═══ 1. Confed The config.sys editor ═══ CONFED 0.8 CONFED is a specialized tool to edit your config.sys. It's a 32 bit multi-threaded PM application which has all of the OS/2 features as Direct Manipulation, presentation parameters, support for clipboard, etc. Confed should do the following for you: -Hopefully demistify most of the config.sys entries. -Supply extended help for the config.sys items. -Provide a specialized way to edit the config items. -Be helpfull in maintaining an optimized OS/2 system. o Working with the OS/2 Config.sys file o The Confed controls o The Confed help facility o About Confed o About the author o History / What's new o Future attractions o Disclaimer / Confed is freeware o Glossary ═══ 2. The OS/2 Config.sys file ═══ The Confed application is build to work with your config.sys. Because of the nature of the OS/2 config.sys a warning (which must not be taken lighthartedly). <<<===WARNING===>>> CHANGING YOUR CONFIG.SYS MAY CAUSE YOUR SYSTEM TO CRASH WHEN BOOTING. SO IF YOU MAKE ANY CHANGES AT ALL BE VERY CAREFULL AND BE SURE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING. I CAN'T BE RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT YOU DO WITH YOUR SYSTEM OR YOUR CONFIG.SYS. SO NO WARRANTY WHATSOEVER IS IMPLIED. SO..... PROCEED WITH UTMOST CARE!!!!! There is a considerable amount of flexibility in the settings in the CONFIG.SYS. (If you'll use it wisely, it can bring a nice performance boost!) Most OS/2 users will at one time or another try to make changes and see what happens. This can lead to the situation where the system won't boot. Use the ALT-F1 feature or boot from a diskette to recover. If you use the ALT-F1 feature, OS/2 will take the CONFIG.SYS, OS2SYS.INI and OS2.INI from the install directory and write them over the existing INI's and config.sys. To use the ALT-F1 feature optimally, set up your system as you like it best. This means, your optimal config setup, and the desktop (workplace shell) as you like it (the desktop settings are held in the INI files). Copy them to the OS2\INSTALL subdirectory on the boot partition (thus overwriting the files residing there). This will allow you to experiment without high risk. In the WARP version the ALT-F1 function is improved. If you install the archive function wich can be found in the archive page of the desktop settings notebook, the ALT-F1 gives you five options to choose from. (This feature is documented in the WARP help files) Only the last version saved to the install directory will be recovered (OS/2 2.xx). So don't make any changes to the files in the install directory until you're absolutely sure the files you save will give you a perfect functioning system! Before you start experimenting, try reading some info. Recommended are the OS/2 redbooks, the command reference (linked to Confed) and the CONFIG.SYS description file by Rick Meigs. (Filename OS2CNFG7.) This last file is available on most BBS's (and certainly on ftp.cdrom.com). There are also some other INF files which prove to be interresting. Recommended are OS2PERF (Performance tuning), OS2FAQ (Frequently asked questions) and TRICKS (Stupid tricks for OS/2). One last remark which I think shouldn't really be made, but to be on the safe side, the changes you make in the config.sys will only take effect if you save the new config.sys and reboot the system! Good luck and have fun. ═══ 3. The Confed controls ═══ Confed features rather a lot controls for such a small application. Therefor a button or toolbar is added. This toolbar has so called smarticons which make the most frequently used functions fast available. Also the mouse buttons have some added functionality (see Keys help). Roughly the controls can be described in 5 sections: 1. -Toolbar. 2. -File menu. 3. -Edit menu. 4. -Help menu. 5. -Direct manipulation Besides working with the Toolbar, there's another way to manipulate the lines in the config editor. If you click the left mouse button twice on any line in the confed or hit the enter key when a line is selected, a context sensitive dialog will be opened. The folowing dialogs can be opened (depending on the contents of the selected line): 1. Edit-line dialog. 2. Edit-path dialog. 3. Edit-setfile dialog. 4. Edit-device dialog. ═══ 3.1. The Toolbar ═══ The toolbar is the row of small icons (smarticons) at the top of the window just under the menubar. By using the mouse and clicking on these icons you're able to start the most frequently used functions. In a way the toolbar will act as a menu (in fact it is). The icons in the toolbar have the following functions: By clicking the icon right here in the help file, you'll get more extensive help about the feature. -Save as. -Cut. -Copy. -Paste. -Clear. -Add. -Edit. -Rem/Derem. -Search. -Search Again. -Confed Help. -Line Help. ═══ 3.2. The File menu ═══ The file menu contains the standard items. Although Open and New are a little strange. The confed editor can be used to edit almost any text file (as long as its size is less than 32 Kb). It's also a nice tool to write small batch files, so the new and open features can come in handy. The file menu contains the following features: -New -Open -Save -Save as -File Information -Exit ═══ 3.2.1. New ═══ Using new closes the file which is currently being edited (most likely the config.sys). If confed thinks you've changed the contents of the current file, it will display a messagebox so the file can be saved or discarded. The new file will get the name Untitled.Fil. If you're saving the file using Save as , the name can be changed, if you use save, the file will be saved as Untitled.Fil. ═══ 3.2.2. Open ═══ If you start Confed it automaticly tracks down the config.sys file on your bootdrive and opens it. So you won't have to use open often. Using the Open item is one of the possibilities you've got to let Confed open a file. (The others are Dropping one on the Confed window or starting confed from the prompt with a parameter.) When you choose open OS/2's standard fileopen dialog will be started. You can pick a file using this dialog. There'll be no checking whatsoever what the type or true-type of the file is. So if you're using the opendialog to open a nontext file, confed will try to open the file. Of course you'll get rubbish. WARNING. If you open a nontext file, don't save it using Confed. You'll destroy the contents of the file!! If confed thinks you've changed the contents of the current file, it will display a messagebox which enables you to save the file, discard it or cancel the open action. Because Confed uses the standard control LISTBOX, it's capacity is limited. The listbox-control is (in OS/2 2.1) still a 16 bit control This means it can only hold 64 Kb of data. Much of this space +- 32 Kb is used for housekeeping. So we will be able to fit approximately 32 Kb of data into the Listbox. So files larger than 32 Kb won't be opened by Confed. There is a way around this by using User Drawn Listboxes. I haven't implemented this, because its a pain and there isn't a real use for it because the average Config.sys is about 3 Kb. ═══ 3.2.3. Save ═══ Choosing the save action will save the file as it is in the Confed main window. The filename used is displayed in the titlebar. The existing file is overwritten! Confed doesn't make a backup of the file, it overwrites! This action can also be started by using the ALT-a accelerator. The statusbar will show the number of bytes writen to disk. ═══ 3.2.4. Save as ═══ Using Save as will save the contents of Confed anywhere on your system using any filename. Save as will start the same dialog as open. This standard OS/2 File dialog will enable you to save your file on any drive/directory under any name. If you try to save the file under an existing path/name, Confed will prompt you asking if the existing file may be overwritten. The statusbar will show the number of bytes written to disk. ═══ 3.2.5. Exit ═══ Exit closes Confed. If confed thinks you've changed the contents of the current file, and haven't saved it yet, confed will prompt you so the file can be saved, discarded or the exit action can be canceled. You can also exit Confed using the ALT-x accelerator. ═══ 3.3. The Edit menu ═══ The Editmenu contains the items used to modify (or used in modifying) the contents of Confed. The Edit menu contains the following features: -Add -Edit -Rem/Derem -Cut -Copy -Paste -Clear -Search -Search Again -Goto ═══ 3.3.1. Add ═══ In Confed there are more ways to add a line. It depends on the kind of item you wish to add. This is why add has a conditional cascade menu. If you choose add, the Edit-Line dialog will be started. If you choose the little button to the right of add, a submenu will be started in which you can choose which type of dialog to start. The submenu: -Add any -DEVICE -BASEDEV -Path item -File item The dialog you choose dictates in a way the type of item you'll add. Only the Edit-line dialog will give the upportunity to add anything. This is why Add any as well as clicking on the add menu will start this dialog. ═══ 3.3.2. Add any ═══ This will have the same effect as clicking on the add button. It will cause the Edit-Line dialog to be started empty. In the Title bar of the dialog you can see that you've started an add operation. If you've added some text, and you press OK, the line will be added after the currently selected line. If there isn't a selected line, the new line will be added at the top of the listbox. ═══ 3.3.3. DEVICE ═══ The DEVICE submenu will start an empty Edit-device dialog with the purpose to add a DEVICE= statement to the config.sys. In the title bar of the Edit-device dialog, you can see the DEVICE= statement. ═══ 3.3.4. BASEDEV ═══ The BASEDEV submenu will start an empty Edit-device dialog with the purpose to add a BASEDEV= statement to the config.sys. In the title bar of the Edit-device dialog, you can see the BASEDEV= statement. ═══ 3.3.5. Path item ═══ The path-item menu will show a submenu which displays the most used items in the config, which utilize a path. If you pick one of these items, the Edit-path dialog is started for that item. You can see the item you've started the dialog for in the title-bar of the dialog. Confed won't check if the item already exists, so take care! ═══ 3.3.6. File item ═══ In the config.sys there are a number of entries which need a filename. For these entries a separate dialog is created. By selecting the File-item menu, a submenu will display. This submenu contains most of the config commands which need a filename. If you pick one of these items, the Edit-file dialog is started for that item. You can see the item you've started the dialog for in the title-bar of the dialog. Confed won't check if the item already exists, so take care! ═══ 3.3.7. Edit ═══ If you click edit, it has the same effect as clicking the edit button in the button bar. It will always start the edit-line dialog no matter what item is selected. In this way you can alter whatever you want. Note that this has a completely different effect as double clicking on an item or using the return key on a selected item. This will start the dialog specified for the item selected! The folowing dialogs can be started by double clicking or Enter: 1. Edit-line dialog. 2. Edit-path dialog. 3. Edit-setfile dialog. 4. Edit-device dialog. ═══ 3.3.8. Rem/Derem ═══ Rem/derem is a typical config (or autoexec) action. It will place a REM statement in the current line. If a rem statement already exists, it will erase it. ═══ 3.3.9. Cut ═══ Deletes the selected data from the application and copies it to the clipboard. Any previous contents of the clipboard are destroyed. ═══ 3.3.10. Copy ═══ Copies the selected data to the clipboard so it can be used somewhere in a Paste operation. The selection remains unchanged although previous contents of the clipboard are destroyed. ═══ 3.3.11. Paste ═══ the paste operation will copy a line from the clipboard and place it after the currently selected line. If no line is selected, paste will insert the line on top of the list. If the clipboard is empty this action will do nothing. ═══ 3.3.12. Clear ═══ Clear deletes the current selected line. If no line is selected, no action will be taken. If a line is deleted it can't be recalled (see also cut). ═══ 3.3.13. Search ═══ Starting search results in starting the Edit-line dialog. In the title bar of the dialog you can see that you've started the search action. Fill in the item you want to find and press OK Confed will try to find the item. If the searchitem can't be found, the current line will stay selected and the statusbar will show an error. There is a quick way to find a line. Just press any letter and Confed will search the first line beginning with that letter. If you press the letter again, the next line will be sought, etc. ═══ 3.3.14. Search again ═══ search again will try to locate the next match of the previously entered search item. If there was no search action previously started, this action will have no effect. If the searchitem can't be found, the current line will stay selected and the statusbar will show an error. ═══ 3.3.15. Goto ═══ Goto will activate a dialogbox which will show a spinbutton. This spinbutton will automaticly have the upper limit of the number of lines and a lower limit of 1. Pressing OK will cause confed to select the line shown in the spinbutton. ═══ 3.4. The Help menu ═══ The Confed helpmenu contains a number of items which will allow you to enter the help facility in a number of different ways. -Help index... (Index of this file) -General help...(The first help screen) -Using help...(How to use help) -Keys help...(which keys do what) -Help contents...(All this files chapters) -Line help...(Special for CONFED) ═══ 3.5. Direct manipulation. ═══ One of the most attractive features of the OS/2 desktop is the possibility to drag objects and drop them on another object and thus start an action involving those two objects. In Confed direct manipulation is completely supported. Besides from opening a file by dropping it on Confed, working with presentation parameters is fully supported. And what's more, any change will be remembered. (Just as resizing and changing the place of Confed will be remembered). You can change the color of any part of the Confed main window (except the smart icons) by dropping a color on it. To do this open the system setup folder and start the color palette. Choose a color and drop it on the part of your choosing. For example one of the scrollbars. They will change color. If you exit the application the change will be remembered. In a simmilar way, the Fonts can be changed. Start the font palette and pick a font. Drop it on the menubar or on the main listbox. The font will change. Changes will be saved. You can change both color and font in a single action by dropping a scheme palette on Confed. The scheme palette is also found in the system setup folder. By using the scheme palette you can also change the appearance of the edit dialogs used by Confed. ═══ 4. The Confed Help facility ═══ Confed has a special help facility you won't find in any normal application. It is especialy designed to tap into OS/2 .INF files. In version 0.5 only the CMDREF.INF will be used. If you click the linehelp button or choose linehelp from the helpmenu, Confed will try to find help about the selected item in the mainlistbox. Pressing the help button will have the same effect in all the edit dialogs. (Pressing F1 will give help from this help-file!) Because Linehelp uses the CMDREF.INF file, it is possible that a number of items can't be found. If this is the case, VIEW.EXE (The OS/2 INF viewer) will display an error message that it wasn't able to locate the item. Maybe in the future if I've got the courage (or the encouragement) I'll write an extension inf file to the config.sys. ═══ 5. About Confed / History ═══ Confed 0.5 (The initial release) is a 32 bit multi-threaded PM applet which is written in Borland C++ 1.0 for OS/2. The initial thought behind the applet was to build a usefull application which enables me to learn C++ under PM and which incorporates most of the goodies OS/2 has to offer. It was a real learning experience (and fun to do) to build a applet which incorporates: -MultiThreading (Save and Open) -Drag&Drop (Opening files) -OS/2 custom controls -Buttonbar with smarticons -Context sensitive edit dialogs -Clipboard support -Presentation parameters drag&drop OS/2 had no standard way of building a button bar with smart icons. (This is in fact just another menu.) So I had to use some tricks here. (The trick I used is a modified IBM idea.) Real helpfull were: o The code example files (most form IBM) o The Hobbes CD's. o (Book) The Art of OS/2 2.1 C programming (a must) o The EDM/2 electronic magazine (a must) I choose to build a config editor because needed one and IBM forgot to include one. At the rate I'm experimenting with my system such an applet is a handy tool. The more so because it's given me a fast link into OS/2's help system. (So you thought I wrote the entire help) When you're medling with powers like the OS/2 config, a good help system which is directly accesable is a must. So a fair amount of time went into using OS/2's help resources directly with Confed. If I get enough encouragement (users who will register) I might take this applet a step further and maybe release the code. One other thought comes to mind. Writing an INF file which contains most of the config.sys Information which is not contained in the OS/2 CMDREF.INF file. By combining this file with CMDREF, a more complete linehelp system would appear. ═══ 6. History/What's new ═══ Dec 94 initial release Version 0.5 Initial release with all the features described in About Confed Feb 95 Release 0.6 Added/Changed o A statusbar o Goto linenr o Linenr display o Read/write confirmation o Save on exit o Dynamic menu (edit) o Improved search o Improved Device dialog (WARP sensitive) o File change detection May 95 Release 0.7 Added/Changed o ALT-key bug fixed. (See EDM/2 3-5 letters) o Added a File Information dialog o Improved the save thread routine Juli 95 Release 0.8 Added/Changed o Smaller buttons (by popular demand) o Revamped help file o Improved load routine o Smaller .exe file o Warp .exe version Future attractions ═══ 7. Future attractions ═══ Future attractions I've got some mail (still very little) with improvement requests (Keep this mail comming!) If I can find the time, the following items will be added. o Undo (multi level) o Config.sys extended INF o Directory Dialog o Resource display o Automatic hints and tips o Comments in EA's o User List o Article about the source in EDM/2 ═══ 8. User List ═══ USER LIST When this applet was released as shareware, nobody reacted. At the moment it became freeware, I got some mail. If you got suggestions E-Mail it. I'm interrested in knowing how many people are willing to register as user. There are no costs what-so-ever, just mail me. The message should cantain a permission to publish your name or your E-mail nr in this list. Of course it may also contain update suggestions. If there's enough response maybe the future updates are distributed through mail. ═══ 9. Disclaimer ═══ ====DISCLAIMER==== If you use Confed I (Eric Slaats) am in no way responsible for any loss or damage; whether physical, financial, emotional, social, mental, marital, or otherwise that may result from the use of this product. This product is supplied "as is", and without any warranties. You may distribute this shareware version of Confed as the folowing conditions are met: 1. The distributed archive must contain ONLY the files WARP.ZIP, OS2_2XX.ZIP, CONFED.HLP, README.CED, FILE_ID.DIZ 2. The contents of this archive are NOT MODIFIED in any way. 3. This version is not to be sold. However, a reasonable disk copying fee is permitted. ====REGISTERING==== Confed is shareware. If you like this program and use it, please send a fee of +- $5 in any currency you like. Since version 0.7 I decided to make it Freeware. This experiment hasn't earned me any money, and I doubt if it ever will despite the number of people using it. However E-mail with comments is always welcome. (I won't be offended by a donation either.) Eric Slaats Tongelresestraat 61 5613 db Eindhoven The Netherlands EMAIL E.Slaats@fe.hse.nl If I'll get enough respons maybe I'll give this little applet a facelift. Enjoy and SUPPORT SHAREWARE! ═══ 10. About the author ═══ Eric Slaats teaches Information technology at the Hogeschool Eindhoven. If you feel the need to contact me, send your comments, criticism and postcards to: E. Slaats Tongelresestraat 61 5613 DB Eindhoven The Netherlands EMAIL E.Slaats@fe.hse.nl ═══ 11. Keys help ═══ As with all good applications there are some `hot keys` defined which will make life a little easier. Also a few mouse actions are defined as shortcuts. ┌─────────┬──────────────────────┐ │Key │Action │ ├─────────┼──────────────────────┤ │ALT-s │Save │ ├─────────┼──────────────────────┤ │ALT-x │Exit │ ├─────────┼──────────────────────┤ │ALT-a │Add line dialog │ ├─────────┼──────────────────────┤ │Enter │Edit line (dblclk) │ ├─────────┼──────────────────────┤ │Del │Clear line │ ├─────────┼──────────────────────┤ │Shift-Del│Cut │ ├─────────┼──────────────────────┤ │Cntrl-Ins│Copy │ ├─────────┼──────────────────────┤ │Shift-Ins│Paste │ ├─────────┼──────────────────────┤ │A-z │Lineitem starting with│ ├─────────┼──────────────────────┤ │Mouse │ │ ├─────────┼──────────────────────┤ │Dblclk1 │Edit item (Enter) │ ├─────────┼──────────────────────┤ │Snglclk1 │Select item │ ├─────────┼──────────────────────┤ │Dblclk2 │Start Add submenu │ └─────────┴──────────────────────┘ ═══ 12. The Edit-Line dialog box ═══ The Edit-Line dialog is the simplest edit dialog. It is mostly used for items the other edit dialogs can't handle (yet). (For example the IFS lines.) The dialog is used for the following tasks: - Edit lines from the main-window. - Enter search items. - Edit path subitems. - Unconditional edit. The Edit Line dialog incorporates the following pushbuttons: OK Button Cancel Button Help Button The Edit-Line dialog may be the simplest, its also the most flexible. You can alter anything in the line you're editing, thats why the ADD BUTTON and the EDIT BUTTON always start the Edit Line dialog. This way you can alter anything on any line. The Edit Line Dialog has another nice feature, it supports Clipboard actions. You've got the possibility to Cut and Copy parts of the line you're editing. To do this you first have to select some text. You can do this using the mouse (keep button one down) or by using the arrow keys while keeping the SHIFT key down. The selected text will be Cut to the clipboard if you press SHIFT-DEL. It will be copied if you press CNTRL-INS. To Paste text from the clipboard use SHIFT INS ═══ 13. The Edit-device dialog box ═══ The edit-device dialog is used for adding and editing lines which contain a DEVICE= or a BASEDEV= statement. The dialog contains two entryfields, one in which the name of the devicedriver can be placed and one which contains the arguments which will be passed to the devicedriver at boottime. If you're entering a BASEDEV, be sure the name you enter is in the bootdrive:\OS2 directory! OS/2 expects it there. If you're using WARP, the device-files must be in the OS2\BOOT directory. (Although placing them in the OS2 directory will work, it's not recommended). In the 0.6 version of confed, it's checked if the \OS2\BOOT\ directory exists. If this is the case, hitting the device button will open the filedialog in the \OS2\BOOT\ directory. If it doesn't exist, confed assumes you're not using warp and opens the filedialog in the \OS2 directory.. The Edit device dialog incorporates the following pushbuttons: OK Button Cancel Button Help Button Device Button The two entryfields also have Clipboard support. You've got the possibility to Cut and Copy parts of the line you're editing. To do this you first have to select some text. You can do this using the mouse (keep button one down) or by using the arrow keys while keeping the SHIFT key down. The selected text will be Cut to the clipboard if you press DEL. It will be copied if you press CNTRL-INS To Paste text from the clipboard use SHIFT INS. ═══ 14. The Edit-path dialog box ═══ The Edit-path dialog is designed to edit statements which encorporate a path. The most known are PATH and DPATH. If you start the dialog by double clicking on a statement which contains a path, the path is broken down into its elements. (The path elements are separated by a ;). All the separate path items are placed in a listbox. You can edit a path item by double-clicking on it. A Edit-line item dialog will be started with this item in it. There you can modify it. Notice there isn't any 'directory dialog' yet (maybe in a future version), so you've got to know what you're doing. Adding an item and deleting an item can be done by using the pushbuttons. For adding an item again the Edit-line dialog is used. The Edit path dialog incorporates the following pushbuttons: OK Button Cancel Button Add Button Delete Button Help Button You don't have to use the ; character for the path items. If you press OK the dialog will fit together the different pieces of the path statement and put ; between them. ═══ 15. The Edit-Setfile dialog box ═══ The Edit-setfile dialog was designed to be used with config.sys items which will need a filename as argument. For example the SET USER_INI statement needs a filename as argument. This dialog is started if you choose it from the add submenu, or if you doubleclick on a line in the main window which contains a config.sys command which needs an filename as argument. The simplest way to fill in the filename is to use the file button which will start the standard OS/2 filedialog. You may also type the filename in yourself. The Edit-Setfile dialog incorporates the following pushbuttons: OK Button Cancel Button File Button Help Button The Edit-setfile Dialog also supports Clipboard actions. You've got the possibility to Cut and Copy parts of the line you're editing. To do this you first have to select some text. You can do this using the mouse (keep button one down) or by using the arrow keys while keeping the SHIFT key down. The selected text will be Cut to the clipboard if you press SHIFT-DEL. It will be copied if you press CNTRL-INS. To Paste text from the clipboard use SHIFT INS. ═══ 16. The File information dialog ═══ The File Information dialog presents basic file information. Through this dialog you can find out when you last edited your config, when it was created, and when it was last accessed. This dialog only functions optimal when the config.sys is placed on a HPFS partition. The last edited and last accessed attributes aren't available on a FAT partition. So if you use a FAT partition as boot partition these attributes won't show. ═══ 17. Glossary of terms ═══ The following (technical) terms which may need further explanation are used in this help document o OS/2 o Clipboard o Cut o Paste o Copy o Presentation parameters o Drag&drop o Multithreading o OK o Cancel o Help o Device o File o Add o Delete ═══ 17.1. Multithreading ═══ Multithreading is the capability of OS/2 to perform more than one task at once for one proces. For example you can access the help of this applet, and in the meantime load or save a file. Both actions are taking place at the same time . It's like walking and chewing gum at the same time. It's NOT like windows, which takes a step, performs a chew, takes a step, etc. ═══ 17.2. Drag&drop ═══ Drag&drop is one of the most attractive features of OS/2. It is also known as Direct Manipulation. This feature gives the possibility to pick something up with your mousepointer, dragging it to another object and dropping it on this object. The object being dropped is then being handled by the object it is dropped on. For example, if you drag a text-file and drop it on a printer object, the printer object will take action by printing the dropped object. A nifty feature is drag and drop of colors, fonts and scheme's which may change the applications presentation parameters. This application supports direct manipulation in every form. You may drop files on it which will be opened. You may drop colors, fonts or scheme palettes to change the Confed's appearance. See also Direct manipulation. ═══ 17.3. IBM OS/2 ═══ OS/2 is a registered trademark of International Business Machines. It's the wonderfull operating system you are using at the moment. ═══ 17.4. Presentation parameters ═══ Presentation Parameters are a set of properties which are attached to every OS/2 control. These properties command the way a control looks. The most common use is changing fonts and colors by dropping them on a control using Direct manipulation. If you want to change fonts or colors, you first have to open a font-palette, color-palette or scheme-palette from the system setup folder. ═══ 17.5. Clipboard ═══ The clipboard provides a temporary storage area for a piece of text, a bitmap or a metafile. In Confed the only interresting part is text. It will enable you to move data within Confed or share data with other applications. The most common operations on the clipboard are: Cut Paste Copy The data in the clipboard is maintained in memory only. Clipboard data is lost when the computer is turned off. ═══ 17.6. Cut ═══ Deletes the selected data from the application and copies it to the clipboard. Any previous contents of he clipboard are destroyed. The Cut operation in Confed is supported in the main window (here cut will delete and entire selected line and copy it to the clipboard) and in the edit dialogs in which parts of the text can be selected (use mouse or Shift-arrow) and cut to the clipboard (Shift-Del). ═══ 17.7. Copy ═══ Copies the selected data to the clipboard so it can be used somewhere in a Paste operation. The selection remains unchanged although previous contents of the clipboard are destroyed. In the Confed main window starting a copy operation means copying the whole selected line to the clipboard. The simplest way is to use the copy button in the toolbar. If you're copying from one of the edit dialogs, you first have to select a chunk of text (Use mouse or shift-arrow), and copy it to the clipboard (use Control-Ins). ═══ 17.8. Paste ═══ Copies the data from the clipboard (if there is any). If any text is selected it will be deleted and replaced by the contents of the clipboard. In the main Confed window, a paste operation will copy a line from the clipboard and place it after the currently selected line. If no line is selected, paste will insert the line on top of the list. You can start a paste operation through the menu or by pressing the paste button on the toolbar. ═══ 17.9. OK button ═══ OK saves the contents of the dialog as displayed to the mainwindow or activates the contents of the dialog (as in 'enter search item'). This will also terminate the current dialog. ═══ 17.10. Cancel button ═══ Cancel will cancel the current editing action. The Edit dialog will be terminated, any changes will be discarded. ═══ 17.11. Help button ═══ Help will try to find help about the config.sys item you're currently editing. Help for this item is sought in the OS/2 help files. If you want help about the dialog itself, press F1. If F1 gives the wrong help (for example the help for the Cancel button, click one time om the dialogarea itself and try F1 again, it should now display the required dialog help) (In some cases, like adding a new line, the help buttomn won't show help for the item you're handling, but help about the dialog you're using. As a rule off thumb though it displays help for the edited item.) See also The Confed Help facility. ═══ 17.12. Device button ═══ The device button opens the standard OS/2 filedialog for theEdit Device Dialog. If you are adding or editing a BASEDEV,the wildcard used is *.ADD. If you're working with DEVICE, the wildcard is *.SYS. In both cases the \OS2 directory on the bootdrive is used as default directory if you're using OS/2 2.xx, if you're using WARP the filedialog will open in \OS2\BOOT\. For adding or editing a DEVICE you may use other directories. But, if you're working with BASEDEV, DO NOT CHANGE THE DIRECTORY!! . OS/2 expects its basedevices in the directory choosen by confed. Also the Edit Device Dialog assumes your basedevices are in the \OS2 (or the \OS2\BOOT if you're using WARP) directory of the boot drive. If you pick a file, the name, directory and drive of that file are transported to the Edit-device dialog. ═══ 17.13. File button ═══ The file button is used in the Edit-Setfile dialog . It has a similar function as the device button in the Edit-device dialog. It opens the standard OS/2 filedialog. The dialog is opened with the default directory \OS2 of the bootdrive. If you select a file from the \OS2 directory, or from any other directory or drive, the name is taken and transported to the Edit-Setfile dialog. ═══ 17.14. Add button ═══ This button appears only in the Path dialog. It opens a Edit-line dialog, and will give the upportunity to add a path item. If an item is added, it will be added after the selected item. If no item is selected, the new path-item will be put on top of the list. This function doesn't check the validity of the entered item (maybe in a future version I'll add a Directory dialog). So take care! ═══ 17.15. Delete button ═══ This button appears only in the Path dialog. It will delete the selected item of the listbox. If no item is selected, no action is taken. If an item is deleted, it can't be recalled. If you accidently delete an item you can always Cancel the Edit-Path dialog in which case no change is recorded in the main window.