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Loading Files or World Wide Web Locations

When you select a file or Web location to open with the "Open File..." or "Open Location..." commands in the File menu, WebSpace loads the selected file. If it is a VRML or Open Inventor file, WebSpace displays the scene in its main window. Otherwise it requests your HTML browser to load the file.

WebSpace begins loading any inline data or textures in the file. This happens in the background so you can use the dashboard controls to examine or walk around the scene while the information is loading. As the data and textures are loaded, you see status messages in the area at the bottom of the window. From these messages, you can tell if the information is being held up by a slow network connection, or for some other reason.

To stop loading at any time during the loading process, you can click the Stop Loading button shown in Figure 1-15.

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Figure 1-15 : The Stop Loading Button

If you do so, some objects may not be loaded and therefore do not display. To reload all objects, click the Reload button shown in Figure 1-16.

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Figure 1-16 : The Reload Button

For step-by-step instructions, see:

Opening Files

You open WebSpace files in the same way that you open files in most other applications. Choose "Open" from the File menu. A file browser appears from which you select the file to open. When you open a file, it replaces the file currently in the window. Step-by-step instructions follow:

  1. Choose "Open" from the File menu.

    The file browser appears.

  2. Browse through the directory structure until you find the name of the file you want to open.

  3. Place the cursor over the name of the file that you want to open, then click the left mouse button.

    The selected file is surrounded by black.

  4. Click the OK button.

    The scene appears in the viewing area of the WebSpace window.

Opening World Wide Web Locations

You open locations on the World Wide Web by using the "Open Location" command from the File menu or by clicking the Open Location button shown in Figure 1-17.

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Figure 1-17 : The Open Location Button

To open a location, you must know the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that identifies it. For example, the URL for the Silicon Graphics Silicon Surf is http://www.sgi.com.

If you specify a VRML URL to open, the VRML scene appears in WebSpace. Otherwise, the URL is passed to your HTML browser for handling. Step-by-step instructions follow.

  1. Choose "Open Location" from the File menu, or click the Open Location button shown in Figure 1-17.

    The window shown in Figure 1-18 appears.

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    Figure 1-18 : The Open Location Window

  2. Place the cursor in the Open Location type-in field and double-click to select the name.

  3. Type in the URL of the location to which you want to go and press <Enter>, or click the "Open" button.

Note: If you have "Show Location" selected in the Options menu, you can delete the information in the Location type-in field and enter the URL.


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