wvisible - test if current window station is visible
wvisible [-v]
The wvisible(1) utility tests to determine whether the current window station is visible. If so, it with 0 status; otherwise, it exits with a non-zero status. If the -v flag is specified, wvisible(1) prints a message to stdout indicating whether the current window station is visible.
The wvisible(1) utility is intended to be used by shell scripts as follows:
if wvisible
then
# run a win32 gui program
fi
The term "window station" is peculiar to Windows. Every Win32 process is associated with a window station object. If the window station is visible, Win32 windows will be displayed on the computer's video display, and the user can interact with these windows using the keyboard and mouse. If the window station is not visible, Win32 windows are invisible and non-interactive.
The current window station is not visible if you are logged in over a Telnet connection or through some kinds of pseudo-tty connections. The most common situation in which the current window station is not visible is when you log into a computer using Telnet. From a Telnet session, any Win32 windows you create will not be visible to someone using the mouse and video display. This is a security feature; it is intended to prevent trojan horses.
The wvisible(1) utility exits with status 0 if the current window station is visible, and >0 if it is not, or if an error occurred.
The wvisible(1) utility is used extensively in shell scripts that call Win32 programs. Examples can be found in the directory /usr/contrib/win32/bin.
runwin32(1)