be altered in the Search Queue Setup dialog box. The
default is 10. When a user opens a search queue, the search’s result count is displayed in
the status bar.
8. Click Save to save your new search queue. It will appear in the Directory panel.
Search queues are distinguished from other types of queues by the icon. For search
queues, a magnifying glass icon appears, as shown at left.
9. After the search queue is created, by default it will use the queue form and read group
already associated with the parent directory in which the search queue was created. You
can view these properties or modify them by doing the following:
a.

Right-click on the new search queue in the Directory panel.

b.

Select Properties.
An abbreviated version of the Queue Properties dialog box opens, showing only the
Forms and Groups tabs.

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5 The Database: Directories, Queues, and Stories

Only the queue form property on the Forms tab may be altered for a search queue.
Though the other properties are displayed, they are read-only and not used by the
system.
On the Groups tab, only the read group property may be altered. A setting of
! means no read group is defined; therefore, there is no restriction, and
every user can see the search queue.

110

Creating a New Story

c.

n

Click OK. If any settings were modified, they will be saved. To close without
saving, click Cancel.

For more information about groups or forms, see “Groups” on page 151 or “Forms” on
page 197. See also “Database Traits Summary” on page 122.

Viewing Search Queue Information from the Console
A system administrator can view some information about search queues from the console,
by using variations of the list command.
To view information about a search queue:

t

Use the following format: list sq -v 
For instance:
NRCS-A$ list sq-v news.football
NEWS.FOOTBALL

query id:10522758

{MaxFound=100[SPIDEY]WIRES.ALL}((football))

For more information, see “list sq” on page 509.

Creating a New Story
In addition to opening existing stories, you can create new stories in a queue.
To create a story:

1. Open the queue in which you want to create a story.
2. Position your cursor in the queue below where you want the new story created.
3. Do one of the following:
t

Select File > New Story.

t

Press Ctrl+N.

t

Press the Insert key.

A new queue entry appears in the Queue panel as a blank row, and a blank story appears
in the Story panel.
4. In the Slug column of the Queue panel, enter the new story’s title.
5. Enter any other important information in the remaining columns for the new story.
6. In the Story panel, enter the story’s text.

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5 The Database: Directories, Queues, and Stories

Using Script Templates
Script templates are templates created by an administrator for users to quickly insert
predefined text into stories. The database structure for script templates is the same as the
structure used for forms and lists:
SYSTEM.SCRIPT-TEMPLATES..

For example, if a standard weather story has a set of production cues and presenter text that
are always the same, you can create a story that will be a script template in
SYSTEM.SCRIPT-TEMPLATES.W.WEATHER. In this story, place the standard text,
presenter text, and production cues found in standard weather stories. After the template
story is saved, the template is available to users via the Story menu or through an option in
the Story Text sub-panel’s context menu.
To use a script template:

1. Right-click in the Story Text sub-panel.
2. Select Insert Script Template. The Template dialog box appears with a list of all
available templates.

3. Enter the name or select the template from the list.
4. Click OK.
After the template is chosen, the template is inserted in the story’s body at the cursor
position.

n

112

Script templates can be used to replace the use of complex macros to insert reusable
material in stories.

Renaming a Directory or Queue

Renaming a Directory or Queue
You cannot change the name of a directory or queue from an iNEWS Workstation. However,
you can rename one from the console. All traits are preserved when a folder or queue is
renamed.

c

Do not rename queues on an active database. Do not run directory or queue
modification console commands (such as dbvisit or dbtraits) at the same time as the
rename command.
To rename a directory or queue in the database:

1. At the console, enter superuser mode.
2. Select all computers.
3. Take the system offline by typing the command: offline.
4. Broadcast a message instructing users to log out.
5. Log out all users on the system before renaming a queue or directory. This ensures that
no stories are open for editing.

c

If users are not logged out, changes to stories may not be saved after the queue or
directory is renamed. It is often most efficient to make several name changes at once.
See “Logging Out All Users” on page 97 for more information.
6. Type: stop all. This command stops running all utility programs—known as
servers—wire programs, and devices.
7. Select one computer.
8. Type the rename command to rename the folder or queue. Use the following format:
rename

[-v|-r]





For instance, to rename your People folder to STAFF, select one computer and type:
NRCS-B# rename people staff

A message similar to the following appears:
Do you really want to rename

PEOPLE

and all its sub-directories to STAFF ?
56 records will be modified [y/n]:

To display a console message for each renamed folder and queue, include the -v (for
verbose) option with the rename command, such as:
NRCS-B# rename -v people staff

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5 The Database: Directories, Queues, and Stories

c

If an attempt to rename a folder or queue was interrupted by a system crash, complete
it by re-entering the same command with the -r option. Use this option only to resume
an interrupted renaming—at any other time, its use will corrupt the database.
9. To continue with the renaming, type: y. A message similar to the following appears:
56 records will be modified [y/n]: y
Adding new directories...
Updating directory names...
56 directories renamed
1 directories added

The system verifies that the queue or folder you specified exists, and it creates new
folders necessary to complete your command (such as STAFF in this example). If you
choose a pathname over 63 characters, the following appears:
TO: name too long

n

Before modifying files, the system checks for name length overflow. If any of the
directory/queue names exceed their maximum length, no changes are made.
10. A verification request appears:
Do you want to update the user file (MAIL, HOME, DEST)? [y/n]:

The user file is where the names of users’ mail queues, home folders, and automatic
destinations are stored. If you answer y, any item affected by renaming is changed
automatically. If you answer no, you must change them yourself. Typically, answer yes.
Do you want to update the user file (MAIL, HOME, DEST)? [y/n]: y
23 user records modified

11. Manually update any other references on the iNEWS system to the renamed folders.

n

Update the references while the system is unavailable to users. Failure to update any
references affected by renaming a folder or queue can cause problems with system
operation.
These references can include:

114

-

Command bar icons set up by users

-

Your system’s service table

-

Dialogs

-

Keyboard description stories

-

Server or Rx/Tx link job lists

-

Wire distribution or keyword stories

Deleting a Directory or Queue

-

Your system’s queue dictionary (/site/dict/queues)

12. Select all servers.
13. Restart all devices by typing: restart all. You will see Hot-to-go messages as each
device starts.
14. Bring the system back online by typing: online. This allows users to log in.
15. Press Ctrl+D to leave superuser mode.

Deleting a Directory or Queue
If a queue or story is locked, unlock it first before deleting it from the database.
Ideally, each directory or queue should be empty of other directories, queues, and stories,
before it is deleted, but it is not required.

c

If a directory contains sub-folders or queues when you attempt to delete it, iNEWS will
prompt you for confirmation. If you affirm the deletion, the directory and all its
contents will be deleted from the system. Caution should be taken so that sub-folders
and sub-queues are not inadvertently deleted.
To delete a directory or queue from the database:

1. Log in as a system administrator unless you have write access to the queue or directory.
2. Select the directory or queue you want to delete.
3. Do one of the following:
t

Select Tools > Delete Folder (or Delete Queue).

t

Right-click on the directory or queue, then select Delete Folder (or Delete Queue)
from the context menu.

Recovering a Killed Story
You can recover a story that has been killed—moved to and currently resiing in the Dead
queue—from any iNEWS Workstation.
To retrieve a story from the Dead queue:

1. Log in as a system administrator—that is, with a superuser account. This ensures you
access to the Dead queue. On some systems, access to the Dead queue is restricted, and
stories within it are set to retain their original read and write permissions.
2. Navigate to the Dead queue in the Directory panel and open it by double-clicking on it.

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5 The Database: Directories, Queues, and Stories

3. Locate the story you want to recover in the Dead queue by scanning the list of stories
displayed in the Queue panel for the story title (slug) or using the Find or Find All
command. The Dead queue cannot be indexed, so you cannot use the Fast Text Search
feature.
4. Select the story or stories you want to retrieve by doing one of the following:
t

Click on the selector button located to the left of the story’s row in the Queue panel.
The entire row is highlighted when selected.

t

Move the cursor to the row and press Shift-Spacebar.

t

Click on each row’s selector button while holding down the Control (Ctrl) key to
select multiple stories. The Shift key can be held down if you want to select all story
rows between two mouse clicks.

5. Copy the selected story (or stories) to the new location by doing one of the following:
t

Click on and drag the highlighted selection to another queue in the Directory panel
and release. The selected stories will be copied to the new queue location.

t

Use the Copy and Paste buttons or the Edit menu options to copy and paste the
highlighted selection into a new queue location.

t

Use the Duplicate command to copy the highlighted selection to another
location—particularly if the Dead queue is read-only.

t

Drag the story or stories from the Dead queue into another queue in another
workspace. This lets you position the story or stories where you want them.

Viewing Database Traits
You can get information about your iNEWS database from both the iNEWS Workstation and
the console. Which one you use depends on what information you want to view.
Information Wanted

Source to Use

Information about a directory or queue

iNEWS Workstation

Information about several directories or queues
simultaneously

iNEWS Console

Information about stories in the database

iNEWS Console

This section provides procedures for viewing database traits for directories or queues from
either the workstation or the console. For more information about getting information on
stories, see “Viewing Information about Stories” on page 118.

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Viewing Database Traits

To view database information about directories or queues from the console:

t

n

Use the following format of the list command: list d 

This command has a verbose option, list d-v, which gives you more detailed information.
To view database information on a specific directory or queue from an iNEWS
Workstation:

1. Log in to iNEWS at a workstation.
2. Open an iNEWS Workspace.
3. Navigate to the directory or queue you want in the Directory panel.
4. Right-click on the name of the directory or queue.
5. Select Properties in the context menu.
The Directory/Queue Properties dialog box shows you the properties (traits) for the
directory or queue you selected; however, its look can vary. For instance, the Locks tab
does not appear when viewing properties of directories. If you are not logged in as a
system administrator, and no database manager account was created in iNEWS, the
dialog will appear like this:

The options in the dialog box appear gray, indicating they are for viewing only and
cannot be altered. Any user can view the traits of directories and queues in the iNEWS
database from a workstation.

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5 The Database: Directories, Queues, and Stories

If a database manager account exists, then a Database manager login button will appear
in the bottom left corner of the dialog box. See “Changing Database Traits” on page 136
for more information.

n

For more information about the various database traits available from the iNEWS
Workstation, see “Database Traits Summary” on page 122.

Viewing Information about Stories
The list q command lists story information at at the console for any of your system’s queues.
The basic format of the command is as follows:
list

n

q



[]

The list q command has a verbose option that gives you more detailed information. For
instance, a verbose list, such as list q-v, includes read and write group information for
each story in the queue. Read and write groups are explained in “Groups” on page 151.
Also, see “Managing Traits at the Console” on page 623.
The  specifies the number of stories from the queue you want to list. Queues
might contain thousands of stories so a command without a specified  might
scroll large amounts of output. For instance, to limit the list to the first three stories in
PEOPLE.CAROLYN.NOTES, type: list q people.carolyn.notes 2
A message similar to the following appears:
PEOPLE.CAROLYN.NOTES.SEARCH id=449889
rec

quick index

LHDM-WObfpRmF

f.id

time

modified-time

2

pm-chronology --DM-W-------

457243 165

Jul 10 16:16:39 2010

3

pm-thumbnails --DM-W-------

487595 163

Jul 10 16:21:17 2010

By default, the stories are listed in chronological order with the oldest story first.
The one-letter flags (LHDM-WObfpRmF) after the quick indexes provide current status
information. The flags are:

118

Flag

Status Information

Flag

Status Information

L

Locked

b

Story’s body (text) is edit locked.

H

Held

f

Story’s fields are edit locked.

D

Duplicated

p

Story’s production cues are edit locked

Viewing Database Traits

Flag

Status Information

Flag

Status Information

M

Modified

R

Read only

-

-----------

m

Mail

W

Wire

F

Floating

O

Ordered

You cannot change any of these flags from the console, except the edit-locked status, which
you can remove from a story with the unbusy console command. For instructions, see
“Unbusy Stories and Queues” on page 147.
To list information for a particular story:

t

Use the following format of the list command:
list qindex= q 

The index value is the value of the selected sort field of the story you want to list. This
value is typically the text found in the title field, but you can set different fields as the
index field.
For instance, to get story information for a story called Nomad in the queue
PEOPLE.SMITH.NOTES, type:
list qindex=nomad q people.smith.notes

A screen similar to the following appears:
PEOPLE.SMITH.NOTES id=449889
rec

quick index

LHDM-WObfpRmF

3901 bc-exp--nomad --DM---------

f.id

time

modified-time

420690

165

Jul 6 20:23:11 2010

In this example of the story in PEOPLE.SMITH.NOTES, the D and M flags appear,
indicating the story is duplicated and has the modified flag set.
The quick index value can be uppercase or lowercase and must be a single word with no
spaces unless you precede the space with a backslash (\) or put the index value inside
quotation marks (“ ”), such as either of these examples:
list qindex=terror\ suspect q show.10pm.rundown
list qindex=“terror suspect” q show.10pm.rundown

Viewing Who Moved, Duplicated, or Killed a Story
Additional options for the list command can also tell you the last person to move, duplicate,
or kill a story (sending it to the Dead queue).

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5 The Database: Directories, Queues, and Stories

To list the last person to move, duplicate, or kill a particular story:

t

Use the following format of the list command:
list qindex= q-mb  []

Since the Index field is typically the field containing the story’s title (slug), it can be
used as the search word.
The search word is a word from the Index (sort) field of the story. It is not case-sensitive.
It must be a single word with no spaces unless you precede the space with a backslash
(\) or put the search words inside quotation marks (“ ”). The record limit is the numerical
limit of stories provided in response to your list command—for instance, the most
recent stories killed in the Dead queue.
To list information for each story in a queue without using a word in the Index field:

t

Use the following format of the list command:
list q-mb  []

The b in the command is optional and stands for backwards.
-

list q-m — lists stories beginning with the oldest story in the queue

-

list q-mb — reverses the order and lists stories from the most recent material in the
queue, such as the most recently killed stories in Dead.

You can also run the command without the m to see the date and time stories were
moved, duplicated or killed.
For instance, type: list q-b dead 5
A screen similar to the following appears:
DEAD id=123231
rec

quick index

0

LHDM-WObfpRmF f.id

time

modified-time

---M--O-----

314490

0

Sep 6 09:51:58 2010

-1

kyw-directors

--DM--O-----

313587

15

Sep 5 11:47:33 2010

-2

a

---M--------

161746

11

Sep 6 09:15:06 2010

-3

sep 2010

---M--------

314093

0

Sep 5 17:34:19 2010

-4

008

--DM--O-----

313555

600

Sep 5 16:49:24 2010

Here is an example of how to obtain the five most recently killed stories in dead:
list q-mb dead 5

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Viewing Database Traits

A screen similar to the following appears:
DEAD id=123231
rec

quick index

0

LHDM-WObfpRmF

f.id

time

user name

---M--O-----

314490

0

palmer

-1

kyw-directors

--DM--O-----

313587

15

williams

-2

a

---M--------

161746

11

adbpurge

-3

sep 2000

---M--------

314093

0

-4

008

--DM--O-----

313555

600

ragusa

As shown in the example, some stories might be sent to the Dead queue by system
processes, such as the automatic dbpurge (adbpurge). Lines without names are old
versions of stories that were not written in the database by a user; for instance, they
might have been put in the database through txnet.
Here is an example of how to get information for a story called “Camera” in the
ASSIGNMENTS.MONDAY queue:
list qindex=camera q-m assignments.monday

A screen similar to the following appears:
ASSIGNMENTS.MONDAY

id=14569

rec

quick index

LHDM-WObfpRmF

f.id

time

user name

0

camera

--DM--------

16217

274

williams

Williams was the last person to move, duplicate, or kill this story; list q-m does not
make any distinction between these actions. Killed stories can reside only in the Dead
queue, while duplicated stories will have the D flag on their listing, as shown in the
previous example.

n

If a utility program, such as a server or link, moves, duplicates, or kills a story, its device
number is listed in the list q-m or list q-mb display.
When using the list command, long list results will scroll out of sight on the console
screen. Since you might need to search through a long list of stories, such as 5000 in the
Dead queue, you can redirect the output of the list command to a file in the database. For
instance, the following example redirects output to a user’s Notes queue.
NRCS-A# list q-mb dead 5000 | doc -ptu people.p.palmer.notes

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Database Traits Summary
Assigning traits can be done from the iNEWS Workstation as well as the console. For
information on viewing and altering database traits from the console, see Appendix G.
On the iNEWS Workstation, the database traits are grouped together on various tabs in the
Directory/Queue Properties dialog box. This section provides a detailed description of the
dialog box, tabs, and database traits. In some cases, traits offer a selection of options, such as
what read group is assigned to a queue. These traits are usually shown as drop-down lists in
the dialog box. In other cases, traits are either assigned to a queue or not—that is, the trait is
“turned on” or “turned off.” These traits are usually shown as check boxes in the dialog box.
Directory/Queue Properties Dialog Box

The appearance of the Directory/Queue Properties dialog box changes slightly, depending
on whether you choose to view properties for a queue or a directory. First, the dialog box’s
title bar will appear different, indicating that choice—either Directory Properties or Queue
Properties.

Other differences include check boxes and tabs. For instance, the Apply changes... check
box—shown in graphic on the left—only appears in the bottom left corner of the Directory
Properties dialog box. Also, the Ordered check box—shown in graphic on the right—only
appears in the right column of the Forms tab in the Queue Properties dialog box.
Both, however, have a Copy From Template button, which can be used to apply directory or
queue property settings from a template to the chosen folder or queue, respectively. This can
be very helpful when adding a new newscast to the database file structure.

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Avid recommends the use of templates to help speed up the process of future configuration
modifications as well as to help avoid the potential for user error.
When you click the Copy From Template button, the following dialog box opens with a
drop-down list of available templates from which to choose.

The templates in the list are created as queues in SYSTEM.PROPERTIES.
The number of tabs in the Directory/Queue Properties dialog box varies, depending on
whether you choose to view properties for a queue or a directory. The tabs are:
•

Forms

•

Groups

•

Maintain

•

User Interface

•

Interplay Server

•

Locks (This tab only appears in the Queue Properties dialog box.)

Each tab is explained in the following sections.
Forms Tab

The Forms tab is unique because it is the only tab that allows access to certain items even
when a user is connected to a local database, as opposed to the online database on the
system’s servers.

n

If you are connected to a local database on your workstation, you can still change the queue
and story form selection using the drop-down lists. However, all other traits in the
Directory/Queue Properties dialog box will appear gray, indicating access to them is
read-only.

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Trait Options

Description

Queue

The Queue drop-down list lets you select a form to display information in the
Queue panel. The form defines what fields appear, which should be a sub-set
of the fields used in the story form. A field included in the queue form that
does not actually exist in the story form cannot be written to in the Queue
panel. When ! is selected, no form is applied. This drop-down list is
the equivalent of the qform database trait (dbtrait) at the console.

Story

The Story drop-down list lets you select a form to display information in the
Story Form panel. When ! is selected, no form is applied. This
drop-down list is the equivalent of the sform dbtrait at the console.

Index Field

The Index Field drop-down list lets you select a form field that will be used to
sort the queue alphabetically. The cursor is placed on this form field by
default when a user displays stories in a queue. This drop-down list is the
equivalent of the sortfield dbtrait at the console. For more information, see
“Index Field/Story Form Compatibility Error Messages” on page 126.

n

Update existing...

The Update existing stories to use story form check box, when selected,
changes the story form assignment for previously existing stories within a
queue. This check box is the equivalent of the cform dbtrait at the console.

Strip embedded...

The Strip embedded form info for existing stories check box, when selected,
removes embedded form traits from stories. For instance, queues with the
Forms Allowed trait stamp the look of the story form into the story.
Assigning a different story form to one of these queues and selecting Update
existing... check box will not affect the look of stories with the embedded
forms. You would need to strip the embedded “look” from the story so it
would then use the form assigned to the queue it is in. This check box is the
equivalent of the stripform dbtrait at the console.

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124

The optional fields in the Index Field drop-down list depend on the form selected in the Story
drop-down list on the Forms tab. For instance, if you select a story form that only contains two
fields, such as Title and Writer, then those two fields will be the only options listed in the Index
Field drop-down list.

The Update existing... and Strip embedded... check boxes are not database traits, but rather,
they are used to apply current settings and/or changes in the dialog box at present. This means
they will always appear unchecked when the dialog box opens, and they will not appear at all
if the Directory/Queue Properties dialog box is opened in read-only mode.

Viewing Database Traits

Trait Options

Description

Forms Allowed

The Forms Allowed check box must be assigned to all queues in the Forms
directory. The forms will not work without this database trait applied.
Additionally, this trait can be assigned to any queue in the database, but is
usually only assigned to other queues that receive stories from other systems
via rxnet/txnet and then build forms for those stories, as needed. This check
box is the equivalent of the dbtrait +f|-f at the console.

Indexed

The Indexed check box, when selected, applies the Index trait. This trait is
assigned to queues and directories you want to be indexed by the Fast Text
Search (FTS) server. This allows for quicker searching of the queue or
directory.
This check box is the equivalent of the dbtrait +index|-index at the console.
See “Batch Indexing” on page 377 for more information.

Sorted

The Sorted check box, when selected, applies the sort trait, which determines
whether or not the stories in a queue will be sorted. Queues with the sort trait
are sorted by the form field you choose in the Index Field drop-down list. For
instance, you may want to sort a rundown queue by the Page Number field,
so when a user changes the numbering in the fields of that column, the rows
automatically adjust to the numerical order. See “Turning Off the Ordered
Trait of a Sorted Queue” on page 138 for more information. This check box
is the equivalent of the dbtrait +so|-so at the console.

Ordered

The Ordered check box only appears on the Queue Properties dialog box, not
the Directory Properties dialog box. The Ordered check box is a unique
check box, because it might appear as read-only, depending on the
circumstance. It is provided to show you whether a queue is currently
ordered. This is particularly helpful in identifying queues that have the sort
trait, but are no longer being sorted because a user manually adjusted the
order of stories in the queue. If a sorted queue was manually ordered, the
check box appears white and contains a checkmark, which you can remove if
you want to reinstate the sorting feature. Unchecking the check box is the
equivalent of the dbtrait, -o, at the console. See “Turning Off the Ordered
Trait of a Sorted Queue” on page 138 for more information. However, if a
queue is not ordered at present, then the box will appear gray and empty. You
cannot select this box to order a queue.

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Index Field/Story Form Compatibility Error Messages

A story form is a form that defines the fields displayed in the Story Form panel of the
iNEWS Workspace. The fields typically consist of important information about the stories
kept in the queue, such as the title, writer’s name, and the dates the story was created or
modified. The field chosen as the Index Field in the Queue Properties dialog box serves two
purposes:
•

It is the field used to sort stories in sorted queues.

•

When the Index Field is selected during a Find or Find All search of a non-indexed
queue, the system is able to return search results faster.

The Index Field is not associated with Fast Text Searches (FTS).
Therefore, it is crucial that the field selected as the Index Field actually exists as part of the
story form. For this reason, the system will check for compatibility between the settings of
the Story drop-down list and the Index Field drop-down list. Depending on the list
selections, various messages may appear.
When the index field is already defined based on the current story form setting, and a user
selects a different form from the Story drop-down list, the system will check to see if the
field chosen as the index field exists in the new story form. If it does not, a warning is issued.
For instance, the Index Field drop-down list is set to a field, such as Audio-Time, and the
Story drop-down list is set to the Rundown story form. At the current settings, there is no
warning because the Audio-Time field exists in the Rundown story form.
However, if the user changes the story form from Rundown to another form that does not
have the Audio-Time field, the following message appears.

The Audio-Time field is no longer in the Index Field drop-down list. The user must select
another field from the list as the warning message instructed. When the user clicks on the
Index Field drop-down list, the system refreshes the list of options to display only those
fields that exist in the currently selected story form.

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Normally, pressing the Escape (Esc) key after the Index Field drop-down list is open (and
therefore, refreshed), will close the list, retaining the original field selection. However, if the
original field choice does not exist in the newly chosen story form—such as the Audio-Time
field in the previously mentioned example—the list closes without any selection made, in
which case, the setting appears blank.
If you select no story form—or set it to !— then the system is forced to blank out the
index field and issue the following warning message.

This means the Index Field drop-down list will be inaccessible and appear grayed out. When
the index field setting is blank, the system will use the default field, which is the Title field
(also called the Slug field).
When an index field is blank—or in other words, no field is selected—the following
message appears.

If the index field drop-down list was already set to the Title field when the Directory/Queue
Properties dialog box opened, and the user manually blanks out the setting, the following
message appears.

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The above message indicates that by blanking out the index field setting, the default field,
which is Title, is automatically applied. Since the default is the same field as the original
field setting, no change occurs.
Groups Tab

This section provides information about database traits available as options on the Groups
tab of the Queue Properties dialog box.

See “Groups” on page 151 for more information about groups.
Trait Options

Description

General

The General check box, when selected, specifies that stories moved to the
queue will retain their original security restrictions, namely, their read and
write groups. For instance, in some cases, sites restrict access to the Dead
queue, but to further guarantee security of stories, the General trait is applied
to the Dead queue. This prevents users who do have access to the Dead queue
from opening stories they could not have opened in their original queues.
This check box is the equivalent of the dbtrait +g|-g at the console.

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Trait Options

Description

Read Group

The Read Group drop-down list lets you restrict read access to a queue or
directory to a group of users. Users who are not in the read group cannot see
the directory or queue. When ! is selected, no group is applied;
therefore, all users will have read access to the queue or directory. The groups
are not created here.
This drop-down list is the equivalent of the dbtrait readgroup or rg at the
console.

Write Group

The Write Group drop-down list lets you restrict write access to a queue or
directory. Users who are not in the write group cannot add or modify data in
the directory or queue. When ! is selected, no group is applied;
therefore, all users will have write access to the queue or directory. The
groups are not created here.
This drop-down list is the equivalent of the dbtrait writegroup or wg at the
console.

Notify Group

The Notify Group drop-down list lets you specify what group of users is
notified whenever stories are added to or modified in a queue. When !
is selected, no group is applied; therefore, no users will be notified of
additions or modifications to the queue or directory. The groups are not
created here.
This drop-down list is the equivalent of the dbtrait notify or ng at the console.

Editorial Group

The Editorial Group drop-down list lets you restrict editorial access to a
queue or directory. Users who are not in the editorial group cannot add
breaks, float stories, or reorder queues, nor can they delete, remove or move
data from a queue or directory. When ! is selected, no group is
applied; therefore, only a user who has Write privileges to the queue can add
breaks or float, reorder, delete, or move stories from the queue.
This drop-down list is the equivalent of the dbtrait editorialgroup or eg at the
console.

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Maintain Tab

This section provides information about database traits available as options on the Maintain
tab of the Queue Properties dialog box.

Trait Options

Description

Save Old Versions

The Save Old Versions drop-down list determines how many old story
versions are retained in each queue. The Save Old Versions drop-down list is
the equivalent of the dbtrait save-|n|o|a at the console. Options include:

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130

•

Save None – Retains no old versions of a story when a new version is
saved in the queue.

•

Save Previous – Retains the previous version of a story when a new
version is saved in the queue.

•

Save Original – Retains the original version of a story when a new
version is saved in the queue.

•

Save All – Retains all versions of a story when a new version is saved in
the queue.

The Save Old Versions trait is queue-specific. For instance, a story is moved from a queue that
saves all versions to a queue saving none. In this case, all versions are moved to that queue,
but the next time the story is edited and saved, the old versions are sent to the Dead queue. The
command dbdump honors the Save Old Versions when set to Save None and will only dump the
latest version of a story in the queue with that trait.

Viewing Database Traits

Trait Options

Description

Skip Backup

The Skip Backup check box determines whether or not a directory or queue
is left out of database backups. This check box is the equivalent of the dbtrait
+x|-x at the console, and is also known as a skip flag.

Update

The Update check box indicates whether or not the stories in a queue will be
replaced as new versions are moved or copied to it. This check box is the
equivalent of the dbtrait +u|-u at the console.

n

The Update trait does not affect stories restored from tape backups. If you restore a story to a
queue that already contains a version of that story, you will have two versions of the same
story, even if the queue is assigned the update trait.

Mailbox section

The Mailbox section does not apply to the e-mail feature of iNEWS. These
mailboxes are “signal carriers” by which utility programs, called servers, are
notified to perform a pre-defined task. See “Mailbox Tasks” on page 325 for
more information.
This section’s trait is the equivalent of the mail dbtrait at the console.
There are two types of mailboxes:

Purge

•

System – The System radio button and drop-down list are used to assign
mailboxes reserved for system functions, such as the keyboard and form
checkers. Each queue or directory that needs a reserved system mailbox
is assigned the correct one when the system is installed by Avid Customer
Support personnel. Options include: All, Keyboard, Keyword,
Distribution, and Group. See “Reserved Mailboxes” on page 327 for
more information.

•

Standard – The Standard radio button and spin box are used to assign
mailboxes to queues. These are mailboxes used by utility programs you
can configure, such as action servers. The mailbox number assigned to
the queue must match the mailbox number of the server monitoring it, as
defined in the /site/config file. Valid mailbox numbers are one
through 5000.

The Purge section allows you to set the reoccurrence schedule for purging a
queue. The purge interval determines how old stories in a queue can get
before they are purged. Every hour, your system removes any stories that are
older than their queue’s purge interval and places the stories in the Dead
queue. For more information, see “Database Purge Intervals and Limits” on
page 139.
The Purge section’s Days and Hours spin boxes are the equivalent of the
purgeinterval dbtrait at the console.

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User Interface Tab

This section provides information about database traits available as options on the User
Interface tab of the Queue Properties dialog box.

Trait Options

Description

Preview Lines

The Preview Lines spin box allows you to set a number of lines per story that
will appear as a preview in the Queue panel. Usually, a queue will only show
one line of information per story, similar to what appears in the fields of the
Story Form panel. By applying the preview trait, users can also see a preview
of each story’s text in the Queue panel, without having to open the entire
story. A setting of zero will show the one line of information that is the
standard; A setting of one will show that line plus one line of text, and so
forth. This trait can be overridden by a user’s preferences. See “Layout Tab”
on page 80 for more information.
The maximum number of preview lines allowed is 22. This spin box is the
equivalent of the dbtrait, dis, at the console.

Inverted

The Inverted check box, when selected, will force the most recent stories in a
queue to be displayed at the top. Otherwise, the most recent stories will
appear at the bottom.
This check box is the equivalent of the dbtrait +i|-i at the console.

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Trait Options

Description

Sequential

The Sequential check box, when selected, will force a directory to list its
contents—of sub-directories and queues—in the order in which they were
created. Otherwise, the contents are listed in alphabetical order.
This check box is the equivalent of the dbtrait +s|-s at the console.

Refresh

The Refresh check box, when selected, assigns the Refresh trait to a queue,
so the system will begin automatically refreshing your screen when changes
are made in the queue. This means when you are looking at a queue in the
Queue panel, you will immediately see changes made to that queue by other
users.
This check box is the equivalent of the dbtrait +refresh|-refresh at the
console.

n

Use the Refresh trait only on important queues, like rundown queues that are often modified by
multiple users simultaneously. To automatically refresh a queue, your system must spend a lot
of time monitoring workstations where users are viewing that queue. Assigning the refresh
trait to too many queues that are often accessed at the same time greatly increases the amount
of work your system has to do and may severely degrade its overall performance.

Watch Appends

The Watch Appends check box, when selected, lets a queue monitor
incoming data for new stories sent by the wire service, appends them to the
wire queue, and immediately displays them to users who have that wire
queue open. While this trait can be applied to any queue, it is crucial that it be
assigned to queues that receive wire service data, such as the WIRES.ALL
queue.
This check box is the equivalent of the dbtrait +w|-w at the console.

Batch Allowed

The Batch Allowed check box, when selected, indicates whether or not the
kill, move, or duplicate operations can be performed against an entire queue.
Unchecking this box for a particular queue does not affect the ability of
people to kill, move, or duplicate individual stories in the queue, as long as
they have appropriate permissions.
This check box is the equivalent of the dbtrait +q|-q at the console. See
“Managing Traits at the Console” on page 623 for more information on
Batch Allowed, also known as Queue Operations Allowed.

Printable

The Printable check box indicates whether you can use the print command to
print all stories in the queue with a single command. This trait is usually
applied to rundown queues, such as SHOWS.5PM.RUNDOWN. This trait
does not limit or prevent the ability to print a single story (or script) in a
queue.
This check box is the equivalent of the dbtrait +p|-p at the console.

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Trait Options

Description

Confirm Edit

The Confirm Edit check box, when selected, will instruct iNEWS to prompt
for confirmation before letting a user edit a story. This trait is typically
assigned to queues in which users are likely to read but not change stories. It
should not be assigned to queues with stories that are edited often. Doing so
will needlessly slow down your users.
This check box is the equivalent of the dbtrait +r|-r at the console.

Text Timing

The Text Timing check box, when selected, activates the timing clocks that
appear at the bottom of the Story panel for all stories in the queue. The clocks
are:
•

TTC – Time from start of story to cursor

•

BLK – Time of blocked (or highlighted) text

•

EST – Estimated read time of entire story

This check box is the equivalent of the dbtrait +t|-t at the console.

Interplay Server Tab

This section provides information about database traits available as options on the Locks tab
of the Queue Properties dialog box.

The Interplay Server tab lets you select the server that will integrate with iNEWS. When
configured in SYSTEM.INTERPLAY, a list of up to ten options will appear as a list.
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Locks Tab

This section provides information about database traits available as options on the Locks tab
of the Queue Properties dialog box.

The Locks tab is unique for two reasons: first, it only appears in the Properties dialog box for
a queue not a directory, and secondly, it is a read-only tab. It is provided for informational
purposes only. It cannot be used to alter the Lock/Unlock settings of a queue.
Trait Options

Description

User Lock

The Locked check box in the User Lock section indicates that a user has
either acquired an easy lock or a key lock on the queue. The User Lock field
indicates the name of that user. If the queue is easy locked, access to the
locked queue is limited to a system administrator (with a superuser account)
or the user who locked the queue. If the queue is key locked, access to the
locked queue is limited to a system administrator (with a superuser account)
or any user who knows the key (password). The check box and field depict
the current condition of the queue, so both are blank when the queue is not
locked. However, you can find out the name of the last user to have locked
the queue by going to the console. For more information, see “Identifying
Locked Queues and Stories” on page 141.

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Trait Options

Description

Order Lock

The Locked check box in the Order Lock section indicates the queue is order
locked at present, which limits who can rearrange the order of stories in the
queue. The Order Lock fields indicates the user name and device which
implemented the order lock, and when it happened. The check box and fields
depict the current condition of the queue, so both are blank when the queue is
not order locked. However, you can find out the name of the last user to have
order locked the queue by going to the console. For more information, see
“Identifying Locked Queues and Stories” on page 141.

Changing Database Traits
You must be logged on at an iNEWS Workstation as a system administrator—that is using
an account with the superuser trait—or provide the database manager (dbmanager) password
to change database traits of directories and queues. For more information on dbmanager, see
“The Database Manager Account” on page 97.
As the system administrator, you can alter database traits of a single directory (folder) or
apply your changes to any subdirectories or queues in that parent directory as well.
When you change a directory’s traits from a workstation, the changes only affect the
directory you selected, unless you specify otherwise. This is directly opposite to what
happens when changing database traits at the console.
This section provides the procedure for changing traits from a workstation. For more
information on how to change traits from the console, see “Managing Traits at the Console”
on page 623.

n

Avid recommends you ensure that no users are working in a directory or queue prior to
altering the database traits of that directory or queue.
To change database traits from a workstation:

1. Navigate to the directory or queue you want to change in the Directory panel.
2. Right-click on it.
3. Select Properties from the context menu. One of two things will happen, which will
determine what you are to do next.
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136

If you are logged on as a system administrator, the Directory/Queue Properties
dialog box will appear. Go to step 5.

Changing Database Traits

t

If you are not logged on as a system administrator, the Directory/Queue Properties
dialog box will appear in read-only mode—that is, all the fields in the dialog box
will be gray, which indicates they are for viewing only. Go to step 4.

4. Click on the dbmanager login button (located in the bottom left corner of the dialog box)
to gain access to change traits from the dialog box.

The system will prompt you for the database manager password. Fill it in, click OK.

The Database Manager Password dialog box closes, and the Database manager login
button disappears, and the dialog bowith a check box.
Go on to step 5.
5. Do one of the following:
t

If altering traits of a queue, go to step 6.

t

If altering traits of a directory, and if you want the changes you make next to apply
to all queues and subdirectories in the parent directory, click on the check box
labeled Apply changes to all subdirectories and queues.

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t

n

If altering traits of a directory, but you only want to change the traits of the directory
chosen when the Directory Properties dialog box opened, do not select the Apply
changes ... check box.

Selecting the Apply changes... check box does not apply the new settings at that point. It just
indicates whether you intend to apply them to all subdirectories and queues. Also, when you
apply your changes to all subdirectories and queues, those changes are not immediately
apparent at all workstations. Users should log off and back on to see the changes.
6. Make changes to the various traits as needed. These traits are explained in detail in
“Database Traits Summary” on page 122.

n

Selecting and/or unselecting check boxes in the Directory/Queue Properties dialog box does
not apply changes immediately. Only clicking the OK button does that.
7. Click OK to save and apply changes.

Turning Off the Ordered Trait of a Sorted Queue
If someone manually rearranges stories in a sorted queue, the Ordered trait is applied to that
queue and the sorting function is disabled even though the Sorted trait is still applied to the
queue. You can remove the Ordered trait, which will restart the queue’s sort function from
either the console or any iNEWS Workstation.
This section provides the procedure for doing it from a workstation. For more information
on how to do this from the console, see “Turning Off the Ordered Trait of a Sorted Queue”
on page 138. When a sorted queue is ordered, the Queue Properties dialog box will appear
similar to this:

138

Database Purge Intervals and Limits

n

Ordering a queue is done by manually moving stories around within the Queue panel. You
cannot use the Ordered check box to apply the Ordered trait to a queue. In other words,
when the box is not checked, it will appear gray, indicating that it is read-only.
To remove the Ordered trait and allow the queue to resume its original sorting
function:

1. In the Queue Properties dialog box, deselect the Ordered check box.
2. Click OK to save the change.

n

When removing the checkmark from the Ordered check box and clicking OK—the equivalent
of dbtraits -o—the current contents of the queue will be sorted immediately. Any stories
added to the queue or stories edited in the queue will be sorted.

Database Purge Intervals and Limits
Purging is the first step in the process of freeing up space. Only when stories are removed
from the Dead queue by the dbserver program is any database space freed.
Any queue to which the system automatically sends stories should be purged regularly. For
instance, queues in the Wires directory should be purged often , or else the database fills up
with old wire stories. If you set up a keyword story to send stories to a queue, ensure that
queue is purged regularly. Otherwise, you risk running low on space.

139

5 The Database: Directories, Queues, and Stories

Queues that do not automatically receive material usually do not need to be purged regularly.
For instance, most queues in the People directory are not normally purged automatically,
since they usually only receive stories when users add them to their personal queues.
However, it is common to have Mail queues inside the People directory purged.
If the system detects it is running low on space, it purges beyond each queue’s purge
interval, if necessary, to build up the free list. Your system profile contains a parameter
called the purge limit, which prevents the system from purging more than a certain number
of hours beyond each queue’s purge interval.
In an emergency, your system purges as many hours beyond the purge interval as the purge
limit allows. Queues that contain important information should have a purge interval at least
five hours greater than the purge limit. This ensures that stories up to five hours old are never
purged, even in a “low on space” emergency.
Considerations for Choosing Purge Intervals

Different parts of your database contain different kinds of stories, and the purge interval you
set for each queue depends upon the kinds of stories in the queue. Some material, for
instance, may need to be held only 24 hours while other material may need to be held three
days—or not purged at all.
By choosing each directory or queue’s purge interval based on the kinds of stories found
there, you enable your system to remove old material that is no longer needed and make
room for new material.
You can have purge intervals as long as 2729 days and 23 hours or as short as one hour.
Additionally, you can set the purge interval to zero hours to turn purging off for a particular
directory or queue. You can adjust the purge interval to suit the rate at which stories are
added to the queue. In general, the faster stories are added to a queue, the shorter you should
make the queue’s purge interval. Old stories you restore from tape are treated as if they were
just created.

n

Old stories restored from tape are treated as newly created stories unless dbrestore -M
was used when the stories were restored from tape. The -M option preserves the modification
time of the story recorded when the story was dumped to tape.
If you notice an increase in the rate at which stories enter a particular directory or queue,
you might need to reduce its purge interval. For instance, if you add another wire service to
your system, the number of stories entering wires each hour increases, and you probably
need to reduce the purge interval of wires to allow the system to keep up with this increase.

140

Identifying Locked Queues and Stories

When choosing a purge interval, pay attention to queues likely to contain copies of stories
held in other queues. Copies of stories are really pointers back to the original story. The
actual story cannot be removed until all the copies have been purged. Otherwise, the copies
would not have a story to which they could point.
Ensure queues likely to hold copies of a story have roughly the same purge intervals as the
queue holding the original. In most systems, for instance, all wire stories are sent to
WIRES.ALL and copies of each story are distributed to other queues in the Wires directory.
This means that the system cannot purge a wire story until all the story’s copies are also
ready to be purged. To ensure the story and its copies are ready to be purged at about the
same time, the queues in the Wires directory are usually given similar purge intervals.

n

If someone edits a copy of a story and then saves the changes, the system replaces the
pointer with an actual story. Consequently, you do not need worry about copies that have
been edited, since they no longer point back to the original story.

Identifying Locked Queues and Stories
This section provides information on how to determine when a story or queue is locked and
by whom. It also has a reference section that provides details about the types of locks in
iNEWS.
As shown at left, a padlock appears over queue icons in the Directory panel so you can
identify currently locked queues from an iNEWS Workstation.
A similar padlock—shown at left—appears on the selector buttons in the Queue panel when
stories are locked.
While the padlocks do not tell you who initiated the lock, you can find that out for currently
locked queues at the iNEWS Workstation. If a queue or story is not locked at present, but
you want to know who last locked it, you must use the console. You can find out more from
the console about locked queues and stories, even if they are no longer locked. The
procedures for using the workstation or the console are covered in this section.
To find out who locked a currently locked queue from a workstation:

1. Right-click on the queue in the Directory panel.
2. Select Properties.
3. In the Queue Properties dialog box, select the Locks tab. The information is located on
that tab.

141

5 The Database: Directories, Queues, and Stories

To find out the last user to have locked a queue that is no longer locked:

t

At the console, use the list command in the following format:
list d-u []

For instance, to find out who last locked the PEOPLE.SNOW.MAIL queue, type:
list d-u people.snow.mail

The name of the person who last locked the queue appears in the lockuser column.
SRPlo-LIsUGQSXWFiT
Q-------I----A----

lockuser

directory

edmonds

PEOPLE.SNOW.MAIL

In this case, edmonds appears to be the last person to have ever locked the
PEOPLE.SNOW.MAIL queue. If the queue has never been locked, the name of the
person who created the queue appears.

n

The L flag of the list command output shows whether the queue is locked at present. For
more information about the letter flags of the list command, see “Managing Traits at the
Console” on page 623.
To find out who last order locked a queue:

t

At the console, use the list command in the following format:
list d-o []

For instance, to find out who last order locked the CAST.MID.RUNDOWN queue, type:
list d-o cast.mid.rundown

The name of the person who last rearranged the order of the sorted queue appears in the
lockuser column. The numer of the device from which the order was initiated also
appears.
SRPlo-LIsUGQSXWFiT
QSRP-----sU-Q-----

orderuser

device

directory

williams

301

PEOPLE.SNOW.MAIL

In this case, williams was the last person to have order locked the queue. If the queue
has never been order locked, the orderuser name will be blank and the device number
will be zero (0). If no queue name is entered in the command, the order information for
all folders and queues is displayed.

n

For information on how to remove the order lock and resuming sorting in a sorted queue, see
“Turning Off the Ordered Trait of a Sorted Queue” on page 138.
To find out who last locked a story:

t

At the console, use the wholockedit command in the following format:
wholockedit []

142

Identifying Locked Queues and Stories

For instance, to find out who locked each story in the SHOW.10PM.RUNDOWN queue,
type: wholockedit show.10pm.rundown
A screen similar to the following appears:
rec(18) locked by danielmi
modified by danielmi on 2010-02-09 11:53:20
page-number

A14

v-shot
presenter

K

title

MAYORAL RACE

v-format

TAG

v-graphics
v-audio
audio-time

0:15

runs-time

0:00

total-time

0:15

back-time
status

OK

endorse-by
modify-date

2010-02-09 11:53:20

modify-by

danielmi

v-edby
v-editbay
v-tapenumber
v-writer
video-id
item-channel
event-status
air-date

In the previous example, the story, MAYORAL RACE, is the only one in the queue that
is locked. The last user to lock and the last user to modify the story are provided; they
aren’t always the same. If no stories are locked in the queue, the system will display the
message: no stories locked.
To see the status of every story in the queue, add all to the end of the command, after
the queue name.
143

5 The Database: Directories, Queues, and Stories

Types of Locks
There are four types of locks that can apply to either stories or queues:
•

Edit lock

•

User lock

•

Order lock

•

Production lock

Not all of the locks apply to both stories and queues. All four types are explained in the
following sections. For information on how to unlock stories or queues, see “Removing
Locks from a Workstation” on page 146 and “Unbusy Stories and Queues” on page 147.
Edit Lock

An edit lock is applied to a story to prevent multiple users from editing the story at the same
time. The edit lock is applied in two ways:
•

Manually – when a user types Ctrl+E. This locks both the story form and body when
neither are already locked by the system.

•

Automatically – by the system, which occurs in a segmented way when a user begins
typing in either the story body or the story form.

For instance, when a user types in the Story Text panel, the system locks the story’s body.
But another user can still type in the Story Form panel, which results in an automatic lock of
the story’s form for that other user.
When a user attempts to manually lock a story by typing Ctrl+E, the system checks for
segmented edit locks. If one exists for either segment—the body or form—iNEWS notifies
the user.
Additionally, edit lock indicators are provided on the Status bar.
Indicator

Description

The user, danielmi, locked the story form.
The user, danielmi, locked the story’s body.
The user, danielmi, locked the entire story, body and form.
The user, jeff, locked the story body, but the user, danielmi, has the Edit lock
for the story form.

144

Identifying Locked Queues and Stories

The edit lock is removed automatically when a user navigates to another location in the
database. However, a user can manually remove the Edit lock while remaining in the story.
For more information on how to do that, see “Removing Locks from a Workstation” on page
146.
If a story is mistakenly left edit locked, it is considered to be in a busy state. You must
unbusy the story before anyone can edit it. For more information, see “Unbusy Stories and
Queues” on page 147.
User Lock

A user lock is a lock that is manually (or purposefully) applied to a story or a queue by a user
to limit who can see the contents of the queue or story. Additionally, there are two types of
user locks:
•

A Key lock is when a user locks the queue and applies a password, known as a key, to
the queue. At that point, only system administrators and users who know the key can
access the queue or story.

•

An Easy lock is when a user locks the queue or story and applies their User ID as the
key to the queue. At that point, only system administrators and users who log in using
that User ID can access the queue or story.When the user forgets the key or is
unavailable to log in and unlock the queue or story, you must remove the lock before
anyone can access the queue or story. For more information, see “Removing Locks from
a Workstation” on page 146.

Order Lock

An order lock is automatically applied to a queue by the system. The system places an order
lock on each queue being ordered—that is, while someone is moving a story in the queue.
After the story is moved, the system automatically removes the order lock. So, the lock only
applies to the queue during the actual moving process. If you try to move a different story in
a queue already being ordered, the system displays a busy message and temporarily denies
order access to the queue.
If a queue is mistakenly left order locked, it is considered to be in a busy state. You must
unbusy the queue from the console before anyone can order it. For more information, see
“Unbusy Stories and Queues” on page 147.
Production Lock

A production lock is similar to an order lock in that it prevents multiple users from changing
the order of a queue simultaneously. The difference is that a production lock is manually
applied to a queue by a user. Also, a queue will retain a production lock until the user
unlocks it or navigates to another queue. For more information, see “Removing Locks from
a Workstation” on page 146.
145

5 The Database: Directories, Queues, and Stories

If a queue is mistakenly left with a production lock, it is considered to be in a busy state. You
must unbusy the queue from the console before anyone can order it. For more information,
see “Unbusy Stories and Queues” on page 147.

Removing Locks from a Workstation
In some cases, you can unlock stories or queues from an iNEWS Workstation. This section
provides procedures for removing the following types of locks:
•

A story’s edit lock

•

A story’s user lock without a key

•

A queue’s user lock without a key

•

A queue’s production lock

Before you unlock a story or queue, find out who locked the story. You want to make certain
that you do not unlock a story or queue that is being used at the time. For more information,
see “Identifying Locked Queues and Stories” on page 141.
To remove a story’s edit lock from an iNEWS Workstation:

n

t

Navigate to another story.

t

Type Ctrl+E, which removes the lock but allows you to stay in the story.

t

Select Story > Edit unlock.

t

Click the Edit Lock button on the Main toolbar—shown at left. The edit lock is removed
when the button no longer appears pushed in.

Of the four possible steps to take, the last three will prompt you to save any changes.
To unlock a story without knowing its key:

1. At a workstation, log in as a system administrator—that is, with a superuser account.
You must be a system administrator to remove a lock for which you do not know the
key.
2. Double-click on the story to open it in the Story panel. The system will prompt for the
key.
3. Press Enter. The story will open without the key, because you logged in with a superuser
account.
4. Position your cursor in the Story panel.
5. Select Tools > Unlock Story. A User Unlock Story dialog box will appear.
6. Click the Unlock button.

146

Unbusy Stories and Queues

7. Save the story.
To unlock a queue without knowing its key:

1. At a workstation, log in as a system administrator—that is, with a superuser account.
You must be a system administrator to remove a lock for which you do not know the
key.
2. Select the queue to unlock.
3. Select Tools > Unlock Queue. A User Unlock Queue dialog box will appear.
4. Click the Unlock button.
5. Click OK.
To remove a queue’s production lock from an iNEWS Workstation:

t

Select Tools > Production Lock. A checkmark appearing next to the Production Lock
menu option indicates whether the lock is in place.

t

Navigate to another queue. Production Lock is disabled automatically.

Unbusy Stories and Queues
Whenever a story or queue cannot be unlocked from a workstation, you can remove the
locks by going to the console and using the unbusy command.

c

Always ensure a lock is invalid first. Determine whether the edit or order lock is not the
result of someone actually editing a story or ordering a queue. Do not unbusy a story or
queue unless you have determined that the lock is invalid. Unbusying a story or queue
that is in use can cause serious problems.
To unbusy a story or queue at the console:

1. Use the unbusy command with the following format: unbusy 
The queue name is the name of the locked queue or the name of the queue containing
the locked story.
For instance, if a locked story was in SHOW.SCRIPTS or that queue was order-locked,
unbusy it by typing: unbusy show.scripts.
2. Press Enter.
3. One of the following will happen:
-

The unbusy command checks the queue for an Order/Production lock. If it finds
one, the console displays the following prompt:
‘shoe.scripts’ Production locked by news from terminal 607 at
2004-02-28 17:51:46
147

5 The Database: Directories, Queues, and Stories

User news no longer logged in at terminal 607 - Unlock? (n/y/q)

To unbusy the queue, type y; otherwise, type n.
-

The unbusy command checks for an edit-locked story in the queue. If it finds one, it
checks the workstation where the story was last edited. If anyone is logged in at that
workstation, the console displays the story’s form and prompts you to check with
the person who is logged in at that workstation.
For instance, if the story, Shootout, was last edited at workstation 4589 and user,
Smith, is currently logged in at workstation 4589, the console displays the
following:
NRCS-A# unbusy show.10pm.rundown
page-number

A02

presenter

KSA

title

SHOOTOUT

v-cam
v-shot
v-format

W/VO

v-graphics
audio-time

0:30

runs-time

0:00

total-time

0:30

back-time
status

OK

endorse-by
modify-date

2009-03-05 08:38:12

modify-by

smith

v-edby
v-writer
video-id

091907TR10

item-channel

A

event-status
v-tapenumber
v-timecode
air-date
148

Unbusy Stories and Queues

Did you check with smith who is at device 4589?
b locked on 2009-05-20 at 16:59:18 by session 4589
Unbusy? (n/y/q)

To unbusy the story, type y, which will remove the edit lock; otherwise, type q to
quit.

c

If a story is unbusied at the console while a user is editing it, when the user tries to save
the story, the story is saved to the Dead queue, and the user gets an error message that
states: Story save failed: Error: Story saved to dead.

149

5 The Database: Directories, Queues, and Stories

150

6 Groups
This chapter explains how to create groups in iNEWS and use the system’s group-related
features to customize system usage. When possible, procedures are explained using the
workstation, but some can also be accomplished at the console, with extensive use of the
gtraits command. This command is similar to the utraits command and the dbtraits
command. All three commands are explained in “Managing Traits at the Console” on page
623.
This chapter also covers viewing and modifying information in the SYSTEM.GROUPS
queue at the iNEWS Workstation and the /site/system file at the console.
This chapter contains the following main sections:
•

Overview of Groups

•

Viewing Group Information from the Console

•

Viewing Group Information from a Workstation

•

Creating a New Group

•

Renaming a Group

•

Deleting a Group

•

Creating or Modifying Multiple Groups

•

Adding Users as Members of a Group

•

Adding Groups as Members of Other Groups

•

Adding Workstations as Members of a Group

•

Combined Permissions and Timeouts

•

Group Access and Usage Restrictions

•

Group Traits for the Database

•

Creating a Mail Alias

Overview of Groups
The iNEWS newsroom computer system lets you categorize users by placing accounts
belonging to people with similar needs into the same group. Organizing users in this way
enables you to more easily customize your system. It also enables you to apply security
restrictions at the group level.
For instance, you can:
•

Restrict access to a particular queue so that only members of a certain group can use it

•

Have the system notify a group of users when changes are made to a queue in which
they are interested

•

Send mail to a group name and have the system take care of the task of sending the mail
to each individual in the group

You can create as many as 700 groups, and you can assign an unlimited number of users to
each group.

Viewing Group Information from the Console
At the console, various versions of the gtraits command are used for viewing and modifying
group information. You must take superuser privileges at the console before using any form
of this command, as indicated by the prompt, NRCS-A#. See “Entering Superuser Mode” on
page 37 for more information.
To get information for a list of all groups in the iNEWS database:

t

Type: NRCS-A# gtraits list-

To get a list of all members of a particular group, such as producers:

t

Type: NRCS-A# gtraits list producers

To get a list of all groups to which a particular user belongs:

t

Type the command followed by the user’s ID, such as:
NRCS-A# gtraits list jdoe

Sometimes, for security reasons, groups are assigned as group traits to directories and
queues in the database.

Viewing Group Information from a Workstation

This information can be viewed from the console by using the list d-v console command,
which lists each queue’s assigned read, write, and notification groups.
Use the following format to view a list of group information for a specific queue:
list d-g 

Use the following format to view a list of all queues in the database that have a particular
group assigned as their read, write, or notification group:
list rwng= d

n

All of the gtraits list variants can be produced using list g.

Viewing Group Information from a Workstation
You can also view group membership and group assignment information from an iNEWS
Workstation. However, since groups are created at the console, the information you receive
can potentially be out of sync with the information that is actually in the database.
Therefore, use this method as a quick way to get information that you recognize may require
verification at the console.
To view information about group memberships from a workstation:

1. Locate the SYSTEM.GROUPS queue in the Directory panel.
2. Double-click the Groups queue to open it.
The Queue panel contains a list of the names of the existing groups with the first group
name selected. The members of the group appear in the Story panel.
3. To view the contents of different groups, do one of the following:
t

Use the mouse to click a different group listed in the Queue panel.

t

Use the Up or Down arrow keys or the scroll bar on the right side of the Queue
panel to move to another group.

t

Use the Page Up or Page Down keys to scroll several groups (up or down) in the list
at a time.

To view what group is assigned to a queue or directory for read and write access, or
for notification purposes:

1. Locate the queue or directory you want to know about in the Directory panel.
2. Right-click on the queue or directory.
3. Select Properties from the context menu.
4. In the Directory/Queue Properties dialog box, select the Groups tab.
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6 Groups

Creating a New Group
Creating a new group is a three-step process. The first part of the procedure must be done at
the console. The last is done at the iNEWS Workstation.
To create a new group:

1. Choose a group name.
2. Create the new group at the console.
3. Create a group’s membership story in the database and specify members.
Each of these steps are covered in more detail in the next few sections.

Step 1 - Choosing a Group Name
Before you actually create a new group, you need to decide on the name of the group.
To choose a group name:

1. Follow these guidelines:
t

Group names cannot be more than 20 characters long and cannot contain spaces. A
group name longer than 20 characters will be truncated to 20 characters.

t

You cannot use a name already used as someone’s User ID.

t

Some words are reserved by the system for special purposes, and cannot be used as
names for groups. These words—which include: alias, all, group, and
restricted—are defined in the Words dictionary by use of the W_ALIAS, W_ALL,
W_GROUP, and W_RESTRICTED tokens, respectively.

t

Choose a name that indicates the purpose or general makeup of the group, for
instance, you may want to call the group that includes all your producers by the
name “producers.”

2. View the list of groups in the SYSTEM.GROUPS queue to ensure the name you select
is not already in use. If a group with your chosen name already exists, determine
whether its members are the same as those users you want to assign to your group. The
existing group might represent these users, so you can use it instead of creating a new
one.

Step 2 - Create New Group at Console
For this procedure, which uses fieldreporters as an example, you must first take superuser
privileges at the console before using any form of the gtraits command, as indicated by the
prompt, NRCS-A# in the following procedure. See “Entering Superuser Mode” on page 37
for more information.
154

Creating a New Group

To enter the new group name in the iNEWS database:

1. Enter superuser mode at the console.
2. Verify that the new group name is not already used by typing the following kind of
command at the console:
NRCS-A# gtraits list fieldreporters
fieldreporters is not a user or group name

In the example, the system response indicates that fieldreporters is not currently a group
name. You should receive a similar response before proceeding.
3. Use the following command to create the new group name in the system:
NRCS-A# gtraits add fieldreporters
Added group fieldreporters

4. Press Ctrl+D to leave superuser mode.

Step 3 - Creating Group’s Membership Story and Specifying Members
This procedure, which uses fieldreporters as an example, is done at an iNEWS Workstation.
Members of a group are listed in a story that bears the name of the group and is located in
SYSTEM.GROUPS. If the story doesn’t exist, you must create it as part of this process.
To create a group’s membership story and specify members of that new group:

1. Open the System folder from the Directory panel.
2. Open the Groups queue.
3. Do one of the following:
t

Select File > New Story.

t

Press the Insert key.

In the Queue panel, a blank row appears in the group list, and a blank story appears in
the Story panel.

n

When your iNEWS newsroom computer system was installed, membership lists for several
groups common to newsrooms were placed in the Groups queue. To make it easy to maintain,
each list was placed in a separate story. Continue this convention to organize groups. You
can put more than one group’s membership list (or all of them) in a single story, but it is not
recommended.
4. Type the name of the group, such as fieldreporters, in the Title (Slug) field of the Queue
panel or in the corresponding field of the Story Form panel.
5. Press Enter.

155

6 Groups

6. Click inside the Story Text panel and type the group name and membership list in this
format:
group fieldreporters
user-ID user-ID . . .
user-ID user-ID . . .

7. Select File > Save Story.
This procedure creates a story, stored in SYSTEM.GROUPS, that bears the group name
and contains the membership list for the group. The system will refer to the story
anytime its group is applied to security measures or other system features.

Group Checker
When you save your changes to a group, the system automatically runs the server program
known as the group checker, which looks for errors in the stories in SYSTEM.GROUPS.
Changes to the SYSTEM.GROUPS queue trigger the group checker because the
SYSTEM.GROUPS queue is assigned the Group system mailbox.
The group checker may also be run manually from the console by typing the command,
grpcheck, using the following format:
grpcheck [-v[v]] 

For instance, to manually start the group checker to check group membership lists in the
database, type: grpcheck -v system.groups
The group checker may take a minute or two to process. When it finishes, the system sends
you one or more messages describing the results.
At an iNEWS Workstation, the system alerts you to the fact that you have received a
message by an audio tone and a flashing Message bar button in the menu bar. On the Main
toolbar, click the Message bar button—shown at left—to read the messages from the group
checker on the Messages toolbar—shown below. The name, grpcheck, appears in the From
field. The messages appear in the Message field.
If the group checker finds no errors in the story you have created to list the members of the
new group, you get a GROUPS story OK message.

156

Group Checker

If the group checker finds an error, it sends a message indicating the story and the line in that
story in which the error occurs. For a complete list of group checker messages, see “Group
Checker Error Messages” on page 157.
In some cases, multiple errors are discovered, resulting in several error messages.
To display the entire list of error messages sent to you:

t

Click the History button on the Messages toolbar.

t

Select Communicate > Messages > Show History.

You can also copy or paste the contents of the group checker messages to another file.
If the errors are not serious, the last message is: GROUPS story accepted, with errors. This
message indicates that the group checker applied changes that were not in error.
If there are serious errors, the last message is: GROUPS story NOT OK. This message
indicates that the group checker could not use any changes because of errors.
The group checker examines whatever work you just completed along with everything else
in SYSTEM.GROUPS. This means that if some of the error messages you see are not related
to your changes, they are possibly the result of pre-existing errors in a different story in
SYSTEM.GROUPS.

Group Checker Error Messages
The following is an alphabetical listing of error messages you may see when you create or
edit group membership lists or alias definitions. The group checker usually takes a minute or
two to completely process the stories in SYSTEM.GROUPS and report any error messages.
Bad workstation device specification

•

You did not enter a workstation’s device number or device name correctly. Usually, this
happens because you did not use a closing brace (}) in the declaration.

Cannot open default aliases file

•

The group checker could not open an internal file that it uses to check alias entries. Call
Avid Customer Support.

Cannot open new aliases file

•

The group checker could not create a new aliases file to reflect the changes you made.
Call Avid Customer Support.

Cannot save old aliases file

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6 Groups

•

An internal error occurred. Call Avid Customer Support.

Duplicate group or alias name

•

You tried to create two groups or aliases with the same name.

Failed to open queue

•

Due to an internal error, the group checker was unable to open SYSTEM.GROUPS. Call
Avid Customer Support.

Failed to open story

•

Due to an internal error, the group checker was unable to open one of the stories in
SYSTEM.GROUPS. Call Avid Customer Support.

Group or alias word missing. Skipping text

•

n

You did not begin a mail alias definition with the word ‘alias’, or a group membership
list with the word ‘group’. This is followed by the line number where the group checker
expected to find ‘alias’ or ‘group’. The W_GROUP and W_ALIAS dictionary tokens
define what words, such as ‘alias’ or ‘group’, are used by the group checker. The tokens
may be customized in the /site/dict/words file on the iNEWS Server.

For more information on mail aliases, see “Creating a Mail Alias” on page 176.
GROUPS story accepted, with errors

•

Errors appear in the group story, but none are serious. The group checker will use the
entries that do not have errors. The entries that have errors are ignored.

GROUPS story NOT OK

•

Serious errors appear in the group story, and the group checker cannot use it.

GROUPS story OK

•

There are no problems with the group story.

Ignoring words following alias name

•

Any words you include on the same line after the name of the alias you are defining are
ignored.

Ignoring words following group name

•

158

Any words you include on the same line after the name of the group you are defining are
ignored.

Group Checker

Improper use of reserved word

•

You cannot use a reserved word, such as ‘alias’ and ‘group’, as a group or alias name.

Internal groupchecker error

•

Some undefined error occurred while the group checker was running. Call Avid
Customer Support.

Invalid name follows word “alias”

•

The name of the alias is invalid. It might be too long. Check the alias and remove or
correct the user name.

Invalid name follows word “group”

•

The name of the group is invalid. It might be too long or not exist on the server. Check
that the group has been created on the server and that it matches the name being used in
the client.

More than 50,000 alias names created

•

The system created many pseudo-alias names to break up individual aliases into lists of
1000 characters or less. Call Avid Customer Support.

Missing alias name

•

You did not follow the word alias with the name you want the alias to have.

Missing group name

•

You did not follow the word group with the name of a group.

Name already used as alias name

•

You created a group with the same name as an alias already defined in the story or
queue.

Name already used as group name

•

You created an alias with the same name as a group already defined in the story or
queue.

No groups or aliases found

•

All stories in SYSTEM.GROUPS are empty—they contain no aliases or groups.

Not a workstation device

•

You included something in braces ({ }) that is not a workstation device name or number.
The message is followed by the name you tried to include as a workstation.

Not a user or workstation

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6 Groups

•

You defined something that is not a recognized user or workstation as a member of a
group.

Recursive group membership

•

You defined a membership list that created a recursion error.

User name used as group or alias name

•

You cannot give a group or an alias the same name as an existing user.

Renaming a Group
Renaming a group is a two-step process. The first step of the procedure must be done at the
console in superuser mode. The second step is done at the iNEWS Workstation.
To rename a group:

1. Change the group name in the system’s database.
2. Change the group name in SYSTEM.GROUPS.
Each of these steps are covered in more detail in the next couple of sections.

Step 1 - Change Group Name in Database
To change the group name in the system’s database:

t

Type the gtraits r command, which has this syntax:
gtraits

r  

For instance, to change the group name producers to 5pmproducers, type:
NRCS-A# gtraits r producers 5pmproducers
Renamed producers to 5pmproducers.

Step 2 - Change Group Name in SYSTEM.GROUPS
To change the name in the group’s membership story:

1. Locate the group’s membership story in SYSTEM.GROUPS.
2. Modify the name of the group, which appears in the title field of the queue and story
form, and on the first line of the story.
3. Change the group name if it appears as a member in any other membership stories.

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Deleting a Group

n

If you do not do step 3, the next time you make a change in the queue, the group checker
warns you that the membership list uses an invalid group name. See “Group Checker” on
page 156 for more information.

Deleting a Group
Deleting a group involves steps that must be done at the console and the workstation. The
console portion of the procedure is a two-stage process. The gtraits command you type
marks the group for deletion, but the group is actually deleted the next time the system runs
the dbpurge process, which it does at 15 minutes past every hour.

n

You cannot use any gtraits commands on a group that is marked for deletion but still waiting
to be deleted.
To delete a group in the system:

1. Enter superuser mode at the console.
2. Delete the name in the system’s database at the console using the gtraits d command,
which has this syntax: gtraits d 
For instance, to delete the 5pmproducers group, type:
NRCS-A# gtraits d 5pmproducers
Marked 5pmproducers for deletion.

3. Delete the group name and its membership list story in SYSTEM.GROUPS.
4. Delete the group name if it appears as a member in any other membership lists.

n

If you do not do step 3, the next time you make a change in the queue, the group checker
spots the deleted group’s membership list and warns you that it uses an invalid group name.
If you do not do step 4, the next time you make a change in that membership list story, the
group checker warns you that the membership list uses an invalid group name. See “Group
Checker” on page 156 for more information.
5. Press Ctrl+D to leave superuser mode.

Creating or Modifying Multiple Groups
The gtraits console command has an interactive mode in which you can execute
group-related commands without entering gtraits each time. Use this mode when there are a
number of gtraits commands you want to enter in succession.

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6 Groups

To enter the gtraits interactive mode:

1. Enter superuser mode at the console.
2. Type:
NRCS-A# gtraits i
>

The command replaces the normal system prompt with an angle bracket (>) to indicate
that you are in interactive mode. At this prompt, you can enter any gtraits command,
such as changegroup or add, without typing the gtraits command for each operation.
For instance, to add the 5pmproducers group, type:
> add 5pmproducers

If you were not in interactive mode, the entire command line would be required, such as:
gtraits add 5pmproducers.
3. Type quit or q to leave interactive mode.
4. Press Ctrl+D to leave superuser mode.

Adding Users as Members of a Group
There are three possibilities for membership in a group:
•

An individual user can be a member of a group.

•

One group can be a member of another group (making all the users of the first group
members of the second).

•

A workstation can be a member of a group.

This section provides the procedure for adding a user to a group. You must be at an iNEWS
Workstation to change group membership.
To add individual users to an existing group:

1. Open the System folder from the Directory panel.
2. Open the Groups queue.
3. Locate the story or stories in your SYSTEM.GROUPS queue containing the group
membership list you want to modify or add members to.
4. Open that story in the Story panel.

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Adding Groups as Members of Other Groups

5. Type in the user ID(s) you want to add to the group. The user IDs need not be on the
same line as the group name. For instance, add user sjones to the fieldreporters group:
group fieldreporters
jdoe bsmith ftaylor
ghendrickson jgrey sjones

6. Select File > Save Story.
7. Verify the approval of the story from the messages sent to you from the system’s group
checker server program.

Adding Groups as Members of Other Groups
In addition to adding individual users to groups, you can add an entire group to another
group. The members of the first group become members of the second group. The order in
which you define groups in your SYSTEM.GROUPS queue is not important; however, care
should be taken to avoid recursion. This section provides the procedures for adding a group
to another group and avoiding recursion.
You must be at an iNEWS Workstation to change group membership.
To add a group to an existing group:

1. Open the System folder from the Directory panel.
2. Open the Groups queue.
3. Locate the story or stories in your SYSTEM.GROUPS queue containing the group
membership list you want to add or modify.
4. Open that story in the Story panel.
5. Type in the group name you want to add to the group.
6. Select File > Save Story.
7. Verify the approval of the story from the messages sent to you from the system’s group
checker server program.

Avoiding Recursion
When you make groups members of other groups, do not create a membership list that
contains a circular reference, also called recursion. The following is an explanation of
recursion in a membership list.

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6 Groups

When the group checker examines a group’s membership list story, it builds an internal list
of the group’s members. If one member is the name of another group, the group checker
must determine the members of the second group and add them to the first group’s internal
membership list.
For instance, in the following diagram, Group B is a member of Group A. When the group
checker evaluates the membership list for Group A, it creates an internal membership list for
Group A that contains users Fujitano, Clancy, Meyer, Rosario, Chen, Reyes, and Smith. This
example is not recursive and causes no problems for the group checker.

Recursion occurs when the group checker cannot resolve memberships because one group in
the chain refers to another group higher up in the chain. For instance, a case of recursion
would occur if Group B is a member of Group A, but Group A is also a member of Group B.

164

Adding Groups as Members of Other Groups

The group checker cannot create internal membership lists for these groups. When it
evaluates Group A, it sees that Group B belongs to Group A and tries to add B group’s
members to A group’s internal list. However, one of the Group B members is Group A,
which the group checker has still not resolved. The group checker cannot proceed.
If you see a recursion error message, examine your membership lists for incidents like this
and remove the recursive reference. In the previous example, either remove Group B from
the membership list for Group A or Group A from the membership list for Group B.
To check for recursion at the console:

t

Type: NRCS-A# grpcheck -v system.groups
The group checker displays the title of the story in which it finds an error and a
description of the error. For instance, after typing the grpcheck -v command, the
following output shows a story with the title group_249 that has recursive entries in its
membership list:
grpcheck: 09:09:13 [CONSOLE] [group_249] Recursive group membership
a->b->a
grpcheck: 09:09:13 [CONSOLE] [group_249] GROUPS story NOT OK

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6 Groups

Adding Workstations as Members of a Group
Suppose you have a workstation that is used by several staff members, all of whom are
producers. When they use this workstation, they need access to the queues that members of
the producers group normally have access to. When they are using other workstations, they
do not need the special producer privileges.
You can grant the producer workstation the security permissions granted to the producer
group by adding it as a member to the group called producers in SYSTEM.GROUPS.
You must be at an iNEWS Workstation to change group membership.
To add a workstation to an existing group:

1. Open the System folder from the Directory panel.
2. Open the Groups queue.
3. Locate the story or stories in your SYSTEM.GROUPS queue containing the group
membership list you want to modify or add members to.
4. Open that story in the Story panel.
5. Type in the workstation’s session number in braces to add it to the group.
6. Select File > Save Story.
7. Verify the approval of the story from the messages sent to you from the system’s group
checker server program.
When a user logs in at a workstation, the system ordinarily combines any system
permissions the user already has with permissions the workstation may have. For instance, a
user belonging to the writers group who logs in at a workstation assigned to the producers
group would have access to directories and queues accessible to both groups.
System permissions that apply to workstations are assigned using the security parameter that
is set in the /site/system file. The security parameter in this file is either OR or AND. OR
security uses the security level set for either the user or the workstation. AND security uses
the security level set for both the user and the workstation. For more on these security
parameters, see “Combined Permissions and Timeouts” on page 167. For more information
on how to edit the /site/system file, see “System Configuration” on page 243.
A workstation can only be used as a member of a group if that PC is assigned a dedicated
session in the iNEWS configuration file. For instance, an iNEWS Workstation, identified as
319, is assigned a certain group membership. Its configuration line appears with a specified
session number, but is not dedicated to any particular PC, as shown:
inws 319 -

166

gnews - ;nondedicated

Combined Permissions and Timeouts

The session, 319, is nondedicated, meaning that any PC in the newsroom may be logged in
on session 319, and therefore view whatever area is restricted to the group 319 is assigned to.
To restrict a queue or directory to a specific workstation, such as 319, then in addition to
adding that workstation’s session number to the group’s membership, the line in the
configuration file must be dedicated to a specific PC’s IP address.
inws

c

319

192.168.20.136

gnews

-

;nondedicated

Using session numbers in groups will provide proper security only if you have
dedicated resources locking down specific PCs to specific resources in the configuration
file. This requires that PCs have set IP addresses and would not work in a DHCP
environment, where a PC may not always receive the same IP address.
MAC addresses cannot be used directly. The IP or MAC is assigned to a session in
/site/config, such as:
inws

4595

00:19:B9:0E:7D:E1

gnews

-

; IT-laptop-01

inws

4596

172.24.96.247

gnews

-

; IT-desk-01

Then the session number would go into the group, such as:
group ipmac
{4595}
{4596}

See “Group Access and Usage Restrictions” on page 169 for more information.

Combined Permissions and Timeouts
Combining group and workstation permissions enables you to choose to apply additional
security to your system, or less security:
•

For additional security, you can specify that users at a particular workstation have
membership in both human and workstation groups to perform certain actions.

•

For less security, you can force the system to check only whether a user at a particular
workstation is a member of either the human or the workstation group.

More Restrictive

You can be more restrictive about the permissions granted to users if you include the security
parameter in your system profile—that is, the /site/system file—and assign it the value of
AND.

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6 Groups

For instance, you can use this security level for read permissions on a queue that should be
read only by producers that are both members of the producers group and are sitting at the
producers workstation.
Less Restrictive

Omitting the security parameter from the system profile or assigning it a value of OR
indicates that a user on a workstation is considered to be in a certain group if either the user
or the workstation is a member of the target group.
Automatic Timeout

Either type of security described previously works well only if users log out from their
workstations when they leave their desks. Otherwise, anyone with access to the workstation
where a user logged in can take advantage of that user’s or workstation’s permissions.
You can prevent this by setting your workstations to automatically log out after a certain
period of inactivity. To do that, you need to edit one or more special timeout parameters in
the system profile at the console. See “System Configuration” on page 243 for more
information on how to edit the system profile.
There are two types of timeout parameters:
•

Idle timeout

•

Login timeout

Idle Timeout

The most useful kind of automatic timeout is the idle timeout, which logs out a workstation
if no activity has taken place on it in a specified length of time.
Modify the localtimeout value in /site/system to change this value for local workstations
(those that are most likely within the newsroom).
Modify the remotetimeout value in /site/system to set the idle timeout value for dial-up
workstations.
Timeout Value Settings

All four timeout parameters accept values in the mmm:ss (minutes and seconds) format. The
following table lists the parameters, the types of workstations they affect, and their
maximum and default values.

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Group Access and Usage Restrictions

Parameter

Workstation Types

Maximum

Default

localtimeout

Serial, network, PCs

540:00

00:00*

remotetimeout

Dial-up (line devices and
connect sessions)

540:00

00:00*

* Disables timeouts

Group Access and Usage Restrictions
The iNEWS newsroom computer system is designed to be used by a large group of people,
ranging from temporary writer interns to technical producers. To ensure the correct level of
security on a system that is accommodating such a wide range of capabilities and
responsibilities, restrict access to sensitive areas of the database to people with a need to
access the information.
The iNEWS newsroom computer system has security features that let you provide these kind
of access restrictions. For instance, you can assign groups to a queue as a read and/or write
group trait. By doing so, you can control which users can read and/or write stories in that
queue.
If you do not assign groups to a directory or queue as read and write group traits, the
directory or queue is available to all users who are not in the “restricted” group.

n

System administrators can create a group called “restricted” that can be used to limit its
members accessibility to areas of the database.
Access and Usage Examples

Here are some other examples of how access is modified based on group trait assignments:
•

If both read and write groups are assigned to a queue, and a user’s ID does not appear as
a member of either group, the that user will be unable to create a story in that queue. In
other words, the user will not have read and write permission to that queue.

•

A user also needs both read and write permission to lock or unlock a queue.

•

A user who has only write permission to a queue can copy or move a story into that
queue; however, without read permission, the user will be unable to see the queue and
its contents in the Directory panel.

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6 Groups

•

It is possible to change a directory’s read or write group, and thereby modify the
read-and-write permissions for all the stories in all the queues in that directory.

•

Stories that you move or duplicate into a queue whose general trait is turned on retain
their original security. For instance, the Dead queue usually has this trait turned on so
stories moved there retain the read-and-write restrictions from their original queues.

Group Traits for the Database
There are five group traits that can be assigned to queues and directories in the database:

n

•

General

•

Read Group

•

Write Group

•

Notify Group

•

Editorial Group

You must be a system administrator—that is, logged in with a superuser account—or know
the database manager password to modify any trait in the Directory/Queue Properties
dialog box. See “Directory/Queue Properties Dialog Box” on page 122 for more
information.
All of the group traits can be assigned at the console and the iNEWS Workstation. For
procedures at the console, see “Managing Traits at the Console” on page 623 for more
information. Procedures at the workstation, using the Groups tab in the Directory/Queue
Properties dialog box, are covered in this chapter.

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Group Traits for the Database

The General trait, when applied to a queue, means that stories moved to the queue will retain
their original security restrictions, as set by the read and write group traits. This will prevent
any unintentional accessibility to stories moved from a highly secure queue to one widely
accessible to users.
The other four group traits (Read, Write, Notify, and Editorial) restrict who can read or write
stories in a queue; who can remove, break, and float stories in a queue; and indicate who is
notified when stories are changed in it. Each of these group traits is explained in the
following sections. See “Groups Tab” on page 128 for more information.

n

The General trait would normally be assigned to the Dead queue.
When a group assignment on a queue is changed from the graphical user interface (GUI), the
group security assigned to the stories in the queue is changed and the system automatically
re-applies the security change to each individual story. If there are many stories in the queue,
the client will remain unresponsive while the new security setting is adjusted for each story
and control will not be returned to the user until it is done.

n

If the queue has the General trait, changing the group security on the queue does NOT
change the security assignment on the pre-existing stories created under the old group
assignment.

Read Group
A directory or queue’s read group specifies who can read stories in the queue. Users who are
not in the read group for the directory or queue cannot see the directory or queue in the file
structure displayed in the Directory panel.
To assign a group as a read group to a queue or directory:

1. Locate the directory or queue you want to modify in the Directory panel.
2. Open the Directory/Queue Properties dialog box by right-clicking on the folder or queue
in the Directory panel and selecting Properties from the context menu.
3. Select the Groups tab.
4. Select a group from the Read Group drop-down list. Only groups that are already
created in the system database will appear in the list. When ! is selected, no
group is applied; therefore, all users will have read access to the queue or directory.
5. Click OK to save settings.
To remove a group as a read group from a queue or directory:

1. Locate the directory or queue you want to modify in the Directory panel.
2. Open the Directory/Queue Properties dialog box by right-clicking on the folder or queue
in the Directory panel and selecting Properties from the context menu.
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6 Groups

3. Select the Groups tab.
4. Select ! from the Read Group drop-down list. When ! is selected, no
group is applied; therefore, all users will have read access to the queue or directory.
5. Click OK to save settings.

Write Group
A queue’s write group specifies who can add or modify stories in the queue.
To assign a group as a write group to a queue or directory:

1. Locate the directory or queue you want to modify in the Directory panel.
2. Open the Directory/Queue Properties dialog box by right-clicking on the folder or queue
in the Directory panel and selecting Properties from the context menu.
3. Select the Groups tab.
4. Select a group from the Write Group drop-down list. Only groups that are already
created in the system database will appear in the list. When ! is selected, no
group is applied; therefore, all users will have write access to the queue or directory.
5. Click OK to save settings.
To remove a group as a write group from a queue or directory:

1. Locate the directory or queue you want to modify in the Directory panel.
2. Open the Directory/Queue Properties dialog box by right-clicking on the folder or queue
in the Directory panel and selecting Properties from the context menu.
3. Select the Groups tab.
4. Select ! from the Write Group drop-down list. When ! is selected, no
group is applied; therefore, all users will have write access to the queue or directory.
5. Click OK to save settings.

Notification Group
A queue’s notification group specifies which users are notified whenever stories are added or
modified in the queue.
To assign a group as a notification group to a queue or directory:

1. Locate the directory or queue you want to modify in the Directory panel.
2. Open the Directory/Queue Properties dialog box by right-clicking on the folder or queue
in the Directory panel and selecting Properties from the context menu.
3. Select the Groups tab.
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Group Traits for the Database

4. Select a group from the Notify Group drop-down list. Only groups that are already
created in the system database will appear in the list.
5. Click OK to save settings.
To remove a group as a notification group from a queue or directory:

1. Locate the directory or queue you want to modify in the Directory panel.
2. Open the Directory/Queue Properties dialog box by right-clicking on the folder or queue
in the Directory panel and selecting Properties from the context menu.
3. Select the Groups tab.
4. Select ! from the Notify Group drop-down list. When ! is selected, no
group is applied; therefore, no users will be notified whenever modifications are made to
the queue or directory.
5. Click OK to save settings.

Editorial Group
A queue’s editorial group specifies who can add breaks, float stories, or reorder queues, as
well as delete, remove or move data from a queue or directory. All editorial actions require
write access.

n

When an editorial group is specified, users with Write privileges can still create, add, copy
and move stories to the queue, and they can edit stories in the queue.
To assign a group as a editorial group to a queue or directory:

1. Locate the directory or queue you want to modify in the Directory panel.
2. Open the Directory/Queue Properties dialog box by right-clicking on the folder or queue
in the Directory panel and selecting Properties from the context menu.
3. Select the Groups tab.
4. Select a group from the Editorial Group drop-down list. Only groups that are already
created in the system database will appear in the list. When ! is selected, no
group is applied; therefore, only a user who has Write privileges to the queue can add
breaks or float, reorder, delete, or move stories from the queue.
5. Click OK to save settings.
To remove a group as a editorial group from a queue or directory:

1. Locate the directory or queue you want to modify in the Directory panel.
2. Open the Directory/Queue Properties dialog box by right-clicking on the folder or queue
in the Directory panel and selecting Properties from the context menu.
3. Select the Groups tab.
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6 Groups

4. Select ! from the Editorial Group drop-down list. When ! is selected, no
group is applied; therefore, only a user who has Write privileges to the queue can add
breaks or float, reorder, delete, or move stories from the queue.
5. Click OK to save settings.

Restricted Group
Members of the restricted group are prevented from accessing directories and queues that
have no group traits assigned. For instance, if you set a queue’s Read and Write group
settings—located on the Groups tab of the Directory/Queue Properties dialog box—to
!, then that queue has no Read or Write group assigned; therefore, a member of the
restricted group will not be able to see or write to that queue. The restricted group is
commonly used at sites for temporary users. The system administrator can assign a
temporary user to the restricted group and then to a limited set of specific groups. That user
is then restricted to only those directories and queues that have those specific groups.

Restricting Both Reading and Writing
You may need to restrict a queue so that one group of users can read and write in that queue,
while another group can only read stories.
Suppose you want to restrict your Assignments directory. In most systems, a few
people—mostly those at the assignments desk—need write permission to this directory. A
larger number of users, such as writers and reporters, need to read, but not edit, stories in the
Assignments directory.
The people who should have read-and-write permission for the Assignments directory come
from different areas of the newsroom, so it is unlikely a group exists with just those users.
However, you could set it up like this:
•

Create a group called assignments to represent users who need write permission for the
Assignments directory.

•

Similarly, create a group called staff to represent users who need read permission.

•

Assign the staff group to the directory’s read group trait and the assignments group to
the directory’s write group trait.

Transferring Group Assignments
You might need to locate every instance where a particular group is assigned to a directory
or queue and change that assignment so that another group is assigned to that directory or
queue.

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Group Traits for the Database

To transfer group assignments:

t

Use this form of the gtraits console command:
gtraits

n

transfer  

Groups are marked for transfer, but no changes are made to any directories or queues until
dbpurge runs. Both groups that you include in the gtraits transfer command must already
exist.

Hiding Queues and Directories
In addition to restricting access to various queues, you can use group access and usage
restrictions to hide queues or directories by placing a strict read restriction on them.
A number of queues on your system probably have very tight write security to ensure that
only certain users can create and edit stories in those queues. If other users do not need to
read the stories in the queue, you may give the queue tight read security. This prevents the
queue from appearing on unauthorized users’ screens. Some examples of this are the Dead
queue, a Suggestions queue, an Employee Evaluations queue, and so forth.

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All users that you want to have the capability to send stories to these queues need to have
write access to the queue, but not necessarily read access.
Another example is the System directory, which is usually restricted so that only superusers
can write stories there. You can hide this directory so that it does not appear in the main
directory for normal users by setting its read group to a group that has no users; this group is
typically called Nobody. Because superusers can read everything in the database, they can
still see the directory.

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Many sites put the system administrator’s name in the sysop group for e-mail purposes.
For this example, your system could use an empty group called sysop, which is then
assigned as the read group trait for the System directory.
To set the System directory’s read group to sysop:

1. Locate the System directory in the Directory panel.
2. Open the Directory/Queue Properties dialog box by right-clicking on the folder in the
Directory panel and selecting Properties from the context menu.
3. Select the Groups tab.
4. Select a sysop group from the Read Group drop-down list. If it does not appear in the
list, it has not been created in the system database. See “Creating a New Group” on page
154 for more information.
5. Click OK to save settings.
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6 Groups

Creating a Mail Alias
A mail alias is a name up to 20 characters long that represents a group of people who often
receive similar mail. Each mail alias acts like a distribution list. This way, instead of sending
mail to each user individually, you can send mail to the alias and the mail server distributes a
copy of the mail story to each user on the group’s membership list.
Like groups, mail aliases are defined in stories in the Groups queue in the System directory.

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You can have an unlimited number of aliases, but only 700 groups. Groups should primarily
be used for security purposes; Aliases are not used for security purposes, only for mail
delivery.
To create a mail alias, do the following at an iNEWS Workstation:

1. Open the System directory in the Directory panel.
2. Open the Groups queue.
3. Select File > New Story.
A new blank Story panel appears. In the Queue panel, a blank entry in outline appears.
4. Type the name of the alias in the blank field of the Queue panel or in the corresponding
title field of the Story Form panel.
5. Click inside the Story panel and type the alias name and membership list in this format:
alias alias-name
user-ID user-ID group-name …
user-ID alias-name …

An alias’s membership list must begin with the word alias followed by the name of the
alias and one or more lines that list user IDs, groups, or aliases that you want to include.
6. Select File > Save Story.

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While using aliases for mail distribution, the removal of a user’s account may result in mail
bounce back errors if that user’s name remains listed in SYSTEM.GROUPS stories.
Remember to remove users names from stories in SYSTEM.GROUPS before removing the
user accounts from the system. This will reduce the potential for mail bound back errors.

Mail Aliases for Other Machines or the Internet
You can send mail to a user on another system connected to your system over the network.
When you put a network mail address in a mail story’s TO field, the mail server routes the
mail to the correct address, which depending on your setup can be another machine on your
iNEWS system or anywhere on the Internet.
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Creating a Mail Alias

You can make it easier to use network mail addresses by assigning them mail aliases. Then,
when you want to mail to someone who is not on a system connected to yours, use the mail
alias.

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Mail in iNEWS cannot be used to send to external e-mail addresses that include
underscores; the sending user receives a “Returned Mail” message.
To assign a mail alias to a network mail address, do the following at an iNEWS
Workstation:

1. Open the System directory in the Directory panel.
2. Open the Groups queue.
3. Select File > New Story.
A new blank Story panel appears. In the Queue panel, a blank entry in outline appears.
4. Type the name of the alias in the blank field of the Queue panel or in the corresponding
title field of the Story Form panel.
5. Click inside the Story panel and type the alias name and membership list in this format:
alias alias-name
network-address …

For instance, to assign the network address jan@kbba.com to a mail alias called Jan,
type:
alias Jan
jan@kbba.com

6. Select File > Save Story.

177

6 Groups

178

7 Keyboards and Macros
Macros are time-saving routines you can assign to programmable key(s) on your computer
keyboard, which then can be invoked with one or two simple keystrokes, or with the click of
a button on a customized toolbar. A single macro can be the shortcut to an entire command
sequence. They are commonly used for scripting, printing, navigation, floating stories, and
so forth.
This chapter contains the following main sections:
•

Types of Macros

•

Creating a Keyboard

•

Creating Macros

•

Keyboard Checker

•

Assigning a Default Keyboard to a User Account

Types of Macros
There are two types of macros.
•

A macro assigned to a key or keystroke combination is known as a keyboard macro.

•

A macro assigned to a customized toolbar button is known as a toolbar macro.

Each keyboard macro lets a user enter many characters and commands with the press of a
single key or keystroke combination on an actual keyboard. In most cases, the system
administrator will create multiple keyboard macros as a set of macros called a keyboard that
is stored in the system directory. Each keyboard typically contains keyboard macros grouped
according to a specific job or task, such as a producer or writer.

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Once created, a keyboard can then be selected as part of the user’s preferences.
For instance, suppose a writer in the newsroom frequently writes scripts for a particular
reporter. The system administrator can assign the text in that reporter’s usual sign-off to a
macro key included in a set of macros called the Writer keyboard. Then the writer, with that
keyboard chosen as a user preference, could put the entire text of the reporter’s sign-off in
stories with a single keystroke. This same key may be associated with a different macro,
such as one that opens a rundown queue, if the user is a producer using a Producer
keyboard—a different set of macros.
The system administrator can assign macros to function keys, such as F1, F2, F3, and so on,
across the top of the keyboard and to numeric keys on the numeric keypad, located at the
right side of the keyboard.

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Some function keys are predefined to standard Windows-based operations, such as F5
to refresh the screen or F1 to open an application’s help system. While redefining these
predefined keys is allowed, it is not recommended. If you save a macro for a key that
has a predefined function, the system displays a warning message stating that a
reserved key has been redefined. See “Warning Messages” on page 192 for more
information.
Other keys known as state keys, such as Control (Ctrl) or Alt, can also be used in
conjunction with the function and numeric keypad keys as shortcuts to entire command
sequences. Shift is a state key commonly used with function keys, but not with the numeric
keypad.

Creating a Keyboard

Users can also create their own toolbar macros—using techniques similar to those used by
system administrators who write keyboard macros—and assign them to customized toolbar
buttons.

Creating a Keyboard
An iNEWS Workstation keyboard can contain more than 100 macros, representing possible
states of the 12 function keys plus the 10 numeric keypad keys. For example, possible
combinations for F7 are:
F7

Ctrl+Shift+F7

Shift+F7

Alt+Shift+F7

Ctrl+F7

Alt+Ctrl+F7

Alt+F7

Alt+Ctrl+Shift+F7

Keyboards, or sets of keyboard macros, are actually stories saved in a specific location in the
iNEWS system directory.
To create a keyboard containing a set of macros for iNEWS Workstations:

1. Log in to an iNEWS Workstation.
2. Navigate to SYSTEM.KEYBOARDS in the Directory panel.
3. Create a new queue to hold the story that will contain your keyboard macros.
Be sure to name the queue according to the following format:
<###>-

The numerical values can be any three-digit number from 000 to 255. If the number is
less than 100, you must supply leading zeroes. The keyboard name is the name that will
appear as a keyboard available for selection as a user preference.
Some sample names for queues in SYSTEM.KEYBOARDS are: 001-Reporters,
002-Assignments, and 003-Producers.

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7 Keyboards and Macros

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Although the numerical values of 251-255 are valid, you cannot have more than 250
queues in SYSTEM.KEYBOARDS, since this would exceed the limit on the number of
queues allowed in a single directory. Queues with the number 256 or greater will not
work.
4. Open the new queue.
5. Press the Insert key to create a new story in the queue.
If an existing keyboard story is similar to the new one you want to create, you can copy
it into the queue and modify it rather than creating a keyboard story from scratch.
The first story in the queue with a name containing the string inws, which is not
case-sensitive, is used as the keyboard macro definition story for iNEWS. For instance,
a default keyboard story name is: 000 inws DEFAULT.

Other examples are: inws 001 REPORTERS or inws 002 ASSIGNMENTS. As the
examples show, the inws string can begin the story’s name or be somewhere in the
name.

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Without the inws string in a story’s name, the keyboard will not work.
6. Create your keyboard macros.
The keyboard macros are listed as text in the story. Keyboard macros for iNEWS are
written using the key names which are in the file: /site/dict/keymacros. You can use
alphabetic and numeric keys, and most punctuation marks in a macro. However, some
punctuation marks are reserved for specific functions within a macro. See “Characters
and Keys Available for Macros” on page 185 for more information.
7. Save the story.

n

182

The “key” mailbox is used by the iNEWS keycheck program, which checks for errors
immediately after a keyboard story is saved. See “Keyboard Checker” on page 189 for more
information. The “key” mailbox must be set on keyboard queues. The mailbox trait can be
viewed and changed from the Directory Properties dialog box. See “Directory/Queue
Properties Dialog Box” on page 122 and “Maintain Tab” on page 130 for more
information.

Creating Macros

Creating Macros
There are numerous things to keep in mind when creating macros. These include the
function of the macro (printing, scripting, navigation, etc.), the keystrokes to produce the
macro, and the proper macro syntax for creating it.
Keyboard Macros

Keyboard macros begin with the "at" symbol (@) and are written in segments, which make
up a macro definition. Segments include a Key Indicator, a Separator symbol known as a
tilde (~), an Action, and an optional Comment. Segments must appear in the proper order for
the macro to work correctly.
For instance:    
An example of a macro definition is:
@{f4}~{alt gd} wires.all{enter};Go to wires.all

This macro allows you to press F4 to navigate to the WIRES.ALL queue rather than
completing the longer process—typing Alt+G+D to open the Destination dialog box, then
typing WIRES.ALL, and pressing Enter—to do the same thing.
Each segment of the sample macro definition are explained in this table:
Macro Segment

Function

@{f4}

The key indicator begins the macro definition line with the at symbol
(@). Then, {f4} indicates the macro is invoked when a user presses and
releases the key(s) defined within the braces—in this case, the F4 key.
Braces ({ }) are used to group letters together as one key or combination
of keys.

~

The separator is the tilde character (~), and it divides the key indicator
you are defining from the action the macro is to perform.

{alt gd}wires.all{enter} The action includes a series of keystroke combinations. In the example,
{alt gd} presses the Alt key, then types gd for the Go To, Destination
menu options, and releases the Alt key. That part of the action opens the
Destination dialog box. Then, wires.all is typed in the text field of the
dialog box, and {enter} presses the Enter key and releases it.
;Go to wires.all

The optional comment begins with the semicolon (;) and provides a
description of what the macro does.

183

7 Keyboards and Macros

Only certain keys can be defined as indicators for macros. In most cases, you can assign
macros by combining a function key or numeric key on the keypad with one or more state
keys. See “Using the State Keys in Macros” on page 187 for more information.

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To use the numeric keys on the keypad, Num Lock must be on.
Other keys can appear in macros but not as indicators—that is, they cannot have macros
assigned to them. See “Characters and Keys Available for Macros” on page 185 for more
information.
Toolbar Macros

Toolbar macros use only the Action section of the macro definition. The Action is entered in
the Customize Toolbar Button dialog box, in the Macro section. For instance:
{alt gd} wires.all{enter}

Here are some other examples of toolbar macros:
•
•

{alt sf} — This is a macro that creates a “float” button for a producer, used to float a
story in the rundown.
{alt tu}{enter} — This is a macro that opens a plugin in

iNEWS.
•

{alt osu} — This is a macro that can be used when copying wires into a story. It puts
the text in upper case.

•

{tab}{home}{tab}{tab}{tab}ASSIGNID{enter}{up} — This is an example of a
macro that could be used to enter ASSIGNID into a certain field in a rundown. The
macro first exits the form you might be in, tabs over to position the cursor in the
field—this will vary depending on the rundown—and types ASSIGNID. The {up} at the
end is to take your cursor back to the field.

•

{alt fpp}{alt q}{alt y}rundown{enter} — This macro prints a rundown.

•

{alt{right}}{alt{right}}{alt{left}}{alt vuf}editor{enter} — This

macro, first, ensures the focus is in the Queue panel and then changes views.

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Be careful when creating macros, like Assign ID or those used for scripting, that the
focus is in the proper panel; otherwise, the macro could damage stories or rundowns.
To name a few more of the many possibilities, toolbar macros can be used to create buttons
that will duplicate a story to a queue, insert common production cues in a story, or write a
validation code in a field and send the story to a validation server.

184

Creating Macros

Characters and Keys Available for Macros

You can use alphabetic and numeric keys, and most punctuation marks in a macro. However,
some punctuation marks are reserved for specific functions within a macro. For instance,
because the open and close braces ({ }) and the tilde ( ~ ) are characters that have special
meanings, you cannot use them as plain text in a macro. You can use the at symbol (@) in
the Action of the macro—to the right of the Separator—but not as plain text on the left-side
of the Separator, where it indicates the start of a new macro definition.

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Do not use the semicolon character in a macro. If you include a semicolon ( ; ) in a
description line, everything following that character is considered a comment by the system
and is ignored. An example of semicolon use for comments is shown in “Using the State
Keys in Macros” on page 187.
If you create a macro longer than 80 characters, let the system wrap the cursor around to the
next line.
The following table offers a quick reference to what keys can be used in macros. The
function, keypad, and state keys can be used as indicators and, therefore, have macros
assigned to them. Edit, arrow and miscellaneous keys can appear in the action part of a
macro, but cannot have macros assigned to them.

Function
Keys

Keypad Keys

State Keys

Edit Keys

Arrow Keys

Misc. Keys

f1

kp0

shift

insert

up

tab

f2

kp1

ctrl

home

down

backspace

f3

kp2

alt

pageup

left

space

f4

kp3

pagedown

right

enter

f5

kp4

end

f6

kp5

f7

kp6

f8

kp7

f9

kp8

f10

kp9

f11
f12

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7 Keyboards and Macros

For more information about how to use state keys, see “Using the State Keys in Macros” on
page 187.
Predefined Function Keys

Some function keys have predefined system functions, such as F1, which opens the iNEWS
help system. These keys are provided as accelerator keys for common user functions.

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Redefining these predefined keys is allowed, but is not recommended. If you save a
macro for a key that has a predefined function, the system displays a warning message
stating that a reserved key has been redefined. See “Warning Messages” on page 192
for more information.
The following table shows the standard predefined system function keys.

186

Function Key or
Key Combination

Predefined System Function

F1

Opens the iNEWS help system

F2

Edit a field (or cell) in the Queue panel

F3

Find Next

Alt+F4

Exits the iNEWS program

Ctrl+F4

Closes a workspace

F5

Refreshes display in Queue or Story panel

Ctrl+F5

Discard changes

F6

Toggles between the Instruction panel (containing production cues) and the
Story Text panel

Shift+F6

Toggles between the Story Text and Story Form panels.

F7

Opens Wire Urgent Workspace (Wire Priority queue)

Shift+F7

Opens Wire Alert History window

F8

Toggles Message toolbar on and off

Shift+F8

Opens Message History dialog box

F9

Toggles Mail Workspace open and closed

Creating Macros

Using the State Keys in Macros
The Alt, Shift, and Ctrl keys are known as state keys, because their state affects what
happens when another key is pressed, whether they are pressed or not.
To include a state key in a macro:

1. Begin with an open brace ({) to indicate that a key is being pressed.
2. Follow the open brace with the name of the state key, such as Alt.
3. Since a state key does not do anything by itself, enter the name of the next key pressed
along with it. Enclose this key in another set of braces ({ }) if it is a function or numeric
keypad key, such as F7 or kp1.
4. End with a closing brace (}) to indicate the release of the state key. So you’d have
something similar to this: {alt{f7}}.

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The iNEWS newsroom computer system will not recognize the Shift state key used in
combination with the numeric keypad keys. For instance, {Shift{Ctrl{kp9}}} is the same
as {Ctrl{kp9}}. If a user attempts to create a macro with this combination of keys, the
system’s keycheck program will issue an error message: (M_NUMKEYNOSHIFT) “Shifted
numeric keypad 0-9 keys cannot be assigned.”

Here is an example of a macro that uses state keys for scripting. Its function is to insert a
TAKE VO production cue into a story when the user presses Shift+F1. The first line is a
comment. The second line, which wraps in this guide but might not do so on your
screen, is the macro.
;SH F1 TAKE VO
@{shift{f1}}~{alt{insert}}TAKE VO{f6}{ctrl{alt p}}TAKE VO{ctrl{alt
n}}{enter}

Using Plain Text in Macros

Besides using individual keys and key combinations in a macro definition, you can also have
the macro enter plain text. This could be text you include in stories often or text you enter in
fields of a dialog box in iNEWS. Example:
@{ctrl{f9}}~{space} Roll tape - Sound up full {space}{enter}

Whenever you include plain text in a macro, all spaces in the text are preserved. The case
(lowercase or uppercase) is preserved as well.

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7 Keyboards and Macros

Repeating Macros
If there are actions performed at the workstation that require executing the same command
or series of commands over and over, you can create a repeating macro that performs this
action. Once invoked, a repeating macro executes at regular intervals until the user presses
Ctrl+Break or Escape.
To have a macro in an iNEWS keyboard perform a repeating function, place the command
{repeat} just before the actions you want the macro to repeat.
As an example, create a macro that makes it easier to browse wires and assign it to the F4
key. This macro takes the user to WIRES.ALL and then scrolls down one story at a time. It
pauses briefly on each story, so the user can read the title and decide whether to read the
story. The user stops scrolling by pressing Ctrl+Break or Escape.
To create this repeating macro:

1. Begin the macro by typing @{f4}~ to indicate that it is for the F4 key.
2. After the Separator (~), type {alt gd} wires.all {enter} to open a window
displaying WIRES.ALL.
3. Add the repeating portion of the macro, which moves the user down one line at a time at
regular intervals. Begin by typing {repeat} to indicate that what follows is repeated.
Then type {down} to move the cursor down one line in the queue.
4. Use the {pause} command to make the macro pause a few seconds on each story.
Follow this command with the number of seconds you want the repeating macro to
pause. For instance, to make the macro pause two seconds before repeating, type
{pause 2}. The range for the {pause} command is 1 to 60 seconds.
The macro should be one continuous line of text. Otherwise, allow the computer to wrap
the text if it extends beyond screen margins.
The completed macro looks like this:
@{f4}~{alt gd}wires.all{enter}{repeat}{down}{pause 2}

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Keyboard Checker

Notes of Caution for Creating Macros
When creating macros—whether or not they are repeating macros— care should be taken.
First, certain commands should never be used in macros.

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Do not use the Duplicate or Kill commands in repeating macros. Doing so raises the
risk of accidentally killing the wrong stories or filling up the database and causing a
“low-on-space” condition.
Secondly, all macros should be created using steps only to a point where varying options are
not a possibility. For instance, a system administrator wants a macro designed to open a
story and type a specific production cue on a certain line, then save the story and open the
next one in the lineup. The system administrator must keep in mind that the process for
editing stories may vary for each user depending on user preferences or queue location. In
other words, in some cases, a user may start to save a story and be prompted by a dialog box
that requests confirmation. This confirmation box is a user preference that varies with each
user. A similar confirmation dialog box may appear if a user is opening a story in a read-only
queue. So, any macro must incorporate these possibilities or stop prior to them. Otherwise,
the macro may hang up on an unexpected dialog box.

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To immediately stop a macro that is in progress for any reason—including one hung up on
an unexpected dialog box—press the Escape (Esc) key.
If a macro should wait for a dialog box, such as Local Printing, before continuing, the syntax
is: {window Local Printing}. The text following the word window must match exactly
the title of the dialog box. If it does not match, the user must press the Escape key to exit the
macro.

Keyboard Checker
Whenever you modify and save macros in a keyboard description story, the system checks
the keyboard and all its macros for problems that may prevent the macro from working
properly. If it finds a problem, it sends you a message describing the error.

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Error messages are prefixed with inws macro #%d. The %d represents the macro number.
Macros are numbered from one (1) at the beginning of the story. Some of the error messages
will include the macro key identifier.
The iNEWS system will also issue a warning if any predefined system function keys—that
is, those keys reserved for iNEWS system functions—are replaced with a macro. This
warning can be ignored if you want to override the pre-defined system function keys with a
macro. See “Predefined Function Keys” on page 186 for more information.

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7 Keyboards and Macros

As long as you get a Keyboard ok message, the description story can be used, but go back
and fix any noted problems so the keyboard does what it is supposed to.
Error Messages

The following table contains a list of messages from the message dictionary that can appear
after you save a keyboard description story.
Error Message

Explanation

Duplicate key description (M_KEYDUP)

You defined the same function key twice in the
story; remove one of the definitions.

First key description does not begin with @
(M_KEYSTART)

You must use an @ symbol as the first noncomment
character in the description story.

Invalid key number (M_KEYRANGE)

You tried to define a function key with a number
that is not supported.

Keyboard description contains too many
characters (M_KEYLONG)

This description story is too long. Shorten the
macros by using command abbreviations, or
deleting macros you do not use.

Keyboard NOT usable (M_KEYBAD)

You must fix the errors in this description story
before you can use it.

Keyboard ok (M_KEYOK)

You may use this keyboard, even if it has errors.

Missing key number separator (~)
(M_KEYSEP)

You must follow the key number of an extended
programmable key with a tilde (~).

Not enough key descriptions (M_KEYMIN)

You must include lines for all the standard VT keys.
Include only the key’s number on a blank line, if
you don’t want to assign a function to a standard
key.

Warning: a key definition contains a repeating One of your key definitions has a repeating function.
function (M_KEYREP)
If this is not what you want, edit the description.
Warning: badly placed @ exists in key
definition line (M_KEYFUNKY)

A line in the story contains an @ symbol that is not
the first character in the line or between two
commands. If this is not what you want, edit the
description.

Memory allocation error(M_BADMEMORY) An internal error; contact Avid.

190

Unable to stack keywords (M_BADSTACK)

An internal error; contact Avid.

Mismatched {} (M_MISMATCH)

The macro does not have paired brackets.

Keyboard Checker

Error Message

Explanation (Continued)

No {} found for reserved word
(M_RESWORD)

A reserved word (key name) was found but was not
enclosed in brackets.

Could not locate }%d (M_NOLOCATE)

Unbalanced { } pairs. Missing a }. The %d
represents the occurrence number of the expected }.

Circular reference to macro #%d:
(M_REFERENCE)

A circular reference was found in the macro. The
%d represents the macro number of the reference.

Multiple tildes (~) found (M_TWOTILDES)

A macro definition cannot contain more than one
tilde (~).

Multiple macro keys: %s %s (M_TWOTAGS) An invalid key indicator specified—it contains more
than one key name. Each %s represents a key name.
Unexpected: %s (M_UNEXPECTED)

An invalid key indicator specified—it contains plain
text. The %s represents the unexpected text.

Unknown macro key identifier: %s
(M_UNKNOWN)

An invalid key indicator specified—it contains a key
name that is not one of the recognized key names.
The %s represents the unknown key name.

No tilde (~) found (M_NOTILDE)

There is no tilde (~) separating the key indicator
from the key action.

No macro key tag (M_NOTAG)

There was no key name included in the key
indicator.

Shifted numeric keypad 0-9 keys cannot be
assigned macros (M_NUMKEYNOSHIFT)

You cannot assign a macro to a keystroke
combination of Shift and a numeric keypad key.

Empty macro (M_EMPTY)

There was no key action data in the macro
definition.

Duplicate macro definition: %s
(M_TWODEFS)

There was a duplicate key indicator defined. The %s
represents the key indicator.

Invalid pause interval (M_BADPAUSE)

The interval included in the pause command was not
a number between one and sixty.

Isolated keyboard state: (M_LONESTATE)

A state key (Alt, Shift, or Ctrl) was specified but did
not modify the action of any other key, such as:
{shift} instead of {shift abc}

%s does not distribute (M_DISTRIBUTE)

A non-state key (not Alt, Shift, or Ctrl) was found
while another key was still depressed, such as:
{insert{home}}. The %s represents the key still
depressed.

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7 Keyboards and Macros

Error Message

Explanation (Continued)

Ignoring: %s (M_IGNORING)

The state of a macro definition was expected but did
not begin with an at character (@). All of the text is
being ignored. The %s represents the text being
ignored.

Warning Messages

The following table lists the messages that appear if the keys reserved for iNEWS system or
Windows-based functions are redefined.
Reserved Key

Warning Message

F1

Warning: “Help” key redefined (M_STDHELP)

F3

Warning: “Find Next” key redefined (M_STDFINDNEXT)

Alt+F4

Warning: “Exit” key redefined (M_STDEXIT)

Ctrl+F4

Warning: “Window Close” key redefined (M_STDCLOSE)

Ctrl+F5

Warning: “Discard Changes” key redefined (M_STDDISCARD)

F5

Warning: “Refresh” key redefined (M_STDREFRESH)

F6

Warning: “Script Swap” key redefined (M_STDSCRIPT)

F7

Warning: “GoTo Priority Queue” key redefined
(M_STDPRIORITYQUEUE)

Shift+F7

Warning: “GoTo Alerts History” key redefined (M_STDALERTSHISTORY)

F8

Warning: “Communicate Message Bar” key redefined
(M_STDMESSAGEBAR)

Shift+F8

Warning: “Communicate Message Show History” key redefined
(M_STDMESSAGEHISTORY)

F9

Warning: “Communicate Open/Close Mail key redefined (M_STDMAIL)

Testing the Keyboard
After you create a keyboard story, you should always test the macros in it to make certain
that it works the way you intended.

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Assigning a Default Keyboard to a User Account

To test the keyboard:

1. After you finish a macro, save the keyboard.
2. Verify that the keyboard checker lists no errors.
3. Log out of iNEWS and log back in; otherwise, the keyboard will not be available.
4. Select Tools > Options > Preferences to assign the keyboard and load it.
5. Test the macro(s) you created to make sure they perform as intended.

Assigning a Default Keyboard to a User Account
Users can select a keyboard—that is, a set of macros—to use at any time by using the
Preferences option in the Tools menu. The system administrator can assign the default
keyboard for a user, which appears when the user first logs on.
When you add a new user to the system, you may want to assign a keyboard as a default for
the user at that time, according to the role the user plays in your newsroom. For instance, a
new writer may get the “user” keyboard, a new producer would be assigned the “producer”
keyboard, and so forth.
You assign a set of macros as a user’s keyboard by assigning the keyboard story containing
those macros to that user. When the user presses a programmable key, the system looks at
the user’s assigned keyboard story and executes the macro assigned to that key.

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7 Keyboards and Macros

To assign a keyboard as a user’s default from an iNEWS Workstation:

1. Select Tools > Options > Users. The Manage User Accounts dialog box appears.

2. Do one of the following:

n

t

Create a new user account by clicking New User.

t

Modify an existing user account by selecting a user and clicking Modify.

If you clicked New User rather than Modify in this step, the dialog box will be titled Add
New User instead of Modify User Account. See “Adding a New User Account” on page 88
for more information.
3. In the Modify User Account dialog box, click User Preferences.

194

Assigning a Default Keyboard to a User Account

n

Access to the Modify User Account or Add New User dialog boxes is restricted to certain
users, such as system administrators and user managers—that is, users who know the
umanager password. See “Modifying User Traits” on page 68 for more information.
4. In the Preferences dialog box, click the Session tab, if not already selected.

5. Use the Keyboard drop-down list to select a keyboard for the user.
6. Click OK to save the new keyboard assignment and close the Preferences dialog box.
7. Click OK to save the modified user account and close the Modify User Account dialog
box.
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7 Keyboards and Macros

8. Do one of the following:
t

Select another user to assign a keyboard to, and click Modify.

t

Click Close to close the Manage User Accounts dialog box.

9. The next time the user logs in, the computer will automatically assign the new keyboard.
If the user is already logged in, he or she needs to reload the keyboard or log out and
then log back in to use the new keyboard assignment.

n

196

Users can choose a different keyboard than what is assigned to their user accounts at any
time by doing the following: Select Tools > Options > Preferences. Then, choose the Session
tab, pick a keyboard from the drop-down list, and click the Reload button.

8 Forms
You can use standard iNEWS forms that come with the system or customize your database
by creating forms and assigning them to queues, based on the kind of information you want
to appear in the stories in those queues.
This chapter contains the following main sections:
•

Form Guidelines

•

Creating Forms

•

Customizing Forms

•

Assigning a Form as a Queue or Story Form

•

Form Field Types and Definitions

•

Standard iNEWS Forms

Form Guidelines
You create forms that are stored as stories in queues located in the database file structure
under the main system folder, SYSTEM.FORMS. The format is
SYSTEM.FORMS.N.NAME, where N is the first letter of the form name.
For instance, a story form may be SYSTEM.FORMS.S.STORYFORM. A rundown form
may be SYSTEM.FORMS.R.RUNDOWN. You can have up to 250 forms starting with each
letter.
Follow these general guidelines in designing forms:
•

The story form and queue form can be different, but all fields displayed in the queue
form must exist in the story form before you can enter or display data in that field.

•

In iNEWS, if you go over a page width, the overflow will be printed on a second page.
Columns do not break across page boundaries.

Creating Forms
You can create a new form from any iNEWS Workstation. The following procedure takes
you through steps to create the basic form for a story, which can later be used to create any
other form in the system, such as a rundown form. After building the story form, you can
easily copy and modify it to match the rundown you currently use.
To create a new form:

1. Navigate to the SYSTEM.FORMS folder. The queue for the new form must be stored in
the SYSTEM.FORMS folder.
2. Select Tools > New Folder. A new highlighted directory labeled New-Folder appears.

n

You can skip steps 3 & 4 if the alphabet folders already exist in the SYSTEM.FORMS
directory.
3. Type the name of the folder, such as S.
4. Select the alphabet folder, such as S (the folder for forms with names that begin with the
letter S), in which you want to create the new form.
5. Do one of the following:
t

Select Tools > New Queue.

t

Right-click on the folder and select New Queue from the context menu.

Creating Forms

A new highlighted file labeled New-Queue appears.
6. Type the new form queue’s name, such as STORYFORM.
7. The Forms Allowed attribute should be inherited from the parent queue,
SYSTEM.FORMS, but you can ensure the Forms Allowed database trait is applied to
the queue by doing the following:
a.

Right-click on the queue in the Directory panel to open the Queue Properties dialog
box.

b.

Select the Forms Allowed check box so that a check mark appears.
See “Changing Database Traits” on page 136 and “Forms Tab” on page 123 for
more information.

c.

Click OK to save changes. Otherwise, you will be unable to create a form in that
queue.

8. Double-click the queue to display it in the Queue panel.
9. Do one of the following:

n

t

Select File > New Story.

t

Position your cursor in the Queue panel and press the Insert key.

If the story form fields do not appear, click on the Story drop-down menu and select the
option to Show Form Area.

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8 Forms

A new story row appears in the Queue panel and opens in the Story panel. At the top of
the Story panel, there is the Story Form panel that displays the story form fields (using
the default form or the form previously assigned to the queue). The following graphic
shows the Queue panel (on top with a new row) and the Story Form panel (on bottom
with six standard form fields).

10. Modify each field to customize the new form. For instance, you would need to select
each field’s type, which defines the field’s function within the form. See “Customizing
Forms” on page 201 and “Form Field Types and Definitions” on page 208 for more
information.
Since a basic story form does not necessarily use the default fields, as shown in the
above graphic, field modification is needed. For instance, the form may include the
following fields:

n

200

-

Page field uses the PAGE-NUMBER field type.

-

Title (or Slug) field uses the TITLE field type.

-

Presenter (or Anchor) field uses the PRESENTER field type.

-

Writer (or Reporter) field uses either the CREATE-BY or WRITER field type.

When a new story is created, and the field called Writer is a CREATE-BY field type, it is
filled in automatically but cannot be changed by users. However, if the WRITER field type is
selected for the field called Writer, then when a new story is created, the field is filled
automatically, but data in it can be changed manually by a user.
-

Graphics (or Production Notes) field uses the VAR-N field type, where N is any
number. Common practice is to name these fields v-, such as
v-graphic or v-notes.

-

Read time field uses the AUDIO-TIME field type.

-

Back time field uses the BACK-TIME field type.

Customizing Forms

n

Text and production cues may be placed into the body of the form and text may be put into
the form fields; if so, all data contained in the story form will appear in a new story
whenever one is created in a queue with that story form.
11. Save the story and exit the queue, accepting current fields and form properties as the
new form.

Customizing Forms
After you create the form queue in SYSTEM.FORMS, you can modify fields to customize
the new form.
To customize a form, open its story and do the following:

1. Put the cursor in the Story Form panel and right-click. A context menu will appear.
There are three menu options for customizing form fields: Insert Field, Delete Field, and
Field Properties. Access to these options vary, based on whether or not you right-click
on a field in the Story Form panel.
Another option in the context menu is Label Borders. See “Turning on Label Borders”
on page 206 for more information.
2. Choose an option based on one of the following: (The choice you make also determines
which dialog box appears.)
t

Select Delete Field if you want to remove an existing field from the form. (The field
you right-clicked on is the one you will delete if you choose this option.) The
Confirm Field Delete dialog box will appear. Go to step 3.

t

Select Field Properties to modify properties of an existing form field. The Form
Properties dialog box appears. Go to step 4.

t

Select Insert Field to add a new field to the form. The Insert Field dialog box
appears. Go to step 5.

3. Confirm your command to delete the field and, if necessary, return to step 2 to continue
modifying form fields.

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8 Forms

4. Use the Apply to radio buttons to determine whether you want your property
modifications to be applied to the:

n

-

Current field—the one you right-clicked on

-

Current row—all fields in the row of the field you right-clicked on

-

Entire form—all fields in the form

The rest of the Form Properties dialog box offers the same form options as those explained in
step 5.
5. Select various form options to determine appearance and function of field(s) in the form.

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Customizing Forms

The options available are explained in the following table.
Option

Explanation

Label

Enter current field’s name you want to appear in the Story Form panel.

Type

Select a field type from the drop-down list, which defines the field’s function.
This is different from the Type section on the right side of the dialog box,
which is explained further in the next step of this procedure.
See “Form Field Types and Definitions” on page 208 for a detailed
explanation of the various types you can choose from the drop-down list,
including variable fields that allow you to make up your own field names,
such as “shot” or “printed.”

Starts new row

Select this check box to force the field to be the first one in the next row of
the form.

Label size

Enter a numerical value to determine the label size.
This size is in approximate characters. Using a proportional font will, of
course, cause the number of characters to vary.
Generally, label size should be set to edit size plus one.

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8 Forms

Option

Explanation

Edit size

Enter a numerical value to determine the space text will fill in the field.
The numerical value entered for edit-size does not limit the amount of text
that can be typed in the field, but just the amount of text viewed in the field at
any one time.

n
Attributes

System administrators can set a limit for text in Story Form fields,
using a Registry value defined as VT Compatibility at each
workstation.

Select attributes for the form field.
•

Read-Only check box determines whether the form field can be read (not
modified).

•

Affects Ready check box determines whether the form field participates
in determining the Ready field value.

•

Enter a group name in the Write Group text box. When a write group is
assigned to a form field, only members of that group and superusers can
edit that field.

Text alignment

Select text position within the field.

Label placement

Select label position.
•

Top (default) puts label on top of the field

•

Bottom puts label below the field

•

Left or Right puts label to either side of the field.

Label alignment

Select way in which label aligns (left, center, or right) with the field.

Text style

Select appearance of text (bold, italic, or underline) in the field.

Label style

Select appearance of the label (bold, italic, or underline).

n

Any combination of these attributes may be selected.

6. Specify the Type.

204

Option

Explanation

Editbox

Select the Editbox radio button to make the field a standard text-entry field.
Any user-created field type can be assigned as an editbox field.

Customizing Forms

Option

Explanation

Checkbox

Select the Checkbox radio button to make the field a checkbox. Any
user-created field type can be assigned as a checkbox. Checkboxes will
always have the Text alignment attribute set to Center. The values are "1" for
checked and blank for unchecked, allowing use with raw queries and
Affects-Ready. Set the value by selecting or deselecting the checkbox once
the field is inserted into the form. Checkboxes can be selected with the mouse
or with the spacebar.

Calendar Control

Select the Calendar Control radio button to make the field a calendar field in
the form. Any user-created field type can be assigned as a calendar field. Data
entry can be via keyboard, spinner, or the calendar control that appears when
selecting the button in the field. The calendar field defaults to a time of
00:00:00, but times can be added to the dates if more specificity is required.
Dates are stored on the server as seconds since January 1, 1970.

Duration Control

Select the Duration Control radio button to make a field a duration field. Any
user-created field type can be assigned as a duration field. Duration fields
allow keyboard- or spinner-based entry. They appear as HH:MM:SS.
Durations are stored on the server as seconds.

Combobox

Select the Combobox radio button if you want to assign predefined values to
the field. When these fields are used in a form, the user is presented with a
drop-down list instead of a text field. You can define the values by using a
system list or group, or you can create an ad-hoc list of values.
•

Select Allow Blank Selection if you want a user to be able to choose a
blank value to clear the field.

•

Select Editable if you want a user to be able to type their own value into
the combobox as opposed to selecting from the predefined values you
provide in the drop-down list.

•

Select the Add List/Group button to open a new dialog box so you can
select system lists or groups to be used to populate the combobox. Your
selection will appear as an entry in the Entries section. See
“SYSTEM.LISTS” on page 207 for more information about lists.

•

Use the Entries section to create ad-hoc values that will appear in the
combobox. In this section of the dialog box, you can use the four buttons
to add new values, delete an existing value, or rearrange the order of your
pre-defined values.

•

The color boxes show the current system colors. Select an entry and then
a color to assign that color to the chosen entry. Colors can be assigned to
individual values or to entire groups and lists. When a color is applied, a
comma followed by a number (1-10) will appear after the entry to
indicate which color index is assigned to the entry. See
“SYSTEM.COLORS” on page 207 for more information about colors.
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8 Forms

7. Do one of the following:
t

Click OK in the Form Properties dialog box to record changes to an existing form
and close the dialog box.

t

Click Insert Before or Insert After in the Insert Field dialog box, depending on
where you want the new field to appear in the form in relation to the field (or cursor
position) you right-clicked on in step 1. This will record the changes and close the
dialog box.

8. Save story in the form queue, by clicking the Save button or selecting File > Save.
After a form is created and customized, it can be assigned to other queues in the
database as either the queue form, which dictates appearance of the queue, or story
form, which dictates appearance of stories created in the queue.

Turning on Label Borders
Label borders provide various information about fields in a tool tip format.
To turn on label borders in the Story Form panel:

1. Right-click in the Story Form panel.
2. Select Label Borders in the context menu.
3. Position mouse pointer over a field label to view tool tip.

When selected, rectangular borders are placed around the labels for each field in the
form. When the mouse pointer is positioned over a field’s label, a tool tip appears that
displays that field’s type, and the character count for the field position and label size.

For instance, the field called Slug (shown above) is a TITLE field located 12 characters in
from the left with a label size of 18 characters. So, from the position of the Slug field, you
can determine the Pg Number field has a Label size of 12 characters. Also, the Contact field,
in the example, is located 30 characters in from the left—that is, its position in the row is
equal to the sum of the label sizes for the fields directly to its left. This is the case for sites
that follow the general recommendation by Avid that label sizes be equal to each field’s edit
size plus one. However, if the fields’ edit sizes are larger than their label sizes, a field’s
position in the row would be based on the larger of the two. You may confirm these figures
by positioning your mouse over the fields and viewing the tool tips that appear for each field.
Similar to those that appear for labels, field tool tips also provide character count for position
and edit size.

206

Customizing Forms

n

Positioning labels to the left or right of fields rather than above or below will also result in
adjustments for calculating field positions on a row, since both the label and edit sizes would
have to be included instead of the larger of the two.

SYSTEM.COLORS
There is a queue that holds system colors, which can be chosen (in the Form Properties or
Insert Field dialog boxes) to customize form fields. By default, the colors reside in the queue
SYSTEM.COLORS as defined by the Q_COLORS token in /site/dict/queues.
The first story in SYSTEM.COLORS defines the system’s colors. The format for each color
definition in the story is:
    ;

Only indexes 1 through 10 are accepted, and the color values are numerical from 000 to 255.
For instance, the first three color definitions in a story might appear similar to:
1 255 000 000 ;red
2 000 255 000 ; green
3 255 255 000 ; yellow

SYSTEM.LISTS
As a system administrator, you can create system lists, which can be chosen (in the Form
Properties or Insert Field dialog boxes) to customize predefined drop-down lists in
comboboxes. By default, the lists reside as stories in queues located in the directory,
SYSTEM.LISTS, as defined by the Q_LISTS token in /site/dict/queues.
The SYSTEM.LISTS directory is organized in a structure similar to SYSTEM.FORMS,
where the list is the first story in a queue that bears the same name as the list, and the first
character of that name is the name of the sub-folder in which the list’s queue and story are
located. For instance, a list called format is the first story in the queue
SYSTEM.FORMS.F.FORMAT.
The format of a list story is:   ; 

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8 Forms

Each text value is a predefined list entry that will appear as an item in a combobox’s
drop-down list. Double quotes should be used if special characters or spaces are used in the
text value. Assigning a background color is optional, and if left blank, no color is used. Here
is an example of a list:
Stop 1 ; the Stop value has a red background color
Go 2 ; the Go value has a green background color
“No Light” ; the No Light value has no background color

Assigning a Form as a Queue or Story Form
Queue and Story forms are database traits that allow you to assign different forms to
different folders and queues using the Directory/Queue Properties dialog box at the
workstation, or the dbtraits command at the console.
You assign these traits to define the appearance of information in the Queue panel and Story
Form panel.
To assign a form at an iNEWS Workstation:

1. Navigate to the directory (folder) or queue you want in the Directory panel.
2. Right-click to open the Directory/Queue Properties dialog box. Access to this dialog
box and its appearance varies, depending on certain circumstances. See
“Directory/Queue Properties Dialog Box” on page 122 for more information.
3. Do either or both of the following:
t

Use the Queue drop-down list on the Forms tab to select the form you want to apply
to the directory as queue form database trait.

t

Use the Story drop-down list on the Forms tab to select the form you want to apply
to the directory as story form database trait.
See “Forms Tab” on page 123 for more information.

4. Click OK to save changes and apply the new queue/story form settings.

n

Users should log off and sign back on to view the new queue/story form settings.

Form Field Types and Definitions
Form field types are explained in this section. Included is the suggested maximum or
minimum length for each field (where applicable) and whether a user can enter text in the
field.
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Form Field Types and Definitions

You can reuse only the VAR-N and AFF-READY-N fields in a form, where N is a different
number for each occurrence, such as AFF-READY-1. You can use all other field types only
once.
The following table provides explanation of forms pertaining to broadcast and/or machine
control and which fields are typically used in a variety of forms/queues.
Field Type

Description

AFF-READY-N

AFF-READY-N fields are created when a system is converted from Avid
Netstation to iNEWS. The AFF-READY-N fields are assigned the “Affects
Ready” attribute when created. This means the field affects the display in the
READY status field and allows a user to initialize a story and change its
status. There can be more than one AFF-READY-N field in a form. If any
AFF-READY-N field within a form contains a “?” then the READY field
displays a NOT READY message. If a question mark does not appear in any
of the AFF-READY-N fields in the form, then the Ready field displays a
READY message. This field should precede the READY status field in the
form. In iNEWS, the “Affects Ready” attribute can be assigned to any field in
a form and the result would be the same behavior as described here
pertaining to the AFF-READY-N field. For more information, see the
definition for the READY field in this document.

(N represents any
number.)

AIR-DATE

When a story is aired using the show-timing function, the date and time it airs
is inserted in this field. This field is designed to show which story is currently
on-air and give users a sense of how much time remains until a later story
goes to air. As the producer syncs timing on stories, the queue display on
other iNEWS Workstations shows that story in a different color. (Peach is the
standard default color rule.) The format on iNEWS Workstation is controlled
by the workstation control panel for regional settings.

APPN-X to APPN-X

These fields are used differently, depending on the queue in which they are
used. They appear in Machine Control Terminal (MCT) forms and some
Command or ControlAir forms. Also, many of the fields have different
meaning, depending on the device type. For instance, in an MCT form, the
event ID for a video/cart machine goes in the APP1-1 field, but in the APP2-1
field for a CG or SS, where the APP1-1 field is used for the style. These
fields were previously used in the mail and account forms in Avid Netstation,
but are no longer used for those forms in iNEWS. The APPN-X fields have
been renamed in iNEWS and occur only in template conversion from Avid
Netstation.

(N represents 1
through 5; X
represents any
number.)

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8 Forms

Field Type

Description (Continued)

AUDIO-TIME

This field will display the estimated time for reading a story, which can be
estimated by the computer system or entered into the field by a user. If time is
in the field, the system will use it to calculate the total time. If there is also a
TAPE-TIME field in the form, the system adds the TAPE-TIME to the
AUDIO-TIME to calculate the story’s total time.
Without any user input, the system will display an estimated time based on
the length of the story and presenter’s read rate, which is obtained from the
PRESENTER field in the form. If there is no PRESENTER field or it does
not contain a user ID or the ID in the field does not have a read rate
associated with it, then audio time is based on the system’s default read rate.
The length of the story is actually the word count of the story, since the read
rate is based on words per minute.
If a user has entered a time in the field and wants to restore the audio time
calculated by the system, the user should remove entered data from the field
with the space bar, delete, or backspace key. After the cursor leaves the form
field, the system will then display the computer-calculated audio time and
recalculate total time accordingly.

210

BACK-TIME

The system displays the back-time in this field. The back-time field is usually
eight characters wide, such as 00:00:00. A user can enter data in this field to
indicate hard-hit times for back-timing to certain points within a program.

CA-CAPTURED

This field displays total number of characters captured during a session
connection; it is one of eight special fields used in the SYSTEM.ACCOUNT
queue form for logging connection time activity. Although this field is not
required, omitting it will prevent iNEWS from displaying the corresponding
information in the form.

CA-DIRECTION

This field displays the direction of incoming or outgoing connections. It is
one of eight special fields used in the SYSTEM.ACCOUNT queue form for
logging connection time activity. Although this field is not required, omitting
it will prevent iNEWS from displaying the corresponding information in the
form.

CA-ELAPSED

This field displays elapsed time of a session connection. It is one of eight
fields used in the SYSTEM.ACCOUNT queue for logging connection time
activity. Although this field is not required, omitting it will prevent iNEWS
from displaying corresponding information in the form.

CA-IDENT

This field displays the connection identifier. It is one of eight fields used in
the SYSTEM.ACCOUNT queue for logging connection time activity.
Although this field is not required, omitting it will prevent iNEWS from
displaying corresponding information in the form.

Form Field Types and Definitions

Field Type

Description (Continued)

CA-ORIGIN

This field displays the origin machine name. It is one of eight special fields
used in the SYSTEM.ACCOUNT queue form for logging connection time
activity. Although this field is not required, omitting it will prevent iNEWS
from displaying corresponding information in the form.

CA-RECEIVED

This field displays the total number of characters received from a remote
system during a connection. It is one of eight special fields used in the
SYSTEM.ACCOUNT queue form for logging connection time activity.
Although this field is not required, omitting it will prevent The iNEWS
system from displaying corresponding information in the form.

CA-REMOTE

This field displays the remotely connected machine name. It is one of eight
special fields used in the SYSTEM.ACCOUNT queue form for logging
connection time activity. Although this field is not required, omitting it will
prevent iNEWS from displaying corresponding information in the form.

CA-SENT

This field displays the total number of characters sent to a remote system
during a connection. It is one of eight special fields used in the
SYSTEM.ACCOUNT queue form for logging connection time activity.
Although this field is not required, omitting it will prevent iNEWS from
displaying corresponding information in the form.

CG-ADDR

This field holds the ID’s or recorded page addresses from the character
generator on which a super is written by the CG interface.
This field is primarily used in association with ControlAir systems. See
“iNEWS Control Air Fields and Forms” on page 218 for further information
on when and how this field is used.

CG-TEMPLATE

This field contains template information for the character generator, namely
the address on the character generator of the template or tab field to be used
for the requested super. This field is primarily used in association with
iNEWS Command or ControlAir systems. See “iNEWS Control Air Fields
and Forms” on page 218 for further information on when and how this field is
used.

CG-TEXT

This field contains text of the super from the machine control instruction
requested by a user in the script. It is written into specified template fields on
the character generator interfaced with iNEWS. This field is primarily used
in association with iNEWS Command or ControlAir systems. See “iNEWS
Control Air Fields and Forms” on page 218 for further information on when
and how this field is used.

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8 Forms

212

Field Type

Description (Continued)

CHANNEL

The letter or numerical identifier of the on-air output or playback channel of
an interfaced production device is located in this field. Most production
devices have two or more channels. This field is primarily used in association
with iNEWS Command or ControlAir systems. See “iNEWS Control Air
Fields and Forms” on page 218 for further information on when and how this
field is used.

CREATE-BY

When you open a new story, the system enters your user name in this field.
The name is permanent and cannot be erased or overwritten. In a Mail form,
this field is used to indicate who sent the e-mail.

CREATE-DATE

When you create a new story, the system stores the date and time the story
was created in this read-only field. The format on iNEWS is controlled by the
workstation control panel for regional settings.

CUME-TIME

The computer displays the cumulative (cume) time. This field represents the
time of all the stories—except the selected story—added together. It has a
suggested minimum length of five characters, and is typically eight
characters.

DEVICE-MGR

This field displays the device name controlling a particular event. This field
is primarily used in association with ControlAir systems. See “iNEWS
Control Air Fields and Forms” on page 218 for further information on when
and how this field is used.

DURATION

This field can be used to store manually entered, suggested duration. The
value is not used for time calculation in any other fields.

EFFECT

This field holds the effect name requested in association with a machine
control or broadcast control event that will be applied to the character
generator or still store machine when it’s taken to air. For instance: a wipe or
a dissolve. This field is primarily used in association with ControlAir
systems. See “iNEWS Control Air Fields and Forms” on page 218 for further
information on when and how this field is used.

Form Field Types and Definitions

Field Type

Description (Continued)

ENDORSE-BY

This field enables a user with write-access to the queue to endorse stories in
that queue. When a story is first saved in a queue, the field is red and blank.
Whenever a user endorses the story, the system places that user’s name in the
ENDORSE-BY field corresponding to that story and the field changes to
green.
To manually endorse a story, click on the field in the queue. If another user
subsequently changes the story and saves it, the ENDORSE-BY field turns
yellow but the endorser’s name remains in the field. This indicates the story
was changed by one user after it had been approved by another. The endorser
can see who made the change by looking in the MODIFY-BY field if there is
one in the story form. The endorser can also withdraw approval by opening
the story form and deleting the user id from the ENDORSE-BY field.
If the ENDORSE-BY field is not shown in the Queue panel, a user can still
endorse the story by typing a character in the ENDORSE-BY field located in
the story form. A non-system administrator (non-superuser) cannot kill an
endorsed story if another user has the Production Lock set.

n

The story form must include a MODIFY-BY field to show the green
"endorsed" status in the ENDORSE-BY field.

EVENT-STATUS

This field displays availability and play status of a ControlAir, Command, or
MOS event, as reported by the production device involved. For instance, a
video event could be reported as OFFLINE, CUED,PLAYING, or
STOPPED, among other things. In rundown and Event List forms only the
status of a video event can be displayed. In ControlAir Workstation forms,
this field can also contain the status of CG and still store events. See “iNEWS
Control Air Fields and Forms” on page 218 for further information on when
and how this field is used.

ITEM-CHANNEL

This field is required to allow changing of the channel that primary events
will play on. It does not apply to events entered as production cues in the
story body. The ITEM-CHANNEL field is used to set or display the channel
for primary Command, MOS, or ControlAir video events.
A user can edit this field—thereby changing the play out channel for a
primary event—manually or through the Assign Channel dialog box at the
iNEWS Workstation. Any changes made at an iNEWS Workstation will be
relayed to the appropriate device.

n
LITERAL

When using the Assign Channel dialog box for MOS plug-in events,
the channel information is displayed in the ITEM-CHANNEL field.

This field is a non-editable field, typically used as a label or spacer to assist in
alignment of other fields within the Story Form.

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8 Forms

Field Type

Description (Continued)

MAIL-CC

This field is used in the Mail story form to display names of users receiving a
copy of an e-mail message.

MAIL-TO

This field is used in the Mail story form to display names of users to
whom an e-mail message is sent.

MODIFY-BY

This field contains the name of whoever most recently modified a story. A
user cannot edit this field.

MODIFY-DATE

Displays date and time story was last modified. Every time a story is edited
and saved, the system updates this field.

MODIFY-DEV

If a device name for a workstation is included in the configuration file, it
appears in this field when a story is saved at that workstation. If the device
name is not included in the configuration file, this field displays the IP
address of the workstation that was used when the story was saved. The
maximum number of characters for a device name is eight, but the IP address
can contain up to 15 characters.

MOS-ACTIVE

This write-protected field is required for the Story Form to accept MOS or
CAP (ControlAir Plug-in) events. The field’s content is created by the
software when MOS or CAP events are created. Content may be cleared if
the user selects Delete Machine Control from the right-click pop-up menu. If
the VIDEO-ID field is also present, it will be read only whenever there is a
value in MOS-ACTIVE.

MOS-DURATION

This editable field is required to allow duration information from MOS or
CAP events to be included in calculations for CUME-TIME, BACK-TIME
or TOTAL-TIME fields.
A user can enter a value, which appears bold, directly into this field, which
will be used only in show-timing calculations. Such user-entered information
does not become part of MOS or CAP events that are passed on to the
appropriate MOS device or ControlAir in the case of CAP events. Deleting
user-entered information from the field will allow show-timing to revert back
to duration information supplied by MOS or CAP events.
The contents of MOS-DURATION field are only used if a RUNS-TIME field
is present in the story. The contents of the MOS-DURATION field is added
to the computed runs time of the story and this total is shown in the
RUNS-TIME field. If the user enters a time in the RUNS-TIME field, the
MOS-DURATION field contents are ignored.

214

MOS-SUBEVENT

This field is reserved for future use.

MOS-TITLE

This write-protected field is required to allow the display of descriptive text
associated with MOS or CAP events.

Form Field Types and Definitions

Field Type

Description (Continued)

NSML-LITERAL

This field is only seen in stories and forms transferred from an Avid
Netstation database to an iNEWS database and cannot be created by a user.
The field is a by-product of the database conversion process and represents a
protected field in the Netstation template. You can delete it and replace it
with a usable field.

PAGE-NUMBER

This field is used primarily to arrange stories in a queue. If a queue is set to
sort stories by page number, users can change the order of stories in the
queue by entering in new page numbers. This is commonly done with
rundowns, because it allows the producer to quickly change the order of
stories by assigning them new page numbers. This field can also be displayed
on a myriad of external systems, such as Command, ControlAir, or some
third-party prompters. The system uses the first six characters of the field as a
page number when the story is printed. This field is used in printing only
when the story is printed using the “print script” option.

PRESENTER

The system uses the name of the user from this field to look up the user
read-rate. The system then calculates audio time for the story based on the
user read-rate. If a form does not contain a PRESENTER field, the system
calculates the audio time, based on the default read-rate set in the system
profile. (This is usually 180 wpm in English.)

READY

In some cases, the system places status information, such as NEW, HOLD,
LOCKED, or WIRE in this field. For instance, a wire story starts with the
WIRE status. When a user changes the story, it changes from WIRE to
READY. In the Mail form, the READY field is used to indicate whether an
e-mail message is NEW or was READ.
A user cannot enter data in this field, but it can be altered based on
information put in other fields with the “Affects Ready” attribute in the form.
In these cases, iNEWS checks the “Affects Ready” fields in the form and if
any one of the fields are empty or contain a question mark (?) as the first
non-blank character, then the READY field displays a “?” status. However,
iNEWS displays READY in the READY field if none of the fields with the
“Affect Ready” attribute contain a question mark, and all Affects Ready
fields are populated.

RESULT-INDEX

This field is in forms used to define the display of iNEWS database search
results. It contains the sequence number that indicates the original order of
items within the search results.

RESULT-LOC

This field is in forms used to define the display of iNEWS database search
results. It contains the location of data found during a search, such as the
name of a queue containing the story found matching the search criteria.

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8 Forms

Field Type

Description (Continued)

RUNS-TIME

This field displays the sum of all “runs=” times in a story’s production cues
plus the contents of the MOS-DURATION field. If the RUNS-TIME field is
not present in the story form, then the runs time entries will not be calculated.
If it’s not present along with MOS-DURATION, then the time from the
MOS-DURATION field will not be added to the story’s total time.
Runs time entries and the RUNS-TIME form field are not updated when the
iNEWS Workstation is connected only to the local database. When connected
to both the local database and server, the runs times will be updated when the
local database story is edited. Also, when the story is copied from the local
database into a queue on the iNEWS Server, its runs times will then be
updated accordingly.
The field functions much like the AUDIO-TIME field in that it can accept
user entered times while still maintaining the “real” runs time. For example, a
user can manually enter a time of 45 seconds in the field and that time will be
reflected in the TOTAL-TIME field. The sum of runs time entries as
calculated in the RUNS-TIME field are also included along with time from
story text in the text timing clocks, located at the bottom of the Story panel.
However, if a user manually edit the RUNS-TIME field, that data will not be
included in the times calculated for the text timing clocks.
By default, the Runs Time feature uses the word RUNS (not case-sensitive)
to indicate a runs time entry, which is quite flexible. Some examples are:
RUNS=25
RUNS=1:30
RUNS = 25
RUNS 1:30
TAPE RUNS 115

You can change this default by redefining the token W_RUNS on the server
in /site/dict/words.

n
SEARCH-ID

216

A runs time entry of 115, as shown in the last example above, is the
equivalent of one minute and fifty-five seconds (1:55). The number
115, without a colon, is interpreted as the number of seconds. So, 115
is not the same as 1:15.

This field, which contains the request ID number, is used by the Find All and
Fast Text Search features of iNEWS.

Form Field Types and Definitions

Field Type

Description (Continued)

STATUS

This field is used in a rundown queue. It will display “OK” or “ERROR,”
depending on the machine control event. The iNEWS monitor server utility
program sets this field to indicate whether there are any errors in the
production cues in stories of the rundown. In the SYSTEM.ACCOUNT
queue form used for logging connection activity, the STATUS field is used to
display the type of connection.

STILL-ID

In an Event List or Composite List queue, this field displays the
alphanumeric identifier for a still store graphic. This field is primarily used in
association with ControlAir systems. See “iNEWS Control Air Fields and
Forms” on page 218 for further information on when and how this field is
used.

STILL-PRESET

This field contains the number or letter designation of a predefined still store
format. It is typically used in the form for the still store device event list, and
is recognized by the ControlAir Workstations. This field is primarily used in
association with machine control systems and ControlAir systems. See
“iNEWS Control Air Fields and Forms” on page 218 for further information
on when and how this field is used.

STYLE

This field contains the MCS/ControlAir style name specified when a user
requests a CG or Still Store event in the production cue. It is typically an
alpha or alphanumeric sequence that is a maximum of eight characters long.
For instance, iNEWS translates a CG style into an address on the character
generator at which a template is stored. That template is then used to build
the requested super. For ControlAir, styles are defined in stories in the
SYSTEM.RESOURCE queue. They define the details, such as CG template,
number of fields, still preset or playback effect, that define an event. This
field is primarily used in association with ControlAir systems. See “iNEWS
Control Air Fields and Forms” on page 218 for further information on when
and how this field is used.

TAPE-TIME

A user can enter the tape’s run time in this field. If there is an AUDIO-TIME
field, the system adds tape time to audio time to calculate the story’s total
time.

TITLE

This field is used to give each story a name. Occasionally referred to as the
“Slug” field, it is the default quick “index field” for sorting stories in a queue.
The first 20 characters of any field defined as the sort field of a queue is
extracted and used as the “quick index” for the story. The TITLE field is
usually selected as the “index field.” That means it is the field searched when
a user conducts a Find or Find All search function and specifies a search of
the index field. In a Mail form, this field is used to display the Subject of the
E-mail message sent. In the SYSTEM.ACCOUNT queue form used for
logging connection activity, the TITLE field is used to display the Service
name.
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8 Forms

Field Type

Description (Continued)

TOTAL-TIME

The computer stores the total time for a story in this field, calculated based
on the sum of information from the RUNS-TIME, TAPE-TIME and
AUDIO-TIME fields. If the AUDIO-TIME field is not present,the computed
audio time is used. The RUNS-TIME and TAPE-TIME fields must be present
to be included in the total time. The story’s total time is used when
calculating back-time. If none of the three field types are present, the total
story time is a computed audio time.

VAR-N

This variable field was carried over from the Avid Netstation template
conversion. It is typically used for generic editable text fields. Users can
make up their own new fields using descriptive names, such as “crew” for a
field that lists a reporter/photographer team assigned to cover a story. The
user can employ anything for a field name with the following restrictions:
•

The name must be 12 characters or less

•

The name must begin with a letter of the alphabet

•

It can include any letters (a-z), numbers (0-9), a dash (-) or a period (.)

The name is not case sensitive. User-created field names are treated the same
as variable fields.
VIDEO-ID

This field is used in the rundown queue to display the tape number or clip ID
for video. It is also found in forms for the composite and video event lists.
This field is primarily used in association with machine control and
Command or ControlAir systems.

WRITER

When someone creates a new story, the system automatically enters his or her
user name in this field if it is present in the form. You can also enter text and
change the name.

n

n

Distribution codes assigned to wire stories are placed in the WRITER
field if it is present on the form used for wire stories. The codes would
also be placed in a MODIFY-BY or CREATE-BY field if either are
present in the story as well.

Write-protected fields may be edited if the third-party vendor supplies an editor interface.
Otherwise, such fields can be modified only by deletion or by replacement. To delete, use the
Delete Machine Control option from the right-click pop-up menu. To replace, use the Import
From Plugin option or drag-and-drop a MOS or CAP event from any source.
iNEWS Control Air Fields and Forms

Certain field options within iNEWS are used in specialized forms, which deal with various
devices that interface with the iNEWS newsroom computer system. These forms work in
part with the iNEWS ControlAir system monitoring programs.
218

Form Field Types and Definitions

In certain cases, some fields in these forms are filled out by the system rather than users. The
monitor utility program in iNEWS recognizes a set of descriptive field types in the
Rundown, Event list, and Composite list forms.
Here’s a brief description of these forms:
Data Type

Rundown Forms

RUNDOWN FORMS This is the form used by stories in the rundown queue. The monitor program
may extract text from some fields in this form and may put text in others. It
also copies text from the rundown form to Event/Composite lists. Only event
information for video devices is currently placed in the rundown story form.

n

EVENT LIST
FORMS

The monitor server program places information about an event destined for a
specific device in the form fields of the Event List story. It also copies
rundown field text—for instance, title and page number—into matching
fields in the Event List story form.

COMPOSITE LIST
FORMS

The monitor server program puts information about events destined for all
devices in the form fields of the Composite List story. It also copies rundown
field text—for instance, the title and page number—into matching fields in
the Composite List story form.

ControlAir FORMS

The function of the iNEWS ControlAir Workstation form controls which
data will be displayed on the playback screen. Currently, the iNEWS
ControlAir Workstation only extracts the PAGE-NUMBER from this form.
Fields defined for use only by the iNEWS ControlAir Workstation are:
DURATION, CHANNEL, and DEVICE-MGR.

See “Monitor Servers” on page 381 for more information about the utility program.
Below is a chart of form fields filled in by the monitor server (utility) program:

Event List Forms

Composite List
Forms

VIDEO-ID

VIDEO-ID

VIDEO-ID

Video Status

EVENT-STATUS

EVENT-STATUS

EVENT-STATUS

Video Duration

TAPE-TIME

CG Address

CG-ADDR

CG-ADDR

CG Template

CG-TEMPLATE

CG-TEMPLATE

Data Type

Rundown Forms

Error Status

STATUS

Video ID/Address

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8 Forms

Data Type

Rundown Forms

CG Text

Event List Forms

Composite List
Forms

CG-TEXT

CG-TEXT

Standard iNEWS Forms
The iNEWS system contains a number of standard forms, each designed for use with one of
the system’s features. The forms your system provides are ready to use, but you can also
customize them. You can add or remove fields from a form or change a field’s title.
Account Queue Form

The system keeps a record of events, such as who logged into a connect session, the service
used, and length of the connect session. This information is made available when the system
creates a story in the SYSTEM.ACCOUNT queue and puts information in the story’s form.
A form designed for this must be assigned to SYSTEM.ACCOUNT, or your system cannot
display the information. The standard account queue form is usually stored in the queue
SYSTEM.FORMS.A.ACCOUNT.
The following table shows the fields used in the Account Queue form.

220

Field Label

Field Type

Service name

TITLE

User

CREATE-BY

Date and time

CREATE-DATE

Connection type

STATUS

Origin machine name

CA-ORIGIN

Incoming or outgoing connection

CA-DIRECTION

Remote machine name

CA-REMOTE

Elapsed time of session connection

CA-ELAPSED

Connection identifier

CA-IDENT

Total characters sent to remote system

CA-SENT

Total characters received from remote system

CA-RECEIVED

Total characters captured

CA-CAPTURED

Standard iNEWS Forms

You are not required to include any of these fields in the account queue form. However,
omitting a field prevents the system from displaying information associated with that field in
the account queue.
Mail Form

The Mail feature has a form specially designed for mail stories. This form has fields for
elements such as the subject of your message, name of message recipient, and people you
want copied on the message. The mail form is stored in SYSTEM.FORMS.M.MAIL. The
system includes a mail form, but you can specify a form for the mail feature to use by
assigning the form to the SYSTEM.MAIL.OUT queue.
You can modify this form to suit your system needs. The following fields are used by the
Mail queue.
Field Label

Field Type

To

MAIL-TO

Subject

TITLE

Cc

MAIL-CC

From

CREATE-BY

Only the To field is required. A form that does not have the other fields is still usable.
Find All Form

Your system uses the form assigned to SYSTEM.SEEK, or whichever queue is specified for
Q_SEEK in the system dictionary (/site/dict/queues) as the find all form. Since the system
expects to find certain information in each of the form’s fields, the form assigned to
SYSTEM.SEEK must be designed for use with the find all command.
The follow table shows field types used in the find all form.
Field Label

Field Type

ID

SEARCH-ID

Status

READY

Search For

VAR-1

Search Where

APP1-1

Results Queue

TITLE
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8 Forms

n

Field Label

Field Type

Search Type

APP2-1

Max Hits

PAGE-NUMBER

Notify Hits

APP3-1

Hits so Far

PRESENTER

By

CREATED-BY

Started At

CREATE-DATE

The find all command must have certain information to perform a search. If you leave out a
required field, the iNEWS Workstation displays a Missing form field message whenever
someone tries to use the find all command.
Wire Story Form

To display information such as title, time moved, source, and average reading time in each
wire, the system contains a wire story form. It is assigned to the wire queues and stored in
SYSTEM.FORMS.W.WIRES. Any changes you make to this form do not take effect until
you restart the wire. The following table shows field types used in the wire story form.

n

222

Field Label

Field Type

Title

TITLE

From

WRITER or CREATE-BY

Moved

CREATE-DATE

Status

READY

Time

AUDIO-TIME

FlashWord

PRESENTER

Number

PAGE-NUMBER

The name of the form used for wire stories is defined by the Words dictionary token
W_WIRE_FORM.

9 Character Generator Title Entry
The iNEWS newsroom computer system provides journalists, producers, directors, writers,
and technical personnel in a newsroom with an array of tools to make their jobs easier. One
such tool is the CG Title Entry feature, which enables newsroom personnel to simulate
character-generated graphics at the iNEWS Workstation. By offering a graphical view of CG
information, iNEWS helps production staff verify the accuracy and quality of the data prior
to air.
This chapter contains the following main sections:
•

Overview of CG Title Entry

•

Title Entry Setup and Configuration

•

CG Template Editor

•

Title Entry Security

Overview of CG Title Entry
When writing scripts, journalists are typically required to include information in the script
that will appear as a character-generated graphic when the story is aired. These graphics,
called supers or CGs, must be entered into the script in such a way that iNEWS can identify
the information as data for the character generator. This method of identification uses
production cues—also called machine instructions—which are separated from the story text.

n

The first production cue example appears graphically later in this section.
Here is an example of a production cue for a CG with one line of text for the graphic and one
line of information for production staff.
*CG live
USA Hockey Championships

n

Unlike the lines shown here, in iNEWS, production cues that contain machine commands
appear as blue text in the Instruction sub-panel on the left side of a split Story panel. For
those without machine commands—those that do not begin with an asterisk—the font
appears black.
Here is another example of a production cue for a CG with two lines of text for the graphic
and two lines of information for iNEWS and production personnel:
*CG live
Ellen Miller
City Hall
Take cg at 10 seconds in...

In the example, the user cannot visually determine how information will appear on air when
the data is loaded in the character generator template. For instance, will the data fit into the
actual text fields on the CG template? The answer to this question cannot be determined
from the production cue text. However, the Title Entry feature allows for this possibility by
offering a graphic-style dialog box.
The dialog box displays sample templates, complete with backgrounds and text fields,
similar to actual CG templates that appear on air. These sample templates—which are
configured and modified by system administrators using the CG Template Editor—can be
filled in by the users, and information is applied to the production cue within the script.

Overview of CG Title Entry

When configured accordingly, the Title Entry dialog box can provide users with visual
verification of whether text they enter will fit in fields of actual character-generated
graphics. Producers can use the Title Entry dialog box to preview CG information in scripts
in order to check the appearance and accuracy prior to airing the production cue.
The following graphic shows how a single-lined production cue appears in the Title Entry
dialog box, using a template background that has a 16 x 9 screen ratio.

The black button at the bottom of the window—known as the Dimensions Toggle
button—lets users toggle markers on and off, indicating what part of the graphic would be
visible within the standard 4 x 3 screen ratio.

n

The Title Entry feature can only be accessed by users when the cursor is located in the Story
panel of the iNEWS Workspace. Access to Title Entry can also be limited to certain users.
See “Title Entry Security” on page 241 for more information.

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9 Character Generator Title Entry

Title Entry Setup and Configuration
Before you can use the Title Entry feature, templates must be created by the system
administrator in iNEWS to simulate the actual graphics used by the character generator. The
person responsible for setting up the templates should have a good understanding of how
CGs are created on the character generator, because it is important that templates in Title
Entry correspond to those used by the character generator.
Understanding CG Templates

Most CGs are comprised of both background graphics and text fields. A background graphic
could be a small color bar that spans the bottom third portion of the television screen, a
full-screen graphic, a logo in the corner of the screen, and so forth. See “CG Template
Backgrounds” on page 227 for more information.
The text fields vary as well. A CG template can contain numerous text fields, with each one
having different predefined properties, such as screen location and font style. Typically,
users can write text in the fields, but some may contain predefined text that users cannot edit.
For instance, a CG can have a field with the predefined word, FILE, which would be aired
over file video of previous news coverage.
An example of a standard CG template is a two-line lower-third CG. In the following
example, the bar separating the two rectangular boxes makes up the background. The boxes
are the text fields, which can be filled in by a user.

n

CG text fields are also known as tab fields, referring to the key used to navigate from one
field to another.
In a CG template, the character generator assigns each text field a number, indicating the
order in which fields can be filled in. For instance, a user types a name in field one, then
navigates to the second field in the sequence using the Tab key, and types the person’s job
title or location.

n
226

Knowing the numeric field assignments of each template is crucial, because the sequence in
the Title Entry dialog box must match the tab field’s sequence on the corresponding
character generator’s template.

Title Entry Setup and Configuration

CG templates are stored on the character generator at locations assigned or represented by
identification numbers known as Template numbers. These numbers can be used by the CG
operator to recall templates, which are filled in and aired during a show. However, in
iNEWS, aliases are usually assigned to each template to provide users with an easier way of
recognizing the template.
For instance, a template containing one field—one line of text—used to air the location of a
story may be stored on the character generator as template 502, but users type in the alias
loc1 in the production cue.
The assignment of aliases to Template numbers is stored in the Resource queue located in
the System directory (SYSTEM.RESOURCE). These same aliases must be established first
and used in naming the templates for Title Entry.

c

The Title-Entry queue in the System directory (namely, SYSTEM.TITLE-ENTRY) is
used to limit access to the CG Template Editor. When the CG Template Editor starts, it
gains a lock on SYSTEM.TITLE-ENTRY, which guarantees that only one system
administrator can modify the set of templates at any given time. The Title-Entry queue
must be created, if it does not already exist, prior to creating templates. In that queue,
there is one story titled 000-installation, and that story contains the following text:
WARNING - This file is machine read/written - Never edit this text
(unless instructed to do so)
TEMPLATE ROADMAP= TE000001

Do not manually edit the data in this queue. For help creating this queue, contact Avid.
When configuring templates or setting up new ones, use the CG Template Editor provided in
the software. See “CG Template Editor” on page 229 for more information.
CG Template Backgrounds

Before creating CG templates for Title Entry, the system administrator should capture an
image of the actual CG templates on the character generator as bitmaps. These bitmaps are
used as background images in the creation process of corresponding templates in iNEWS.

n

You must create bitmaps in one of two sizes. Standard size is 400 x 300 pixels (for a screen
ratio of 4 x 3) with 256 or more colors. The iNEWS CG Title Entry also supports images for
a 16 x 9 screen ratio, which requires bitmaps with the larger dimensions of 560 pixels wide
by 315 pixels high.
You can store the bitmaps anywhere on the network as long as they are accessible from the
iNEWS Workstation used to run the CG Template Editor. When the CG Template Editor
program creates Title Entry templates, the chosen bitmaps are copied to the iNEWS
database, at which point the bitmaps on the network can be disposed of.
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9 Character Generator Title Entry

Required Bitmaps

Two slightly different bitmaps of each unique CG template should be captured from the
character generator. First, capture the CG template with the text fields full of text.

n

Do not use spaces.
Each text field in the actual CG template filled out with information from a user should have
a solid string of characters in it when the bitmap is made. Fixed-width fonts allow for
absolute accuracy; however, proportional fonts can be used. The character limit of a field
with fixed-width fonts will be the same no matter which letters of the alphabet are used to
fill it up. Proportional—also known as variable-width—fonts contain some letters that are
wider than others, so the character limit may vary. For instance, the character limit of a field
with a proportional font may be nine letters if “M” is used to fill up the field, but that limit
increases to 25 when the letter “I” is used instead. A good mix of wide and narrow letters
should be typed in the field to fill it up if a proportional font is used.

The first bitmap provides a graphical demonstration of character width allowed in a text field
and the position of that field on the screen. This bitmap will be used to align text fields and
fonts on the Title Entry template when created in the CG Template Editor.
Secondly, capture the same CG template with empty text fields as a bitmap.

228

CG Template Editor

This bitmap will replace the first one in the final version of the Title Entry template. It will
be used as the template background shown in the Title Entry dialog box.

CG Template Editor
System administrators should use the CG Template Editor to create and modify templates
referenced by the Title Entry dialog box.

n

Before starting the CG Template Editor, a character generator and their aliases must be
defined in SYSTEM.RESOURCE; otherwise, an error stating “No character generators
defined” will appear.
To start the CG Template Editor:

1. Log in to iNEWS.
2. Select Tools > CG Templates. For superusers, the Edit Title Entry Template window,
which is explained in the next section, will open.

n

In some cases, a password is required before access to the CG Template Editor is allowed.
See “Title Entry Security” on page 241 for more information.

229

9 Character Generator Title Entry

Edit Title Entry Template Window
The Edit Title Entry Template window contains several template options, which can be used
to create templates that graphically represent actual CGs aired from the character generator.
Some options available to the system administrator are:

n

•

Select a bitmap for a CG template background

•

Add, modify, or delete text fields in a template

•

Reorder sequence of text fields

•

Limit editorial access to text fields

•

Modify font size, color, style, and so forth

•

Provide helpful Tool Tip text, which appears in the Title Entry dialog box when a user
positions the mouse over a text field.

Options in the CG Template Editor do not directly affect features of actual CG templates on
the character generator, but should be used to correctly reflect to the iNEWS user facsimiles
of CG templates on the character generator that are as accurate as possible.
The Edit Title Entry Template window’s toolbars—located at the top and bottom of the
window—contain various buttons and drop-down menus, used to configure template
options.

230

CG Template Editor

The following table provides details about the toolbar buttons and menus in Edit Title Entry
Template window.
Menu, List, Field
or Button

Options and Explanation

Template menu

Options include: New, Open, Save and so forth. This menu is used to open
new or existing templates, save modified templates, and to close the window

Edit menu

Options include: Background, Add Field, Font PreSets, and so forth. This
menu is used for adding or deleting items to a template, such as a background
or field, and setting predefined Fonts.
The Logo button is the same as the Background option in the Edit drop-down
menu. It allows the user to select a bitmap graphic as a template background.
231

9 Character Generator Title Entry

Menu, List, Field
or Button

Options and Explanation (Continued)

The Text Fields button is the same as the Add Field option in the Edit
drop-down menu. It allows the user to add a text field to a Title Entry
template, which can then be positioned and sized accordingly.
The X button is the same as the Delete Field option in the Edit drop-down
menu. It allows the user to delete the selected text field from a Title Entry
template.
The 1-2-3 button is the same as the Field Order option in the Edit drop-down
menu. It allows the user to rearrange the numerical tab sequence of the text
fields in a Title Entry template.
The Text Color button is the same as the Text Color option in the Edit
drop-down menu. It allows the user to change the color of the font used in a
text field as displayed in the Title Entry dialog box.

232

Justify list

Options include: Left Justify, Right Justify, and Center Justify. This list is
used to set the alignment of text in a field. The drop-down list will continue
to display the current setting of the selected field when the list is closed. The
default is Left-Justify.

Editing list

Options include: Writable, Read Only, Optional and Required. This list
allows the user to determine whether a field is Writable or Read Only, and
whether it is a required field. If Required is chosen, the user of CG Title
Entry will be required to fill out the field with text before saving the
production cue. Because the user is prevented from entering text in a
read-only field, if Read Only is chosen, the user of the CG Template Editor is
required to fill out the field with text before saving the template. Blank,
read-only fields are not permitted. The drop-down list will continue to
display the current setting of the selected field when the list is closed. The
default is Writable-Optional.

Allowed Characters
list

Options include: All characters OK, Uppercase Only, Lowercase Only, and
Define Subset. This list allows the user to limit the type of characters allowed
in a text field. For instance, if the text field should only contain numerical
sports scores, then the user could use the Define Subset option to limit the
allowed characters in that field to the numbers: 0123456789. As shown, do
not use a comma to separate the numbers or it too will be allowed in the field.
The Define Subset option is case-sensitive.

CG Template Editor

Menu, List, Field
or Button

Options and Explanation (Continued)

Font PreSets list

Options include: 10 user-definable font display settings. This list allows the
user to store up to 10 font display settings created by the user as PreSets.
These can later be selected when making new templates with fields that
contain the same size and style of font, saving the user from having to
recreate the font repeatedly. The first font stored is particularly important
because it becomes the field properties default for the Template Editor at start
up.

True-Type Fonts list

Options include: any true-type font installed on the workstation, such as
Times New Roman. This list allows the user to select a font that matches or
closely resembles the font used on the actual CGs.

Font Style menu

Options include: Bold, Italic, Underline, and Strike through. This allows the
user to define the style of font used in the selected text field.

Tool Tip field

This field allows the user to type in text that will appear as a Tool Tip box in
the Title Entry dialog box, when a user positions the mouse over the text
field. For instance, if a user should type only a person’s name or location in
the field, the Tool Tip text for that field could be: Type Person or Location
Name Here.

Creating a New Template
The CG Template Editor is used to recreate a template that will simulate the appearance of
information sent to actual templates aired by the character generator. This section assumes
those actual CG templates were already captured as bitmaps and stored in a file accessible to
the user creating a new template. See “Required Bitmaps” on page 228 for more
information.

c

Since template names must match the alias associated with the actual CG template
number used by the character generator, the aliases must be defined before opening the
CG Template Editor. For instance, if a user typically types *CG loc1 as the first line of
a production cue for a 1-line location CG, then the Title Entry template created for that
CG should also be named loc1. Aliases are defined in SYSTEM.RESOURCE. The CG
Template Editor will not start if there are no available aliases to save templates to.
When the Create Title Entry Template window first opens, it appears with a graphic that
highlights the first step in the process for creating new templates.

233

9 Character Generator Title Entry

To create a new template from the Create/Edit Title Entry Template window:

1. Define a temporary background for the template by doing one of the following:

n

t

Click the Logo button.

t

Click the Edit menu and select Background.

Use the Template menu and select New to create another new template when an existing one
already appears in the window.
The Recycle -vs.- New background dialog box appears.

234

CG Template Editor

2. Click No.
The standard Windows-based Open dialog box appears.

3. Navigate to the directory where you stored the bitmap background and select a bitmap
from the directory where you stored them. This is the bitmap of the actual CG template
you want to recreate in the Template Editor. See “Required Bitmaps” on page 228 for
more information.

n

The first bitmap you choose should be the one that contains text fields filled with characters.
In upcoming steps, you will use this bitmap to align the text fields and the font in the
template, before replacing it with another bitmap containing empty text fields.
4. Add a text field by doing one of the following:
t

Click the Text Fields button.
235

9 Character Generator Title Entry

t

n

Click the Edit menu and select Add Field.

If a template already has a text field and it is selected, then any new field added to the
template will follow size and font styles for that original field.
5. Click on the new text field and drag it into position over the text-filled area pictured in
the bitmap—one field per line of text in the bitmap. You can also adjust the position of
the text field by using any of the following key combinations:
-

Ctrl+Right Arrow move the field to the right

-

Ctrl+Left Arrow moves the field to the left

-

Ctrl+Up Arrow moves the field up

-

Ctrl+Down Arrow moves the field down

6. Use the mouse to resize the text field to reflect the size of the text area in the bitmap.
7. Use the True-Type Font list or the PreSet list to select a font similar to the font used by
the character generator, as seen in the bitmap.
8. Type the same characters shown in the bitmap into the new text field. The font may or
may not line up exactly over that of the bitmap. To enable Title Entry to accurately
reflect the text as it will appear on actual CGs, you must align the field and characters
with those shown in the bitmap.
9. Adjust the height and width of the font by using any of the following key combinations:
-

Alt+Right Arrow expands the width of the font

-

Alt+Left Arrow contracts the width of the font

-

Alt+Up Arrow increases height of the font

-

Alt+Down Arrow decreases height of the font

This might take some time and will require experimentation with fonts and font styles,
before the characters align with those of the bitmap. The goal is to make certain the text
field you create in the template has the same character limit as the area shown in the
bitmap when the exact characters are used in both.
10. Use the Backspace key to erase characters from the field once the font and field
alignments are complete.
11. Determine the justification of text in each field. Select the field and use the Justify list.
12. Repeat steps 6-11 as needed for each text field in the template.

n
236

If text fields on several CG templates use the same font and field size, you do not have to
repeat the steps with each new template created. You can duplicate a field (including all its
size and font properties) within a template by holding the Control (Ctrl) key down, clicking

CG Template Editor

on the field, and dragging its copy to a new location within the template. You can also reuse
field properties by saving them as a Font PreSet, which can then be selected for use when
creating other templates. See “Using Font PreSets” on page 239 for more information.
13. Determine whether a user can write in each field, and whether the user is required to fill
in a field by using the Editing drop-down list. If you make a field required, then the user
must enter some data into that field when using Title Entry before iNEWS will accept
the production cue. This does not apply to the field while in the CG Template Editor.
However, if you make a field read-only, it must contain some text so you will be
required to put some text in the field while in the CG Template Editor. Users will be
prevented from altering that text in the read-only field when using Title Entry.
The Read Only option can be used for setting up templates that standardize certain
commonly used CGs. For instance, you have a CG that has two fields: one for any
council member’s name and the second that should contain the words, City Council
Member. But, users sometimes just write Councilman or worse, they misspell Council.
You could make the second field read only and pre-define the words that appear in the
field.

n

If a field is pre-defined on the actual CG template, such as LIVE or FILE, it should appear
as part of the background—saved as part of the bitmap—not as a read-only field on the Title
Entry CG template.
14. Determine which characters are allowed in each text field. Select the field, then choose
from the options in the Allowed Characters drop-down list. If you choose to define your
own subset of characters, a dialog box will appear, where you must then type in only
those characters you want to allow in the field. For instance, you can limit what a user
types into a field for a Sports CG to only characters: 1234OTF—representing 1st-4th
quarter, OT for over-time, and F for final.

n

The Allowed Character option is case-sensitive. Also, notice the example in step 15 does not
include commas, such as: 1,2,3,4,OT,F. If commas are included, then commas will also be
accepted in the field.
15. Type in the text for the field’s Tool Tip. The Tool Tip will appear in the Title Entry
dialog box when the user positions the mouse over that field. To enter Tool Tip text,
click on the Tool Tip field at the bottom-right corner of the Edit Title Entry Template
window, then type your text in the field provided. You must press Enter to save the tool
tip text.

n

Alt+L can be used to select and enter data into the Tool-Tip field. Also, each Tool Tip will
appear with a number in the CG Template Editor window. The number indicates that field’s
order in the template. These numbers do not appear as part of actual Tool Tips over fields of
the Title Entry dialog box.

237

9 Character Generator Title Entry

16. Replace the background of the template with the bitmap of the CG Template containing
empty text fields. To chose another bitmap, do one the following:
t

Click the Logo button.

t

Select Edit > Background.
The Recycle -vs.- New background dialog box appears.

17. Click No.
The standard Windows-based Open dialog box appears.

18. Navigate to the directory where you stored the bitmap background and select the correct
bitmap. This is the bitmap of the actual CG template you want to recreate in the
Template Editor. See “Required Bitmaps” on page 228 for more information.
19. Save the template by doing one of the following:
238

CG Template Editor

c

t

Select Template > Save.

t

Type Ctrl+S.

The template name must match the pre-defined alias associated with the actual CG
template number used by the character generator. Aliases are defined in
SYSTEM.RESOURCE.

Using Font PreSets
Font PreSets are a time-saving feature for system administrators using the CG Template
Editor to create Title Entry templates.
After a system administrator sets up a text field and saves it as part of a template, he can
store settings for that field as a Font PreSet. The Font PreSet can then be selected when the
system administrator needs to add a field with those same settings to another template. For
instance, the text field of a one-line location CG is saved as a Font PreSet, which is later used
to create the first field in a two-line name CG, a two-line live CG, and so forth, because all
fields use the same font style and field size.

n

You can have a maximum 10 Font PreSets in iNEWS. The first one stored is particularly
important, because it becomes the field properties default for the CG Template Editor at
start up. Save the PreSets for major font/field variations. Because you are limited to 10, it is
not recommended they be used for minor variations, such as a font color change. You can
replace any Font PreSet with a new one if all of the PreSets are taken.
To save a field as a Font PreSet:

1. Open the template containing the field you want to save as a Font PreSet.
2. Click on the specific field to select it.
3. Do one of the following:
t

Select Edit > Font PreSets.

t

Press the F7 key.

The Manage Font PreSets dialog box appears with the first available PreSet option
highlighted.

239

9 Character Generator Title Entry

4. Click Add to save the selected field as a new Font PreSet. The name of the newly added
field will appear in place of existing data on the highlighted PreSet option.
5. Click OK to close the dialog box.

n

You cannot save a field’s settings as a Font PreSet until after the field is saved as part of a
template. If you attempt to set a Font PreSet using a newly created field from an unsaved
template, iNEWS will issue the following advisory.

To delete an existing Font PreSet:

1. Open the Manage Font PreSets dialog box by doing one of the following:
t

Select Edit > Font PreSets.

t

Press the F7 key.

2. Select the PreSet you want to delete from the list.
3. Click Delete.
4. Click OK to close the dialog box.
To choose an existing Font PreSet for a selected text field:

1. Click the Font PreSets list at the bottom of the Edit Title Entry Template window.
2. Select the Font PreSet you want to use for the chosen field.

240

Title Entry Security

Title Entry Security
Access to CG Template Editor and CG Title Entry is determined separately per user account.
A user who can use CG Title Entry will not necessarily have access to CG Template Editor,
while another user can be denied the ability to use both features.

Access to CG Template Editor
Access to CG Template Editor is limited to system administrators, or superusers, and those
who know the password for dbmanager, if that user account is created by a system
administrator. This is the same dbmanager account that is used to modify database traits. See
“The Database Manager Account” on page 97 and “Changing Database Traits” on page 136
for more information.
When a non-superuser attempts to launch the CG Template Editor from the Tools menu, the
following dialog box appears:

If the correct password is not given, or if the user does not have read access to
SYSTEM.TITLE-ENTRY then iNEWS will notify the user and deny access to the Edit Title
Entry Template window.

n

Only one person on the network can use CG Template Editor to edit Title Entry templates at
a time.

Access to CG Title Entry
The availability of CG Title Entry is dependent on two things: cursor position in the iNEWS
Workspace and permission granted in the user’s account.
When a user’s cursor is in any panel other than the Story panel, the Titling option in the
Tools menu will appear gray, indicating that Title Entry is unavailable. Additionally, a
system administrator, or those authorized with the umanager password, can limit access to
Title Entry.
There is no individual user setting that enables or prevents access to CG Title Entry.
However, those users whose accounts are set as “Simplified” might be prevented from
accessing CG Title Entry.
241

9 Character Generator Title Entry

To prevent access to CG Title Entry for all simplified users:

1. Log in as a system administrator or with your own user account if you know the
umanager password.
2. Select Tools > Options > Users. System administrators will see the Manage User
Accounts window immediately. Others will be prompted first to give the umanager
password before the window opens.

3. Indicate the user by providing the User ID. The Search button is available to help locate
the user’s account if the ID is unknown.
4. Click the Simplified UI button. The Simplified User Interface dialog box appears.

5. Click on the Disable Title Entry check box to select it.
6. Click OK.
242

10 System Configuration
Information about your iNEWS system’s hardware devices (workstations), connections
(wires), and iNEWS Servers is stored in configuration files. This chapter contains a
representative sample of each iNEWS configuration file. A comprehensive list of sample
configuration files is contained in “System Files” on page 541. Procedures for editing
configuration files using the line editor, ed, are provided in “The Line Editor, ed” on page
655.
This chapter contains the following main sections:
•

Overview

•

Configuration File

•

Hosts File

•

System Profile Files

•

Devices

•

Intersystem Messaging

Overview
Configuration of the iNEWS newsroom computer system is controlled by settings stored as
text files in the (root) Site directory on the software area of the system’s hard disk. Files in
the Site directory or subdirectories include:
•

/site/config

•

/site/system

•

/site/wires/

•

/site/dict

Because many system files are located in the Site directory, they are also referred to as site
files.

n

All files in the Site directory, including the system profile and configuration file, can contain
only Roman characters.
Another important file is stored in the ETC directory, which is:
•

/etc/hosts

Samples of these and other system files are provided in “System Files” on page 541.
Changes to system configuration are made by editing these text files. The recommended
method is at the console using the line editor, ed, because it works on all servers
simultaneously through the console. Unlike familiar graphical-based word processing
programs, ed deals with text files on a line-by-line basis.

n

To learn more about the line editor, refer to one of the books available in bookstores on the
Linux operating system with sections devoted to ed.
The most likely reason for you to use ed is to modify system files, such as /site/config or
/site/dict/queues. For instance, if you add a wire to your system, you will need to add the
wireserver’s configuration information to the configuration file in the Site directory. Some
procedures for editing certain files are provided in this chapter. For more information about
the line editor, type info ed at the console. Additional information, including details on how
to use the line editor, ed, is provided in “The Line Editor, ed” on page 655 of this manual.

c

It is vital that you ensure system files remain identical across all iNEWS Servers. When
you modify a site file, make the same changes to each server’s copy of the file, or your
system will not run properly. Select all servers before you open a file for editing to
ensure changes you make are applied to each server’s copy of the file.

Overview

n

The Linux graphical X-window login offers additional Linux GUI tools for system
management. Tasks such as changing IP addresses and checking hardware are much easier
within the X-window GUI. However, if all iNEWS Servers have the GUI installed as part of
the Linux installation, it does take additional resources to run and requires additional
hardware, such as monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Some system managers might not want to
run the GUI full-time so as to reserve memory and other resources for the iNEWS Server
processes.
While the impact of running the GUI is probably not terribly significant on modern
hardware with speedy processors and plenty of RAM, Avid does not test the software or
system performance with the GUI running. This editing alternative is not required or
supported by Avid.
Before editing any system file, Avid recommends you make a backup copy of the file.

Making a Backup File
When you want to make changes to a system file, begin by making a backup copy of the file,
and then edit the backup file. That way, if you make a mistake during the editing process,
your original file version is preserved.
To make a backup copy of a file:

t

Use the copy command at the console in the following format:
cp  

For instance, to copy the configuration file in the Site directory, type:
NRCS-A$ cp /site/config /site/config.backup

Viewing System Files
When viewing a system file, use the more command at the console.
The format is: more 
The more command allows you to view one page at a time, which is especially useful for
really long files. The cat command may also be used, particularly for smaller files.
To use the more command to view your copy of the configuration file:

t

Type: NRCS-A$ more /site/config.test
Information similar to the following example appears:

245

10 System Configuration

n

Only part of the configuration file is shown here. An entire example is available in “System
Files” on page 541.
To use the cat command to view the system profile, a text file stored in /site/system:

t

246

Type: NRCS-A$ cat /site/system

Licensing iNEWS Components

Information similar to the following example appears:
NRCS-A$ cat /site/system
id=INWS

net=abc

lowwater=100000
load=5

highwater=105000

purgelimit=5

pausetimeout=0:05

;
; iNEWS 2008-07-31 16:01:20 - Added wordlength parameter
wordlength=6
;
; defaults - if parameter not present these values are assumed
;

unless overridden on the command line.

;
; auto_upgrade=yes

lowwater=100000

remotetimeout=0:00

; clockmax=12

maxhits=500

; excluded_video=none

min_passwd_length=5

; highwater=105000

msgserver=silent

security=or

; lastlogin=yes

pausetimeout=0:30

timechar=:

; load=0

purgelimit=0

timer=verbose

; localtimeout=0:00

readrate=180

Licensing iNEWS Components
Each time the iNEWS newsroom computer system is configured, your licensing information
is checked. This information determines the number of devices you are authorized to
connect to the system. An error message appears if the configuration file defines more
devices than are licensed in any of the following categories:
•

iNEWS workstations (sessions)

•

COM

•

Web Access

•

Web Client

•

Web Services API

•

Wires

247

10 System Configuration

•

Instinct

•

Community

To display your system’s licensing limits, at the console, type:

t

NRCS-A$ status license -OR- status l (lowercase L)

A message similar to the following will appear on your screen:
A is ONLINE and has been CONFIGURED.
System is AB.

ID is INWS.

Master is A.

Disk status is OK.

The database is OPEN.

Site Key.............: 009999
CPUs.................: 3
Workstation addresses: 3000
Workstation resources: 1000
COM resources........: 5
Web Access resources.: 2
Web Client resources.: 10
Web API resources....: 5
Wire Server resources: 8
Instinct resources...: 10
Community Sessions...: allowed.

The Workstation addresses category indicates how many IP and/or MAC addresses can
be specified in the SYSTEM.CLIENT.WINDOWS story. The iNEWS Server will only
accept a connection from a workstation that is identified in the appropriate story;
otherwise, an error is given stating that the workstation is “not authorized to connect.” If
Workstation addresses shows a "site" license, the SYSTEM.CLIENT.WINDOWS queue
should be deleted, unless IP-specific restriction is still desired.
The resources category defines the total number of simultaneous login sessions. The
Wire Server resources line indicates the number of wire server resources allowed for the
Avid Data Receiver.

n

When the system is configured, if the number of IP or MAC addresses present in the
SYSTEM.CLIENT.WINDOWS story exceeds the number of addresses, a diagnostic is
produced. The system will be configured. This differs from exceeding other license limits.
To change license allowances:

t

248

Contact an Avid sales representative.

Configuration File

Configuration File
The configuration file (/site/config) is a system road map. It lists all devices, servers, and
resources configured to run on your system and how they are connected. If a device is not in
the site configuration file, the system will not know about it and cannot use it. Standard
devices and resources you may configure in this file include monitors, iNEWS Workstations,
and wire services.
Each server for your system has a copy of this file that it reads when it starts up and when
you execute the configure command. However, it is only the configuration file on the master
computer that is active and used when the system is started up.

c

Whenever you make changes to a site file, such as the configuration file, be sure to
select all servers in your system at the console. Unlike database stories, site files are not
automatically mirrored from one computer’s disk to another. See “Selecting One or
More Servers” on page 45 for more information. Also, see “The Line Editor, ed” on
page 655 for information on using the line editor, ed, to make changes to site files.
An example of a configuration file is located in “System Files” on page 541.
The site configuration file is divided into two major sections: the host section and the device
section (or body). The host section contains information about various configurations your
system can run, and devices used in each of those configurations.
The format for each host section is:
host







Parameter

Description

System configuration

Specifies in what configuration this section will be used. For example, a
2-server system normally runs AB. But if one server fails, the
configuration would be A or B. The config file will contain entries for
all possible system configurations.

computer

Specifies the responsibilities of this particular computer in the
configuration. So if the system configuration is AB (for a dual-server
system), and the computer is A, this section will define the A computer's
responsibilities. See “Selecting One or More Servers” on page 45 for
more information.

249

10 System Configuration

Parameter

Description (Continued)

reslist

Refers to resources configured on that particular iNEWS Server in that
system configuration.

servers

Refers to various utility programs called servers that are configured to
run on that particular iNEWS Server in that system configuration. This
term should not be confused with the computers, also called servers,
which run the iNEWS application software. See “Servers” on page 315
for more information.

The top host section details the device, resource, and utility program numbers that run on the
A server in a dual AB configuration. The second host section details ones assigned to server
B.
Information in the third and fourth host section is used by the system if one of the servers
fails. In the sample site configuration file, the “host a a” section contains a list of all the
devices, including ones normally assigned to server B. If server B experiences a failure and
is shut down, the system can be reconfigured to run all devices, resources, and servers
(utility programs) on A. The “host b b” section contains a list of all the devices, including
ones that normally run on server A, in case that server experiences a failure and is shut
down.
When you run the configure command, the master computer (usually server A) looks at the
current system configuration and then assigns devices listed for each iNEWS Server in that
system configuration to each iNEWS Server.
In the sample /site/config file, the odd numbered devices are assigned to server A and even
numbered devices are assigned to server B in a dual AB configuration.
Any item number listed in the host section must have a corresponding line in the device
section or body of the configuration file, and vice versa. For instance, if you are adding an
iNEWS Workstation resource to the body of the file, you must also add it to one or more host
sections so the system knows which server would be responsible for it under various
conditions.

250

Configuration File

Here are the possible device configuration lines:
server

301

monitor

301

–

; monitor

server

401

rxnet

–

–

; RXNET server

server

501

txnet

501

–

; TXNET server

server

601

action

601

–

; action server

server

801

ftsindex

801

–

; FTS index server

server

901

ftsseek

901

–

; FTS seek server

server

902

ftsseek

901

–

; FTS seek server (notice mailbox #)

server

1101

keyword

1101

–

; keyword server

server

1201

mailserver 1201

–

; mail server

server

1401

seek

1401

–

; seek server

aiws

1601

–

gnews

–

; Interplay session

api

1701

–

gnews

–

; Web Services API session

cinws

1801

–

gnews

–

; Community session

com

1901

–

gnews

–

; COM session

iiws

2001

–

gnews

–

; iNEWS-licensed Instinct session

inws

2101

–

gnews

–

; iNEWS workstation session

resource

2301

console

–

webclient

2401

–

gnews

; connect session
–

websession 2501

; Web Client session
; Web Access session

wireserver

2601

news

AP

–

; Wire server session

wireserver

2602

news

BC

join

; Wire server session with join enabled

A colon can be used to specify value ranges in device configuration lines, as shown in the
following example:
inws

2101:2200 –

gnews

–

; 100 iNEWS workstation sessions

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10 System Configuration

Also, individual devices can be restricted to specific IP or MAC addresses, as shown in the
following examples:
server

1301

rxnet

172.24.96.44 –

; INWS-B

inws

2101

00:19:B9:0E:7D:E1

gnews

–

; control room PC

inws

2102

17.24.96.247

gnews

–

; director laptop

Editing the Configuration File
Whenever you add, remove, or modify devices on your system, you must make
corresponding changes to the configuration file—also referred to as the /site/config file.
Changing this file requires the use of the line editor. See “The Line Editor, ed” on page 655
for more information.
Before editing any system file, Avid recommends you make a backup copy of the file.
To edit the configuration file:

1. Select all servers.
2. Type: ed /site/config
After you press Enter, the editor responds by displaying a numerical value indicating the
file size expressed as the number of characters, including spaces and returns.

n

This procedure, which modifies the /site/config file uses ed, the line editor. If you do not know
how to use ed to modify lines in the file, please see “The Line Editor, ed” on page 655.
3. What information is edited in the file depends on the device. Editing procedures for
specific devices are provided later in this guide. For more information, see “Adding
Devices” on page 265.
4. Type w to write (save) your changes to disk.

c

Do not use an uppercase W in this step. Uppercase W will append the file you're editing
to the existing file. The resulting file may be unreadable and will lead to problems with
running your iNEWS system.
5. Type q to quit the line editor.

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Configuration File

Testing the Site Configuration File After Alteration
Whenever you make changes to /site/config, always run a test on the changes to ensure there
are no problems with the new configuration. By doing so, the test will warn of problems or if
license limits are exceeded. Some configuration problems will prevent system configuration
and startup.
To run the site configuration test:

t

Use the configure console command.
The format is: configure   
System refers to the set of servers that make up your iNEWS system, while computer is
the server whose configuration you have changed.
The following example shows the command for testing the configuration of server A in
an AB system:
NRCS-A$ configure /site/config

ab a

When the prompt returns, the configuration file has been checked. If the system detects
any errors, it displays bad configuration messages.

Incorporating Configuration Changes
After testing the configuration, you can incorporate any changes that you made.
To put the new configuration into effect:

1. Stop any devices affected by the new configuration.
2. Take the system offline by typing: NRCS-A$ offline
3. Configure the system, using the following format: configure
4. Bring the system back online by typing: NRCS-A$ online
5. Wait for messages from the system being configured, and then restart the newly added
devices or any devices affected by the new configuration.
To list contents of the site configuration file at the console:

t

Type: cat /site/config
The configuration file that appears on your screen is similar to the sample file provided
in “System Files” on page 541.
Semicolons precede comments and blank lines separate sections.
The sample file to which we refer throughout this explanation might not match your
system’s file exactly, but it contains examples of the different kinds of entries you might
find in your file.
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10 System Configuration

n

On lines of the /site/config files where device numbers are listed, a range of numbers may be
specified—two numbers separated only by a colon (:). This is useful at sites with many
resources, servers, and sessions. For instance, the resource line below shows device numbers
listed individually, then the line is repeated, showing how it might appear as a range.
reslist 100 100 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109
reslist 100:109

Similarly, you can specify a device range for definitions, such as:
inws 201:210 - gnews - ; iNEWS Workstation sessions

This is equivalent to 10 lines, each with a different device number, with all other information
on the line applying to each device definition. If an IP address is specified, a device range
cannot be specified.

Hosts File
The hosts file (/etc/hosts) is a road map to other computers on the network that your iNEWS
Servers need to know about or communicate with. It lists IP addresses of other computers
and the computers' names, along with any alternate names or aliases by which the other
computers are known. Workstations need not be listed in the hosts file.
If a computer is not listed in the hosts file, your iNEWS Servers will require DNS to find
them. Your iNEWS system may not be configured to use DNS. Also, if DNS fails, your
iNEWS Servers will be unable to use it to find external computers. By putting the external
computer in /etc/hosts, you make the connection more reliable..
An example of a hosts file is located in “System Files” on page 541.

System Profile Files
For your system’s servers to work together, they need access to basic system information,
such as how many computers are in the system and how the computers are connected. Each
server must also have access to system parameters, such as the default read rate and script
margins. This information is kept in system profile files whose names reflect the information
they contain. For instance, information about wires is kept in /site/wires.
Sample system profile files are in “System Files” on page 541. The most important of these
profile files is the system profile(/site/system), which is discussed in the sections that follow.
When you start your system, each server reads its copy of the system profile and
incorporates the material into its operation.
254

System Profile Files

An example of the system profile is provided in “Viewing System Files” on page 245.
The system profile contains several parameters. Each parameter begins with an identifying
keyword, followed by an equal sign (=) and the parameter’s value. When an iNEWS Server
reads its system profile, it finds each parameter’s value by searching for the keyword that
represents that parameter. If the server searched the system profile in the example on
page 245, it would find that NRCS was the parameter associated with the keyword, id.
Most, but not all, parameters have default values the system uses if the parameter is not
present in the system profile. Consequently, a system profile usually includes only
parameters you want set differently from their default values, and those that have no default
values and must be set in the system profile. Your system profile may not contain the same
parameters as the example.

Changing the System Profile
System profile parameters are configured in the system when servers are connected. After
the system profile in /site/system is modified, the system should be shut down and restarted
to get the servers to read the modified system profile. The following sample procedure lets
you change the localtimeout parameter in your system profile.
To change your system profile at the console:

1. Select all servers.
2. Type: ed /site/system

n

This procedure, which modifies the /site/system file uses ed, the line editor. If you do not
know how to use ed to modify lines in the file, please see “The Line Editor, ed” on page 655.
A message similar to the following appears:
editing /site/system
213

3. Find the line that contains the localtimeout parameter, such as:
localtimeout=45:00 remotetimeout=30:00

4. Change the 45:00 value for that parameter to 15:00:
localtimeout=15:00 remotetimeout=30:00

5. Type w to write (save) your changes to disk.

c

Do not use an uppercase W in this step. Uppercase W will append the file you're editing
to the existing file. The resulting file may be unreadable and will lead to problems with
running your iNEWS system.

255

10 System Configuration

6. Type q to quit the line editor.

n

When you modify your system profile, separate parameters from each other with spaces, tab
spaces, or carriage returns.
7. Shut down and restart your system.
When you start the system, each server reads its system profile and incorporates
parameters in that file in its operation.

n

You must reboot the servers and connect the system to get the servers to read the system
profile file.

Listing Parameter Settings
The status all command lists values for all parameters defined in the profile, except for the
low and high watermarks and the purge limit.
To find out which parameters the system is using:

t

At the console, type: status all
This command displays the system profile settings the system has incorporated in its
operation. Information similar to the following appears:
A is ONLINE and has been CONFIGURED.
System is AB.

ID is NRCS.

Master is A.

Disk status is OK.

The database is OPEN.

System was last configured at 2009-08-10 13:53:49
No dbtraits group changes since boot.
No ctraits changes since boot.

auto_upgrade=yes

maxhits=500

clockmax=12

min_passwd_length=5

excludedvideo=none pausetimeout=0:05

security=or

lastlogin=yes

readrate=180

timechar=:

load=5

remotetimeout=0:00

wordlength=6

localtimeout=0:00

Parameters not explicitly defined in the system profile will appear in the list with their
default values.

256

System Profile Files

To list current low and high watermarks and the purge limit:

t

Type: cat /site/system
See “Viewing System Files” on page 245 for more information.

System Profile Parameters
Each system profile description below includes information about the values that parameter
can have and whether or not the parameter has a default value. If a parameter does not have a
default value, you must give it a value in the system profile.

n

The connect command can override anything in the profile by adding
= on the connect command line.

Parameter

Description

auto_upgrade=[yes | no]

Determines whether a user running an outdated version of the
iNEWS Workstation (client) software is allowed to upgrade it
automatically. If set to no, it means users of outdated software
are not asked if they want to upgrade. The default is yes.

clockmax=[12 | 24]

Determines how backtimes/cumetimes (cumulative) are
displayed—12 or 24-hour format. While the iNEWS
Workstation always displays these times in 24-hour format,
this setting is used by various utility (server) programs
whenever a date/time is formatted, such as when an action
server processes a mailto command and a story is sent as an
email message. The default value is 12.

excludedvideo=[director | none]

Determines the handling of director video when received in
Story Exchange Protocol (SEP) format. If set to none, this
text is converted into bold italic text. If set to director, the text
is converted into closed caption (CC) text. The default is
none.

highwater=<# of block units> (105000)

Establishes the upper limit to which dbserver attempts to
rebuild the free list. Set this parameter far enough above the
low watermark so the system is not in danger of slipping
beneath that mark. The number you enter represents actual
blocks of database space, where a block is one kilobyte. For
instance, a high watermark of 125000 (recommended for
most systems) represents 125000 blocks. The default value is
105000.

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10 System Configuration

Parameter (Continued)

Description (Continued)

id=

Gives the system a name. The system uses this name in some
of its messages and in the prompts. It also appears in the
iNEWS Workstation representing the database. The system
name defined here must match that used in the /etc/hosts file
(minus the “-a” or “-b”), must be in uppercase, and can be up
to eight characters long. There is no default value, so you
must set it in the system profile.

lastlogin=[yes | no]

Lets you suppress on a user’s workstation display of last time
user was logged in. Setting no accomplishes this; the default
is yes.

load= (0)

Specifies the maximum numerical difference the system tries
to maintain between network connections from
Windows-based clients on different servers in your system.
This is called load balancing, and it is intended to keep one
server from handling a much higher number of connections
than any other server.
For instance, if you set this parameter to 5, the system
distributes connection requests so the difference in the
number of connections is no higher than 5. If you had 2 active
connections on server A, and 7 on B, the next request to
connect to B would be shifted to A. Connection requests for
A would be allowed, until the number of connections on A
was 5 more than on B.
The default value for this parameter is 0, which means load
balancing does not occur.

localtimeout= (00:00)

As a security precaution, your system automatically logs out
workstations if they are idle longer than the time set in this
parameter.
If a story is open at an idle workstation, the system saves the
story before logging out the workstation. Setting
localtimeout=00:00 prevents the system from logging out
workstations. This is the default setting.
The localtimeout parameter is set in minutes and seconds. For
instance, to have the system log out any workstation idle for
more than two hours, set this parameter to 120:00. The
maximum value is 540 minutes.

258

System Profile Files

Parameter (Continued)

Description (Continued)

lowwater=<# of block units> (100000)

Establishes minimum disk space that the system tries to keep
available for immediate use. Use it with the highwater and
purgelimit parameters to control how the system recycles
space in the database. Set this parameter in units of actual
database blocks, where a block is one kilobyte (1KB). For
instance, a low watermark of 100000 (recommended for most
systems) equals 100000 blocks of database space.
If the number of blocks in the free list falls below the low
watermark, the system runs dbserver to reclaim the oldest
stories from the Dead queue, recycling the space onto the free
list. This continues until the free list is restored to the high
watermark. If you do not include this parameter, the system
uses the default value of 100000 blocks.

master=

Designates one of your system’s servers as the master
computer, which controls all database activity and performs
the majority of housekeeping, such as running dbpurge every
hour and invoking dbserver when low on space.
Generally, this parameter is left out of the system profile,
causing the system to designate as the master computer the
server whose name is alphabetically first (usually server A).
You can specify a server as the master computer using the
connect console command. The format is:
connect  master=

maxhits= (500)

Defines maximum number of hits, or matches, that a
background search—including Fast Text Search (FTS)—can
find. For instance, setting this parameter to 50 limits the total
number of hits in a single search to 50. The maximum number
you can specify is 32765. If you do not assign a value, the
system uses a default value of 500.

min_passwd_length=<# of characters> (5) Defines minimum password length for your users. For

instance, setting min_passwd_length=6 prevents users from
creating passwords shorter than six characters. The value may
range between 1 and 12 characters. This does not apply to
passwords you assign with the utraits command. The system
uses 5 as the default value.

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10 System Configuration

Parameter (Continued)

Description (Continued)

msgserver=[silent | verbose]

Used only for debugging. To find out whether or not a
mailbox is working, set this parameter to verbose. This causes
the console to display a message whenever activity occurs in
a queue with a mailbox assigned to it. Change this parameter
while the system is running using the msgdebug command.
The default setting is silent. This prevents messages regarding
mailbox activity from being displayed.

name=

Each server must have a unique name (either A, B, C, or D) to
distinguish it from the other servers in the system. Typically,
assign these names during the startup process using the
connect console command—connect a for server A, and so
forth—so it need not appear in the system profile. There is no
default value assigned.

net=

This allows you to specify all servers in the network. For
instance, in a system using three servers named A, B, and C,
this parameter would be set to net=abc in the system profile.

pausetimeout= (00:30)

Sets a default value for the PAUSE command, which is used
in some keyboard definitions. Users can override this default
value. If not set, the system assumes a value of 30 seconds.

purgelimit= (0)

If dbserver reclaims all space available in Dead queue without
restoring the free list to the low watermark, it begins to purge
old stories by making a series of passes through the database.
On each pass, dbserver temporarily decreases each queue’s
purge interval by one hour and removes any stories older than
the new purge interval. It continues doing this until it has
rebuilt the free list to the high watermark or reaches the purge
limit.
The purge limit sets the maximum number of passes dbserver
can make through each queue. The total number of hours
dbserver can purge from a queue is equal to the queue’s purge
interval minus your system’s purge limit.
Use the purge limit to prevent dbserver from purging
everything from important queues in its attempt to build up
the free list. For instance, if you set the purge limit to two
hours, queues with a 3-hour purge interval retain at least one
hour’s worth of stories, even in a low-on-space situation.
You can set the purge limit between 0 and 24. If not set, your
system uses a default value of zero hours, which prevents
dbserver from purging any queue beyond its purge interval.

260

System Profile Files

Parameter (Continued)

Description (Continued)

readrate= (180)

Sets the system’s default read rate. When you add a user to
the system, the Add New User dialog box will default to a
read-rate of zero, which will be replaced by the /site/system
read rate when needed. After a user has been added, you can
change the user’s read rate using the Modify User Account
dialog box. If not set, the system uses a default read rate of
180 words per minute.

remotetimeout= (00:00)

This time-out value applies to all connect sessions, including
sessions that connect a workstation at your station to another
service. Disable the automatic logout of connect sessions by
setting this parameter to 00:00. The maximum value is
540:00. The default that the system uses is 00:00 if this
parameter is not included in the system profile.

security=[and | or]

Indicates how your system determines group access of a
particular user with a particular workstation (or other device).
If set to “and”, both user and workstation must be members of
the same group for the user to gain access to directories or
queues assigned to that group. If set to “or”, the user can
access any database items assigned to groups containing
either the user or workstation. The default value is “or.”

single=

Tells the system it is running on only one server and names
that server. If your system consists of a single server, include
this parameter. Generally, in systems with only one server, the
name is A, and this parameter is set to single=a.

timechar= (:)

Defines the character the system uses to separate hours,
minutes, and seconds in time displays. For instance, using a
colon as the time character displays the time as hh:mm:ss. A
colon is the default.

timer=[silent | verbose]

Your system contains a timer program that is always running.
If this parameter is set to verbose, the server sends a time
display to the console every 15 minutes.
A

Sat Apr

3 14:45:00 2004 iNEWS

The default setting is verbose, so do not include when you
want timer messages to appear. To disable time displays,
include this parameter as timer=silent.

n

All time values in the system profile must be set in minutes and seconds in the format :. Set a
value for both minutes and seconds. For instance, to specify a time of two minutes, type: 2:00. To specify a
time of 25 seconds, type: 0:25.

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10 System Configuration

Parameter (Continued)

Description (Continued)

wordlength=

This is the number of characters that are counted as one word.
When counting words for script timing, the system divides
the character count by the wordlength to determine the
number of “words” in the story. The value is required and
must be a whole number.

Devices
The iNEWS newsroom computer system supports the following devices:
Device

Description

Instinct

A connection used by some Instinct and NewsCutter clients to communicate
with the iNEWS Server.

Web Services API

A connection used by Web-based services to communicate with the iNEWS
Server.

Web Access

A connection that allows direct, read-only browsing of the iNEWS database
through the Web browser.

Community

A connection used by clients from other systems in your iNEWS Community
to connect with your iNEWS Server.

COM

A (connection) device used by some Avid applications, such as MOS
Gateway, to communicate with the iNEWS Server.

Workstation

The PC device on which a user can log in to the iNEWS newsroom computer
system known as an iNEWS Workstation.

Web Client

A connection through which a Web Client user can log in to the iNEWS
newsroom computer system.

Network Resource

A device that allows a user to connect to another computer system from a
workstation.

Server

A utility program that performs tasks on stories in a queue, based on defined
instructions. Supported server types include: action, distribution, parallel
wire, monitor, and keyword. Other servers facilitate searches, mail, and
printing, or are designed for Rx/Tx network links—receiving or transferring
stories between computer systems.
See “Servers” on page 315 for more information.

n
262

The server listed here is not the same as the computers used as iNEWS Servers, typically given
names with the station’s call letters and an A, B, or C. For instance, NRCS-A.

Devices

Device

Description

WireServer

A device that allows an Avid Data Receiver instance to connect to the
iNEWS newsroom computer system.

Viewing Information about Devices
The list c console command prints information to the console screen about configuration of a
device or devices. The format for this command is:
list

c []

The device type or device number is optional. If you do not enter them, you get a list of the
configuration information for all devices in your system.
To view information about devices connected to your system:

t

Use forms of the list c console command.
For instance, when you type list c at the console, information similar to the following
appears:

DEV

DEVICE_TYPE

COMPUTER

NOTIFY

S201

mailserver

A

201

S211

keyword

A

211

S231

seek

A

231

S241

monitor

A

241

R391

console

A

B401

websession

A

G501

gnews

A

w601

news

A

g701

gnews

A

A711

gnews

A

C801

gnews

A

a811

gnews

A

OPTIONS

DEVNAME

...

AP

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10 System Configuration

...

If you follow list c with the name of a program, iNEWS lists every device on your
system that uses that program. For instance, to find out how many devices use the action
server utility program, type: list c action
Information similar to the following appears:
DEV

DEVICE_TYPE

COMPUTER

NOTIFY

S251

action

A

251

S252

action

A

252

S253

action

A

253

S254

action

A

254

OPTIONS

DEVNAME

Another example is list c monitor, in which case configuration information for your
system’s monitor servers are displayed, similar to the following:
DEV

DEVICE_TYPE

COMPUTER

NOTIFY

S241

monitor

A

241

S242

monitor

B

242

S243

monitor

A

243

S244

monitor

B

244

OPTIONS

DEVNAME

If you want to know the configuration information for a specific device, use the device
number, such as typing: list c 344
Information similar to the following appears:
DEV

DEVICE_TYPE

COMPUTER

S344

rxnet

A

NOTIFY

OPTIONS

DEVNAME

List C Message Columns
There are six columns of information displayed in list c messages, as explained in this table:

264

Devices

Column Name

Description

DEV

Lists the device number. The number is preceded by a letter identifying the
type of device. These alphabetic identifiers are as follows:
A - Avid Instinct and Newscutter
a - Web Services API
B - Web Access
C - Community
c - COM device
G - iNEWS Workstation
g - Web Client
R - Network resource
S - Server (utility program)
w - Wire server

DEVICE_TYPE

The program that runs the device. For instance, workstations have gnews
listed in this column.

COMPUTER

Identifies the iNEWS Server on which the device is running.

NOTIFY

Identifies the number of the mailbox the device uses to receive notifications.

OPTIONS

Lists any modifiers to the device, such as IP or MAC address.

DEVNAME

Lists the device’s name, if it has one, which can be used for group
membership and placed in the DEVNAME field of stories.

Adding Devices
When you add a device, such as workstations or wires, to your iNEWS system, you need to
put information about it in the appropriate configuration file(s). This section gives you the
complete procedure for adding workstations.

n

The iNEWS system receives wire services through an Avid Data Receiver wireserver
resource. For more information about wires, see “Wires” on page 291. For more on how to
set up wire ingest using the Avid Data Receiver, see “Adding a Wire – Avid Data Receiver”
on page 292.
Also, for information about adding connect services, see the iNEWS Operations and
Troubleshooting Manual.

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10 System Configuration

To add a new workstation to your system:

1. Choose a device number for the workstation—determine the next available number in
the range you have set aside for these devices.
2. Connect the workstation to the network.
3. Add workstation to the configuration file stored on each server in your system.
Add the workstation’s device number to a reslist line in the host definitions.
To configure a workstation, use the format:
inws  
 gnews 
Parameter

Description

device #

Workstation’s device number.

address

If you use a hyphen (-), this resource is available to any licensed PC on your
system. If you place an IP address here (example: 172.24.96.247), this
resource can be used only by the PC with that address.
Additionally, this can be the MAC address assigned to the PC’s network card
(example: 0019b90e7de1).

device name

A device name up to eight characters used for group security. If you assign a
device name to a workstation, you can grant security permissions to the
workstation by adding that name to the appropriate group story.
When someone edits and saves a story at this workstation, its device name is
placed in the devname field (if one exists) in the Story Form panel. If you do
not want to give the workstation a device name, place a hyphen (-) in this
position.

4. (Optional) Use the configure command to test your configuration changes.
The syntax is: configure /site/config  
For instance, type: configure /site/config ab a
When prompt returns, the configuration file has been checked. If the system detects any
errors, it displays appropriate bad configuration messages.
5. Reconfigure the system.
a.

Select the master computer, which is typically server A.

b.

Enter superuser mode, using the current password.

c.

Take the system offline by typing: NRCS-A# offline

d. Reconfigure the system by typing: NRCS-A# configure

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Intersystem Messaging

e.

When the prompt reappears, bring the system back online by typing:
NRCS-A# online

f.

Press Ctrl+D to leave superuser mode.
The pound sign (#) at the end of the console’s server prompt will change to a dollar
sign ($).

6. (Optional) Back up site files with the sitedump command any time you add a device.

Intersystem Messaging
Intersystem Messaging is a feature letting users exchange messages across separate iNEWS
newsroom computer systems, or an other third-party system with a compatible interface.
On iNEWS systems, intersystem messages can be sent from iNEWS Workstation sessions,
and from the console send utility. For intersystem messaging to work, a system must have an
agent that functions as described in the following section. For iNEWS, this agent is
integrated into the iNEWS Server software.
To receive intersystem messages, a system must have a TCPMUX service running.
TCPMUX is defined by RFC 1078, “TCP Port Service Multiplexer (TCPMUX).”
Additionally, the system must have an intersystem message service configured.

n

RFC (Request For Comments) documentation is provided at the following Web sites:
http://sunsite.auc.dk/RFC or http://www.rfc-editor.org/

Sending Intersystem Messages
An intersystem send is attempted whenever a message send request has a recipient name
which includes an at symbol (@). It is assumed that this represents a name in @ format. This is the same format used for sending mail to a user on a
foreign system, such as the Internet. The  parameter can be an IP address in
standard notation, such as 172.161.131.2. When using Community messaging, the
@ information can be excluded.
Your iNEWS Server will use its /etc/hosts file or DNS, if configured, to find the external
system.
A TCP connection to port 1 of the system is attempted. Port 1 is the “well known port” (as
defined in RFC 1700, “Assigned Numbers”) assigned to the TCPMUX service.
After the connection is established, the string inter_system_message is sent. The
receiving system sends + to indicate a positive acknowledgement.
This conforms to RFC 1078.
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10 System Configuration

n

The service name—in this case, inter_system_message—is never case-sensitive and
 is any text that helps to explain the reason for the response.
The sending system can then send the following string:
SEND

In this string, the user name and sender’s name do not contain any spaces, carriage returns,
or line feeds. The names are as they are used within their respective systems. The sender’s
name should be suitable to use as the user name in an intersystem message reply. The
message text can contain spaces but not carriage returns or line feeds. It is optional (so you
can check the logged-in status of the user). The iNEWS system will truncate this string at the
first line feed or at 72 characters.
After sending the intersystem message, the sending system should read a single line, which
is the receiving system’s response. On receipt of the response, the sending system should
close its connection. See “Receiving Intersystem Messages” on page 268 for more
information.
The sending system should be prepared to handle all of these error conditions:
•

Time out on establishing connection to the receiving system’s TCPMUX port

•

The receiving system actively refusing the connection on the TCPMUX port

•

Connection closed by the receiving system at any time

•

A negative response - to the
inter_system_message request. This is a negative TCPMUX response, and
 is any text that helps to explain the reason for the response.

Receiving Intersystem Messages
To receive intersystem messages, a system must respond to connections on the TCPMUX
port. On Linux systems, this is done by having a TCPMUX service defined in /etc/services
and /etc/inetd.conf.
To hook an intersystem message service into the TCPMUX service on a Linux system, an
entry must be included in the /etc/inetd.conf, such as:
tcpmux/+inter_system_message stream tcp nowait  

The inter_system_message string is the identifier used by the sending system to select
this service. This string is not case sensitive.

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Intersystem Messaging

The plus character (+) preceding inter_system_message tells the inetd daemon to handle
the initial connection and negotiation. In this case, when the inetd daemon determines that it
has an intersystem message agent, it will perform the positive acknowledgement (the
+... response) and then invoke the agent program.
The agent program must be prepared to respond to the “SEND” command, as described
above.
The iNEWS agent program is /exc/ismessage. The suggested parameter for the iNEWS
intersystem message agent is ism. This parameter can be anything and is used to identify the
program in messages printed to the system’s console. If an additional parameter is supplied
and it is a non-zero decimal string, the /exc/ismessage program is put into a verbose mode.
When in verbose mode, the /exc/ismessage program will print its responses onto the system
console. This can be used to track frequency and identity of intersystem messages.

n

The actual message text is not printed onto the console.
For iNEWS, the /etc/xinetd.d/ismessage file contains:
# default: on
# description: The ism server serves iNEWS InterSystem Message requests.
service ismessage
{
id
=iNEWS-ismessage
disable
=no
flags
=REUSE
socket_type
=stream
wait
=no
user
=root
server
=/exc/ismessage
log_on_failure+ =USERID
}

Responses from the receiving agent program must conform to the following syntax:
<3-digit response code>

The 3-digit response code is modeled on FTP response codes. (See Section 4.2 of RFC 959,
“File Transfer Protocol”.)

n

However, only single line responses are expected. The explanation is any text excluding a
carriage return – linefeed (cr-lf), which makes the response better understood.
The receiving agent program will generate one of the following responses, with the iNEWS
receiving agent including the following explanations:
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10 System Configuration

Response

Description

201  is logged in

Message stored for the specified user (if there is
message text) and the user is currently logged in.
User is notified of message arrival.

202  is not logged in Message stored for the specified user (if there is

message text) and the user is not currently logged
in.
421 System not online

System not connected, not configured, or not
online. Message is discarded.

430 No such user: 

Username unknown on receiving system.
Message is discarded.

450 Message save failed for: 

Failed to properly store the message for the
specified user. Message is discarded.

500 Syntax error, command
unrecognized

The first “word” on the line was not “send.” The
check for the word “send” is case insensitive.
Message is discarded.

501 Syntax error, insufficient
parameters

The “send” line has fewer than three
space-delimited tokens. Minimally “send”, , and  are required,
 is optional. Message is discarded.

The iNEWS receiving agent will print diagnostics to the system’s console when abnormal
conditions are encountered. The diagnostics are:
Diagnostics

Description

ism: getpeername failed ()


The sender’s IP address could not be determined.

ism: fgets error () 

The read failed for the send command.

ism: gethostbyaddr failed ()


The sender’s IP address could not be converted
into a host name.

Errno is the Linux system error number returned on system function calls, and errno string is
an explanation of that error code.

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Intersystem Messaging

The iNEWS receiving agent will accept intersystem messages directed to the user’s
computer. Messages addressed to “computer” will be printed on the system’s console. The
word “computer” can be localized using the message dictionary token M_COMPUTER. A
201 computer is logged in response will always be returned for messages directed to
“computer.”
iNEWS Workstation Session Behavior

There is virtually no difference between sending local messages and sending intersystem
messages. If the recipient’s name contains an at symbol (@), name validation is not
performed and an intersystem send is attempted.
The only difference on receiving messages is that the complete sender’s information is
always returned. If it is a local message, a simple user name is provided. If it is an
intersystem message, the sender’s name will be formatted as @.

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10 System Configuration

272

11 Printers
Managing your local printer settings is covered in this chapter.
This chapter contains the following main sections:
•

Local Printing
-

•

Local Printing Dialog Box

Creating and Using Print Styles
-

Local Print Style Options

-

Banner Format Options

-

Example Style Story

Local Printing
Local printing is any print request sent to a printer directly accessible to the iNEWS
Workstation. The iNEWS system includes an enhanced Local printing feature, also called
Windows printing. These enhancements include a dialog box that offers users more options,
such as selecting a predefined style when printing locally.
When local printing a batch of stories, stories that have a BLANK body are not printed. You
can also have iNEWS skip a story when printing by putting an asterisk (*) in the story’s
PAGE-NUMBER field, located in the Story Form or Queue panel.
Local printing does require some setup preparation or alterations. For instance, there are
print style options that must be defined in SYSTEM.STYLES. Both print style options and
the dialog box are explained here, starting with the dialog box.
Local printing is not available when the cursor is in the Directory panel, unless it is on a
queue that is currently displayed in the Queue panel.

n

Local printing is not recommended for stories larger than 10 kilobytes or 5 minutes,
according to iNEWS timing. The iNEWS system will print these files, but because the local
printing is not handled in the background, it might cause the workstation to appear “frozen”
or “locked up” while the system processes the print request.

Local Printing Dialog Box
The dialog box is divided into five sections: Scope, Options, Story Preview, Copies, and
Grid. There are also several buttons, which include: Print Preview, Network, and Default.
Each of these sections and buttons are described in more detail in this part of the chapter.

Local Printing

Scope

The Scope section allows users to select one of four radio buttons to indicate what they want
to print.

The options these radio buttons offer are explained as follows:

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11 Printers

n

The “Print the queue view” option determines whether the Story Preview checkbox is
available. See “Story Preview” on page 336 for more information.
•

Print the queue view - This option is available in most cases. A user’s cursor does not
have to be in the Queue panel of the iNEWS Workspace for this option to be used. Even
if the cursor is located in the Story panel, the user can still print the queue view by
selecting this option.

•

Print selected portion of queue - This option is available when a portion of the Queue
panel is selected. Only that highlighted portion of the queue view—which must be
contiguous—will be printed when this option is chosen. This option is not available
when noncontiguous lines in the queue are selected.

•

Print all stories in the queue - This option is available from the Directory panel or Queue
panel if the queue has the printable (+p) database trait. This option will send the text of
all stories in the queue to the printer.

•

Print selected stories - This option is only available if a row or rows of stories are
selected in the Queue panel. The option will send text of stories highlighted in the queue
to the printer.

•

Print current story - This option is available in all three panels of the iNEWS
Workspace. It will send the story that currently appears in the Story panel to the printer.

Not all options are available all the time. Also, which option in the Scope section is selected
by default depends on which panel in the iNEWS Workspace is activated—that is, in which
panel the cursor is located.
Default Option Selection:
•

From the Directory panel, if the queue has the printable database trait, it defaults to
“Print all stories.” If the queue does not have the printable database trait, it will default
to “Print current story.”

•

From the Queue panel with one or more stories selected by the row selector button, it
will default to “Print selected stories.”

•

From the Queue panel with no stories selected, it will default to “Print current story.”

•

From the Story Panel, it will default to “Print current story.”

Story Preview

The Story Preview section allows a user to print a preview or sample of each script as part of
the queue image. Consequently, this section is only enabled if the “Print the queue view”
option is chosen in the Scope section of the dialog box. Otherwise, it will appear gray and be
unavailable.

276

Local Printing

The Story Preview section, once enabled, has three options a user can define, depending on
how the queue view should be printed.
•

Story Preview - When this check box is selected, iNEWS will print lines of each story,
along with the queue view, as defined by the user in the Story Preview section.

•

All lines - When this check box is selected, iNEWS will print all of lines of each story,
along with the queue image. When this option is selected, the remaining option called
Lines Per Story appears gray and is unavailable.

•

Lines Per Story - When enabled, iNEWS will print the specified number of lines of each
story, along with the queue view. Lines of the story will be printed below the row that
corresponds to it in the queue view. This option is disabled (appears gray) when the All
lines option is checked.

For instance, if a user wants to see the first few lines of each story in addition to a show’s
lineup, the user selects the “Print the queue view” radio button in the Scope section of the
dialog box, selects the Story Preview check box, sets the Lines Per Story setting to 3, and
clicks OK to print it. The iNEWS system will print the first row of the lineup (or fields of the
Story Form), followed by three lines of that story, then the second row and three lines of the
second story, and so forth.
Rows as shown in the Queue panel may not match exactly rows of the queue image printed
with Story Preview selected. That is because iNEWS’ Story Preview printing feature is
configurable. System administrators can define what information appears in the columns of
a Queue panel and in fields of the Story Form panel. These two displays may or may not
match exactly. This is also the case for Story Preview printing. For instance, a system
administrator can designate which fields from the Story Form are not printed. The default is
to print all fields in the Story Form, as specified within each story.
Options

The Options section of the dialog box contains three choices for users: Styles, Line Spacing,
and Uppercase.

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11 Printers

•

n

Various print style options can be defined by the system administrator and are stored in the
first story in the queues within SYSTEM.STYLES. See “Local Print Style Options” on page
280 for more information.
•

n

Styles - A user can choose from a drop-down list of predefined styles.

Line Spacing - A user can configure how much space appears between lines of text. A
setting of one would result in single-spaced text, two would be double-spaced, and so
forth. This option will override any line spacing predefined in the chosen print style.

The maximum number for line spacing allowed by default in the dialog box is 10. A print
style can exceed this maximum and that setting will appear in the Line Spacing box when
that style is chosen. However, if a user chooses to manually override the style setting by
changing it in the Local Printing dialog box, then the default maximum of 10 will again take
effect.
•

Uppercase - When this check box is selected, iNEWS will print all text in uppercase (all
capitalized letters). Whether this check box appears selected by default when the dialog
box first opens can be set by the system administrator using a print style option. See
“Local Print Style Options” on page 280 for more information.

Copies

The Copies section allows the user to determine the number of copies printed and whether
multiple pages are collated.

The Collate check box is not available for selection unless the number of copies is set to a
number more than 1.

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Local Printing

Grid

The Grid section of the dialog box contains two choices: Horizontal and Vertical.

•

Horizontal - When this check box is selected, iNEWS will include horizontal grid lines
when printing the queue view image.

•

Vertical - When this check box is selected, iNEWS will include vertical grid lines when
printing the queue view image.

The default behavior of these check boxes is based on a user’s preferences.
Print Preview and Network buttons

Print Preview - This button allows users to preview queues or stories on their screens prior to
printing.

n

The Print Preview button is disabled when Story Preview is selected.
•

Network - This button offers the user more flexibility in selecting which printer is used.
The dialog box has two locations from which a user can select a printer. The first is a
drop-down list at the top of the dialog box that displays a list of printers loaded on, or
locally connected to, the computer the user is on. The second is the Network button,
which allows the user to select any printer available through the network.

•

Default - This button returns settings of the Print dialog box back to default preferences
of the user.

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11 Printers

Creating and Using Print Styles
For your printer profiles to be useful, you must have styles designed to take advantage of
them. Print styles can be used to define printed output. Each of your system’s styles is
defined in a separate story in your database, called a style story. Each style story creates a
particular kind of printed output by selecting forms and fonts necessary to produce the
output.
Each style story is held in its own queue in SYSTEM.STYLES. Queues in this directory
have names that are three-digit numbers, such as 001. This lets you refer to each style by a
number. For instance, a user can choose the print style defined in the style story in queue 001
by selecting that queue.
Each three-digit queue name in the example can be followed by a hyphen and a descriptive
name, such as SINGLE-SPACE. This optional name is used by the Local Printing dialog
box.
To create a new style story and queue:

1. Create the new queue in SYSTEM.STYLES. See “Creating a New Queue” on page 104
for more information.
2. Choose the next available three-digit number for the queue name. For instance, if 004 is
the last queue name used, create a style 005. Give the new queue a numerical name,
such as 005-Memo. The number is followed by a hyphen and the descriptive word,
Memo, which will appear as a style option in the Local Printing dialog box.

n

The largest number that you can use as a queue name is 255 and the lowest is 0. (Style 0 is
the default style your system uses when someone enters a print command without specifying
a style.) You can have as many as 250 separate style stories.
3. After the queue is created, open it by double-clicking on it in the Directory panel.
4. Create a new story to hold the style you want to create. See “Creating a New Story” on
page 111 for more information.
5. Create the new style by writing the various print style and banner options in the Story
panel. This is explained in more detail in the next sections.
6. Save the story.

Local Print Style Options
Local print style options are stored in the first story in queues within SYSTEM.STYLES.

280

Creating and Using Print Styles

In the story, options are specified with an option name—also known as a token—followed
by an equal sign (=) and then the parameter value. All options for local printing begin with
the letters WIN. Each option must be on its own line. A semicolon (;) will cause the
remainder of that line to be ignored, and can be used to make notes in reference to the print
option. The format looks like this:
=;

A sample story containing local print styles is provided later in this document. See
“Example Style Story” on page 288 for more information.
The local print options are not case-sensitive, but do have default settings provided in the
following table:
Option

Parameter Value

Description

WinVTEmulation

YES | NO

Specifies whether blank lines will be added to
the script side to line up the production cue
and the marker (grommet) if the production
cue spans more than one line. The default is
NO and will keep local printing functioning
without inserting blank lines.

WinRundownFontFace



Specifies the font to be used when printing the
queue view. Underscores cannot be used to
represent a space in a font name. If a font
name is not specified, the currently displayed
font on screen will be used.

WinRundownFontSize



Specifies a numeric value for the size of the
font in points when printing the queue view. If
a font face and font size is not specified, the
currently displayed font size on screen will be
used. If a font face is specified but the font
size is not, the font size will default to 12.

WinRundownLeftMargin



Specifies a numeric value for the left margin
when printing the queue view. Measured in
inches. Default size for the left margin will
depend on the width of the queue view.

WinRundownRightMargin



Specifies a numeric value for the right margin
when printing the queue view. Measured in
inches. Default size for the right margin will
depend on the width of the queue view.

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11 Printers

Option (Continued)

Parameter Value

Description (Continued)

WinRundownTopMargin



Specified a numeric value for the top margin
when printing the queue view. Measured in
inches. Default size is 1.

WinRundownBottomMargin



Specifies a numeric value for the bottom
margin when printing the queue view.
Measured in inches. Default size is 1.

WinRundownColumnHighlight YES | NO

Specifies whether to include shading of
column headers when printing a rundown.
Default is YES.

WinRundownBorder

YES | NO

Specifies whether to print a border around the
rundown. Default is YES.

WinBannerBlanks

<# of blank lines>

Specifies the number of blank lines printed in
between the banner and the start of the story
form. Default is 0 (zero).

WinPrintRundownForm



Defines what form is used when printing the
queue view. If a form is not specified, the
currently displayed form on screen will be
used.

WinPrintHide

YES | NO

Specifies whether to prevent certain text in the
story body from printing. Default is NO. See
WinPrintHideStart and WinPrintHideStop on
how to define what text does not get printed.

WinPrintHideStart



Specifies a character or character string that
will be used to mark the beginning of a
portion of text in the story body that is not to
be printed. Numbers and letters cannot be
used. Default is <<.

WinPrintHideStop



Specifies a character or character string that
will be used to mark the end of a portion of
text in the story body that is not to be printed.
Numbers and letters cannot be used. Default is
>>.

WinWYSIWYG

YES | NO

Specifies whether to use WYSIWYG printing
in the printout. If YES, then the font style/size
for both the story form and story body will be
overridden by the font style/size currently
being used on screen for the form and body.
Default is NO.

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Creating and Using Print Styles

Option (Continued)

Parameter Value

Description (Continued)

WinSegmentPageBreak

YES | NO

Specifies whether to force a page break in the
queue view printout at “Break” lines. Default
is NO.

WinSpacing

<# of line spacing>

WinSpacing supports the use of decimals. For
example, WinSpacing=1.5 can be used to
define line spacing of 1 1/2 lines. Default is 1.

WinColorPrint

YES | NO

Specifies whether to use color printing in the
story form on printouts. Default is YES.

WinPageFooter

.