Purpose

The program was rather one of my first experiences in C, so please take it into account. It is not too sophisticated, but at least does what it was built for.

Command-line

The command-line format looks as follows:

Console {options} {program} {...program options...}

If you`re typing some options too often, you can put them into a environment variable. That variable is treated exactly as command-line, except that it is processed before command-line. So, say, if you don`t like ANSI colored output (see below), you can put

set CONSOLE=-oa-

into your CONFIG.SYS file. If you, however, want to override some options in environment variable, you can still do it (in above case by using "-oa" on Console command line). By default Console will NOT start a new window, so the options you type will change the console window Console was started from. Switches that works only when starting a new window are marked with /N/, those that works for current window are marked with /C/. Following options are available:

-b{w,h} /C/N/

Set window border thickness ([W]idth and [H]eight);

-f{h,w} /C/N/

Set window font [W]idth and [H]eight. You can see what font sizes are available by opening the Font Size dialog from any windowed session popup menu. Without any arguments (-f) it will read current window's font size (for example, you can use this with -q option, see below).

-o{a|b|c|d|f|m|n|r|s|v|x}{+|-}

Enable (+) or disable (-) one of following [O]ptions:

a /C/N/

Turn on (+)/off (-) [A]NSI colored output. Someday I`ve realized that not everybody likes the neat colors I`m using :-).

b /C/N/

Start a background (+) or foreground (-) session.

c /N/

auto[C]lose on termination (+) or leave window until user closes it

d /N/

Enable (+) or disable (-) a small [D]elay after running command Use this if you experience problems with -p starting a new session The program temporarily changes some entries in OS2.INI file, then starts the session, and finally changes them back. However, I`m not sure when exactly I should change them back, so this option is provided. If you encounter problems even with it, please mail me.

f /C/N/

Start window title [F]lashing (+) or stop flashing (-)

m /C/N/

Start session [M]inimized (+) or non-minimized (-)

n /N/

Start a [N]ew session (+) or change same window (-)

r /C/

[R]esize window to max possible size (+) or leave as-is (-)

s /N/

auto[S]ize window: compute the size of new window based on known console window size and console font size (overriden by -p,,#,#)

v /C/N/

Start a [V]isible console window (+) or invisible (-)

x /C/N/

Start session ma[X]imized (+) or non-maximized (-)

-p{{x}{,{y}{,{w}{,h}}}}

Set window position (X, Y) and size (W, H) (in pixels). Note that the size is impossible to set on a maximized window, so -ox- is enforced if you will specify at least one of W,H values (for a new session only). Note that you can skip some values, and they will remain at their default values. For example -p,,100 will only set the width of the window. This switch even works for current window, so if you want to set current's window position to (0,0) you should run: Console -p0,0 -- but, if you want to start a new window at (0,0) you should run: Console -p0,0 -on
Without any parameters -p will read current window's size and position. So, for example, if you want to start a new window at same X position as current window and Y=0 you should use Console -p -p,0

-s{w,h}

re[S]ize window as using "MODE W,H" command. This switch can be used only on OS/2 sessions since DOS sessions cannot be resised to other that 80x25 or 80x50 sizes.

-q

Display a sample command line to start a window with current size/shape (possibly modified by command-line options). For example, Console -q will show (among others) the -p switch with default window position and -f with the default window font, while the Console -p -f -q command will show current window position and current window font.

-t"..."

Set window title. When starting a new session title will become 'sticky', i.e. any program which runs inside that new session cannot change that title anymore. For current session title can be changed only

1. if current window title is not already 'sticky'
2. for a single program (i.e. you should use the form Console -t"..." myprog.exe args)
3. if that program does not change title itself (as File Commander does, for example).

Sorry, that`s the way OS/2 session manager works.

-w{a|d|o}

[W]indow type: [D]OS/[O]S2/[A]utodetect; default = OS/2 The [A]utodetect option is not recommended since it can start as well a full-screen session.

Default state of switches:

Examples

Console -wo -f18,10 -p200,100 -on t-mail.exe -c

This command will run "t-mail.exe -c" in a OS/2 windowed session, with 10x18 font size, window will be placed at 200,100 position.

Console -s40,25 -p,,300,100 -f8,8 -oc- *

This command will open a OS/2 windowed session at 40x25 cells size, with 8x8 font and with a 300x100 pixel size. The window will not be automatically closed.

Console -ob -s60,20 -p10,10,488,186 -f8,8 *

This will open a background OS/2 session with a 60x20 size, placed at 10,10, with a size of 488,186 pixels and with a 8x8 font.

Console -f -p -on

This will 'clone' current window.

Window size

Window position/size relations are a bit tricky. First, the X coordinate is always rounded to nearest 8 divisor (even on 256- 64K- 16M- color modes -- hey, IBM, wake up! 21st Century ahead!). For example, if you`ll try the command:

Console -os- -on -p0,0,800,400 -f8,8 *

The answer is that for some unknown reason, when the internals of a VIO window are resized, the top-left corner of the window is unchanged while lower-left corner moves. This is a contradiction to the PM paradigm which counts coordinates from lower-left corner, but who in IBM cares anyway?!

There are a number of approaches for setting window sizes. First is, of course, try-and-see method :-) I`m often using it when I`m too lazy to multiply some numbers. Other approach is to multiply window size in cells with font dimenstion, then add border size. For example, a 60x20 window with a 8x8 font will have the following size:

Width  = 60 * 8 + 4 + 4 = 488
Height = 20 * 8 + 4 + 4 + 18 = 186

4 is the border width/height (this depends of your scheme palette), 18 is the height of titlebar.

And the third approach is to launch a window, set its position/size manually (say using a mouse) and then query them. It can be done with a utility called PMMon - a nice tool for any programmer, but not for consumer :-)

Note

Program versions above 0.0.3 contains an 'auto-size' feature (enabled by default) which will do everything said above for you. If you don`t like it, you can turn it off (using -os- switch). So, now you can simply type:

Console -on -f8,8 -s60,20 -p0,0