5.1. The Main Window

The main window mainly consists of a menu bar and a display area. Normally, the display area holds the object file (or files) you are working on. (An object file holds the objects that represent your real devices, interfaces, networks and so on that you'll use to configure your firewall device and its policies.)

With an object file loaded, the main window consists of the following "areas":

• Menu and Button bars: Firewall Builder comes with menu and button bars at the top of the window.

• Display area: Below the menus is the Display area. The display area displays one or more open object files. An object file contains the Object Trees, Policy Views, and Dialog Area.

• Object Trees: Object trees, displayed on the left side of the window, hold firewall, host, interface, service, and other "objects" that you will used when creating your firewall.

• Policy View: The policy view area, in the upper right of the screen, displays the access, NAT, or routing policy you're working on.

• Dialog Area: The dialog area, in the lower right, is where you make changes to object parameters. The dialog area, which is not visible at first, appears when you select an object in the GUI.

We'll describe these areas in more detail below.