OVERVIEW: StageHand is a companion program to StageManager that lets you perform StageManager commands interactively (rather than as a script). This is useful when you want to test out actions before putting them into your movie (you don't have to keep rerunning the complete movie to see how a particular command will look). It also lets you issue Geomview commands directly, so it can also serve as a replacement for the Geomview commands panel (it provides better command history and editing features, and allows multi-line commands). STARTING STAGEHAND: Once geomview is running, select StageHand from the modules panel. This will load StageHand. (StageHand actually starts a second module, called StageDoor and then exits, so you will see the StageHand module appear, then disappear, and then the StageHand window will appear; this is normal.) THE STAGEHAND PANEL: StageHand provides a large input area and several buttons. The input area is where you type commands (either StageManager-style commands, or Geomview commands). The three buttons perform the following functions: CLEAR Clears the input area and issues a new prompt CONTROLS Brings up the execution control panel that lets you pause execution, kill BackStage, etc. Normally you will not need to use this panel, but, for example, you may want to step through a Sequence command, or use the Print command to obtain some output in this window. QUIT Closes the StageHand window and exits the program. KEYBINDINGS: The editing keys are modeled after EMACS, but you can also use mouse dragging and X-window style cut/paste. The up and down arrow keys can be used to move through the command history, and CTRL-R or ESCAPE-P can be used to recall previous commands that match what you have typed so far. If you press the RETURN key, the command you have typed will be performed if it is complete; otherwise, you will be able to continue the command on a new line. Once the command is complete, To execute a multi-line command, press RETURN at the end of the command, or ENTER anywhere within the command. GEOMVIEW VS. STAGEMANAGER COMMANDS: StageHand allows you to issue commands either to Geomview or to BackStage (the program that StageManager uses to actually execute scripts). Since Geomview commands are always enclosed in parentheses, StageHand can tell which type of command you are giving by whether it begins with a parenthesis. If so, StageHand ships the command to Geomview, otherwise it sends it to BackStage. For example, the command "(load cube)" will go directly to Geomview, whereas "Load cube" will be sent to BackStage for execution. KNOWN BUGS: None BUG REPORTS AND COMMENTS: Please send bug reports and comments to .