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VirtUI Manager GUI Console

The VirtUI Manager GUI Console is a GTK-based application that provides a modern, tabbed interface for managing your virtualization infrastructure. It embeds both the TUI interface and the CLI tool into a single, cohesive window.

Main GUI

To launch the GUI Console: 

virtui-gui

Features

Tabbed Management

The GUI Console allows you to run multiple instances of VirtUI Manager or the CLI tool in separate tabs. This is perfect for:

  • Managing different sets of servers in separate tabs.
  • Keeping a CLI open alongside the main management window for quick virsh commands.
  • Monitoring logs or statistics in an independent tab.

Search Functionality

A built-in search bar allows you to quickly find text within any terminal tab.

  • Toggle Search: Press Ctrl + f to open or close the search bar.
  • Navigation: Use the "Find Next" (Down Arrow) and "Find Previous" (Up Arrow) buttons to navigate through matches.
  • Live Highlight: Matches are highlighted in real-time as you type.

Keyboard Shortcuts

The GUI Console supports familiar shortcuts for navigating and managing tabs:

  • Ctrl + PageUp: Switch to the previous tab.
  • Ctrl + PageDown: Switch to the next tab.
  • Ctrl + t: Open a new VManager tab.
  • Ctrl + Shift + t (or Ctrl + T): Open a new Command Line tab.
  • Ctrl + w: Close the current tab.
  • Ctrl + f: Toggle the search bar.
  • Esc: Close the search bar (if active).
  • Ctrl + + / Ctrl + =: Increase font size (Zoom In).
  • Ctrl + -: Decrease font size (Zoom Out).

Dynamic Menu

The Settings Menu (represented by the "hamburger" icon) provides quick access to:

  • Font Size: Adjust the terminal font size on the fly for all tabs.
  • Custom Font: Select any monospace font installed on your system.
  • New VManager Tab: Open a new tab running the TUI interface.
  • New Command Line Tab: Open a new tab running the interactive CLI.
  • New Log Tab: Open a read-only tab tailing the application log file.

Header Bar Controls

In addition to the Settings Menu, the header bar includes:

  • Help Button (? icon): Displays a cheat sheet of all available keyboard shortcuts.
  • Documentation Button (Book icon): Opens this online manual in your default web browser.

Automatic Title Updates

Tabs automatically update their labels to reflect their current state:

  • CLI Tabs: Show the names of the currently connected servers.
  • Virsh Shell: Indicates when a virsh shell is active and which server it's connected to.

GUI virsh

System Integration

  • Default Fonts: Automatically uses your system's default monospace font settings.
  • Minimal Size: The window has a minimum size of 800x600 pixels to ensure that the interface remains functional and readable.
  • Scrollback: Supports up to 10,000 lines of scrollback history per tab.
  • Graceful Exit: The application prevents accidental closure and will only quit when the last active tab is closed or when explicitly told to do so.

Advantages over raw Terminal

While VirtUI Manager is designed to work in any terminal, the GUI Console offers several integrated benefits:

  1. Zero Configuration: No need to configure terminal multiplexers like tmux for basic tabbed usage (though tmux integration is still supported).
  2. Visual Consistency: Consistent font and styling regardless of your default terminal emulator settings.
  3. Encapsulation: Keeps your virtualization management tools in a dedicated window, separate from your other terminal work.