["Dolbow, Bill" <bdolbow@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>In addition, the current version of Microsoft Network Monitor has,  
>under the Window menu for capture files, a "Label" item, to let you set  
>the window title.  Something such as that might be useful in Ethereal.

>Also, as the problem is probably more severe when capturing or when you  
>have a temporary capture file rather than a named capture file, a field  
>in the Capture dialog box to let you set the title might be useful.


A -L like Microsoft Network Monitor has for a label would work great, and
having the ability of that label to also pass to the capture window would be
excellent.



-----Original Message-----
From: 	Guy Harris [mailto:guy@xxxxxxxxxxxx] 

On Oct 8, 2003, at 9:07 AM, Dolbow, Bill wrote:

> Hey guys, We are using Ethereal on Redhat as a distributed sniffer at  
> my
> company.   We are really enjoying it, including the best feature of all
> which is multiple instances of ethereal running, BUT, we would like to  
> have
> a -title type of option.  We get lost with multiple X-windows open  
> sniffing
> different segments or with different captures.
>
>
> Can we get a command line option like -title on the radar screen.

Ethereal uses "getopt()", so options must have single-letter names,  
meaning "-title" wouldn't work.  "-T" is already taken, unless we  
decide that setting the tree view pane height from a command-line  
option isn't useful.

We could use the GNU "getopt_long()", provide "--title", and carry our  
own copy for platforms that don't have it, although note that there's  
more than one implementation of it, which differ in some behaviors:

	http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi? 
query=getopt_long&apropos=0&sektion=0&manpath=FreeBSD+5.1- 
current&format=html

(This message:

	http://mail.gnu.org/archive/html/autoconf/2000-12/msg00032.html

asserts that FreeBSD has a "gnugetopt" library for it, but the FreeBSD  
5.0 man page says it's in libc; perhaps it was in libgnugetopt in some  
older BSDs.)

> It should
> put the text in the title bar of both the main window and the capture  
> window
> when a capture is running.   Maybe we can shorten "The Ethereal Network
> Analyzer" to just "Ethereal - (title passed via command line)".

"(title passed via command line) - Ethereal" would probably be better.   
Most desktop environments and window managers truncate window titles at  
the right if they truncate (e.g., in icons/taskbar items), so the  
application name is probably best put at the end (at least for  
applications with icons), although that might cause problems for blind  
users (if the screen-reading software can't get the name of the  
application for a window in other ways).

That's why, when a named capture file is open, we make the window title  
"(filename) - Ethereal".

BTW, that raises another question - if the user specifies, for example

	ethereal --title "This morning's SYN flood attack" syn_flood.pcap

should the "--title" override the file name, so that the title would be

	This morning's SYN flood attack - Ethereal

rather than

	syn_flood.pcap - Ethereal

?

In addition, the current version of Microsoft Network Monitor has,  
under the Window menu for capture files, a "Label" item, to let you set  
the window title.  Something such as that might be useful in Ethereal.

Also, as the problem is probably more severe when capturing or when you  
have a temporary capture file rather than a named capture file, a field  
in the Capture dialog box to let you set the title might be useful.