VGUI

All graphical user interfaces for VSTK/P have been called VGUI. It stands for VSTK/P Graphical User Interface. There are actually several versions of a graphical user interface for the VSTK/P tool kits. The first version was X-Window based using xview. It was discontinued when xview died. The second version was TCL/TK based. The source code for this version is available free on www.cybersoft.com but is unsupported. The third version was again X-Window based using Motif and is still supported for some customers. The fourth version is HTML/CGI based and is fully supported. All versions except for the HTML based version are obsolete. The HTML based GUI is supplied with its own web server called MiniWeb.

Since VGUI is delivered and executed in text source code it is easy for an authorized user to modify. This means that implementations in the field can be modified to meet the customers specific needs by the authorized end user. This would never be possible with compiled binary programs. For example, if the user needs to combine VSTK/P functionality with another program it is trivial and inexpensive to do so by modifying the html and cgi code.

The current web based VGUI allows access to VFind, CIT, Avatar, and other functions via virtually any web browser homed to the Miniweb Server running on the target machine. The user can scan the system for viruses via VFind, baseline the system via AVATAR, and integrity check the system via CIT. The VGUI allows even a non-UNIX user access to the great majority of the VSTK tools. Most functions can be executed by one or two simple button clicks.

All of the VGUI underlying functions are supported by CGI scripts that are written in portable shell. Perl has not been used, as it may not be available on all platforms.

Web based VGUI is in its infancy. Future enhancements are planned. The enhancements include the ability to toggle more tool options, stop scans, add users, and restart the server to allow new configuration options to take effect.

VSTK/P 166 and later has a full graphical user interface with portable Bourne shell scripts for the CGI applications. No version of the VGUI uses Perl.